University of Richmond UR Scholarship Repository Master's Theses Student Research 1997 Britain and the French Resistance 1940-1942 : a false start Laurie West Van Hook Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.richmond.edu/masters-theses Part of the European History Commons Recommended Citation Van Hook, Laurie West, "Britain and the French Resistance 1940-1942 : a false start" (1997). Master's Theses. 1304. https://scholarship.richmond.edu/masters-theses/1304 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Research at UR Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of UR Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. BRITAIN AND THE FRENCH RESISTANCE 1940-1942: A FALSE START by Laurie West Van Hook M.A., University of Richmond, 1997 Dr. John D. Treadway During the Second World War, the relationship between Great Britain and the French Resistance endured endless problems.From the early days of the war, both sides misunderstood the other and created a stormy relationship, which would never mature later in the war. The French Resistance, initially small and generally fractured, frequently focusedon postwar political maneuvering rather than wartime military tactics. Unificationwas sporadic and tenuous. Charles de Gaulle offered himselfas the leader of the Resistance but lacked experience. This thesis also shows, however, that the British clungto the London-based de Gaulle hastily in the earlydays of the war but quickly decreased their support of him. Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who was de Gaulle's most ardent supporter, disp1ayed ambivalence and frustration with the general.