Prelude to Downfall: the British offer of Union to France, June 1940

Abstract

On 16 June 1940 the British Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, proposed to the French Prime Minister, M. Paul Reynaud, an indissoluble union between their two countries. This union was to be based on common citizenship, a formal association of the two Parliaments and joint organs of defence, foreign, financial and economic policies. A single war cabinet was to be entrusted with the direction of the