Read Pierre Laval and the Eclipse of France 1931-1945. A Political Biography

Pierre Laval and the Eclipse of France 1931-1945. A Political Biography

Geoffrey Warner

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Description:"There are two men who can save our country at the present time, and if I weren't Laval, I would like to be General de Gaulle," said Pierre Laval just after the total occupation of France in 1942. "If the Germans are beaten, General de Gaulle will return...and I shall be hanged."Laval was right. When Allied forces swept away his puppet Vichy regime, Laval was seized as chief collaborator with the Nazis, executed by firing squad, and his memory condemned to ignominy. "Everything about him is black," said Vincent Auriol, first president of the Fourth Republic. "His clothes, his face, his soul."Yet this man who is popularly written off as "a depraved peasant"—brutal, power-hungry, and cunning—was said by American Secretary of State Henry L. Stimson in 1931 to stand "in a class by himself for frankness and directness and simplicity."Has popular history been just in its condemnation of Pierre Laval?Here, for the first time, is the fully documented, balanced account of Pierre Laval and his role in the eclipse of France and the pageant of World War II. British historian Geoffrey Warner probes into Laval's early career as pacifist lawyer. He recounts his sudden switch to right-wing establishments and subsequent rise to become prime minister, foreign minister, and finally to veritable dictator of the Vichy regime. He juxtaposes post-factum analysis with contemporary notes, diaries, and official documents to unveil the true picture of a world leader whose image has so often been distorted.This brilliant political biography reveals Pierre Laval to have been an idealist in his own mold—a statesman dealing in European realpolitik with good faith but some lack of comprehension of the grim realities—and as an individual who acted always according to his basic convictions. For Laval desired fervently to preserve the prestige of France and the value of the franc. He feared the threat of Bolshevism more than Nazism. He was inherently suspicious of Britain and was firmly convinced of the infallibility of Laval. Above all, he remained doggedly faithful to his vision of a "new order" for a Europe unified under a Franco-German alliance. Mr. Warner's responsible and probing insights now place Laval's collaborative policies in the light of this personal and ideological framework. This book reveals Laval, the "depraved peasant" and myopic statesman, as a would-be peacemaker whose tragedy was that he mistook Adolf Hitler's phony "new order" for the apotheosis of his own ideals.We have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with Pierre Laval and the Eclipse of France 1931-1945. A Political Biography. To get started finding Pierre Laval and the Eclipse of France 1931-1945. A Political Biography, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.

Pages: 461

Format: PDF, EPUB & Kindle Edition

Publisher: Macmillan

Release: 1969

ISBN

Description: "There are two men who can save our country at the present time, and if I weren't Laval, I would like to be General de Gaulle," said Pierre Laval just after the total occupation of France in 1942. "If the Germans are beaten, General de Gaulle will return...and I shall be hanged."Laval was right. When Allied forces swept away his puppet Vichy regime, Laval was seized as chief collaborator with the Nazis, executed by firing squad, and his memory condemned to ignominy. "Everything about him is black," said Vincent Auriol, first president of the Fourth Republic. "His clothes, his face, his soul."Yet this man who is popularly written off as "a depraved peasant"—brutal, power-hungry, and cunning—was said by American Secretary of State Henry L. Stimson in 1931 to stand "in a class by himself for frankness and directness and simplicity."Has popular history been just in its condemnation of Pierre Laval?Here, for the first time, is the fully documented, balanced account of Pierre Laval and his role in the eclipse of France and the pageant of World War II. British historian Geoffrey Warner probes into Laval's early career as pacifist lawyer. He recounts his sudden switch to right-wing establishments and subsequent rise to become prime minister, foreign minister, and finally to veritable dictator of the Vichy regime. He juxtaposes post-factum analysis with contemporary notes, diaries, and official documents to unveil the true picture of a world leader whose image has so often been distorted.This brilliant political biography reveals Pierre Laval to have been an idealist in his own mold—a statesman dealing in European realpolitik with good faith but some lack of comprehension of the grim realities—and as an individual who acted always according to his basic convictions. For Laval desired fervently to preserve the prestige of France and the value of the franc. He feared the threat of Bolshevism more than Nazism. He was inherently suspicious of Britain and was firmly convinced of the infallibility of Laval. Above all, he remained doggedly faithful to his vision of a "new order" for a Europe unified under a Franco-German alliance. Mr. Warner's responsible and probing insights now place Laval's collaborative policies in the light of this personal and ideological framework. This book reveals Laval, the "depraved peasant" and myopic statesman, as a would-be peacemaker whose tragedy was that he mistook Adolf Hitler's phony "new order" for the apotheosis of his own ideals.We have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with Pierre Laval and the Eclipse of France 1931-1945. A Political Biography. To get started finding Pierre Laval and the Eclipse of France 1931-1945. A Political Biography, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.

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Pierre Laval and the Eclipse of France 1931-1945. A Political Biography

Pierre Laval and the Eclipse of France 1931-1945. A Political Biography

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