Reflections on the Foreign Policy of France

Abstract

AT the time of the phoney war (la guerre blanche), publicists on both sides of the Channel heatedly discussed the best means of winning the peace, before the conquest of the enemy had even begun. Today the enemy is prostrate and, as though we were fated to deal only in thoughts out of season, there is relatively little discussion on the future peace. This apparent paradox can be explained quite simply: it is enough to note the extent to which the world status of France and Great Britain has changed during the war. The change has undoubtedly been deeper and more shattering in the case of France but the general trend is the same for both countries. In 1939 France and Great Britain, who alone among all the Powers took the initiative in declaring war, felt themselves entrusted with the historic mission of defeating Nazi imperialism. The enthusiasm with which they drew up blue-prints for the future was in proportion to their self-confidence and to the importance of the role they intended to play. In 1945 France has returned to life after having plumbed the depths of darkness. Great Britain, unconquered, recalls her finest hour with legitimate pride; she knows the value of her contribution to the common victory. But both countries are forced to recognize that Russia possesses the largest army, and the United States the largest navy and air force. Neither France nor Great Britain has the hundred million souls generally quoted as the minimum population necessary to a Great Power in the twentieth century. Because France knows that for the present she is not numbered among the architects of the universe, she is today much less tempted to make blue-prints for the future and is content to take her place in a world which she must accept and not choose. I do not claim that all Frenchmen accept such a formula or are even aware of its inescapable necessity, but all Frenchmen nevertheless realize that the fall in our fortunes has left us only a corner seat at the table in the high councils of the United Nations, and that at present it is more important to restore our fortunes than to dream about collective security or universal peace. Moreover, the world is as much transformed as our position in it. Frenchmen may turn a blind eye to this transformation or be genuinely blind to it, because Germany is still our neighbour and our future depends largely on the fate in store for her. But is it not obvious that the Germany of 1945, with her towns destroyed, her territory divided into zones of occupation, her factories reduced to rubble, has ceased to be a danger for