As the war began heating up, and as Germany began the process of overrunning smaller countries on its trek westward, it was only a matter of time before France would be the object of a German invasion. Edouard Daladier, the Premier of France at the time, sought to rally support of the French people and he delivered this address, which was broadcast worldwide and with simultaneous English translation, on December 1, 1939.
Edouard Daladier: “France has the right and Frenchmen have the right to think of the France of tomorrow and we must win the war first in order to attain that state.”
Visions of a protracted trench war filled everyone's heads and the terrible destruction and vast amounts of death that were associated with that war, some twenty years earlier.
But the course was inevitable and France was next in line. It was just a question of preparation for the worst.
