What the French thought earlier than the Second World War | EUROtoday
Lhe peoples wage struggle earlier than the heads of state; We don’t order an organization like we order a toddler. The French should not gullible, and even within the absence of secret protection data, they’ve the instinct of their preservation.
Better nonetheless: there may be nothing extravagant that people choose discomfort to consolation, struggle in peace, with regards to being on the correct aspect of historical past, which, in France, will not be a small topic since this nation lives and continues because of its popularity.
Regarding the Russian risk and the struggle in Ukraine, to which it’s linked, opinion turns within the favor of Emmanuel Macron and his militarist speech. This might clarify why, for just a few days, the nationwide rally and rebellious France have stopped defending the Vladimir Putin regime.
The trauma of the First World War
According to an ELAB survey of March 4, greater than 60 %of French individuals are both favorable to upkeep (44 %), or to the rise (22 %) of help to Ukraine. If they’re primarily against sending troops through the struggle, there are 67 % to contemplate that it ought to be performed to take care of peace. Finally, greater than 60 %say they’re in favor of an entry of Ukraine into NATO (70 %) and within the European Union (66 %).
In view of those encrypted knowledge, how can we proceed to say that the President of the Republic is answerable for the militarization of minds? The French don’t want Emmanuel Macron to be substantial. A Concorde is rising. And it’s not the primary time {that a} hazard has aroused the Union of the Nation.
Read too Russia has already misplaced the struggleThe day earlier than the Second World War, a comparable phenomenon had occurred. As we all know because the IFOP survey institute was created in 1938. In a “IFOP collector” be aware in August 2013, the Survey Institute took inventory of their investigation at the moment.
The outcomes are astounding: 57 % of French individuals authorized the Munich agreements when 37 % estimated them dangerous. Figures that have to be learn considering the trauma of the First World War since greater than 70 % estimated {that a} new battle would trigger the destruction of civilization.
The French weren’t at a contradiction close to since, on the identical time, there have been 70 % to estimate that France and England had to withstand all new necessities of Hitler. As the writer of the be aware notes, “all of this shows that the spirit of resistance appeared from that time in the minds of those who accepted the Munich Agreements without ulterior motives”.
Freedom is on the aspect of those that follow it
If we evaluate these outcomes with at present, there are similarities. The French haven’t any doubts concerning the nature and intentions of their enemy, Russia and the United States (73 % contemplate that the United States is not an ally), however they’re hooked up to peace. Basically, this can be a affordable response. In the angle of a struggle, being lucid doesn’t prohibit sustaining a hope for peace. After all, you by no means know.
In 1939, the worldwide order took a turning level. The annexation of bohemian and Moravia by Hitler and Albania by Mussolini was deemed “dangerous for France” for 77 % of respondents. The Berlin-Rome axis was now perceived as an existential risk. In June 1939, 45 % of French individuals had been satisfied by a subsequent entry into struggle. Over the identical interval, 76 % of French individuals thought that Hitler ought to be prevented from taking the town of Dantzig by power.
Read too General Paloméros: “We will have to win our strategic autonomy without weakening” As for the alliance with England, it was deemed favorable to peace by an amazing majority (78 %), and the conscription ordered in England was authorized by 91 % of respondents. Even extra stunning: 81 % of French individuals thought that an alliance between London, Paris and the USSR served the reason for peace. And in addition to, one other fascinating knowledge: 78 % of respondents thought-about that within the occasion of Franco’s victory, France would have a brand new enemy at its borders.
To uncover
The kangaroo of the day
Answer
These figures make a spell for acquired concepts. If Marshal Pétain remained in style till 1943, the very fact stays that the French had been very principally hostile to the ideology introduced by authoritarian regimes. This doesn’t prejudge their habits through the occupation and doesn’t train the Vichy regime of the atrocities for which he has been accountable.
Without evaluating Vladimir Putin or Donald Trump to Mussolini or Hitler, it’s clear {that a} web cleavage is taking form between supporters of liberalism, round 70 %, and people of illiberalism. Let’s merely say: for almost all of French individuals, freedom is on the aspect of those that follow it. The supporters of the opposite, it have to be stated and repeat it, signify a minority.
https://www.lepoint.fr/societe/ce-que-pensaient-les-francais-avant-la-seconde-guerre-mondiale-11-03-2025-2584496_23.php