My name is Fréderic Croughs and I am a Belgian historian. I am proud to join the teaching staff of Maastricht University. My main fields of expertise are modern history, political history and international relations. I hope to inspire my students to have the same passion in their fields of interest as I have for these topics.
My research at the University of Ghent focused on the political implications of the European and more specifically Belgian resistance movements during the second world war. Afterwards, I continued my research at the University of Oxford and focused on Britain’s foreign policy towards France in the period 1939-1945. The main focus was on the implications of France’s transition from being a British ally to being a foe (Vichy France), combined with the complexities of balancing British foreign relations with the Free French movement led by De Gaulle. The complexities and nuances of this development were illustrated by analysing the specific developments of these foreign relations in West Africa, as colonial governments struggled to implement the diplomatic directives of London.
