The riots in the French army in the spring of 1917

The riots in the French army in the spring of 1917 - cases of mass disobedience of soldiers of the French army that began in April 1917 during the First World War .

On April 9, 1917, the so-called Nivelles offensive at Arras began . But the attacks of the French and British were unsuccessful, the German front was not broken. French troops suffered huge losses, the operation was stopped in early May. Nivelle was removed from the post of commander-in-chief of the French army, General Petain was appointed in his place.

The failure of the offensive, colossal losses, as well as news about the February Revolution in Russia, caused fermentation in the French troops.

Even before the end of the Nivelles offensive, one of the divisions of the colonial troops refused to take up positions, the soldiers shouted “End the war!” And “Death to the traitors!”. But the officers quickly managed to cope with the situation by arresting informal soldiers' leaders. The rest then obeyed orders.

But on May 20, cases of disobedience of soldiers began again. They followed one after another for three weeks, either in one regiment or in another, without any connection between themselves. In late May and early June, entire divisions (from the 21st and 7th corps) held rallies: one decided not to go on the offensive, the other did not go to the trenches at all. By June 1917, according to incomplete data, 75 infantry regiments, 23 infantry battalions and 12 artillery regiments were disobeyed. On the Balkan front, in Macedonia , the 242nd, 260th and 317th French regiments revolted simultaneously.

At the same time, workers' strikes took place in the rear, which were caused by the draft of the workers in the army in 1913 and 1914. The strikers, in addition to economic demands, demanded the end of the war.

On June 3, French War Minister Paul Painlevé announced that there are only two divisions between Soissons and Paris that you can absolutely rely on, while the rest hesitate or ignore orders.

At the same time, the rebellious soldiers did not deny the foreign policy goals of France. So, to one of the military investigators who interrogated the soldiers during the riots, in response to the question “What do you really want?” The soldiers said that they want “a world without annexations and indemnities , as well as the return of Alsace and Lorraine .” This allowed the command to play both on the patriotic feelings of the soldiers and on a sense of social justice. Sometimes the commanders managed to curb the soldiers, saying: "Do you want to cause the death of other French, if you do not obey?"

At least 3,000 soldiers were sentenced to various punishments, including more than 500 - to death. But only 30–40 people were executed. The historian Guy Pedronsini gives data on 554 sentenced to death and 49 executed. The rest were sentenced to imprisonment and hard labor, by 1922 they were all released.

At the same time, the command made certain concessions, which helped to cope with disobedience. Soldiers began to be given mass leave from the front, and first of all to “unreliable” elements. Older soldiers were demobilized. The Minister of War said that in the future the "mistakes" made during the Nivelles offensive would not be repeated, and there would be no more offensives before the arrival of American troops in France.