Title: From Versailles to Mers el-Kébir
Description: "This book concerns itself with one of the most unlikely relationships in the two decades before World War II: the alliance of the Royal Navy and the French fleet. By the mid 1930s, both fleets had overextended themselves with global defense commitments, owing mainly to the collapse of the world war alliances and to an ominous shift in the balance of world naval power. To maximize their power, England and France combined their assets in a naval alliance. The union was not an altogether happy one, but it survived in one form or another until the British attack upon the French fleet at Mers el-Kébir in 1940. George E. Melton brings new insights to the diplomacy that led to this often strained cooperation, and reinterprets some of the most important events of early World War II"--
Subjects: HISTORY / Military / Naval, Mers-el-Kebir, Attack on, 1940, Naval strategy, Mediterranean Sea, French Naval operations, World War, 1939-1945, British Naval operations, History, Foreign relations, HISTORY / Military / Other, World war, 1939-1945, naval operations, french, World war, 1939-1945, naval operations, british, Great britain, foreign relations, france, France, foreign relations, great britain
Places: Great Britain, France
People: François Darlan (1881-1942), James Somerville (1882-1949), Winston Churchill Sir (1874-1965)
Time periods: 20th century