France and the British Isles from 1640 to 1789

Abstract

Among many, one the Atlantic history’s achievements has been to reconnect the metropolis to their colonial territories. There is still much work to be done, notably in France where the scholarship has for long been divided between the ancient regime specialists and the colonial historians. John Pocock’s Atlantic Archipelago has been instrumental in the creation of a new British history, which looks out to the open seas. But in retrospect, the Atlantic turn also helps to form a new understanding of the relations between France and Britain. The notion of otherness that has been famously used by Linda Colley to describe the Anglo-British enmities was first used to describe relations between the Europeans and non-Europeans in a colonial context. Furthermore, connected and transnational histories that have been applied to the Atlantic are now put to good use to Franco-British case. Comparisons between bordering regions appear to be at least as significant as national entities. The growth of a more European outlook is also having an impact on the old Franco-British couple. Relocated in a wider continental context, their relations are no longer described as the long and straight duel dating back from the Middle Age. As the limits of a strictly national approach became more apparent, more attention has been dedicated to the cultural transfers and the multifaceted circulation of individuals and knowledge. While the existence of hostile sentiments was beyond doubt, there was a wide gamut of transactions that united the French, the English, the Irish, and the Scottish in one way or another. As for the large time span, it starts with two major political upheavals, the first British Revolution and the Fronde and ends with the Industrial and the French Revolutions, the famous “dual Revolution” vindicated by E. Hobsbawm, which could be felt from both sides of the English Channel up to the French Revolution. Although 1640 and 1789 are no longer seen as definitive watershed, they still constitute a convenient time frame to elaborate on a very dynamic subject.