Before 1890 -- From the golden age to the Dreyfus affair -- The Dreyfus affair -- The heritage of the Affair -- Military renewal prior to World War I -- The First World War -- The army and the Russian Revolution -- The Treaty of Versailles -- The army without a mission -- The army against communism -- The temptation of fascism -- The march to disaster -- The war that failed -- Two black years -- The army of the Fourth Republic -- The experience in Indochina -- The Algerian trap -- Pacification and "the mind of the populations" -- The spirit of the 13th of May -- The defeat of French Algeria -- Conclusion.