French Third Republic during the Nazi-Soviet Pact and its opposition to the "imperialist war" against Germany in 1939–40). From a different perspective, Gaullists called the Third Republic a "weak" regime and argued that if France had a regime headed by a strong-man president like Charles de Gaulle before 1940, the defeat could have been avoided. In power, they did exactly that and started the Fifth Republic. Then was a group of French historians, centered around Pierre Renouvin and his "protégés" Jean-Baptiste Duroselle and Maurice Baumont, that started a new type of international history to take into what Renouvin called (profound forces) such as
Chief of the Military Staff of the President of the Republic Chief of the Military Staff of the President of the Republic The Chief of the Military Staff of the President of the Republic ("Chef d'état-major particulier du président de la République") is a role in the military and government of France, heading the president's military staff until the French Fifth Republic. The President's 'military household' ("maison militaire") was formed by president Mac-Mahon but not insititutionalised until 1880. This group of officers advised the president on army matters, especially (under the French Third Republic) matters of ceremony. Such an allocation was useful since it allowed its officers to nourish political contacts