Article

2007-01-15 Europe

From the Alternate History Dept: When Britain and France nearly married

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Posted by phil_b 2007-01-15 04:12|| || Front Page|| [2 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 This would not have gone down well with the public on both sides.

"blossoming welfare state"-Thats why we are very attractive country to the muslim unemployed!!!

Posted by Ebbolump Glomotle9608 2007-01-15 07:08|| 2007-01-15 07:08|| Front Page Top

#2 Bad idea then. Bad idea now.

Posted by Jackal">Jackal 2007-01-15 07:25|| http://home.earthlink.net/~sleepyjackal/index.html]">[http://home.earthlink.net/~sleepyjackal/index.html] 2007-01-15 07:25|| Front Page Top

#3 ..It wouldn't have been the first time - as France was going down in 1940, Churchill proposed the same thing.

France's response: "It would be like fusion with a corpse."

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2007-01-15 07:39|| 2007-01-15 07:39|| Front Page Top

#4 I for one welcome my new French overlords !

ooh wait a minute , theyve been my overlord for the past of EU farcedom

Posted by MacNails 2007-01-15 07:43|| 2007-01-15 07:43|| Front Page Top

#5 The original Britainy and K-fed courtship.

Posted by ed 2007-01-15 07:59|| 2007-01-15 07:59|| Front Page Top

#6
..It wouldn't have been the first time - as France was going down in 1940, Churchill proposed the same thing.

France's response: "It would be like fusion with a corpse."

In fact it was Churchill and De Gaulle then a mere Sécrétaire d'Etat (sub-minsister) for War (ie he ranked below the Minister for Defence).

And the one who told about "union with a corpse" wasn't France ie its Prime Minister who wanted to continue war to the end but Generral Weygand ie the Chief of Staff, a mere Chief of Staff.

But it is funny that the rabid nationalist and quite anti-British who was De Gaulle was the main French proponent of union with England

Posted by JFM">JFM 2007-01-15 08:09|| 2007-01-15 08:09|| Front Page Top

#7 The notion that a dispute between Israel and Jordan would in any sense necessitate "union" between the UK and France is absurd.

Posted by Excalibur 2007-01-15 09:57|| 2007-01-15 09:57|| Front Page Top

#8 I think someone here it is out of his meds. France and Israel were inforaml allies but AFAIK allies as exchange of technology, intelligence and France providing to Israel the modern tanks (Israel still had first generation Shermans) and Jets it desperately neeeded (half of Isreal's planew were piston planes and for the jets they were first generation jets who according to Moshe Dayan were out of their league against Egypt's Mig15s) but AFAIK no French service man ever went to Israel so there was never any danger of armed confrontation between British and French troops or planes.

What COULD have happenned was armed confrontation between the RAF and the Israeli Air Force as during the major antiterrorist raid of Kalkilyah the King of Jordan invoked the defence treaty with the UK, requesting assistance from teh RAF. During this raid an Israeli unit found its retreat route cut by the Jordanians, the Israelis managed to extract it before sunrise but it was close thing. Had the operation failed, then the Israelis would have been forced to mount a large scale operation in daylight, with air support and... the possibility of having to confront the British.

In his book Dayan made some acid remarks about the British ("except for the Almighty no one is as good as complicating things as the British. Just when they more need us to confront Nasser they would have gone to war against us for the sake of Jordan")

Posted by JFM">JFM 2007-01-15 10:35|| 2007-01-15 10:35|| Front Page Top

#9 In alternate history, England is so much better under King Edmund Blackadder IIIrd.

Posted by Anonymoose 2007-01-15 12:25|| 2007-01-15 12:25|| Front Page Top

#10 "French and British soldiers could soon be fighting each other."

France's version of preemption preemptive surrender that is.

Posted by C-Low 2007-01-15 12:26|| 2007-01-15 12:26|| Front Page Top

#11 Lol!

Posted by Mike N. 2007-01-15 12:35|| 2007-01-15 12:35|| Front Page Top

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