We are not about to reopen the air raid shelters …

Abstract

Abstract:This essay, originally published as an editorial in the French newspaper Libération in November 2015. It argues that President François Hollande was correct when he announced that France was in a "state of war" following the 13 November 2015 attacks by Islamist terrorists that killed 180 people and wounded scores more. Following on the model established by Clausewitz defining what it means to be at war, the author enumerates those features in relation to the current situation in France following the attack. He also draws comparisons between the France in the days after the terrorist attacks and similar moments of conflicts in France's recent past, including the outset of World War I and the Algerian conflict several decades later.