Théophile Delcassé Théophile Delcassé ( 1 March 1852 – 22 February 1923 ) was a French statesman . Biography . He was born at Pamiers , in the Ariège " département " . He wrote articles on foreign affairs for the " République Française " and Paris , and in 1888 was elected " conseiller général " of his native " département " , standing as " " un disciple fidèle de Léon Gambetta " . " In the following year he entered the chamber as deputy for Foix . He was appointed under - secretary for the colonies in the second Ribot cabinet ( January to April 1893 ) , and retained his post in the Dupuy cabinet till its fall in December 1893 . It was largely owing to his efforts that the French colonial office was made a separate department with a minister at its head , and to this office he was appointed in the second Dupuy cabinet ( May 1894 to January 1895 ) . He gave a great impetus to French colonial enterprise , especially in West Africa , where he organized the newly acquired colony of Dahomey , and despatched the Liotard mission to the upper Ubangi . While in opposition , he devoted special attention to naval affairs , and in noted speeches he declared that the function of the French navy was to secure and develop colonial enterprise , deprecated all attempts to rival the British fleet , and advocated the construction of commerce destroyers as France ' s best reply to England . On the formation of the second Brisson cabinet in June 1898 he succeeded Gabriel Hanotaux as Foreign Minister , and retained that post under the subsequent premierships of Dupuy , Waldeck - Rousseau , Combes and Rouvier . In 1898 he had to deal with the delicate situation caused by Captain Marchand ' s occupation of the town of Fashoda in the Sudan ( the Fashoda Incident ) for which , as he admitted in a speech in the chamber on 23 January 1899 , he accepted full responsibility , since it arose directly out of the Liotard expedition ; and in March 1899 he concluded an agreement with Britain by which the difficulty was finally adjusted , and France consolidated her vast colonial empire in North - West Africa . In the same year he acted as mediator ( with main mediator being J . Cambon , French ambassador in Washington ) between the United States of America and Spain , and brought the peace negotiations to a successful conclusion . Delcassé was an expansionist and very anti - German . Kaiser Wilhelm called him " The most dangerous man for Germany in France " . Delcassé improved relations between France and Italy : at the same time , he adhered firmly to the alliance with Russia , and in August 1899 made a visit to Saint Petersburg , which he repeated in April 1901 . In June 1900 he made an arrangement with Spain , fixing the long - disputed boundaries of the French and Spanish possessions in West Africa . Finally he concluded the Entente Cordiale with Great Britain , covering colonial and other questions which had long been a matter of dispute , especially concerning Egypt , Newfoundland and Morocco . Suspicion of the growing entente between France and England soon arose in Germany , and in 1905 German assertiveness was shown in a crisis which was forced on in the matter of French policy by Delcassé personally , a sore point with Germany . The situation became acute , and was only really relieved by Delcassé ' s resignation in early 1906 . He retired into private life , was prevailed upon to return in 1909 as chairman of a commission appointed to investigate the French navy . Later he promulgated closer cooperation between the British and French fleets . This arrangement was an important factor in leading Britain to side with France against Germany when World War I started . He returned to cabinet as foreign minister , before retiring in 1915 .