This is the first full scholarly history of the French Foreign Ministry - the Quai d'Orsay - in the years between the Fashoda Crisis and the First World War. In an intensively researched study, M. B. Hayne examines the bureaucratic machinery of the Quai d'Orsay, its policies, and its personnel. He explores the ideas and influence of leading diplomats and administrators, their prejudices, and their aims; and traces the often complex relationships between successive Foreign Ministers and the functionaries of the Quai d'Orsay. His analysis throws much new light on French policy and actions during the July Crisis, and makes a significant contribution to the debate over the origins of the First World War.