France’s role on the eve of World War I
The position of France on the eve of World War I can be discussed as rather vulnerable because France was the victim of the exhausting Franco-Prussian War. On the contrary, France’s role to influence the development of the events before World War I was significant because France began to focus on militarisation to gain the necessary revanche (Sondhaus 298). Even though France could not realize any active movements against the European empires independently, France concentrated on supporting relations with Britain and Russia because the combination of efforts was required, and the French resources remained to be the desirable pieces for many European states.
Under such conditions, France focused on renewing its military resources and high position in the political arena. Thus, France chose to follow the path of Imperialism about expanding the state’s influence on the African lands. To overcome the negative consequences of the Franco-Prussian War, France needed to focus on new perspectives for the state’s economic and political development, and such an approach could provide the state with the necessary resources to prepare the revanche.
There were no chances to win the dominating position in Europe without the support of the allies, but it was possible to concentrate on the further protection of the French lands from the foreign invasions (Price 112). As a result, the concentration of France on military activities before World War I in 1914 meant the state’s readiness to participate in the new war.
The reasons of collaboration between Vichy regime and the Nazis during World War II
During the Vichy regime of 1940-1944, the Vichy government was headed by Philippe Petain and Pierre Laval. In their activities, Petain and Laval focused significantly on collaboration with the Nazis to exterminate the French Jews and to promote the Nazi principles in France (Haine 161). The fact of the Vichy regime’s collaboration with the Nazis is a controversial issue that is why it is necessary to determine the specific reasons for the Vichy government’s activities.
Philippe Petain and Pierre Laval, as well as the other representatives of the Vichy government, were reactionaries according to their political views. As a result, these politicians focused more on the development of the authoritarian regime promoted by the Nazis rather than on the development of the republican state. It is important to note that many reactionaries were inclined to discuss the political and economic problems observed in France during the decades as a result of the ineffective republican approaches. The path proposed by the Nazis was discussed as more appropriate for the development of France in the future. That is why collaboration was justified with references to many political reasons (Haine 161). However, the focus on the ideological character of collaboration was even more important.
The appearance of many concentration camps in France, as well as the extermination operations, were the results of the close connection of the Vichy government with the Nazis. The representatives of the Vichy regime stated that the focus on the collaboration with the Nazis could contribute to re-building France as the strong autonomous state developed under the rule of the Nazis (Haine 162). Furthermore, the Vichy regime contributed to reducing the occupation’s severity for civilians because of the focus on civil operations.
President De Gaulle’s change of France’s policy in the Middle East
During the period of his presidency, President De Gaulle focused on changing France’s policy in the Middle East in the 1950s and the 1960s. The most significant changes were observed after 1967 because these changes influenced the further political orientation of the country in the region of the Middle East. During several decades, France supported the intentions of the Jewish people to organize their state.
Thus, France supported the existence of the State of Israel and tried to improve relations with Israel until the late 1950s (Covarrubias and Lansford 27-28). However, President De Gaulle saw the perspectives for the state’s development in supporting the relations with Arab countries rather than Israel. From this point, the support of the Arabs’ initiatives became more obvious even though France still demonstrated the support toward the growth of the State of Israel.
The end of the Algerian War became the trigger to change the course in the orientation significantly. The signing of the 1962 Evian Accords provided a lot of opportunities for France to improve the Franco-Arab relations which needed extensive treatment. That is why President De Gaulle used the opportunity and realized the remarkable shift from orienting to Israel to focusing on the relations with the Arab world.
It was important to state France’s impact in the region, and the relations with Israel could not provide France with the opportunity to support its image in the region. As a result, the shift in the policy orientation became obvious in 1967 when President De Gaulle started to support the openly different initiatives of the Arab countries (Covarrubias and Lansford 27-28). This approach provided President De Gaulle with the chance to stabilize the relations with the Middle East countries and to focus on the Arab sources of support for France itself.
Works Cited
Covarrubias, Jack, and Tom Lansford. Strategic Interests in the Middle East: Opposition and Support for US Foreign Policy. USA: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2007. Print.
Haine, Scott. The History of France. USA: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000. Print.
Price, Roger. A Concise History of France. USA: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Print.
Sondhaus, Lawrence. World War One: The Global Revolution. USA: Cambridge University Press, 2011. Print.