[This is the third of six articles I am writing about the
respective positions of Britain,
the US, France, Germany,
Russia and China in the Post-War world]
1944-46 Provisional Government of France. Chairmen: Charles de
Gaulle, Felix Gouin, Georges Bidault, Leon Blum.
1946-58 The 4th
Republic: Premiers (often more than once): Ramadier, Schuman, Marie,
Queuille, Bidault, Pleven, Faure, Pinay, Mayer, Laurel, Mendes-France,
Mollet, Bourges-Manoury, Gaillard, Pflimlin, and de Gaulle.
1958 – The 5th
Republic: Presidents:
1958-69 Charles de
Gaulle 1995-2007 Jacques
Chirac
1969-74 Georges
Pompidou 2007 -12 Nicolas
Sarkozy
1974-81 Valery
Giscard d’Estaing 2012- Francois Hollande
1981-95 Francois
Mitterrand
 |
| De Gaulle on the Champs-Elysees July 1944 |
All my life I have
thought of France
in a certain way. This is inspired by sentiment as much as by reason. The
emotional side of me tends to imagine France, like the princess in the
fairy stories or the Madonna in the frescoes, as dedicated to an exalted and
exceptional destiny. Instinctively I have the feeling that Providence has created her either for
complete success or for exemplary misfortunes. If in spite of this, mediocrity
shows in her acts and deeds, it strikes me as an absurd anomaly, to be imputed
to the faults of Frenchmen, not to the genius of the land. But the positive
side of my mind also assures me that France is nor really herself unless she is
in the front rank; that only vast enterprises are capable of counter-balancing
the ferments of disintegration inherent in her people; that our country, as it
is, surrounded by the others, as they are, must aim high and hold itself
straight on pain of mortal danger. In short, to my mind, France cannot be France without greatness.
…..I did not question
that France would have to go through gigantic trials, that the interest of life
consisted in one day rendering her some signal service, and that I would have
the occasion to do so.
This famous opening passage from de Gaulle’s first volume of
memoirs (The Call to Honour, 1955) eloquently sets out his
mystic vision of France,
which was to inspire his countrymen and exasperate his allies throughout his
illustrious and long career. The history of France since 1945 can be seen as
moving from an unhappy prelude to the return of de Gaulle, de Gaulle’s own
decisive presidency and the lengthy Gaullist aftermath, although entirely new
currents eventually appeared.
France
in 1945 was in a sorry state. Its wartime military performance had been
markedly wet with Occupation following defeat and the collaborationist Vichy regime of Petain
becoming initially very popular. De Gaulle rallied the Free French, whose
military significance was negligible but de Gaulle consistently claimed he
alone represented the real France
and insisted that no other power could encroach upon the French empire. Touchy
and difficult, de Gaulle particularly alienated Roosevelt
and even the often supportive Churchill complained “In this war I bear many
crosses, but the heaviest is the Cross of Lorraine”. Liberation put de Gaulle
at the head of his nation in 1944 but the tide was moving leftwards and he
disagreed with the proposed new constitution, embodying in his eyes the
dominance of parties, which had frustrated the 3rd Republic. De
Gaulle’s own party failed to make much electoral impression and he temporarily
retired from the fray in May 1953.
The 4th Republic
The 4th Republic was unstable in the sense that
there were 20 administrations and 16 premiers, but there were achievements.
Welfare legislation, at least as radical as that in Britain, gave much needed security
to the people. Through the vision of Robert Schuman and Jean Monnet, the
European Iron and Steel Community of 1950 laid the foundation of cooperation
between France, Germany, Benelux and Italy. This resulted in the Treaty
of Rome of 1957 and the creation of the six-nation EEC. The French economy
steadily revived guided by a far-sighted civil service, applying the statist policy
of dirigisme. Society was sharply
divided with a strong Communist party and a flurry of right-wing extremism
bringing successes for the xenophobic shop-keeper dominated Poujadists.
The politicians failed to agree on decolonisation, notably
in Indochina and Algeria,
and this proved to be the Achilles heel of the 4th Republic. The war
in Indochina stretched wearily from 1945 to 1954 (90,000 French casualties)
with the Viet Minh under Ho Chi Minh eventually defeating the French after
their redoubt at Dien Bien Phu fell after a long siege to General Giap. The war
was very unpopular in France,
with the French Left particularly scathing, and energetic premier Pierre
Mendes-France organised French withdrawal.
But Algeria
was an even harder nut to crack. 1m French settlers there (the pieds noirs) were determined to remain
part of France
and a fierce war against the FLN insurrectionists got underway in 1954. The
French Army supported l’Algerie Francaise
and its methods were harsh and sometimes brutal. The political elite in Paris knew that holding onto Algeria was an unlikely outcome but
were unable to lead public opinion. In 1958 the Army revolted, orchestrated by
de Gaulle’s wartime colleague and former governor of Algeria Jacques Soustelle,
demanding the return of the General. De Gaulle became premier with emergency
powers, signalling the end of the 4th Republic.
Early days of the 5th Republic
 |
| De Gaulle as the Elder Statesman |
A new constitution was drafted largely by Michel Debre who
became de Gaulle’s first premier. The President, (originally elected for a 7
year term, later 5) controlled foreign affairs and defence while the premier
ran domestic affairs through the elected National Assembly. The constitution,
which has proved durable, was approved by referendum and de Gaulle
overwhelmingly elected the first President.
In July 1958 de Gaulle had enigmatically told a wildly
enthusiastic crowd of pieds noirs in Algiers that “Je vous ai compris”. He probably well understood their views but
did not agree with them. Before long de Gaulle authorised talks with the FNL and,
despite terrorism and several attempted coups in Algiers,
they resulted in a ceasefire and the 1962 Evian Accords, recognising the
independence of Algeria.
Embittered pieds noirs fled to France and de
Gaulle escaped assassination attempts organised by the OAS, associated with
Generals Salan and Challe and one-time ally Jacques Soustelle. Basically
however the Algerian boil had been lanced. The estimated French death toll of
27,000 was much less than in Indo-China but the prospects of the pieds noirs in Metropolitan France were
sadly dim.
Francophone Africa was granted independence and the
decolonisation era was ended. Georges Pompidou became de Gaulle’s premier and
concentrated on the modernisation of France’s
economic infrastructure and the beautification of Paris. De Gaulle established good relations
with Chancellor Adenauer of Germany,
and in a characteristically anti-Anglo-Saxon but perhaps perceptive move,
vetoed British entry to the EEC twice in 1962 and 1967. His high-handed ways
were also evident when he implicitly backed separatist terrorists in Canada as he cried “Vive le Quebec libre!” in Montreal in 1967. He insisted on building up a French nuclear force de frappe and in an anti-American
gesture withdrew France
from NATO’s military command structure in 1966.
De Gaulle’s ultra-nationalism and his politics of Grandeur were outdated and he was almost
toppled by the younger generation when Paris
exploded in student and trades union revolt in 1968. He survived but resigned
in 1969 after losing a constitutional referendum. De Gaulle was a great patriot
who ultimately brought stability and prosperity to his country. He had rendered
fully that “signal service” foretold in his Memoirs.
Life in France
1945-2012
Thankfully life is not all politics. France reverted
to its fine traditions of good food, rural beauty and profound intellectuality.
In due course material prosperity spread widely and France
overtook Britain
economically in the late 1960s. Paris
was surrounded by new shopping centres, a network of broad autoroutes was constructed, and historic sites were lavishly
restored. Its motor and aircraft industries flourished, at least in good times.
Women had been fully emancipated and French society was tolerant.
In literature Sartre and de Beauvoir bored with their
leftist bromides and promising fellow-activist Albert Camus died prematurely in
1960 “extinct in his refulgent prime” as Shelley would have said. In 1972, tortured
novelist and playwright Henri de Montherlant, whose masterly dramas Le Maitre de Santiago and Le Cardinal d’Espagne had stimulated
Paris, entertained his friends for lunch but, going blind, then shot himself,
“asserting to the end his proud independence” in the words of Malraux. Jean
Vilar and Georges Wilson held theatrical court at the TNP. Popular novelist
Colette came to the end of her career passing on the baton to much-read but
drug-blighted Francoise Sagan. The music hall resounded again to the charm of
Maurice Chevalier and Georges Guetary and Edith Piaf delighted France with her dramatic concerts at the Olympia.
 |
| Edith Piaf in 1962 |
The cinema remained a French passion and although they
laughed (nobody else did) at the post-war comedies of Fernandel, a more
discerning audience enjoyed Truffaut’s Jules
et Jim, Tirez sur le Pianiste and
Les 400 Coups. New Wave leader
Jean-Luc Godard directed Breathless
and Alain Resnais mystified us with Last
Year in Marienbad. More
popularly, Brigitte Bardot revealed her pert bottom and much else in Vadim’s And God created Woman, one of many
French sirens ranging from Martine Carol to Catherine Deneuve. Even France
could not resist the pop world and in time a cult grew around Johnny Hallyday,
the French Elvis.
The perils of US economic dominance were
described in Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber’s 1967 Le Defi Americain, which became an international best-seller and a
Gaullist handbook. Academic France
was irrepressible, profound if sometimes obscure, with the Structuralism of
ethnologist Claude Levi-Strauss greatly influential; his La Pensee Sauvage appeared in 1962.
Further contributions came from philosopher Michel Foucault and sage
critic Roland Barthes. The intellectual credentials of France remained
formidable.
The 5th Republic from 1969 Onward
De Gaulle’s departure ushered in a succession of very
capable presidents. Georges Pompidou was a cultivated moderniser, who
facilitated Britain’s
accession to the EEC, while haughty Valery Giscard d’Estaing sought to widen
French influence in the world, notably in Africa.
Both supported an ambitious and successful nuclear energy programme. Enigmatic
Francois Mitterrand united the Left, although his own political allegiance
remained unclear. 14 years president, he was a consummate politician, outmanoeuvring
the communists, whose vote nose-dived, and coping easily with two periods of
co-habitation with a Gaullist National Assembly and premier.
Just as de Gaulle had befriended Adenauer, Mitterrand had a
close working relationship with Helmut Kohl. France
and Germany were close and France was flattered by Germany deferring to French diplomatic and
administrative skills; an alliance of equals was the façade but Germany was
much stronger economically and the gap was growing. They both had to deal with
a resurgent Britain
and her doughty champion Margaret Thatcher, not slow to express her opposition
to remorseless EU integration.
His successor Jacques Chirac was president for 12 years but
he was already widely experienced as deputy, cabinet minister, mayor of Paris
and premier. A vigorous type, known as Le
Bulldozer, he got things done including an extensive programme of
privatisation, though he swung between free market policy and dirigisme. His career had been
controversial and he was convicted of embezzlement, after he left the
presidency, for actions as mayor of Paris.
In foreign affairs he earned the enmity of the US and Britain for threatening
to veto a UN resolution consenting to intervention in Iraq in 2002, saying,
maybe correctly, that Saddam Hussein did not pose an international danger,
however obnoxious he might be internally.
Nicolas Sarkozy had the misfortune to be president during
the Economic Crisis, starting in 2007, worsening in 2008 and spreading to the
Eurozone in 2009. There was little Sarkozy could do to arrest the global
depression and all governments then in office suffered. France was evidently the junior partner to Germany in the crisis with Chancellor Merkel
calling the shots from Berlin.
France showed itself a
vigorous and committed NATO ally to the US
and Britain (Germany notably absent) when assistance was
given to the rebels in Libya,
eventually overthrowing the fetid regime of Gaddafi. There was however a
petulantly vain side of Sarkozy which did not match the dignity of his office.
Mild-mannered Francois Hollande is in the first year of his
presidency as the standard-bearer of the Left and has yet to make an
impression. He was second choice after the much more charismatic Dominique
Strauss-Kahn, whose scandalous private life led to his downfall.
 |
| Sarkozy hands over to Hollande 2012 |
The Future
France,
like Britain,
is a highly respected power of the second rank. Rightly proud of her history
and individuality she finds pressure from Brussels
for ever closer union unsettling even though she understands the logic, as the
French mind does. It may be that the EU needs to step back a little from
integration, even to manage a break-up of the euro project, to allow public
opinion to catch up – reculer pour mieux
sauter.
The French values of Liberty,
Equality and Fraternity are her priceless gifts to the world.
SMD
3.09.2012
Text Copyright Sidney Donald 2012
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