The Sacred Union (, ) was a political truce in the

French Third Republic The French Third Republic (, sometimes written as ) was the system of government adopted in France from 4 September 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War, until 10 July 1940, after the Fall of France durin ...

in which the left-wing agreed during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

not to oppose the government or call any strikes. Made in the name of

patriotism Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and a sense of attachment to one's country or state. This attachment can be a combination of different feelings for things such as the language of one's homeland, and its ethnic, cultural, politic ...

, it stood in opposition to the pledge made by the

French Section of the Workers' International The French Section of the Workers' International (, SFIO) was a major socialist political party in France which was founded in 1905 and succeeded in 1969 by the present Socialist Party. The SFIO was founded in 1905 as the French representativ ...

(SFIO), internationalism, and its former leader Jean Jaurès not to enter any "bourgeois war". Although an important part of the

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

movement joined the ''Union sacrée'', some

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

ists such as Pierre Monatte opposed it. On 3 August 1914, Germany declared war on France. The next day, Prime Minister Rene Viviani read an address written by President Raymond Poincaré: This political movement may have been an attempt to create solidarity during a time when the largely pacifist SFIO threatened a general strike, while many French

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

s were slighted by anti-Catholic policies, such as the

separation of church and state The separation of church and state is a philosophical and Jurisprudence, jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the State (polity), state. Conceptually, the term refers to ...

. Elements of nationalism, that the Germans attacked rather than the French, anti-German

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

, and a desire to regain the former French territory of Alsace–Lorraine may have provided further impetus for the movement.

Equivalent terms

Similar movements existed in other countries, such as the

Burgfriedenspolitik (, ) was a political truce between the German Empire's parliamentary parties during World War I. They agreed not to criticise the government's handling of the war, to keep their disagreements out of public view and to postpone elections until ...

in Germany or the União Sagrada in Portugal.

External links

* Gerd Krumeich
Burgfrieden/Union sacrée
in

References

;Notes ;Citations France in World War I Political history of France Politics of World War I French Third Republic {{France-hist-stub