Churchill's Franco-British Union

A Franco-British Union is a concept for a union between the UK and France. Such a Union was proposed during the darkest hours of the 20th century, but it also has some fascinating historical precedents. 

Despite centuries of near continuous warfare between the two countries, we have grudgingly intimate ties with the French.  Our shared heritage is emphasised by the Norman conquest, in which William, Duke of Normandy defeated the Harold Godwinson, the Anglo-Saxon King of England at Hastings in 1066.  This was not just a singular defeat in battle, our French conquerors removed much of the English aristocracy and replaced it with French noblemen.  We did not have a King who spoke English as his first language until Henry II in the mid 13th Century. England was effectively an outlying province of France; English law conformed to French jurisprudence, and the English language itself became saturated with French words.  

The Angevin Empire that encompassed and unified much of France and Britain

Based on our shared heritage, it is unsuspiring that there were suggestions that we should put our centuries of conflict behind us and unite as a single stronger state.  The wartime suggestion was derived from Jean Monnet of the French Economic Mission in London became the head of the Anglo-French Coordinating Committee, which coordinated joint planning of the two countries' wartime economies. The pan-European Frenchman hoped for a post-war United States of Europe and saw an Anglo-French political union as a crucial step toward his goal. He discussed the idea with Neville Chamberlain

In June 1940, French PM Reynaud’s government faced imminent defeat in the Battle of France. In March they and the British had agreed that neither country would seek a separate peace with Nazi Germany. However, the French Cabinet on 15 June voted to ask Germany for the terms of an armistice. Reynaud, who wished to continue the fight from North Africa, was forced to submit the proposal to Churchill’s war cabinet. He claimed that he would have to resign if the British were to reject the proposal.

The British opposed a French surrender, and in particular the possible loss of the substantial French Navy to the Germans, and so sought to keep Reynaud in office. On 14th June British diplomat Robert Vanisittart and Morton wrote with Monnet a draft ‘Franco-British Union’ proposal. They hoped that such a union would help Reynaud persuade his cabinet to continue the war from North Africa, but Churchill was sceptical when on 15 June the British War Cabinet discussed the proposal. On the morning of 16 June, the War Cabinet agreed to the French armistice request on the condition that the French fleet sail to British harbours, (they refused and were later scuttled at Toulon by the Royal Navy). This disappointed Reynaud, who had hoped to use a British rejection to persuade his cabinet to continue to fight.

Reynaud supporter Charles De Gaulle, the figurehead of the Free French, had arrived in London earlier that day, however, and Monnet told him about the proposed union.  De Gaulle convinced Churchill that some dramatic move was essential to give Reynaud the support which he needed to keep his Government in the war. The Frenchman then called Reynaud and told him that the British prime minister proposed a union between their countries, an idea which Reynaud immediately supported. De Gaulle, Monnet and Vansittart quickly agreed to a document proclaiming a joint citizenship, foreign trade, currency war cabinet, and military command. Churchill withdrew the armistice approval, and at 3 p.m. the War Cabinet met again to consider the union document. Despite the radical nature of the proposal, Churchill and the ministers recognized the need for a dramatic act to encourage the French and reinforce Reynaud's support within his cabinet before it met again at 5pm. 

The final "Declaration of union" approved by the British War Cabinet stated that: France and Great Britain shall no longer be two nations, but one Franco-British Union. The constitution of the Union will provide for joint institutions of defence, foreign, financial and economic policies. Every citizen of France will enjoy immediately citizenship of Great Britain; every British subject will become a citizen of France by default.

Churchill and De Gaulle called Reynaud to tell him about the document, and they arranged for a joint meeting of the two governments the next day. The declaration immediately succeeded in its goal of encouraging Reynaud, who saw the union as the only alternative to surrender and who could now cite the British rejection of the armistice.

Other French leaders were less enthusiastic, however. At the 5 p.m. cabinet meeting, many called it a British ‘last minute plan’ to steal its colonies, and said that ‘being a Nazi province’ was preferable to becoming a British dominion.  Petain, future leader of Vichy France, called the union ‘fusion with a corpse’. The cabinet's opposition stunned Reynaud. He resigned that evening without taking a formal vote on the union or an armistice, and later called the failure of the union the ‘greatest disappointment of my political career’.

Although scepticism by the French cabinet was justified, Churchill was an arch-imperialist and appeared to be attempting to add the French mother country and her domains into the colossal British Empire.  The hasty timing meant that proposal also appeared a last ditch attempt to keep France in the war, and not a sincere proposition.  However, I believe that there were sincere motives behind the offer of union.  Churchill was a notorious Francophile, a staunch admirer of French culture and even spoke French fluently.  He undoubtedly foresaw the future benefits of a union in the post-war ruins of Europe.  

Churchill and De Gaulle in Paris on Armistice Day

Bibliography 

'Finest Years: Churchill as Warlord 1940-45' - Max Hastings