ABSTRACT
In France, Joan of Arc was a universally recognised symbol of French nationalism, and the enemy she fought was of course the English. The Hundred Years' War set England and France on a course not simply of separation but of antagonism. The later wars between the France of Louis XIV and the England of William III and the Duke of Marlborough left memories in both countries, as did their Atlantic and Indian wars in the eighteenth century. In terms of diplomacy and strategy, therefore, Britain and France had begun to eye one another with a guarded but hopeful surmise. At this stage the remembrance of things past, the mental baggage of the two countries, and the calculation of national interest had to become compatible. France and Britain were both parliamentary democracies, with vigorous and vigilant newspapers and a small but keenly interested public opinion on questions of foreign policy.
