ABSTRACT
French public sentiment remained anti-British for some time after Fashoda, while the British government was preoccupied by the Boer War in South Africa from 1899 to 1903. Jean Jaures argued that the policy of diplomatic alliances, rather than protecting France against involvement in a conflict, was making war more likely. Raymond Poincare tightened military cooperation with France’s allies. French military leaders had anticipated a war for many years, but the events of 1914 showed that they had failed to grasp the changes in the nature of warfare that modern weapons had introduced. Wartime conditions hardly permitted the maintenance of a balanced budget, but the government encouraged the belief that, once victory had been achieved, “the Boche will pay.” As it became clear that the war would be a long ordeal, the civilian government gradually reasserted itself. Parliamentary deputies, many of them mobilized in August, began to criticize military deficiencies that threatened to undermine the war effort.
