The main reason was that we were a protection force, a kind of guard, against all the bad things in the world which might harm the French. These bad things were Communism, secret societies such as Freemasons, and of course the Americans and the English who wanted to occupy France and use up all its resources for their own people. The French were very aware of how lucky they were to have such a fertile country, so rich in farming and industry, and they were very defensive about foreigners taking their produce. The French government played on this fear a lot, I remember.
