Chapter 256: Global Reaction

Words : 1012 Updated : Sep 29th, 2025

Chapter 256: Global ReactionIt was not a declaration of war. Not in formal terms. But for the chancelleries and ministries across Europe, Moreau’s speech on May 20, 1937, sounded like thunder rolling across the continent. France was marching again, and the ground itself seemed to tremble beneath her. Adolf Hitler stood in silence at the Reich Chancellery as the translated transcript was read aloud to him. His jaw tightened with every phrase. The words "The Lion returns... We march for Spain" rang in his mind. Goering was the first to break the silence. "It is not just intervention. It is theater, Mein Führer. The people of France are not protesting. They are cheering." Himmler narrowed his eyes. "We must delay our plans for now. Direct confrontation would risk more than we are ready for." Hitler seethed. "That man Moreau does not speak like a bureaucrat. He speaks like a soldier." The generals were summoned. The Wehrmacht was told to re-review its southern mobilization. The Luftwaffe paused joint operations with Nationalist Spain. Though Hitler fumed at the audacity of France’s move, he understood. France had not just acted, it had awakened. In Palazzo Venezia, Mussolini clutched the armrest of his chair as aides relayed the speech. "Moreau threatens the balance," he growled. "Does he think himself Napoleon?" Italian troops already deployed in Spain were ordered to dig in, not advance. Defensive reconfiguration orders were issued for positions near the French border. The propaganda ministry was silenced on France. "Do not give the French more theater," Mussolini ordered. "Our people must not see a lion, they must see only fog." Marshal Badoglio offered a warning. "If France continues like this, the whole peninsula will quake." Mussolini’s pride churned, but fear seeped beneath. He had not anticipated that France would move so openly and with the full backing of its people. It unsettled him deeply. In the Kremlin, Stalin listened to a phonograph replay of Moreau’s address. He did not blink. Beside him, Beria stood motionless. The Soviet Union had long claimed the mantle of anti-fascism. Now France a capitalist democracy was acting more boldly than the Comintern. "He dares invoke the soul of revolution," Stalin muttered. "He plays our game." He did not issue condemnation. He issued surveillance. NKVD directives ordered immediate infiltration of French military convoys bound for Spain. Radio intercepts were prioritized. Soviet advisors in Republican Spain were told to observe and record all French behavior. To Stalin, Moreau’s France was no longer a weakened democracy. It had become an ideological rival. Neville Chamberlain sat at the head of a hastily convened British cabinet session. The Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden, read excerpts of the French address. "He does not call for help," Eden said. "He declares moral war." Some ministers reacted with concern. "He may draw the Germans in." "He risks the whole continent." Others, particularly from Labour, quietly admired the move. "It’s bold," one muttered. "It’s justice." Chamberlain took a long pause. Then. "Dispatch a cable to Paris. Ask them what is their endgame?" That same day, the British ambassador in Paris requested a discreet meeting with Renaud. Behind closed doors, British diplomacy shifted from passive to alert. In Prague, hope stirred. Beneš convened his senior generals. "If France truly stands, perhaps we are not alone." Czech military attachés quietly reached out to French counterparts. Border defense planning resumed. In Brussels, anxiety brewed. Belgian officials feared that French mobilization would prompt German reaction. Neutrality might no longer shield them. Secret plans for evacuation routes and supply caches were updated. Lisbon fortified its northern border. Salazar had no love for Franco’s anarchy, but French intervention made Portuguese neutrality seem fragile. In Athens, ambassadors talked. The Hellenic Army began drills under pretexts of readiness. Warsaw began reassessing its German threat not as isolated, but as potentially continental. Everywhere, the map was being re-drawn not by force, but by implication. The New York Times printed Moreau’s speech in full on May 22. Editorials followed. "France has remembered its soul," read one. In Chicago, labor unions called for rallies in solidarity. French flags appeared at university demonstrations. Ivy League professors debated Moreau’s strategy in lecture halls. American journalists in Spain reported renewed optimism in Republican strongholds. Roosevelt, while silent publicly, read internal memos describing France’s movement as "unignorable." The State Department activated diplomatic backchannels to assess France’s full intentions. In a confidential memo, Roosevelt wrote. "If Moreau succeeds, he rewrites Europe. If he fails, we inherit a darker world." French North Africa key to logistics was placed on full alert. In Cairo, French colonial officials inspected supply routes to ensure nothing could interrupt Mediterranean convoys. In Algiers, the city’s port began loading equipment at double speed. Algerian units began joint drills with French marines. The Marseille-Algiers corridor, always active, became a lifeline. At the League of Nations, silence fell. Then whispers. Some diplomats saw France’s boldness as an affront. Others were quietly stirred. Could the League do what it never had, act? No consensus formed. But something else did. France, once seen as declining, had proven capable of world-shaking moves. Even in neutral cities like Amsterdam, Zurich, and Stockholm, cafés buzzed with talk of Moreau’s words. His speech played on foreign radios, translated and debated. In Copenhagen, posters appeared. "If France defends liberty abroad, what of us?" Moreau had not intended to export revolution. But the effect was undeniable. Moreau sat alone on the Élysée’s southern veranda, watching as dusk fell over the city. He held no dispatches. Only a photograph a battlefield shot from Spain, taken years ago. He remembered every face. Footsteps behind him. Renaud appeared. "Berlin is rattled. London is asking questions." Moreau nodded. "I expected as much." "Will they act?" "They will wait. They always do. But we have moved." He turned back to the horizon. "Let the world adjust." The speech had lasted 27 minutes. Its consequences would echo for decades. By the end of May 25, 1937, one thing was clear. France was no longer a passive republic. It was on its path to get back its glory.

Chapter 256: Global Reaction

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