The majority of War World I was fought on French soil and the losses in both material and lives left its mark on the French population both economically and on their psyche. There was an extreme shortage of labor due to the loss of man power caused by the war (over 1, 300,000 deaths and 3,000,0000 who survived with disabilities and were unable to work).
This left the French dependent on the reparation payments expected from Germany and when Germany experienced the World Depression this also would have to a lesser degree an impact on the French economy. To make matters even worse the French population suffered from an increased death rate and a declining birth rate. The significance of this was a workforce in decline.
There would be on overwhelming concern of the French during the inter-year wars that would preoccupy both politics and population and that was the fear that Germany would once again rise up and become a threat to her borders.
1919 – 20 French Conquer and Lose Syria
In 1916 as part of a peace treaty (The Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916) France was allocated control of South-eastern Turkey, Northern Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
In 1918 Arab revolution took over Damascus ending the Ottoman control of Syria. The French occupied Syria in July 1920. The population of Damascus (major city in Syria) was intensely nationalist and opposed the forceful rule of the French. The result was a number of revolts that were brutally stopped by the French government.
In 1936 the Republic of Turkey began to pressure France to yield territory to them and France was unable to respond or resist because of the deteriorating situation in Europe. When Turkey sent in its troops in 1938, France yielded and evacuated from both Syria and Lebanon.
1923 – 1924 The Ruhr Invasion
The Treaty of Versailles (1919) provided that allied troops would control the Rhineland as a demilitarized “buffer zone” between Germany and France until 1935.
In 1923 Germany fell behind on the payment of war reparations which France needed desperately. The reason Germany fell behind is tied to the economic situation in Germany after World War I and its failure to rebuild its economy effectively. In attempts to pay the war reparations Germany printed more German Marcs to buy acceptable currency to pay her debt. This caused what economist refers to as hyperinflation. This practice causes the Germans money to become almost worthless. The French believed that if Germany could not pay her debt in currency then she would do so with goods. In order to ensure this took place French and Belgium forces occupied the Rhineland and seized natural resources in lieu of war reparations. The German workers protested peacefully simply by refusing to work the mines and factories of the Rhineland.
In an attempt to defuse this situation and help Germany resume reparation payments, the Allied countries adopted the Dawes Plan; however the troops continued to occupy the Rhineland.
Eventually the two sides negotiated a settlement. Germany accepted the French demand for reparations while France agreed to a gradual withdrawal from the Rhineland from 1925 to 1930. Eventually the Young Plan would replace the Dawes Plan and alleviate much of the financial burden of Germany by structuring a more suitable and payable repayment for war reparations.
While the French felt they had the right to take what the Germans owed them by forced they failed to predict the long term ramifications of their actions. The occupation of the Rhineland was a humiliating event to the German public and it would ultimately provide Hitler with a platform to remilitarization in 1936.
This left the French dependent on the reparation payments expected from Germany and when Germany experienced the World Depression this also would have to a lesser degree an impact on the French economy. To make matters even worse the French population suffered from an increased death rate and a declining birth rate. The significance of this was a workforce in decline.
There would be on overwhelming concern of the French during the inter-year wars that would preoccupy both politics and population and that was the fear that Germany would once again rise up and become a threat to her borders.
1919 – 20 French Conquer and Lose Syria
In 1916 as part of a peace treaty (The Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916) France was allocated control of South-eastern Turkey, Northern Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
In 1918 Arab revolution took over Damascus ending the Ottoman control of Syria. The French occupied Syria in July 1920. The population of Damascus (major city in Syria) was intensely nationalist and opposed the forceful rule of the French. The result was a number of revolts that were brutally stopped by the French government.
In 1936 the Republic of Turkey began to pressure France to yield territory to them and France was unable to respond or resist because of the deteriorating situation in Europe. When Turkey sent in its troops in 1938, France yielded and evacuated from both Syria and Lebanon.
1923 – 1924 The Ruhr Invasion
The Treaty of Versailles (1919) provided that allied troops would control the Rhineland as a demilitarized “buffer zone” between Germany and France until 1935.
In 1923 Germany fell behind on the payment of war reparations which France needed desperately. The reason Germany fell behind is tied to the economic situation in Germany after World War I and its failure to rebuild its economy effectively. In attempts to pay the war reparations Germany printed more German Marcs to buy acceptable currency to pay her debt. This caused what economist refers to as hyperinflation. This practice causes the Germans money to become almost worthless. The French believed that if Germany could not pay her debt in currency then she would do so with goods. In order to ensure this took place French and Belgium forces occupied the Rhineland and seized natural resources in lieu of war reparations. The German workers protested peacefully simply by refusing to work the mines and factories of the Rhineland.
In an attempt to defuse this situation and help Germany resume reparation payments, the Allied countries adopted the Dawes Plan; however the troops continued to occupy the Rhineland.
Eventually the two sides negotiated a settlement. Germany accepted the French demand for reparations while France agreed to a gradual withdrawal from the Rhineland from 1925 to 1930. Eventually the Young Plan would replace the Dawes Plan and alleviate much of the financial burden of Germany by structuring a more suitable and payable repayment for war reparations.
While the French felt they had the right to take what the Germans owed them by forced they failed to predict the long term ramifications of their actions. The occupation of the Rhineland was a humiliating event to the German public and it would ultimately provide Hitler with a platform to remilitarization in 1936.
1924 -1927 Pacts of the Balkan Entente
This was an alliance formed in 1920 an 1921 between Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia with the purpose of defending against the possible resurgence of Hungarian and Habsburg restoration.
The pacts guaranteed the mutual assistance in the event of an unprovoked attack launched by Hungary against any of the three countries.
After World War I France was intent on containing German aggression by forming an arrangement with countries that shared borders with Germany. The sole goal of this policy was to ensure France was secure and safe from Germany. Between 1924 and 1927 France also signed treaties with each of these three countries, which obliged the parties to discuss their foreign policies and security matters.
1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact (Pact of Paris)
The French government held grave concerns about the safety of their country and this was an attempt by the French government to ensure peace was maintained in Europe by creating a web of treaties that tied each country to one another in case of aggression between countries.
The chief authors of this pact were the United States Secretary of State Kellogg and French Prime Minister Briand. The signing of these treaties took place in Paris, France and is sometimes also referred to as the Pact of Paris.
Specifically the treaty provided the following resolution:
-- provided an international treaty that required the
renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy
Eventually 65 nations signed the pact that outlawed war unless a nation acted in self-defense.
The French were worried by Germany’s treaty of neutrality with Russia in 1926 and the signatures of both the United States and Germany on the Kellogg-Briand Pact went a long way to ease France’s fear of future German aggression.
Many historians and politicians both view this pact as created with good intentions but having no practical means of preventing war.
1929 The Maginot Line is built
Between 1929 and 1934 the “Great Wall” of France – the Maginot Line – was built along the border with Germany with the intention of placing a significant barrier between the two countries. The purpose of this wall was to protect France from Germany, by giving them time to mobilize forces for defense and provide France with a sense of security. This became know as the “Maginot Mentality”
This wall covered a 400 mile line from Switzerland to the Ardennes in the north and from the Alps to the Mediterranean in the south. The wall was made of concrete fortifications, tank obstacles and machine gun posts placed at intervals. The wall also contained tunnels and underground railroads were thousands of French soldiers slept, trained, watched for a war that did not come. This was the most massive defensive line in the world at the time.
However this gave the French a false sense of security because when Hitler did attack the wall did not prove much of an obstacle. The wall was built under the assumption that a future war would be fought like World War I was and did not modernize the defense systems to accommodate new weapon systems such as planes and tanks both of which Hitler would use to his great advantage. This is one reason why France would fall so quickly when attacked in 1940. The wall could not stop Hitler’s blitzkrieg strategy or the mobility of his tanks and planes when combined.
This was an alliance formed in 1920 an 1921 between Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia with the purpose of defending against the possible resurgence of Hungarian and Habsburg restoration.
The pacts guaranteed the mutual assistance in the event of an unprovoked attack launched by Hungary against any of the three countries.
After World War I France was intent on containing German aggression by forming an arrangement with countries that shared borders with Germany. The sole goal of this policy was to ensure France was secure and safe from Germany. Between 1924 and 1927 France also signed treaties with each of these three countries, which obliged the parties to discuss their foreign policies and security matters.
1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact (Pact of Paris)
The French government held grave concerns about the safety of their country and this was an attempt by the French government to ensure peace was maintained in Europe by creating a web of treaties that tied each country to one another in case of aggression between countries.
The chief authors of this pact were the United States Secretary of State Kellogg and French Prime Minister Briand. The signing of these treaties took place in Paris, France and is sometimes also referred to as the Pact of Paris.
Specifically the treaty provided the following resolution:
-- provided an international treaty that required the
renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy
Eventually 65 nations signed the pact that outlawed war unless a nation acted in self-defense.
The French were worried by Germany’s treaty of neutrality with Russia in 1926 and the signatures of both the United States and Germany on the Kellogg-Briand Pact went a long way to ease France’s fear of future German aggression.
Many historians and politicians both view this pact as created with good intentions but having no practical means of preventing war.
1929 The Maginot Line is built
Between 1929 and 1934 the “Great Wall” of France – the Maginot Line – was built along the border with Germany with the intention of placing a significant barrier between the two countries. The purpose of this wall was to protect France from Germany, by giving them time to mobilize forces for defense and provide France with a sense of security. This became know as the “Maginot Mentality”
This wall covered a 400 mile line from Switzerland to the Ardennes in the north and from the Alps to the Mediterranean in the south. The wall was made of concrete fortifications, tank obstacles and machine gun posts placed at intervals. The wall also contained tunnels and underground railroads were thousands of French soldiers slept, trained, watched for a war that did not come. This was the most massive defensive line in the world at the time.
However this gave the French a false sense of security because when Hitler did attack the wall did not prove much of an obstacle. The wall was built under the assumption that a future war would be fought like World War I was and did not modernize the defense systems to accommodate new weapon systems such as planes and tanks both of which Hitler would use to his great advantage. This is one reason why France would fall so quickly when attacked in 1940. The wall could not stop Hitler’s blitzkrieg strategy or the mobility of his tanks and planes when combined.
1934 French Revolution
(The Impact of the Communist movement)
In February 1934 France saw the bloodiest night it had seen since the crushing of the commune in 1871. Fascist’s leagues formed over the past few years of economic depression staged anti-parliament demonstrations in Paris. Clashes between armed demonstrators and police led to 15 deaths and over 1000 wounded. The French parliament under Eduard Daladier received a no-confidence vote and was forced to resign. The fascist bands had succeeded, through street violence, in bringing down the government.
There were two groups involved in this revolution the Stalinist Communists (PCF) and the reformist Socialists (SFIO). Despite the differences between the two groups they agreed in July 1934 to merge and created a united front.
This was one of many revolutions occurring in Europe sparked by the Red Scare of the Communist movement led by Trotsky. The communist attempted to influence French politics by supporting the Popular Front in January 1936. It is quite possible that France would follow the path of Russia and China except for two events that sparked a large anti-fascist/communist sentiment. The first event was an assault on political leader Leon Blum by fascist thugs and the second event was Nazi Germany’s reoccupation of the Rhineland, which had been declared a demilitarized zone by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.
The popular front led by Blum’s government wanted to control and direct the workers into class collaboration. However by the time Blum’s government was put into place France had been brought to a complete stand-still by an almost general strike. Thousands of factories were occupied and nearly two million workers in almost every industry stopped working. This caused a huge economic crisis for Frances industry that were forced to make many concessions such as a standardized 40 hr week of work, wage increases and a 2-week annual leave period. Blum was hailed as a hero of the worker however he was forced to resign in June and then would return to power in March of 1938.
1935 Soviet-French Non-Aggression Pact
This is another one of the many pacts France entered into with the sole aim to contain German aggression. After Germany invaded parts of Czechoslovakia, France was in need of a way to support collective security with the Soviet Union because the French feared a future invasion from Germany.
The 1935 Soviet-French Non-Aggression Pact was created in compliance with provisions of the League of Nations Covenant and stipulated that France and Russia stated that mutual assistance was required and could be rendered in the form of military assistance to one another if and only if an allegation of unprovoked aggression had been submitted to the League.
This means that if Germany attacked one country then the other would come to their aid thus placing Germany in a two front war.
This would be yet another reason Hitler would use in order to place troops into the Rhineland against the peace accord of the Treaty of Versailles.
1936 The Rhineland Crisis
On March 7, 1936 20,000 German troops marched into the Rhineland which had been ordered by the Treaty of Versailles as a demilitarized zone to act as a buffer between France and Germany. Hitler used the excuse that the French Russian Non-Aggression Pact was a direct threat against Germany and that his country had a right to protect itself. This reoccupation was a direct violation of the Treaty of Versailles and other treaties as well (primarily the Locarno Pact)
France could not agree on a course of action and thus took no action at all. The rest of Europe followed this example. Hitler’s gamble had paid off and he was able to reoccupy the resource rich industrial Rhineland without a conflict. The Rhineland crises was seen as yet another German infringement of the Treaty of Versailles and a failure by the League of Nations because of their lack of actions.
(The Impact of the Communist movement)
In February 1934 France saw the bloodiest night it had seen since the crushing of the commune in 1871. Fascist’s leagues formed over the past few years of economic depression staged anti-parliament demonstrations in Paris. Clashes between armed demonstrators and police led to 15 deaths and over 1000 wounded. The French parliament under Eduard Daladier received a no-confidence vote and was forced to resign. The fascist bands had succeeded, through street violence, in bringing down the government.
There were two groups involved in this revolution the Stalinist Communists (PCF) and the reformist Socialists (SFIO). Despite the differences between the two groups they agreed in July 1934 to merge and created a united front.
This was one of many revolutions occurring in Europe sparked by the Red Scare of the Communist movement led by Trotsky. The communist attempted to influence French politics by supporting the Popular Front in January 1936. It is quite possible that France would follow the path of Russia and China except for two events that sparked a large anti-fascist/communist sentiment. The first event was an assault on political leader Leon Blum by fascist thugs and the second event was Nazi Germany’s reoccupation of the Rhineland, which had been declared a demilitarized zone by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.
The popular front led by Blum’s government wanted to control and direct the workers into class collaboration. However by the time Blum’s government was put into place France had been brought to a complete stand-still by an almost general strike. Thousands of factories were occupied and nearly two million workers in almost every industry stopped working. This caused a huge economic crisis for Frances industry that were forced to make many concessions such as a standardized 40 hr week of work, wage increases and a 2-week annual leave period. Blum was hailed as a hero of the worker however he was forced to resign in June and then would return to power in March of 1938.
1935 Soviet-French Non-Aggression Pact
This is another one of the many pacts France entered into with the sole aim to contain German aggression. After Germany invaded parts of Czechoslovakia, France was in need of a way to support collective security with the Soviet Union because the French feared a future invasion from Germany.
The 1935 Soviet-French Non-Aggression Pact was created in compliance with provisions of the League of Nations Covenant and stipulated that France and Russia stated that mutual assistance was required and could be rendered in the form of military assistance to one another if and only if an allegation of unprovoked aggression had been submitted to the League.
This means that if Germany attacked one country then the other would come to their aid thus placing Germany in a two front war.
This would be yet another reason Hitler would use in order to place troops into the Rhineland against the peace accord of the Treaty of Versailles.
1936 The Rhineland Crisis
On March 7, 1936 20,000 German troops marched into the Rhineland which had been ordered by the Treaty of Versailles as a demilitarized zone to act as a buffer between France and Germany. Hitler used the excuse that the French Russian Non-Aggression Pact was a direct threat against Germany and that his country had a right to protect itself. This reoccupation was a direct violation of the Treaty of Versailles and other treaties as well (primarily the Locarno Pact)
France could not agree on a course of action and thus took no action at all. The rest of Europe followed this example. Hitler’s gamble had paid off and he was able to reoccupy the resource rich industrial Rhineland without a conflict. The Rhineland crises was seen as yet another German infringement of the Treaty of Versailles and a failure by the League of Nations because of their lack of actions.
This short film describe Hitler and his move to remilitarize the Rhineland.