This article covers the Anglo-French Alliance between 1716 and 1731. For the alliance that has existed since 1904 see Entente Cordiale
The Anglo-French Alliance is the name for the alliance between Great Britain and France between 1716 and 1731. It formed part of the stately quadrille in which the Great Powers of Europe repeatedly switched partners to try to build a superior alliance.
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Following the end of the War of the Spanish Succession by the Treaty of Utrecht, British and French interests converged as they wished to stop the expansion of Spanish and Russian power. France faced an uncertain succession as their King Louis XV was currently young and childless. Britain was wary of alienating the much larger France. The two states co-operated together during the War of the Quadruple Alliance to stop a Spanish attempt to conquer parts of Italy. Shortly afterwards they managed to check the Russian advance across the Baltic.
The birth of a Dauphin in 1725 began to dissolve the French interest in the alliance, as their future was increasingly secure. In Britain a group of Austrophiles suggested that Austria would in fact make a better potential partner for Britain. The actions of the French Chief Minister Cardinal Fleury were increasingly hostile towards Britain. The French failure to support the British during the Anglo-Spanish War of 1727-29, convinced many that they were no longer a reliable ally, but were instead returning to the traditional position of a rival. The end of the alliance was never formally declared, but by early 1731 it was widely considered to be over.
In 1731 Britain, sensing the direction Cardinal Fleury was taking France, concluded an alliance with Austria. By 1742 Britain and France were on opposite sides during the War of the Austrian Succession and their colonial rivalry in North America continued. Some have suggested that between 1688 and 1815 Britain and France were 'natural enemies' and the period has become known as the Second Hundred Years War, but the seventeen years spent as allies has been used to challenge this theory that the two states were implacable enemies.
Following the defeat of Napoleon I at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, Britain helped restore the French kings to the throne. Thereafter the two states became informal allies, never again fighting a war. In 1904 the two states concluded the Entente Cordiale, an alliance directed at checking the expanding powers of Russia and Germany.