France and Britain, 1940-1994 The Long Separation

This is the second volume in Philip Bell's study of Franco-British relations in the twentieth century It covers the period from the Fall of France in 1940 to the opening of the Channel Tunnel. Philip Bell views the half-century as a long separation - with France committed early on to a new concept of Europe, in partnership with Germany, whilst Britain stood apart. The tensions and resentments it has generated have kept French/British relations at the very heart of the burning question of Britain's place in Europe. Yet the story has another side, to which Philip Bell also does justice. Much has been achieved by the two countries together and alongside their European partners. For all their divergencies and antagonisms, the French and British know and understand each other better today than at any other time in their modern histories and all these developments are fully explored in Philip Bell's engrossing and often amusing, account.