France and Britain, 1940-1994: The Long Separation

by Bell,P. M. H.

• ISBN13: 9780582289208
• ISBN10: 0582289203
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 1997-01-20
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This is the second volume in Philip Bell's study of Franco-British relations in the twentieth century It covers the period from the Fall of France in 1940 to the opening of the Channel Tunnel. Philip Bell views the half-century as a long separation - with France committed early on to a new concept of Europe, in partnership with Germany, whilst Britain stood apart. The tensions and resentments it has generated have kept French/British relations at the very heart of the burning question of Britain's place in Europe. Yet the story has another side, to which Philip Bell also does justice. Much has been achieved by the two countries together and alongside their European partners. For all their divergencies and antagonisms, the French and British know and understand each other better today than at any other time in their modern histories and all these developments are fully explored in Philip Bell's engrossing and often amusing, account.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgements	vii
Introduction	1	(7)
The Parting of the Ways, 1940	8	(19)
A Complicated War: (i) Britain, Vichy and de Gaulle, 1940--1942	27	(20)
A Complicated War: (ii) Britain and de Gaulle, 1943--1944	47	(21)
The Aftermath of War and the Treaty of Dunkirk, 1945--1947	68	(17)
Cold War and the Emergence of `Europe', 1947--1949	85	(20)
Separation: Schuman Plan and After, 1950--1955	105	(26)
The Suez Crisis, 1956, and a Strange Offer of Union	131	(28)
A New France Confronts an Uncertain Britain, 1957--1960	159	(20)
The General Says No, 1961--1963	179	(25)
To Join or Not to Join? Britain, France and the EEC, 1963--1969	204	(14)
Britain Joins the Club -- With Second Thoughts, 1969--1975	218	(16)
Unhappy Partners, 1975--1990	234	(22)
Views Across the Channel, c. 1970--1990	256	(15)
A New Europe and Some Old Memories, 1989--1994	271	(27)
Some Snapshots by Way of a Conclusion	289	(9)
Bibliographical Essay	298	(12)
Index	310