France and Russia from 1892 to the Present Day: Looking Back on a “Sinusoidal” Relationship

Abstract

The contribution endeavors to demonstrate that Franco-Russian relations in the long run have never been linear and that despite a cultural proximity linked to the Francophonie and Francophilia of the Russian elites, political relations have been much more fraught and even conflictual. However, from the last third of the 19th century, a rapprochement took place which led to a military alliance that was brutally ended by the October Revolution. Decades of distrustful and tense relations followed, before General de Gaulle, from 1965—1966, embarked on a policy of détente, understanding and cooperation beyond the differences of political regimes. It is this Gaullian “paradigm” that remains the key word in Franco-Russian relations to this day.