Nowadays, "insulting the law" seems to have become one of the popular cultures of the Internet, but in fact, cowardice is not a French tradition, and its weakening began in World War II. We don't need to dwell on this point, but for such a super-first-class power that has long stood at the top of the international community and influenced the pattern of Europe and even the world, the most humiliating thing is not to hold the "strongest army" and hastily surrender, but a "confused operation" after World War II.
In 1956, then-French Prime Minister Guy Moore visited Britain, where he made a startling request: France was willing to merge with Britain and honored the Queen as a common head of state. This news is undoubtedly a bombshell, not to mention the French nationals, the British were the first to be shocked and difficult to react. Hearing this, some friends may have to question it, which is also too ridiculous, right? In fact, France's request to merge with Britain sounds humiliating, but it happened, and as far as France was concerned at the time, the move was full of benefits. Let's start at the beginning.
France surrendered in World War II in exchange for so-called "peace," which spared France largely from the ravages of war. In contrast, the European neighbors of Britain, Germany and the Soviet Union had to struggle to get up from a scorched ruin after the war, and the French did not seem to be at a loss. However, France under Nazi rule was completely reduced to a "printing press". At that time, Hitler wanted to steal $100 million a day from France; France's annual GDP at the time of World War II was only $39 billion, and throughout the year, the hard-earned silver of the French people was used by the Germans to support the war.
Not only that, but the large German troops were stationed in France, and all kinds of expenses incurred had to be borne by the French side. Importantly, even with Germany's grandiose promises, France was brutally slaughtered under the Compiègne Armistice: northern France and large swathes of the Atlantic coast were all under German control, while the powerful French army and navy disarmed unconditionally. It can be seen that in the same way that William I went to the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles to be crowned, this series of conditions proposed by Hitler was also extremely insulting. Interestingly, however, even to this extent, the French people did not seem to dislike the invaders; on the contrary, the two sides got along very well.
Let's take a concrete example: one day, a German military vehicle overturned the street for some reason, and the incident occurred on the Rue Saint-Germain in Paris, and many German soldiers were crushed under the car and could not move. The Passing French immediately rushed to help, and everyone struggled to lift the car and save the German soldiers below. And many documents also mention that the German officers and soldiers in the occupied areas are indeed more "peaceful and self-guarding" and rarely do things in a special way. Sometimes, German officers and soldiers patrolling the streets would even greet the French, where is this like war? Ironically, after the end of World War II, the hindsight French finally began to denounce the atrocities of the "invaders," but they vented all their anger on the young women who were fooling around with the German officers, as if they had caused the country to fall.
Then again, while its humbled position saved France as much as possible from the war, it still inevitably fell into decline. Especially for such a broken nation, it is almost impossible to continue to maintain the glory that Napoleon and Richelieu brought to France. After the end of World War II, the international order was facing a major reshuffle, and the hegemonic system maintained by the Western powers for centuries began to collapse, not to mention how to deal with the sudden rise of the Superpowers such as the United States and the Soviet Union, and it was difficult for the great powers to maintain even the rule of the colonies. France has had a particularly hard time in the process.
At that time, France's domestic economy was very sluggish, and the living standards of the people declined; France's position in the international community declined seriously, which in turn made the people's sense of identification with the country and the government decrease. In addition, France's overseas colonies have become independent one after another, the situation is turbulent, and the red forces have spread throughout the country, and for a time, it is probably not too much to describe France's situation with "internal and external troubles". However, as we said before, Germany's years of exploitation and bullying of France have led to a serious overdraft of the country, which is more terrible than the loss of money, and the national spirit of the French people has been greatly reduced, and they no longer have the heart to deal with the problem as a hegemon. At the moment, the dying French were powerless to clean up the mess, so they wanted to merge with the British and throw out all the trouble.
The French apparently optimistically estimated the situation: first, on the surface, Britain faced a similar dilemma to France, and it was also a "internal and external problem"; secondly, Britain looked worse than France, and given Churchill's obedience to Roosevelt in the middle and late part of the war, the relationship between the United States and Britain was described as "master and dog", which annoyed the British government. Importantly, France's terms were tempting: when the two countries merged, the Queen of England would become a common head of state, and if considered in this way, Britain would have swallowed up France. Historically, the two countries preferred to fight a hundred-year war for hegemony, but now, hegemony must be achieved in such an understated way, how can the British not be moved?
In fact, when Moller made the request, the British government also discussed the matter with great remembrance and excitement. However, the impact of this matter on the international community was too great, and the British did not dare to agree. Later, the French side lowered itself, claiming that if Britain was willing to merge, then France's status in the British Commonwealth could reach the same level as Australia and Canada. The French eventually underestimated the British and overestimated each other's guts, and in the end, the arrogant British refused the request for a merger, and Moore's trip ended in an awkward atmosphere.
In general, with the exception of the United States on the other side of the ocean, France is the world's first-class power that suffered the least damage in World War II. However, the war brought no less disaster to France than the "hardest hit areas". The Soviet Union, Germany, and China, for example, have become stronger and braver after such terrible disasters; France has suffered far fewer losses but has become more intimidated. Of course, as we said at the beginning of the article, France's attempt to pull Britain into a merger is not a hot-headed one, and the interests behind it cannot be underestimated. Perhaps for Britain and France, a merger is not a win-win. Britain, with the opportunity to rewrite history, finally rejected the eager French, and it is hard to imagine what the international world would have become if they had nodded their heads in agreement; but from another point of view, Britain chose to refuse, why not rewrite history in another way?