Franco-British Union

Last updated

Map of the Franco-British Union as proposed in 1940. Union franco-britannique.png
Map of the Franco-British Union as proposed in 1940.

The Franco-British Union was a proposed union in the 20th century to unite the United Kingdom and the Republic of France during the second World War. This hypothetical union would have united their militaries, government, and the foreign policy of both nations. Though declined in the end, the proposed union has some historical similarities in the past, as attempts to unite the two nations under different circumstances has occurred.

Contents

Historical unions

England and France

Ties between France and England have been intimate since the Norman Conquest, in which William the Conqueror duke of Normandy, became king of England, while also owing feudal ties to the French crown.

From 1066 to 1214, the king of England held extensive fiefs in northern France, adding to Normandy the counties of Maine, Anjou, and Touraine, and the Duchy of Brittany. After 1154, the King of England was also duke of Aquitaine (or Guienne), together with Poitou, Gascony, and other southern French fiefs dependent upon Aquitaine. Together with the northern territories, this meant that the King of England controlled more than half of France – the so-called Angevin Empire – though still nominally as the king of France's vassal. The center of gravity of this composite realm was generally south of the English Channel; four of the first seven kings after the Norman Conquest were French-born, and all were native speakers of French. For centuries thereafter the royalty and nobility of England were educated in French as well as English. In certain respects, England became an outlying province of France; English law took the strong impress of local French law, and there was an influx of French words into the English language.

This anomalous situation came to an end with the Battle of Bouvines in 1214, when King Philip II of France deposed King John of England from his northern French fiefs; in the chaos that followed, the heir to the throne of France, later Louis VIII, was offered the throne of England by rebellious English barons from 1216 to 1217 and travelled there to take it. He was proclaimed king of England in St. Paul's Cathedral, where many nobles, including King Alexander II of Scotland, paid him homage. He captured Winchester and soon controlled over half the kingdom, but after the death of King John his support dwindled and he was forced to make peace, renouncing his claim to the throne. England was ultimately able to retain a reduced Guienne as a French fief, which was retained and enlarged when war between the two kingdoms resumed in 1337.

From 1340 to 1360, and from 1369 on, the king of England assumed the title of "king of France"; but although England was generally successful in its war with France, no attempt was made to make the title a reality during that period of time.

The situation changed with King Henry V of England's invasion of France in 1415. By 1420, England controlled northern France (including the capital) for the first time in 200 years. King Charles VI of France was forced to disinherit his own son, the Dauphin Charles, in favour of Henry V. As Henry predeceased the French king by a few months, his son Henry VI was proclaimed king of England and of France from 1422 by the English and their allies but the Dauphin retained control over parts of central and southern France and claimed the crown for himself. From 1429 the Dauphin's party, including Joan of Arc, counterattacked and succeeded in crowning him as king.

Fighting between England and France continued for more than twenty years after, but by 1453 the English were expelled from all of France except Calais, which was lost in 1558. England also briefly held the town of Dunkirk in 1658–1662. The kings of England and their successor kings of Great Britain, purely as a habitual expression and with no associated political claim, continued to use the title "king of France" until 1801; the heads of the House of Stuart, out of power since 1688, used the title until their extinction in 1807.

Scotland and France

Norman or French culture first gained a foothold in Scotland during the Davidian Revolution, when King David I introduced Continental-style reforms throughout all aspects of Scottish life: social, religious, economic and administrative. He also invited immigrant French and Anglo-French peoples to Scotland. This effectively created a Franco-Scottish aristocracy, with ties to the French aristocracy as well as many to the Franco-English aristocracy. From the Wars of Scottish Independence, as common enemies of England and its ruling House of Plantagenet, Scotland and France started to enjoy a close diplomatic relationship, the Auld Alliance, from 1295 to 1560. From the Late Middle Ages and into the Early Modern Period Scotland and its burghs also benefited from close economic and trading links with France in addition to its links to the Low Countries, Scandinavia and the Baltic.

The prospect of dynastic union came in the 15th and 16th centuries, when Margaret, eldest daughter of James I of Scotland, married the future Louis XI of France. James V of Scotland married two French brides in succession. His infant daughter, Mary I, succeeded him on his death in 1542. For many years thereafter the country was ruled under a regency led by her French mother, Mary of Guise, who succeeded in marrying her daughter to the future Francis II of France. The young couple were king and queen of France and Scotland from 1559 until Francis died in 1560. Mary returned to a Scotland heaving with political revolt and religious revolution, which made a continuation of the alliance impossible.

Cordial economic and cultural relations did continue however, although throughout the 17th century, the Scottish establishment became increasingly Presbyterian, often belligerent to Roman Catholicism, a facet which was somewhat at odds with Louis XIV's aggressively Catholic foreign and domestic policy. The relationship was further weakened by the Union of the Crowns in 1603, which meant from then on that although still independent, executive power in the Scottish government, the Crown, was shared with the Kingdom of England and Scottish foreign policy came into line more with that of England than with France.

Modern concepts

Entente cordiale (1904)

In April 1904 the United Kingdom and the Third French Republic signed a series of agreements, known as the Entente Cordiale , which marked the end of centuries of intermittent conflict between the two powers, and the start of a period of peaceful co-existence. Although French historian Fernand Braudel (1902–1985) described England and France as a single unit,[ citation needed ] nationalist political leaders from both sides were uncomfortable with the idea of such a merging.

World War II (1940)

In December 1939, Jean Monnet of the French Economic Mission in London became the head of the Anglo-French Co-ordinating Committee, which coordinated a joint planning of the two countries' wartime economies. The Frenchman hoped for a postwar United States of Europe and saw an Anglo-French political union as a step toward his goal. [1] He discussed the idea with Neville Chamberlain, Winston Churchill's assistant Desmond Morton, and other British officials. [2]

In June 1940, French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud's government faced imminent defeat in the Battle of France. In March, the French and British had mutually agreed that neither country would seek a separate peace with Nazi Germany. The French cabinet on 15 June voted to ask Germany for the terms of an armistice. Reynaud, who wished to continue the war from North Africa, was forced to submit the proposal to Churchill's War Cabinet. He claimed that he would have to resign if the British were to reject the proposal. [2]

The British opposed a French surrender, and in particular the possible loss of the French Navy to the Germans, and so sought to keep Reynaud in office. On 14 June, British diplomat's Robert Vansittart and Morton wrote along with Monnet and his deputy René Pleven a draft "Franco-British Union" proposal. [3]

They hoped that such a union would help Reynaud persuade his cabinet to continue the war from North Africa, but Churchill was skeptical when the British War Cabinet discussed the proposal and a similar one from Secretary of State for India Leo Amery on 15 June. On the morning of 16 June, the War Cabinet agreed to the French armistice request on the condition that the French fleet sail to British harbors. This disappointed Reynaud, who had hoped to use a British rejection to persuade his cabinet to continue to fight.

Reynaud supporter Charles de Gaulle had arrived in London earlier that day, however, and Monnet told him about the proposed union. De Gaulle convinced Churchill that "some dramatic move was essential to give Reynaud the support which he needed to keep his government in the war". [4] The Frenchman then called Reynaud and told him that the British prime minister proposed a union between their countries, an idea which Reynaud immediately supported. De Gaulle, Monnet, Vansittart, and Pleven quickly agreed to a document proclaiming a joint citizenship, foreign trade, currency, war cabinet, and military command. Churchill withdrew the armistice approval, and at 3 p.m. the War Cabinet met again to consider the union document. Despite the radical nature of the proposal, Churchill and the ministers recognized the need for a dramatic act to encourage the French and reinforce Reynaud's support within his cabinet before it met again at 5 pm. [5]

The final "Declaration of Union" approved by the British War Cabinet stated that; [6] [7]

France and Great Britain shall no longer be two nations, but one Franco-British Union. The constitution of the Union will provide for joint organs of defence, foreign, financial and economic policies. Every citizen of France will enjoy immediately citizenship of Great Britain, every British subject will become a citizen of France.

Churchill and de Gaulle called Reynaud to tell him about the document, and they arranged for a joint meeting of the two governments in Concarneau the next day. The declaration immediately succeeded in its goal of encouraging Reynaud, who saw the union as the only alternative to surrender and who could now cite the British rejection of the armistice. [8]

Other French leaders were less enthusiastic, however. At the 5 p.m. cabinet meeting, many called it a last minute plan by the British to steal their colonies, and said that "be[ing] a Nazi province" was preferable to becoming a British dominion. [9] Philippe Pétain, a leader of the pro-armistice group and later leader of the Nazi client state of Vichy France, called the union "fusion with a corpse". While President Albert Lebrun and some others were supportive, the cabinet's opposition stunned Reynaud. He resigned that evening without taking a formal vote on the union or an armistice, and later called the failure of the union the "greatest disappointment of my political career".

Reynaud had erred, however, by conflating opposition to the union – which a majority of the cabinet almost certainly opposed – with support for an armistice, which it almost certainly did not. If the proposal had been made a few days earlier, instead of the 16th when the French only had hours to decide between armistice and North Africa, Reynaud's cabinet might have considered it more carefully.

Pétain formed a new government that evening, which immediately decided to ask Germany for armistice terms. The British cancelled their plans to travel to Concarneau.

Suez Crisis (1956)

In September 1956, due to a common foe during the Suez Crisis, an Anglo-French Task Force was created. French Prime Minister Guy Mollet proposed a union between the United Kingdom and the French Union with Elizabeth II as head of state and a common citizenship. As an alternative, Mollet proposed that France join the Commonwealth. British Prime Minister Anthony Eden rejected both proposals; France went on to join the Treaty of Rome, which established the European Economic Community and strengthened Franco-German cooperation. [10] [11] [12]

When the Mollet proposal was first made public in the United Kingdom on 15 January 2007 through an article by Mike Thomson published on the BBC News website, [13] it received rather satirical treatment in the media of both countries, including the name, coined by the BBC, of Frangleterre (a portmanteau of "France" and "Angleterre", the French word for England). The UK broadcaster stated that Mollet's proposal originated from newly declassified material, arguing no such archive documents exist in France. [14]

On 16 January 2007, during a television interview on LCP, French journalist Christine Clerc asked former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua, a Gaullist, about Mollet's 1956 proposal. Pasqua answered,

"if his request had been made official, Mollet would have been brought to trial for high treason". [15]

In fiction

The Lord Darcy alternative history stories take place in a world where Richard I of England lived much longer and managed to unite England and France under his rule; by the 20th century, Anglo-French is a common language spoken by the inhabitants on both sides of the Channel, and there is no doubt surrounding them being a single people.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philippe Pétain</span> French military officer (1856–1951)

Henri Philippe Bénoni Omer Joseph Pétain, better known as Philippe Pétain and Marshal Pétain, was a French general who commanded the French Army in World War I and later became the head of the collaborationist regime of Vichy France, from 1940 to 1944, during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">François Darlan</span> French admiral

Jean Louis Xavier François Darlan was a French admiral and political figure. Born in Nérac, Darlan graduated from the École navale in 1902 and quickly advanced through the ranks following his service during World War I. He was promoted to rear admiral in 1929, vice admiral in 1932, lieutenant admiral in 1937 before finally being made admiral and Chief of the Naval Staff in 1937. In 1939, Darlan was promoted to admiral of the fleet, a rank created specifically for him.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Appeal of 18 June</span> 1940 speech by Charles de Gaulle

The Appeal of 18 June was the first speech made by Charles de Gaulle after his arrival in London in 1940 following the Battle of France. Broadcast to France by the radio services of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), it is often considered to have marked the beginning of the French Resistance in World War II. It is regarded as one of the most important speeches in French history. In spite of its significance in French collective memory, historians have shown that the appeal was heard only by a minority of French people. De Gaulle's 22 June 1940 speech was more widely heard. The historic importance of these radio broadcasts and de Gaulle's future status as the emblem of the French resistance gave de Gaulle the nickname L'Homme du 18 juin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treaty establishing the European Defence Community</span> 1952 agreement on common security protocols

The Treaty establishing the European Defence Community, also known as the Treaty of Paris, is an unratified treaty signed on 27 May 1952 by the six 'inner' countries of European integration: Belgium, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, France, Italy, and West Germany. The treaty would have created a European Defence Community (EDC), with a unified defence force acting as an autonomous European pillar within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The ratification process was completed in the Benelux countries and West Germany, but stranded after the treaty was rejected in the French National Assembly. Instead, the London and Paris Conferences provided for West Germany's accession to NATO and the Western European Union (WEU), the latter of which was a transformed version of the pre-existing Western Union. The historian Odd Arne Westad calls the plan "far too complex to work in practice".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Monnet</span> European statesman

Jean Omer Marie Gabriel Monnet was a French civil servant, entrepreneur, diplomat, financier, and administrator. An influential supporter of European unity, he is considered one of the founding fathers of the European Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Reynaud</span> French politician and lawyer (1878–1966)

Paul Reynaud was a French politician and lawyer prominent in the interwar period, noted for his economic liberalism and vocal opposition to Nazi Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">René Pleven</span> French politician (1901–1993)

René Jean Pleven was a notable French politician of the Fourth Republic. A member of the Free French, he helped found the Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance (UDSR), a political party that was meant to be a successor to the wartime Resistance movement. He served as prime minister twice in the early 1950s, where his most notable contribution was the introduction of the Pleven Plan, which called for a European Defence Community between France, Italy, West Germany, and the Benelux countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armistice of 22 June 1940</span> Franco-German armistice in World War II

The Armistice of 22 June 1940, sometimes referred to as the Second Armistice at Compiègne, was an agreement signed at 18:36 on 22 June 1940 near Compiègne, France by officials of Nazi Germany and the French Third Republic. It became effective at midnight on 25 June. Signatories for Germany included Wilhelm Keitel, a senior military officer of the Wehrmacht, while those on the French side held lower ranks, including general Charles Huntziger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Baudouin</span>

Paul Baudouin was a French banker who became a politician and Foreign Minister of France for the last six months of 1940. He was instrumental in arranging a cessation of hostilities between France and Germany in June that year, resulting in an Armistice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Spears</span> British Army officer and Member of Parliament

Major-General Sir Edward Louis Spears, 1st Baronet, was a British Army officer and Member of Parliament noted for his role as a liaison officer between British and French forces in two world wars. From 1917 to 1920 he was head of the British Military Mission in Paris, ending the war as a Brigadier-General. Between the wars he served as a Member of the British House of Commons, before once again becoming as Anglo-French liaison officer, this time as a Major-General, in the Second World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georges Mandel</span> French journalist, politician, and French Resistance leader

Georges Mandel was a French Jewish journalist, and politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">France–United Kingdom relations</span> Bilateral relations

The historical ties between France and the United Kingdom, and the countries preceding them, are long and complex, including conquest, wars, and alliances at various points in history. The Roman era saw both areas largely conquered by Rome, whose fortifications largely remain in both countries to this day. The Norman conquest of England in 1066, followed by the long domination of the Plantagenet dynasty of French origin, decisively shaped the English language and led to early conflict between the two nations.

The following events occurred in June 1940:

The French State, popularly known as Vichy France, as led by Marshal Philippe Pétain after the Fall of France in 1940 before Nazi Germany, was quickly recognized by the Allies, as well as by the Soviet Union, until 30 June 1941 and Operation Barbarossa. However, France broke with the United Kingdom after the destruction of the French Fleet at Mers-el-Kebir. Canada maintained diplomatic relations until the occupation of Southern France by Germany and Italy in November 1942.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">René Massigli</span> French diplomat (1888–1988)

René Massigli was a French diplomat who played a leading role as a senior official at the Quai d'Orsay and was regarded as one of the leading French experts on Germany, which he greatly distrusted.

Events from the year 1940 in France.

The Anglo-French Supreme War Council (SWC) was established to oversee joint military strategy at the start of the Second World War. Most of its deliberations took place during the period of the Phoney War, with its first meeting at Abbeville on 12 September 1939. The final three sessions were held in France during the German blitzkrieg of May and June 1940.

André Charles Corbin (1881–1970) was a French diplomat who served as ambassador to Britain before and during the early part of the Second World War from 1933 to 27 June 1940.

Hélène de Portes, born Hélène Rebuffel,, was a Frenchwoman best remembered for the strong influence she exerted on her lover Paul Reynaud, premier of France under the Third Republic, shortly before and at the time France's June 1940 debacle at the hands of Nazi Germany. A Fascist sympathizer, she was described as '..a middle aged woman, with a shrill voice, and a clamorous, demanding manner, who chatted like a magpie and lost her temper with ease.' Charles de Gaulle called her 'a turkey', while Winston Churchill nicknamed her 'the parrot'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles de Gaulle during World War II</span>

At the outbreak of World War II, Charles de Gaulle was put in charge of the French Fifth Army's tanks in Alsace, and on 12 September 1939, he attacked at Bitche, simultaneously with the Saar Offensive.

References

  1. ↑ According to Churchill biographer Martin Gilbert, the idea of a union between the two countries was initially proposed by René Pleven. Gilbert, Martin (1991). Churchill. Random House. Chapter 25.
  2. 1 2 Shlaim, Avi (July 1974). "Prelude to Downfall: The British Offer of Union to France, June 1940". Journal of Contemporary History. 3. 9 (3): 27–63. doi:10.1177/002200947400900302. JSTOR   260024. S2CID   159722519.
  3. ↑ Jean Monnet. Jean Monnet's Memoirs.
  4. ↑ Gates, Eleanor M. (1981). End of the Affair: The Collapse of the Anglo-French Alliance, 1939–40. London: George Allen & Unwin. p. 230. ISBN   0-04-940063-0.
  5. ↑ Bosco, Andrea (20 January 2017). "June 1940: Britain's forgotten attempt to build a European Union". British Politics and Policy at LSE. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  6. ↑ "FRENCH REPUBLIC (PROPOSED UNION WITH GREAT BRITAIN) (Hansard, 16 October 1940)". api.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  7. ↑ Parry, John (13 June 2010). "A complete and indissoluble union". Federal Union. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  8. ↑ Tierney, Dominic (8 August 2017). "When Britain and France Almost Merged Into One Country". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  9. ↑ Moulton, Madison (11 August 2021). "The Franco-British Union: Genius, or Madness Born of Desperation?". History Guild. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  10. ↑ Clout, Laura (5 January 2007). "France offered to 'merge' with UK in 1950s" . The Telegraph . London.
  11. ↑ Bremner, Charles (16 January 2007). "S'il vous plaît… can we be British, too?". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 11 June 2011.
  12. ↑ Chrisafis, Angelique (16 January 2007). "Incroyable, but true ... France's 1956 bid to unite with Britain". the Guardian. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  13. ↑ Thomson, Mike (15 January 2007), "When Britain and France nearly married", News, BBC.
  14. ↑ Kelland, Kate (21 January 2007). "Papers show France asked Britain for union in 1956". Reuters. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  15. ↑ Gratien, Jean-Pierre; Pasqua, Charles; Clerc, Christine; Slama, Alain-Gérard (16 January 2007), Où? Quand? Comment? L'Histoire: Qu'est devenu le Gaullisme? [Where? When? How? History: what became Gaullism?] (broadcast) (in French), LCP public channel, archived from the original on 28 September 2007, retrieved 25 June 2007.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.