The reconstruction of France and France’s place in the postwar world political arena was on the mind of French political leaders as World War Two came to a close and in the immediate aftermath. As apart of preparing for the future the French commissioned a study called “Outline of a Doctrine of French Policy”. This study evaluated some of the historical trends in Europe, the French nation, the German nation, and the relationship between the Americans, British, and Soviets. It is interesting to see the multiple foreign considerations that France had to take into account when considering their own reconstruction. As apart of the Allied Powers during the war the French worked with the British and Americans and nominally worked with the Soviets in defeating Germany. Even at the end of the war, when France had been destroyed and destabilized, the French still recognized the Germans as the number one danger to France. The French were concerned with the German economic and political reconstruction, and believed that any political influence gained by Germany would come at the expense of France. The goal of the French became to remain first in economic and political rank in comparison to Germany. This is an understandable ideology to take, considering that on three occasions in the preceding one hundred years the Germans had invaded France, and that Germany and France possessed the largest economies on continental Europe. The French had been allied with the British for a series of wars and excursions, and other countries such as Italy and Spain, did not pose as much of a threat to French influence as a resurgent would have. The Soviet Union was geographically to far away from France itself that France could concern its self with defending against closer neighbors first, before becoming primarily concerned with the Soviet Union.
The French had been Allied with the British and Americans during World War Two, and had in fact be liberated from Nazi rule because of their support. In the post war world the French recognized the Americans and British had more influence, especially the Americans with economic and political power. The French admired the British for the way in which they had been able to align themselves with the Americans, which protected the British Empire. The French saw themselves becoming apart of a divided Europe, in which a theoretical Anglo-American Empire faced off against a Slavic-Soviet Empire. This shows some great foresight on the part of the French because this is essentially what happened with the Cold War, in which the Americans and British created the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which was an alliance of Western European powers against the Warsaw Pact of Soviet aligned countries in Eastern Europe. The picture above shows the flags of the NATO members. I was fascinated to see how the French were fearful of what would happen if the Americans, the British and the Germans formed a alliance and came to dominate Europe through a Anglo-American-German alliance of the predominately Protestants peoples that were descended from the Germanic Anglo-Saxon tribes. The fact that the French were fearful of this prospect helps to explain some future French actions and their desire to keep the French people and culture removed from the too much of a Anglo-American influence. This would be manifested in the French resistance to the reunification of Germany after the Cold War and in French resistance to the American planned NATO involvement in Iraq in 2003. It also explains the independent streak of France during the Charles De Gaulle era and the attitude of resisting the influence of West Germany.
The French recognized the changing make up of powers in Europe and around the world, and what was necessary to maintain their own sovereignty and influence in international affairs. Europe had moved from feudal powers, to nation states, and then from a nation-state model to an empire model. Nazi Germany was the prototypical powerful nation-state, but had lost the war because of the imperial power of alliances such as the one between the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union. The French felt that only empires were capable of fielding modern armies that could encompass motorized and armored units and a powerful Air Force. World War Two showed that even if a nation-state could possess those things, they were not capable of sustaining them for long periods of time. This idea that only empires or affiliations of states could be powerful enough to assert influence and have economic and political power explains why France was willing to join the NATO alliance, even while attempting to prevent themselves from becoming dominated by the Anglo-Americans. Being in the club made it easier for the French to defend themselves from losing their cultural identity than being independent and going it alone in the postwar world. The French felt that World War Two was the last war of nation-states, and that any future World War Three would include the fighting of empires. Individual states would not be able to hold out if directly attacked by “empires”, but nations that were someone aligned might be able to hold out and keep more of their own identity than those nations that joined and became full operating members.
In todays world it seems odd that France continues to put more resistance up to NATO or American actions than other nations, but in the context of what France viewed as its priorities for after World War Two it makes more sense. France has kept its distinct culture and has its own influence in economics and politics within Europe. Germany and France have a strong working relationship that has not been violent. Even with the resistance that France put to the reunification of Germany in 1990, the French economy has remained strong, even as the German economy has continued to grow. French fears that an Anglo-American-German Alliance would come to dominate Europe did not meet the worst expectations, but the United States has maintained a strong influence and presence in Europe and a resurgent Germany has taken leadership in the European Union on monetary and fiscal policies for Europe. France has kept its own identity, recovered from World War Two, and kept economic and political power in Europe because of the outline that France was able to establish immediately following World War Two.
