August 3rd, 1939

To whom it may concern,

I, Eponine Enjolras am writing on the behalf of The French Alliance Against Foreign Invasions in opposition to the government's intentions to declare war on Germany and thus entering into the second Europe-wide war in half a century. We oppose France's entry into this war on a number of platforms and believe that launching into another World War is ultimately detrimental to the safety and prosperity of the nation. We ask that our views are noted and tabled in Parliament, our views are formulated by some of the great political minds of our generation, our journalists and teachers, those who have incredible power over the minds of people throughout France. We urge you to listen consider what we have to say, as your silence will not make us disappear, we will not go away, our protests will just get louder.

The French Alliance Against Foreign Invasions was formed in the final months of the first world war. Whilst nameless at the time, it's members organised in the cafes of Paris in an attempt to brainstorm ways to bring about the end of the tragic First World War. The Spanish Influenza cut the first life of our Alliance short, however the events following the end of the war, quickly breathed life into our organisation once again. Throughout this letter, we will present to you the reasons behind our opposition to the war, including and not limited to, the economic impact, the personal impact and the implications for our nation if we were to go to war.

At it's core this war will decimate our economy, advisor and Alliance member Marius Pontmercy, a banker at Societe Generale has forecast an extreme drop in the average production output if France goes to war against Germany. This is due in part to the rise in unemployment occurring as a result of hundreds of thousands of men being mobilised to fight the war. This will paralyse our economy, leading to an expected recession which will place stress on families who had lost their major bread winner not only in the current war but also in the previous one. Furthermore, this will place more strain on our already heavily burdened welfare systems as an increasing amount of families will appeal for government assistance which they will rightly deserve. We ask you, where will this money come from? Who will have their benefits cut? Who will starve, lose their home or be unable to afford medication? What policies do you propose? We the people demand to know.

Arnaud Feuilly, who works as a Defence contractor has stated to The Alliance that if France were to enter into this war, we would need supplies - guns, ammunition, planes, bombs and we would need to purchase them off another country as our population (given that many of them will go to fight) will be unable to keep up with the demand of a protracted war (and given the sheer size of the German army this would be a protracted war). Therefore we would need to purchase munitions of another Government, which would obviously be the Americans. However, we have only just recently finished repaying our debt to the Americans from the previous war, are we really willing to put ourselves into decades of debt again for this war?

Ultimately, our economy is not currently strong enough to withstand another war. We must regenerate society, we must recover before we dive into another war.

We also raise questions as to whether the French people can physically handle another war. According to Henri Joly who sits on the medical board at Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital, the immune systems of the current generation are exceptionally weak. This is due to a number of factors dating back to the first world war. Firstly, the food shortages throughout France following the end of the First World War resulted in a generation of young men growing up malnourished and therefore it is questionable whether their bodies can withstand the rigours of trench warfare. Furthermore, the Spanish Influenza, which also decimated the populations in the years after the war has left us with a generation with low immune systems who will struggle to combat the many infections that are linked with fighting in poor conditions.

Furthermore, we, The French Alliance Against Foreign Invasion believe that the government has neglected war veterans from the First World War and has not made adequate attempts to regenerate them back into society. If the Government wants to send troops back into battle it needs to have a solid plan to assist soldiers when they arrive back home and we want to see that plan. The French government promised up that return soldiers would be given the best opportunities in the new society, however, they failed.

When my now-husband returned from fighting for four years, there was no assistance provided. He was given a job in a factory, where he was expected to assist in the production of building supplies. However, this job required delicate work with one's hands. In the First World War my husband was routinely electrocuted by his superiors for expressing dissent, these electrocutions left him with a permanent shake in his right arm and his inability to perform his job resulted in him being fired after four days. When he went down to the town office to ask for a new job, he was told by officials that because he was fired from his previous job, he has now been deemed as "uncooperative" and jobs are being reserved for solider who are more "grateful" in their acceptance of government benefits. Therefore he was left unemployed with little opportunity to advance his position in life. He tried applying for basic jobs across the Paris, however, his limp and the obvious shake in his hand resulted in him being rejected in every instance.

He used to love France, he almost died from France and this is how he was treated when he returned.

He struggled mentally as well, shell shock as they call it, every time there was a loud noise he would dive for cover, and I remember that once I snuck up from behind to hug me and I was pinned to the ground in seconds as he thought I was attacking him. It was up to be and his friends and family to assist him so that he could manage the after effects of war.

His story is not unique but he was lucky, he had people around him who supported him, who eased him back into society.

Are you aware how many return veterans have committed suicide since they returned back home? Do you know how many are homeless? Have turned to alcohol to cope with the horrors they have witnessed? Just one year after returning from the war my husband tried to kill himself. But I fought, I fought to keep him alive because he did not fight for this country to die like that, he is a hero, he put his life on the like to protect France and what have you given him in return? Nothing. The only reason he is alive is because of the people around him, because they would go to war to ensure his survival, because they would die for him and because they too would die if he did.

How can we trust this government who failed the previous generation of soldier so badly with another generation of young men?

Regards,

Eponine Enjolras, The French Alliance Against Foreign Invasion.

AN: So this is all over, I hope you are pleased with the ending, I feel that it answered all of the major questions whilst leaving a few things to the imagination. If you have any questions about the story, feel free to pm me or to ask on my tumblr which is my username with the usual tumblr ending. Thank you all for reading, subscribing and following, a special thank you to those who commented because as every writer knows, feedback is fuel for writing, so thank you all very much. I have some more stories stored on this site if you would like to see what else I write, I will begin posting my new story Casting Lines next week (if all goes well) so keep an eye out for that too :)

Again, thank you so much for coming on this journey with me, I cannot even begin to say how thankful I am that my little story had so many lovely, loyal readers.

Guest, I hope you enjoyed the epilogue, unfortunately it was not too fluffy, but I felt as if after talking about how war takes it's toll on people, I needed to address their difficulties in the epilogue, I hope you enjoyed how I approached it and thank you for commenting :)

aurimaedre, thank you so much for such a lovely comment :)

Chitopia, yes, I was tempted to kill him but decided to give them a somewhat happy ending, thank you for commenting :)

Guest, I hope it did not leave too much to the imagination and answered all the questions you had about the story, than you so much for commenting :)