Why Britain and France Almost Became One Country

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[00:00:02.620] - Oliver (Host)

Have you ever heard of a country called Frangleterre? Probably not. And to be fair, it never actually existed. But in 1940, for a brief and slightly surreal moment, Britain and France seriously considered becoming one country, one government, one army, one citizenship. This episode is about that forgotten moment in history and what it reveals about the long and slightly conflicted relationship between the UK and France. And this topic is especially relevant to me right now because I'm from the UK and I'm currently in France for a few weeks studying French.

[00:00:47.680] - Oliver (Host)

Welcome back to English and Beyond: Intermediate English Podcast, hosted by me, Oliver, a language teacher. If you want to read along while you listen to me or you'd like to practise the most difficult words from this episode, you'll find a free transcript as well as free flashcards at www.morethanalanguage.com. Also, if you have a moment and you enjoy the podcast, please like, follow, subscribe, etc. It really helps it grow. Now, let's go back to June 1940. France was on the brink of collapse, German forces had already taken Paris, and the French government was falling apart. Britain was still in the war, but it must have felt very alone in Western Europe at that time.

[00:01:42.500] - Oliver (Host)

At this point, the French Prime Minister, Paul Reynaud, with support from Charles de Gaulle and Winston Churchill, proposed something truly radical: a formal political union between France and Britain, not just military coordination, but full constitutional unity. There was a draft declaration. It proposed joint citizenship, a single parliament, a single foreign policy, and a combined military command. The idea was to convince the French people that they hadn't lost yet, that Britain and France were in this fight together, now as one country. However, it didn't work. Many in the French cabinet were opposed, partly because it came too late and partly because they suspected British motives. Marshal Pétain, who'd gone to lead the collaborationist Vichy government, that is, the government that worked together with the Nazis, dismissed the plan completely. He called it "Fusion with a corpse." Another minister reportedly said that, "It would be better to be a Nazi province; at least we know what that means." Paul Reynaud resigned. The French signed an armistice with Germany, and the idea of a Franco-British Union, or Frangleterre, disappeared almost immediately. Reynaud later called it the greatest disappointment of his political career. I think it's a fascinating moment, not just because it almost happened, but because no one really talks about it.

[00:03:25.920] - Oliver (Host)

You don't learn about it in school in France or in the UK. It doesn't come up in political debates. But for a couple of hours, maybe even a day, this was a serious proposal. And it says something about how the UK and France have always related to each other: with some admiration, some suspicion, and a long history of not quite knowing where the other one stands. France has undoubtedly had a huge influence on the UK. The single most famous date in British history the one date every school child knows is 1066, the Norman Conquest. In that year, French-speaking nobles arrived in England, took control, and permanently changed the language, the legal system and the structure of society. But even now, centuries later, the relationship is still complicated. The UK often projects a lot onto France: admiration, frustration, even a bit of envy. You sometimes hear people saying things like, "The French really know how to live," or, "The French understand food and culture in a way we don't." And then, of course, there are the clichés about bureaucracy, strikes, rudeness in Paris, although, if we're honest, many of these clichés do come from short visits to the French capital.

[00:04:56.420] - Oliver (Host)

And that is something I've been guilty of myself. For a long time, my mental image of France was based almost entirely on Paris. But last year, I went to Toulouse in the south, and I'm currently in Montpellier, and it has completely changed my sense of the country. It feels much more relaxed, more patient, maybe even happier somehow. It reminded me that national identity isn't fixed. It isn't the same throughout an entire nation. And it's always dangerous to reduce an entire country to a city, especially a capital city. The same, of course, applies to the UK. London is not Britain. Many Britons can't stand having to spend any time in London at all. And when we talk about international relationships between countries, not just governments, it's often the day-to-day projects that shape how people actually connect. If we fast forward now from the 1940s to the second half of the 20th century, we get two interesting examples of Anglo-French collaboration that did happen and which show that French and British people can get on: Concorde and Eurostar. In very different ways, they both show what happens when the UK and France decide to build something together.

[00:06:27.640] - Oliver (Host)

Let's start with Concorde. In the 1960s, France and Britain began working together on a supersonic passenger aircraft. The name itself, Concorde, symbolised harmony and conveniently existed in both languages. The French spelling won, but I suspect no one in Britain really minded. In fact, British people often like using French words in certain contexts. It can give a concept or a company, in this case, a touch of class. And this company, this aircraft, was truly extraordinary. It flew at over twice the speed of sound, cutting the London-New York journey to around three and a half hours. It became a symbol of luxury and modernity, sleek, fast, expensive, and therefore, reserved for celebrities, diplomats, and the extremely rich. But it wasn't sustainable. The sonic boom it produced meant it couldn't fly over land at full speed. The fuel consumption was absurd. And in 2000, sadly, a Concord flight crashed just after takeoff from Paris, killing over 100 people. I remember hearing about that crash, and it stuck with me. I was quite young, but the idea that something so carefully engineered, so elite, could still fall out of the sky, that left quite a mark. I think it's where my general discomfort with flying began.

[00:08:03.940] - Oliver (Host)

Concorde was retired in 2003. The idea of affordable, commercial supersonic travel more or less, died with it. But it remains one of the most ambitious and visually striking things that France and Britain ever built together. However, while Concord was trying to conquer the sky, another joint project stayed rather closer to the ground, Eurostar. The idea of a tunnel between England and France had been around since the 19th century, but for most of that time, it seemed like fantasy. It wasn't until the 1980s that the UK and France actually agreed to build it, a 50 kilometre tunnel beneath the Channel, the longest underwater tunnel in the world. Construction was expensive and difficult, but the Channel Tunnel finally opened in 1994, and Eurostar began running high-speed trains from London to Paris and Brussels. It changed the geography of Europe for the UK. A journey that once meant boats, airports, and long journeys and queues within the country before even getting to your transport system suddenly became something you could do in a couple of hours with a coffee and a book. For people my age it redefined how close the continent felt. Business travel became easier. Romantic weekends from the centre of London to the centre of Paris became more spontaneous.

[00:09:43.800] - Oliver (Host)

School trips became more exciting, and symbolically, it said something, Britain might still be an island, but it was an island with a tunnel, a physical link to Europe, and a reminder that separation is sometimes more psychological than real. There's a headline, probably not real, from a British newspaper, supposedly in the 1940s, that said, "Fog in channel, continent cut off from Britain." This fake headline serves as a joke, a symbol of British exceptionalism, the idea that we are the centre, and Europe is what is disconnected from us. Eurostar quietly pushed back against that idea. It made Europe feel near, connected, and importantly, normal. That's changed a bit. Eurostar has struggled in recent years with the pandemic, rising costs, new border controls after Brexit; trains still run, but the sense of progress and connection the Eurostar once represented feels a little less obvious now. Concorde is grounded, Eurostar is reduced. The idea of unity feels less fashionable than it did in the '90s. Still, I think all three stories, the failed union, Concorde, and Eurostar, are worth revisiting. They're all moments when the UK and France tried to move closer, not just through diplomacy, but something more practical: trains, planes, political structures.

[00:11:20.720] - Oliver (Host)

Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't, but each one shows that despite everything, despite the rivalry, the mutual suspicion, the headlines and the history, these two countries have kept trying to find new ways to connect. And yes, the relationship between the two countries is pretty complicated, but most long relationships are. At the very least, we can say it's never been a boring relationship. Thank you for listening. As I said before, if you enjoyed this episode, I'd love it if you could follow the podcast or leave a short review. It really does help more people find us. Take care and see you next time.