Sisley Huddleston. France, the Tragic Years (1939-1947): An Eyewitness Account of War, Occupation and Liberation. Western Islands, 1965.
This is another book from the John Birch Society’s Americanist
Library. Originally, it was published in 1955 by Devin-Adair, a
conservative publishing house. Sisley Huddleston was a British
journalist, who later became a citizen of France. As the title
indicates, the book talks about France from 1939 to 1947, which includes
the years leading up to World War II, the war itself, and the aftermath
of the war.
I glazed over much of this book. There were many technicalities about
French politics, both internal and also external. (“External” refers to
France’s relationship with other nations.)
But the book still has many gems. Huddleston, at times in the book,
takes a moment to talk about French culture or political theory, to
respond to critics, or to offer historical insights that may be
classified as historically revisionist. Some items:
—-France traditionally was not a warlike nation. Overall, Huddleston sympathizes and roots for France.
—-Franco was not eager to side with Hitler and stalled in doing so.
—-Mussolini invaded Ethiopia as revenge for what Ethiopia did to Italy in the late nineteenth century.
—-Russia instigated Hitler to invade Russia by making outlandish
demands. Russia’s goal was to get that invasion over and done with,
before Hitler had the time to make Germany even stronger such that it
could defeat Russia.
—-The U.S. sided with China over Japan prior to World War II because
FDR previously had successful business dealings in China. Consequently,
FDR sought to contain Japanese imperialism, leading to the sanctions
that provoked Japan’s attacks on Pearl Harbor. Huddleston thinks that
the U.S. should have been friendlier to Japan.
—-Huddleston speaks highly of WWII historical revisionists William
Henry Chamberlin and Harry Elmer Barnes. In many respects, he overlaps
with World War II revisionism. He believes that peace could have been
accomplished with Hitler in the years leading up to World War II, making
World War II unnecessary. Huddleston criticizes the Allies for
attacking France, including French civilians, in an attempt to weaken
Germany. The aftermath of the war, in which the Allies sought to
decimate Germany and prevent it from becoming a significant power ever
again, was not only cruel but also prevented a counterweight against
Bolshevism in Europe from emerging, resulting in the fall of Eastern
Europe to the Soviets. For Huddleston, the atomic bomb was utterly
unnecessary to end World War II. The Allies were wrong to demand
unconditional surrender from Germany and Japan, who were already willing
to surrender. Where Huddleston diverges from WWII historical
revisionism is that he is not entirely pro-German, anti-French, and
anti-Churchill. Huddleston narrates that Hitler attacked civilians in
other countries, was cruel to France, and lacked any right to Vichy
France.
—-Huddleston defends Philippe Petain, a leader of Vichy France,
against charges that he was a dictator and a traitor. This can get
tedious, but there are times when the defense comes alive, as Huddleston
depicts Petain as a republican.
—-Huddleston’s political philosophy is difficult to pin down. On the
one hand, he laments that the Cold War undermined the cultural
distinctiveness of European countries by pressuring them to conform to
either Soviet or American political culture. In light of this, he does
not seem to think that certain European authoritarian system are
necessarily bad. On the other hand, Huddleston is a bit of a
libertarian, so he prefers democratic capitalism to authoritarian and
collectivist systems. Huddleston’s stance towards war is also difficult
to pin down. He laments that the U.S. permitted the Soviets to gain a
foothold in Europe by failing to be tough, yet he also seems to oppose
American participation in the Cold War.
—-The John Birch Society published this book because Huddleston, in
significant areas, agrees with its ideology. Huddleston is
anti-Communist. He bemoans that FDR gave ground to Russia during and
after World War II, along with the Communist influence in the French
Resistance and de-Gaulle’s government. In contrast with the Birchers,
Huddleston does not come across as a conspiracy theorist. He
acknowledges that industrialists supported Hitler and the Bolsheviks,
but he does not see that so much as a conspiracy as an understandable
attempt on the part of industrialists to protect themselves: German
industrialists sought protection from the Bolsheviks and thus supported
Hitler, and some industrialists wanted protection from Hitler and thus
supported the Bolsheviks.