Sovereignty, Democracy and Neutrality: French Foreign Policy and the National-Patriotic Humanitarianism of the French Red Cross, 1919–1928

Recent historiography pertaining to the International Red Cross has generally emphasised the transnational scale as best suited for analysing this global movement. Using the French Red Cross as a case study, this article suggests that focusing on the national scale, or even on the national-imperial scale, does not exclude transnational approaches but enriches them. In doing so, it highlights the dialectic between scales of humanitarian activity and complicates our understanding of the Red Cross movement in the early twentieth century. The article examines how the French Red Cross strived for its independence within the broader Red Cross world in a postwar humanitarian context increasingly dominated by transnational organisations. It also argues that in the 1920s the French Red Cross, a traditional auxiliary of the French army, became an arm of the French Foreign Office, advancing French diplomacy and sovereignty.

French Foreign Policy in the Horn of Africa Region

The Horn of Africa has gained strategic importance due to its transit location and the rapid growth of regional economies. The French Republic, historically is presented in the region through its military base in Djibouti and seeks to consolidate and expand its influence. Paris seeks to gain a foothold in the energy, infrastructure, and arms markets and to expand its cooperation with key Middle Eastern partners. The Djibouti base itself serves as the northwestern flank of the French presence in the IndoPacific. Nevertheless, the French policy faces several challenges: regional destabilization, the rise of great power rivalry, and the lack of a broad foreign policy toolkit. Nevertheless, Paris seeks to overcome the challenges and its own financial limitations by building networks of presence through its cultural and humanitarian institutions. Moreover, due to Brexit, Paris is the only power representing the EU in the IndoPacific through its military bases, which may facilitate the europeanization of French foreign policy in the region.

The Memory of the First World War and the Key Problems of the French Foreign Policy during the Inter-war Period in the Reflection of the Journal “La Revue des Vivants”.

The article analyses the French journal “La Revue des Vivants” (1927–1935) as a source of studying the history of the Inter-war period. This journal, created by the veterans of the First World War, who at the same time represented the French intellectual elites, presents a unique combination of their war experience and current political agenda. The author examines three main subjects that characterized the political and social orientation of this journal. Firstly, its publishers and authors were deeply influenced by the First World War and its consequences. Its experience forced them to seek a better international system, where the repeat of such conflict would be impossible. This leads to the second subject, the European integration and the frame it was supposed to set. The idea of the united Europe was connected with the third subject, the relations with Germany, which could be successful only as a part of an international organization. The analysis of all these subjects brings a contradictory conclusion: despite all progressive and forward-thinking ideas of this journal, its publishers and authors failed to understand some important tendencies of their time (for example, the nature and the origins of the national socialism). However, this conclusion only confirms the nature of the Inter-war period as a time of many different ideologies and ideas and opens new perspectives of its studying.

French “Mirages” in Libya in 1970 as a symbol of “new Arab” policy of France

The relations with Arab countries have always been an intrinsic component of French foreign policy, predominately in the de Gaulle's Fifth Republic. Namely in the 1960s the General de Gaulle laid the groundwork for the so-called “new Arab” policy of France, intended for consolidation of the country's role in the Middle East and the Mediterranean, as well as for overcoming issues in the relationship with Arab countries caused the colonial past of France. Leaning on the wide range of scientific literature and sources, including the documents from the Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France, the author reviews the circumstances of signing a major contract by France for delivering arms to Libya in 1970, few months after the Libyan Revolution and assumption of power by Muammar Gaddafi. The signed in 1970 Franco-Libyan agreement was congruent with the overall context of “new Arab” policy of Gaullist France, and can be regarded as its symbol. Special attention is given to the factors that prompted French leadership to military cooperation with Libya, although France was aware that it could aggravation relations not only with Israel, but also with the United States. Along with the interests of French military-industrial complex, oil factor, and, prospects for the development of Franco-Libyan cooperation, an important role played rivalry between France, USSR and the countries of socialist camp, the activity of which increased in the third world countries during the 1960s – 1970s. In a way, namely the concerns about the growing influence of Moscow in the Middle East and the Mediterranean accelerated the “new Arab” policy of France.

The Cost of Civil War

This chapter takes an analytical approach to the question of first how civil war undermined the earlier achievements of French foreign policy, and then how armies and their destructiveness greatly worsened the impact of the harsh climate conditions of the years since 1648. It examines in particular the impact that a winter campaign fought across France had on the established means by which troops and their commanders replenished their resources during the winter quartering of troops in the provinces. The falls of Dunkirk, Casale-Monferrato, and Barcelona are each examined in terms of growing resource scarcity, demoralization, and the inability to organize adequate relief for the besieged garrisons. The impact of successive harsh winters and wet, poor summers is then considered, showing how even without civil war the French population would have suffered intensely under the impact of three successive poor harvests. However, the destructiveness of the troops, both to secure their own survival and as a deliberate military policy to deprive enemy forces of support, hugely worsened the situation. The chapter proposes that at least 25 per cent of the population died in the areas of intense or regular military activity, and that the impact of the destruction persisted well into the subsequent decade.

MAIN DIRECTIONS OF FOREIGN POLICY ACTIVITY LOUIS XIV

The article, based on the analysis of historiographical materials, provides a comprehensive generalization of the main directions of Louis XIV's foreign policy during his reign. His personal contribution to the development of the foreign policy situation in the French Empire was clarified, and his place in French foreign policy during this period was determined. The goal of Louis XIV's foreign policy was not only to expand but also to extend the French border to the north and east. This was to protect the interior and capital of Paris from external aggression. Louis XIV is considered to have been involved in many wars and armed conflicts to strengthen France's position in the world. The main directions of the struggle against the Habsburgs have been clarified. In foreign policy, Louis XIV always sought to make France the leading power in Europe. In his youth, Louis XIV wanted to raise his authority in international politics. He immediately stated his intentions in matters of etiquette, not important at first glance, but important for the era. Louis XIV sought to resolve by force military-strategic issues and ensure the security of France and its borders. The king's foreign policy and diplomacy played a secondary, ancillary role: paving the way for the army, consolidating its conquest through negotiations or mitigating the effects of defeats, rescuing from disasters. The king's diplomatic service, with extensive experience, acted vigorously and often assertively. But it could not change the tragic consequences for France of the aggressive policy of Louis XIV, which led to severe defeat. Military victories greatly enhanced the prestige of the Kingdom of France in Europe and allowed Louis XIV to pursue a policy of aggression against his neighbors with impunity. As a result of the foreign policy of King Louis XIV, France was forced to give up a large number of occupied territories in Western Europe. Despite a wide range of the most contradictory assessments of the life and work of Louis XIV, all of them can be summarized as follows: he was a great king, although he made many mistakes during his long reign, he brought France to the rank of major European powers.

Gaullism and Neogaullism: Foreign Policy Continuity and Dynamics in France

Article describes the main priorities and objectives of foreign policy of Gaullism and neogaullism, trying to underline those elements that remain untouched during the decades and those that have been transformed due to the changes on the international arena. Besides, the authors focus on the notion of “grandeur” that was extensively used by the general de Gaulle, and estimate the direct influence of this concept on the French foreign policy. The main foreign policy priorities of Charles de Gaulle include independent foreign policy, status quo change in the bipolar world and great power status regain. Foreign policy priorities of neogaullists, Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy, haven’t been changed so far, but the ways of achieving goals are different now. Both presidents have been trying to develop the EU integration, even through strengthening the supranational institutions, and develop the integration with NATO (Sarkozy even returned France to the military structures of NATO). France, led by neogaullists, also conducted an active policy in the Mediterranean, cooperating not only with traditional partners (Arab states) but making attempts to restore relations with Israel. Sarkozy launched the idea of the Mediterranean Union that had the aim to strengthen the influence of France in the region, boost cooperation with Mediterranean countries and solve the numerous problems that all of them were facing. But this idea wasn’t realized as it was supposed to. In general, neogaullists follow the main principles of Charles de Gaulle, also responding to the current challenges. It’s worth mentioning that the authors analyze the foreign policy of French presidents holistically from the point of view of neogaullism, trying to evaluate the level of continuity during the decades and conclude whether the provisions of Gaullism are relevant for France in the 21st century.

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE CURRENT FRENCH FOREIGN POLICY ACTIVITY

Important aspects of French foreign policy and national interests in the modern time,France's position in international security and the specifics of foreign affairs with the United States and the European Union are revealed in this article