Just two months after the signing of the friendship treaty, a new controversy between France and West Germany occurred. President de Gaulle intended the treaty to make West Germany distance itself and eventually separate itself from its American protector. He saw West Germany (and the other member states of the European Economic Community) as vassalized by Washington. The treaty was notable in that it made no mention of the United States, United Kingdom, NATO, or the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).[9]
However, after US President John F. Kennedy expressed his displeasure about this to the West German ambassador to the United States, the Bundestag ratified the treaty with a preamble which called on France and West Germany to pursue tight cooperation with the United States; the eventual admission of the United Kingdom to the EEC; the achievement of a free trade accord in the framework of the GATT; and for the West’s military integration in NATO under US leadership.[10] This effectively emptied the Treaty of any sense (in Gaullist understanding) and put end to General de Gaulle’s hopes of building the EEC into a counterweight to the US and the USSR. “The Germans are behaving like pigs. They are putting themselves completely at the Americans’ service. They’re betraying the spirit of the Franco-German Treaty. And they’re betraying Europe.”[11] Later, in 1965, the General told his closest aides behind closed doors: “The Germans had been my greatest hope; they are my greatest disappointment.”[12]
As much as I like the French surrender jokes, they have been the greatest advocates of a strong and independent Europe for the last 80 years, from de Gaulle then to Sarkozy now (domestic popularity aside). They are on to something…
They were briefly occupied at the end of the Franco-Prussian war, and the War of The Sixth Coalition ended with foreign powers sitting in Paris picking France’s new government.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Élysée_Treaty
This shit has been going on since 1963…
As much as I like the French surrender jokes, they have been the greatest advocates of a strong and independent Europe for the last 80 years, from de Gaulle then to Sarkozy now (domestic popularity aside). They are on to something…
France has been the most succesful military power in Europe for 1.5 millenia. IIRC they were temporary occupied just once.
They were briefly occupied at the end of the Franco-Prussian war, and the War of The Sixth Coalition ended with foreign powers sitting in Paris picking France’s new government.
Thanks, you’re correct. Three times. Still one of the most successful military powers in Europe.