France–Greece relations, or Franco-Greek relations, are foreign relations between France and Greece. In modern history, both countries established diplomatic relations in 1833, three years after Greek Independence. France and Greece, due to strong cultural and historical ties, have had a traditionally strong and special relationship and strategic alliance for decades and today enjoy strong diplomatic relations also.
The two countries are EU, NATO and UN member states and cooperate in many other multilateral organizations, such as the La Francophonie, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the Union for the Mediterranean.
In September 2021, the two countries signed a military agreement according to which each country is engaged to the military aid of the other in the event of a war with a third country.
History
Relations stretch back to Classical Antiquity, when Ancient Greek colonies (see Greeks in pre-Roman Gaul) were established in pre-Roman Gaul, the most important of which being Massilia (Greek: Μασσαλία, French: Marseilles), located in southeastern France (which today is the country's oldest city, as well as the second largest, by population). From Massilia and other Greek colonies, Greek goods and elements of the Greek civilization, including coins, spread inland (see Greeks in pre-Roman Gaul). The Gauls in turn became a part of the Hellenistic world proper after the 3rd century BC, following the Gallic invasion of the Balkans and their establishment in Galatia in Asia Minor.
In the Middle Ages, French crusaders played a major role in the Fourth Crusade and set up several states in Greece following the dissolution of the Byzantine Empire in 1204. This began the period known as Frankokratia ("Frankocracy") in Greece. The main French Crusader states were the Principality of Achaea and the Duchy of Athens, while the other West European states were mostly Italian (Lombard, Venetian or Genoese).
In the modern age, the French Enlightenment and the ideas of the French Revolution influenced the main thinkers of the Modern Greek Enlightenment, such as Adamantios Korais (who lived in France) and Rigas Feraios, and formed the ideological groundwork for the Greek War of Independence. French troops also occupied the Ionian Islands during the Napoleonic Wars, paving the way for the first independent Greek state of modern times, the Septinsular Republic. During the Greek War of Independence that began in 1821, French Philhellenes played an important role, providing much-needed military expertise and propagating the cause of Greek independence abroad. Among the most important was Charles Nicolas Fabvier, an organizer of the modern Greek regular army. French ships also took part in the crucial Battle of Navarino, which secured Greek independence, and a French expeditionary corps landed in Greece in 1828 to help clear the country of remaining Ottoman garrisons.
Along with Great Britain and Russia, France became one of the guarantor powers of the independent Kingdom of Greece. This was reflected in Greek domestic politics during the reign of King Otto, where a French Party vied for influence with the rival English and Russian parties. Britain gradually assumed the dominant position in Greek affairs after the 1860s, but France still retained a measure of influence, especially on cultural and military affairs. French military missions were called to modernize the Greek military (in 1884–87 and 1911–14). Until the first decades of the 20th century, the French language was the only compulsory foreign language in Greek schools, being the most spoken foreign language among Greeks.
France also played a leading role in the effort to bring Greece into World War I, involving itself in the "National Schism" on the side of Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos. French troops, working together with the Venizelists confronted against the royalist forces in Athens, and finally, in June 1917, helped depose the Germanophile King Constantine. After the Great Fire of Thessaloniki, a French architectural commission under Ernest Hébrard took over a modern city plan for the city.
The pro-Greek policies of the French government, such as the pro-French policies of Greece, however, were reversed after Venizelos' electoral defeat in November 1920 and the return of Constantine, after which France supported Kemal Atatürk's Turkish nationalists in their war against Greece.
The two nations were Allies also during WWII. Many political exiles, mostly leftists, found also refuge in France during the Greek military junta.