Anglo-French Relations

From the Fashoda incident in 1898 to the current Blair-Jospin "entente," this book reviews one century of Franco-British relations. Friend or foe? Partner or rival? Model or counter-model? The two countries have continually wavered between two extremes. Yet, these essays show they have always had more things in common than suspected in the first place, and there has always been a strong case for cooperation.

Despite their shared interests, Britain and France, the only powers in a position to effectively meet the first overt challenges to the European order established after 1918, failed in the management of the crises facing them in Ethiopia and the Rhineland. In this book, Richard Davis attempts to understand the (mal)functioning of the Anglo-French relationship at this key juncture on the path to the second world war.

This book investigates the course of Anglo-French policy in Europe from 1936 to1938, a critical period during which France was governed by a series of Popular Front coalition Ministries. It asserts that French policy-makers made a substantial impact upon the course of British foreign policy whilst breathing new life into the waning Entente Cordiale. The study contends that close attention to the role of French influence is fundamental to a grasp of British appeasement and rearmament policy in the period and essential to the understanding of the Anglo-French response to such problems as the Spanish Civil War, the collapse of League of Nations authority and the treatment of the Soviet Union. Essential reading for students of British or French Political History or the origins of World War II in Europe

David Brown explores the naval engagement that occurred on the 3rd of July 1940 when the Royal Navy opened fire on the French Navy squadron at Mers-el-Kebir to prevent it falling into the hands of the Nazis. The incident damaged Anglo-French relations for a considerable time.