Suez Crisis

In 1956 the Suez Canal, previously owned by an Anglo-French company, was nationalised by the Egyptian government. The British and the French were both strongly committed to taking the canal back by force. Both the British and French governments saw the Egyptian dictator Nasser as another Hitler, and were determined to act to prevent a repeat of the events leading up to the Second World War. During the initial stages of the crisis, the French Prime Minister proposed a union between Britain and France, but the British were less enthusiastic. Anthony Eden called it a "good idea in substance" but thought it "a bit premature".

The Americans, while opposed to Nasser, refused to become involved with what many regarded as European colonialism putting severe strain on the Anglo-American special relationship. The relations between Britain and France were not entirely harmonious, as the French kept the British in the dark about the involvement of Israel until very close to the commencement of military operations.

Common market

The Suez Crisis was probably the last time that Anglo-French relations have been more comfortable than Anglo-American relations. Immediately after the crisis Anglo-French relations started to sour again, and they have never again reached the peak they did in the years between 1900 and 1940.

Shortly after this, France, Germany, Italy and the Benelux countries formed what would become the European Economic Community and later the European Union, and did not at first allow Britain to join. De Gaulle's attempts to exclude the British from European affairs during the beginning of France's Fifth Republic are now seen by many in Britain to be a betrayal of the bond between the countries, and Anthony Eden's exclusion of France from the commonwealth is seen in a similar light in France. The French partly feared that were the British to join the Common Market they would attempt to dominate it.

Over the years, Britain and France have often taken diverging courses within the European Community. British policy has favoured an expansion of the Community and free trade while France has advocated protectionism and restricting membership of the Community to a core of West European states.

De Gaulle

In 1958 with France mired in a seemingly unwinnable war in Algeria, Charles de Gaulle the wartime leader of the Free French returned to power in France. He created the Fifth French Republic, ending the post-war parliamentary system and replacing it with a strong Presidency, which became dominated by his followers - the Gaullists.

De Gaulle made ambitious changes to French foreign policy - first ending the war in Algeria, and then withdrawing France from the NATO command structure. De Gaulle declared a new policy of "in every direction", meaning that French military forces were prepared to fight a war against Britain and America, as much as they were against the Soviet Union.

In 1967 de Gaulle visited Quebec, a French-speaking province of Canada and spoke out in favour of independence. This was received as a snub to the English-speaking world, and the British in particular because of the close relationship between Britain and Canada. It was poorly received in Britain and was criticized even in the French press , and it was opposed by many French and French-Canadians including the future-Canadian prime minister, Pierre Trudeau, a French-Canadian from Montreal .