Britain and Vichy: The Dilemma of Anglo-French Relations 1940–42 PDF
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The Making of the 20th Century This series qf specially commissioned titles focuses attention on significant and qften controversial events and themes qf world history in the present century. Each book provides sr4ficient narrative and explanation for the newcomer to the subject while offering, for more advanced study, detailed source-references and bibliographies, together with interpre tation and reassessment in the light qf recent scholarship. In the choice of subjects there is a balance between breadth in some spheres and detail in others; between the essentially political and matters economic or social. The series cannot be a comprehensive account of everything that has happened in the twentieth century, but it provides a guide to recent research and explains something qf the times of extraordinary change and complexity in which we live. It is directed in the main to students qf contemporary history and international relations, but includes titles which are qf direct relevance to courses in economics, sociology, politics and geography. The Making of the 20th Century Titles in the Series include Already published V. R. Berghahn, Germarry and the Approach of War in 1914 Brian J. L. Berry, The Human Consequences. of Urbanisation Peter Calvert, Latin America: Internal Conflict and International Peace Anthony Harrison, The Framework of Economic Activiry: The International Economy and the Rise of the State Desmond King-Hele, The End of the Twentieth Century? Peter Mansfield, The Ottoman Empire and its Successors Sally Marks, The Illusion of Peace: Internatio1Jlll Relations in Europe 1918-1933 A. J. Nicholls, Weimar and the Rise of Hitler B. N. Pandey, The Break-up of British India David Rees, The Age of Containment: The Cold War Esmonde M. Robertson, Mussolini as Empire-Builder: Europe and Africa 1932-J(i Zara Steiner, Britain and the Origins of the First World War R. T. Thomas, Britain and Vichy: The Dilemma of Anglo-French Relations 194o-42 Christopher Thorne, The Approach of War 1938-1939 Hugh Tinker, Race, Co7iflict and the International Order Wang Gungwu, China and the World since 1949 Ann Williams, Britain and France in the Middle East and North Africa Elizabeth Wiskemann, Fascism in Italy: Its Development and Influence Titles in preparation include Anthony Adamthwaite, France and the Powers 1914-1940 B. N. Pandey, South and South-East Asia: Problems and Policies 1945-1977 Richard Storry, Japan and the Decline of the West in Asia 1894-1941 Britain and Vichy The Dilemma of Anglo-French Relations 1940-42 R. T. Thomas © R. T. Thomas 1979 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission. First published 1979 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD London and Basingstoke Associated companies in Delhi Dublin Hong Kong Johannesburg Lagos Melbourne New rork Singapore and Tokyo British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Thomas, R T Britain and Vichy.-(The making of the twentieth century). 1. World War, 1939-1945-Diplomatic history 2. Great Britain-Foreign relations-France 3· France-Foreign relations-Great Britain I. Title II. Series 940.53'22' 41 D750 ISBN 978-0-333-24313-8 ISBN 978-1-349-16052-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-16052-5 This book is sold subject to the standard conditions of the Net Book Agreement. The paperback edition of this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent, in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Contents Preface Vll Introduction From Versailles to Rethondes: Anglo-French Relations, I 9 I 9-40 2 Armistice 3 Picking up the Pieces: Britain's Response to the Armistice 38 4 Vichy France, de Gaulle France, Weygand France 53 5 Britain a:nd America's 'Vichy Gamble' 88 6 Britain and Vichy in I942 7 Operation 'ToRcH' 8 Aftermath Appendixes: I The British Invasion of Syria, I94I II The British Occupation of Madagascar. I942 Chronological Table Bibliography and List of Sources I92 Notes and References 200 Index The cover illustrations are reproduced by permission of the Radio Times Hulton Picture Library To G. C. T. Preface I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Christopher Thorne for his unfailing support and guidance and for innumerable refinements to the text; and to my wife, without whom the book could not have been written, and to whom it is dedicated. The responsibility for what appears below, however, is mine alone. R.T.T. vii Introduction IN June 1940, after a battle which had lasted only six weeks, the French government signed an Armistice agreement with Germany. If he had wished to do so, Hitler could have overrun the whole of France without difficulty, since the French Army had been routed and further resistance was out of the question. Recognising, however, that such action might provoke the French government to flee abroad and there continue the fight, he chose instead to offer terms which to a nation and government reeling from the shock of defeat seemed more generous than they had a right to expect. The French Fleet was to be demilitarised, but remained in French hands. The Colonial Empire was untouched. Most important of all, a substantial portion of French metropolitan territory was left unoccupied and a government enjoying at least some of the attributes of sovereignty was allowed to establish itself in Vichy. The continued existence of a semi-independent French government, in particular one controlled by elements which were known to have opposed the war and some of which openly advocated a Franco German alliance against Britain, confronted the British government with complex and intractable dilemmas. The governments of other countries overrun by Germany in 1939 and 1940 had fled to London; although relatively powerless, they remained Britain's allies, with a strong claim to be restored to their ruling positions in the event of an Allied victory. The French government, on the other hand, which had been constituted in accordance with the laws of the Republic and enjoyed the widespread and often enthusiastic support of the French people, remained in France in order to bring hostilities to an end and, later, to work towards the restoration ofFranco-German relations. The Free French movement which was established in London by General de Gaulle was thus not a government in exile but only a convenient rallying-point for the small minority of Frenchmen who chose to reject defeat. De Gaulle subsequently established his undisputed leadership of the Resistance movements both within and outside France and assumed 1 2 BRITAIN AND VICHY power in I944 as head of the Provisional French Government. The rest is history: no other French politician of the post-war era rivals him in stature and no other statesman has had so profound an influence upon the shape of modern Europe. It has been natural, therefore, for British historians tracing the course of Anglo-French relations in this century to draw an unbroken line from the Third Republic to the Fourth, and to focus their attention upon the relationship-so significant in terms of later events-between the Anglo-Saxon powers and de Gaulle, and to ignore the apparently inconclusive relations between Britain and Vichy which seemed to have no sequel after the abrupt termination ofVichy's remaining independence in November I942. Although American policy towards Vichy aroused considerable controversy at the time and has stimulated some research since the war, historians appear to have assumed that Britain's dealings with the regime were somehow incidental to the mainstream of Anglo-French relations. This tendency has been reinforced, perhaps, by a reluctance to dwell on the Vichy episode in French history, in that it would seem to reflect little credit on France; in addition, the demonstrably clumsy nature of post-war attempts to prove the existence of 'secret treaties' between Britain and Vichy has had the paradoxical effect of concealing the very complex and multifarious links which the British government did maintain with the regime. The present study, too, grew out of what was initially an enquiry into British policy towards de Gaulle, and it was only when the archives were examined that the extent of British preoccupation with the Vichy government was revealed. It then became apparent that in the two years after France's collapse, the Prime Minister, the War Cabinet, the Chiefs of Staff and the Foreign Office devoted much more time to the problem ofVichy than to that of de Gaulle, and that when they spoke of 'France' they understood this to mean the government of Marshal Petain, not the Free French movement. It also became clear that, when de Gaulle's appeal for wholesale resistance to the Germans had largely failed, the prime concern of the British government was to stabilise relations with Vichy and that to do this it was willing to abandon de Gaulle or at least to force him to accept the leadership of men who had formerly given their allegiance to Vichy. Although increasingly aware of the growing power and influence of the Free French movement which it had sponsored, the British government was concerned above all to avoid needless conflict with Vichy and tailored its policy towards de Gaulle accordingly. In short, the major element in Anglo-French
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