Détente (pronounced dey-tahnt
or dey-tahnt (French))
(1) A
period of lessening tension between two national powers, or a policy, usually
by means of negotiation or agreement, designed to lessen that tension. A détente is not the resolution of disagreement
between the powers but a device to reduce the tensions these disagreements
induce.
(2) A
term used by historians to describe US foreign policy between the first Nixon
administration (1969) and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (1979). Détente’s companion word in Russian was
разрядка (razryadka) (reduction of tension)
1912:
From the French détente (literally “a
loosening or relaxation”), from the Old French destente, a derivative of destendre
(to relax; to release), the construct being des-
(from the Middle French, from the Old French des-, from the Latin dis-,
from the Proto-Italic dwis-, from the
primitive Indo-European dwís and
cognate with the Ancient Greek δίς (dís)
and the Sanskrit द्विस् (dvis), the prefix used variously to
convey (1) asunder, apart, in two, part, separate, (2) reversal, removal or (3)
utterly, exceedingly.) + tendre (to
stretch). A doublet of intent.
The
French use was influenced by the Vulgar Latin detendita, the feminine past participle of detendere (loosen, release) and as a political term in the sense of
"an easing of hostility or tensions between countries", it became
more popular in diplomatic discourse after Russia joined the Anglo-French entente
cordiale. In French, the word dates from
the 1680s; the earlier detent was a
mechanism that temporarily keeps one part in a certain position relative to
that of another, which can be released by applying force to one of the parts. It was used most in engineering to describe a
locking mechanism, often spring-loaded to check the movement of a wheel in one
direction, the most obvious example of which is a pulley. In English it was treated as a French word
until it was used to describe a theme in US foreign policy 1969-1979. In English, the spelling detente is often
used; the noun plural is détentes.
Entente (pronounced ahn-tahnt
or ahn-tahnt (French))
(1) An
arrangement or understanding between two or more nations agreeing to pursue
shared interests with regard to affairs of international concern but without
concluding a formal binding alliance.
(2) The
parties to an entente cordiale collectively.
1844:
From the French entente (understanding)
from the Old French verb entente (intention)
a noun use of the feminine of entent,
past participle of entendre (to
intend). Although not all agree, there
may have been some influence from the Latin intenta, perhaps perhaps through the
substantivized Vulgar Latin past participle intendita, as a variant of intenta. In English, “the entente” has long been used
as verbal shorthand for the Anglo-French entente cordiale (1904), the best
known of the many ententes, the first apparently document in 1844. The noun plural is ententes.
Détente
Until
the late 1960s, the word détente was rare except in diplomatic circles or the
work of historians. In the language of diplomacy,
it came into use around 1912 when there were (obviously not successful)
attempts by Germany and France to reduce tensions which may have given it a bad name
although it appears often in the archival records of the League of Nations
(1920-1946), something which may further have added tarnish. The revival came when Dr Henry Kissinger
(b 1923; US national security advisor 1969-1973 & secretary of state
1973-1977) was appointed national security advisor by Richard Nixon (1913-1994;
US president 1969-1974), bringing with him a long study of diplomacy and a
feeling for the desirability of a “balance of power” between the USSR and US,
under which a stable “peaceful co-existence” could be maintained. The core element of détente was arms-limitation,
Kissinger’s idea being there was no surer path to a reduction in tensions than reducing
the possibility of conflict escalating to nuclear confrontation.
There were regular summit meetings too
and even Nixon’s visit to China in 1972 worked as a part of détente with the
USSR but détente did not fundamentally change the postwar American strategy of
containment. Instead it was a mechanism
of pursuing containment in a less confrontational method, offering inducements
such as technology transfers or trade agreements in exchange for Soviet
restraint in promoting revolutionary movements. It was never envisaged as a means by which the
USSR might be destroyed and Kissinger assumed the Soviet state would endure
indefinitely in a stable bi-polar system where each side maintained its own
spheres of influence and tended not to trespass too far into the other’s
space. The lure of détente faded after
Nixon’s resignation and was definitely over after the Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan in 1979 but Ronald Reagan (1912-2004; US president 1981-1989), even
before assuming office, had made clear he regarded détente as
defeatist, thinking the very existence of the Soviet system a problem to be solved, not merely
managed. Reagan’s approach was radical;
he was the Leon Trotsky (1879–1940; Ukrainian-Russian Marxist revolutionary & theorist murdered by comrade Stalin) of the West, as opposed to détente as the
Russian had been to the essentially similar doctrines of “peaceful
co-existence” & “socialism in one state”.
Entente
The
1904 Anglo-French entente cordiale is well-remembered as a set of landmark
agreements which resolved a number of long-standing territorial, economic, and
strategic points of contention between Britain and France, London and Paris
both motivated by their concerns of an increasingly assertive Germany. From the entente of 1904, lay the winding
path to 1914 and all that would follow but the first entente cordiale was
concluded in 1844 in the wake of Queen Victoria’s (1819–1901; Queen of the
United Kingdom 1837-1901) visit to King Louis-Philippe (1773–1850; King of the
French 1830-1848) the year before.
The first
British monarch to set foot in France since Henry VIII (1491–1547; King of
England 1509-1547), the gesture was quite remarkable given that only three
years earlier, the two countries had been on the brink of war. Things had changed, with the removal of the
long-serving foreign secretary Lord Palmerston (1784–1865; UK foreign secretary
or prime-minister variously 1830-1865), relations rapidly improved, assisted by
the warm friendship between the two sovereigns and it was Palmerston’s
replacement, Lord Aberdeen (1784–1860;UK foreign secretary or prime-minister
variously 1828-1855) who conjured-up the phrase “a cordial good understanding” to
which the King of France responded with “une
sincère amitié” and a spirit of “cordiale
entente”, the latter catching on both sides of the channel.
It was
however tentative, the entente cordiale was not an alliance confirmed by a
treaty, but a concept, a state of mind which the French foreign minister François
Guizot (1787–1874; French foreign minister or prime-minister variously
1840-1848) explained by saying “On
certain questions, the two countries have understood that they can agree and
act together, without a formal undertaking and without renouncing any aspect of
their freedom.” It was in its early
days also administered in a very different way, not between ambassadors or bureaucrats
but a kind of informal (an actually quite affectionate) back-channel of private
correspondence, unknown to other ministers or monarchs, between the French and
British foreign ministers. It was a
successful approach and enabled the resolution of difficulties which might
otherwise have become crises, including the right of search on their respective
ships to prevent slave trading; protectorates in the Pacific, French intervention
in Morocco and many squabbles between ambassadors. It smoothed out much but wasn’t always
popular with others in both countries, most of whom brought up in the more
gut-wrenching and combative traditions of preceding centuries.
One sensitive question was the famous affair of the Spanish marriages,
those of the young Spanish Queen Isabella II (1830-1904) and her sister (Luisa
Fernanda 1832–1897), something on which the Paris & London had very
different views and a satisfactory compromise seemed at hand when, in 1846, the
British government fell and old Lord Palmerston returned, bent on confrontation
with Paris. Guizot loathed Palmerston
and with brutal rapidity concluded the Iberian marriages to the advantage of
France (both marriages proved miserable but among European royalty happy unions were anyway vanishingly elusive) and with that, the entente cordiale was over. However, although the warmth of the relationship
since has fluxuated, the Royal Navy even sinking some of the French fleet in
1940 to prevent ships falling into German hands, France and Britain have not again
been at war.
