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 France |  Germany |
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| Diplomatic mission | |
| Embassy of France, Berlin | Embassy of Germany, Paris |
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| AmbassadorFrançois Delattre | Ambassador Stephan Steinlein |
France–Germany relations, orFranco-German relations,[a] form a part of the wider politics of theEuropean Union. The two countries have a long –and often contentious – relationship stretching back to theMiddle Ages. AfterWorld War II, the two nations have largely reconciled. Since the signing of theTreaty of Rome in 1958, they have been among the founders and leading members of theEuropean Communities and later theEuropean Union along with Italy, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium.
General relations between the two countries since 1871, according to Ulrich Krotz,[1] have had three grand periods:"hereditary enmity" (down to 1945), "reconciliation" (1945–1963) and since 1963 the "special relationship" embodied in a cooperation calledFranco-German Friendship.[2][b] In the context of theEuropean Union, the cooperation between the two countries is immense and intimate. Even though France has, at times, beeneurosceptical in outlook, especially under PresidentCharles de Gaulle, Franco-German agreements and cooperations have always been key to furthering the ideals ofEuropean integration.
In recent times, France and Germany are among the most enthusiastic proponents of the further integration of the EU. They are sometimes described as the "twin engine" or "core countries" pushing for moves.[3]A tram straddling the Franco-German border, across the riverRhine fromStrasbourg toKehl, was inaugurated on 28 April 2017 symbolizing the strength of relations between the two countries.[4]
Both France and Germany track their early history from the territories ofGaul andGermania, and to the time ofFrankish Empire underCharlemagne, which included most of the area of both modern-day France and Germany, as well as theNetherlands,Belgium,Luxembourg,Switzerland,Austria,Slovenia, andnorthern Italy.
Predecessors, which lived on the territory of modern France and Germany fought together in theGallic War againstJulius Caesar and theRoman Republic between 58 and 50 BC. According to Caesar, the GallicVolcae Tectosages had once crossed the Rhine and colonized parts of Germania, but had since become militarily inferior to theGermani (Germanic people).[5] He also writes that Germani had once crossed the Rhine into northeast Gaul and driven away its Gallic inhabitants, and that theBelgae claimed to be largely descended from these Germanic invaders.[6] Years later, Both Gaul andGermania were both invaded by theRoman Empire.
Years after theFall of the Western Roman Empire, The death of Charlemagne's sonLouis the Pious and the following partition of theFrankish Empire in the 843Treaty of Verdun marked the end of a single state. While the population in both theWestern andEastern kingdoms had relative homogeneous language groups (Gallo-Romanic in West Francia, andLow German andHigh German in East Francia),Middle Francia was a mere strip of a mostly blurring, yet culturally rich language-border-area, roughly between the riversMeuse andRhine – and soon partitioned again.[7] After the 880Treaty of Ribemont, the border between the western and eastern kingdoms remained almost unchanged for some 600 years. Germany went on with a centuries-long attachment with Italy, while France grew into deeper relations with England.[8]
Despite a gradual cultural alienation during the High and Late Middle Ages, social and cultural interrelations remained present through the preeminence of Latin language andFrankish clergy and nobility.
TheHoly Roman Emperor Charles V, a member of the AustrianHouse of Habsburg, inherited theLow Countries and theFranche-Comté in 1506. When he also inheritedSpain in 1516, France was surrounded by Habsburg territories and felt under pressure. The resulting tension between the two powers caused a number of conflicts such as theWar of the Spanish Succession, until theDiplomatic Revolution of 1756 made them allies againstPrussia.
TheThirty Years' War (1618–1648), devastating large parts of theHoly Roman Empire, fell into this period. Although the war was mostly a conflict between Protestants and Catholics, Catholic France sided with the Protestants against the Austrian-led CatholicImperial forces. ThePeace of Westphalia in 1648 gave France part ofAlsace. The 1679Treaties of Nijmegen consolidated this result by bringing several towns under French control. In 1681, Louis XIV marched into the city ofStrasbourg on 30 September, and proclaimed its annexation.[9]
Meanwhile, the expanding MuslimOttoman Empire became a serious threat to Austria.The Papal States initiated a so-calledHoly League against the "hereditary enemy" of Christian Europe ("Erbfeind christlichen Namens"). Far from joining or supporting the common effort of the Holy Roman Empire andPoland-Lithuania, France, underLouis XIV, invaded theSpanish Netherlands in September 1683, a few days before theBattle of Vienna. While Austria was occupied with theGreat Turkish War (1683–1699), France initiated theWar of the Grand Alliance (1688–1697). The attempt to conquer large parts of southern Germany ultimately failed when Imperial and Imperial circle troops were withdrawn from the Ottoman border and moved to the region. However, following ascorched earth policy that caused a large public outcry at the time, French troops devastated large parts of the Palatinate, burning down and levelling numerous cities and towns in southern Germany.
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In the 18th century, the rise ofPrussia as a new German power caused theDiplomatic Revolution and an alliance between France, the Habsburgs and Russia, manifested in 1756 in theTreaty of Versailles and theSeven Years' War against Prussia and Great Britain. Although a German national state was on the horizon, the loyalties of the German population were primarily with smaller states. The French war against Prussia was justified through its role asguarantor of the Peace of Westphalia, and it was in fact fighting on the side of the majority of German states.[according to whom?]
Frederick the Great led the defense of Prussia for 7 years, and though heavily outnumbered, defeated his French and Austrian invaders. Prussia and France clashed multiple times, and many more times than the other countries. This started years of hatred between the two countries. Frederick the Great was soon respected by all of his enemies, andNapoleon himself used him as a model for battle.
The civil population still regarded war as a conflict between their authorities, and did not so much distinguish between troops according to the side on which they fought but rather according to how they treated the local population. The personal contacts and mutual respect between French and Prussian officers did not stop entirely while they were fighting each other, and the war resulted in a great deal of cultural exchange between the French occupiers and German population.
German nationalism emerged as a strong force after 1807, as Napoleon conquered much of Germany and brought in the new ideals of the French Revolution. The Frenchmass conscription for theRevolutionary Wars and the beginning formation of nation states in Europe made war increasingly a conflict between peoples rather than a conflict between authorities carried out on the backs of their subjects.[according to whom?]
Napoleon put an end to the millennium-oldHoly Roman Empire in 1806. Napoleon formed his ownConfederation of the Rhine, and reshaped the political map of the German states, which were still divided. The wars, often fought in Germany and with Germans on both sides, as in theBattle of the Nations at Leipzig, also marked the beginning of what was explicitly calledFrench–German hereditary enmity. Napoleon directly incorporated German-speaking areas such as theRhineland andHamburg into hisFirst French Empire and treated the monarchs of the remaining German states as vassals. Modern German nationalism was born in opposition to French domination, under Napoleon. In the recasting of the map of Europe after Napoleon's defeat, the German-speaking territories in the Rhineland adjoining France were put under the rule ofPrussia.
Bavaria as the third-largest state in Germany after 1815 enjoyed much warmer relations with France than the larger Prussia orAustria. From 1670 onwards, the two countries were allies for almost a century, primarily to counter Habsburg ambitions to incorporate Bavaria into Austria. This alliance was renewed after the rise of Napoleon to power with a friendship treaty in 1801 and a formal alliance in August 1805, pushed for by theBavarian MinisterMaximilian von Montgelas. With French support, Bavaria was elevated to the status of aKingdom in 1806. Bavaria supplied 30,000 troops for theinvasion of Russia in 1812, of which very few returned. With the decline of the First French Empire, Bavaria opted to switch sides on 8 October 1813 and left the French alliance in favour of an Austrian one through theTreaty of Ried.[10][11]
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During the first half of the 19th century, many Germans looked forward to a unification of the German states; one issue was whether CatholicAustria would be a part. German nationalists believed that a united Germany would replace France as the world's dominant land power. This argument was aided by demographic changes: since the Middle Ages, France had the largest population in Western Europe, but in the 19th century its population stagnated (a trend which continued until the second half of the 20th century), and the population of the German states overtook it and continued to rapidly increase.[12]
The eventualunification of Germany was triggered by theFranco-German War in 1870 and subsequent French defeat. German forces defeated the French armies at theBattle of Sedan. Finally, in theTreaty of Frankfurt, reached after a lengthysiege of Paris, France was forced to cede the mostly Germanic-speakingAlsace-Lorraine territory (consisting of most ofAlsace and a quarter ofLorraine), and pay an indemnity of five billion francs. Thereafter, Germany was the leading land power.[13]
Although initially against it, Bismarck eventually gave into the Army and to intense public demand in Germany for acquisition of the border provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, thereby turning France into a permanent, deeply committed enemy. Theodore Zeldin says: "Revenge and the recovery of Alsace-Lorraine became a principal object of French policy for the next forty years. That Germany was France's enemy became the basic fact of international relations."[14] Bismarck's solution was to make France a pariah nation, encouraging royalty to ridicule its new republican status, and building complex alliances with the other major powers – Austria, Russia andGreat Britain – to keep France isolated, diplomatically.[15][16]
The short-term French reaction to defeat in theFranco-Prussian War of 1870–1871 wasRevanchism: a deep sense of bitterness, hatred and demand for revenge against Germany, especially because of the loss of Alsace and Lorraine.[17] Paintings that emphasized the humiliation of the defeat came in high demand, such as those byAlphonse de Neuville.[18]
The Alsace-Lorraine issue remained a minor theme after 1880, and Republicans and Socialists systematically downplayed the issue and the monarchists (who emphasized the issue) faded away. Revanchism was not a major cause of war in 1914 because it faded after 1880. J.F.V. Keiger says: "By the 1880s, Franco-German relations were relatively good."[19][20][21]
After 1880, the rapid growth in the population and economy of Germany left France increasingly far behind. In the 1890s, relationships remained good, as Germany supported France during its difficulties with Great Britain over African colonies. Any lingering harmony collapsed in 1905, when Germany took an aggressively hostile position to French claims to Morocco. There was talk of war and France strengthened its ties with Great Britain and Russia.[22]
The French public had very little interest in foreign affairs and elite French opinion was strongly opposed to war with its more powerful neighbor.[23] French foreign policy was based on a fear that Germany was larger and steadily growing more powerful.[24] In 1914 the chief pressure group was theParti colonial, a coalition of 50 organizations with a combined total of only 5,000 members.[25] When war broke out in 1914, recovery of the two lost provinces became France's primary war aim.[26]
After Bismarck's removal in 1890, French efforts to isolate Germany became successful; with the formation of theTriple Entente, Germany began to feel encircled.[27] Foreign minister Delcassé, especially, went to great pains to woo Russia and Great Britain. Key markers were theFranco-Russian Alliance of 1894, the 1904Entente Cordiale with Great Britain, and finally theAnglo-Russian Entente in 1907 which became theTriple Entente. This formal alliance with Russia, and informal alignment with Britain, against Germany andAustria-Hungary eventually led Russia and Britain to enter World War I as France's Allies.[28][29]
The Allied victory saw France regain Alsace-Lorraine and briefly resume its old position as the leading land power on the European continent. France was the leading proponent of harsh peace terms against Germany at theParis Peace Conference. Since the war had been fought on French soil, it had destroyed much of French infrastructure and industry, and France had suffered the highest number of casualties proportionate to population. Much French opinion wanted the Rhineland, the section of Germany west of theRhine river and the old focus of French ambition, to be detached from Germany as an independent country. In the end they settled for heavyGerman reparation payments, the militaryoccupation of the Rhineland (1918–1930) and the demilitarization of it and an area stretching 50 kilometers east of the Rhine. On the remote Eastern end of the German Empire, theMemel territory was separated from the rest ofEast Prussia and occupied by France, before being annexed byLithuania. In response to German failure in 1923 to pay reparations as required under theTreaty of Versailles, Franceoccupied the industrial Ruhr area of Germany, the center of German coal and steel production, until 1925.[30] Also, the French-dominatedInternational Olympic Committee banned Germany from theOlympic Games of 1920 and 1924, illustrating French desire to isolate Germany.
In late 1924 German foreign ministerGustav Stresemann made his highest priority the restoration of German prestige and privileges as a leading European nation. French withdrawal from the occupied Ruhr was scheduled for January 1925, but Stresemann sensed that France was very nervous about its security and might cancel the withdrawal[citation needed]. He realized that France deeply desired a British guarantee of its postwar borders, but that London was reluctant. Stresemann came up with a plan whereby all sides would get what they wanted through guarantees set out in a series of treaties. British Foreign MinisterAusten Chamberlain enthusiastically agreed. France realized that its occupation of the Ruhr had caused more financial and diplomatic damage than it was worth and went along with the plan. They convened a conference of foreign ministers in the Swiss resort of Locarno and worked out the treaties. The first was the most critical: a mutual guarantee of the frontiers of Belgium, France, and Germany, which was guaranteed by Britain and Italy. The second and third treaties called for arbitration between Germany and Belgium, and Germany and France regarding future disputes. The fourth and fifth were similar arbitration treaties between Germany and Poland, and Germany and Czechoslovakia. Poland especially, and Czechoslovakia as well, felt threatened by the main Locarno agreement, and the treaties were attempts to reassure them. The success of the Locarno agreements led to the admission of Germany to theLeague of Nations in September 1926, with a seat on its council as a permanent member. The result was the euphoric "Spirit of Locarno" across Europe—a sense that it was possible to achieve peace and a permanent system guaranteeing that peace.[31]
TheGreat Depression on 1929-33 soured the mood in France, and plunged Germany into economic hardship and violent internal unrest. From 1933 underAdolf Hitler, Germany began to pursue an aggressive policy in Europe. Meanwhile, France in the 1930s was politically divided. Above all, the country dreaded another war; the French feared would again be fought on their soil for the third time, and again destroy a large percentage of their young men. France's stagnant population meant that it would find it difficult to withhold the sheer force of numbers of a German invasion; it was estimated Germany could put two men of fighting age in the field for every French soldier. Thus in the 1930s the French, with their British allies, pursued a policy of appeasement of Germany, failing to respond to the remilitarization of theRhineland, although this put the German army on a larger stretch of the French border.[citation needed]
Finally, however, Hitler pushed France and Great Britain too far, and they jointly declared war when Germanyinvaded Poland in September 1939. But, France remained exhausted and in no mood for a rerun of 1914–18. There was little enthusiasm and much dread in France at the prospect of actual warfare after thePhoney War. When the Germans launched theirblitzkrieginvasion of France in 1940, the French Army crumbled within weeks, and with Britain retreating, an atmosphere of humiliation and defeat swept France.
A new government under MarshalPhilippe Pétain surrendered, and German forces occupied most of the country. A minority of the French forces escaped abroad and continued the fight under General Charles de Gaulle andFree France. On the other hand, theFrench Resistance conducted sabotage operations inside German-occupied France. To support theinvasion of Normandy of 1944, various groups increased their sabotage and guerrilla attacks; organizations such asthe Maquis derailed trains, blew up ammunition depots, and ambushed Germans, for instance atTulle. The2nd SS Panzer DivisionDas Reich, which came under constant attack and sabotage on their way across the country to Normandy, suspected the village ofOradour-sur-Glane of harboring resistance members, arms and explosives. In retaliation, they destroyed the town in theOradour-sur-Glane massacre, killing 642 of its inhabitants.
There was also a free French army fighting with the Allies, numbering almost five hundred thousand men by June 1944, one million by December and 1.3 million by the end of the war. By the war's end, the French army occupied south-west Germany and a part of Austria.
Marshal Petain, who ruled France under German supervision, 1940–44, adopted the ideology of National Revolution which was originally based on ideas which had been discussed for years. When the Franco-German reconciliation committee "Comité France-Allemagne" ("French-German Friendship Committee") founded in 1935 in Paris it was an important element for Germany to get closer to France. It adopted Pro-European, Pro-German, anti British, anti liberal political and economic views. Key members of the Committee became the key leaders of the French collaborators with Nazis after 1940.[32][33]
When Marshal Petain officially proclaimed the collaboration policy with Nazi Germany in June 1941, he justified it to the French people as an essential need for the New European Order and to keep the unity of France. Therefore, much of WW2 French propaganda was pro-European, exactly as German propaganda was. Therefore, a group called "Group Collaboration" had been established during the war in France, and led a myriad of conferences promoting Pro-Europeanism. The very first time the expression "European Community" was used was at its first sessions, as well as many conferences and guests lectures sponsored by the German government, propagating French-German reconciliation, French renewal and European solidarity.[34]
The war left Europe in a weak position and divided between capitalism in the West, and communism in the East. For the first time in the history of Europe, both Americans and Soviets had a strategic foothold on the continent. Defeated Germany was under the control of the U.S., USSR, United Kingdom and France, until 1949. Soviet troops remained in those countries in Eastern Europe that had been liberated by theRed Army from the Nazis and ensured the political success of Communist parties controlled by the Kremlin.[35][36]
The French, under De Gaulle, hoped to be a balancing act in 1945–46. French fears of a resurgent Germany made it reluctant to support the plan to merge the British and American zones of occupation. However, growing anger at the Soviets behaviour in Poland, and the need for American economic assistance, led the French to merge their zone into what became West Germany.[37]
In 1947, the American Secretary of State,George Marshall, announced theMarshall Plan to help economic recovery, economic integration, and business-oriented modernization in Europe. Large sums went to France and Germany, which helped restore trade and financial relations. The Marshall Plan recipients set up theOrganisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC) in 1948.[38]
The idea of a Franco-German federation was a proposed merger between France and Germany after the end of World War II. The idea was promoted by French politicianRobert Schuman in his declaration on May 9, 1950, which is now celebrated as Europe Day. The aim of the proposal was to create a lasting peace between the two countries and to promote economic cooperation.
TheFranco-German federation proposal envisioned a common government, currency, and military. It also sought to establish aEuropean Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), which would integrate the coal and steel industries of France and Germany. The ECSC was created in 1952 and was the first step toward the creation of theEuropean Union.
While the idea of a Franco-German federation never fully materialized, the proposal laid the foundation for theEuropean Union and the close cooperation between France and Germany that has been a driving force behind European integration. Today, France and Germany are considered to be the engine of European integration and have played a key role in the creation of the European Monetary Union, theSchengen Agreement, and theEuropean Stability Mechanism.
Earlier in 1948, there were significant key leaders in the French civil service who favoured an agreement with the Germans as well as an integrated Europe that would include Germany. The French European Department was working on a coal and steel agreement for the Ruhr-Lorraine-Luxembourg area, with equal rights for all. One French civil servant recommended 'laying down the bases of a Franco-German economic and political association that would slowly become integrated into the framework of the evolving Western organization'. Deighton strongly illustrated that the French leaders sought the cooperation with the Germans as key factor on the path of integrated Europe.
On a more practical level the increased level of cooperation between West Germany and France were driven by de Gaulle’s desire to build a power-bloc independently of the US, whileAdenauer sought a fast integration into the western structures to receive full rights for the still occupied West German state as well as protection against the Soviet threat. The issue of dependency on the USA remained a sore spot at least for as long as DeGaulle remained in office (e.g. the West German parliament included a pro-NATO preamble into theÉlysée Treaty, which caused considerable consternation with the French government). However, their shared interest in increased cooperation still existed and was also driven by strong support in the respective civil society, as it was seen as the best solution to prevent further bloodshed between the two nations.
In like manner, the German minister of economics Ludwig Erhard created a significant evolution in the German economy and a durable, well established trading relationship between the Federal Republic and its European neighbours as well. Later on when the Treaty of Rome came into action in 1958, it took the responsibility to strengthen and sustain the new political and economic relationships that had developed between the German nation and its former victims in Western Europe. The treaty beside it included side deals; it created a customs union and established the rules needed to make the competition mechanism work properly.
As a sequence of this, booming European economies, fired byWest Germany, led to the formation of the new customs union known as theEuropean Economic Community (EEC). But it did not go well as the organization of Europe, because only the members of the coal and steel community 'ECSC' ("the six": Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany) joined the EEC. Seven of the remaining nations belonging to the Organization of European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) which administered the Marshall Plan, did not join the EEC, but instead formed an alternative body, theEuropean Free Trade Association (EFTA). It was a free trade area as opposed to a customs union with common external tariffs and a political agenda, competing with the EEC as it was remarkably successful.[according to whom?]
With the threat of theSoviet Union during theCold War, West Germany sought its national security in the re-integration intoWestern Europe, while France sought after a reestablishment as aGrande Nation. The post-war Franco-West German cooperation is based on theÉlysée Treaty, which was signed by Charles de Gaulle andKonrad Adenauer on 22 January 1963.[39] The treaty contained a number of agreements for joint cooperation in foreign policy, economic and military integration and exchange of student education.
The treaty was signed under difficult political situations at that time and criticized both by opposition parties in France and West Germany, as well as from theUnited Kingdom and theUnited States. Opposition from the United Kingdom and the United States was answered by an added preamble which postulated a close cooperation with those (includingNATO) and a targeted German reunification.
The treaty achieved a lot in initiating European integration and a stronger Franco-West German co-position in transatlantic relations.
The initial concept for the Franco-German cooperation however dates back a lot further than the Élysée Treaty and is based on the overcoming the centuries of Franco-German hostilities within Europe. It was compared to a re-establishment ofCharlemagne's European empire as it existed before division by theTreaty of Verdun in 843AD.
TheSchuman declaration of 1950 is regarded by some as the founding of Franco-German cooperation, as well as of theEuropean Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) of 1951, which also includedItaly,Belgium, theNetherlands andLuxembourg.
The cooperation was accompanied by strong personal alliance in various degrees:
Franco-German collaborative enterprises include;
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