French revanchism: Myth or reality? And if real, how accurate

Bit of a silly notion.

I might concede that there was an outburst of revanchism expressed against Germany when the country was first beaten, and that the Republicans were eager to divert the interest of the population towards the colonial expeditions, away from and to the detriment of the "ligne bleue des Vosges" (the line bordering them with Germany), as a way to ease down revanchism. Also a French general in the whereabouts of the 1890s had been scorned by the Republic, and attempted to overthrow the government, pretexting that he would start a war with Germany when in power to draw to him the support of the French.

But by WWI, it had subsided, and only Action Française, a political power aggregating about only 5% of the country's votes was vanguarding revanchism. Where France slightly contributed to heightening tensions was that they refused to state that they could relinquish their support for Russia in a defensive war, which they had had to do in the Bosnian crisis to maintain the peace, but then the Germans prohibited that France stay out of the war by requisitioning that the ring of defensive French forts be occupied by German forces were that to happen.

Regardless, WWI rigthfully rekindled revanchism within France, and France approached the negotiations as a country right to be wary as some had suffered from German agressive militarism twice in their lives now (including Clemenceau, a small boy in the Franco-Prussian war).

File: wwdf.png (45KB, 1058x485px) Image search: [Google]

45KB, 1058x485px

>>2510374
>And if real, how accurate are the Germans to say that it contributed to France joining WW1

Not at all given that France only got involved in WW1 when Germany attacked them
France made many efforts to avoid provoking Germany (like withdrawing their army 10kms away from the border which enabled Germans to raid a French village and kill a Frenchman before the war was declared), but they couldnt give in to the most bullshit German demands (like surrendering all their fortresses), so the Germans attacked

Now, while it's true that French Revanchism was very low in the early 1910s, the German declaration of war ressurected it, and it kept growing stronger as the war went on
So I guess that it kinda played a role in Versailles (although Versailles was far from as harsh as some claim).

File: IMG_3035.jpg (190KB, 1130x831px) Image search: [Google]

190KB, 1130x831px

Of course it's not a myth, the French were butthurt as fuck. Maps from the time showed Alsace-Lorraine as part of France, just greyed out. The semi-official book used to teach kids how to read from 1877 to 1914 was basically just revanchist propaganda. Newspaper had anti-German articles every week. Go look at the illustrated covers of "Le Petit Journal", the most popular newspaper at the time, you'll see what I mean.

The far left and the far right were obsessed with it, and opposed colonial ventures because of it, though usually when they got to power they were low key about it. Gambetta said about "la ligne bleue des Vosges": "always think about it, never talk about it".

So war was always in the back of their mind, though I don't think it particularly contributed to them joining WW1. They were dragged into it. Probably had an influence on the Versailles treaty, though, especially considering how harsh the Germans were after the Franco-Prussian war.

>>2510641
The France-Russian alliance was formed SPECIFICALLY for the purpose of beating Germany down, you fucking idiot.
>b-but they took a 10km step back
Oh well fuck me guess that negates all of their diplomatic policies and political rhetoric throughout the years then. It's okay if I pull a gun on someone, as long as I shuffle back two steps.

>>2512464
>The France-Russian alliance was formed SPECIFICALLY for the purpose of beating Germany down, you fucking idiot.
No it was formed so France and Russia could defend each other from germany, since, in case you forgot, were the ones preparing and calling for a war.

>It's okay if I pull a gun on someone, as long as I shuffle back two steps.
It's okay when the other party has not only pulled out it's own gun, but has already fired a shot.

>>2512511
Wooah dude shit, so you're thelling me all of this
>>2510771
Was, like, German false-flagging and stuff man? Duuuude, you're, like, totally blowing my mind. I am so woke right now.

File: Glanni 3.jpg (16KB, 292x364px) Image search: [Google]

16KB, 292x364px

>>2512534
>France wanted Alsace-Lorraine back
>The Franco-Russian alliance was therefore for beating Germany down
>Even though Germany was the one to declare war on both of them after 20 years of them not declaring on Germany

>>2512544
>alliance formed specifically to take away from the German-Austrian influence in the balkans and to dismantle Germany's only ally from being a major power
>not seeking conflict
You are an absolute fucking idiot. How you've managed to survive this long without dying in a potato salad accident or some shit amazes me.

>>2512568
>y-you should have never made an alliance against me!!
>you pushed me to invade Belgium and chimp out, dragging the UK into the war!

>>2512568
>alliance formed specifically to take away from the German-Austrian influence in the balkans and to dismantle Germany's only ally from being a major power
[citation needed]

>>2510771
the french prime minister Poincaré during this time was greatly influenced by the impressions of the humiliation by the germans when they marched into paris in the german french war
He did promise his support to the russian in the Chantilly Conferences in 1914 also motivated by revanchism

>>2510771
>"Le Petit Journal"
You mean the rabidly anti-semetic one that constantly published shit against Dreyfus and lost almost all support? Oh and I'm not disagreeing with revanchism however

the french played ww1 perfectly. The only given going into the inevitable continental war was France+Russia vs. Germany/Austria-Hungary. They managed to bring a neutral UK onto their side, and cause the Italians to switch sides. Sure the war was a fucking meatgrinder but no one knew the magnitude of that going in. Forcing the UK into the war turned the war from a probable defeat into an almost assured victory, at least with our 20/20 hindsight. The french/russian navy was no match for the germans, and british naval supremacy just let the allies grind out the central powers.

Versailles on teh other hand was where the mistakes were made.

>>2513437
Sure. But during the revanchist years, it was not just the biggest newspaper in France, but the biggest paper in the world. It's decline started with Dreyfus, but it still remained large enough to still be an interesting way to get an insight into French public opinion, basically until the 20's, the rapidly antisemitic stuff really started way after it's decline.

>>2510374
Extremely. France acted like a huge bitch baby without regard to any sense or the wishes of it's allies, but that doesn't excuse Germany in WW2.

>>2512544
I bet you think Japan was 100% without reason to attack America either, right?

>>2514368
The French are not the ones who brought Britain into the war, Germany did that by itself.

>>2512600
Pretty sure the main reason Russia even wanted to stay allies with serbia was because having an ally in the region was pretty important for russian imperialistic gains when austro-hungary finally shits itself.