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France and Great Britain shall no longer be two nations, but one Franco-British Union. The constitution of the Union will provide for joint organs of defence, foreign, financial and economic policies. Every citizen of France will enjoy immediately citizenship of Great Britain, every British subject will become a citizen of France.
The proposal of a Franco-British Union to shore up support for Paul Reynaud's government following the fall of Paris split support. With many pro-Armistice ministers in the cabinet, such as the Deputy Prime Minister Philippe Pétain , and the commander-in-chief of the French Army General Weygand, Reynaud resigned on 16 June.
An Allied war against the Soviet Union was part of the plan. The main naval launching point would be Royal Navy's base at Scapa Flow, in the Orkney Islands. [2] The Soviet invasion of Finland excited widespread outrage at both popular and elite levels in support of Finland not only in Britain and France but also in the neutral United States. [3]
He suggested a Franco-British Union, which the French rejected. [15] On 14 June, Paris fell and the Parisians unable to flee the city found that in most cases the Germans were extremely well mannered. [12] The air superiority established by the Luftwaffe became air supremacy, with the Armée de l'Air on the verge of collapse. [16]
France had only the Franco-Russian Alliance. The agreement threatened Germany, whose policy had long relied on Franco-British antagonism. A German attempt to check the French in Morocco in 1905 (the Tangier Incident, or First Moroccan Crisis), and thus to upset the Entente, served only to strengthen it.
That afternoon, the British Government offered joint nationality for Frenchmen and Britons in a Franco-British Union. Reynaud and five ministers thought these proposals acceptable. The others did not, seeing the offer as insulting and a device to make France subservient to the United Kingdom, as a kind of extra Dominion.
British victory in the Second Hundred Years' War. France and Britain become informal allies in the late 19th century. Entente Cordiale in 1904. Momentary disruption of the Franco-British alliance when France is occupied by Germany during World War II. Free French Forces still fight as allies with the British.
[4] [5] Reynaud resigned after his proposal for a Franco-British Union was rejected by his cabinet and Marshal Philippe Pétain, a hero of World War I, became the new prime minister, pledging to sign an armistice with Nazi Germany. De Gaulle opposed any such action and, facing imminent arrest, fled France on 17 June.