ABSTRACT
French military commanders were at best moderately sympathetic to the Republican regime and at worst fiercely hostile. The senior civil servants and military commanders who served in Westphalia as province governors and army corps commanders reflect both the increasing diversity of social origin and the close personal affiliations between these two most senior representative groups of Berlin at the provincial level. The 'cultural mission' and 'duty of military representation' could only take place within the narrow conventions for appropriate social acquaintances of a senior military commander. Despite their dissimilar social backgrounds, political differences and mutual suspicion between the prefects and the senior military commanders in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, close practical cooperation was established around the issue of controlling popular protest. The relationship between the civilian representatives of the Republican regime and the French army in Nord-Pas-de-Calais was perceived by prefects and military commanders alike to be an unholy alliance.
