We'll Always Have Paris
There's a feeling in the air - on the left, anyway.
Belmont Club put its finger on it.
Wretchard says:
Herbert Lottman, describing the last days of Paris before it fell to Germans in 1940 describes the strange mixture of urgency and lassitude, of obsession with long term schemes counterpointed by an indifference to the immediate in a nation that had just weeks to live. It was the perfect portrait of a country which did not know it was at war. Not really. The French Communists continued to call for "Peace Government" to mollify a Germany wronged by defeat in the First War. Parisian authorities forbade the private purchase of firearms by citizens anxious to protect themselves. Bread was rationed to 30 grams per meal at de luxe restaurants though 100 grams could be obtained at a bistro meal. The French cabinet pinned its hopes on more aircraft from neutral America as if they had any prospect of receiving any future shipments. Nero fiddled. Rome burned. When the Nazi columns finally marched into Paris, there was a widespread feeling of betrayal and a search for a scapegoat. But they had betrayed themselves.
Leave aside the French jokes for a moment (and only for a moment); Paris in 1940 was a place of deep, intense intellectual confusion. 25 years before, an entire generation had been gutted, physically, morally and intellectually. They no driving intellectual force; France was a ship with no moral compass. Socialism, communism, fascism, catholicism, democracy, monarchy and anarchy all had adherents - but the main current was fatigue and a sort of cultural shell shock that permeated most of French society.
Liberals in America today have parallels; their defining moment was a generation ago; they have no positive unifying principle, merely a negative one. They've suffered a generation of crushing defeat.
Like the French of 1940, the Liberals of today have many reactions to the war facing us, but really only one unifying notion; that we can't win. That we don't deserve to win.
Posted by Mitch at
October 4, 2004 12:31 AM
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One of the best narrative history books I've read about the early 20th century is "The Collapse of the Third Republic" by William Shirer. Everyone has read his "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich," but this other book is generally neglected. Its a political, military, and social history of France from the late 19th century through the collapse of 1940. Many of the social trends and even political issues have important lessons for America today.
Posted by: Doug at October 4, 2004 09:33 AMI've never read RAFOT3R, but I'd love to. When I read history, I go on these jags of vaccuuming up specific places and times; interwar France may be next, and Shirer would be a great way to kick that off...
Posted by: mitch at October 4, 2004 09:36 AMDoh - that's "CoT3R". Doy.
Posted by: mitch at October 4, 2004 09:36 AM