The idea that Frances imperial subjects were fighting for the republic in the world wars is absurd.
By the way, Strike, have you ever heard of the classicist Victor Davis Hanson?

He once wrote a book in which he presented the cases that:

1. The Thebans were true democrats motivated in fighting Sparta by the moral imperative of freeing the helots.

2. The Unionists were true democrats motivated in fighting the Confederacy by the moral imperative of freeing the Negro slaves.

3. The Americans were true democrats motivated in fighting the Nazis and Japanese by the moral imperative of freeing the world from fascist tyranny.

You would get a real kick out of it...