Britain was France's mainstay. Without bringing the British aboard, France simply lacked the confidence to speak to Germany as an equal; status, too, needed strength as its foundation.
Reynaud clearly thought little of Britain. He said, "If not for the British indulgence and compromise, Germany would never have been allowed to press forward inch by inch. Back then, while Germany had not yet fully grown powerful, our two countries should have joined hands to contain it."
"We had quite a few opportunities, enough at least to prevent Germany from swelling to its current size."
"Especially the internal turmoil in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Spanish Civil War—those two major events that changed Europe's entire landscape."
Foreign Minister Bonnet said irritably, "Minister Reynaud, you make it sound easy, but given France's circumstances at the time, what could we really have done?"
"If we had involved ourselves in the affairs of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Spain, there could have been only one result: bringing the fire upon ourselves. A war between Germany and France would have begun early. Besides, France's leadership at the time was not our administration. Therefore, the consequences we face today are not entirely our fault."
Foreign Minister Bonnet's words likewise won the support of Prime Minister Daladier.
"Even before it annexed the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Germany was still an existence France could not afford to provoke. Without the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Germany's population still exceeded France's by more than twenty million."
"Once war broke out early between us and Germany, it would basically have changed nothing. France's situation would not have been much better than it was today. Even if we could have defended our homeland and defeated Germany, the price would have been exceedingly brutal. In the end, Britain and the Soviet Union would have been the only ones