Economic Demobilization in France After the First World War

This article explores the economic demobilization in France after the First World War. When the war came to an end German armies were still  on France territory and had to retreat. The Northern industrial regions of France had suffered enourmously duing the war and the German occupation. The economic demobilization therefore included not only a reorganization of the war economy: the women who had replaced men in the war industies had to send home and make place for the returning war veterans who were supposed to get their old jobs back. It also meant a reconstruction of the infastructure and the destroyed  industrial production sites. This necessity and the financial burden of the war and the postwar resconstuction created an enourmous economic challenge for postwar France and its demobilization policy.