Peering Across the Channel

1805 Battle of Trafalgar, Spain, Nelson's final hour

1815 Waterloo - in Belgium, Wellingtons finest hour

LONDON
Consider the British view of the French.  Earlier this month David Cameron, Prime Minister of the UK chose to "veto" the EU new monetary policy reforms which were being spearheaded by Angela Merkel and Nicholas Sarkosy, representing Germany and France, the two power centers of the Euro currency.  The reception to this stance was very positive by many of the British Tories (conservatives) who have been generally skeptical of the Euro and power "abdicated" (as they would term it) given to the EU by the UK.  In some respects they resemble US conservatives who favor state over federal power.  Also at play, however, is Britain's view of the French -- a mix of skepticism, distrust, fear and envy.

On our recent tour of the Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament) it was pointed out that the two largest paintings in the building which cover facing walls in the enormous hall between the two "houses" (Lords and Commons), depict two great historical battles.  They are not of the 1066 battle of Hastings that represents the formation of Britain, not D-Day, not Elisabeth I's naval victory over the Spanish Armada.  Rather, they depict two 19th century victories over the French: Trafalgar and Waterloo spaced only 10 years apart.  These two battles and the heroes they made famous -- Admiral Nelson and the Duke of Wellington -- show up again and again on monuments and names throughout London and England.  (I hazard to guess that there are a thousand "Duke of Wellington" pubs across the UK as a start!)

Sarkosy getting his point across to Cameron

The First and Second World Wars required British-French alliances.  I recently saw the play Three Days in May, which recounts the critical three days in May 1940 when Churchill had just been selected as Prime Minister.  The French were being routed by the Germans and the British "expeditionary forces" were being pushed to their ignominious defeat and withdrawal from the continent at Calais and Dunkirk.  The French Prime Minister makes a personal visit to London to recommend to Churchill that together they sue for reasonable peace terms with Hitler using the still independent Mussolini (!) as intermediary.  In the end the British of course take the decision to go-it-alone and fight on.  And later, with critical American land on French shores and fight their across the continent to defeat the Nazis.



So the historical interactions between Britain and France are like a layer cake.  On the day after the British "veto" the papers were speculating that the wily Sarkosy had led the 10 year younger and less experienced Cameron into a trap by forcing Cameron to walk away thus giving France more power in the EU and sidelining London's prized financial services sector.  Old habits of mistrust and skepticism are the ever present thick and ever present icing on the cake.


Peter