How did French nationalism evolve in France from 1870 to 1945?

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although he was atheist, because Catholicism was part of the founding values of France. This nationalism refused the Modernity and stayed very attached to the ground. This was for example Pétain’s rhetoric who stated: “the ground doesn’t lie”. Pétainist values corresponded to an anchorage of the people in its ground and an attachment to family values, values which could be resumed by the expression: “Work, family, homeland”. The radical opposition to contraception showed a will to support a rising birth rate. The elation of the catholic religion was present. However, this nationalism of extreme-right corresponded precisely to the one which collaborated with the enemy under Vichy’s regime in 1945. Also, the Legitimists accepted the defeat of 1870 and the occupation of Paris by Germany. In this way, this nationalism appeared in contradiction with itself. This nationalism used the conspiracy rhetoric. In this way, it presented a series of enemies responsible for the miseries of the nation and dangerous for its future. The main targets of this nationalism were the Jews, the Freemasons, the communists, and the foreigners. Therefore, Vichy’s regime was the reason of the defeat of May 1940 by the Judaeo-Bolshevik scheme. Instead of recognizing the military defeat, vichyist nationalism accused the Popular Front with Leon Blum to be guilty of driving the French people lazy because of the reduction of the working hours and because of the pacifist communist propaganda. This nationalism aimed to maintain the honor of the French army in the Dreyfus affair. Deeply anti-parliamentarist when it was not anti-republican, this nationalism gained in power under the IIIrd Republic. It was radically different from the republican nationalism. Seeking for a strong nation, this nationalism didn’t conceive it without a strong power. By this, the crisis of the 6th of February 1934 can be explained by the fact that the leagues of extreme-right saw in the regime an element that weakened France. This nationalism was characterized by the hatred of the regime’s functioning and by its antisemitism. There were in this nationalism reactionary values.

Extreme-right’s nationalism had to be differentiated from the nationalism against the occupier and for the respect of the nation’s sovereignty. This led to the image of nationalism during wartime.

In fact, nationalism can often be seen as extremist and xenophobic. This may be the reason why Mitterrand said: “nationalism, it’s war”. The aggressive character of nationalists often made it unacceptable. Nonetheless, at certain periods of time, it was acceptable, even desirable. First of all, nationalism created a unity to defend the homeland, then the resistance that it opposed to the occupier, and it was necessary to defend France’s interests when it was weakened. When the nation was confronted to the ordeal of war, it needed this nationalist unity. In 1914, the socialists – firstly pacifists – went with the other political parties in order to form a front of national unity. Republican nationalism taught to the youth the importance of the homeland, for this reason, de Gaulle recognized that his generation was ready to fight against Germany and deplored his personal captivity. This nationalism unified the French people without discrimination. Marc Bloch took part in the First World War without suffering from any antisemitic discrimination. The loyalty to France required from the citizen that he fights against the occupier. In this way, in 1870 in Paris, the Parisians couldn’t accept the humiliation provoked by the German occupation. This nationalism was more similar to patriotism – the defense of the homeland. This characteristic can be found in the french resistance from 1940 to 1945. This nationalism refused the treason of Vichy’s authorities in 1940 just as it refused the one of the monarchists Assembly in 1870. A true sense of sacrifice can be found in the defense of the nation following in Jean Moulin’s footsteps who was an architect of the unification of the resistance from 1942. It was this nationalism that was incarnated by de Gaulle the day of the call of the 18th of June 1940. If de Gaulle was opposed to Nazi Germany and to Pétain, he also refused Anglo-Saxon imperialism. Gaullist nationalism aimed to adopt a benevolent attitude towards France while the Allies took advantage of his weakness and excluded him from the major powers. This was why de Gaulle wanted to associate France to the military victory of the Allies. The stake of gaullist nationalism was France’s place in the major powers. This was why the symbols of sovereignty that were, on one hand the army and on the other hand the recognition of the resistance’s leader, had to be imperatively kept. The empire’s defense entered into the will to prevent the Allies from taking advantage of the French weakness. This nationalism was opposed to the wait-and-see attitude of the majority of the French population during the Second World War. In period of conflict, nationalism differed radically from the nationalism of the French Action or the leagues. Indeed, de Gaulle’s nationalism wasn’t reactionary even though it corresponded to an ideal of greatness of the French nation. It also distinguished itself from the colonial nationalism which assumed that the empire was the main element of prestige of the nation.

To conclude, French nationalism developed from 1870 to 1945. French people’s attachment to their nation was able to consolidate this nationalism in period of humiliation or during wartime by giving it an aggressive aspect. In this way, the primacy of the nation’s interests led French colonialism to get confronted to other nationalisms throughout the colonial stake. The nation, thus elevated to supreme value, opposed itself to the internal enemies by appearing anti-republican. Finally, extreme-right’s nationalism differentiated itself from the nationalism against the occupier and for the respect of the sovereignty of the nation, which created a wartime nationalism.

Beyond the French nationalism, it is right to distinguish several nationalisms. Their common point resides in their attachment to the idea of nation, but they express it in different ways. While a part of them wallow in reactionary values, the other ones become aware of the stakes of the international situation for the republican sovereignty.