The article is very selective: For example there is no mention of the Napoleonic wars. Also there was WW1 - that's another big demographic shift. They built a b

The article is very selective: For example there is no mention of the Napoleonic wars. Also there was WW1 - that's another big demographic shift. They built a big defensive line, the Maginot line, because they gathered that they would not have the manpower for another big confrontation, in the style of WW1. However France had a higher birthrate than Germany - in the period after WW2.