France, the waning Kingdom westmost on the European mainland, was a prime target for Nuova Roma. Their government was crumbling under its own weight, and wealth disparity plagued every city. A small, elite caste of knights held much of the country's power, leaving the poor to fester. It was disunited, and slow to act. It was the perfect place to demonstrate the might of the Automa.

At 7 in the morning, on the 15th of February 1922, a battallion of Automa, escorted by the Legio II Liquefactio, landed on the shores of eastern France. Within a month, they had unleashed the power of Rome's secret weapon: Cianite, a compound that could melt anything organic into a biofuel slurry that could sustain an Automa invasion for months without a supply line. As part of the test, the Legio II Liquefactio were not offered any kind of logistics assistance. They were abandoned, with the mission of taking France or dying in the attempt.

On the 8th of May, the Automa and the remaining Legio II soldiers did not update their superiors back in Rome on the situation. They had been destroyed, after rendering over three quarters of the country unlivable. The remaining French, mostly broken men and women, rusted into their armour and led by the remaining knightly generals, had defended their nation to the last. Caste no longer existed amongst the French. Class was a concept mostly forgotten. Only one impulse remained within the French psyche: Revenge. The will to scrub Rome from the annals of history, to erase them from time, as they had been nearly erased themselves.

Revanchist France would remain a thorn in Rome's side for the rest of the war.