Formed in 1989, the Franco-German Brigade was the first operational military unit established in peacetime Europe whose soldiers were recruited permanently from two nations and whose units were constantly under binational command. It became an important part of multinational military cooperation in Europe, with the political ambition of Germany and France being the driving force behind European security and defence policy.
In March 2025, I had the opportunity to conduct four weeks of research in London as a fellow of the German Historical Institute London. The aim of my visit was to explore the British perspective on the creation and development of the Franco-German Brigade, as well as the broader idea of a European defence identity. Although the United Kingdom has played a key role in shaping European security structures, and closely observed developments at the time of the Brigade’s inception, this perspective has received only limited attention in existing research.
My stay in London formed an important part of my PhD project, which explores the political, military cultural, and societal significance of the Franco-German Brigade. Beginning with its establishment in the late 1980s, my dissertation investigates three central dimensions: first, the political idea behind the project and its function as a catalyst for deepening Franco-German security cooperation; second, the Brigade’s operations—particularly in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo—and their impact on interoperability, tactical self-conception, and symbolic political signalling; and third, the question of whether a transnational military culture emerged in the Brigade, or if national differences in the soldiers’ thinking and actions remained dominant. The project is based on extensive archival research in Freiburg, Koblenz, Vincennes, La Courneuve, and London, as well as on guided interviews with former commanders, officers, and NCOs. Today, the Brigade is part of the Eurocorps and an important component in multinational military cooperation. My dissertation investigates how this cooperation worked in practice, what political goals it sought to achieve, and whether the Brigade can be seen as a model for a future European army.
Why Britain?
At first glance, the Franco-German Brigade seems like a purely continental project—but my research took me to London, to the National Archives in Kew. The reason is that Britain, firmly anchored in the transatlantic alliance and traditionally sceptical of independent European defence initiatives, followed the creation of the Brigade and the later Eurocorps with particular interest. British records reveal not only strategic reservations but also diplomatic considerations that show how deeply the project was embedded in the transatlantic security architecture of the early 1990s. To grasp the political significance of the Brigade, therefore, we must also take into account this ‘view from the island’.
My research in London came to be guided by a broader question: what does the British view of the Franco-German Brigade tell us about the contested balance between European defence integration and the transatlantic alliance in the 1990s? The files reveal a striking ambivalence: while officials in London feared that Franco-German initiatives might undermine NATO, they also acknowledged the need for greater European capacity to act. This tension shows that the Brigade was never just a technical military project—it was a political symbol at the heart of larger debates about Europe’s strategic direction after the Cold War. By examining these debates through British eyes, my work highlights how external perceptions shaped the meaning and significance attributed to the Brigade.

Working at the National Archives
The National Archives in Kew offer a wealth of relevant sources for my research. During my stay, I primarily worked with files from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Cabinet Office, and, to a lesser extent, the Ministry of Defence. I mainly focused on two core time frames: first, the years surrounding the foundation of the Brigade and the Eurocorps (1989–94); and second, the Brigade’s early overseas deployments, especially in Bosnia–Herzegovina during the SFOR mission in 1996–7.
The documents include diplomatic correspondence, assessments from the British embassies in Paris, Bonn, and Brussels, and internal policy statements on the development of European security structures. Particularly revealing were reports of meetings with French and German partners, where British officials expressed both scepticism and a desire to enhance Europe’s capacity to act. In Westminster, the Eurocorps was interpreted less as a military step than as a symbolic initiative, with the potential to affect NATO cohesion. At the same time, some of the Brigade’s early missions were assessed as practical test cases for the opportunities and limits of multinational cooperation.
These concerns were echoed at the highest political level. Prime Minister John Major’s government questioned the European Union’s ability to build, in the short or medium term, a viable alternative to NATO. From London’s perspective, the prospects for an autonomous European defence policy hinged on two unresolved issues: whether the member states could agree on common security interests that went beyond the minimal consensus of territorial defence, and whether the transatlantic component could be arranged in a way acceptable to all European actors.
Presentation at the GHIL Research Seminar
Presenting my project at the GHIL’s weekly research seminar offered an important opportunity to situate my work within broader international debates on European security in the 1990s. The discussion provided valuable feedback on how to conceptualize the British perspective not in isolation, but as part of a wider European security architecture. In particular, it was suggested I take the methodological step of distinguishing between public parliamentary debates and internal bureaucratic reasoning in order to sharpen the analytical framework of my dissertation.
Building on this, I intend to integrate insights from the English-language academic tradition, which often combines political and cultural approaches to military history. This perspective underscores the symbolic dimension of multinational military cooperation: even where structures such as the Franco-German Brigade had limited operational relevance, they nonetheless shaped political perceptions and debates. Incorporating these approaches will help make my project more relevant on an international scale and connect it more closely to ongoing historiographical discussions in English-language scholarship.
Conclusion and Next Steps
My research stay at the GHIL was an extremely productive and rewarding experience. Working with previously unexamined sources, presenting my project in the seminar, and engaging in interdisciplinary dialogue with historians from different fields has significantly advanced my dissertation. Incorporating the British perspective has not only expanded the empirical base of my work but also revealed new analytical angles on the Brigade as a political symbol, as a tool of multilateral security cooperation, and as an experiment in transnational military culture. Above all, it shows that the Franco-German Brigade was never just a bilateral project, but a focal point where European and transatlantic priorities were negotiated in the post-Cold War order.
The findings from my archival research will form a dedicated chapter in my dissertation, focusing on international perceptions and evaluations of the Franco-German Brigade. I also plan to write a separate article specifically addressing British assessments of European defence initiatives in the early 1990s.
I am deeply grateful to the German Historical Institute London for its generous support. It enabled me to develop a crucial part of my research in an intellectually stimulating environment and to gain important new perspectives.
Featured image: Anniversary of the meeting between Adenauer and de Gaulle in Reims, with Merkel and Hollande. Photo by Garitan. Published under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported licence.
OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
Benjamin Pfannes (October 16, 2025). The View from the Island: Britain’s Perception of the Franco-German Brigade. German Historical Institute London Blog. Retrieved November 6, 2025 from https://doi.org/10.58079/14yur
