Paper 3 France Historiography

What is an historian’s stance on France’s instability?

Julian Jackson – France’s instability was structural: coalition politics and polarisation crippled democracy.

What is an historian pair talking about the popular front?

Serge Berstein – Popular Front represented “the last great defence of French democracy.”

Charles Sowerwine - agrees that the Popular Front blocked the arrival of fascism but "failed to make the great changes its supporters anticipated and left many ordinary French people deeply disillusioned."

Tony Judt – Popular Front reforms were symbolically important, but economically unsustainable.

What is an historian’s stance about the effect of the Economy on France in the depression?

Stanley Hoffmann – Economic backwardness and small-scale capitalism left France vulnerable in the Depression.

What is an historian’s stance on why many French people accepted Fascism?

Robert Paxton – The failures of the 1930s explain why many accepted authoritarianism in 1940.

What is an historian’s stance for what the right wing leagues did?

Kevin Passmore – Right-wing leagues exploited disillusionment but never matched fascist mass movements in Italy/Germany.