DBWI: What if France was not accepted into the Commonwealth?

As most of us know, in the 1950s France became a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, with a common citizenship arrangement similar to that between the UK and Ireland. Sure, the French people had to accept the British monarch as the head of the Commonwealth, but other than that minor detail, both the UK and France have prospered whilst France has been in the Commonwealth. So what if all that was undone?
 
More conservative elements in France are feeling their culture is being undone by these Anglo's. Some in France are wanting to return to a more "continental" feel.
 
The Nordics don't join either?
Sure they were a lot more under British influence than France ever was so it was probally inevitable they'd end upon joining but still, France set the pace of independant nations joining the commonwealth, it truly started it being seen not as the British empire but as what it is today, the commonwealth of nations.
 
I remember a few years ago that the Government revealed papers revealing the French Government had been seeking the establishment of a 'European Union' with Germany, of all nations. While such a union is fascinating from an AH perspective, it's hard to see it ending in anything other than economic and political disarray. Hell, look how close the Commonwealth came to splitting over the Sleeve Crisis and imagine if it'd happened in Alsace...
 
The Commonwealth of Nations wouldn't be a major power block like it is today, at least not on the scale of the USA or the Soviet Union. Without a strong force in Western Europe and Africa, the United States would be forced to take an even larger role in international politics instead of just focusing on the Americas and East Asia so we might see a independent Japan rather then it's current semi-state status that it's in OTL.
 
I remember a few years ago that the Government revealed papers revealing the French Government had been seeking the establishment of a 'European Union' with Germany, of all nations. While such a union is fascinating from an AH perspective, it's hard to see it ending in anything other than economic and political disarray. Hell, look how close the Commonwealth came to splitting over the Sleeve Crisis and imagine if it'd happened in Alsace...
I doubt that the West Germans would agree to that. After two wars in twenty years, I don't think Germany would want to be a French satellite. Though it raises interesting questions: if this European union actually formed, would it be this TL's equivalent to the Commonwealth? Would West Germany still have the level of independence it has today?
 

recidivist

A terrifying prospect - if France had not joined the Commonwealth then she would have not taken up cricket in such a major way and who would be able to challenge Australia for cricket supremacy at the present time? Without the civilising effects of leather and willow, French plumbing might still be the joke of Europe.
 
Top