ABSTRACT
The interwar era in France was in many ways the epoch in which youth came to prominence for the first time. Dozens of groups formed across the political spectrum which catered exclusively to a younger clientele. Youth began to assume political and social stances of their own, often encouraged by adult leaders of established political parties and groups. Most importantly, they were extremely visible during the interwar period, both in physical and ideological terms. Despite the relatively low proportion of young men and women in the various new groups (less than 15 per cent of those aged 14-20 belonged to a particular association), the proliferation of new organizations succeeded in attracting the young at an age when the struggle for an identity or a career, or the attraction of an ideology or adventurous lifestyle, loomed large. Combined with the turmoil of the Third Republic, primarily its perceived inherent instability and political gridlock, such struggles led many to turn their back on the old ways, seeking their own solutions to particular problems. Many interwar French youths rejected the past as sterile, viewing themselves as a new force, and possessing the will and ability to deliver a moribund France from its impasse. Inspired by the German Wandervogel and the Portuguese youth movement, they returned to nature, seeing themselves as a new knighthood, an elite alone capable of regenerating the nation.1 As a newly radicalized bloc disenchanted with the status quo, youth were also a primary target for recruitment by various groups across the political spectrum.
