ABSTRACT
France and Britain had fought World War I together. Peace divided them. Yet they had a common interest in maintaining their solidarity: to build a lasting peace, restore economic prosperity, recover their status as world powers, stand up to nationalism in their colonies, stem the Bolshevik revolution, and avoid the recurrence of war. But peacetime found them disunited. Old disagreements were far from disappearing, revived by disputes over the peace settlement or over sharing out the spoils. Everything seemed destined to set them apart, but one question dominated all the others: relations with Germany. On this they no longer saw eye to eye. In the 1920s, Britain feared the power of France as much as it had feared that of Germany before the war. So the German question was now the real bone of contention between France and Britain. The British believed that Germany was too weak to wage another war. France, fearing German revenge, did not intend to disarm unless its security was solidly guaranteed. Britain, for its part, feared French militarism. Stories were even published in which London was attacked by squadrons of French aircraft.
