Acknowledgements
Britain, France and Europe explores post-Second World War hopes for London–Paris partnership and a Franco–British Europe. There are a number of reasons for writing. It has not been done before, and there is the attraction of doing something for the first time.
For sure, there are numerous overviews of interactions between the whale and the elephant from the Sun King on, but no recent book length study of the relationship in the decisive mid-twentieth century decades.1 Another motive for writing has to do with the bridges between past and present. Spats over post-war European integration may seem like ancient history. Strong continuities persist, however. The rows fuelled Euroscepticism and, ultimately, the UK Brexit referendum of 2016. Shared leadership after 1945 could have fashioned a different and perhaps more satisfying Europe.In novelist David Lodge’s Changing Places Professor Morris Zapp has the ambition to kill Jane Austen forever as a subject of criticism and research by dealing with each and every topic that could possibly arise out of reading her novels. I have no ambition to provide saturation coverage of the Franco–British couple. A wide-angle lens contrasts attitudes and cultural baggage, peoples as well as elites. I’ve profited from French sociologist Andre Siegfried’s experience: ‘never have I succeeded in understanding the British and French points of view simultaneously. All I can do is sometimes understand them one after the other.’2 The two neighbours are profiled in separate chapters.
‘The Californian atmosphere is unhelpful for the true comprehension of European affairs’, groused a member of the French delegation at the foundation conference of the United Nations in San Francisco, April–June 1945.3 Readers will judge whether my ‘comprehension’ is persuasive or not. Distance while not always lending enchantment certainly puts Europe in a global perspective.
Location offers special advantages: the archival riches of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and the intellectual vibrancy of Berkeley’s Institute of European Studies, pulsing with visiting scholars, workshops and colloquia. Pacific Rim colleagues, graduate students and undergraduates share a lively curiosity and enthusiasm about Europe which has nurtured the writing. The book builds on the foundation of earlier research on the cross-channel relationship. Several of the chapters debuted as public lectures, conference presentations and articles. Feedback from audiences and readers helped tremendously.Thanks are due to the University of California at Berkeley for financial support in funding the archival research, in particular the University Committee on Research; the Institute of European Studies; the Department of History for Shepard Fund grants. A University Humanities Research Fellowship enabled me to spend a study semester in Europe. Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following archives for assistance and for permission to quote material. In the UK: the National Archives; The Bodleian Library, University of Oxford; Churchill College Archive Centre, University of Cambridge; Trinity College, University of Cambridge; British Library of Political and Economic Science, LSE; The Liddell Hart Centre, King’s College London; The Royal Institute of International Affairs; The Brotherton Library, University of Leeds. In France: Archives nationales; Archives d’histoire contemporaine, Fondation nationale des sciences politiques; Archives diplomatiques, Ministère des Affaires etrangères et du Development international; Assemblee nationale, Service des Archives; Fondation Guy Mollet; Ministère de l’Economie, des Finances et de l’Industrie; Comite pour l’histoire economique et financière de la France; Institut Pierre Mendes France; Centre des archives contemporaines, Fontainebleau. In the United States: The Hoover Institution Library and Archives, Stanford University, California; the Lauinger Library, Georgetown University, Washington DC.
Former policy-makers generously talked to me and responded to written queries: Sir Guy Millard; Sir Frank Roberts; Sir Evelyn Shuckburgh; Lord Sherfield; Etienne Burin des Roziers; Etienne de Crouy-Chanel; Jean Donnedieu de Vabres; Louis Joxe; Rene Massigli; Christian Pineau. Special thanks are due to archivists and librarians: the late Yvon Lacaze, Ministère des Affaires etrangères, Paris; Chantal Tourtier de Bonazzi, Archives nationales, France; Colin Harris and Helen Langley, Bodleian Library, Oxford; Odile Gaultier-Voituriez and Dominique Parcollet, Centre d’Histoire de Sciences Po, Paris.
Early drafts of the manuscript benefited from the insightful comments of colleagues John Connelly and Peggy Anderson. I am indebted to my Bloomsbury editors, Rhodri Mogford and Laura Reeves, for advice and encouragement. Over the years the friendship and writings of colleagues have provided inspiration, especially Maurice Vaisse, Robert Frank and Yoichi Kibata. Finally, I can’t resist mentioning a schoolmaster ancestor. In the early 1800s the Reverend John Adamthwaite DD of Brough, Cumbria, advertised his school in The Times, promising ‘no vacations at this school’. Welcome back holidays!