Charles Henri Raymond Brugère (; 25 January 1885 – 30 August 1966) was a French diplomat.
Diplomat Brugère was born in Orléans, the son of General Joseph Brugère and Louise Thieclin. He graduated with a degree in the law. Brugère joined the Quai d'Orsay on 17 May 1911, and first went overseas to start serving as the third secretary at the French legation in Beijing on 1 August 1912. On 5 June 1912, Brugère married Denise Témoin, the daughter of a famous doctor, Daniel Témoin. By his wife, he had one child, a daughter named Nicole. As a reservist lieutenant in the chasseurs à cheval, Brugère was called up to duty in August 1914 to resist the German invasion of France at the beginning of World War I. He was mentioned in a report for bravery under fire on 23 September 1914. Subsequently, he transferred over to the Chasseurs d'Afrique, and took part in the Dardanelles campaign of 1915. Later in 1915, Brugère went to Serbia, where he was wounded in action.
Owing to his wounds, he returned to the service of the Quai d'Orsay, and was posted as the third secretary at the French embassy in Madrid on 11 March 1916. On 22 February 1918, he was posted as the third secretary at the French embassy in Copenhagen. In May 1919, he returned to France to serve in Department of Commercial Relations at the Quai d'Orsay's main office in Paris. In Paris, Brugère was known as a close associate of Raymond Poincaré, a conservative leader known as one of the "tough guys" of French politics. Brugère supported Poincaré's policy of "firmness" in upholding the Treaty of Versailles, arguing to revise the Versailles in favor of Germany that would be the end of France as a great power. Brugère supported the policy of encouraging separatism in the Allied–occupied Rhineland, arguing that if the Rhineland could be served from Germany, the new Rhinish state would be a French client state that would allow the French to occupy the Rhineland permanently.
On 21 November 1924, he was posted as first secretary at the French embassy in Ankara. On 16 December 1929, he arrived in Brussels as the embassy counselor at the French embassy. Belgium had signed a military alliance with France in 1920, which lasted until 1936, when Belgium renounced the alliance and declared itself neutral. The main concern in Franco-Belgian relations was the World Disarmament Conference that started in Geneva in February 1932, when the German government demanded gleichberechtigung ("equality of status"), using a conference that was supposed to be about disarmament as a forum to demand rearmament, claiming that it was morally right that the military restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles be ended at once. On 8 September 1932, Brugère reported to Paris that he talked with the Belgian Prime Minister Paul Hymans who told him that France must oppose gleichberechtigung, saying to allow Germany to rearm would be the end of the Versailles system. In December 1932, under heavy Anglo-American pressure, France agreed to accept "in principle" gleichberechtigung at the World Disarmament Conference with the only issue being not whatever Germany was going to rearm or not, but rather the extent of German rearmament. During his time in Brussels, he became a friend of the poet Paul Claudel who was serving as the French ambassador.
The Belgian historian Catherine Lanneau described Brugère as a man of contradictions, an irascible man who erupted in most undiplomatic outbursts of rage while also being a most compassionate man full of sympathy for others; a man some found very clumsy and awkward while others praised him for his courage and idealism; a self-proclaimed "tough guy" who favored a "hard" style of power politics while also being an "idealist" and a lover of the arts and poetry. Brugère was a man who believed deeply in the greatness of France which he linked with his desire for the betterment of all humanity, believing that French culture was a "civilizing" force, and that the greater of the power of France the better the future of humanity. In this way, Brugère was able to balance the "hard" and "soft" sides of his personality. Brugère was strongly influenced by the style of diplomacy practiced by the comte de Saint-Aulaire and Claudel. In 1932, Brugère together with Maurice Paléologue, the last French ambassador to Imperial Russia, published an "Le Plan Schlieffen et le "Vengeur": Deux Lettres" (The Schlieffen Plan and the "Avenger": Two Letters") that defended the actions of France during the July crisis of 1914 against the thesis promoted by Germany of the Reich as the victim of Franco-Russian aggression.
Minister in Ottawa From August 3, 1934, to August 26, 1937, he served as the French ministre plénipotentiaire (minister plenipotentiary) in Ottawa. On 16 October 1934, Brugère arrived at Rideau Hall to present his credentials to the Governor-General Lord Bessborough. Brugère was the driving force behind building a new French legation (now the French embassy) in Ottawa, designed in a modernist Art Deco style intended as a showcase for the greatness of France. Brugère stated in a 1935 speech: “Since my arrival here, I have noticed the high level of moral importance that this project presents. Maybe more than anywhere else, it is important to Canada that France settled here, and in a building that bestows such honour upon us, while flattering the Canadians’ pride, who have conserved, so alive in them, the memory, and the taste of home." The legation was designed in a lavish, sumptuous style designed to impress while being filled with imagery and symbolism that evokes New France. The message of the art deco style for the legation was that France was a nation at the forefront of modernity, a country that leading the world in culture, art, science and technology. The legation also featured symbolism and iconography meant to evoke Franco-Canadian friendship such as the Vimy Memorial located within the legation that honored all the Canadians killed or wounded while taking Vimy Ridge in 1917. Brugère was concerned by the new Nazi government in Germany, and having the legation feature iconography evoking the Great War was intended to quite consciously convey the message to any visitors that France and Canada had once been allies against Germany once, and should be allies again.
During his time in Canada, Brugère was infuriated by the semi-isolationist foreign policy of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, who made it clear to Brugèret that the affairs of Europe were of no interest to him. Brugère reported to Paris that Mackenzie King was a supporter of appeasement who felt that Adolf Hitler was morally in the right in challenging the international order created by the Treaty of Versailles and that Canada was not willing to do anything to assist France with upholding that order. Brugère noted that Mackenzie King was a protégé of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, and drew unfavorable comparisons with Laurier who supported Canada's involvement in the Great War with Mackenzie King, who had no intention of fighting in another world war.
In February 1936, at a party in Ottawa, Brugère pressed Mackenzie King and his Quebec lieutenant Ernest Lapointe, about Canada taking part in the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne, which was scheduled for 1937. Mackenzie King was uncertain and hesitant as he usually was when faced with a decision, saying he did not know if Canada could afford the costs of opening a pavilion at the exposition. Brugère trapped Mackenzie King to sending out a cable to Paris, saying that Mackenzie King had accepted his offer, leading to the Quai d'Orsay to issue a public letter of thanks and that France would welcome Canada taking part in the exposition. After the announcement, Mackenzie King had no choice but have Canada take part in the exposition.
On 29 February 1936, Brugère reported to Paris with worry about the strong "reaction" against the League of Nations amongst French-Canadians, stating it widely accepted in Quebec that the League was an "instrument" of British foreign policy that sought to "unjustly" punish Italy by imposing sanctions for invading Ethiopia. The ultra-conservative Catholic intelligentsia of Quebec-whose informal leader was a nationalist Catholic priest, the Abbe Lionel Groulx-idolized Benito Mussolini, and the decision to have Canada join with the League of Nations sanctions on Italy was deeply unpopular in Quebec. Noting that Mackenzie King was a "weathervane" politician who always followed public opinion rather than seeking to lead it, Brugère reported the prime minister was now very much against the League and its principles of collective security.
On 7 March 1936, Germany remilitarized the Rhineland, which was a violation of both the Treaty of Versailles and the Treaty of Locarno. Mackenzie King stated that if Britain went to war to uphold the demilitarised status of the Rhineland, there was no possibility of Canada joining in. The American historian Gerhard Weinberg wrote that it was clear "...by 13 March that the British Dominions, especially the Union of South Africa and Canada, would not stand with England if war came. The South African government in particular was busy backing the German position in London and with the other Dominion governments". Brugère pressed Mackenzie King to have Canada at least make support make a statement of support for France, which he refused to do, claiming that Canada had not signed the Treaty of Locarno, leading Brugère to reply that Canada had signed the Treaty of Versailles and should be doing more to uphold it.
Minister in Belgrade From 26 August 1937 to 17 June 1940, he served as the French minister-plenipotentiary in Belgrade. Brugère was close to Prince Paul, the Regent for the boy king Petar II. In a dispatch to Paris, Brugère described the Prince-Regent as a man whose "incontestable qualities of character, balance, and taste...Oxonian dilettantism and charm which he exercised on his visitors were useless in the present circumstances and in a country where arguments of might are the only ones which count".
Yugoslavia had allied to France in 1927, but in the 1930s, the Franco-Yugoslav alliance began to fry. At the time the alliance was signed in 1927, the Rhineland was still demilitarized. Weinberg called the demilitarized status of the Rhineland the "single most important guarantee of peace in Europe" as it exposed western Germany, especially the Ruhr, to the possibility of being seized by the French, who were widely expected to launch an offensive into western Germany if any of France's allies in Eastern Europe were attacked. The wide Rhine river together with the hilly countryside of the Rhineland made it into a natural defensive barrier; by contrast, the open North German Plain in which lay behind the Rhineland favored the offensive. As long as the Rhineland was demilitarized, Germany had no means of stopping the French from seizing much of western Germany. On 7 March 1936, Germany remilitarized the Rhineland, which completely upset the calculations behind Yugoslav grand strategy. The Germans immediately began building the Siegfried Line along their western border with France to block a French offensive into western Germany. The implications of the Siegfried Line were that Germany could now attack at any will any of France's allies in Eastern Europe with no fear of a French offensive was greatly alarming to France's East European allies. At Bucharest between 15 and 20 June 1936, the chiefs of staff of the Little Entente nations of Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia met to discuss the changed situation with the conclusion being that there now only two great powers in Eastern Europe, namely the Soviet Union and Germany as France was no longer a factor.