This is an examination of France in the 1930s, a nation that suffered a failure of nerve while caught between the memory of a brutal war won at a frightful cost and the fear of another cataclysm. World War I had paved the way for millions to gain more satisfying employment, and a combination of social legislation, modern conveniences and greater leisure made life more pleasant. But the onset of the Depression shook a brittle economy, and dwindling prosperity led to strikes, riots and xenophobia. Above all, the French were haunted by the fear of war, but when it finally came in 1939 the country was ill-prepared, and the hollow years swiftly gave way to the harrowing years of occupation.