ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

French Action

French action, also known as action française, refers to a specific political movement that was popular in France during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This movement was characterized by its strong anti-democratic, anti-Semitic, and nationalist beliefs.

Okay, let's break that down. A political movement is a group of people who share certain ideas about how a country should be run. These ideas can be about things like laws, taxes, or how much power the government should have. The French action movement was a specific group of people who had a certain set of ideas they believed in.

Anti-democratic means they were against democracy. Democracy is when people vote to choose their leaders. Instead, the French action movement thought that only certain people should be in charge, and that regular people shouldn't be allowed to vote. They thought this would make the country stronger and more stable.

Anti-Semitic means they didn't like Jewish people. This is really not a good thing and is very hurtful to a lot of people. The French action movement thought that Jewish people were bad for their country and economy.

Nationalist means they really loved their country and wanted it to be the best it could be. They thought that France should be the most important country in the world and that French people should be proud of their heritage and culture.

So, all together, the French action movement was a group of people in France who believed that only certain people should be in charge, didn't like Jewish people, and wanted their country to be the best in the world.