MARTIN S. ALEXANDER is Professor of International Relations at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. He is the author of Republic in Danger: General Maurice Gamelin and the Politics of French Defence, 1933-1940, editor of French History since Napoleon and co-editor (with Martin Evans and J.F.V.Keiger) of The Algerian War and the French Army 1954-62: Experiences, Images, Testimonies. WILLIAM J. PHILPOTT is Lecturer in Military History, Department of War Studies, King's College London. He is the author of Anglo-French Relations and Strategy on the Western Front 1914-18 and many chapters and articles on Anglo-French relations in the era of the two World Wars.

• Preface; P.Bell Acknowledgements Notes on the Contributors List of Abbreviations Introduction: Choppy Channel Waters: The Crests and Troughs of Anglo-French Defence Relations Between the Wars; M.S.Alexander & W.J.Philpott Growing Respect: The Royal Navy and the Marine Nationale, 1918-39; A.Clayton An Argument Without End: Britain, France and the Disarmament Process, 1925-34; A.Webster Britain, France and the Emerging Italian Threat, 1935-38; R.M.Salerno France, Britain and the Making of the Anglo-French Alliance, 1938-9; T.Imlay Intelligence in Anglo-French Relations Before the Outbreak of the Second World War; P.Jackson & J.A.Maiolo Imperial Defence or Diversionary Attack? Anglo-French Strategic Planning in the Near East 1936-40; M.Thomas Preparing to Feed Mars: Anglo-French Economic Coordination and the Coming of War, 1937-40; M.S.Alexander The Benefit of Experience? The Supreme War Council and the Higher Management of Coalition War, 1939-40; W.J.Philpott Index