The Almost Impossible Ally: Harold Macmillan and Charles De Gaulle

(Hardback, Annotated edition)

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On 14 January 1963, General de Gaulle forcefully vetoed Britain's first bid to join the Common Market. It was a blow that delayed Britain's entry for a decade and hastened the end of Harold Macmillan's political career. Peter Mangold writes in arresting detail about the fascinating personal duel that shaped high politics and Anglo-French diplomacy. He portrays two of the most complex and skilful leaders of the post-war era, old friends from their association in Algiers during World War II: de Gaulle the dour, lofty moralist obsessed with high notions of France; and Macmillan, the canny, ambitious fixer, always the pragmatist seeking to get things done. The Almost Impossible Ally is the dramatic story of a friendship turned sour, which captures another chapter in the turbulent relations between Britain and France.

Reviews

'Reads with the pace and excitement of the best sort of history... [Mangold] balances the lives of two extraordinary men and the destinies of their two countries' -- David Cannadine, Director of the Institute for Historical Research at the University of London. 'Witty and well written, and comical as well as dramatic, this book is essential reading for anyone wanting to learn of Macmillan's dilemmas and de Gaulle's reasons for refusing to admit Britain to the European community' -- Wm. Roger Louis, Kerr Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. 'Mangold has done the subject justice.' - Frank Johnson, The Spectator, 25th February. 'A strangly fascinating book. Part of the fascination of Peter Mangold's well-researched documentary on the Macmillan-de Gaulle relationship is its insight into the minds and characters of both men. This book is as good a biography of de Gaulle as we are likely to get.' -- Geoffrey Goodman, Tribune, 24th March 2006. 'Peter Mangold's absorbing study is admirably fair to towards both primadonnas.'- Kenneth Morgan, The Independent 'The Almost Impossible Ally is a dense diplomatic history, based principally on the records of the two foreign ministries and the memoirs of participants. It demonstrates the triviality of much that passes for statesmanship, and how often events experienced by insiders as epoch-making left little trace outside the diplomatic files.' - TLS 'A fascinating and important book.' - TLS CONTEMPORARY REVIEW 'this study is as much an examination of Anglo-French relation as it is one of these two men.'

Author Bio

Peter Mangold is Senior Associate Member of St Antony's College, Oxford. He is a former member of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Research Department and the BBC World Service.