Religious and Spiritual Responses

War's outbreak produced religious revival. Churches filled with worshippers seeking divine protection for loved ones. The officially secular Republic witnessed remarkable scenes—government ministers attending masses, Republican teachers organizing prayers. The Sacred Union extended to spiritual realm.

Different faiths responded distinctively. Catholics saw war as divine punishment for Republican anticlericalism, yet supported national cause. Protestants, concentrated in eastern regions now occupied, suffered disproportionately. Jewish citizens, remembering Dreyfus, demonstrated fierce patriotism to prove loyalty.

Muslim soldiers from colonies faced particular challenges. Military authorities, belatedly recognizing religious needs, appointed Muslim chaplains and established separate burial grounds. The Grand Mosque of Paris, built postwar, originated in wartime recognition of Muslim sacrifice.