The French - 1938
The French - 1938
At the time, the French were the French. Germany WAS Hitler. France was a whole lot of people. The French cabinet could never get full political support for any policies. The industrial establishment, especially the armament industries, had an incestuous relationship with the German industries due to French-German extraction of the owners or plain and simple partnerships in selling arms to third world countries. These industries knew that there is always money in the wars for them, and it did matter what side won.
All French wanted was peace. France, a realistic nation, having suffered the loss of almost two million war dead, having suffered unparalleled devastation and destruction of property and human values, sought after the war (War I), to create a system of defense known as “Security”. It comprised the following items:
The most powerful army in Western Europe.
The most formidable air force.
The greatest number of tanks and artillery.
The line of fortification on the eastern frontier.
An immense munitions industry.
The largest gold reserve in the world.
The League covenant and the Kellogg Pact.
The demilitarization of Germany.
The Locarno treaties.
The military and diplomatic alliances with the Little Entente (Czechoslovakia, Jugoslavia, Rumania) and Poland.
The above was a French wish list as of 1919.
As of 1938, according to the French, The French army was no longer the most powerful in Europe; the Russian army was bigger and the German army was better. The air force is out of date, and General Georing (Germany) probably had as many planes as France. The fortifications are underground and Germans can simply fly over them. It had been said, “France was perfectly prepared in 1937 for the war of 1914″.
The League of Nations was quickly becoming meaningless. It could not prevent the Japanese from invading Manchuria and the Italians from invading Abyssinia. On top of all this, Germany, by leaving the League of Nations, ended the “disarmament” phase, and the “collective security” phase of international politics.
Let me translate all this. Hitler didn’t want to have any part in this peace loving European Community. Neither did Japan.
The best reference book I found is Inside Europe by John Gunther, a time capsule, the 1938 edition.
