20070115 Documents Show France Proposed Union With Britain in 1956

Documents Show France Proposed Union With Britain in 1956

January 17^th, 2007

Fox News is carrying an interesting AP story that says that Britain and France considered merging in 1956.

The revelation that the French government proposed a union of Britain and France in 1956 — even offering to accept the sovereignty of the British Queen — has left scholars on both sides of the Channel scratching their heads.

Newly discovered documents in Britain's National Archives show how former French Prime Minister Guy Mollet discussed the possibility of a merger between the two countries with British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden.

"I completely fell off my seat," said Richard Vinen, an expert in French history at King's College in London. "It's such a bizarre thing to propose."

Fact is stranger than fiction. If this were to have been written in a novel, it would’ve been denounced as too implausible.

Whatever.

Read the rest here.

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