The French Resistance : Beyond the Myth
Dr Robert Pike
- Region:
- Anywhere
- Notice Period:
- Short (maybe less than one month's notice)
- Type:
- Professional
- Fee:
- Paid: From £60 plus expenses
- Category:
- History
- Updated:
- 27th July 2026
- Tagged:
- French Resistance | WW2 | France | Second World War
On 18 June 1940, having watched his country’s defences collapse, Charles de Gaulle broadcast from London a call for French men and women to continue the fight. Few heard him, and fewer still responded immediately. Yet across France small groups began to emerge and, slowly, links with London were established. But was this resistance movement what Churchill, Roosevelt, and the Allied command actually wanted? How did it differ from the vision de Gaulle himself imagined? The French Resistance was both a response to national defeat and humiliation and a fragmented internal struggle that could achieve little without British support. This talk explores the many faces of the French Resistance: armed struggle, intelligence gathering, evasion networks, propaganda, and everyday acts of defiance. It examines the tensions between myth and reality, asking whether the Resistance was celebrated as something more unified, more widespread, and more decisive in victory than it had truly been. Drawing on newer approaches to occupation, memory, gender, and civilian experience, the talk reconsiders how the French responded to defeat and occupation, offering a fresh perspective on how societies resist under extreme conditions.
Views: 786 | Enquiries: 4About Dr Robert Pike
Dr Robert Pike gained a PhD at Cardiff University in 2026. His thesis is on the social history of the rural French Resistance in central and southern France. He graduated from the University of Exeter in 1998 with a BA Hons. in History and French. He also holds an MSc in Social Science Research Methods, and a PGCE in modern languages at secondary level. He wrote his first book, Defying Vichy, after interviewing former members of the French Resistance in Dordogne, a French département very close to his heart. His second book, Silent Village, tells the story of the tragedy at Oradour-sur-Glane, France's biggest wartime massacre. 643 men, women, and children were killed on a single day on 10 June 1944 by the SS Panzer Division "Das Reich" and the book recounts the history of the village during the occupation period. It reconstructs the events of that fateful day, and the unreported events of the days that followed. First published in April 2021 a third edition was published in May 2024 in time for the 80th anniversary of the massacre, alongside a French edition titled Oradour s'est'tu (Flammarion, 2024).
Robert teaches as an Associate Lecturer at Worcester University. He has written for History Today and BBC Magazine, and contributed to The Telegraph, The Daily Mail (UK), The Washington Post, and the New York Times (US). His work on Oradour-sur-Glane has led to television appearances on France 2 and M6. He has given conferences in Limoges and Oradour-sur-Glane, and many venues in the UK including the Gloucester History Festival. He has also contributed papers to conferences about the French Resistance at Oxford University and Cardiff University.
Robert lives in Worcestershire with his wife and two children.
www.robertpike.co.uk
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