*****France 1935 - 1940*****
France 1935 – 1940: President of France: Albert François Lebrun {Democratic Republican Alliance} from 1932 – 1940 before being succeeded by Philippe Pétain during Vichy France (When three fifths of France was under Axis jurisdiction)
Though all conclusive decisions went through the President of France, The Prime minister (also known as Président du Conseil des Ministres aka President of the council of ministers) was charged with forming policies, decrees and acts in accordance with the administrative court. ((So basically president was the figure head and the prime minister did all the work ^^))
At the beginning of the 1930’s, a great depression hit France weakening its economy and sending the country into a recession. The government refused to devalue the franc until 1936 where unrest in the French population (particularly in the 1934 riots), coupled with overwhelming debts, saw a government change to combat the problem. Though the recession was mild and didn’t invoke a bank crisis, spending within the country decreased with living costs increasing. This affected a small minority of the population (mainly working class families) though crippled the French economy until a slight increase in economic development shined through in 1938.
1935
Prime Ministers: Pierre-Étienne Flandin {Democratic Alliance} until 1st June 1935, succeeded by Fernand Bouisson {Republican-Socialist Party} for a whole 6 days before Pierre Laval {Independent (conservative)} took over on the 7th June.
January 7: Pierre Laval (French Foreign Minister) signed the Franco-Italian Agreement with Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini in Rome in an act to receive Italian support should Germany invade.
May 2: Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance was signed in Paris, another effort by Laval to ensure support for France should it fall prey to an unprovoked attack.
June 15/16: British racing drivers Johnny Hindmarsh and Luis Fontés won the 13th 24 hour Le Mans race.
July 4 – 28th: Belgian Romain Maes won the 29th Tour de France in 141 hours and 32 minutes, covering 4,338 km (2,696 mi).
December 13: The Hoare – Laval pact was leaked by French newspapers. The pact itself saw British Foreign secretary Samuel Hoare and French Prime minister Pierre Laval wanting to end the conflict between Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) and Italy by dividing the country up and giving Italy economical influence in the southern part of the country.
French Cinema: Les Beaux Jours, Carnival in Flanders, Princess Tam Tam and Toni all released.
1936
Prime Minister: Pierre Laval {Independent (conservative)} until 24 January; Albert Sarraut {Radical Socialist Party} until 4 June; Léon Blum {French Section of the Workers' International (Popular Front)}.
25 March - Second London Naval Treaty is signed by the governments of France, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
26 April - Legislative Election held.
3 May - Legislative Election held, resulting in the election of the Popular Front.
26 May - A general strike is initiated in Le Havre.
7 June - Matignon Agreements are signed between the CGPF employers trade union confederation, the CGT trade union and the French state during a general strike initiated after the election of the Popular Front.
7 July - Tour de France begins.
2 August - Tour de France ends, won by Sylvère Maes of Belgium.
French Cinema: Cesar, The Crime of Monsieur Lange, The Lower Depths, Mayerling and Parisian Life all released.
1937
Prime Minister: Léon Blum {French Section of the Workers' International (Popular Front)} until 22 June; Camille Chautemps {Radical Socialist Party
(Popular Front)}
1 May - General strike in Paris.
21 June - Coalition government of Léon Blum resigns.
30 June - Tour de France begins.
25 July - Tour de France ends, won by Roger Lapébie.
French Cinema: Arsene Lupin, Detective, Bizarre, Bizarre, Grand Illusion, Gribouille, Pépé le Moko and Yoshiwaraall released
1938
Prime Minister: Camille Chautemps {Radical Socialist Party (Popular Front)} until 13 March; Léon Blum {French Section of the Workers' International (Popular Front)} until 19 April; Édouard Daladier {Radical Socialist Party}.
10 April - Édouard Daladier becomes prime minister of France.
30 September - Munich Agreement is signed by Germany, France, Britain, and Italy permitting German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland.
4 June - 1938 FIFA World Cup begins, hosted by France.
19 June - World Cup ends, won by Italy.
5 July - Tour de France begins.
31 July - Tour de France ends, won by Gino Bartali of Italy.
13 May - Charles Édouard Guillaume, physicist, awarded Nobel Prize in Physics in 1920 (born 1861).
French Cinema: Adrienne Lecouvreur, The Baker's Wife, La Bête humaine, Gibraltar, Hôtel du Nord, J'accuse!, Mollenard, Port of Shadows all released.
1939
Prime Minister: Édouard Daladier {Radical Socialist Party}
27 February - United Kingdom and France recognize Franco's government in Spain.
17 June - Last public guillotining in France - murderer Eugen Weidmann.
3 September - United Kingdom, France, New Zealand and Australia declare war on Germany.
10 July - Tour de France begins.
30 July - Tour de France ends, won by Sylvère Maes of Belgium.
French Cinema: Berlingot and Company, Le Dernier Tournant, Le Jour se lève, The Rules of the Game, La Loi du nord and Louise all released.
1940
Prime Minister: Édouard Daladier {Radical Socialist Party} until 21 March; Paul Reynaud {Democratic Alliance} until 16 June; Philippe Pétain {Military}
21 March - Édouard Daladier resigns as Prime Minister. French cabinet shuffles and Daladier is replaced by Paul Reynaud.
10 May - Battle of France begins - German forces invade Low Countries.
13 May - German armies open 60-mile wide breach in Maginot Line at Sedan.
18 May - Marshal Philippe Pétain named vice-premier of France.
19 May - General Maxime Weygand replaces Maurice Gamelin as commander-in-chief of all French forces.
20 May - German forces, under General Erwin Rommel, reach the English Channel.
26 May - Dunkirk evacuation of British Expeditionary Force starts.
3 June - Paris is bombed by the Luftwaffe for the first time.
4 June - Dunkirk evacuation ends - British forces complete evacuating 300,000 troops.
10 June - Italy declares war on France and the United Kingdom.
10 June - French government flees to Tours.
12 June - 13,000 British and French troops surrender to Field Marshal Erwin Rommel at St. Valery-en-Caux.
13 June - Paris is declared an open city.
14 June - French government flees to Bordeaux.
14 June - Paris falls under German occupation and German troops march past the Arc de Triomphe, following exactly the same route that the victorious French troops coming home from the First World war, 22 years previously.
15 June - Verdun falls to German forces.
17 June - Philippe Pétain becomes Prime Minister of France and immediately asks Germany for peace terms.
17 June - Operation Ariel begins - Allied troops start to evacuate France, following Germany's takeover of Paris and most of the nation.
17 June - Luftwaffe Junkers 88 bomber sinks British ship RMS Lancastria, that was evacuating troops from near Saint-Nazaire, France. Death toll is over 2500. Wartime censorship prevents the story going public.
18 June - General Charles de Gaulle broadcasts from London, calling on all French people to continue the fight against Nazi Germany: "France has lost a battle. But France has not lost the war."
21 June - Vichy France and Germany sign armistice at Compiègne in the same wagon-lit railroad car used by Marshal Ferdinand Foch to accept the surrender of Germany in 1918.
23 June - Adolf Hitler surveys newly defeated Paris.
24 June - Vichy France signs armistice terms with Italy.
28 June - General Charles de Gaulle is officially recognized by Britain as "Leader of all Free Frenchmen, wherever they may be."
3 July - British naval units sink or seize ships of the French fleet anchored in the Algerian ports of Oran and Mers El Kébir.
4 July - Vichy France breaks off diplomatic relations with Britain.
10 July - Vichy France begins with a constitutional law where only 80 members of the parliament voted against.
12 September - Lascaux: 17,000-year-old cave paintings are discovered by a group of young Frenchmen hiking through Southern France. The paintings depict animals and date to the Stone Age.
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prime_Ministers_of_France#President_of_the_Government_of_National_Defense
Beaudry, P,. and Portier, F. (2002) The French Depression in the 1930s. Review of Economic Dynamics, (5) 73–99. or alternatively… http://fpj.portier.free.fr/pub/French%20Depression.pdf
Lebesque, Morvan (1960), Chroniques du Canard, Éditions J-J Pauvert
Written by Filius Pendragon.