WI: France in the Commonwealth?

Wolfpaw

Banned
In the extensive course of my research of the Suez Crisis, I've been very much intrigued by the fact that after Guy Mollet's suggestion for a Franco-British union was turned down by the Eden government, he suggested that France join the Commonwealth. Instead of flat-out rejecting this proposal, the Eden government did seriously consider it, but ultimately rejected it due in large part to the failure of the Suez venture.

So what do you guys think would have happened if France had joined the Commonwealth? Or would the French and/or British legislatures/populace have torpedoed such a proposal?
 
Charles de Gaulle, upon hearing the news, resigns from politics, partly in objection and partly in disgust. He never becomes president of France, so No Vive le Quebec Libre bullshit.

UK joins the EEC when it originally wanted to, in 1961, because de Gaulle isn't around to veto the UK's ascension.
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
UK joins the EEC when it originally wanted to, in 1961, because de Gaulle isn't around to veto the UK's ascension.
Would the UK join the EEC? With a successful Suez, they'd probably focus on their overseas empire rather than trying to integrate with Europe, which the Tory leadership was highly opposed to.
 
Would the UK join the EEC? With a successful Suez, they'd probably focus on their overseas empire rather than trying to integrate with Europe, which the Tory leadership was highly opposed to.

The potentiality is still there. Part of the desire to join the EEC IIRC was to get in on that inter-Europe trade between France, the Low Countries, Italy and West Germany, after an attempt to get a free trade agreement failed. The empire is mostly a bunch of impoverished colonies whereas Europe is rich, and money talks.
 
Charles de Gaulle, upon hearing the news, resigns from politics, partly in objection and partly in disgust. He never becomes president of France, so No Vive le Quebec Libre bullshit.

UK joins the EEC when it originally wanted to, in 1961, because de Gaulle isn't around to veto the UK's ascension.

De Gaulle had already retired from French politics since the early Fifties.

Incidentally, it should be "vive la révolution verte".
 
Charles de Gaulle was president of France for most of the 1960s, was he not? :confused:

The period between 1946 (when he resigned as Head of Government) and 1958 (his come-back) is known as "the Desert Crossing" ("La Traversée du Désert"). When he realised that there was no way for him to play his part through party politics (the party he created, the RPF, after a huge success in the 1947 local elections, failed to find its place in the political spectrum), he retired to Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises, hoping that one day some major crisis would give him the opportunity to return to power with a mandate to change the institutions. That's precisely what happened with the Algeria crisis in 1958.
 
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