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==Background==
French cruiser policy during the decade from the mid-1880s was incoherent as three different factions of the navy fought amongst themselves in four forums, the [[List of Naval Ministers of France|Navy Ministry]] ({{lang|fr|Ministre de la Marine}}), the Budgetary Committee of the [[Chamber of Deputies (France)|Chamber of Deputies]] ({{lang|fr|Chambre des députés}}), the Superior Naval Council ({{lang|fr|[[Conseil supérieur de la Marine]]}}) that proposed shipbuilding programs and ship characteristics to the Navy Minister, and the {{lang|fr|[[Conseil des travaux]]}} that was responsible for evaluating ship designs. The partisans of the {{lang|fr|[[Jeune École]]}} (Young School) wanted fast, lightly armed ships for [[commerce raiding]], the traditionalists who wanted cruisers to defend the colonies and the modernists
A traditionalist Navy Minister, [[Vice Admiral]] ({{lang|fr|Vice amiral}}) [[Armand Besnard]], succeeded the liberal politican [[Édouard Lockroy]] in April 1896, after the latter had authorized construction of the very large armored cruiser {{ship|French cruiser|Jeanne d'Arc|1899|2}} in the 1896 budget proposal, despite opposition from the {{lang|fr|Conseil des travaux}}. After rejecting a repeat {{convert|8000|t|LT|lk=on|adj=on|sp=us|0}} [[protected cruiser]] like {{ship|French cruiser|D'Entrecasteaux||2}} in the 1896 budget, Lockroy and his allies in the Budget Committee were willing to accept smaller cruisers in the following year's budget. The {{lang|fr|Conseil des travaux}} rejected Besnard's proposal for a {{convert|5700|t|LT|adj=on|sp=us|0}} protected cruiser in late 1896,<ref name=r6/> saying that the navy "needed ships that can deal out and withstand punishment",<ref>Jordan & Caresse, p. 77</ref> but Besnard authorized construction of {{ship|French cruiser|Jurien de la Gravière||2}} a few weeks later in the 1897 budget proposal anyway.<ref name=r6>Ropp, p. 286</ref>
In the meantime, the Superior Naval Council had produced a new naval program that included an additional three each armored and protected cruisers for overseas service and five armored cruisers for service with the battle fleet. For the 1898 budget, Besnard proposed one battleship, two armored cruisers and two protected cruisers, but Lockroy and his allies, probably influenced by the ideas of Vice Admiral [[François Ernest Fournier]], who believed that most cruiser tasks, including commerce raiding, would be better performed by armored cruisers smaller than ''Jeanne d'Arc'', deleted the battleship and offered him 120 million [[French franc|francs]] for armored cruisers. Besnard initially proposed adding an enlarged version of ''Jeanne d'Arc'', but this was rejected by the {{lang|fr|Conseil des travaux}} in early 1897. He countered with a revised program of three armored cruisers for overseas duties, which became the ''Dupleix'' class, and three {{sclass-|Gueydon|cruiser|0}} armored cruisers for the fleet. This satisfied the Superior Naval Council's objectives and all three factions as Fourier's ideas showed that armored cruisers could accomplish the {{lang|fr|Jeune École}}'s preferred strategy of commerce raiding. It also neatly consumed the Budget Committee's 120 million francs as each of the ''Dupleix''s cost about 19 million francs and the ''Gueydon''s 21 million francs.<ref>Jordan & Caresse, pp. 77–78; Ropp, pp. 286, 288</ref>
Preliminary design work in December 1896 was for a {{convert|7300|t|LT|sp=us|adj=on|0}} ship armed with ten {{convert|164.7|mm|adj=on|sp=us|1}} guns, two in single-[[gun turret]]s fore and aft of the superstructure and the remaining eight in [[Casemate#Single casemates (1889 onwards)|casemates]], protected by a {{convert|70|mm|adj=on|sp=us}} [[waterline]] [[armor belt]]. The {{lang|fr|Conseil de travaux}} thought that the belt protection was too weak and that
''Dupleix'' was ordered from one of the naval dockyards on 18 December and orders for the other two followed on 28 December. Six months later, the {{lang|fr|Conseil}} proposed revising the armament, exchanging the single-gun turrets and the casemated guns for four twin-gun turrets, two replacing the turrets on the [[centerline (nautical)|centerline]] and two [[wing turret]]s, one on each [[broadside]], and adding four {{convert|100|mm|adj=on|1|sp=us}} guns in casemates. By this time, preliminary work had already begun on ''Dupleix'' and Lockroy, recently returned to office, suggested suspending work on the ships while studies were done. Bertin opposed the changes, but produced drawings by early March 1899, despite the work load on his designers who were focused on other projects, and they were approved by the Minister on 6 April. The changes greatly retarded the progress on the two ships ordered from private dockyards, which had already been laid down in early 1899.<ref>Jordan & Caresse, pp. 81–82</ref>
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