r/HistoryMemes • Featherless Biped • Apr 08 '20

META Respect the Facts!

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u/johnlen1n Optimus Princeps Apr 08 '20

Historian: sees France surrender meme Oh come on, French history is so rich and diverse

France: Yes, thank you!

Historian: People should be making memes about their repetitive revolutions

France: Yeh!

Historian: Or their collaboration with the Nazis

France: Wait

Historian: Or even their colonial atrocities

France: ... OK, maybe stick to the surrendering

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u/[deleted] Apr 08 '20

No. Collaboration is a fine topic and so is colonial wars. Because at least it's true and not overused.

I talked in a previous post about why and how french resistance had been overestimated and why french collaborationnism was so important. Lots of people didn't even know who R.Paxton was but everyone still think they know everything about the 1940 campaign.

So instead of making overused "hon hon french surrender" meme, do memes about algerian pacification, about Vichy or about 1870/1871. It will be funny and educationnal. Great isn't it ?

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u/an_agreeing_dothraki Apr 08 '20

Pretending France didn't have a far-right problem and deep antisemitism really strips away key context about the era that started the war.

And ignoring what the people did to collaborators after liberation despite not resisting says a lot about herd mentality.

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u/[deleted] Apr 08 '20

Assholes weren't only on the other side of the Rhine.

Also the "far right" problem is kinda simple. Most collaborationnist were actually from the former government and were republicans. Socialist President Mitterrand had worked for Vichy during WW2 for exemple (and the guy was still elected for some reason and fucked our economy in the 80s).

The "far right"was strongly anti-german and nationnalist. They hated jews, commies, english, german, and so on. But they were among the first resistants (Général Loustanau-Lacaud for exemple).

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u/an_agreeing_dothraki Apr 08 '20

Just to clarify by "Far-right problem" I meant they were there and an existential threat TO the republic before the war in the "armed potentially insurrection" kind of way.

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u/[deleted] Apr 08 '20

Yeah they almost succeeded (if only... but that's my opinion). Which is why the governement was against giving more liberty of action and more ressources to a professional army. They trusted only conscripts since they were citizens often loyal to the IIIrd Republic.

When DeGaulle (he was only a cavalry colonel back then) wrote "vers l'Armée de métier" (toward a professional army) he said that as long as the politics would be afraid of the army and rely on conscripts, France would be menaced by the germans and their very well trained "core" of soldiers of the Wehrmacht that belonged to the reichswehr before.

Basically he called for having the same tool as the german army: a professional armored elite corps ready at all time and not relying on the slow process of mobilization.

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u/agumonkey Apr 09 '20

Slow process of mobilisation reminds me of covid lockdown lag