That Sweet Enemy

The British and the French from the Sun King to the Present

Isabelle Tombs, Robert Tombs

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Paperback

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English

Pimlico
01 June 2007

History; British & Irish history; Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900; 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000

A magisterial study of the unique and fascinating relationship between France and Britain - and its effects on the world.

From Blenheim and Waterloo to 'Up Yours, Delors' and 'Hop Off You Frogs', the cross-Channel relationship has been one of rivalry, misapprehension and suspicion. But it has also been a relationship of envy, admiration and affection.

In the nearly two centuries since the final defeat of Napoleon, France and Britain have spent much of that time as allies - an alliance that has been almost as uneasy, as competitive and as ambivalent as the generations of warfare. Their rivalry both on peace and war, for good and ill, has shaped the modern world, from North America to India in the eighteenth century, in Africa, the Middle East and South East Asia during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and it is still shaping Europe today.

This magisterial book, by turns provocative and delightful, always fascinating, tells the rich and complex story of the relationship over three centuries, from the beginning of the great struggle for mastery during the reign of Louis XIV to the second Iraq War and the latest enlargement of the EU. It tells of wars and battles, ententes and alliances, but also of food, fashion, sport, literature, sex and music. Its cast ranges from William and Mary to Tony Blair, from Voltaire to Eric Cantona; its sources from ambassadorial dispatches to police reports, from works of philosophy to tabloid newspapers, from guidebooks to cartoons and films.

It's a book which brings both British humour and Gallic panache to the story of these two countries, in sickness and in health, for richer for poorer, in victory and in defeat, in dominance and in decline.

By: Isabelle Tombs, Robert Tombs
Imprint: Pimlico
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Edition: New edition
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 154mm, Spine: 35mm
Weight: 764g
ISBN: 9781845951085
ISBN 10: 1845951085
Pages: 816
Publication Date: 01 June 2007
Recommended Age: From 0 years
Audience: General/trade , College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , ELT Advanced , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Isabelle Tombs (nee Bussy) was born in France, studied at the Universite de Paris I (Pantheon-Sorbonne), and did a PhD on modern British history at Trinity College, Cambridge. Robert Tombs was born in England and studied at Cambridge, and did research for his PhD on modern French history in France, where he was attached to the Universite de Paris IV (Sorbonne). Isabelle teaches French at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Robert is Reader in French History at Cambridge and a Fellow of St John's College.

Reviews for That Sweet Enemy: The British and the French from the Sun King to the Present

An outstanding study of a three-century love-hate relationship... hugely readable -- Andrew Roberts Sunday Times Epic, instructive and engaging Independent An intellectual feast Times Literary Supplement Deftly written and meticulously researched... packed with detail and anecdote -- John Thornhill Financial Times Well-written and thoroughly researched... There is as good an account as you could want of the rivalry in the 18th century...and of the Napoleonic wars that took the story into the 19th... A satisfying and intelligent book, packed with information and provoking in its assertions and conclusions -- Simon Heffer Daily Telegraph