Came across this post which states that relations between Britain and France were tense but can anyone expand on this ?
Were they close to inevitable war or would it of been French expansion that Britain could not do anything about?
Hi,
France and Britain have had complicated relations over the centuries.
However, in the late 19th century (I'm assuming you're talking 1880 and after), I would consider it was pretty ok.
British and french relations started to ease down after 1830 because of two things.
Due to the rise of Germany (at the time it wasn't Germany yet, but Friedrich II made Prussia a serious contender). France and Britain didn't have much problem since Napoléon was out of the picture. It was clear for Britain that France wouldn't try to conquer Europe, nor America. France not being a threat anymore, and Prussia/Germany rising, Britain might have considered to take France as an ally.
France and Britain were colonizing the world, especially Africa. When Louis-Philippe came to power in 1830, he decided to start diplomatic relations, in order to share Africa peacefully with Britain. On April, 22th 1834 the Quadruple Alliance treaty is signed between UK, France, Portugal and Spain (sorry I don't have a link in english). In 1843 and 1845, Queen Victoria visited France in the château d'Eu in Normandie.
Fast forward : 1848 french second republic, I don't know what Britain thought of that ; 1852 french second Empire, I suspect Britain wasn't too thrilled about that ; 1870 Bismarck kicked our ass.
1875 : french third republic is in place, and restarts diplomatic relations with Britain. They became closer and closer, until it became really official with the Entente Cordiale in 1904 source on the Entente Cordiale .
So I guess, our relations in the late 19th were pretty OK, although considering napelonian wars and french lack of political stability, Britishs may have been suspicious.
A british point of view on the subject would be interesting.