France

France The Third Republic, which emerged from the defeat of Napoleon III during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, entered the twentieth century under the shadow of the Dreyfus Affair. This brought about a fundamental realignment of Franch politics, with the formation of an anti-Semitic right-wing alliance, the unification of various parties on the left to form a united Socialist Party under the leadership of Jaurès and Guesde in 1905, and the crucial position of the Radical Party. The first years of the Republic were characterized by the latter's anticlericalism. Until its demise the Radicals could be counted upon to defend the Republic at all costs. They crushed strikes under Clemenceau and Briand and, conversely, formed a Popular Front with the Socialists and the Communist Party against the growing threat of Fascism in 1936. During World War I, the Republic narrowly survived, particularly owing to Clemenceau's austere but inspiring leadership during the closing stages of the war.

After the war, the overriding foreign-policy objective became the containment of Germany, to ensure that it could never start another war against France.

Relations with Germany were strained by the Versailles Treaty, which regulated Germany's territorial losses and reparation payments, which Germany found too harsh but which the French public did not consider stringent enough. Under Briand, relations improved during the 1920s, though the rise of Fascism first in Italy and then in Germany gave a new sense of crisis and urgency to a country already weakened by the absence of firm political leadership. The left rallied in 1936 to form the Popular Front government, though the presence of the Communist Party in government, as well as unprecedented social legislation, further alarmed and alienated many supporters of the right from the Republic. Daladier's policies of appeasement which contributed to the Munich Agreement of 1938 were unsuccessful.

In September 1939 France entered World War II against Germany. In spring 1940, the Germans attacked France, and on 22 June 1940 Marshal Pétain sued for peace. France was divided into an occupied zone covering three-fifths of its territory, and an autonomous area which became known as the État Français (French State), or Vichy France, governed by Pétain himself. The Vichy state hoped (in vain, as it turned out) to win concessions from the Germans through collaboration. By contrast, those who refused to be led by Pétain and who could escape from mainland France joined de Gaulle, who by 1943 had become the leader of the Free French. The liberation of France began with the Allied D-Day landings in Normandy on 6 June 1944, and on 25 August 1944, Paris was liberated, with the Vichy state collapsing soon afterwards. To de Gaulle's dismay, the Constituent Assembly of 1945 rejected his ideas for a strong executive Presidency in the next republic.

Instead, like its predecessor until 1940, the Fourth Republic had a weak President who was merely a figurehead, and its governments were extremely unstable, lasting for an average of just over six months. Under the guidance of Schuman and Monnet, the Republic presided over rapid economic recovery and a redirection of French foreign policy, trying to contain Germany through cooperation and European integration. By contrast, the country's process of decolonization proved extremely painful. France could only accept the independence of its colony of Indochina after losing the painful nine-year Indochina War in 1954, while it was faced with increasing challenges for independence from its colonies in French West Africa and French Equatorial Africa. Most traumatic of all, however, was the Algerian War of Independence, as Algeria was considered an integral part of France at the time. As the Fourth Republic was unable to overcome the crisis, de Gaulle was asked to return as head of state in 1958 and given a free hand to redesign the constitution to suit himself.

In the Fifth Republic, the president was given a seven-year term of office, the right to call new parliamentary elections, and a strong role in the execution of policies. As a result, the political system became more stable, due to the emergence of only a few parties with broad appeal, i.e. the Communist Party, a united Socialist Party, the UDF, and the Gaullists. Partly triggered by this new-found stability and ostensible rigidity, the widespread student revolt of 1968 challenged the existence of the new state, but on 30 May de Gaulle recovered his nerve and the demonstrations died down. De Gaulle resigned in 1969, to be succeeded by Pompidou, his erstwhile right-hand man. Following Pompidou's death from cancer in 1974, Giscard d'Estaing, a non-Gaullist, was elected President. He was faced with an economic recession as a result of the oil price shocks of 1973 and 1979, the unpopularity of his own distant and seemingly aristocratic style of government, and a resurgent left. Giscard d'Estaing lost his quest for re-election in 1981 to Mitterrand, the first Socialist President of his country. A number of radical Socialist policies of his Prime Minister, Mauroy, brought the country close to financial ruin. Mitterrand lost the Socialist majority in the National Assembly and had to contend with the Gaullist leader, Chirac, as his Prime Minister, 1986–8. Chirac proved to be more unpopular than Mitterrand, and the latter won a second term of office in the 1988 presidential elections. Under Mitterrand, France became particularly committed to the goal of European integration. In 1995 the French finally elected Chirac to the presidency. Through his Prime Minister, Juppé, Chirac proceeded to introduce reforms to reduce government spending. Equally controversial was a drastic law against illegral immigration. The 1997 Assembly elections, which were won by the Socialists under Jospin, inaugurated a further period of cohabitation. It proved surprisingly successful, as France experienced a strong economic boom. Meanwhile, the established parties became embroiled in scandals involving corruption and illegal personal and party donations. The veteran Chirac ironically benefited from the voters' disillusionment with the political elite, as his popular touch ensured his victory in the 2002 presidential elections. With the Socialists and the left disoriented and divided, Chirac's new right-wing movement, the UMP, won an overwhelming victory under the unassuming Raffarin. Chirac inaugurated an assertive foreign policy, refusing to lend support to the Iraq War. He also worked (with questionable success) to re-establish French leadership in the EU by forming close ties to Germany.

French Empire

Table 9. Presidents and Prime Ministers of the French Fifth Republic

Presidents
General Charles de Gaulle	1959–69
Georges Pompidou	1969–74
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing	1974–81
François Mitterrand	1981–95
Jacques Chirac	1995–
Prime Ministers
Michel Debré	1959–62
Georges Pompidou	1962–8
Maurice Couve de Murville	1968–9
Jacques Chaban-Delmas	1969–72
Pierre Messmer	1972–4
Jacques Chirac	1974–6
Raymond Barre	1976–81
Pierre Mauroy	1981–4
Laurent Fabius	1984–6
Jacques Chirac	1986–8
Michel Rocard	1988–91
Edith Cresson	1991–2
Pierre Beregovoy	1992–3
Edouard Balladur	1993–5
Alain Juppé	1995–7
Lionel Jospin	1997–2002
Jean-Pierre Raffarin	2002–