After the Franco-Prussian War, the once fearsome French army, cowed by the Germans, settled for a defensive strategy in the event of another war with Germany.

But by the early 20th century, France had recovered her confidence and began planning to go on the offensive at once in the event of another German invasion.

They knew that war would mean that the main German hammer blow would fall upon France,

but French strategists believed they were prepared for any contingency.

They were entirely wrong.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century.

The 20th century. Episode 81.

Offense to the utmost.

Today, I'd like to continue the discussion of the war plans with great powers in Europe in 1914.

We're going to begin now with France.

France has had an alliance with Russia for the past 20 years, and has had an entente with Britain for the past 10.

Italy and France have also had something like an entente going since 2003, so as far as French war planning goes, 90% of it is in response to

the prospect of a war with Germany. We've seen how France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 was a national

humiliation for France. It brought down Napoleon III's Second Empire, led to a Prussian

occupation that included German soldiers parading through Paris, cost France five billion francs

in reparations payments, and led to a piece of French territory,

usually referred to as Alsace-Lorraine, seated to the new German Empire.

Now, it's worth noting that France is not entirely an innocent victim here.

Back when Germany was the Holy Roman Empire,

and a loose confederation of small states, and France was the largest and most populous

nation in Western Europe, there was a lot of French bullying of the Germans. Successive

French governments and monarchs have argued that the Rhine River is the quote-unquote

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