War victims left a huge vacuum both for their kin and society, which showed signs of weakening. While private bereavement was centered on deep personal grief, the state organized a public cult of the dead to supervise, channel and shape public mourning. As such, France erected unifying national symbols aimed at consoling the bereaved and helped organize a unifying cult of the dead. The relatively apolitical piety of the country’s cenotaphs and the tomb of the Unknown Soldier are important examples of this, although they have their limits.