DBWI: No French civil war

Feunoyr

Banned
We all know that the French Civil War (1934-1936) was one of the most important conflicts of the early twentieth century. Even today most historians continue to think that this "two-front war" (in reference to the two political and military coalitions that fought for power after the "February sedition": the reactionary national front and the leftist popular front) was an extraordinary chance for Nazi Germany, the only explanation of the German victory against a mutilated French army in 1940...
Without this bitter war, how different history would have been ? Could the French military government of the 1936-1968 years have been avoided?
 
The only way the French Civil War could’ve been prevented is if the French communist party did not try to seize power via a coup d’état. Arguably it was one of the worst attempts at overthrowing a government imaginable. everything needed to go right for the plan to succeed,And their efforts failed miserably.
 
The only way the French Civil War could’ve been prevented is if the French communist party did not try to seize power via a coup d’état. Arguably it was one of the worst attempts at overthrowing a government imaginable. everything needed to go right for the plan to succeed,And their efforts failed miserably.
Yep, after their initial coup d’état failed they didn't have a chance at winning the following civil war, and did they honestly think that, even if they did overthrow the government with their planned "clean cut overthrow" Britain would just sit back and let that happen?
 
The United Kingdom under Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain were appeasers they refused to allow the sale of weapons to the French government because they did not want to fight another war. After the war ended the French government personally stated in public that they blame them for causing the war to go on longer.
 
The United Kingdom under Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain were appeasers they refused to allow the sale of weapons to the French government because they did not want to fight another war. After the war ended the French government personally stated in public that they blame them for causing the war to go on longer.
Yes, but they were secretly selling them guns through other partys, they only offically refused to do it when it was clear that the republic would win, this might've been one of the few time his government would've done something competent, especially considering France being on their side was vital and they both knew this. the french government needed someone to shift the blame on for the length and devastation of the war, Britain was just their unfortunate target for this.
 

Feunoyr

Banned
The British attitude during this conflict is still a subject of tension today, but it must be remembered that Great Britain, in 1934, had every reason to believe that the war would be over soon.
The French army, under Petain, was strongly on the national front's side, and the only support for leftist forces came from the USSR and Spanish socialist volunteers ....
 
The British attitude during this conflict is still a subject of tension today, but it must be remembered that Great Britain, in 1934, had every reason to believe that the war would be over soon.
The French army, under Petain, was strongly on the national front's side, and the only support for leftist forces came from the USSR and Spanish socialist volunteers ....
Not entirely, it's not that they supported the national front's government but more that they despised the communists, don't forget that a third faction nearly emerged after the national fronts devastating loss at the battle of Orleans.
 
De La Rcoque decision on February 6th 1934 - how it might have been. He send the Action Française go fuck themselves, then he took 50 men from his Croix de Feu, the cooler heads. Then he entered Le Palais Bourbon, and gently explained the deputies they could a) either surrender peacefully to his small group of men or b) be stormed by a furious mob, Action Française and Croix de Feu altogether. He bluffed, yet he seemed to have won. That is, until a communist put a bullet through his head three days later and claimed a Democratic Republic of France, barricading themselves in the center of Paris, making it their stronghold.
Then the pissed-off but orphans Croix de feu took too long to react and were overtaken by l'Action Française, which dragged part of the Army with them in the reconquest of Paris, and all the horrors that went with it.
The Navy and Armée de l'air were split and mostly neutral, but later on they had to pick one side, either Croix de Feu or Action Française. By the way you don't conquest Paris with a Navy, while it was better for the poor city not to be bombed from the air, considering how much damage it took from the vicious fighting on the ground.

Then the vicious and horrific murders of Leon Blum and George Mandel by fanatical Action Française antisemists, however, stopped dead the army following of the Action Française, actually splitting it with Les Croix de Feu, who decided to pactize with the moderate left and socialists AGAINST both Coomunists and Action Française.

So it was a kind of three way civil war
- Communists and anarchists milicias (who later slaughtered themselves, thanks to Moscow putting oil on the fire)
- Action Française and part of the Armies having followed them - Catholics, Monarchists...
- Croix de feu, moderate left, and a bulk of the French armies that supported them (Potez and Bloch being radical socialists, sold aircrafts to them, an help that proved decisive)

From there, it was the march into the abyss, 1793 style, with 200 000 dead in two years.

After seizing Paris the communists very much repeated the errors made in the 1870 commune and were crushed after six months of a vicious street battle. Unfortunately by then the French Armies had split between the Action Française fanatics and the more moderate Croix de feu... and they viciously fought each others, notably in Western France which was traditionally more catholic and was overtaken by l'Action Française, who claimed a new Kingdom stretching from Lourdes, in the Pyrénées to Brittany - Ploermel.
It took two years for the Croix de feu and the bulk of the French Armies to crush that insurgency of deadly fanatics, including Bretagne and Courbet -class battleships pounding the French coastal cities like Bordeaux, Nantes, Brest, hotbeds of l'Action Française.
"Pour Dieu, le roi et la patrie" - Charles Maurras last words after he was eviscerated by an anarchist grenade, become L'Action Française motto.
On top of that was Basque Country claiming independance from everybody else, closely followed by Corsica, before the island was invaded by Mussolini, always the opportunist.

Jesus, what a mess that was. France was lucky enough that the Ligne Maginot was advanced enough in construction, that Hitler pathetic army shitted their pants and fled in panic after the fortress troops there fired their guns. That was bluff, since there was not enough infantry or tanks left to repel a possible invasion.
French also own a big debt to King Albert I of Belgium (who in February 1934 cancelled a mountain trip because of the French crisis) who made pretty clear they would not let any german soldier cross their territory to invade France - and that bluff also worked well, since at this point (1934) Belgium army was still strong enough to kick Hitler arse.
 
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The guns they sold were rusted out pieces of garbage the French got better weapons from Belgium in comparison.
Well we didn't want the communist to take over France for fear of them spreading over there which they did. They had some cells in Belgium but were quickly destroyed. After that the parliament decided to provide France with weapons en masse.
 

Feunoyr

Banned
De La Rcoque decision on February 6th 1934 - how it might have been. He send the Action Française go fuck themselves, then he took 50 men from his Croix de Feu, the cooler heads. Then he entered Le Palais Bourbon, and gently explained the deputies they could a) either surrender peacefully to his small group of men or b) be stormed by a furious mob, Action Française and Croix de Feu altogether. He bluffed, yet he seemed to have won. That is, until a communist put a bullet through his head three days later and claimed a Democratic Republic of France. Then the pissed-off but orphans Croix de feu took too long to act and were overtaken by l'Action Française, which dragged part of the army with them.
Then the vicious and horrific murders of Leon Blum and George Mandel by fanatical Action Française antisemists, however, stopped dead the army following of the Action Française, actually splitting it with Les Croix de Feu, who decided to pactize with the moderate left and socialists AGAINST both Coomunists and Action Française.

So it was a kind of three way civil war
- Communists and anarchists milicias (who later slaughtered themselves, thanks to Moscow putting oil on the fire)
- Action Française and part of the Armies having followed them - Catholics, Monarchists...
- Croix de feu, moderate left, and a bulk of the French armies that supported them (Potez and Bloch being radical socialists, sold aircrafts to them, an help that proved decisive)

From there, it was the march into the abyss, 1793 style, with 200 000 dead in two years.

After seizing Paris the communists very much repeated the errors made in the 1870 commune and were crushed after six months of a vicious street battle. Unfortunately by then the French Armies had split between the Action Française fanatics and the more moderate Croix de feu... and they viciously fought each others, notably in Western France which was traditionally more catholic and was overtaken by l'Action Française, who claimed a new Kingdom stretching from Lourdes, in the Pyrénées to Brittany - Ploermel.
It took two years for the Croix de feu and the bulk of the French Armies to crush that insurgency of deadly fanatics, including Bretagne and Courbet -class battleships pounding the French coastal cities like Bordeaux, Nantes, Brest, hotbeds of l'Action Française.
"Pour Dieu, le roi et la patrie" - Charles Maurras last words after he was eviscerated by an anarchist grenade, become L'Action Française motto.
On top of that was Basque Country claiming independance from everybody else, closely followed by Corsica, before the island was invaded by Mussolini, always the opportunist.

Jesus, what a mess that was.

"The darkest hours of our history" according to a famous quote by Marshal Charles De Gaulle, who democratized the military regime in the second half of the 1960s.
Even today Maurras is considered a hero by a considerable part of the French right, and Action française has seven MP in the national assembly; on the other side the Socialist Workers Party, heir to the former Communist Party (banned after the war) failed to obtain more than 5% of the votes in the last presidential election .
The wounds of the civil war are still painful for the French people.
 

DougM

Donor
I think if the French Mutany of the Army in WW1 had worked or at least seen less hash punishments then perhaps the recentment against the giver doesn’t get as bad so maybe the civil war could have been avoided?
 
I still marvel today on how France recovered since then. They still managed to recover their place as a great power and have one of the most dynamic economy in Europe. There are still problem with France still being conservative when it come to values.
 
I still marvel today on how France recovered since then. They still managed to recover their place as a great power and have one of the most dynamic economy in Europe. There are still problem with France still being conservative when it come to values.

Just don't say the phrase "Equatorial Pork" whenever in France.
 
The only way the French Civil War could’ve been prevented is if the French communist party did not try to seize power via a coup d’état. Arguably it was one of the worst attempts at overthrowing a government imaginable. everything needed to go right for the plan to succeed,And their efforts failed miserably.

OOC: I think this is very implausible. Why would the Communists attempt a coup, if they knew, that, it had no chance of succeding?
 
OOC: I think this is very implausible. Why would the Communists attempt a coup, if they knew, that, it had no chance of succeding?
What I was trying to say in my post was that the planning of the coup was horribly planned. If everything went the way They thought it was supposed to The plan would have worked.
 
And I retconned this (slihtly) by making February 6, 1934 the turning point. De La Rocque takes a different decision, take his chance duccessfully, and as a result... the communists launch a coup and seize Paris.
 
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