Post-War France
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[edit] France after Libération
Between 1944 and 1946 France was ruled by the Provisional Government of the French Republic (Gouvernement provisoire de la République française, GPRF). On June 2, 1944 the French Committee of National Liberation (Comité français de la Libération nationale; CFLN) declared itself to be the French provisional government. After the liberation of France during the summer of 1944, this government gained rule over the country and was led by Charles de Gaulle. The provisional government consisted of a coalition of three parties (tripartisme), which included the French Communist Party (PCF) headed by Maurice Thorez, the SFIO socialist party and the MRP Gaullist party, directed by Georges Bidault, a Christian-Democrat.
The GPRF provisional government nullified all acts by the Vichy government, declaring the July 1940 vote of full powers to Marshall Pétain and the subsequent proclamation of the "French state" (official name of Vichy) as illegal and anti-constitutional.
The GPRF continued to fight the war and organised political rebuilding. On October 21, 1945 it formed a constituent assembly, tasked with reforming the institutions. On January 20, 1946, Charles de Gaulle resigned after persistent disagreement with the parliamentary deputies. He finally created the RPF Gaullist party in 1947 and prohibited Gaullist members to take part in Bidault's MRP. De Gaulle then more or less withdrew from political life, as he would not be called again to govern until the May 1958 coup, during which he became president of the council and founded the Fifth Republic in the turmoils of the Algerian War (1954-62).
After World War II ended, the West German government had to pay reparations as compensation for invading and occupying France and to any civilians killed, starved, sent into forced labour, or left homeless by the war.
[edit] The Fourth Republic (1947-1958)
The first constitutional bill was rejected by referendum on May 5, 1946. A new constituent assembly was elected on June 2 and the constitution was definitively adopted by referendum on October 13, 1946.
The Fourth Republic led France's reconstruction efforts, after it had been very badly affected by four years of occupation. Amongst the important historical decisions taken were:
- to give women the vote (ruling of October 5 1944). Women would vote for the first time in 1945.
- to create the École Nationale d'Administration
- to introduce social security and family benefit
- to sign the Treaty of Rome, which represented the first step towards the European Union
- to reconstruct the country; in particular the cities which had been heavily bombed (Le Havre, Brest, Rouen, Caen) as well as the economic and transport infrastructures.
However, the Fourth Republic was characterized by parliamentary instability (on average a new government every six months). Following the May 1947 crisis during which Maurice Thorez, vice-premier and national secretary of the PCF and four others communist ministers were expelled by Paul Ramadier's (SFIO) government, the tripartisme alliance between the PCF, the SFIO and the MRP broke up. As each of these parties represented approximatively a third of the French electorate, the impossibility for them to ally together, because of the SFIO and of the MRP's anti-communism and of the differences concerning economic policies between the SFIO and the MRP, prevented the formation of any stable parliamentary majority. Furthermore, the proportional representation system blocked any single party from being able to govern on its own. Thus, successive governments were unable to collect enough support in Parliament.
[edit] Decolonisation
The Fourth Republic was notable for the two major wars of decolonization fought by France: the Indochine War and the Algerian War. The intermediate Suez Crisis and its unexpected issue is also part of France's ending as a colonial power.
The political crisis provoked by the Algerian War led to Charles de Gaulle being recalled to power following the Algiers putsch of 1958, he was returning from what some had called his walk across the desert. On May 31, 1958, Pierre Pflimlin, President of the Council, resigned and on June 1 the French Parliament voted in Général de Gaulle's government by 329 votes to 224.
He organized institutional change and won approval by referendum, on September 28, of the constitution for the 5th Republic. He was later elected President of France on December 21 of the same year.
While the French army neutralized the rebellion after Operation Jumelles, de Gaulle realized that it was not going to be possible to keep Algeria as French departements with the Algerian people's willing, and began negotiating with the independantists. This position regarded as treason provoked great resistance from certain politicians, army chief of staff, nationalistic groups, and colons resulting in particular terrorist acts by the Organisation armée secrète.
The war ended in July, 1962, with the signing of the Évian agreement on March 18, 1962, which was approved by referendum on April 8, 1962.
[edit] The Fifth Republic (1958-1969)
De Gaulle introduced different economic measures to reinvigorate the country, including the introduction of a new franc.
On the international stage, De Gaulle constructed an independent France with its own nuclear deterrent, refusing to be dominated by either the USA or the USSR. He blocked Great Britain's entry in to the common market (European Economic Community), and condemned the war in Vietnam, as well as the Israeli offensive during the Six-Day War, and in 1967 France withdrew from NATO, whilst remaining a member of the Atlantic alliance. In Africa, whilst officially maintaining a policy of decolonisation, De Gaulle gave Jacques Foccard the task of laying the foundations of French neocolonialism, coined as "Françafrique" by François-Xavier Verschave.
The protests in May '68 were larger than expected and took De Gaulle off guard. He withdrew from the political scene for some hours to take advice, which led to fears of a power vacuum.
De Gaulle was ready to accept some of the protesters' demands, but Georges Pompidou persuaded him to dissolve the French Parliament. The June 1968 elections were a great success for the gaullists who won 293 of the 487 seats. Georges Pompidou was replaced by Maurice Couve de Murville in July.
After the failure of his referendum on the transfer of certain powers to the regions, in to which De Gaulle had invested all of his political capital, he resigned on April 28, 1969.
[edit] Presidency of Georges Pompidou (1969–1974)
- Further information: Georges Pompidou
Georges Pompidou, who presented himself as the natural successor to De Gaulle, won the Presidential elections in 1969. Jacques Chaban-Delmas was named as Prime Minister.
- 1970: The Gauche Prolétarienne was banned
- June 1971: François Mitterrand took control of the Parti Socialiste at the Epinay Congress.
- July 1972: Pierre Messmer was named Prime Minister
- 1973: The Ligue Communiste was banned.
[edit] Presidency of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (1974–1981)
- Further information: Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
At 48 years old in 1974, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing was the youngest President of the French Republic. He named Jacques Chirac as Prime Minister. The oil crisis of 1973 and the international economic situation prevented the normal workings of government and provoked an increase in disputes: it was the end of the Thirty Glorious Years. In 1976, after Jacques Chirac resigned, Raymond Barre, an Economics professor, was named Prime Minister and implemented tough policies to check inflation which led to a sharp fall in growth. During his seven year term, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing introduced the following major reforms:
- The legalization of divorce by mutual consent
- The legalization of abortion introduced by Simone Veil (November 28, 1974) which would be followed by the legalization of "the pill" and the refunding of its cost by Social Security.
- The voting age was reduced from 21 years old to 18 years old (July 5, 1974)
- The introduction of summer time so as to save energy.
- The promotion of European democracy (under his initiative European members of parliament were elected by direct vote) and of economic advances (introduction of the European Monetary System, which foresaw the Euro)
- The promotion of mixed school classes
- The promotion of Public Television and the dismantling of the State monopoly (ORTF) into seven companies
- The abolition of censure
- The extension of social security to non-salaried workers (an important measure for retailers and the self-employed)
- The election of the Mayor of Paris by direct vote
- March 1975: strike by high school students
- Spring 1976: Student strike
- July 1977: anti-Nuclear riot at Creys-Malville
- March 1978: the Right win the parliamentary elections
- 1979: creation of the Action Directe group
- May 1980: student strike dominated by the extreme-left
[edit] Presidencies of François Mitterrand (1981–1995)
François Mitterrand's first term (1981–88) was marked by a left-wing economic policy, which included several nationalizations, a 10% increase of the minimum wages (SMIC), a 39 hours workweek, a 5th week of holiday and the creation of the solidarity tax on wealth in 1982 (ISF), and finally struggle against inflation. However, this policy more or less took an end in 1983, a liberal turn confirmed with the appointment of Laurent Fabius (PS) as Prime minister (1984–86). Four devaluations of the Franc took place, in 1981, 1982, 1983 and 1986. Concerning social and cultural policies, he abrogated death penalty as soon as he took office in 1981, as well as the anti-casseurs Act which instaured collective responsibility for acts of violence during demonstrations. He also dissolved the Cour de sûreté, a special high court, and enacted a massive regularisation of illegal aliens in 1981. Beside this, he passed the first decentralization laws with the 1982 Loi-cadre Defferre and liberalised the media, allowing private radios and the first private TV (Canal +) (and giving rise to the pirate radios movement).
On a European level, he helped the Single European Act come into effect in February 1986. He worked well with Germany's head of government Helmut Kohl and improved Franco-German relations measurably. Together they fathered the Maastricht Treaty, which was signed on 7 February 1992, and ratified by France after a tense referendum in 1993.
His second term (1988-1995) was marked by the 1988 Matignon Agreements concerning New Caledonia, the creation of the Minimum Insertion Revenue (RMI) by the government of Michel Rocard (PS, 1988–91), which insures a minimum level of income to those deprived of any other form of income, the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, the 1990 Gayssot Act on negationism, the Airpallange Act on the financing of political parties, and the reform of the penal code. On an international level, France participated to the first Gulf War (1990–91) and opposed Germany's quick recognition of Slovenia and Croatia in 1991, correctly fearing a violent dislocation of the Yugoslavian Union. In Rwanda, the French army participated in Opération Turquoise, which is today a controversial matter. Several important political scandals also took place under his rule, including the Elysée wiretaps affairs (revealed by Libération in 1993), the contaminated blood scandal which implicated Laurent Fabius and former ministers Georgina Dufoix and Edmond Hervé and, before that, the 1985 sinking of the Rainbow Warrior. He also engaged several large architectural works, with the building of the Louvre Pyramid (1988), the Channel Tunnel, the Grande Arche of La Défense in Paris (1989) and the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BNF), which opened in 1996.
