It isn’t unheard of for close neighbours to fall out with each other, nor even to repeatedly fall in and out when they just happen to be sovereign nations. The latest falling out between France and Britain, 21 miles apart at their closest but separated by a much wider gulf created by centuries of strife, has arisen from post-Brexit tensions over fishing rights, the recent AUKUS security pact, and the continuing flow of people from French to English shores, which led to the deaths of 27 intending asylum seekers in the English Channel on 25 November 2021. This dispute has been fuelled by a war of harsh words and tough posturing from both sides, further inflamed by jingoistic media reporting, and has even prompted blockades of UK-bound cargo in northern French ports.
French sensibilities have been particularly offended by the injudicious publication on Twitter of a three-page letter from Boris Johnson to Emmanuel Macron, dated 25 November, ahead of formal multilateral discussions. The letter contains proposals for joint or reciprocal maritime patrol operations, deployment of advanced surveillance technology, reciprocal airborne surveillance, better real time intelligence sharing, joint patrols along the northern French coast, and a readmissions agreement to facilitate repatriation of “illegal migrants” back to France. The manner of publication, the seemingly patronising tone of the letter, and a perceived attack on French sovereignty have all been cited as reasons for French displeasure, leading to the withdrawal of an invitation to Britain’s Home Secretary to attend a ministerial crisis meeting in Calais on 28 November, attended by representatives from France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the European Commission.
The current dispute is gaining in momentum and seems likely to remain unresolved, judging by current trends, for weeks, if not longer. While we allow events to take their natural course, it seems an opportune moment to review the fraught and complicated history of Anglo-French relations. It all began when William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066 on the pretext that he was the legitimate heir of his cousin Edward the Confessor, the half-French King of England, ushering in a period of Norman rule in England that lasted until 1154, only to be succeeded by the Angevins (1154-1216) and the Plantagenets (1216-1399). The English Crown, at various times between the 11th and 16th centuries, controlled Normandy, Ponthieu, Calais, and Aquitaine (Gascony) in France, thereby fostering several territorial disputes. Today’s migrant hub of Calais was in English hands from its capture in 1347, an event linked with the story of the Burghers of Calais, until it finally reverted to France in 1558, thus becoming the last English possession in France. This period was marked by intermarriages between English and French royalty, a succession of battles on French soil, including the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453), and followed by a series of treaties to re-establish the peace. England and France even formed a dual monarchy between 1422 and 1453. The French and the Scottish, meanwhile, established a military and commercial alliance-the “Auld Alliance”-united by their mutual enmity with England, which lasted from 1295 until 1560.
As England and France embarked upon an era of colonial expansion, their conflicts spread further afield to the continents of Africa, Asia and North America. Major Anglo-French Wars took place during 1756 to 1763 (Seven Years War) and 1803 to 1815 (Napoleonic Wars), with the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 marking the last war to be fought between the two countries until the stand-off with Vichy France during 1940 to 1942. Conflicting interests meant that France sided with the winning side in the American War of Independence (1775-81), making it one of the oldest allies of the United States of America, while England provided sanctuary for Emperor Napoleon III after his deposition in 1855.
The Entente Cordiale of April 8 1904 saw a resetting of Anglo-French relations and allowed the resolution of colonial disputes in Egypt, Morocco and Newfoundland. It was enabled by the Francophilia of Edward VII and the anti-British sentiments of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Notwithstanding the fact that the French Resistance fought with the Allies during the Second World War, and that Winston Churchill himself was a Francophile, an eerily prescient Charles de Gaulle successfully kept the UK out of the EEC, recognising that as an independent-spirited island nation it was unlikely to fit in with the European experiment. Brexit was to prove him right.
The English and the French, referred to respectively as “les rosbifs” and “frogs” by one another, have been described as the “best of frenemies” because of their enduring love-hate relationship throughout much of the latter half of the 20th century and beyond. This may merely reflect differences in temperament, attitudes, language, culture, and cuisine, often described by clichés and expressed as stereotypes. Despite these differences, the histories of the two countries are closely intertwined, as indeed are their people. Boris Johnson can even claim French ancestry (half-French paternal grandmother Irene Johnson) and his counterpart Emmanuel Macron an English forebear (paternal great-grandfather George Robertson). While the duration and outcome of the present conflict are yet to be decided, students of history may choose to reflect upon the past and hope for yet another amicable resolution between fractious, yet secretly admiring, siblings.
Ashis Banerjee