At the Oise-Aisne American Cemetery and Memorial, graves of American soldiers who died while fighting in the Fère-en-Tardenois vicinity during World War I. Photo by Megan Devlin.

From the Battlefields of World War I: Lessons on Franco-American Relations and the Centuries-Old Military Alliance 

via the Meridian International Center web site

Earlier this year, just ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump welcoming French President Emmanuel Macron to Washington for the first State Dinner of his Administration, rhetoric seemed promising for a renewal of the U.S.-French Alliance. A few months later at the Group of Seven summit, President Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau encouraged global leaders to pressure President Trump to reverse his trade threats aimed at numerous U.S. allies. In recent weeks, the French and U.S. leaders have discussed NATO spending and U.S.-European Union trade and possible negotiations following the imposition of American tariffs on steel and aluminum.

With bilateral tensions running high from an economic perspective, what lessons can be gleaned from the Franco-American relationship that stems back over 250 years?

Meridian explored this question during a summer delegation to France that brought U.S. National Guard officials and American diplomats together with French military and political leaders in commemoration of the Second Battle of the Marne, the last major German offensive on the Western Front during the First World War.

To kick off the delegation, Meridian partnered with the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission to host a salon dinner on Mobilizing the Citizen for National Security: Lessons from the Great War and the Centuries-Old French-American Military Alliance. The dinner, which took place on July 27, 2018, at the historic Château de Courcelles, gathered 40 leaders including high-ranking U.S. National Guard and French generals, World War I military historians, French senators and mayors, and WWI Centennial Commissioners.

Read the entire article on the Meridian International Center web site here:

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