French nationalism

[3] French nationalism emerged during the Hundred Years' War, which consisted of a series of intermittent conflicts with the Kingdom of England.

[5] After Napoleon's defeat and downfall, French nationalism from the 19th to early 20th century took on an assertive and extreme patriotism that supported military force to achieve its political goals.

He died in combat against the Unfaithful while defending Charlemagne and his men, making him a suitable patriotic symbol for the modern age.

Led by the daily newspaper La Croix, founded by the Assumptionist priests in 1883, it denounced the Republic's anti-clericalism and encouraged Boulangism and Germanophobia.

Maréchal Philippe Pétain, a hero of the world war, was called upon to save France again in the name of French nationalism.

[10] Robert Bruce wrote: "He longed to take an active part in remaking France in his image and ridding the nation of the past twenty years of socialist and Marxist teachings and programs whose bitter fruit had been the defeat of 1940.

De Gaulle sought to make France the leader of an independent Europe - free from American and Soviet influence.

[12] De Gaulle's government sought Franco-German reconciliation and took a leading role in the founding of the European Coal and Steel Community that sought to resolve economic tensions between France and Germany, that French foreign minister Robert Schuman declared was designed "to end Franco-German hostility once and for all".