To my surprise, I've seen mods casually mention that there was not a sense of hostility between the French and Germans in the buildup to the First World War. Did the War of 1870 or Franco-Prussian War prompt the French army, government and populace to seek vengeance? If so, can this be sited as one of the contributing factor in the causes of WWI? Or is this just a common myth?
To add to what /u/elos_ has said:
Did the War of 1870 or Franco-Prussian War prompt the French army, government and populace to seek vengeance?
Revanche was a factor in French politics up to the 1890s, reaching it's height with French Defence Minister Boulanger's diplomatic/domestic movement in the early 1890s, which saw tensions between the two powers rise and made war appear possible. The affair ended in Boulanger's resignation and disgrace, and a further blow was struck to French militant nationalism and militarism by the Dreyfus Affair, which left the French Army in political limbo for almost a decade. By the 1910s, economic relations between the two countries had improved greatly, and the growing French and German Socialist movements maintained strong ties. Although the Moroccan Crises did lead to a resurgence of French nationalism, and with it the French political Right, this was counter-balanced by the efforts of the Left, and by the efforts of French statesmen like Joseph Caillaux. The French Left controlled the Chamber of Deputies in July 1914, and Prime Minister Rene Viviani was a socialist as well.
If so, can this be sited as one of the contributing factor in the causes of WWI? Or is this just a common myth?
To conclude, while Revanche was certainly a factor in French politics in the years leading up to WWI, it was not the centrepiece of French national interest that posterity and pre-war, wartime, and post-war German propaganda and histories made it out to be.