6 - A time of crisis

Summary

The First World War

The outbreak of the First World War was a seminal historical event, the beginning of a catastrophic era of conflict that would redefine the global situation of Europe as well as the place of France within the Continent. The war came as a great surprise to the vast majority of French people. The population seems to have reacted more from a sense of resigned acceptance than with any great enthusiasm. Overwhelmed by the speed with which events succeeded each other, individuals felt helpless, unable to influence the situation. Nevertheless, reservists reported to their regimental depots and were sent off by cheering crowds, convinced that France had been the victim of unprovoked aggression and that the war would be brief. The newspapers were virtually unanimous in publicising in the most condemnatory terms the crimes committed by the ‘Teutonic barbarians’ and in insisting upon the superiority of French arms and the power of the Russian ‘steamroller’. The critics of the republican regime, both to the right and the left, rallied to the cause, the nationalists with their confidence enhanced by the feeling that their warnings had been confirmed, the clericals confident that in this moment of crisis the population would turn to the Church for hope and consolation. The Socialist press, which had so recently adopted a pacifist, anti-militaristic stance, warned its readers that ‘the Fatherland, home of all great revolutions, land of liberty and freedom, is in danger’ and called for commitment to a just war in defence of the relatively progressive French Republic against an autocratic and aggressive German Empire. Minor demonstrations against mobilisation occurred in thirty-six departments, mainly involving Socialist and trades union militants, but the vast majority of activists were unwilling to contemplate action that might assist an enemy.