Pierre Paul Cambon (; 20 January 1843 – 29 May 1924) was a French diplomat and brother of Jules Cambon.

Biography

Cambon was born and died in Paris. He was called to the Parisian bar, and became private secretary to

Jules Ferry Jules François Camille Ferry (; 5 April 183217 March 1893) was a French statesman and republican philosopher. He was one of the leaders of the Opportunist Republicans, Moderate Republicans and served as Prime Minister of France from 1880 to 18 ...

in the '' préfecture'' of the

Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...

. After ten years of administrative work in France as secretary of '' préfecture'', and then as prefect successively of the ''

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

s'' of

Aube Aube ( ) is a French departments of France, department in the Grand Est region of northeastern France. As with sixty departments in France, this department is named after a river: the Aube (river), Aube. With 310,242 inhabitants (2019),

(1872),

Doubs Doubs (, ; ; ) is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Eastern France. Named after the river Doubs, it had a population of 543,974 in 2019.Nord (1877–1882), he exchanged into the diplomatic service, being nominated French minister plenipotentiary in Tunis, fulfilling two terms as

Resident-General A resident minister, or resident for short, is a government official required to take up permanent residence in another country. A representative of his government, he officially has diplomatic functions which are often seen as a form of in ...

In 1886, Cambon became French

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

; was transferred to

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

in 1890; and in 1898 to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, where he served until 1920. In London, Cambon quickly became an important figure by helping to negotiate the

Entente Cordiale The Entente Cordiale (; ) comprised a series of agreements signed on 8 April 1904 between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and the French Third Republic, French Republic which saw a significant improvement in Fr ...

between Britain and France in 1904 and serving as the French representative at the London Conference that resolved the

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans, Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan states of Kingdom of Greece (Glücksburg), Greece, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Montenegro, M ...

between 1912 and 1913. Although Cambon was Ambassador to Britain for more than two decades, he did not speak English and chose not to learn. To the contrary, he insisted that every remark be translated into French, including simple statements such as 'yes'. Christopher Clark notes that Cambon firmly believed "that French was the only language capable of articulating rational thought" and "objected the foundation of French schools in Britain on the eccentric grounds that French people raised in Britain tended to end up mentally retarded". Upon the outbreak of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Cambon helped secure British intervention on the French side. He was also the French signatory to the Sykes-Picot Agreement. He was decorated with the Grand Cross of the Légion d'honneur and became a member of the

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...

. He was an Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath and an

Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order () is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch, members of the royal family, or to any viceroy or senior representative of the m ...

. In 2014, he was portrayed in the BBC docu-drama mini series "37 Days" by the French actor François-Éric Gendron. The mini series depicted behind closed doors story of the events which led to the start of the First World War.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cambon, Pierre Paul 1843 births 1924 deaths Politicians from Paris Prefects of Aube Prefects of Doubs Prefects of Nord (French department) Ambassadors of France to Spain Ambassadors of France to the Ottoman Empire French residents-general in Tunisia Ambassadors of France to the United Kingdom Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order 19th-century French diplomats 20th-century French diplomats Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath

Biography

See also

References

External links