Churchill and Company by David Dilks

Author:David Dilks [Dilks, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780857732873
Publisher: I.B.Tauris

There were other objections to the proposal, which Eden asked his colleagues to reject.44 The Chiefs of Staff agreed with him, as did the War Cabinet. A happier fate awaited a proposal by the Chancellor of the Exchequer for a financial agreement with France.45 In respect of the Levant, the clouds showed scant sign of lifting as the day of victory in Europe drew near. Bidault seemed confident at the end of March that the difficulties were disappearing. He confessed to Cooper, however, that his difficulties lay with de Gaulle, whose resistance would inevitably be stiffened by any British intervention. The Ambassador also believed that de Gaulle was more likely to be reasonable if no pressure were placed upon him,46 and when he saw the head of the French government on 5 April, they agreed that the two powers had no conflicting interests in the Levant. de Gaulle remarked upon the large British military presence there, observing that if the French were to give up their position at that moment it would look as if they were simply handing over to the British.47

In his dealings with London, Cooper had once more returned to the charge. He pointed out that Russia had now tightened her hold upon Czechoslovakia, gained an important diplomatic success in Poland, asserted dictatorial rights over Rumania and signed a treaty with France. Meanwhile, the relations of the British government with all the European powers remained as vague and indefinite as they had been 12 months before. He even feared the creation of an alliance of Western European powers independent of, and perhaps hostile to, Great Britain. If such an alliance enjoyed the approval of Russia, it would constitute a grave danger and Britain’s position in the Mediterranean, in defence of which she could look for no assistance from the United States, might become untenable. This despatch received no reply.48 Encouraged and perhaps surprised to find General de Gaulle almost friendly, Duff Cooper mentioned to him the possibility of an Anglo-French pact. Against this sentence in the record of the conversation, the Prime Minister wrote ‘Why?’ There was nothing, declared de Gaulle, that he desired more; but he did wish it to be something more than the Anglo-Soviet or Franco-Soviet pacts, an alliance in which all outstanding questions should be definitely settled. The later part of the same conversation indicated that this was no easier a business than it had been in the past, for de Gaulle maintained that France did indeed wish to occupy the Rhineland as far north as Cologne itself. Duff Cooper already knew that Massigli had argued against this, on the grounds that if the French attempted to occupy too much they would exhibit a weakness to the Germans. Towering over the French ministers in more senses than one, de Gaulle gave the Ambassador the impression that he was now conscious of a new menace looming up from the East against which it was more than ever necessary for the great powers of Western Europe to stand together.

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