Journal of European Studies A real break or reluctant parting? France, the United States and the Spanish Question, 1946

In 1946, the French government imposed sanctions on the authoritarian Franco regime in Spain. France was the only western state to take action on Spain that moved beyond rhetorical condemnation. This action was preceded and followed by intense private and public efforts to convince the United States and Great Britain to impose sanctions too. Why could France not accept the western alliance’s commitment to the status quo when it was evident this was the preferred policy of the Foreign Minister Georges Bidault? When it came to the Spanish Question, the signifi cance of Resistance rhetoric and imagery about an idealized new world competed with a realistic assessment of France’s new role tied to the United States. The result was an awkwardly constructed French policy which undermined, at least for a moment, France’s place in the emerging Cold War alliance