The publication of this book commemorates the centenary of the signing of the Entente Cordiale, a key date in Anglo-French relations. At the time, the most important feature of the agreement was that it ended territorial rivalry between France and Britain in North Africa and Egypt. It also paved the way for military cooperation between the two nations throughout the twentieth century, especially during the two world wars. Today, the Entente Cordiale has become the symbol of the constancy of Anglo-French relations and of the two nations’ common desire — independently of their occasional differences — to spread democratic values, human rights and the rule of law throughout the world. Sponsored by the Franco-British Council and published simultaneously in France and the U.K., this book brings together contributions by more than fifty British and French historians, politicians and journalists who have been active in maintaining this exceptional — if sometimes stormy — agreement between France and the U.K. They include: the French Minister of Foreign Affairs Dominique de Villepin, the British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, as well as Hubert Vedrine, Douglas Hurd, Roy Jenkins, François Kersaudy, Christopher Andrew, Jean-Jacques Becker, Anne Deighton, Maurice Druon, André Fontaine, Sir Alastair Horne, Richard Mayne, Pierre Messmer and Maurice Vaisse.

This book was edited by Jacques Viot, former French ambassador to the U.K. and president of the French Section of the Franco-British Council, and Giles Radice, British MP and president of the British Section of the Franco-British Council.