The French At War 1934 1944

The years 1934 to 1944 remain the most contentious and dramatic decade in modern French history. Covering the Occupation, the Vichy regime, the Resistance and collaboration, Nick Atkin provides an important introduction to this key period. Accessible and concise, the book offers a wide-ranging synthesis of key themes and events. Looking ahead to the present day, the book also examines how the French establishment and public have coped with the legacy of Vichy, and explains why the occupation is still ever present in French politics and everyday life.

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This book describes a period during which France teetered on, and sometimes over, the brink of civil war. It shows how the rise of fascism, German invasion, the Vichy government, and withdrawal from Empire convinced a significant number of Frenchmen that killing their compatriots was a legitimate way to achieve political ends.

“The most complete account of the French Resistance in English, and the most sensitive... A masterful rendering of the Resistance...” — Philip Hallie, The New York Times “A celebration and a memorial... Mr. Schoenbrun has had long conversations with a number of the best-known survivors, each one the keeper of a sacred flame... the fullest account of the French Resistance in English.” — Robert O. Paxton, The New York Review of Books “Political history chiefly, not heroics: the most extensive account in English of the two French Resistances — that of the Underground against Vichy and the Nazis, and that of de Gaulle against all other claimants to authority over fallen France... including, prominently, the Allies... A memorable and important book.” — Kirkus Reviews “Former CBS Paris bureau chief David Schoenbrun gives us an excellent, solidly researched account of the struggle waged by that gallant handful who sabotaged railroads and power plants, rescued Allied fliers and Jewish fugitives, assassinated German and Vichy officials, then fought pitched battles against elite Wehrmacht formations... With great objectivity and verve, Schoenbrun chronicles the often muddled, uncoordinated efforts of the Resistance through the four dark years of Nazi occupation. Systematically and factually, he explains the workings on the fragmented organizations that kept on fighting in spite of the Germans’ ruthless attempts to stamp them out.” — Martin Sokolinsky, Christian Science Monitor “[A] marvelous book... stories of heroism and self-sacrifice that challenge belief. [Schoenbrun] has created a prodigious work crowded with compelling stories...” — Richard J. Walton, Saturday Review “Important... richly deserving of acclaim... The first comprehensive account in English of the French Resistance... held together by a fine reporter’s instinct of how to tell a story and how to tell it well.” — Houston Chronicle

The French call them 'the Dark Years'... This definitive new history of Occupied France explores the myths and realities of four of the most divisive years in French history. Taking in ordinary people's experiences of defeat, collaboration, resistance, and liberation, it uncovers the conflicting memories of occupation which ensure that even today France continues to debate the legacy of the Vichy years.

On 16 May 1940 an emergency meeting of the French High Command was called at the Quai d'Orsay in Paris. The German army had broken through the French lines on the River Meuse at Sedan and elsewhere, only five days after launching their attack. Churchill, who had been telephoned by Prime Minister Reynaud the previous evening to be told that the French were beaten, rushed to Paris to meet the French leaders. The mood in the meeting was one of panic and despair; there was talk ofevacuating Paris. Churchill asked Gamelin, the French Commander in Chief, 'Where is the strategic reserve?' 'There is none,' replied Gamelin.This exciting book by Julian Jackson, a leading historian of twentieth-century France, charts the breathtakingly rapid events that led to the defeat and surrender of one of the greatest bastions of the Western Allies, and thus to a dramatic new phase of the Second World War. The search for scapegoats for the most humiliating military disaster in French history began almost at once: were miscalculations by military leaders to blame, or was this an indictment of an entire nation?Using eyewitness accounts, memoirs, and diaries, Julian Jackson recreates, in gripping detail, the intense atmosphere and dramatic events of these six weeks in 1940, unravelling the historical evidence to produce a fresh answer to the perennial question of whether the fall of France was inevitable.

During 1940-1944, the citizens of France and its Empire endured the 'dark years' of invasion, persecution and foreign occupation. Thousands of men, women and children suffered arrest, deportation and death as the French Vichy regime worked to secure a place for France in Hitler's New Order. France in the Second World War is a wide-ranging yet succinct introduction to the French experience of the Second World War and its aftermath. It examines the fall of France in 1940 and the founding of the Vichy regime, as well as collaboration, resistance, everyday life, the Holocaust, the Liberation and the echoes of the period in contemporary France. Chris Millington addresses the chief topics in chapters that synthesizes the key points of the history and the historiography. The French Empire is carefully integrated throughout, illustrating the global impact of events on mainland France. In addition, Millington provides a helpful glossary of terms, personalities and movements from the period and an annotated bibliography of English-language sources to guide students to the most relevant works in the area. France in the Second World War provides a comprehensive introduction to the history and historiography of France and its Empire during their darkest hours.

The Second World War stands as the most devastating and destructive global conflict in human history. More than 60 nations representing 1.7 billion people or three quarters of the world’s population were consumed by its horror. Not surprisingly, therefore, World War II stands as a landmark episode in history education throughout the world and its prominent place in school history textbooks is almost guaranteed. As this book demonstrates, however, the stories that nations choose to tell their young about World War II do not represent a universally accepted “truth” about events during the war. Rather, wartime narratives contained in school textbooks typically are selected to instil in the young a sense of national pride, common identify, and shared collective memory. To understand this process War, Nation, Memory describes and evaluates school history textbooks from many nations deeply affected by World War II including China, France, Germany, Japan, USA, and the United Kingdom. It critically examines the very different and complex perspectives offered in many nations and analyses the ways in which textbooks commonly serve as instruments of socialisation and, in some cases, propaganda. Above all, War, Nation, Memory demonstrates that far from containing “neutral” knowledge, history textbooks prove fascinating cultural artefacts consciously shaped and legitimated by powerful ideological, cultural, and sociopolitical forces dominant in the present.