A Flirt or a Love Affair? French Intellectuals between Fascism and Nazism

Abstract

During the interval between the two world wars, France enjoyed one major advantage over both Italy and Germany. She was a nation that had savoured a major national victory and consequently was not confronted with a sense of frustration that might lead in turn to imperialistic aspirations. France at that period was a ‘satiated’ colonial empire. Moreover, contrary to Germany and Italy, France had already experienced a social revolution that created dynamic political mobility among the powerful elites some 150 years earlier and had no need for a new type of revolution. Consequently, there was little room for the development of a substantial fascist movement or authentic National Socialism. Although one must admit that extreme royalist rightists had enjoyed some influence in the political culture since the beginning of the century, nonetheless, despite the exhausting domestic crisis that afflicted French politics in those years, she remained a liberal democracy until the crucial military defeat in 1940. Only after the German occupation and the shift in the political balance of powers that followed, were the anti-liberal circles able to enjoy a short period of grace.