Niall Reynolds: An Ancient Continental Conflict that Never Ends
[Niall Reynolds writes for the Globe and Mail.]
It was almost precisely 70 years ago (June 16, 1940) that British prime minister Winston Churchill made France an historic offer – the “indissoluble union” of Great Britain and France. Although advanced to assist British and French national survival in the short term, Churchill made it clear that the integration of the two countries was intended to endure for all time. The postwar consequences of such a union for Canada would have been marvellous to behold....
Avi Shlaim, the Iraqi-born British historian (and professor of international relations at Oxford University), describes Churchill’s offer as a serious proposal. “Its all-embracing character went further than anything before in the history of wartime alliances,” he says. “Even in the subsequent history of European unity, no government ever proposed a more radical and far-reaching plan for supranational integration.”...
Churchill wasn’t the last to stir the embers of olden campfires. According to French archival documents discovered two years ago, French prime minister Guy Mollet (a former English teacher and a socialist) proposed in 1956 to British prime minister Anthony Eden (a fluently bilingual Tory aristocrat) that France merge with Britain – complete with French acceptance of Queen Elizabeth as head of the amalgamated state. Sir Anthony rejected the proposition (though he was ready to offer France membership in the Commonwealth)....
Rebuffed, France opted to join the European Economic Community. Ironically, seven years later, when Britain as well wanted to join, de Gaulle twice vetoed Britain’s bid.
But then de Gaulle regarded the postwar British pound and the postwar American dollar as economic allies that threatened the survival of the French franc. And, perhaps, he was right. Perhaps, in a figurative sense, we’re already well into World War 3, with continental Europe once again the central front in an ancient continental conflict that never ends. Call it – arbitrarily using King William l (1066 and All That) as a reference – the Thousand Year War.
Only the weapons have changed: GDP has replaced longbows, swords and gunpowder. Germany is once again the nation best equipped for conflict and has the strongest national currency (if it chose to deploy it) in Europe....
Read entire article at Globe and Mail
It was almost precisely 70 years ago (June 16, 1940) that British prime minister Winston Churchill made France an historic offer – the “indissoluble union” of Great Britain and France. Although advanced to assist British and French national survival in the short term, Churchill made it clear that the integration of the two countries was intended to endure for all time. The postwar consequences of such a union for Canada would have been marvellous to behold....
Avi Shlaim, the Iraqi-born British historian (and professor of international relations at Oxford University), describes Churchill’s offer as a serious proposal. “Its all-embracing character went further than anything before in the history of wartime alliances,” he says. “Even in the subsequent history of European unity, no government ever proposed a more radical and far-reaching plan for supranational integration.”...
Churchill wasn’t the last to stir the embers of olden campfires. According to French archival documents discovered two years ago, French prime minister Guy Mollet (a former English teacher and a socialist) proposed in 1956 to British prime minister Anthony Eden (a fluently bilingual Tory aristocrat) that France merge with Britain – complete with French acceptance of Queen Elizabeth as head of the amalgamated state. Sir Anthony rejected the proposition (though he was ready to offer France membership in the Commonwealth)....
Rebuffed, France opted to join the European Economic Community. Ironically, seven years later, when Britain as well wanted to join, de Gaulle twice vetoed Britain’s bid.
But then de Gaulle regarded the postwar British pound and the postwar American dollar as economic allies that threatened the survival of the French franc. And, perhaps, he was right. Perhaps, in a figurative sense, we’re already well into World War 3, with continental Europe once again the central front in an ancient continental conflict that never ends. Call it – arbitrarily using King William l (1066 and All That) as a reference – the Thousand Year War.
Only the weapons have changed: GDP has replaced longbows, swords and gunpowder. Germany is once again the nation best equipped for conflict and has the strongest national currency (if it chose to deploy it) in Europe....