A History of the French Republic
Then the republic fell. And re-formed. And fell. And re-formed. And fell. . . . Here’s a petite look at why France salutes its Fifth Republic today.
You Say You Want a Revolution
In France, where Le Roi ruled with a power unchecked by parliament, it was especially good to be king. From 1610 to 1789, four Louies built palaces, fought wars, and indulged nobles, largely on the backs of France’s middle and lower classes. By 1789, tensions between Louis-loving aristocrats and ever-more-Enlightened commoners had boiled over.
That year, Louis XVI reluctantly recognized the authority of a representative legislative body, which set to work on a constitution that would embrace liberal ideals. Three years and one king’s head later, France chose republicanism – in name, at least. A republican reign of terror, take-a-number service at the guillotine, and civil war alternating with mob rule pretty much put the kibosh on real republican spirit.
It was 1795 before France actually became a liberal republic with a two-house legislature and five-man executive branch, and even then the ruling party rigged the game. By 1799, a group of conservatives had cooked up a parliamentary coup. Recognizing the need for a little military backup, they tapped the hot young general du jour, Napoleon Bonaparte, to deliver the message. The Little Corporal did them one better. He emerged as the central figure of the new government.
Intermission
Napoleon crowned himself emperor in 1804, effectively ending the First Republic. Yet he soon lost his empire trying to expand it. Having sacrificed beaucoup troops in a botched attempt to invade Russia, he was unable to defend France against attack by a group of European allies, who restored the monarchy in 1815.
Kings co-existed with constitutions for three decades. Republicans for the most part took a legislative approach to securing additional freedoms. But when bills concerning extended suffrage were rebuffed by the king’s ministers, liberals began to whip up discontent the old-fashioned way, through violent political demonstrations. Louis-Philippe, ever the gentleman, abdicated the throne in 1848 rather than put down a protest that threatened his palace.
Republic Redux, and Napoleon Again
The reformers seized power, proclaimed the Second Republic, and allowed all adult men to vote. France would be ruled by a president and one-house legislature. Yet in a lesson in the power of name recognition, the people made their old emperor’s nephew, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, president.
In 1851, President Bonaparte staged a coup and drew up his own constitution. By the end of 1852, Louis-Napoleon, president, had become Napoleon III, emperor. Napoleon III was a kinder, gentler autocrat – fairly liberal as emperors go. Yet in typical Bonaparte style, he wasted military resources attempting ill-advised land grabs, leaving France vulnerable. Prussian forces entered France in September 1870, captured Napoleon III, and ended his empire.
Republic III: OK, This One’s a Keeper
The armistice that ended the Franco-Prussian War mandated the Third Republic. In 1875, the National Assembly drafted a new constitution, setting up a bicameral legislature with a president and cabinet. The government that resulted survived for 70 years – a French republican record – on a policy of peace, prosperity, and plenty of colonies.
In May 1940, however, Nazi Germany invaded France. By June, France was in ruins, and the government was on the run. In a remarkable last-ditch effort to keep the French afloat, Winston Churchill proposed that Britain and France merge into a single nation. The response was a resounding “no thanks.” The French government fled, and the Germans occupied most of the country, setting up a puppet government at Vichy to rule the rest.
Republic IV: Pardon Our Mess While We Redecorate
Think of the Fourth Republic as a political hiccup. During the war, General Charles de Gaulle led both the French resistance and France’s government-in-exile. With the liberation of Paris in August 1944, de Gaulle’s provisional government gained nearly unchallenged authority. De Gaulle spent the next year mopping up, then called for an assembly to create a new republic, preferably with a strong executive position tailor-made for him.
He resigned his post as leader of the provisional government in 1946, hoping that the public would call him back to service. The public didn’t quite catch on, and the assembly selected a socialist as provisional president. De Gaulle spent the next 13 years grousing about the Fourth Republic from his country estate.
Republic V: De Gaulle’s Call
Colonial insurgencies in Vietnam and Algeria sapped the Fourth Republic’s strength. In 1958, a frustrated National Assembly, fearing a military coup, voted to give de Gaulle full powers for a six-month term, ending the Fourth Republic. De Gaulle quickly supervised the drafting of a new constitution, this time making sure it gave him a muscular presidency.
France elected de Gaulle to the strengthened presidential post in 1958, and the Fifth Republic began. De Gaulle got France out of the colony business, negotiating Algeria’s independence in 1962 and making similar exits from other African countries. De Gaulle was re-elected in 1965, but ousted himself again in 1969 following the defeat of referendums he supported. Presidential power continued in Gaullist hands, however, until 1981, when socialist FranÃ?§ois Mitterand took command. Gaullist Jacques Chirac won election in 1995, ending 14 years of socialist power.
