“You can’t wake a person who is pretending to be asleep,” is a famous Native American saying.
It highlights that people often refuse to see uncomfortable truths until a big shock makes pretense impossible.
US President Donald Trump’s stance on the Ukraine War, his arm-twisting of European countries and Kyiv to accept an unfair peace deal, and his threats to invade Greenland and impose punitive tariffs on any country opposing his unhinged neo-imperialism have served as that necessary shock for Europe, forcing it from its collective slumber that lasted nearly eight decades.
It has forced European countries to realize they cannot rely on the US for their security or to protect their strategic interests. Far from it, the last year has forced Europe to see that there might be a situation where the US itself is hell-bent on invading and occupying a part of a European country.
From Germany to Italy, and from Denmark to the UK, all states known for their compliance with the US are openly rebelling against the US, telling Washington that any unilateral move on Greenland will put NATO and the historical trans-Atlantic alliance in jeopardy.
However, as European countries wake up to this new reality, France has been telling them, “I told you so” for a long time.
Unlike much of Europe, France has pursued an independent defense and foreign policy, often called “Gaullism,” since the 1950s.
When most of Europe believed there were only two poles, the US and the Soviet Union, and for security and survival, one must submit to one of the two, France championed what it called the “third way”.
Paris realized long ago that it cannot rely on the US to protect European strategic interests or provide it with security.
It also feared that not having an independent foreign policy could mean France being pulled into conflicts not of its making or of any strategic value to France, as happened during the Iraq War (2003), when Paris was able to chart an independent policy, but countries like the UK, Denmark, Spain, and Portugal got sucked into the conflict.
Though the policy initially entailed huge costs for France, in the long run, it paid off well.
Today, France has its own independent nuclear strike force (Force de Frappe), a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, an independent and hugely successful fighter jet program (Rafale), one of the best air-to-air missiles (Meteor), and a robust domestic defense industry.
As Europe comes to terms with an aggressive Russia and a reluctant US, France, arguably the strongest military power in Europe, is well-positioned to lead the continent in its drive towards self-reliance in defense.
However, an independent French foreign and defense policy was no accident. It was a well-calibrated move borne out of France’s historical experience, the two World Wars, and the trauma of occupation by Nazi Germany.
Second World War Trauma & The Roots Of Independent French Defense Policy
During the Second World War, Paris was occupied by Nazi forces.
German forces entered Paris on June 14, 1940. The fall of France in 1940 left many French feeling abandoned, especially after Dunkirk, where the British prioritized evacuating their own forces.
For the next four years and two months, Paris remained under brutal Nazi occupation.
As years passed, there was considerable frustration within the French resistance led by Charles de Gaulle that liberating France was not a priority for the Allied forces.
Both the Soviet Union and France exhorted the Allied forces, primarily the US and the UK, to open a ‘Second Front’ against Germany in Western Europe, but the Allies kept delaying.
The Allies focused on North Africa (1942), Italy (1943), and peripheral campaigns rather than a direct cross-Channel invasion until D-Day on June 6, 1944.
Gaulle and many in the Free French were particularly bitter about being excluded from planning D-Day and felt the Anglo-Americans treated France as a junior partner rather than an equal ally.
Even during the liberation campaign, the French were unhappy over heavy Allied bombing on French cities, often leveling historical cities and causing heavy civilian deaths.
Overall, the French realized during the German occupation that they could not rely on external forces for their survival and preservation and that external forces would always prioritize their own interests, even when those interests broadly overlapped.
In 1945, the Allies emerged victorious; both the UK and France were part of the Allied forces; however, they both came out of the war with widely different historical experiences.
The UK, thanks to its geographic distance from continental Europe and the swift US support, was able to maintain its freedom.
Whereas France, despite its final victory, realized its vulnerabilities and suffered considerable trauma, triggering deep introspection.
This influenced postwar French insistence on strategic independence and the need for a robust domestic defense industry.
French Sovereignty at Play – “Gaullism”
Charles de Gaulle, who led the Free French forces during the war, returned to power in 1958 as the founder of the Fifth Republic.
He viewed France as a “great power” with a civilizing mission. He rejected full subordination to US-led structures, seeing them as tools of American hegemony.
His philosophy centered on the conviction that “France cannot be France without greatness,” arguing that the nation must act as a sovereign global power to exist authentically.
In his memoirs, de Gaulle wrote:
“All my life, I have created for myself a certain idea of France…The affective part of my being naturally imagines France ordained for an eminent and exceptional destiny… The positive side of my nature convinces me, however, that France is not really herself unless she is in the front row, that only immense undertakings can validate the emotional ferments of her people, and that, given its nature, our country should, among the other countries, as they are, aim high and stand proudly – or it should disappear. I believe, in short, that without grandeur, France cannot be France.”
This vision compelled France to seek independent nuclear status, maintain a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, and project influence, ensuring it was not a subordinate partner to superpowers like the US.
When the world was divided into two power blocks, the US-led Western bloc and the Soviet Union-led Communist bloc, France decided to chart an independent foreign policy, called the ‘Third Way’.
In 1966, he withdrew France from NATO’s integrated military command (while remaining in the alliance’s political wing) and ordered US troops to leave French soil, arguing that NATO’s structure gave the US undue control over European security.
A cornerstone of this independent foreign policy was the development of Force de Frappe (nuclear strike force). France tested its first atomic bomb in 1960 and its first hydrogen bomb in 1968, refusing to join US-led nuclear sharing arrangements.
Gaulle doubted America would risk nuclear war for Europe and insisted on developing an independent nuclear deterrent.
Today, France maintains around 300 nuclear warheads, deployable via submarines, aircraft, and missiles, entirely under national control.
On the other hand, the UK relies heavily on US technology for its Trident submarine-launched missiles, which are leased and maintained with American support.
Thus, France can use its nuclear warheads unilaterally, without US approval.
French President Macron has also proposed to provide a nuclear umbrella to Europe to build deterrence against Russian nuclear weapons.
In 1964, France recognized the People’s Republic of China, becoming the first major Western power to establish formal ambassador-level diplomatic relations with the PRC, marking a significant shift in Cold War diplomacy.
The United States officially recognized the People’s Republic of China only in 1979, 15 years after France.
Because of this independent foreign policy, France was able to oppose the 2003 Iraq War, refusing to be drawn into conflicts that serve only US interests.
France has a robust domestic defense industry. Its frontline combat fighter jet, Rafale, is the most independent of US technology. Instead of relying on the F-35, France decided to invest in an independent fighter jet program.
Though Europe produces three combat jets, Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon, and Gripen, it’s the Rafale that is least dependent on US technology.
France also operates a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, Charles de Gaulle, making it the only country in the world apart from the US to operate one.
As Europe seeks to reduce its reliance on the US for defense, France is positioning itself as the most credible bet and is set to benefit from the EU’s ‘buy European’ drive in defense platforms.
“The facts may prove me wrong,” Charles de Gaulle said one day to his Finance Minister, Antoine Pinay, “but history will prove me right.”
In the 1960s, France’s ‘Third Way’ seemed callous, risky, and exorbitant to many; however, history has indeed proven France correct.
- Sumit Ahlawat has over a decade of experience in news media. He has worked with Press Trust of India, Times Now, Zee News, Economic Times, and Microsoft News. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Media and Modern History from the University of Sheffield, UK.
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