This conference aims to provide a timely reassessment of the international relations of the period 1904 to 1914.

Refocusing on Europe ? International Relations from the Entente Cordiale to the First World War

University of Salford

Friday 26, Saturday 27 & Sunday 28 March 2004

Speakers:
Jacques Bariéty (University of Paris, Sorbonne)
Philip Bell (University of Liverpool)
Roy Bridge (University of Leeds)
Martyn Cornick (University of Birmingham)
Jean-Pierre Dormois (University of Strasbourg)
Gilles Ferragu (University of Paris X-Nanterre)
Ian Foster (University of Salford)
Dominic Geppert (University of Frankfurt)
Thomas Lindemann (Institut d'Etudes Politiques, Toulouse)
Annika Mombauer (Open University)
Mike Paris (University of Central Lancashire)
Marta Petricioli (University of Florence)
William Philpott (King's College, London)
Jean de Préneuf (Service Historique de la Marine, Paris)
Jean-Claude Sergeant (University of Paris III)
Fabrice Serodes (Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris)
Edward Spiers (University of Leeds)
David Stevenson (London School of Economics)
Isabelle Tombs (Foreign and Commonwealth Office)
Robert Tombs (University of Cambridge)
Keith Wilson (University of Leeds)
Feroz Yasamee (University of Manchester)

This conference aims to provide a timely reassessment of the international relations of the period 1904 to 1914. Timely not only because 2004 marks the centenary of the Entente Cordiale and the ninetieth anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War, but more importantly because of recent historiographical developments.

Recent historical thinking has challenged the hitherto generally accepted notion that the 1904 Entente Cordiale between Britain and France signalled a switch in focus in British foreign policy away from world-wide imperial concerns to more European issues.

The primary objective of the conference will be to test that proposition in relation to other Great Powers and more generally to explore the limits of Eurocentricity on the foreign policy and defence making processes. This will involve, in particular, exploring the extent to which the Great Powers remained focused on predominantly European issues in the areas of strategic planning and armaments. Finally, the conference will investigate and assess the extent to which other aspects of Great Power activity, from the economy to imagining future wars, fit the Eurocentric interpretation.

This conference presents new and established speakers reassessing the plans, perceptions and assumptions of the major Powers at a key moment in the history of the international relations of the twentieth century.

There will be the opportunity to visit the new Lowry arts complex and the Imperial War Museum North, both in Salford Quays.

Students are particularly welcome to attend and a concessionary conference fee is available.

Conference Co-Convenors:
Professor John Keiger (University of Salford) Email: j.f.v.keiger@salford.ac.uk Telephone: 44 (0) 161 295 5614
Dr Pascal Venier (University of Salford) Email: p.r.a.venier@salford.ac.uk Telephone: 44 (0) 161 295 5614

Further information is available from:

Debbie Hughes, Conference Administrator, European Studies Research Institute, University of Salford, Salford, Greater Manchester M5 4WT, UK Telephone: + 44 (0) 161 295 5614 Fax: + 44 (0) 161 295 2818 Email: D.Hughes1@salford.ac.uk

Website: