Franco-British Union
Encyclopedia
A Franco-British Union is a concept for a union between the two independent
sovereign state
s of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain
and France
, known as the French Republic
. Such a union was proposed during certain crises of the 20th century; it has some historical precedents.
have been intimate since the Norman Conquest, in which the Duke of Normandy
, an important French fief, became King of England, while also owing feudal ties to the French crown.
The relationship was never stable, and it only endured as long as the French crown was weak. 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 centre 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 the English language itself was saturated with French words.
This anomalous situation came to an end with the Battle of Bouvines
in 1214, when the King of France deposed the King 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 until Henry V
's invasion of France in 1415. By 1420, England controlled northern France (including the capital) for the first time in 200 years. The King 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 southern France and claimed the crown for himself. From 1429 the Dauphin's party 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 (now just as unreal as their other claims) until their extinction in 1807.
, 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 burgh
s 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 Princess Margaret, eldest daughter of James I of Scotland
, married the future Louis XI of France
; and later the King of Scotland, James V
, 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 child Dauphin Francis
, who thus took the title of "King of Scotland"; when he succeeded as King of France in 1559, France and Scotland were tentatively united in a kind of personal union
. Had Francis survived to have a son with Mary, their child would have become king of both France and Scotland (and, perhaps, later of England
as well); but in fact, Francis died in 1560, and 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.
, marking the end of centuries of intermittent conflict between the two colonial powers, and the start of a peaceful co-existence. Although French historian Fernand Braudel
described England and France as a single unit, nationalist political leaders from both sides were uncomfortable with the idea of such a merging.
of the French Economic Mission in London became the head of the Anglo-French Coordinating Committee, which coordinated 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. He discussed the idea with Neville Chamberlain
, Winston Churchill
's assistant Desmond Morton, and other British officials.
In June 1940, French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud
's government faced imminent defeat in the Battle of France
. In March it and the British had 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.
The British opposed a French surrender, and in particular the possible loss of the French Navy
to the Germans, so sought to keep Reynaud in office. On 14 June British diplomat Robert Vansittart
and Morton wrote with Monnet and his deputy René Pleven
a draft "Franco-British Union" proposal. They hoped that such a union would help Reynaud persuade his cabinet to continue the war from North Africa, but Churchill was skeptical when on 15 June the British War Cabinet discussed the proposal and a similar one from Secretary of State for India
Leo Amery. 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". 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 5pm.
The final "DECLARATION OF UNION" approved by the British War Cabinet stated that
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.
Other French leaders were less enthusiastic, however. At the 5 p.m. cabinet meeting, many called it a British "last minute plan" to steal its colonies
, and said that "be[ing] a Nazi province" was preferable to becoming a British dominion. Philippe Pétain
, a leader of the pro-armistice group, called 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 canceled their plans to travel to Concarneau.
In September 1956, during the Suez Crisis
due to a common foe 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 and France went on to join the Treaty of Rome
, which established the European Economic Community
and strengthened the Franco-German cooperation
.
, of Frangleterre (merging "France" with Angleterre, which is 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.
On 16 January 2007 during a LCP
television programme French journalist Christine Clerc asked former French Interior Minister
Charles Pasqua
(Gaullist) about Mollet's 1956 proposal. Pasqua answered, "if his demand had been made official, Mollet would have been brought to trial for high treason
".
Independence
Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state in which its residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory....
sovereign state
Sovereign state
A sovereign state, or simply, state, is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is neither...
s of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
of Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, known as the French Republic
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. Such a union was proposed during certain crises of the 20th century; it has some historical precedents.
England and France
Ties between France and the Kingdom of EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
have been intimate since the Norman Conquest, in which the Duke of Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
, an important French fief, became King of England, while also owing feudal ties to the French crown.
The relationship was never stable, and it only endured as long as the French crown was weak. From 1066 to 1214, the King of England held extensive fiefs in northern France, adding to Normandy the counties of Maine
Maine (province)
Le Maine is one of the traditional provinces of France . It corresponds to the old county of Maine, with its center, the city of Le Mans.-Location:...
, Anjou
Anjou
Anjou is a former county , duchy and province centred on the city of Angers in the lower Loire Valley of western France. It corresponds largely to the present-day département of Maine-et-Loire...
, and Touraine
Touraine
The Touraine is one of the traditional provinces of France. Its capital was Tours. During the political reorganization of French territory in 1790, the Touraine was divided between the departments of Indre-et-Loire, :Loir-et-Cher and Indre.-Geography:...
, and the Duchy of Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
. After 1154, the King of England was also Duke of Aquitaine
Aquitaine
Aquitaine , archaic Guyenne/Guienne , is one of the 27 regions of France, in the south-western part of metropolitan France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain. It comprises the 5 departments of Dordogne, :Lot et Garonne, :Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes...
(or Guienne), together with Poitou
Poitou
Poitou was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers.The region of Poitou was called Thifalia in the sixth century....
, Gascony
Gascony
Gascony is an area of southwest France that was part of the "Province of Guyenne and Gascony" prior to the French Revolution. The region is vaguely defined and the distinction between Guyenne and Gascony is unclear; sometimes they are considered to overlap, and sometimes Gascony is considered a...
, 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
Angevin Empire
The term Angevin Empire is a modern term describing the collection of states once ruled by the Angevin Plantagenet dynasty.The Plantagenets ruled over an area stretching from the Pyrenees to Ireland during the 12th and early 13th centuries, located north of Moorish Iberia. This "empire" extended...
– though still nominally as the King of France's vassal
Vassal
A vassal or feudatory is a person who has entered into a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations often included military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain privileges, usually including the grant of land held...
. The centre 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 the English language itself was saturated with French words.
This anomalous situation came to an end with the Battle of Bouvines
Battle of Bouvines
The Battle of Bouvines, 27 July 1214, was a conclusive medieval battle ending the twelve year old Angevin-Flanders War that was important to the early development of both the French state by confirming the French crown's sovereignty over the Angevin lands of Brittany and Normandy.Philip Augustus of...
in 1214, when the King of France deposed the King of England from his northern French fiefs; in the chaos that followed, the heir to the throne of France
Louis VIII of France
Louis VIII the Lion reigned as King of France from 1223 to 1226. He was a member of the House of Capet. Louis VIII was born in Paris, France, the son of Philip II Augustus and Isabelle of Hainaut. He was also Count of Artois, inheriting the county from his mother, from 1190–1226...
, 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
Alexander II of Scotland
Alexander II was King of Scots from1214 to his death.-Early life:...
paid him homage. He captured Winchester
Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...
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 until Henry V
Henry V of England
Henry V was King of England from 1413 until his death at the age of 35 in 1422. He was the second monarch belonging to the House of Lancaster....
's invasion of France in 1415. By 1420, England controlled northern France (including the capital) for the first time in 200 years. The King of France
Charles VI of France
Charles VI , called the Beloved and the Mad , was the King of France from 1380 to 1422, as a member of the House of Valois. His bouts with madness, which seem to have begun in 1392, led to quarrels among the French royal family, which were exploited by the neighbouring powers of England and Burgundy...
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
Henry VI of England
Henry VI was King of England from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and disputed King of France from 1422 to 1453. Until 1437, his realm was governed by regents. Contemporaneous accounts described him as peaceful and pious, not suited for the violent dynastic civil wars, known as the Wars...
was proclaimed king of England and of France from 1422 by the English and their allies but the Dauphin
Charles VII of France
Charles VII , called the Victorious or the Well-Served , was King of France from 1422 to his death, though he was initially opposed by Henry VI of England, whose Regent, the Duke of Bedford, ruled much of France including the capital, Paris...
retained control over parts of southern France and claimed the crown for himself. From 1429 the Dauphin's party 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
Calais
Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....
, 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
House of Stuart
The House of Stuart is a European royal house. Founded by Robert II of Scotland, the Stewarts first became monarchs of the Kingdom of Scotland during the late 14th century, and subsequently held the position of the Kings of Great Britain and Ireland...
, out of power since 1688, used the title (now just as unreal as their other claims) until their extinction in 1807.
Scotland and France
Norman or French culture first gained a foothold in Scotland during the Davidian RevolutionDavidian Revolution
The Davidian Revolution is a term given by many scholars to the changes which took place in the Kingdom of Scotland during the reign of David I of Scotland...
, when King David I
David I of Scotland
David I or Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim was a 12th-century ruler who was Prince of the Cumbrians and later King of the Scots...
introduced Continental-style reforms throughout all aspects of Scottish life, social, religious, economic and administrative. He also invited immigrant French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
and Anglo-French
Anglo-Norman
The Anglo-Normans were mainly the descendants of the Normans who ruled England following the Norman conquest by William the Conqueror in 1066. A small number of Normans were already settled in England prior to the conquest...
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
Wars of Scottish Independence
The Wars of Scottish Independence were a series of military campaigns fought between the independent Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England in the late 13th and early 14th centuries....
, as common enemies of England and its ruling House of Plantagenet
House of Plantagenet
The House of Plantagenet , a branch of the Angevins, was a royal house founded by Geoffrey V of Anjou, father of Henry II of England. Plantagenet kings first ruled the Kingdom of England in the 12th century. Their paternal ancestors originated in the French province of Gâtinais and gained the...
, Scotland and France started to enjoy a close diplomatic relationship, the Auld Alliance
Auld Alliance
The Auld Alliance was an alliance between the kingdoms of Scotland and France. It played a significant role in the relations between Scotland, France and England from its beginning in 1295 until the 1560 Treaty of Edinburgh. The alliance was renewed by all the French and Scottish monarchs of that...
, from 1295 to 1560. From the Late Middle Ages
Late Middle Ages
The Late Middle Ages was the period of European history generally comprising the 14th to the 16th century . The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern era ....
and into the Early Modern Period
Early modern period
In history, the early modern period of modern history follows the late Middle Ages. Although the chronological limits of the period are open to debate, the timeframe spans the period after the late portion of the Middle Ages through the beginning of the Age of Revolutions...
Scotland and its burgh
Burgh
A burgh was an autonomous corporate entity in Scotland and Northern England, usually a town. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when King David I created the first royal burghs. Burgh status was broadly analogous to borough status, found in the rest of the United...
s 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 Princess Margaret, eldest daughter of James I of Scotland
James I of Scotland
James I, King of Scots , was the son of Robert III and Annabella Drummond. He was probably born in late July 1394 in Dunfermline as youngest of three sons...
, married the future Louis XI of France
Louis XI of France
Louis XI , called the Prudent , was the King of France from 1461 to 1483. He was the son of Charles VII of France and Mary of Anjou, a member of the House of Valois....
; and later the King of Scotland, James V
James V of Scotland
James V was King of Scots from 9 September 1513 until his death, which followed the Scottish defeat at the Battle of Solway Moss...
, 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
Mary of Guise
Mary of Guise was a queen consort of Scotland as the second spouse of King James V. She was the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots, and served as regent of Scotland in her daughter's name from 1554 to 1560...
, who succeeded in marrying her daughter to the child Dauphin Francis
Francis II of France
Francis II was aged 15 when he succeeded to the throne of France after the accidental death of his father, King Henry II, in 1559. He reigned for 18 months before he died in December 1560...
, who thus took the title of "King of Scotland"; when he succeeded as King of France in 1559, France and Scotland were tentatively united in a kind of personal union
Personal union
A personal union is the combination by which two or more different states have the same monarch while their boundaries, their laws and their interests remain distinct. It should not be confused with a federation which is internationally considered a single state...
. Had Francis survived to have a son with Mary, their child would have become king of both France and Scotland (and, perhaps, later of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
as well); but in fact, Francis died in 1560, and 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
Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism refers to a number of Christian churches adhering to the Calvinist theological tradition within Protestantism, which are organized according to a characteristic Presbyterian polity. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures,...
, often belligerent to Roman Catholicism, a facet which was somewhat at odds with Louis XIV
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
's aggressively Catholic foreign and domestic policy. The relationship was further weakened by the Union of the Crowns
Union of the Crowns
The Union of the Crowns was the accession of James VI, King of Scots, to the throne of England, and the consequential unification of Scotland and England under one monarch. The Union of Crowns followed the death of James' unmarried and childless first cousin twice removed, Queen Elizabeth I of...
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.
Entente cordiale (1904)
In April 1904, the United Kingdom and the Third French Republic signed a series of agreements, known as the Entente cordialeEntente Cordiale
The Entente Cordiale was a series of agreements signed on 8 April 1904 between the United Kingdom and the French Republic. Beyond the immediate concerns of colonial expansion addressed by the agreement, the signing of the Entente Cordiale marked the end of almost a millennium of intermittent...
, marking the end of centuries of intermittent conflict between the two colonial powers, and the start of a peaceful co-existence. Although French historian Fernand Braudel
Fernand Braudel
Fernand Braudel was a French historian and a leader of the Annales School. His scholarship focused on three main projects, each representing several decades of intense study: The Mediterranean , Civilization and Capitalism , and the unfinished Identity of France...
described England and France as a single unit, nationalist political leaders from both sides were uncomfortable with the idea of such a merging.
World War II (1940)
In December 1939 Jean MonnetJean Monnet
Jean Omer Marie Gabriel Monnet was a French political economist and diplomat. He is regarded by many as a chief architect of European Unity and is regarded as one of its founding fathers...
of the French Economic Mission in London became the head of the Anglo-French Coordinating Committee, which coordinated joint planning of the two countries' wartime economies. The Frenchman hoped for a postwar United States of Europe
United States of Europe
Since the 1950s, European integration has seen the development of a supranational system of governance, as its institutions move further from the concept of simple intergovernmentalism. However, with the Maastricht Treaty of 1993, new intergovernmental elements have been introduced alongside the...
and saw an Anglo-French political union as a step toward his goal. He discussed the idea with Neville Chamberlain
Neville Chamberlain
Arthur Neville Chamberlain FRS was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. Chamberlain is best known for his appeasement foreign policy, and in particular for his signing of the Munich Agreement in 1938, conceding the...
, Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
's assistant Desmond Morton, and other British officials.
In June 1940, French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud
Paul Reynaud
Paul Reynaud was a French politician and lawyer prominent in the interwar period, noted for his stances on economic liberalism and militant opposition to Germany. He was the penultimate Prime Minister of the Third Republic and vice-president of the Democratic Republican Alliance center-right...
's government faced imminent defeat in the Battle of France
Battle of France
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
. In March it and the British had agreed that neither country would seek a separate peace
Separate peace
The phrase "separate peace" refers to a nation's agreement to cease military hostilities with another, even though the former country had previously entered into a military alliance with other states that remain at war with the latter country...
with Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
. 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
Churchill War Ministry
-The War Cabinet:Changes*August 1940: Lord Beaverbrook , Minister of Aircraft Production, joins the War Cabinet*October 1940: Sir John Anderson succeeds Neville Chamberlain as Lord President. Sir Kingsley Wood, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Ernest Bevin, the Minister of Labour, enter the War...
. He claimed that he would have to resign if the British were to reject the proposal.
The British opposed a French surrender, and in particular the possible loss of the French Navy
French Navy
The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...
to the Germans, so sought to keep Reynaud in office. On 14 June British diplomat Robert Vansittart
Robert Vansittart, 1st Baron Vansittart
Robert Gilbert Vansittart, 1st Baron Vansittart GCB, GCMG, PC, MVO was a senior British diplomat in the period before and during the Second World War...
and Morton wrote with Monnet and his deputy René Pleven
René Pleven
René Pléven 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 , a political party that was meant to be a successor to the wartime Resistance movement...
a draft "Franco-British Union" proposal. They hoped that such a union would help Reynaud persuade his cabinet to continue the war from North Africa, but Churchill was skeptical when on 15 June the British War Cabinet discussed the proposal and a similar one from Secretary of State for India
Secretary of State for India
The Secretary of State for India, or India Secretary, was the British Cabinet minister responsible for the government of India and the political head of the India Office...
Leo Amery. 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
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
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". 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
Customs union
A customs union is a type of trade bloc which is composed of a free trade area with a common external tariff. The participant countries set up common external trade policy, but in some cases they use different import quotas...
, 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 5pm.
The final "DECLARATION OF UNION" approved by the British War Cabinet stated that
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
Concarneau
Concarneau is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France.The town has two distinct areas: the modern town on the mainland and the medieval Ville Close, a walled town on a long island in the centre of the harbour. Historically, the old town was a centre of shipbuilding...
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.
Other French leaders were less enthusiastic, however. At the 5 p.m. cabinet meeting, many called it a British "last minute plan" to steal its colonies
French colonial empire
The French colonial empire was the set of territories outside Europe that were under French rule primarily from the 17th century to the late 1960s. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the colonial empire of France was the second-largest in the world behind the British Empire. The French colonial empire...
, and said that "be[ing] a Nazi province" was preferable to becoming a British dominion. Philippe Pétain
Philippe Pétain
Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Pétain , generally known as Philippe Pétain or Marshal Pétain , was a French general who reached the distinction of Marshal of France, and was later Chief of State of Vichy France , from 1940 to 1944...
, a leader of the pro-armistice group, called union "fusion with a corpse". While President Albert Lebrun
Albert Lebrun
Albert François Lebrun was a French politician, President of France from 1932 to 1940. He was the last president of the Third Republic. He was a member of the center-right Democratic Republican Alliance .-Biography:...
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
Armistice with France (Second Compiègne)
The Second Armistice at Compiègne was signed at 18:50 on 22 June 1940 near Compiègne, in the department of Oise, between Nazi Germany and France...
. The British canceled their plans to travel to Concarneau.
Suez Crisis (1956)
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, Suez War was an offensive war fought by France, the United Kingdom, and Israel against Egypt beginning on 29 October 1956. Less than a day after Israel invaded Egypt, Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to Egypt and Israel,...
due to a common foe an Anglo-French Task Force
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, Suez War was an offensive war fought by France, the United Kingdom, and Israel against Egypt beginning on 29 October 1956. Less than a day after Israel invaded Egypt, Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to Egypt and Israel,...
was created. French Prime Minister Guy Mollet
Guy Mollet
Guy Mollet was a French Socialist politician. He led the French Section of the Workers' International party from 1946 to 1969 and was Prime Minister in 1956–1957.-Early life and World War II:...
proposed a union between the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and the French Union
French Union
The French Union was a political entity created by the French Fourth Republic to replace the old French colonial system, the "French Empire" and to abolish its "indigenous" status.-History:...
with Elizabeth II as head of state
Head of State
A head of state is the individual that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes legitimizing the state and exercising the political powers, functions, and duties granted to the head of...
and a common citizenship. As an alternative, Mollet proposed that France join the Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
. British Prime Minister Anthony Eden rejected both proposals and France went on to join the Treaty of Rome
Treaty of Rome
The Treaty of Rome, officially the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, was an international agreement that led to the founding of the European Economic Community on 1 January 1958. It was signed on 25 March 1957 by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany...
, which established the European Economic Community
European Economic Community
The European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) The European Economic Community (EEC) (also known as the Common Market in the English-speaking world, renamed the European Community (EC) in 1993The information in this article primarily covers the EEC's time as an independent...
and strengthened the Franco-German cooperation
Franco-German cooperation
The relations between France and Germany is embodied in a cooperation called Franco-German Friendship . This came about after 1945, when a French-German enmity between the two countries ended....
.
Frangleterre (2007)
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, it received rather satirical treatment in the media of both countries, including the name, coined by the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, of Frangleterre (merging "France" with Angleterre, which is 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.
On 16 January 2007 during a LCP
La Chaîne parlementaire
La Chaîne parlementaire is a French television network responsible for broadcasting activity from the National Assembly of France and the Senate of France . It is available through digital terrestrial television "TNT"...
television programme French journalist Christine Clerc asked former French Interior Minister
Minister of the Interior (France)
The Minister of the Interior in France is one of the most important governmental cabinet positions, responsible for the following:* The general interior security of the country, with respect to criminal acts or natural catastrophes...
Charles Pasqua
Charles Pasqua
Charles Pasqua is a French businessman and Gaullist politician. He was Interior Minister from 1986 to 1988, under Jacques Chirac's cohabitation government, and also from 1993 to 1995, under the government of Edouard Balladur...
(Gaullist) about Mollet's 1956 proposal. Pasqua answered, "if his demand had been made official, Mollet would have been brought to trial for high treason
High treason
High treason is criminal disloyalty to one's government. Participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state are perhaps...
".
External links
- British offer of Franco-British Union
- Britain fights on
- France and UK considered 1950s 'merger'
- An unlikely marriage
- Letter From Britain: Darker realities behind Britons' longing for Frangleterre
- Le rêve inachevé de la Franglettere
- Prelude to Downfall: The British Offer of Union to France, June 1940