The third French republic
Map of France and her colonies
France fact sheet
France was present on all continents.
It had over 55.5 million inhabitants outside of mainland France and stretched over 10.5 million square kilometres from West Africa to French Indochina (Today’s Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos)
France before the war
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The Third French Republic was established after the defeat of France at the hands of the Prussians (who became Germany) in 1870.
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France was a major power by 1914 and had recovered well after the defeat, embracing economic and urban modernization as well as colonial conquest.
France's diplomacy
France had 2 goals/guiding principles for their foreign policy:
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To diplomatically outmaneuver Germany to gain an upper hand in future military conflicts, thus reclaiming lost lands
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To maintain and expand her global empire
Hence France managed to snag an alliance with the Russians in 1892 due to the failure of the Germans to renegotiate their alliance with the Russians.
This ensured Germany would be sandwiched between France and Russia and would have to fight a 2 front war
France also hoped to gain Syria and Lebanon from the weakening Ottoman Empire
France viewed Britain as the only nation you could help them against Germany and preserve their overseas colonies.
In 1904, the Anglo-French Entente was signed and the triple Entente was created in 1907
France's war
France suffered heavy setbacks at the battle of the frontiers in Alsace and was forced to retreat from the northeast part of their country after the Germans flanked the French by entering from Belgium.
The failure of the invasion of Germany was attributed to the ,before then popular, General Joseph Joffre (Papa Joffre).
France's army
The french wore brightly colored blue and red uniforms which were obvious targets for German machine gunners and artillery. They would later be changed for more drab, blue uniforms
The french infantry also advanced across wide open plains standing shoulder to shoulder and marching in columns only to be slaughtered by German machine guns
France's war
However, with British help the French beat back the the Germans at the first battle of the Marne and pushed them back until they were halted at the Aisne river. The Germans had dug into the ground and thus trench warfare had begun
Taxis were taken from Paris to send troops to the Marne (Painting)
The French launched several offensives late 1914 and throughout 1915 but they only ended in more dead soldiers and resulted in very little land gained
In 1916, the French held strong at the fortress of Verdun amid heavy shelling by the Germans and successfully repulsed the Germans, both sides suffering heavy losses. Verdun was a major symbol of French pride and also a strategic defensive location so both sides poured a million men each into the slaughter at verdun. The main French commander at Verdun was Philippe Petain who distinguished himself in this battle
The French also participate in the battle of the Somme which was lead by the British and it was a humiliating and costly defeat for the Entente. This caused Joseph Joffre to be sacked in favour of a young charismatic general named Robert Nivelle.
Phillpe Petain, the Lion of Verdun
In 1917, Robert Nivelle launched an offensive in the Chemin des Dames sector in the Aisne with terrible losses and no objective accomplished. This offensive was characterised for the utter lack of concern for the lives of the french infantry as they were told to make suicidal attacks that would not do anything but kill more Frenchmen.
Robert Nivelle was sacked but most of the French army was mutinying and fed up with the terrible living conditions in the trench and the useless offensives that create dead bodies.
Philippe Petain was put in charge of all of the army and he set about harshly disciplining platoons who had gone too far while also improving the conditions in the Trenches and promising no needless offensives
In 1918, the Germans launched a spring offensive to try and break the stalemate at the Western Front. They captured some strategic locations but their war machine started to break down and they could not hold on to the gained ground.
The French along with the British and Americans would make a final push to Germany and force Germany to surrender before they reached German soil.
POST WAR
At the Paris conference and the treaty of Versailles, France was one of the main negotiators and they had obtained Syria and Lebanon from the ottomans, Alsace-Lorraine back from the Germans and huge reparations from the Weimar government of Germany.
France suffered a lot from the war and lost 1.4 million men. They gained back their lost lands and they even gained new colonies. But as the treaty of Versailles was signed, they set the stage for an ominous future ahead.
