France and the Après Guerre, 1918-1924: Illusions and Disillusionment

Although victorious in the First World War, the French of the Third Republic soon learned the devastating price of success. The grave loss of life and incredibly harsh conditions during and after the war shook survivors to the core. The extraordinary suffering would eventually bring about the collective failure of national nerve in the 1930s that led to the appeasement at Munich and the collapse before German invasion in June 1940. But during the Après Guerre—the half decade following World War I—the French held out hope for a return to the ideal conditions of the Belle Époque, a hope that gradually gave way to disillusionment.