# HOI4 France Guide: Napoleon Path and Munich Conference
> A single continuous France campaign that rushes the Bonapartist 'Third Empire' monarchist-restoration branch for free war goals on the Low Countries and the UK, fixes the Disjointed Government national spirit first, then uses the Munich Conference decision to fight Germany on France's own timing. Covers the focus order, the only equipment design shown (aircraft β the source has no division templates or tank and ship designs), and the war through Spain, the UK, Italy and the USSR.
- **Game:** Hearts of Iron IV
- **Category:** Nations
- **Author:** LongBeam (https://guides-factory.com/about)
- **Difficulty:** Intermediate
- **Reading time:** 32 min
- **Published:** 2026-08-09
- **Updated:** 2026-08-31
- **Tags:** Combat, Economy, Focus tree, Single player
- **Adapted from:** [Jaush - This ONE DECISION Makes France UNSTOPABLE In WW2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9ll0WdCkbg)
- **Canonical URL:** https://guides-factory.com/guides/hoi4-france-guide
---
This HOI4 France guide, updated in August 2026, follows one complete campaign from the
1936 start to a French empire that has beaten Germany, Britain and the [Soviet Union](/guides/hoi4-soviet-union-guide-2026) β and
it doubles as a map of the whole French focus tree. The short answer to how to play France
in HOI4 is that France does not lose in 1940 because of its army; it loses because of a
national spirit it starts with, and almost everything below is downstream of removing
that. The campaign takes the Bonapartist restoration, and the democratic branch, the
fascist branch, the naval branch and the colonial branches each get their own section, so
the rest of the tree is covered even where this run never walked it.
Patch and DLC are not stated anywhere in this video β no version number or DLC name is spoken, shown in a tooltip, or present in the description. Checked against the video dated 2026-01-16 (upload date), used here only as an honest fallback rather than a guess.
## π― The core idea
This path inverts France's usual script. Instead of turtling behind the border and
waiting to capitulate, it rushes the Bonapartist "Third Empire" branch of the focus tree
for free war goals on the Low Countries and the UK, fixes France's worst starting
national spirit first, then uses a single decision β the Munich Conference β to pick the
fight with Germany on France's own timing instead of Germany's. From there it's Spain,
the UK, Italy, and the USSR, roughly in that order, before the video runs out of clock
around 1944.
The source video states no patch number and no DLC, so nothing here is claimed about which build it was recorded on. The focus names, prerequisites and effects in the sections added around it are checked against the Hearts of Iron IV wiki rather than against the video.
## HOI4 France early game guide: the 1936 opening
France starts with seven national spirits and five of them are penalties. Reading them in
order is the fastest HOI4 France early game guide there is, because the opening is almost
entirely a question of which ones you can remove and how quickly.
| National spirit | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| Disjointed Government | +0.80 political power cost per day, β10% stability, β50% surrender limit |
| Inefficient Economy | β20% factory and dockyard output |
| Full Employment | β25% recruitable population factor |
| Victors of the Great War | β5% war support, +50% land doctrine cost, and less recruitable population |
| Political Violence | Communists and far-right extremists frequently resort to violence |
| Protected by the Maginot Line | β25% planning speed, but +25% maximum planning |
| London Naval Treaty Signatory | Caps ship tonnage: carriers 9500, cruisers 5300, heavy ships 10000 |
France vs Germany in 1936 is therefore a matchup France loses on modifiers rather than on
divisions. Two of those spirits tax the economy and the manpower pool directly, one makes
land doctrine half again as expensive to research, and one halves how much ground France
can give up before it capitulates. None of that is fixed by building more infantry, which
is the trap most France campaigns fall into well before Munich.
The achievement that measures whether the opening worked is **Vive la France**: reach 1948
as France without capitulating or surrendering.
## Fix Disjointed Government first
None of these exact numbers are read aloud β the video only calls the political power
gain "horrible." Disjointed Government alone accounts for β0.80 of it here.
Focus
Days
What it unlocks
Revive the National Bloc
β
Small political power gain + trade deal opinion
Utilize the Leagues
β
Political power, unlocks (unused) decisions
The Council of Rambouillet
70
+10% popularity of Non-Aligned
Revise the Constitution
β
Weekly stability for 1 year; blocks the next focus until it expires
Repeal the Law of Exile
β
Removes Disjointed Government entirely, +120 political power
Begin Rearmament
β
+4 military factories
Air Dominance
β
β10% production cost, fighters and CAS
Devalue the Franc
β
More consumer goods to factories, β5% stability (1 year)
Develop the Metropole
β
+5% stability
Day counts past the first few focuses are almost never shown or spoken in this video β
the table above lists everything that was.
βββ the monarchist fork βββ
## How to restore Napoleonic France in HOI4
Restoring the empire is a six-focus chain, and two of its gates are one-way, so it is
worth reading the whole chain before starting the first focus.
Tip
There is an achievement for the far end of this exact campaign β "Second Time's the
Charm", which asks you to occupy Moscow while Napoleon VI is your country leader. The
focus that opens the door is Return To Borodino, sitting behind Retribution For Sedan, and
it grants an annex war goal on the Soviet Union.
In the video
Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands all fall within minutes under full air
superiority β full annexation of all three, plus the Belgian Congo and the Dutch East
Indies, and the Dutch navy is kept rather than scuttled.
## The HOI4 France democratic path
The HOI4 France democratic path is the other half of the tree, reached from Form the
Popular Front rather than Revive the National Bloc. Its economy branch is the strongest
France has: Reform the Labour Laws, then Nationalize Key Industries, then Reorganize the
Aviation Industry and Form the State Arsenals, which together open General Work Council β
the focus that removes Inefficient Economy outright. Dirigisme and National Champions
follow it, and Ban the Leagues, off Form the Popular Front itself, removes Political
Violence.
Diplomatically the branch is one early either-or:
| Choice | Focus | What follows |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Commit to the east | Confirm Eastern Commitments | Strengthen the Little Entente with Czechoslovakia, then Invite Yugoslavia and Invite Romania, plus Revive the Franco-Polish Alliance and Invest in Our Weaker Allies |
| Buy time to rearm | Buy Time | An appeaser advisor and the eastern guarantees cancelled, then Strengthen Government and Defensive Stratagems |
| Who leads the war | Go With Britain, or France Leads | Mutually exclusive: join the UK's faction, or build one of your own and court Italy through Concessions to Italy and Ratify the Stresa Front |
Two focuses on this branch matter more than they look. **Defensive Stratagems** is the
democratic answer to Disjointed Government β it removes the spirit and enables volunteer
forces β but it sits behind Strengthen Government and waits for that focus's temporary
stability spirit to expire, which makes it a slower fix than Repeal the Law of Exile. And
**Franco-Soviet Treaty**, off France Leads, sets up mutual guarantees with the Soviet
Union, which changes the shape of a 1939 war more than any division template does.
The achievement on this branch is **Big Entente**: as France, complete the Little Entente
national focus and have all German cores owned by you or someone in your faction.
## The HOI4 France fascist path
There are two ways into a fascist France and they are not variants of each other. They
start from different focuses and they remove different spirits.
**Route one, through the leagues.** Revive the National Bloc opens Utilize the Leagues,
and National Regeneration behind it makes the Mouvement Franciste the ruling party with
Pierre Laval leading it. It needs 50% combined fascist and non-aligned support, and it is
mutually exclusive with The Council of Rambouillet β so this route and the Napoleonic one
cannot both happen in one game. Below it, Political Unity removes Disjointed Government,
Integralism opens the mutually exclusive Work, Family and Fatherland trio, and Diplomatic
Freedom cancels the eastern guarantees and forks again:
- **Latin Entente** makes FranΓ§ois de La Rocque the leader and builds a southern faction β Reach Out To Spain, Invite Portugal, Compensate Italy and Intervention in Greece, then The Congress of Paris, The Natural Borders of France, Expand to the Suez and Dominate the Middle East.
- **Towards a New Europe** makes Jacques Doriot the leader instead and points at Germany β Establish Spheres of Influence puts France in the Axis if Germany accepts, then Split Belgium or Align Belgium, Grow the Empire and Bring Home Quebec.
**Route two, through the rhetoric.** Right Wing Rhetoric brings in Marcel Bucard as a
fascist demagogue worth +0.10 daily fascism support, and Army of Aggression behind it is
the most aggressive single focus France has: it removes Disjointed Government *and*
Protected by the Maginot Line, grants a spirit worth +5.0 division organisation and β25%
justify war goal time, and pulls France out of the UK's faction. It then forks three ways,
mutually exclusive β France First to lead a faction of your own, Woo Italy to build one
with Italy, or Join Germany to ask for a place in theirs. Dismantle the Democracies sits
behind Woo Italy and grants an annex war goal on Germany if Germany has gone democratic.
Losing Protected by the Maginot Line is a real cost rather than a footnote: it is the +25%
maximum planning that the 77% planning bonus further down this page is built on. The
achievement here is **Die, Perfidious Albion!** β as fascist France or Vichy France,
occupy all of Great Britain.
βββ the munich conference βββ
## The one decision
This is the decision the video is named for.
Two options, one choice. The battle plan into Germany is already drawn *before* this
popup even appears β the decision is the trigger, not the preparation.
A [Maginot-line-style static defense](/guides/hoi4-defensive-division-templates) is the
usual French answer to a German attack β this path deliberately skips that by attacking
first instead, using the planning bonus from Protected by the Maginot Line offensively
rather than defensively.
βββ the plane designer βββ
## Aircraft β the only equipment design in this video
No Division Designer, [Tank Designer](/guides/hoi4-meta-division-templates-and-tank-designs) or Ship Designer is ever opened here β the whole
army runs on the game's default infantry template from the six-minute mark onward. The
Plane Designer is the only equipment screen used.
The base airframe before a weapon is attached β Air Attack still reads 0.0 here.
Design
Airframe / loadout
Notes
Production cost
Base fighter
Basic Small Airframe, no weapon yet
446.2 km/h, 550 km range, 9.0 air defense, 45.5 agility, 80.0% reliability
17.00
Early CAS
Same airframe + Small Bomb Bay (over Bomb Locks)
+8.0 ground attack, β15.0 agility on CAS missions; called "more cost-efficient" for CAS, but flagged as uncertain on screen
+3.00 (module)
Upgraded fighter
Engine 3 + 4Γ4Γ4 heavy machine guns
Higher air attack, speed and range per narration; no clean stat panel held on screen
Not legible
Upgraded CAS
Engine 3 + CAS weapons + bomb locks
Creator asks viewers to confirm bomb locks are actually correct here
Not legible
In the video
The creator openly says they aren't sure whether the CAS bomb-bay choice is actually the
efficient one and asks the comments to check the math β not a confident recommendation,
reported here as-is.
βββ politics and advisors βββ
## Political power and advisors
Every one of these per-advisor percentages is screen-only β narration only ever
describes the total as "terrible" or "nice," never the breakdown.
## Research order
The air branch this video leans on hardest β France's whole war plan runs on close air
support and fighters, not tanks.
## The war with Germany
Division counts on both arrows are screen-only β narration never states how many
divisions are actually assigned to either push.
In the video
A self-flagged mistake: war justification on Spain wasn't started before the German war
ended, which delays the whole rest of the campaign later on. Start the next
justification early rather than after the current war wraps up.
βββ spain, the uk, and the navy βββ
## HOI4 France naval strategy
France's navy comes with a rule attached before a single ship is designed. The London
Naval Treaty Signatory spirit caps tonnage β carriers at 9500, cruisers at 5300 and heavy
ships at 10000 β so every French capital ship is designed inside a ceiling that a
non-signatory does not have.
The Naval Rearmament branch then asks one question, and its two answers are mutually
exclusive:
| School | What it builds | The focuses under it |
| --- | --- | --- |
| The Old School | Capital ships | Capital Ship Focus into Rush the Richelieus, which puts two Richelieu-class battleships straight into the queue; or Carrier Focus into Carrier Planes and Prioritize the Joffre, which adds a modern carrier already at 40% completion |
| The Young School | Light ships and submarines | +5% dockyard output, then Undersea Combat and Surface Combat for submarine and destroyer research and +25 navy experience each, then Improved Screen Ships for cruisers |
Both sides converge on Naval Doctrine, worth two 50% cost reductions on naval doctrine
research. Colonial Naval Bases and Develop Colonial Dockyards sit on the same branch and
are the only focuses in the tree that build naval capacity outside the metropole.
The achievement for the light-ship route is **Vive la Jeune Ecole**: as France, have at
least 150 destroyers and research the maximum torpedo launcher technology before 1945.
None of that is what the campaign below does. It builds no school and designs no ship β it
merges the starting French fleet with everything taken from Spain and Germany and sails
the result into the Channel, which works only because the war is already won on land. For
a fleet built on purpose rather than inherited, the
[navy guide](/guides/hoi4-navy-guide-2026) covers the ship designer.
## Spain, the UK, and the Channel invasion
Spain falls fast once justified β "one of the easiest wars you can possibly do." The
bigger project is the [navy](/guides/hoi4-navy-guide-2026) built up to take the UK: the
whole French fleet, plus whatever's absorbed from defeated Spain and Germany along the
way, gets merged into one stack in the English Channel β 228 ships at that point, later
264 (called comparable to the UK's own navy), eventually 604 once everything is
combined.
Landed uncontested. The control-ratio numbers are never spoken β only the outcome
("this seems like a rousing success") is narrated.
βββ italy, the ussr, and the rest of the world βββ
## Italy, the USSR, and the rest of the world
Italy falls to a fast [naval invasion](/guides/hoi4-navy-meta-what-to-build-after-the-naval-changes) (Marseille β Roma, just 6 divisions) once the
"better landing craft" tech raises invasion capacity to 10 divisions per landing β the
next tech tier is explicitly skipped as an 800-day research cost isn't worth it.
The scale by the late game β conveyed far better here than by any spoken summary.
An exact early-game snapshot (1 Jan 1936) β narration only ever describes this deficit
in rough terms ("several tens of thousands," later "only 15,000 down").
Against the USSR, the video deliberately holds a **wide, patient front** rather than
concentrating for a narrow breakthrough β soft attack spread across a long line still
wins the [attrition math](/guides/hoi4-modifier-stacking-red-bubble) even while
individual sectors show red, because Soviet losses (estimated at "like 3 million
already") accumulate faster than French ones across the whole line. Moscow and
Leningrad both fall without a prolonged siege; Soviet surrender is tracked climbing
65% β 78% β 94% β 100%.
In the video
Rather than fight the USA, it's invited into the creator's faction and accepts β the
final territorial mop-up (Japan, the Arabian Peninsula, "French Italy" annexed outright)
happens with the US as an ally, not a target.
From the comments (not in the video)
- Napoleon IV is misnumbered β the correct ordinal is Napoleon VI. Three separate
commenters (@maasro, @kithran, @TheMobile_CTSPlayer) converge on this same correction. β @maasro
- "Rambouillet" is mispronounced in the video, confirmed independently by a
French-speaking commenter. β @EffraBulbizarre
- A real unexplored option: flipping back to a democracy would allow forming the EU and
coring conquered territory, and a separate "French Union" focus can core French
Africa, the French Middle East and French Indochina β neither is used in this video. β @t0bb00
- The video's own thesis gets pushback: "all France had to do was not let Germany get a
massive industrial base, and suddenly they win" β a fair read on how much of the
outcome is the Munich decision versus simply not letting Germany snowball. β @Zvothur
Three points stay open in the source video. The upgraded fighter and CAS stats after the Engine 3 refit are never held on screen long enough to read. "Electronic mechanical engineering" in the early research order matches no research name in the game. And the "America and Japan" line near the end is left unclear. No patch number or DLC name is stated anywhere in the video.