Treaty of alliance and mutual assistance between his majesty with respect to that of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the President of the French Republic, signed at Dunkirk, on 4 March 1947

Résumé du document

In March 1947, an historic alliance treaty was sealed between Britain and France. Indeed, it conveyed for the former a dramatic shift in its traditionally cautious and reserved foreign policy towards continental Europe in general and France in particular. The Entente Cordiale of 1904 had already shown a slight rapprochement between the two countries but the treaty of Dunkirk of 1947 represented unmistakably the biggest commitment ever made by Britain in time of peace vis-a-vis a continental neighbor till then.

Considering the "at least historically symbolic" importance of this Franco-British alliance, several questions arise:
What were the motives of both the French and the British for allying themselves with each other in March 1947? To what extent does the Treaty of Dunkirk bind France and Great Britain to assist each other and on what conditions? How successful did this alliance turn out to be? To answer these questions, we will, in the first part, tackle the historic context in which the treaty of Dunkirk took place, the motivations on the two sides behind this treaty and also the evolution of the positions of both France and Britain during the period of negotiation (I). Then in the second part we will evaluate to what extent the text met the expectations of each of the two parties and the outcomes it finally resulted in (II)

Extraits

[...] The UK's motivations were essentially to control Germany, to make a first step towards a European security system, to reinforce Britain's position between the US and the USSR and to make sure French domestic politics remains stable. In addition to that, the fundamental role of the elite of decision-makers on both sides and their personal role, through their positions and interactions, in shaping the treaty throughout the negotiation process are crucial to understand why the treaty of Dunkirk took I am speaking here of all the interpretations of the treaty of Dunkirk as anti-Soviet treaty. [...]

[...] However, this treaty enabled the construction of a Western European and in 1949 transatlantic security system to start. As we could see, the original expectations of both France and England were not completely fulfilled in the years that followed the signature of the treaty. But I suggest that a better indicator of the real success of the alliance is, in fact, the way in which this treaty actually launched a movement towards an integration in broader alliances, at such as the WEU and NATO. One could say that the treaty was dead before it was even born. [...]

[...] The Treaty of Dunkirk example”, in European History Quarterly, 16: pp 343-367 - National Archives Ministre des Affaires Etrangères, Europe 1944-49 généralités, dossier 4 et relations franco-britanniques dossiers 36-37 National Archives, Washington, Records on Charles Bohlen 1948 (Papers 1942-53) Public Record Office, Foreign Office Service Historique de l'Armée de Terre (SHAT), SGDN, confidential note 14, December 1946. [...]

[...] Motives of France and Britain and negotiations in preparation for the treaty French motivations: The French provisional government led by De Gaulle from 1944 aspires to strengthen France's position in the post-war world by guiding a western European group of states2. The Tripartite Council of Economic Cooperation is a first step in the spring 1945 in the creation of this group. At this time, Belgium is even told by France not to ally with England before France does3. Then in April 1946, the French government led by Socialist Félix Gouin is defeated by a coalition of Christian democrats and Communists which keeps a treaty of alliance with Britain from being signed. [...]

[...] 23- Ibid 19 National Archives, Washington, Records on Charles Bohlen 1948 (Papers 1942-53) 20 http://www.nato.int/archives/1st5years/chapters/1.htm 11 The necessity of the American support for whole Europe but particularly France and Great Britain materializes one month later through the Marshall Plan: very substantial amounts of money provided by the United States for the recovery of European countries. With the growing expansion of the Soviet Union and the events of the Berlin Blockade, in 1949 the treaty of Washington marks the birth of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. [...]