The purpose of this research is to examine the foreign policy of France under Pierre Laval. The plan of the research will be to set forth the principal elements of Laval's foreign policy from 1931 to 1945, and then to cite evidence that evaluates the measure of his success with that policy.
The foreign policy of France under Pierre Laval cannot be elucidated without reference to his career and personality on one hand, and the context in which it emerged on the other. In this connection, Laval's birth into the upwardly mobile peasant bourgeoisie of France cannot be ignored, inasmuch as it appears to have motivated if not facilitated his movement from the practice of law into the sphere of politics and a position as a national legislator (deputy). Of special note is that in 1914, Laval was elected as a Socialist but in 1924, after service in World War I, as a representative of the more conservative Republican wing. Indeed, Laval's actions from the time of his accession to cabinet rank in France reflect a pattern of increasingly conservative/reactionary political views. Between 1931 and 1945, Laval held a series of national positions: premier and minister of foreign affairs (1931 32); minister of labor (1932); minister of foreign affairs (1934 35); premier and minister of foreign affairs (1935); after several years out of government, vice premier of the German controlled Vichy government (1940 1945). Imprisoned at the close of World War II, he was hanged for collaborating with the Nazis in 1945.
Laval's actions in the French government, and particularly his foreign policy, reflect a narrow view of French interests and, ultimately, imply an even narrower view of opportunity to serve his own career advancement and to place himself in a position of power. Laval emerges as a political opportunist to the extent he appears to have sought, repeatedly, to align himself with whatever political force in Europe in general and France in particu...