History of French foreign relations

The History of French foreign relations Covers French diplomacy and foreign relations down to 1954. For the more recent developments, see Foreign relations of France

Bourbon France 1453–1789

Louis XIV and Louis XV

Under the long reigns of kings Louis XIV (1643–1715)[1] and Louis XV (1715–1774),[2] France was second in size to Russia but first in terms of economic and military power. It fought numerous expensive wars, usually to protect its voice in the selection of monarchs in neighboring countries. A high priority was blocking the growth of power of the Habsburg rivals who controlled Austria and Spain.[3]

Warfare defined the foreign policies of Louis XIV, and his personality shaped his approach. Impelled "by a mix of commerce, revenge, and pique", Louis sensed that warfare was the ideal way to enhance his glory. In peacetime he concentrated on preparing for the next war. He taught his diplomats their job was to create tactical and strategic advantages for the French military.[4]

While his battlefield generals were not especially good, Louis XIV had excellent support staff. His chief engineer Vauban (1633–1707) perfected the arts of fortifying French towns and besieging enemy cities. The finance minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619–83) dramatically improved the financial system so that it could support an army of 250,000 men. The system deteriorated under Louis XV so that wars drained the increasingly inefficient financial system. Louis XIV made France prouder in psychology but poorer in wealth; military glory and cultural splendor were exalted above economic growth.[5]

Territorial expansion of France under Louis XIV is depicted in orange.

Under Louis XIV, France fought three major wars: the Franco-Dutch War, the War of the League of Augsburg, and the War of the Spanish Succession. There were also two lesser conflicts: the War of Devolution and the War of the Reunions.

Louis XV did merge Lorraine and Corsica into France. However France was badly defeated in the Seven Years' War (1754–1763) and forced to give up its holdings in North America. It ceded New France to Great Britain and Louisiana to Spain, and was left with a bitter grudge that sought revenge in 1778 by helping the Americans win independence. Louis XV's decisions damaged the power of France, weakened the treasury, discredited the absolute monarchy, and made it more vulnerable to distrust and destruction, as happened in the French Revolution, which broke out 15 years after his death.[6] Norman Davies characterized Louis XV's reign as "one of debilitating stagnation", characterized by lost wars, endless clashes between the Court and Parliament, and religious feuds.[7] A few scholars defend Louis, arguing that his highly negative reputation was based on propaganda meant to justify the French Revolution. Jerome Blum described him as "a perpetual adolescent called to do a man's job."[8]

American Revolutionary War

France played a key role helping the American Patriots win their War of Independence against Britain 1775–1783. Motivated by a long-term rivalry with Britain and by revenge for its territorial losses during Seven Years' War, France began secretly sending supplies in 1775. In 1777, American captured the British invasion army at Saratoga, demonstrating the viability of their revolt. In 1778, France recognized the United States of America as a sovereign nation, signed a military alliance and went to war with Britain. France built a coalitions with Netherlands and Spain, provided Americans with money and arms, sent a combat army to serve under George Washington, and sent a navy that prevented the second British army from escaping from Yorktown in 1781.[9]

By 1789, the French debt acquired to fight in that war came to a staggering 1.3 billion livres. It "set off France's own fiscal crisis, a political brawl over taxation that soon became one of the reasons for French Revolution."[10] France did obtain its revenge against Britain, but materially it gained little and its huge debts seriously weakened the government and helped facilitate the French Revolution in 1789.[11]

Benjamin Franklin served as the American ambassador to France from 1776 to 1785. He met with many leading diplomats, aristocrats, intellectuals, scientists and financiers. Franklin's image and writings caught the French imagination – there were many images of him sold on the market – and he became the cultural icon of the archetypal new American, and even a hero for aspirations for a new order inside France.[12]

French Revolution and Napoleon: 1789–1815

French Revolution

After the stated aim of the National Convention to export revolution, the guillotining of Louis XVI of France, and the French opening of the Scheldt, a European military coalition was formed against France. Spain, Naples, Great Britain, and the Netherlands joined Austria and Prussia in The First Coalition (1792–97), the first major concerted effort of multiple European powers to contain Revolutionary France. It took shape after the wars had already begun.

The Republican government in Paris was radicalised after a diplomatic coup from the Jacobins said it would be the Guerre Totale ("total war") and called for a Levée en masse (mass conscription of troops). Royalist invasion forces were defeated at Toulon in 1793, leaving the French republican forces in an offensive position and granting nationwide fame to a young hero, Napoleon (1769–1821). Following their victory at Fleurus, the French occupied Belgium and the Rhineland. An invasion of the Netherlands established the puppet Batavian Republic. Finally, a peace agreement was concluded between France, Spain, and Prussia in 1795 at Basel.

Napoleonic wars

By 1799 Napoleon had seized power in France and proved highly adept at warfare and coalition building. Britain led a series of shifting coalitions to oppose him. After a brief truce in 1802-3, war resumed. In 1806 Prussia joined Britain and Russia, thus forming the Fourth Coalition. Napoleon was not alone since he now had a complex network of allies and subject states. The largely outnumbered French army crushed the Prussian army at Jena-Auerstedt in 1806; Napoleon captured Berlin and went as far as Eastern Prussia. There the Russian Empire was defeated at the Battle of Friedland (14 June 1807). Peace was dictated in the Treaties of Tilsit, in which Russia had to join the Continental System, and Prussia handed half of its territories to France. The Duchy of Warsaw was formed over these territorial losses, and Polish troops entered the Grande Armée in significant numbers.

Europe on the eve of Napoleon's Russian campaign in 1812, on the height of the First Empire

Freed from his obligation in the east, Napoleon then went back to the west, as the French Empire was still at war with Britain. Only two countries remained neutral in the war: Sweden and Portugal, and Napoleon then looked toward the latter. In the Treaty of Fontainebleau, a Franco-Spanish alliance against Portugal was sealed as Spain eyed Portuguese territories. French armies entered Spain in order to attack Portugal, but then seized Spanish fortresses and took over the kingdom by surprise. Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon's brother, was made King of Spain after Charles IV abdicated.

This occupation of the Iberian peninsula fueled local nationalism, and soon the Spanish and Portuguese fought the French using guerilla tactics, defeating the French forces at the Battle of Bailén (June and July 1808). Britain sent a short-lived ground support force to Portugal, and French forces evacuated Portugal as defined in the Convention of Sintra following the Allied victory at Vimeiro (21 August 1808). France only controlled Catalonia and Navarre and could have been definitely expelled from the Iberian peninsula had the Spanish armies attacked again, but the Spanish did not.

Another French attack was launched on Spain, led by Napoleon himself, and was described as "an avalanche of fire and steel." However, the French Empire was no longer regarded as invincible by European powers. In 1808 Austria formed the Fifth Coalition in order to break down the French Empire. The Austrian Empire defeated the French at Aspern-Essling, yet was beaten at Wagram while the Polish allies defeated the Austrian Empire at Raszyn (April 1809). Although not as decisive as the previous Austrian defeats, the peace treaty in October 1809 stripped Austria of a large amount of territories, reducing it even more.

Napoleon Bonaparte retreating from Moscow, by Adolf Northern.

In 1812 Napoleon could no longer tolerate Russian independence. He assembled a gigantic army and invaded. The French invasion of Russia (1812) Was a total disaster, caused primarily by weather, partisan attacks, disease and inadequate logistics. Only small remnants of the invading army returned from Russia. On the Spanish front the French armies were defeated and evacuated Spain.[13]

Since France had been defeated on these two fronts, states it previously conquered and controlled struck back. The Sixth Coalition was formed, and the German states of the Confederation of the Rhine switched sides, finally opposing Napoleon. Napoleon was defeated in the Battle of the Nations outside Leipzig in October 1813. The Allies invaded France and Napoleon abdicated on 6 April 1814. The conservative Congress of Vienna reversed the political changes that had occurred during the wars. Napoleon's attempted restoration, a period known as the Hundred Days, ended with his final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. The monarchy was restored with Louis XVIII as king, followed by his brother. France was soon integrated into the reactionary international situation. However much of the Napoleonic liberalization of Western Europe, including Italy, and Germany, and adjacent areas became permanent.[14][15][16]

France 1814–1850

France was no longer the dominant power it had been before 1814, but it played a major role in European economics, culture, diplomacy and military affairs. The Bourbons were restored, but left a weak record and one branch was overthrown in 1830 and the other branch in 1848 as Napoleon's nephew was elected president. He made himself emperor as Napoleon III and lasted until he was defeated and captured by Prussians in 1870 a war that humiliated France and made the new nation of Germany dominant in the continent. France built up an empire, especially in Africa and Indochina. The economy was strong, with a good railway system. The arrival of the Rothschild banking family of France in 1812 guaranteed the role of Paris alongside London as a major center of international finance.[17]

Overseas empire in the nineteenth century

Starting with its scattered small holdings in India, West Indies and Latin America, France began rebuilding its world empire.[18][19] It took control of Algeria in 1830 and began in earnest to rebuild its worldwide empire after 1850, concentrating chiefly in North and West Africa, as well as South-East Asia, with other conquests in Central and East Africa, as well as the South Pacific. Republicans, at first hostile to empire, only became supportive when Germany started to build her own colonial empire In the 1880s. As it developed the new empire took on roles of trade with France, especially supplying raw materials and purchasing manufactured items, as well as lending prestige to the motherland and spreading French civilization and language, and the Catholic religion. It also provided manpower in the World Wars.[20]

It became a moral mission to lift the world up to French standards by bringing Christianity and French culture. In 1884 the leading exponent of colonialism, Jules Ferry declared; "The higher races have a right over the lower races, they have a duty to civilize the inferior races." Full citizenship rights – assimilation – was a long-term goal, but in practice colonial officials were reluctant to extend full citizenship rights.[21] France sent small numbers of white permanent settlers to its empire, in sharp contrast to Britain, Spain and Portugal. The notable exception was Algeria, where the French settlers held power but remained a minority.[22]

Second Empire: 1851–1871

Despite his promises in 1852 of a peaceful reign, Napoleon III could not resist the temptations of glory in foreign affairs such as his uncle, the world-famous Napoleon, had achieved. He was visionary, mysterious and secretive; he had a poor staff, and kept running afoul of his domestic supporters. In the end he was incompetent as a diplomat.[23] Napoleon did have some successes: he strengthened French control over Algeria, established bases in Africa, began the takeover of Indochina, and opened trade with China. He facilitated a French company building the Suez Canal, which Britain could not stop. In Europe, however, Napoleon failed again and again.[24]

The Crimean war of 1854–1856 against Russia, in alliance with Britain and the Ottoman Empire, produced heavy losses and high expenses but no territorial or political gains. War with Austria in 1859 facilitated the unification of Italy, and Napoleon was rewarded with the annexation of Savoy and Nice. The British grew annoyed at his intervention in Syria in 1860–61. He angered Catholics alarmed at his poor treatment of the Pope, then reversed himself and angered the anticlerical liberals at home and his erstwhile Italian allies. He lowered the tariffs, which helped in the long run but in the short run angered owners of large estates and the textile and iron industrialists, while leading worried workers to organize. Matters grew worse in the 1860s as Napoleon nearly blundered into war with the United States in 1862.[25] His Plan to take control of Mexico in 1861–1867 was a total disaster. The United States forced him to evacuate his army from Mexico, and his puppet Emperor was executed.[26][27]

Finally Napoleon was outmaneuvered by Otto von Bismarck and went to war with the Germans in 1870 when it was too late to stop German unification.[28] Napoleon had alienated everyone; after failing to obtain an alliance with Austria and Italy, France had no allies and was bitterly divided at home. It was disastrously defeated on the battlefield, losing Alsace and Lorraine. A.J.P. Taylor is blunt: "he ruined France as a great power."[29]

American Civil War

The Second French Empire under Napoleon III remained officially neutral throughout the War and never recognized the Confederate States of America. However, the textile industry needed cotton, and Napoleon III had imperial ambitions in Mexico which could be greatly aided by the Confederacy. The United States had warned that recognition meant war. France was reluctant to act alone without British collaboration, and the British rejected intervention. Emperor Napoleon III realized that a war with the U.S. without allies "would spell disaster" for France.[30] Napoleon III and his Minister of Foreign Affairs Edouard Thouvenel adopted a cautious attitude and maintained diplomatically correct relations with Washington. Half the French press favored the Union, while the "imperial" press was more sympathetic to the Confederacy. Public opinion generally ignored the war, showing much interest in Mexico.[31]

Napoleon hoped that that a Confederate victory would result in two weak nations on Mexico's northern borders, allowing French dominance in a country ruled by its puppet Emperor Maximilian. Matías Romero, Júarez's ambassador to the United States, gained some support in Congress for possibly intervening on Mexico's behalf against France's occupation.* Robert Ryal Miller, "Matias Romero: Mexican Minister to the United States during the Juarez-Maximilian Era," Hispanic American Historical Review (1965) 45#2 pp. 228–245 in JSTOR[32] However, Secretary of State William Seward was cautious in limiting US aid to Mexico. He did not want a war with France before the Confederacy was defeated.[33]

Mexico

In 1861, Mexican conservatives looked to French leader Napoleon III to abolish the Republic led by liberal President Benito Juárez. France favored the Confederacy but did not accord it diplomatic recognition. The French expected that a Confederate victory would facilitate French economic dominance in Mexico. he helped The Confederacy by shipping urgently needed supplies through the ports of Matamoros, Mexico, and Brownsville (Texas). The Confederacy itself sought closer relationships with Mexico. Juarez turned them down, but the Confederates worked well with local warlords in northern Mexico, and with the French invaders.[34][35]

Realizing that Washington could not intervene in Mexico as long as the Confederacy controlled Texas, France invaded Mexico in 1861 and installed an Austrian prince Maximilian I of Mexico as its puppet ruler in 1864. Owing to the shared convictions of the democratically elected government of Juárez and Lincoln, Matías Romero, Juárez's minister to Washington, mobilized support in the U.S. Congress, and raised money, soldiers and ammunition in the United States for the war against Maximilian.[36] Washington repeatedly protested France's violation of the Monroe Doctrine.[37][38][39]

Once the Union won the War in spring 1865, it allowed supporters of Juárez to openly purchase weapons and ammunition and issued stronger warnings to Paris. Washington sent General William Tecumseh Sherman with 50,000 combat veterans to the Mexican border to emphasize that time had run out on the French intervention. Napoleon III had no choice but to withdrew his outnumbered army in disgrace. Emperor Maximilian refused exile and was executed by the Mexican government in 1867.[40]

Historians typically interpret the fiasco as a disaster for France. They portray an imperialistic attempt to secure access to raw materials and markets, and to establish a Latin, Catholic client state to prevent further American into Latin America. The failure stemmed from lack of realism in its conception, a gross misunderestimate of the power of the United States, a misunderstanding of Mexican public opinion, and recurring ineptitude in execution. While Maximilian and his widow get popular sympathy, Napoleon earns the sharp negative criticism of historians.[41]

Third Republic: 1871–1914

Europe after the Franco-Prussian War of 1871, the forming of the German Reich and the French loss of Alsace-Lorraine

French foreign policy was based on a hatred of Germany—whose larger size and faster-growing economy could not be matched—combined with a popular revanchism that demanded the return of Alsace and Lorraine. There were some moderate leaders who wanted to forget the past, but Berlin ignored their overtures.[42][43]

French diplomacy Received received far less attention than domestic affairs. Religious and class differences deeply divided the French people on polarities such as monarchy versus Republicanism, secularism versus Catholicism, farmers versus urbanites, workers versus owners. Permanent professional diplomats and bureaucrats had developed their own traditions of how to operate at the Quai d'Orsay (where the Foreign Ministry was located), and their style changed little from generation to generation. Most of the diplomats came from high status or aristocratic families. Although France was one of the few republics in Europe, its diplomats mingled smoothly with the aristocratic representatives at the royal courts. Prime ministers and leading politicians generally paid little attention to foreign affairs, allowing a handful of senior men to control policy. In the decades before the First World War they dominated the embassies in the 10 major countries were France had an ambassador (elsewhere, they set lower-ranking ministers). They included Théophile Delcassé, the foreign minister from 1898 to 1906; Paul Cambon, the ambassador in London, 1890-1920; Jean Jules Jusserand in Washington from 1902 to 1924; and Camille Barrere, in Rome from 1897 to 1924. In terms of foreign policy, there was general agreement about the need for high protective tariffs, which kept agricultural prices high. After the defeat by the Germans, there was a strong widespread anti-German sentiment focused on revanchism and regaining Alsace and Lorraine. The Empire was a matter of great pride, and service as administrators, soldiers and missionaries was a high status, occupation.[44][45]

Besides a demand for revenge against Germany, imperialism was a factor.[46] In the midst of the Scramble for Africa, French and British interest in Africa came into conflict. The most dangerous episode was the Fashoda Incident of 1898 when French troops tried to claim an area in the Southern Sudan, and a British force purporting to be acting in the interests of the Khedive of Egypt arrived. Under heavy pressure the French withdrew securing Anglo-Egyptian control over the area. The status quo was recognised by an agreement between the two states acknowledging British control over Egypt, while France became the dominant power in Morocco, but France suffered a humiliating defeat overall.[47]

Colonial empire in Africa and Asia

The Suez Canal, initially built by the French, became a joint British-French project in 1875, as both saw it as vital to maintaining their influence and empires in Asia. In 1882, ongoing civil disturbances in Egypt prompted Britain to intervene, extending a hand to France. The government allowed Britain to take effective control of Egypt.[48]

Under the leadership of expansionist Jules Ferry, the Third Republic greatly expanded the French colonial empire. Catholic missionaries played a major role. France acquired Indochina, Madagascar, vast territories in West Africa and Central Africa, and much of Polynesia.[49]

In the early 1880s, Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza was exploring the Kongo Kingdom for France, at the same time Henry Morton Stanley explored it in on behalf of Léopold II of Belgium, who would have it as his personal Congo Free State (see section below). France occupied Tunisia in May 1881. In 1884, France occupied Guinea. French West Africa (AOF) was founded in 1895, and French Equatorial Africa in 1910.[50][51]

During the Scramble for Africa in the 1870s and 1880s, the British and French generally recognised each other's spheres of influence. The Suez Canal, initially built by the French, became a joint British-French project in 1875, as both saw it as vital to maintaining their influence and empires in Asia.[52] In 1882, ongoing civil disturbances in Egypt (see Urabi Revolt) prompted Britain to intervene, extending a hand to France. France's expansionist Prime Minister Jules Ferry was out of office, and the government was unwilling to send more than an intimidatory fleet to the region. Britain established a protectorate, as France had a year earlier in Tunisia, and popular opinion in France later put this action down to duplicity.[53] It was about this time that the two nations established co-ownership of Vanuatu. The Anglo-French Convention of 1882 was also signed to resolve territory disagreements in western Africa.

Fashoda crisis

In the 1875-1898 era, serious tensions with Britain erupted over African issues. At several points war was possible, but it never happened.[54] One brief but dangerous dispute occurred during the Fashoda Incident when French troops tried to claim an area in the Southern Sudan, and a British force purporting to be acting in the interests of the Khedive of Egypt arrived.[55] Under heavy pressure the French withdrew securing Anglo-Egyptian control over the area. The status quo was recognised by an agreement between the two states acknowledging British control over Egypt, while France became the dominant power in Morocco. France had failed in its main goals. P.M.H. Bell says, "Between the two governments there was a brief battle of wills, with the British insisting on immediate and unconditional French withdrawal from Fashoda. The French had to accept these terms, amounting to a public humiliation....Fashoda was long remembered in France as an example of British brutality and injustice."[56][57][58][59]

Asia

France had colonies in Asia and looked for alliances and found in Japan a possible ally. At Japan's request Paris sent military missions in 1872–1880, in 1884–1889 and in 1918–1919 to help modernize the Japanese army. Conflicts with China over Indochina climaxed during the Sino-French War (1884–1885). Admiral Courbet destroyed the Chinese fleet anchored at Foochow. The treaty ending the war, put France in a protectorate over northern and central Vietnam, which it divided into Tonkin and Annam.[60]

Franco-Russian Alliance

France was deeply split between the monarchists on one side, and the Republicans on the other. The Republicans at first seemed highly unlikely to welcome any military alliance with Russia. That large nation was poor and not industrialized; it was intensely religious and authoritarian, with no sense of democracy or freedom for its peoples. It oppressed Poland, and exiled, and even executed political liberals and radicals. At a time when French Republicans were rallying in the Dreyfus affair against anti-Semitism, Russia was the most notorious center in the world of anti-Semitic outrages, including multiple murderous large-scale pogroms against the Jews. On the other hand, France was increasingly frustrated by Bismarck's success in isolating it diplomatically. France had issues with Italy, which was allied with Germany and Austria-Hungary in the Triple Alliance. Paris made a few overtures to Berlin, but they were rebuffed, and after 1900 there was a threat of war between France and Germany over Germany's attempt to deny French expansion into Morocco. Great Britain was still in its “splendid isolation” mode and after a major agreement in 1890 with Germany, it seemed especially favorable toward Berlin. Colonial conflicts in Africa brought Britain and France to a major crisis The Fashoda crisis of 1898 brought Britain and France almost to the brink of war and ended with a humiliation of France that left it hostile to Britain. By 1892 Russia was the only opportunity for France to break out of its diplomatic isolation. Russia had been allied with Germany the new Kaiser Wilhelm removed Bismarck in 1890 and in 1892 ended the “Reinsurance treaty” with Russia. Russia was now alone diplomatically and like France, it needed a military alliance to contain the threat of Germany’s strong army and military aggressiveness. The pope, angered by German anti-Catholicism, worked diplomatically to bring Paris and St. Petersburg together. Russia desperately needed money for our infrastructure of railways and ports facilities. The German government refused to allow its banks to lend money to Russia, but French banks eagerly did so. For example, it funded the essential trans-Siberian railway. Negotiations were increasingly successful, and by 1895. France and Russia had signed the Franco-Russian Alliance, a strong military alliance to join together in war if Germany attacked either of them. France had finally escaped its diplomatic isolation.[61][62]

First World War

After Otto von Bismarck's removal in 1890, French efforts to isolate Germany became successful; with the formation of the Triple Entente, Germany began to feel encircled.[63] Foreign minister Delcassé, especially, went to great pains to woo Russia and Great Britain. Key markers were the Franco-Russian Alliance of 1894, the 1904 Entente Cordiale with Great Britain, and finally the Anglo-Russian Entente in 1907 which became the Triple Entente. This formal alliance with Russia, and informal alignment with Britain, against Germany and Austria eventually led Russia and Britain to enter World War I as France's Allies.[64][65]

By 1914 French foreign policy was thus based on an alliance with Russia, and an informal understanding with Britain, all based on the assumption that the main threat was from Germany.[66][67] The crisis of 1914 was unexpected, and when Germany mobilized its forces in response to Russian mobilization, France also had to mobilize. Germany then invaded Belgium and France, and the World War I had begun.[68][69]

After Socialist leader Jean Jaurès. a pacifist, was assassinated at the start of the war, the French socialist movement abandoned its antimilitarist positions and joined the national war effort. The labor unions supported the war. Prime Minister Rene Viviani called for unity—for a "Union sacrée" ("Sacred Union")--Which was a wartime truce between the right and left factions that had been fighting bitterly. France had few dissenters. However, war-weariness was a major factor by 1917, even reaching the army.[70]

The French Right supported the war, emphasizing the deep spiritual value of "the Union Sacrée." The middle-of-the-road Radicals split—one wing wanted a compromise peace. By winter 1916-17 strong annexationist demands emerged on the right, calling for annexation of Germany's Saar basin to France and the creation of independent German states on the left bank of the Rhine.[71]

In 1914 London and Paris agreed that financially Britain would support the weaker Allies and that France would take care of itself. there was no common financial policy. French credit collapsed in 1916 and Britain took full control of the failing Allied finances and began loaning large sums to Paris. The J. P. Morgan bank in New York assumed control of French loans in the fall of 1916 and relinquished it to the US government when the U,S, entered the war in 1917.[72]

In 1917 the Russian Revolution ended the Franco-Russian alliance, and French policy changed. It joined Britain sending forces against the Bolsheviks and in support of the "white" counter-revolutionaries. Paris gave active support to the Southern Slav unionist movement and to the Czech and Polish claims for independence. Serbia, was a loyal ally of France throughout World War I. Serbia was highly appreciative of French financial and material aid before its collapse in 1915 as well as funding the Serbian government in exile. There was popular support in France for Serbia as seen in taking in refugees and educating students. France took part in the armed liberation of Serbia, Montenegro, and Vojvodina in 1918. At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 France strongly, strongly supported the new Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. It became and in the 1920s and 1930s Yugoslavia helped France by opposing German ambitions in the Balkans.[73]

France suffered very heavy losses in the war, in terms of battle casualties and economic distress, but came out on the winning side. It demanded Germany make good the financial losses. At the Paris peace conference of 1919, vengeance against defeated Germany was the main French theme, and Prime Minister Clemenceau was largely effective against the moderating influences of the British and Americans.[74][75]

Interwar years

France

The main goal of French foreign policy between the wars was the diplomatic response to the demands of the French army in the 1920s and 1930s to form alliances against the German threat, especially with Britain and with smaller countries in central Europe.[76][77]

1920s

France was part of the Allied force that occupied the Rhineland following the Armistice. Foch supported Poland in the Greater Poland Uprising and in the Polish–Soviet War and France also joined Spain during the Rif War. From 1925 until his death in 1932, Aristide Briand, as prime minister during five short intervals, directed French foreign policy, using his diplomatic skills and sense of timing to forge friendly relations with Weimar Germany as the basis of a genuine peace within the framework of the League of Nations. He realized France could neither contain the much larger Germany by itself nor secure effective support from Britain or the League.[78]

In January 1923 as a response to the failure of the German to ship enough coal as part of its reparations, France (and Belgium) occupied the industrial region of the Ruhr. Germany responded with passive resistance, including Printing fast amounts of marks To pay for the occupation, thereby causing runaway inflation. Inflation heavily damaged the German middle class (Whose bank accounts became worthless) but it also damaged the French franc. France fomented a separatist movement pointing to an independent buffer state, but it collapsed after some bloodshed. The intervention was a failure, and in summer 1924 France accepted the American solution to the reparations issues, as expressed in the Dawes Plan.[79]

In the 1920s, France established an elaborate system of static border defences called the Maginot Line, designed to fight off any German attack. The Maginot Line did not extend into Belgium, where Germany attacked in 1940 and went around the French defenses. Military alliances were signed with weak powers in 1920–21, called the "Little Entente".[80]

1930s

Appeasement was increasingly adopted as Germany grew stronger after 1933, for France suffered a stagnant economy, unrest in its colonies, and bitter internal political fighting. Appeasement say Martin Thomas was not a coherent diplomatic strategy nor a copying of the British.[81] France appeased Italy on the Ethiopia question because it could not afford to risk an alliance between Italy and Germany.[82]

When Hitler sent troops into the Rhineland—the part of Germany where no troops were allowed—neither Paris nor London would risk war, and nothing was done.[83]

Appeasement of Germany, in cooperation with Britain, was the policy after 1936, as France sought peace even in the face of Hitler's escalating demands. Édouard Daladier refused to go to war against Germany and Italy without British support as Neville Chamberlain wanted to save peace using the Munich Agreement in 1938.[84][85] France's military alliance with Czechoslovakia was sacrificed at Hitler's demand when France and Britain agreed to his terms at Munich in 1938.[86][87]

The Blum government joined Britain in establishing an arms embargo during the Spanish Civil War (1936–39). Blum rejected support for the Spanish Republicans because of his fear that civil war might spread to deeply divided France. As the Republican cause faltered in Spain, Blum secretly supplied it the Republican cause with arms, funds and sanctuaries. Financial support in military cooperation with Poland was also a policy. The government nationalized arms suppliers, and dramatically increased its program of rearming the French military in a last-minute catch up with the Germans.[88]

Second World War

Entry into war

In spring 1939 both Britain and France formally announced they would defend the integrity of Poland. Hitler did not believe they would fight in such a faraway hopeless cause, and he invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. Britain and France declared war on September 3, 1939. But there was little they could or did do to help Poland.

French Republic

France and Britain together declared war against Germany two days after it invaded Poland. Apart from the British Dominions (Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa), no independent nation joined their cause. Britain and France took a defensive posture, fearing German air attacks on cities. France hoped the Maginot Line would protect it from an invasion. There was little fighting between the fall of Poland in mid-September and the following spring; it was the Phoney War in Britain or Drôle de guerre – the funny sort of war – in France. Britain tried several peace feelers, but Hitler did not respond.[89]

When Germany had its hands free for an attack in the west, it launched its Blitzkrieg against Denmark and Norway, easily pushing the British out. Then it invaded the Low Countries and tricked Britain and France into sending its best combat units deep into the Netherlands, where they became trapped in the Battle of France in May 1940. The Royal Navy rescued over 300,000 British and French soldiers from Dunkirk, but left behind all the equipment.[90]

Paris fell to the Germans on 14 June 1940, and the government surrendered on 24 June 1940. Nazi Germany occupied three-fifths of France's territory, leaving the rest in the southeast to the new Vichy government, which was a bit more than a puppet state since it still had a navy. However nearly 2 million French soldiers became prisoners of war in Germany. They served as hostages and forced laborers in German factories. The United States suddenly realized Germany was on the verge of controlling practically all of Europe, and it determined to rapidly build up its small Army and Air Force, and expand its Navy. Sympathy with Britain was high, and many were willing to send munitions, but few Americans called for war.

Vichy France

The fall of France in June 1940 brought a new regime known as Vichy France. Theoretically it was neutral, but in practice it was partly controlled by Germany until November 1942, when Germany took full control. Vichy was intensely conservative and anti-Communist, but it was practically helpless with Germany controlling half of France directly and holding nearly two million French POWs as hostages. Vichy finally collapsed when the Germans fled in summer 1944.[91]

The United States granted Vichy full diplomatic recognition, sending Admiral William D. Leahy to Paris as American ambassador. President Roosevelt hoped to use American influence to encourage those elements in the Vichy government opposed to military collaboration with Germany. Vichy still controlled its overseas colonies and Washington encouraged Vichy to resist German demands such as for air bases in Syria or to move war supplies through French North Africa. The essential American position was that France should take no action not explicitly required by the armistice terms that could adversely affect Allied efforts in the war. When Germany took full control the U.S. and Canada cut their ties.[92]

French fleet

Britain feared that the French naval fleet could end up in German hands and be used against its own naval forces, which were so vital to maintaining north Atlantic shipping and communications. Under the armistice, France had been allowed to retain the French Navy, the Marine Nationale, under strict conditions. Vichy pledged that the fleet would never fall into the hands of Germany, but refused to send the fleet beyond Germany's reach by sending it to Britain or to far away territories of the French empire such as the West Indies. Shortly after France gave up it attacked a large French naval contingent in Mers-el-Kebir, killing 1,297 French military personnel. Vichy severed diplomatic relations but did not declare war on Britain. Churchill also ordered French ships in British ports to be seized by the Royal Navy. The French squadron at Alexandria, Egypt, under Admiral René-Emile Godfroy, was effectively interned until 1943.

The American position towards Vichy France and Free France was inconsistent. President Roosevelt disliked and distrusted de Gaulle, and agreed with Ambassador Leahy's view that he was an "apprentice dictator."[93]

North Africa

Preparing for a landing in North Africa in late 1942, the US looked for a top French ally. It turned to Henri Giraud shortly before the landing on 8 November 1942, but he had little local support. By hapstance the Vichy leader Admiral François Darlan was captured and supported the Americans. The Allies, with General Dwight D. Eisenhower in charge, signed a deal with Admiral Darlan on 22 November 1942 in which the Allies recognized Darlan as high commissioner for North Africa and West Africa.[94] The Allied world was stunned at giving a high command to man who days before had been collaborating with the Nazis; Roosevelt and Churchill supported Eisenhower, for he was following a plan that had been worked out in London and had been approved by Roosevelt and Churchill. Darlan was assassinated on 24 December 1942, so Washington turned again towards Giraud, who was made High Commissioner of French North and West Africa. Giraud failed to build a political base and was displaced by the last man with any standing, de Gaulle.[95]

Free France

Free France was the insurgent French government based in London and the overseas French colonies and led by charismatic general Charles de Gaulle. He was the most senior French military officer to reject the June 1940 surrender ("Armistice") and oppose the Vichy government of Marshall Pétain. From London on 18 June 1940 he gave an impassioned radio address exhorting the patriotic French people to resist Nazi Germany[96] He organized the Free French Forces from soldiers that had escaped with the British at Dunkirk. With British military support the Free French gradually gained control of all French colonies except Indochina, which the Japanese controlled. The U.S., Britain and Canada wanted Vichy to keep nominal control of the small islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon for reasons of prestige, but de Gaulle seized them anyway in late 1941.[97]

When the British and Americans landed in France in June 1944 de Gaulle headed a government in exile based in London, but he continued to create diplomatic problems for the U.S. and Britain. He refused to allow French soldiers to land on D-Day, and insisted that France be treated as a great power by the other Allies, and that he himself was the only representative of France. Roosevelt disliked him, but he had Churchill's support. The U.S. and Britain allowed de Gaulle the honor of being the first to march into Paris at the head of his army after the Germans had fled.[98]

Cold War to 1954

The Cold War Beginning 1947, as Britain and the United States started providing aid to Greece and Turkey, in order to prevent a Communist takeover.

The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was the American initiative 1948-1951 to aid Europe, in which the United States gave away $17 billion (approximately $160 billion in current dollar value) in economic support to help rebuild European economies and foster European unity in the face of Soviet threats. France received $2.3 billion about 18% of the total. This allowed France to make heavy purchases of food and machinery from the United States.[99] The Marshall Plan required a lessening of interstate barriers, a dropping of many petty regulations constraining business, and encouraged increase productivity, labour Union membership, and the adoption of modern business procedures.[100]

France, the United States, Britain, Canada and eight other western European countries signed the North Atlantic Treaty in April 1949, establishing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).[101] Following Soviet refusals to participate in a German rebuilding effort set forth by western European countries in 1948, the US, Britain and France spearheaded the establishment of West Germany from the three Western zones of occupation in April 1949.[102]

Indochina War (1946-1954)

The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France) began in French Indochina on 19 December 1946 and lasted until 1 August 1954. Fighting between French forces and their Communist opponents known as the Viet Minh began in September 1945. The conflict pitted a range of forces, including the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps, led by France and supported by Emperor Bảo Đại's Vietnamese National Army against the Viet Minh, led by Ho Chi Minh and Vo Nguyen Giap. Most of the fighting took place in Tonkin in Northern Vietnam, along with Chinese border. The conflict eventually reached most of Vietnam and also extended into the neighboring French Indochina protectorates of Laos and Cambodia.

After the Japanese surrendered, Chinese forces in September 1945 entered Tonkin and a small British task force landed at Saigon. The Chinese accepted the Vietnamese government under Ho Chi Minh, created by resistance forces of the Viet Minh, then in power in Hanoi. The British refused to do likewise in Saigon, and deferred to the French there from the outset, against the ostensible support of the Viet Minh by American OSS representatives. On V-J Day, September 2, Ho Chi Minh, had proclaimed in Hanoi the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). The DRV ruled as the only civil government in all of Vietnam for a period of about 20 days, after the abdication of the "Japanese puppet", Emperor Bảo Đại. On 23 September 1945, French forces overthrew the local DRV government, and declared French authority restored in Cochinchina. Guerrilla warfare began around Saigon immediately.[103]

The first few years of the war involved a low-level rural insurgency against French authority. However, after the Chinese communists reached the Northern border of Vietnam in 1949, the conflict turned into a conventional war between two armies equipped with modern weapons supplied by the United States and the Soviet Union.[104] French Union forces included colonial troops from the whole empire (Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian, Laotian, Cambodian, and Vietnamese ethnic minorities), French professional troops and units of the French Foreign Legion. The use of metropolitan recruits was forbidden by the government to prevent the war from becoming even more unpopular at home. It was called the "dirty war" (la sale guerre) by the Left in France.[105]

While the strategy of pushing the Viet Minh into attacking a well-defended base in a remote part of the country at the end of their logistical trail was validated at the Battle of Nà Sản, the lack of construction materials (especially concrete), tanks (because of lack of road access and difficulty in the jungle terrain), and air cover precluded an effective defense, culminating in a decisive French defeat at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu.[106]

At the international Geneva Conference on July 21, 1954 the new socialist French government and the Viet Minh made an agreement that was denounced by the government of Vietnam and by the United States, but which effectively gave the Communists control of North Vietnam above the 17th parallel. South Vietnam, with heavy American support. continued under Emperor Bảo Đại. In 1955 Bảo Đại would be deposed by his prime minister, Ngô Đình Diệm, creating the Republic of Vietnam. Soon an insurgency backed by the North developed against Diệm's government. The conflict gradually escalated into the Vietnam War.[107]

See also

References

  1. ↑ John B. Wolf, Louis XIV (1968)
  2. ↑ Colin Jones, The Great Nation: France from Louis XV to Napoleon, 1715–99 (2002).
  3. ↑ G. Zeller, "French diplomacy and foreign policy in their European setting". In F.L., Carsten, ed., The New Cambridge Modern History: Volume V The Ascendancy of France, 1648–88 (1961): pp 198–221.
  4. ↑ James Nathan, "Force, Order, and Diplomacy in the Age of Louis XIV." Virginia Quarterly Review 69#4 (1993) 633+.
  5. ↑ Cathal J. Nolan, Wars of the Age of Louis XIV, 1650–1715: An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization (2008) with over 1000 entries in 607pp.
  6. ↑ J. H. Shennan (1995). France Before the Revolution. Routledge. pp. 44–45.
  7. ↑ Norman Davies (1996). Europe: A History. Oxford U.P. pp. 627–28.
  8. ↑ Jerome Blum et al. The European World: A History (3rd ed 1970) p 454
  9. ↑ Jonathan R. Dull, The French Navy and American Independence: A Study of Arms and Diplomacy 1774–1787 (1975)
  10. ↑ Christopher Hodson and Brett Rushforth, "Bridging the Continental Divide: Colonial America's 'French Quarter.'" OAH Magazine of History 25.1 (2011): 19–24.
  11. ↑ Peter McPhee (2015). The French Revolution. Melbourne U. p. 34.
  12. ↑ David Hackett Fischer (2005). Liberty and Freedom: A Visual History of America's Founding Ideas. Oxford UP. pp. 185–88.
  13. ↑ Michael Adams, Napoleon and Russia (2006)
  14. ↑ Alexander Grab, Napoleon and the Transformation of Europe (2003)
  15. ↑ Kevin H. O'Rourke, "The Worldwide Economic Impact of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, 1793–1815", Journal of Global History (2006), 1#1 pp 123–149.
  16. ↑ Robert R. Palmer, The Age of the Democratic Revolution: A Political History of Europe and America, 1760–1800. (2 vol 1959)
  17. ↑ Gordon Wright, France in Modern Times: From the Enlightenment to the Present (1995) pp 182–95.
  18. ↑ Frederick Quinn, The French Overseas Empire (2001)
  19. ↑ Robert Aldrich, Greater France: A History of French Overseas Expansion (1996)
  20. ↑ Tony Chafer (2002). The End of Empire in French West Africa: France's Successful Decolonization?. Berg. pp. 84–85.
  21. ↑ Assa Okoth (2006). A History of Africa: African societies and the establishment of colonial rule, 1800-1915. East African Publishers. pp. 318–19. ISBN 978-9966-25-357-6.
  22. ↑ Sung-Eun Choi (2016). Decolonization and the French of Algeria: Bringing the Settler Colony Home. Palgrave Macmillan UK. p. 53.
  23. ↑ Theodore Zeldin, France, 1848-1945: Ambition, love and politics (1973) pp 558-60
  24. ↑ John B. Wolf, France: 1814-1919 (2nd ed. 1963) 302-348
  25. ↑ A.J.P. Taylor, Struggle for Mastery, pp 171-227
  26. ↑ Nancy Nichols Barker, “France, Austria, and the Mexican Venture, 1861-1864.” French Historical Studies (1963) 3#2 pp: 224-245. in JSTOR.
  27. ↑ Patrick J. Kelly, "The North American Crisis of the 1860s," The Journal of the Civil War Era (2012) 2#3 pp. 337-368; 10.1353/cwe.2012.0074 Excerpt
  28. ↑ David Wetzel, A duel of giants: Bismarck, Napoleon III, and the origins of the Franco-Prussian war (2003).
  29. ↑ A.J.P. Taylor, Europe: Grandeur and Decline (1967) p 64
  30. ↑ Howard Jones (1999). Abraham Lincoln and a New Birth of Freedom: The Union and Slavery in the Diplomacy of the Civil War. U of Nebraska Press. p. 183.
  31. ↑ Lynn M. Case, and Warren E. Spencer, The United States and France: Civil War Diplomacy (1970)
  32. ↑ Thomas D. Schoonover, ed., Mexican Lobby: Matías Romero in Washington 1861--1867 (UP of Kentucky, 2015).
  33. ↑ Gary Moreno, "Rage Against the Monarchy American Reaction to the French Intervention in Mexico." Journal of the West 47#3 (2008): 48-55.
  34. ↑ J. Fred Rippy, "Mexican Projects of the Confederates", Southwestern Historical Quarterly 22#4 (1919), pp. 291–317 in JSTOR
  35. ↑ Kathryn Abbey Hanna, "The Roles of the South in the French Intervention in Mexico", Journal of Southern History 20#1 (1954), pp. 3–21 in JSTOR
  36. ↑ Robert Ryal Miller, "Matias Romero: Mexican Minister to the United States during the Juarez-Maximilian Era", Hispanic American Historical Review (1965) 45#2 pp. 228–245 in JSTOR
  37. ↑ Frederic Bancroft, "The French in Mexico and the Monroe doctrine." Political science quarterly 11.1 (1896): 30–43. in JSTOR
  38. ↑ Michele Cunningham, Mexico and the foreign policy of Napoleon III (Springer, 2016)
  39. ↑ Jack Autrey Dabbs, The French army in Mexico, 1861–1867: a study in military government (Hague, Mouton, 1963).
  40. ↑ Jasper Ridley, Maximilian and Juárez (2001).
  41. ↑ Roger Price in French History (Sep 2002) 16#3 pp 376-377.
  42. ↑ E. Malcolm Carroll, French public opinion and foreign affairs, 1870–1914 (1964) pp 47, 109.
  43. ↑ J. F. V. Keiger. France and the World Since 1870. (2001) pp 114-116.
  44. ↑ Felix Gilbert, David Clay Large, The End of the European Era: 1890 to the Present (2002) p 64-65.
  45. ↑ J.F.V. Keiger, France and the World since 1870 (2001) pp 25 – 47.
  46. ↑ Agnes Murphy, The ideology of French imperialism, 1871–1881 (1968).
  47. ↑ D.W. Brogan, France under the Republic: The Development of Modern France (1870–1930) (1940) pp 321–26
  48. ↑ A.J.P. Taylor, The Struggle for Mastery in Europe, 1848–1918 (1954) pp 286–92
  49. ↑ Robert Aldrich, Greater France: A History of French Overseas Expansion (1996)
  50. ↑ Thomas Pakenham, The Scramble for Africa: White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 to 1912 (1991).
  51. ↑ Robert Aldrich, Greater France: A history of French overseas expansion (1996).
  52. ↑ Turner p.26-7
  53. ↑ Keith Randell (1991). France: The Third Republic 1870–1914. Access to History. ISBN 0-340-55569-6.
  54. ↑ T. G. Otte, "From 'War-in-Sight' to Nearly War: Anglo–French Relations in the Age of High Imperialism, 1875–1898," Diplomacy and Statecraft (2006) 17#4 pp 693-714.
  55. ↑ Roger Glenn Brown, Fashoda reconsidered: the impact of domestic politics on French policy in Africa, 1893-1898 (1970)
  56. ↑ P. M. H. Bell (2014). France and Britain, 1900-1940: Entente and Estrangement. Routledge. p. 3.
  57. ↑ A.J.P. Taylor, The Struggle for Mastery in Europe, 1848-1918 (1954) pp 381-88
  58. ↑ D.W. Brogan, France under the Republic: The Development of Modern France (1870-1930) (1940) pp 321-26
  59. ↑ William L. Langer, The diplomacy of imperialism: 1890-1902 (1951) pp 537-80
  60. ↑ Frederic Wakeman, Jr., The Fall of Imperial China (1975) pp. 189–191.
  61. ↑ John B. Wolf, France 1814-1919: The rise of a Liberal-Democratic Society (1963)
  62. ↑ William L. Langer, The diplomacy of Imperialism: 1890–1902 (1960), pp 3-66.
  63. ↑ Samuel R. Williamson Jr"German Perceptions of the Triple Entente after 1911: Their Mounting Apprehensions Reconsidered" Foreign Policy Analysis 7.2 (2011): 205-214.
  64. ↑ Taylor, The Struggle for Mastery in Europe, 1848–1918 (1954) pp 345, 403–26
  65. ↑ G.P. Gooch, Before the war: studies in diplomacy (1936), chapter on Delcassé pp 87-186.
  66. ↑ Cody Nester, "France and the Great War: Belligerent Warmonger or Failed Peacekeeper? A Literature Review." History 12 (2015): 2.
  67. ↑ John Keiger, France and the Origins of the First World War (1985) summary
  68. ↑ Margaret MacMillan, The War that Ended Peace: The Road to 1914 (2013).
  69. ↑ Christopher Clark, The sleepwalkers: how Europe went to war in 1914 (2012).
  70. ↑ Philippe Bernard and Henri Dubief, The Decline of the Third Republic, 1914–1938 (1988) pp 3-77.
  71. ↑ David Stevenson, "French War Aims and the American Challenge, 1914-1918" Historical Journal 22#4 (1979) pp. 877-894 in JSTOR
  72. ↑ Martin Horn, "External Finance in Anglo-French Relations in the First World War, 1914–1917." The International History Review 17.1 (1995): 51-77.
  73. ↑ David Stevenson, French War Aims Against Germany, 1914–1919 (1982).
  74. ↑ George Noble, Policies and opinions at Paris, 1919: Wilsonian diplomacy, the Versailles Peace, and French public opinion (1968).
  75. ↑ Margaret McMillan, Paris 1919: six months that changed the world (2007).
  76. ↑ Peter Jackson, "France and the problems of security and international disarmament after the first world war." Journal of Strategic Studies 29#2 (2006): 247–280.
  77. ↑ Nicole Jordan, "The Reorientation of French Diplomacy in the mid-1920s: the Role of Jacques Seydoux." English Historical Review 117.473 (2002): 867–888.
  78. ↑ Eugen Weber, The Hollow Years: France in the 1930s (1996) p. 125
  79. ↑ Conan Fischer, The Ruhr Crisis 1923-1924 (2003).
  80. ↑ William Allcorn, The Maginot Line 1928–45 (2012).
  81. ↑ Martin Thomas, "Appeasement in the Late Third Republic," Diplomacy and Statecraft 19#3 (2008): 566–607.
  82. ↑ Reynolds M. Salerno, "The French Navy and the Appeasement of Italy, 1937-9," English Historical Review 112#445 (1997): 66–104.
  83. ↑ Stephen A. Schuker, "France and the Remilitarization of the Rhineland, 1936," French Historical Studies 14.3 (1986): 299–338.
  84. ↑ Martin Thomas (1996). Britain, France and Appeasement: Anglo-French Relations in the Popular Front Era. Berg. p. 137.
  85. ↑ Maurice Larkin, France since the Popular Front: Government and People, 1936–1986 (1988) pp 63-81
  86. ↑ Nicole Jordan, "Léon Blum and Czechoslovakia, 1936–1938." French History 5#1 (1991): 48–73.
  87. ↑ Martin Thomas, "France and the Czechoslovak crisis," Diplomacy and Statecraft 10.23 (1999): 122–159.
  88. ↑ Larkin, France since the Popular Front, (1988) pp 45-62
  89. ↑ Gerhard L. Weinberg, A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II (1994)
  90. ↑ Joel Blatt, ed., The French Defeat of 1940 (Oxford, 1998)
  91. ↑ Peter Jackson and Simon Kitson, "The paradoxes of foreign policy in Vichy France," in Jonathan Adelman, ed., Hitler and His Allies in World War Two. (Routledge, 2007) pp 79–115 excerpt and text search
  92. ↑ William Langer, Our Vichy gamble (1947)
  93. ↑ David Mayers (2012). FDR's Ambassadors and the Diplomacy of Crisis: From the Rise of Hitler to the End of World War II. Cambridge U.P. p. 160.
  94. ↑ Arthur L. Funk, "Negotiating the 'Deal with Darlan,'" Journal of Contemporary History (1973) 8#1 pp 81–117 in JSTOR.
  95. ↑ Martin Thomas, "The Discarded Leader: General Henri Giraud and the Foundation of the French Committee of National Liberation," French History (1996) 10#12 pp 86–111
  96. ↑ Berthon, Simon (2001). Allies at War: Allies at War: The Bitter Rivalry among Churchill, Roosevelt, and de Gaulle. London: Collins. p. 21. ISBN 0-00-711622-5.
  97. ↑ Martin Thomas, "Deferring to Vichy in the Western Hemisphere: The St. Pierre and Miquelon Affair of 1941," International History Review (1997) 19#4 pp 809–835.online
  98. ↑ Jean Lacouture, DeGaulle: The Rebel, 1890–1944 (1990) pp 515–27
  99. ↑ Chiarella Esposito, America's feeble weapon: funding the Marshall Plan in France and Italy, 1948-1950 (Greenwood 1994)
  100. ↑ Anthony Carew, Labour under the Marshall Plan: the politics of productivity and the marketing of management science (Manchester University Press, 1987)
  101. ↑ John Lewis Gaddis, The Cold War: A New History (2005). p. 34"
  102. ↑ Heike Bungert, "A New Perspective on French-American Relations during the Occupation of Germany, 1945–1948: Behind-the-Scenes Diplomatic Bargaining and the Zonal Merger." Diplomatic History (1994) 18#3 pp: 333-352.
  103. ↑ "United States – Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense/I. A. U.S. Policy, 1940–50, pages 18-19". the Pentagon. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
  104. ↑ Ronald Irving, The first Indochina war: French and American policy, 1945-54 (Croom Helm, 1975)
  105. ↑ Edward Rice-Maximin, Accommodation and Resistance: The French Left, Indochina, and the Cold War, 1944-1954 (Greenwood, 1986).
  106. ↑ Nikki Cooper, "Dien Bien Phu—fifty years on." Modern & Contemporary France (2004) 12#4 pp: 445-457.
  107. ↑ Spencer Tucker, ed. Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War (3 vol. 1998)

Further reading

European diplomatic context

  • Albrecht-Carrié, René. A Diplomatic History of Europe Since the Congress of Vienna (1958), 736pp, basic introduction 1815-1955
  • Black, Jeremy. European International Relations, 1648-1815 (2002) excerpt and text search
  • Hill, David Jayne. A history of diplomacy in the international development of Europe (3 vol. 1914) online v 3, 1648-1775; also online; vol 2 online 1313-1648
  • Jarrett, Mark. The Congress of Vienna and Its Legacy: War and Great Power Diplomacy After Napoleon (IB Tauris, 2013)
  • Kissinger, Henry. Diplomacy (Simon and Schuster, 2012)
  • Langer, William. An Encyclopedia of World History (5th ed. 1973), very detailed outline
  • Langer, William L. European Alliances and Alignments, 1871-1890 (2nd ed. 1950)
  • Langer, William L. The Diplomacy of Imperialism 1890-1902 (2 vol, 1935)
  • Macmillan, Margaret. The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914 (2013) cover 1890s to 1914; see esp. ch 6, 13
  • Mowat, R. B. A History of European Diplomacy 1815-1914 (1922), basic introduction
  • Rich, Norman. Great power diplomacy, 1814-1914 (1992).
  • Rich, Norman. Great power diplomacy, Since 1914 (2003).
  • Schroeder, Paul W. The Transformation of European Politics 1763-1848 (1996); advanced analysis
  • Scott, Hamish M. The Birth of a Great Power System: 1740-1815 (2006)
  • Steiner, Zara. The Lights that Failed: European International History 1919-1933 (2007) excerpt and text search, 940pp
  • Steiner, Zara. The Triumph of the Dark: European International History 1933-1939 (2011) excerpt and text search; 1225pp
  • Taylor, A.J.P. The Struggle for Mastery in Europe, 1848–1918 (1954) online free; Advanced diplomatic history


Diplomacy and policies

  • Adamthwaite, Anthony. Grandeur and Misery: France's Bid for Power in Europe 1914-1940 (1995) excerpt and text search
  • Aldrich, Robert, and John Connell. France and World Politics ( Routledge 1989)
  • Andrew, Christopher and A.S.Kanya-Forstner. France Overseas: Great War and the Climax of French Imperial Expansion: 1914-1924 (1981)
  • Andrew, Christopher. Théophile Delcassé and the Making of The Entente Cordiale: A Reappraisal of French Foreign Policy 1898 – 1905 (1968).
  • Bernard, J.F. Talleyrand: A Biography (1973).
  • Berthon, Simon. Allies at War: The Bitter Rivalry among Churchill, Roosevelt, and de Gaulle. (2001). 356 pp.
  • Becker, Bert. "France and the Gulf of Tonkin Region: Shipping Markets and Political Interventions in South China in the 1890s." Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review 4.2 (2015): 560-600. online
  • Black, Jeremy. From Louis XIV to Napoleon: the fate of a great power (Routledge, 2013)
  • Blumenthal, Henry. France and the United States: Their Diplomatic Relations, 1789-1914 (1979)
  • Boyce, Robert. French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940: The Decline and Fall of a Great Power (1998) excerpt and text search
  • Cady, John F. The Roots of French Imperialism in Eastern Asia (1967).
  • Carroll, Eber M. French public opinion and foreign affairs, 1870-1914 (1931)
  • Cogan, Charles G. Oldest Allies, Guarded Friends: The United States and France since 1940 (Greenwood, 1994)
  • Cole, Alistair. Franco-German Relations (2000)
  • Costigliola, Frank. France and the United States: The Cold Alliance since World War II (1992)
  • Fenby, Jonathan. The General: Charles De Gaulle and the France he saved (2010)
  • Göçek, Fatma Müge. East encounters West: France and the Ottoman Empire in the eighteenth century (Oxford University Press, 1987)
  • Gooch, G.P. Franco-German Relations 1871-1914 (1923)
  • Hutton, Patrick H. et al. eds. Historical Dictionary of the Third French Republic, 1870-1940 (2 vol 1986) online
  • Keiger, J.F.V. France and the World since 1870 (2001); 261pp; topical approach emphasizing national security, intelligence & relations with major powers
  • Keiger, John. France and the Origins of the First World War (1985)
  • Krotz, Ulrich. "Three eras and possible futures: a long-term view on the Franco-German relationship a century after the First World War." International Affairs (2014) 20#2 pp 337–350.
  • Langer, William L. The Franco-Russian alliance, 1880-1894 (1929)
  • Langer, William L. Our Vichy Gamble (1947), U.S. and Vichy France
  • Mowat, Robert Balmain. The diplomacy of Napoleon (1971).
  • Murphy, Orville Theodore. Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes: French diplomacy in the age of revolution, 1719-1787 (SUNY Press, 1982)
  • Nere, J. The Foreign Policy of France from 1914 to 1945 (2001)
  • Porter, Charles W. The Career of Theophile Delcasse (1936) online
  • Quinn, Frederick. The French Overseas Empire (2001) excerpt and text search
  • Roosen, William. The age of Louis XIV: the rise of modern diplomacy (1976).
  • Ross, Steven T. European Diplomatic History, 1789-1815: France Against Europe (1981)
  • Stinchcombe, William C. The American Revolution and the French Alliance (1969)
  • Stuart, Graham H. French foreign policy from Fashoda to Serajevo (1898-1914) (1921) 365pp online
  • Wetzel, David. A Duel of Giants: Bismarck, Napoleon III, and the Origins of the Franco-Prussian War (2003)
  • Young, Robert J. In Command of France: French Foreign Policy and Military Planning, 1933-1940 (1978)
  • Young, Robert J. French Foreign Policy 1918-1945: A Guide to Research and Research Materials (2nd ed. Scholarly Resources, 1991) 339 pp. Historiography

Relations with Great Britain

Main article: France–United Kingdom relations § Further reading
  • Alexander, Martin S. and William J. Philpott. Anglo-French Defence Relations Between the Wars (2003), 1919-39 excerpt and text search
  • Baugh, Daniel A. The Global Seven Years War, 1754-1763: Britain and France in a Great Power Contest (Longman, 2011)
  • Bell, Philip J. France and Britain, 1900–1940. Entente and Estrangement (Longman, 1996)
  • Bell, P.M.H. France and Britain, 1940-1994: The Long Separation (1997)
  • Chassaigne, Philippe, and Michael Lawrence Dockrill, eds. Anglo-French Relations 1898-1998: From Fashoda to Jospin (Palgrave, 2002) online essays by scholars
  • *Gibson, Robert. The Best of Enemies: Anglo-French Relations Since the Norman Conquest (2nd ed. 2011) major scholarly study excerpt and text search
  • Johnson, Douglas, et al. Britain and France: Ten Centuries (1980) table of contents
  • Philpott, William James. Anglo-French Relations and Strategy on the Western Front 1914-18 (1996)
  • Pickles, Dorothy. The Uneasy Entente. French Foreign Policy and Franco-British Misunderstandings (1966)
  • Sharp, Alan, and Glyn Stone. Anglo-French Relations in the Twentieth Century: Rivalry and Cooperation (2000) excerpt and text search
  • Wright, Alan H. The Fashoda affair: A study in the age of imperialism (1951).


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.