Free France only about 7,000 soldiers had joined the Free French Army in England. Three-quarters of French servicemen in Britain requested repatriation. France was bitterly divided by the conflict. Frenchmen everywhere were forced to choose sides, and often deeply resented those who had made a different choice. One French admiral, René-Émile Godfroy, voiced the opinion of many of those who decided not to join the Free French forces, when in June 1940, he explained to the exasperated British why he would not order his ships from their Alexandria harbour to join de Gaulle: Equally, few Frenchmen believed that England could stand alone.
1798 Revolt of the Alfaiates to set up their own colony in Brazil. The way some French citizens justified a colony in Brazil was by pointing out how, along the Brazilian coast, you could find people speaking Portuguese, Spanish, and French, and they seemed to have more favorable relationships with the Frenchmen than they did with the Portuguese. João de Deus (a leader in the rebellion), would one day speak of the port in his town, saying that “this port will be free to all Foreign Nations to come and trade, bringing cloth and all merchandise to be exchanged for sugar, tobacco and other crops