During World War I, French citizens accepted national union on the home front as a necessary act of self-defence, but not without a considerable degree of ambivalence. At the political level, the union altered the balance of forces by improving the position of the Right, destroying the identity of the Radical party and creating the means by which the Socialist party first had access to power. However, what makes this collection of articles important is that they illustrate the social and political impact of French citizens' acceptance of a national union during World War I as well as dealing with the industrial aspects of French wartime history.

In this exceptional study, the author goes beyond the sphere of party politics to explore the industrial aspects of French wartime history. During the First World War, French citizens accepted national union on the home front as a necessary act of self-defence, but not without a considerable degree of ambivalence. At the political level, this union altered the balance of forces by improving the position of the Right, destroying the identity of the Radical party and creating the means by which the Socialist party first had access to power. However, what makes this study exceptionally important is that beyond the sphere of party politics it also deals with the industrial aspects of French wartime history. Industrial mobilisation was the force behind the union sacree, but it also concealed deep conflicts of interest. While businessmen developed large corporations, new industries and scientific management, and reulctantly cooperated with an ever-expanding state, rank-and-file workers accepted concepts of productivism but rejected the sacrifices imposed upon them. Their complaints eventually surfaced in the form of open resistance. The subsequent attempt on the part of management to repress the worker's movement led to a stalemate on the home front at the end of the war.

This book offers a fresh and stimulating analysis of the often elusive relationship between domestic and foreign policy in Russia before the First World War. Dietrich Geyer, one of Germany's leading historians of Russia, discusses a wide variety of economic, fiscal, institutional, and ideological developments within imperial Russia. In so doing, he brings into sharp relief the difficulties faced by the ruling elites in maintaining Russia's great power position in Europe, the Near East, and the Far East. Now available in English for the first time, this widely acclaimed book will be welcomed as an indispensable resource by all those who were unable to read the original German edition. "By far the most perceptive, knowledgeable, and intelligent work on the last half century of imperial Russia in print." -Theodore H. Von Laue, Russian History "This important, tightly packed book... analyzes the basic problems of Russian imperialism thoroughly and with enormous erudition.... Scholars concerned with imperialism and Russian domestic and foreign problems will welcome this thought-provoking work." -David MacKenzie, American Historical Review "A convincing and important analysis of the mutual dependence of autocratic domestic and foreign politics.... This book ought to be the occasion for a renewed and wide discussion of Russian imperialism and should give rise to further studies of the question." -Alan Kimball, Slavic Review "This is a remarkably good book. Good in many respects-quality of research and writing, breadth of view, command of the facts, balance and penetration in judgment, familiarity with relevant theory.... The book represents a revived and deepened historicism." -Paul W. Schroeder, Journal of Modern History