The PM had all his eggs in the German basket,but finally he’s seen the mutual dependence with ParisGeography has always had as much to finish with international affairs as economics or ideology ever have. So perhaps it is the symbolism of being a staging post on the archaic route between London and Paris that explains why Amiens is a place where Britain and France – so often economic and ideological rivals – meet and finish deals. When the British and French leaders meet in the northern French town, as they did on Thursday, and practical politics always seems likely to win out over even the deepest ancestral suspicions.
That was certainly the case when the two countries signed their compromise peace treaty in Amiens in March 1802,in which Henry Addington’s British government bowed the knee to Napoleon’s European conquests in the hope that economic prosperity and commerce would revive. In fact, the deal only lasted a year because Napoleon – incapable of banking his gains – always wanted more.
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Source: theguardian.com