By Red Sox Steve
In approximately 600 BCE ("Before Common Era"), Greeks from the maritime city of Phocaea (pronounced "foh-see-uh") on the Aegean sea in present day Turkey established a seaport farther to the western edge of their empire, as a result of their battles with the Carthaginians in this territory. This seaport town was located east of the Rhône River's mouth; at the time, the name of the city was Massilia, but today it is known as Marseille.
The Greeks continued moving into what we know as mainland France, primarily to acquire raw materials like silver and iron through trading with Celtic tribes in the region. Archaeologists have discovered finished bronze items (a luxury good produced by the Greeks and used to trade with the Celts) 100 miles from Paris. For hundreds of years after its founding and establishment as part of the Greek trading network, Massalia's main enemy was Carthage. Massalia found an ally against the Carthaginians in Rome during the Second Punic War (218–201 BCE). Subsequent to this, in 125 BCE, Rome was able to occupy Massalia, because it faced threats from local tribes.
Rome extended its influence further into the Gallic region and created a bureaucratic center at Lugdunum (present-day Lyon). During the initial period of Roman occupation, the Romans created two main regions of Gaul, Gallia Cisalpina and Gallia Transalpina, and in 49 BCE, Roman citizenship was extended to the Gauls. By the fifth century, the Roman empire and many of its satellite states including Gaul were suffering from widespread decline. Although Germanic tribes were settling in Gaul and allying with the Romans, invaders quickly followed, dividing the region into a number of kingdoms. There was, however, one Germanic tribe who conquered much of the Gallic region, causing the Gauls to eventually adopt their conquerors name for themselves: the Franks.
In the latter part of the 5th century, the Frankish tribes started to divide between those who fought the Romans and those who fought Germanic invaders such as the Visigoths and Vandals. An emergent Frankish military commander named Childeric I ultimately came to power in service of Rome, fighting against the Visigoths in 463 and 469. Because, however, Childeric's commander, a Roman general named Aegidius, severed ties with Roman authorities in 461, it was the military under Aegidius' command that was to maintain authority in Gaul.
By 482, Childeric's son Clovis had succeeded his father and in the aftermath of further battle against Celtic and Germanic tribes, was able to control most of northern Gaul. In 507 Clovis established his court at Paris. His kingdom eventually included most of Gaul from the North Sea to the Pyrenees and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Main River and was known as the Merovingian dynasty.
Because Clovis had 4 sons, he divided the territory between them, giving way to shifting boundaries and warfare among the kingdoms. By 687, the king of Austrasia (the eastern kingdom), Pepin III, defeated Neustria and Burgundy, the western and southern kingdoms respectively. Pepin III was therefore able to unite the Frankish kingdom for the first time in over 70 years, under a new ruling era which came to be known as the Carolingian dynasty.
During the reign of Charlemagne (768-814), son of Pépin III, the Frankish kingdom was extended into Spain to repel the Moors and Italy to control rule of the Lombards. From 772 until 804 Charlemagne fought the Saxons of Saxony, who were deemed pagans by the church. Charlemagne also defeated the Avars, who controlled much of central Europe at the time. To protect his new empire, Charlemagne posted the Frankish army at its borders. The empire remained united under Charlemagne's son, Louis, but on his death it was divided among his three sons under the Treaty of Verdun in 843 into regions that now make up Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Italy.
In 978, Lothair (941–986), the Carolingian king, invaded territory lost to the Germans decades earlier, despite the fact that Lothair was a vassal of the German King and Holy Roman Emperor, Otto II. Otto thought of this as a rebellious act, and subsequently invaded France. Only two years after Lothair's initial invasion, in 980, he retracted his claim to the lost land, Lotharingia. The peace was temporary as Otto II died 3 years later. His son, Otto III, only three years old at the time, assumed the throne. Because Otto III's right to the throne was disputed, a civil war was triggered, and Lothair again invaded Lotharingia, only to die less than a year after the invasion in 985. Louis V assumed power in France, but the invasion of Lotharingia had failed; Louis V died only two years later in 987 in a hunting accident, ending the Carolingian dynasty.
Hugh Capet, cousin of Otto II, had previously aligned against Lothair and was able to ascend to the throne of France in 987, marking the start of the Capetian dynasty. The power of the Capetian dynasty, in its early stages, was diffused into the hands of what are known as the three "orders": the nobles, the bourgeosie, and the clergy, a system that would hold until the French Revolution of 1789. In addition, because of royal intermarriage, the French throne was threatened by a claim on it by the English monarchy. Because of the power the church held at this time, French pope Urban II began to preach in favor of a religiously oriented conflict that could force Islam back to the east: the Crusades.
Under King Philip II Augustus (1180–1223), royal authority and French territory expanded, especially by leading a crusade against Catharism (a Christian sect at odds with the Catholic church) in the south. This battle was continued by his son, Louis VIII, expanding the power of the monarchy to the Mediterranean. The next descendant to the French throne was Louis IX (also known as Saint Louis), who expanded royal power and ultimately participated in the Crusades. Under successive later kings, governmental power increased and the monarch came to be not merely a ruler, but a living representation of the law. By the early 14th century, Philip IV had undertaken another expansion of French territory, and sought increased revenues to maintain his power. As a result of this, he began a persecution against both French Jews and a powerful French military order known as the Templars. As the monarchy came to face more and more challenges to its authority, each of Philip's sons took turns holding the crown: Louis X, Philip V, and Charles IV. When each passed away, there was no legal heir to take over the throne; the Capetian dynasty ended in 1328 when the monarchy was passed to Philip VI of Valois.
During the 14th century in Europe, as merchants and soldiers travelled between western Europe and Asia, through the Crimean mountains, they came in contact with a skin-borne bacterium called "Yersinia pestis", also known as the bubonic plague. During the middle part of this century, it is estimated that about 50% of the population of Europe was wiped out as a result of contact with this virus. In addition, in France, agricultural production slowed down, producing numerous famines, leading to a deep economic crisis. It is at this time that England and France came into conflict over succession rights to the French throne, a conflict known as "The Hundred Years' War".
The Hundred Years War lasted from 1337-1453, with periods of intermittent peace between battle. By about 1415, the English were able to subdue the French significantly, forcing them into signing the Treaty of Troyes (ca 1415), which was a formal recognition of King Henry V of England as heir to the French throne. Just prior to this, however, a French peasant girl was born in the French village of Domrémy, who would later impact the outcome of the war: Joan of Arc (Joan d'Arc). French King Charles VII sent her to the battle at Orléans as part of a relief mission. St. Joan (she was canonized in 1920) gained much adulation due to the fact that she was able to end the siege in nine days. Later victories led to Charles VII's coronation at Reims, settling the dispute over monarchical succession. The Treaty of Étaples, signed in 1492 under the rule of Charles VIII, settled any remaining differences between France and England.
Before the 15th century was to come to an end, Charles VIII, at the request of Pope Innocent VIII and Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, sent 25,000 men into Italy, reaching Naples in February 1495. In the process, the French army laid claim to Florence (ruled by the Medici family at the time) before Charles VIII was ultimately crowned King of Naples. The following monarch, Louis XII, was able to take the throne of Milan as a result of its occupation by Italian mercenaries in service to France. The destabilization of the Italian monarchy and the conflicts in Italy led to a diffusion of artistic, philosophical and academic individuals out of Italy and into France.
We've got to, however, pass most of the French Renaissance period, bringing ourselves forward to 1651, the year that Louis XIV, son of Louis XIII, took power in France. When Louis XIV began his rule, he expanded his bureaucracy by opening up opportunities in government to the middle classes, thus ensuring that those who served him would remain under the influence of his power. He also continued a construction project begun by his father on a royal lodge in Versailles, outside of Paris. When Louis XIV took power, he continued the work based on architectural plan, and in 1682, officially moved the seat of his power from Paris to Versailles, a magnificent palace now visited by over 2 million tourists every year.
Foreign policy was much more complex, and certainly much more bellicose. Louis XIV declared war on Spain, as a result of his claim to land in the Spanish Netherlands. He also caused the French Huguenots (French believers in a form of Protestantism) to flee France after revoking a treaty which had previously granted them religious freedoms in 1685. William of Orange, who replaced King James II in England, brought it into an alliance called the "League of Augsburg" with the Dutch Netherlands, the Holy Roman Empire, and other European powers. With England now positioned to put a stop to Louis XIV's European ambitions, the War of the Grand Alliance began in 1688, ending in 1697. Louis XIV also sought to have his grandson, Philip, replace the deceased Charles II in Spain, however this was opposed by the other European powers, culminating in the "War of the Spanish Succession" in 1701. The war continued until 1713, with France winning and Philip taking the throne of Spain. In September 1715, Louis XIV died.
Louis XV, because he was only 5 when his great grandfather died, was unable to take power until 1723. Between monarchs, Philippe, duke of Orléans, ruled as regent, overseeing a period of significant destabilization of France. Previously suppressed groups such as the French "parlement" (law courts) reasserted themselves, challenging the monarch's absolute authority. By the time Louis XV came to power (Cardinal Fleury administered the government from 1726 until 1743 on behalf of his king), he had to deal with vocal opposition and found the kingdom's fiscal affairs in disarray. Furthermore, because of diplomatic struggles, France found itself on the losing end of two wars (War of the Austrian Succession and Seven Years' War) resulting in a loss of much of its colonial holdings. Financially, things continued to grow worse. Against this backdrop, Louis XV chose to harden his belief in absolutism, fully demarcating the role of the monarchy as one that would refuse to adapt to changing times.
By 1774, the year Louis XVI, grandson of Louis XV came to power, France and the monarchy were on divergent paths. The new king immediately faced a deteriorating economic situation, therefore, his appointment as comptroller general of finance was critical. For this position, he chose a man named Anne-Robert Turgot. Turgot, the son of a merchant, had originally been on course to join the clergy. However, as a result of his work at the Sorbonne, pursued his interest in finance and economics. He is best known for publishing a book entitled "Reflections on the Formation and Distribution of Wealth" in 1766. Under Louis XVI's rule, Turgot sought to implement three main reforms: 1) establishing free trade in grain within the kingdom (1774), 2) establishing the freedom to work in various industries by abolishing the guilds (1776), and 3) abolishing the royal corvée (1776), the obligation of peasants to work for free on the repair and construction of roads. Each of the three met with fierce opposition from interested parties. His edict on the free trade of grain brought the ire of speculators, and was soon revoked. His edicts on abolition of guilds and replacement of the obligation for peasants to provide free labor by a tax on all property, was opposed by all the privileged groups, courtiers, factory owners, and financiers. The Parlement appealed to Louis XVI, who subsequently asked Turgot for his resignation (1776). Turgot wrote prophetically to the king a few days before he gave up office: "Never forget, Sire, that it was weakness that put the head of Charles I (King of England, Scotland and Ireland executed in 1649) on the block."
Turgot was replaced by a Swiss banker, Jacques Necker. Not only was Necker was forced to deal with all the problems Turgot had identified, he had one additional financial obligation of the French government to consider: the war between the British and the separatists taking place across the Atlantic. Although Necker sought similar goals to Turgot, he was also roundly criticized; Necker sought to gain public confidence by publishing a complete accounting of royal and governmental finances. Unfortunately, this caused a scandal because it revealed the expenses of the court, which had remained a secret up to that point. The naive yet capricious wife of Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, had Necker recalled in 1781. It quickly became apparent that a reformist approach was not desired by the monarchy.
Although subsequent finance ministers proposed similar strategies to reform, it was the authority of the monarchy to impose taxes without the consent of parlement that came into question. Etienne-Charles de Loménie de Brienne (finance minister at the time) arrested or exiled the principal instigators, the Parlement resisted these actions and proclaimed (by a May 3, 1788 decree) the right of the Estates General (nobles, clergy, bourgeoisie on behalf of commoners) to grant financial subsidies freely. The king responded by rescinding the right of appeal from the Parlement. Opposition quickly organized nationwide and uprisings broke out. In Dauphiné in July 1788, deputies of all three orders encouraged every province to stop paying taxes until the Estates General could convene.
What happened next formed the foundation of representative government for two centuries, and dissolved the concentrated power that existed in a single man in every nation that has adopted a truly representative democracy since then. The Estates General was to be convened on May 1, 1789. Public opinion expected from the meeting a change in government. The "nationaux" or "patriotes," leading the movement sought to have the Estates General become a national assembly. Historically, a united First and Second Estate could outvote the Third Estate (commoners), despite the fact that the Third Estate represented 97% of France's population. Thus, although the Third Estate gave its assent to a convening of the Estates General, it saw this as an opportunity to gain more power as well. Despite the opposition of Parlement in defense of privilege over freedom, Necker (since reinstated by Louis XVI) persuaded his king to accept a doubling of the size of the Third Estate.
By June, the Third Estate, realizing it was in a disadvantageous position, proposed a meeting of all delegates (including the First and Second Estates) to establish a constitution. Louis XVI, upon hearing about the meeting, declared the assembly's decisions null and void and ordered the Estates to meet in three distinct chambers. The First and Second Estates followed the king's instruction while the Third Estate resisted and stayed in the meeting. The Third Estate challenged the monarchy to use force to break up the meeting, however Louis XVI decided against doing so, and gave in. Days later, he redacted his orders and instructed all the delegates to join the Third Estate. On July 9, the assembly took the name of the Constituent Assembly, and absolute rule in France was abolished.
Starting on July 14th with a citizens' invasion of the Bastille, a state run prison, up through October, tension among the populace was very high. Because of the pressure applied by outraged French citizens, the king agreed to a new flag (with red, white and blue stripes), and assembly deputies (via the newly named National Assembly) voted equal rights for all, free employment for all, equal justice, abolition of the privileges of the guilds, the provinces, the towns, and of individuals, and the abolition of feudal dues and services, such as the corvée and other remnants of feudalism. The deputies also voted in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen as well as a number of other constitutional articles.
On the night of June 20, 1791, dressing as a valet, Louis XVI was determined to flee France, meeting a French army at the border, and intending on using military force to intimidate the revolutionaries. The king was identified during his trip and arrested, thus completely destroying the people's confidence in their monarch. Moderate deputies brought Louis XVI back to power as a constitutional monarch months later, whereby he swore to accept and uphold the constitution. The Constituent Assembly stepped down and was replaced by the Legislative Assembly as of September 30, 1791.
As a result of the constitution of 1791, discussed above, administrative power became decentralized, tax laws became more egalitarian, the organization of the Catholic Church was modified, and political rights were now accorded to non-Catholics, Protestant and Jewish. Within the family, the right under which only the eldest son inherited from his parents was abolished and public instruction available to all citizens would be established.
The revolutionary period did not go unnoticed in Europe - monarchs all over understood this revolution to be a threat to their power as well. In April 1792, the Legislative Assembly voted for war against the king of Hungary and Bohemia, Francis II. By July, France had learned it was to be invaded by the Prussian army, which, by manifesto in August, declared itself in favor of Louis XVI and against the Legislative Assembly.
Later that month, after a bloody civil uprising, Louis XVI was suspended and imprisoned by vote of the assembly. The power structure was then changed to a larger body (Convention), subordinate to the power confided to an Executive Council. Although there was tension between the right-leaning Girondons and left-leaning Montagnards within the Convention, the body voted to sentence Louis XVI to death, and he was executed in January 1793.
From 1793 through 1794 there was serious tension and distrust among opposing members of the Convention. As much as France was suffering from within, it also had to deal problems from without. Royalists in the towns and cities surrounding France gave aid to invading coalition armies, surrendering the port and fleet at Toulon to the English. Among the Convention's differing ideologies, a powerful government was formed and given dictatorial abilities which empowered various committees to investigate and adjudicate citizens and hold nearly absolute civil and military power. Mass beheadings and drownings were carried out against anyone in violation of the Law of Suspects (enemies of liberty).
By 1795, after numerous intra-Conventional struggles had metastasized and those that fomented them were arrested and executed, the moderates began to return to power. However, there was still a royalist element that, in October 1795, sought to attack the Convention. This uprising was defeated by a 26 year old Corsican general, Napoleon Bonaparte.
When the Directory (as it was called) government had taken power in 1795, France was again embroiled in foreign conflict, however had still been unable to fully resolve the economic conflict. The separation of wealth, and mishandling of finances of this government produced forceful opposition. In the elections of 1797 the royalists came to power in direct opposition against the Director government; because there was no constitutional provision for how power should be administered in this relationship, the Directors, with the assistance of a Bonaparte lieutenant, used a coup d'etat to get back into power.
Within the Directory government a group wanted to revise the constitution, but to achieve this, a coup d'état was again needed to place a popular leader in power. This would be General Napoléon Bonaparte, who recently returned from Egypt as a conquering hero. The coup was successful when, with military assistance, Directory deputies were chased from a meeting place at Saint-Cloud in November 1799. Napoleon appointed himself "First Consul For Life", and the new constitution mentioned nothing of "liberty, equality, and fraternity".
By the early 1800s, under the rule of Bonaparte, French territory on the European continent was expanded by Napoleonic defeats in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria. The French raised money by selling its major land holding in America for 3 cents an acre. The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the United States in 1803. Napoleon became emperor of the French Empire as proclaimed on May 28, 1804. On May 26, 1805, in Milan Cathedral, he was crowned king of Italy.
Napoleon was unable to extend the French Empire beyond the English Channel, however he was able to move into Vienna and then defeat the Austrian and Russian armies in the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805. Napoleon's grand plan, in allying with the Russians and conquering the Portuguese and the Spanish, was to surround the British, effectively isolating it from contact with supplies and resources, and hoping it would destroy itself from within. The British however, backed the Spanish and the Portuguese, and, in the meantime, there was no commitment made to Napoleon by the Russians. In order to threaten Alexander I of Russia, Napoleon moved part of his army into Poland in 1812. Napoleon was intent on defeating Alexander's army and moved towards Russia with 650,000 men. As the Russians retreated, the French were drawn into Russia, and by mid-September Napoleon entered Moscow; because they were harrassed by Russian soldiers and Cossacks during their withdrawal, by the time the French army left Russia, there were about 10,000 men remaining.
The world was literally closing in on Napoleon. His army was seriously demoralized by the losses suffered in Russia, Austria soundly defeated France at the Battle of Leipzig in 1813, and when Napoleon returned to France, he returned to a nation in economic, social and political turmoil. Because he was also facing pressure from the Spanish army who declared their war to be solely against Napoleon himself, he was forced to accept the Treaty of Fountainbleau and withdraw to the island of Elba with 400 men, recusing all his authority. Louis XVIII, brother of Louis XVI then became King of France.
Just a few years later, Napoleon returned to France, and Louis XVIII, eager to avoid a civil war, allowed Napoleon to return to his former seat of power. From there, he formed an army that defeated the Prussians in the Netherlands and also drove back the British. Napoleon and his soldiers continued to pester the British, leading them to a small Belgian town about 12 miles to the southeast of Brussels, called Waterloo. On Sunday June 18 1815 the French Empire was defeated by a coalition force made up primarily of Prussian and British soldiers, finally ending the First French Empire. This battle ended Napoleon's rule as emperor and his return from exile. He was exiled to the South Atlantic island of St. Helena, where he stayed until he died in 1821.
In 1830, a civil uprising established the constitutional July Monarchy, which lasted until 1848. The new regime, under King Louis-Philippe was truly parliamentary, with the commercial bourgeoisie replacing the nobility as the determinate class. The economic crisis of 1846–47 led to a political one, ushering in the Revolution of 1848 that provoked the fall of Louis-Philippe and the creation of a Second Republic by the provisional government. At this time, France also expanded into Algeria, sub-Saharan Africa, the Far East and the Pacific. The Second Republic ended in 1852 when Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte proclaimed the Second Empire. Louis-Napoléon was removed from power just after his defeat in the Franco-Prussian war (1871) bringing forth a new regime, known as the Third Republic.
During the first few years of the Third Republic, there were two candidates vying for the throne, Henri, comte de Chambord, head of the elder branch of the royal family, and Louis-Philippe, comte de Paris, head of the family's younger branch. Although a compromise was reached allowing Henri to take the throne with Louis-Philippe as his heir, Henri refused to acknowledge the red, white and blue flag of the French Revolution. In 1875 parliamentary acts finally laid the way for the Third Republic. The rule by monarchy versus rule by republic debate continued, however by 1877 it became clear the people desired a republic.
In 1905 the Third Republic introduced laws meant to separate church and state, prohibiting religious control of education. Economic development led to railroads and increased ease of travel, while improvements in education increased literacy. The Third Republic's most significant contribution to the well-being of France and the rest of the world was in its efforts to defeat an invading German army during WWI.
When Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne and his wife were assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia on June 28, 1914, the Austrians had all the incentive they needed to declare war on Bosnia a month later. Within weeks, the Germans supported the Austrians (each making up the "Central Powers") while the Russians, Belgians, British and French supported Bosnia (each making up the "Allies"). The German strategy was to avoid a war on two fronts, as it faces Russia to the east and France to the west. Their desire was to hold Russia back while simultaneously encircling Paris. In actuality, the western front of the war was 40 miles from Paris, stretching from the English Channel to the Swiss border. In the years that followed, losses sustained by both sides were considerable as territories and positions were gained and lost. By 1918, British and French resources were combined under French General Ferdinand Foch. Foch's strategy in battles in July and August, combined with US reinforcements, forced the Germans into a disadvantageous position of having to defend its own land against invasion. German General Erich Ludendorff managed to prevent the Allies from gaining much territory in Germany. On November 11, 1918, an armistice was signed by both sides, ending the war.
In the interwar period, conflicts abroad as well as a devastated and traumatized post-war environment caused a great deal of political turbulence. At first, in 1919, there was a nationalist zeal imbued in France as a result of the war, leading to conservative success in the 1919 elections. However, by the mid 1920s, aggressive foreign policy was pursued to such an extent seeking reparations from the Germans that a center-left party was put into power, the "Cartel des gauches". Although the October 1929 stock market crash perpetuated a worldwide depression, France still had a prosperous year in 1930. By 1932 the electorate gave the Left its greatest success since before the war as a result of the crisis. Internationally, in July 1932, Germany's inability to pay reparations and its right to rearm were both formally acknowledged.
In 1936, France had a socialist prime minister for the first time in Léon Blum. He ruled until he resigned in 1938, however he was able to pass legislation reducing the workweek to 40 hours, introducing paid vacations, and including women in the cabinet. In the years leading up to WWII, the French relied on the British for foreign policy support, especially with respect to the appeasment of Franco in Spain in 1936, and with respect to Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938. By late 1939, Britain and France had declared war on Germany.
Within a year, Germany was advancing on Belgium and Paris. On June 16, 1940, Premier Paul Reynaud was forced to resign handing power over France to Marshal Philippe Pétain. The next day, Pétain announced his intention to seek an armistice dividing France into four zones with the two most important being the Free Zone, with Vichy as its capital and the Occupied Zone, encompassing Paris and northern lands. While Pétain was installing headquarters at Vichy, it was WWI prisoner of war and former aide to Petain, General Charles de Gaulle that appealed to the French people from London to continue the struggle. Because the National Assembly gave full power to Petain, this ended the Third Republic and transferred political power to a severely autocratic regime, the État français with its slogan "Travail (labor), Famille (family), Patrie (country)".
As the war progressed, numerous French Jews were deported by the Germans, 650,000 French workers were sent to Germany to serve the German war effort and civil war nearly broke out between the French Resistance and the Milice, the Nazi-led Vichy police, even after the Normandy invasion (June 6, 1944). By August 1944, Paris had successfully risen against the occupying German army, while American troops moved up the Rhone valley. The Vichy power structure gave way to De Gaulle's French Committee of National Liberation, which was recognized by Allied powers as the provisional government of France.
After the liberation of Paris, De Gaulle was able to govern France with few restrictions for over a year. In a subsequent referendum, voters rejected a return to the Third Republic, while competing ideologies pressed to increase the power of different bodies of government. The Communist party favored a single-body legislature with nearly unilateral power, while the Mouvement républicain populaire (MRP) sought to increase the power of the executive branch. De Gaulle resigned from politics in 1946 because the Socialist party supported the Communists, and they proceeded to draft a constitution outlining what would become the Fourth Republic. This new constitution guaranteed gender equality, a right to work, and the right to education, health care, and social benefits.
As a result of the shifting relationship between France and Communist Russia, the left-wing of the French Parliament faced diminishing power while a party representing the center, known as the Third Force, gained the majority. It was this political party that was in power as France ushered in a new era of democratic reconstruction of the nation's economy, involving state intervention and assistance. The Third Force was unable to maintain its power, giving way to a right-of-center group made up of radicals and Republicans, and supported by the RPF. Although the RPF was originally a Gaullist movement, De Gaulle stepped down from politics in protest of their support of the right-of-center government.
As the 1950s progressed, France faced threats to its colonial holdings (with France, all comprising the "French Union"). There was tension in Tunisia, Morocco, Laos, and Vietnam where uprisings and military conflicts diminished France's influence as a colonial power. It was conflict in Algeria in the mid-1950s that nearly brought the French government to its knees. As a result of rebellious activities and terrorism, 400,000 French troops were sent to Algeria by French premier Guy Mollet in 1956, however this did not halt the rebellion. By 1958, as France was about to appoint a new premier, there were uprisings in Algiers in response to his foreign policy. In reality, the protests can also be attributed to right-wing groups representing the "colons" (French settlers in Algeria) because they were afraid they would get no support from Paris in attempting to maintain the stability of Algeria, under French rule. Because of the intractable conflict, neither the Algerians, the conspirators, or the French government were able to reach an agreement. It was soon concluded by politicians that de Gaulle was the only person who could save the republic in its current form. On June 1, 1958 the National Assembly approved him as premier, granting nearly limitless powers for six months; powers which De Gaulle used to create the Fifth Republic.
The Fifth Republic placed more authority in the executive than either the Third or Fourth Republics. The premier was named by the president, although he could be overthrown by a formal vote of censure in the National Assembly. The president had the ability to dissolve the assembly, call for new elections, and assume emergency powers in times of crisis, making the Élysée (official residence of the President of the French Republic, where his office is located) the center of power.
By the middle of the 1960s, Algeria had been granted full independence by the French government, France continued to maintain an antagonistic posture against Britain, and partly due to the nation's involvement in the European Economic Community, continued to prosper. De Gaulle, who was coming to the end of his presidential term, wanted a stronger position within NATO. Although he supported the alliance, he insisted on keeping part of the French Mediterranean Fleet out of NATO hands, and wanted NATO headquarters off of French soil. At this time, France started to develop a more extensive nuclear arsenal, exploding a test bomb for the first time in 1960, in the Sahara; De Gaulle continued with nuclear tests, and was unwilling to sign the international atomic Test Ban Treaty of 1963.
Ignoring much of the salient ideological differences between it and the communists, France sought closer relations with the USSR and Eastern Europe. France also sought to strengthen ties between it and West Germany, recognized China, and protested against US involvement in Vietnam.
In the latter half of the 1960s, there was constant turnover at the head of the government, premier Georges Pompidou (who had presided over France earlier this decade) gave way to De Gaulle, and in 1968, there were massive student and worker uprisings. Although De Gaulle initially sought reform to meet the demands of the protesters, he subsequently gained military support and retracted his promised reforms. This was met with widespread support by the right-wing and conservative groups. In April 1969, de Gaulle proposed a plan to restructure the government and decentralize the general administration; he was asking for a vote of confidence in the plan and in himself, stating that he would resign if a majority did not approve of his proposals. As a result, when less than 50% of voters approved of his plan, he resigned on April 27.
By the mid 1970s, after the election of Pompidou as president, France had begun negotiations in support of Britain's entrance into the ECM (European Common Market), and the National Assembly elections in 1973 brought to power a union of Socialists, Communists, and a faction of the Radical Party of the Left. The government's strength in the assembly was reduced, to the benefit of the Union of the Left.
The presidential election of May 10, 1981 brought Francois Mitterrand, previously a coalition leader in the National Assembly, into power. At the time, inflation and unemployment were skyrocketing. Mitterand sought to nationalize industries and the banking system, decentralize the government, and increase public expenditure. Mitterrand, with a Socialist majority in the National Assembly, raised the minimum wage and increased benefits, further economic nationalization, and abolish capital sentencing. With right-wing control of the assembly, he was forced to appoint Jacques Chirac as prime minister in the first example of "cohabitation." Mitterrand also sought to push the French integration into Europe. The Maastricht Treaty (February 1992) on the European Union increased the EU parliament's powers and sought common international and military policies as well as a common currency. It was approved in France by referendum in September of that year.
Jacques Chirac became French president in 1995. He had been a lifelong member of the conservative Gaullists since he first became part of Georges Pompidou's government in the 1960s. Although he sought domestic reforms which decreased his popularity, Chirac's involvement in international affairs has contributed to France's international appeal. He has worked to integrate France more closely into the EU, and to strengthen ties between France and Germany. Chirac also sought increased participation by France in NATO, and has created a pathway for Russia to join the alliance as a "special member". Certainly, his re-election in 2002 dovetailed with the wave of conservatism that swept across Europe, however Chirac refused to support military intervention by the US in the Middle East in 2003. Subsequent to this, Chirac has strengthened French ties with WWII adversaries, Algeria, and even the United States. In the waning years of his administration, his popularity was severely diminished as evidenced by France's refusal to ratify the EU constitution, and protests against a proposed employment law (which was subsequently struck) in 2006.
In May 2007, Nicolas Sarkozy of the conserative UMP party defeated the socialist candidate Segolene Royal in the French presidential election. More recently, Sarkozy's influence both at home and abroad has been tempered by the severity of the global economic downturn. He has taken a protectionist stance towards foreign investment in the auto parts industry in France, and fomented international tensions by aligning himself with his conservative German counterpart, Angela Merkel, against Britain and France at the recent G-20 meeting in London. Sarkozy is also seeking to improve the unemployment situation through support for business and industry, however the trade unions seek more direct support for incomes and employment by their government. Sarkozy was successful in returning France to full NATO membership, hopefully strengthening its influence over any proposed European defense initiative, and is building stronger ties between certain Middle Eastern and North African nations.
After looking over the copious amount of data I have provided here, it is easy to conclude that I have an enhanced understanding of France and the French people. My belief, however, is that after reviewing all that I have put forth here, I am only beginning to scratch the surface of my understanding of France's ever shifting role in the 21st century world we all wish to create.
