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This paper offers a theory of military retrenchment by states in relative decline. I argue that a declining state will choose to withdraw foreign military deployments and security commitments when there exists a suitable regional 'successor' to which it can devolve its current responsibilities. The degree of a successor's suitability and the strategic importance of the region to the declining state interact to determine when and how rapidly retrenchment will occur. Importantly, this devolutionary model of retrenchment predicts significant variations in retrenchment patterns across a declining state's multiple regional commitments. It advances the literature by producing nuanced predictions of precisely where, when, and how quickly retrenchment will occur. This paper assesses the theory empirically through an examination of Great Britain's varying regional retrenchment strategies prior to World War I. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the diplomatic correspondence of the French ambassador to the Ottoman Porte or court at Istanbul, Charles-Joseph Tissot, at the time of the French invasion of Tunisia. It also explains the French rationale for their justification for the action which the Turkish government regarded as an act of war, and describes the life and diplomatic career of the ambassador. The religious/political ideology of Pan-Islamism is highlighted throughout.

This article examines how official and unofficial early film footage intersects in the representation of France's mission civilisatrice in films taken in West Congo in the early twentieth century. We study uncut, and largely unseen footage of the French soldier General Henri Gouraud in Syria and Lebanon, filmed during the French acquisition of these territories following the First World War. This footage taken by Albert Kahn's photographer Lucien Le Saint, and now in the Archives de la Planète in Paris, reveals twin images of the General: one a powerful military commander of France's ‘civilizing mission’ and the other a relaxed, modern man of the kind not usually seen in public film footage. This article then, examines various contradictions at the heart of imperialistic discourse that characterised French cultural self-confidence in the last decades of the Third Republic. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article looks at an incident which happened in 1906 and involved French politician Georges Clemenceau and the administration of the Protestant Hungarian newspaper titled "Magyar Szó." The author advances that this isolated event probably influenced Clemenceau's opinion of Hungary during the years preceding World War I and the Trianon (Versailles, France) peace treaty in 1920. Topics of discussion include the newspaper's historical context from 1900 to 1914, Clemenceau's editorial entitled "le divorce austro-hongrois" which was published in his newspaper "l'Aurore" in September 29, 1905, and the Hungarian newspaper's decision to republish the interviews of three French politicians, including Clemenceau and Ernest Vallé, on March 15, 1906.

As many unused sources in the Service Historique de la Defense in Vincennes and the Quai d'Orsay in Paris reveal the French Deuxieme Bureau, and also naval intelligence, monitored events during the home rule crisis, the Easter Rising, the First World War, the Peace Conference in Paris and the Civil War. Also worthy of note are the elaboration of Franco-Irish invasion plans during the Boer War and the secret mission of an Irish general in Paris shortly after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty on 6 December 1921. The aims of this article will be to give an overview of French military intelligence activities regarding Ireland and to give an assessment of its interest in the country during the period under consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Les banques modernes émergèrent au Mexique dans les années 1860, pendant l'empire français de Maximilien de Habsbourg (1862-1867), une des conquêtes impériales commanditées par Napoléon III, et à partir de ce moment-là, les banquiers français jouèrent un rôle dominant dans le développement du Mexique. Pendant les décennies précédant la Révolution mexicaine, les banques françaises financèrent la modernisation du pays, et une d'entre elles, la Banco Nacional de México, fonctionna comme banque centrale du Mexique. La Révolution mexicaine détruisit l'ancien régime et mit fin à la domination française des marchés du crédit mexicain. En 1920, le Président Alvaro Obregón, dans le but d'initier la reconstruction économique du pays, réorganisa tout le système monétaire et bancaire du Mexique; le Crédit Foncier se retrouva non conforme à la nouvelle législature et fut donc liquidé, causant une grande perte financière aux investisseurs français. Les puissants banquiers parisiens ou le gouvernement français ne purent rien faire. Après 1920, la France cessa de jouer le rôle principal dans le secteur financier du Mexique. A partir d'archives mexicaines et françaises, cet article raconte l'histoire du Crédit Foncier Mexicain, une banque française qui opéra au Mexique pendant et après la Révolution mexicaine de 1910, et montre comment sa liquidation, en 1928, illustre la fin de l'hégémonie française en Amérique latine, notamment au Mexique, un pays où les banques françaises avaient dominé les marchés du crédit et des finances pendant un demi-siècle. Cette étude nous permet d'explorer les limites de l'impérialisme informel dans le contexte d'un pays non-colonial tel que le Mexique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses French-Swiss relations in the early modern period, focusing on four points including the influence of the French king on Swiss politics through secret payments, criticism raised at the time against these payments. The author argues that anti-corruption sentiment was prevalent at the time, using research by Sharon Kettering to show that patronage systems bred high levels of corruption and protest, and contends that the historical phenomenon of secret influence in the higher social ranks of Europe should be understood as reflecting both patronage and corruption.

The article discusses the policing of Russian emigration in Paris, France from 1880 to 1914, featuring excerpts from the author's book "The Tsarist Secret Police Abroad: Policing Europe in a Modernising World." It highlights co-operation between the political police of Tsarist Russia and Republican France. The author comments on the case of Lev Nikolaevich Gartman, a Russian terrorist who fled to Paris in 1880. He also explores counterterrorism efforts and comments on the efforts of the police of the Paris Prefecture, French Directeur-Général des Recherches A.C. Puibaraud, and Russian Chief of the Foreign Agentura Peter Ivanovich Rachkovskii.

This article considers whether a specifically French 'appeasement' developed among policymakers of the inter-war years and, if so, how various appeasement strategies changed over time. It does so firstly, by attempting to define this French version of appeasement partly by reference to the historiography of French inter-war foreign policy and strategic planning. The article then considers the various impersonal forces that led to changes of course in foreign policy. These include domestic social and political pressures, economic conditions, and the changing strategic balance of power in Europe. The article suggests that French appeasement was neither a constant feature of France's international strategy in the 1930s nor simply a mirror image of its British counterpart. The foundations of French diplomacy, military thinking and strategic outlook were altogether different. By the late 1930s the limitations of actual allies, the recalcitrance of some potential friends, the elusiveness of others, had all provided a powerful fillip to proponents of appeasement, although substantial minorities continued to oppose it. Ultimately, France without a great power ally was a nation compelled to appease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzes the diplomatic career of Ernest Constans, French ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1898-1909. Background in politics; Comparison of the ambassadorial performance of Constans with French foreign minister Theophile Delcasse; Observations about his diplomatic career.