The German Question and Military Preparations

The shadow of 1870 loomed large over French consciousness. The loss of Alsace-Lorraine remained an open wound, kept fresh by monuments to the defeat and geography textbooks showing the lost provinces in black. Yet attitudes toward revanche (revenge) were complex. While politicians ritually invoked the lost provinces, few seriously contemplated war to recover them.

Military service, extended to three years in 1913 over socialist objections, touched every French family. The army, reformed after 1870, had embraced offensive doctrine, believing that French élan (spirit) would overcome German material superiority. Young officers like Charles de Gaulle absorbed lessons emphasizing attack, movement, and moral force over defensive firepower.

Lieutenant Marcel Dutoit wrote home from garrison duty: "We train constantly for the offensive, bayonet charges across open ground. Colonel Grandmaison says the French soldier's fury will sweep all before it. I pray we never test this theory."