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France, Greece and the Balkans during the thirties

Articles

• Thobie, Jacques

The geographical position of the modest Balkan States gave them aneminent importance as to the foreign relations of the Powers that led, orbelieved they led, the affairs of Europe. This paper tries, through the exampleof France, to answer this question : did Paris develop a coherent policy regardingthe Balkans in the interwar period? Studied on the basis of the DocumentsDiplomatiques Français, the problem for France during the thirties wasto face the increasing German influence in both the economic and commercialspheres, and to maintain its traditional alliances. In spite of critical observations,a certain coherence can be observed in the French attitudes: a looseness,without abandonment, towards its main alliances of the post-war period,such as Yugoslavia and Romania; a shy expectary with Greece; a determinedand dogged quest for Turkish friendship that brought about a too late recoveryof what could have been a real Balkan policy. More, with the German-Soviet pact of August 1939, France suddenly saw the strategic basis of itsmain aims disappear. Finally, the area was to be reduced to a regional importancein the coming war.

• History and Archaeology

• Ιστορία

Το άρθρο αποτελεί μέρος πρακτικών του ελληνογαλλικού συμποσίου που πραγματοποιήθηκε στη Θεσσαλονίκη την περίοδο 15-17 Οκτωβρίου 1987 με τίτλο «La France, la Grece et les Balkansdans les annees trente».