The Hollow Years
When France tried to repopulate with foreign seed
Not so long ago, a nation could admit that it was dying and the statement would produce some measure of shock. In 1918, French politicians stared into the demographic abyss, and saw extinction gazing back.
The figures were merciless. Eleven women for every ten men across all ages; twelve to ten in the cohort that should have been marrying and breeding.
Th…