History Guide: France 1935-1955

[Anneka Ivanova]

*****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.

[Anneka Ivanova]

France 1941 – 1945: The office of President of the French Republic did not exist from 1940 until 1947
Chief of State: Philippe Pétain (11 July 1940 – 19 August 1944)
Chairman of the Provisional Government: Brigadier General Charles de Gaulle (20 August 1944 – 20 January 1946)


1941

3 February: The Nazis forcibly restore Pierre Laval to office in occupied Vichy, France
9 June: Battle of the Litani River
13 June: Battle of Jezzine
15 June: Battle of Kissoué begins
17 June: Battle of Kissoué ends with Allied victory
18 June: Battle of Damascus begins
21 June: Battle of Damascus ends, with the Allies taking Damascus
3 July: Battle of Deir ez-Zor. Allied victory over Vichy French
14 July: Vichy France signs armistice terms ending all fighting in Syria and Lebanon
22 August: German Occupation Authority announces that anyone found either working for or aiding the Free French will be sentenced to death
27 August: Pierre Laval is shot in an assassination attempt at Versailles
24 November: The United States grants Lend-Lease to the Free French
12 December: United States seizes French ship Normandie

Sports: Coupe de France Football Final won by Girondins ASP
Cinema: Remorques, The Tale of the Fox
 
1942

19 February: Riom Trial begins, attempt by Vichy France regime to prove that the leaders of the French Third Republic had been responsible for France's defeat by Germany in 1940
5 May: Battle of Madagascar begins, Allied campaign to capture Vichy French-controlled Madagascar
16 July: Vel' d'Hiv Roundup, the mass arrest of 13,152 Jews who are held at the Winter Velodrome in Paris and Drancy internment camp before deportation to Auschwitz
18 September: 116 people are executed in retaliation for recent attacks on German soldiers
19 August: Unsuccessful Dieppe Raid is carried out by Allied forces
24 September: Andrée Borrel and Lise de Baissac became the first female SOE agents to be parachuted into occupied France
10 November: In violation of a 1940 armistice, Germany invades Vichy France following French Admiral François Darlan agreement to an armistice with the Allies in North Africa
27 November: Scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon takes place, ordered by the Admiralty of Vichy France to avoid capture by Nazi German forces
24 December: Admiral Darlan, the former Vichy leader who had switched over to the Allies, assassinated in Algiers

Cinema: Miss Bonaparte, The Murderer Lives at Number 21, Les Visiteurs du soir

1943

22 January: Battle of Marseille begins. Nazis, assisted by French police, organized a raid to arrest Jewish people
24 January: Battle of Marseille ends with 30,000 people expelled from their neighborhood and 2,000 Jews eventually sent to the extermination camps
21 May: Riom Trial ends
21 October: Lucie Aubrac and others in her French Resistance cell liberate Raymond Aubrac from Gestapo imprisonment
22 November: Lebanon gains independence from France

Sports: The 41st edition of the Paris-Roubaix bicycle race resumes following three years of cancellations due to war. Marcel Kint (BEL) wins the race in 6h 01' 32".
Cinema: Les Anges du Peche, Le Corbeau, L'Éternel Retour, The Phantom Baron, Le voyageur de la Toussaint

1944

15 March: The National Council of the French Resistance approves the Resistance programme
1 June: BBC transmits a coded message to underground resistance fighters in France warning that the invasion of Europe is imminent
2 June: The provisional French government is established
5 June: More than 1000 British bombers drop 5000 tons of bombs on German gun batteries on the Normandy coast in preparation for D-Day
6 June: Battle of Normandy begins - Operation Overlord, code named D-Day, commences with the landing of 155,000 Allied troops on the beaches of Normandy
7 June: Bayeux liberated by British troops
10 June: 642 men, women and children are killed in the Oradour-sur-Glane Massacre
9 July: British and Canadian forces capture Caen
12 August: World's first undersea oil pipeline laid, between England and France in Operation Pluto
19 August: Paris rises against German occupation with the help of Allied troops
25 August: Surrender of occupying German garrison in Paris
11 September: Northern and Southern France invasion forces link up near Dijon
31 October: Mass murderer Marcel Petiot is apprehended in Paris Métro station

Cinema: L' Amour maternel chez les animaux, L' Ange de la nuit, L' Aventure est au coin de la rue, Bonsoir mesdames, bonsoir messieurs


1945

6 February: Writer Robert Brasillach executed for collaboration with the Germans
7 May: General Alfred Jodl signs unconditional surrender terms at Rheims, ending Germany's participation in the war
8 May: World War II ends in Europe
8 May–29 May: In Algeria, French troops kill an estimated 6,000 Algerian citizens in the Sétif massacre
23 July: Marshal Philippe Pétain, who headed the Vichy government during World War II, goes on trial, charged with treason
31 July: Pierre Laval, fugitive former leader of Vichy France, surrenders to Allied soldiers in Austria
15 October: Former premier of Vichy France, Pierre Laval, is executed by firing squad for treason
21 October: Legislative Election held
13 November: Charles de Gaulle elected head of a French provisional government

Cinema: Boule de suif, Children of Paradise, Cyrano de Bergerac, Les dames du Bois de Boulogne

For more information, see this and thiswebsite.

[Anneka Ivanova]

France 1946 – 1950: The office of President of the French Republic did not exist from 1940 until 1947
Chairman of the Provisional Government: Brigadier General Charles de Gaulle (20 August 1944 – 20 January 1946)
Félix Gouin (26 January 1946 – 24 June 1946)
Georges Bidault (24 June 1946 – 28 November 1946)
Vincent Auriol (interim) (28 November 1946 – 16 December 1946)
Léon Blum (16 December 1946 – 16 January 1947)
President of the French Republic: Vincent Auriol (16 January 1947 - 16 January 1954)


1946

20 January: Charles de Gaulle resigns as President of France
6 March: Ho Chi Minh signs an agreement with France which recognizes Vietnam as an autonomous state in the Indochinese Federation and the French Union
7 April: Syria's independence from France is officially recognised
2 June: Legislative Election held.
5 July: Bikinis go on sale in Paris.
13 October: Constitutional Referendum held and constitution approved, creating the French Fourth Republic
24 December: French Fourth Republic founded

Cinema: La Bataille du rail, Beauty and the Beast, Fantômas, La Symphonie pastorale
 
1947

16 January: Vincent Auriol is inaugurated as President of France
10 February: Paris peace treaties are signed between the World War II Allies and Italy, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Finland
28 February: United States gives France a military base in Casablanca
27 August: When the French government lowers the bread ration to 200 grams, it causes riots in Verdun and Le Mans
10 November: The arrest of four steel workers in Marseille begins a communist riot that spreads to Paris
27 November: In Paris, police occupy the editorial offices of communist newspapers
22 December: Operation Lea ends with a tactical success for the French forces

Sports: On 25 June Tour de France begins. It ends on 20 July, won by Jean Robic.

Cinema: The Crab with the Golden Claws, Devil in the Flesh, Monsieur Vincent, Quai des Orfèvres, The Royalists

1948

17 March: Treaty of Brussels, is signed by Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, aimed mainly at defending against possible German rearmament
5 September: Robert Schuman becomes Prime Minister of France.

Sports: On 30 June, Tour de France begins. It ends on 25 July, won by Gino Bartali of Italy.
Cinema: Les Parents terribles, Dédée d'Anvers, L'aigle à deux têtes, Le Diable boiteux

1949

August 1949: The 1949 Landes Forest wildfire, burning 50.000 ha of forest land and killing 82 people
27 October: An airliner flying from Paris to New York crashes in the Azores island of São Miguel. Among the victims were violinist Ginette Neveu and boxer Marcel Cerdan

Sports: On 30 June,Tour de France begins. It ends on 21 July, won by Fausto Coppi of Italy.

Cinema: Au grand balcon, Jour de fête, Une si jolie petite plage, Le Silence de la mer, The Walls of Malapaga, Le Secret de Mayerling


1950

11 February: Two Vietcong battalions attack a French base in French Indochina.
12 February: Pro-communist riots in Paris.
9 April: Notre-Dame Affair, Lettrist movement anti-catholic intervention.
15 September-18 September: Battle of Dong Khe, French defeat in First Indochina War.
30 September: Battle of Route Coloniale 4 begins.
18 October: Battle of Route Coloniale 4 ends in decisive victory for the Viet Minh

Sports: On 13 July, Tour de France begins. It ends on 7 August, won by Ferdi Kübler of Switzerland.
Cinema: La Beauté du diable, Bibi Fricotin, Le Château de verre, La dame de chez Maxim's, Les Enfants terribles, Orpheus

For more information, see this and thiswebsite.

[Anneka Ivanova]

France 1951 – 1955:
President of the French Republic:
Vincent Auriol (16 January 1947 - 16 January 1954)
René Coty (16 January 1954 - 8 January 1959)

1951

13 January: Battle of Vinh Yen begins in Vietnam.
17 January: Battle of Vinh Yen ends in decisive defeat for the Viet Minh forces.
23 March: Battle of Mao Khe begins.
28 March: Battle of Mao Khe ends in the defeat of Viet Minh forces.
18 April : Treaty of Paris adopted, establishing European Coal and Steel Community.
17 June: Legislative Election is held to elect the second National Assembly of the Fourth Republic.
11 August: René Pleven becomes Prime Minister of France.
10 November: Battle of Hoa Binh begins.
December: Engagements in the Battle of Hoa Binh continue

Sports: On 4 July, the Tour de France begins, it is won by Hugo Koblet of Switzerland. The 1951 French rugby league tour of Australia and New Zealand is conducted.
Cinema: Diary of a Country Priest, The Case of Doctor Galloy, La Poison, The Night is My Kingdom, Olivia
 
1952

25 February: Battle of Hoa Binh ends in defeat for French forces by the Viet Minh in Vietnam.
1 June: Roman Catholic church bans books of André Gide
1 October: Operation Bretagne begins in Vietnam.
19 October: Alain Bombard begins to sail from Canary Islands to Barbados in 65 days; he reaches them 23 December.
29 October: Operation Lorraine begins.
October: Battle of Na San begins.
8 November: Operation Lorraine ends with no decisive result.
2 December: Battle of Na San ends in French victory

Sports: On 25 June Tour de France begins. It ends on 19 July, won by Fausto Coppi of Italy.

Cinema: Adorable Creatures, Beauties of the Night, La Bergère et le ramoneur, Dans la vie tout s'arrange, The Golden Coach, Imperial Violets, Red Shirts

1953


4 January: Operation Bretagne ends, with French victory over the Viet Minh in Vietnam.
24 March: Death of Paul Couturier, architect of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
9 May: France agrees to the provisional independence of Cambodia with the king Norodom Sihanouk.
5 July: First meeting of the assembly of the European Economic Community in Strasbourg.
17 July: Miss France Christiane Martel wins Miss Universe 1953
28 July: Operation Camargue, further French military action against the Viet Minh, begins.
10 August: Operation Camargue ends.
13 August: 4 million workers go on strike in France to protest against austerity measures.
25 August: General strike ends in France.
9 November: Cambodia becomes independent from France.
20 November: Operation Castor, airborne operation to establish a fortified airhead in Điện Biên Province, starts.
22 November: Operation Castor ends.


Sports: On 3 July, Tour de France begins. It ends on 27 July, won by Louison Bobet.
Cinema: Act of Love, Boum sur Paris, The Cucuroux Family, The Fighting Drummer, His Father's Portrait, Monsieur Hulot's Holiday, The Wages of Fear

1954

25 January: The foreign ministers of the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union meet at the Berlin Conference.
13 March: Battle of Dien Bien Phu begins in Vietnam.
23 March: In Vietnam, the Viet Minh capture the main airstrip of Dien Bien Phu - French forces are partially isolated.
29 March: C-47 with French nurse Genevieve de Galard on board is incapacitated on Dien Bien Phu runway.
7 May: Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends in defeat for French forces.
18 June: Pierre Mendès-France becomes prime minister of France.
24 June: Battle of Mang Yang Pass begins, the last official battle of the First Indochina War.
17 July: Battle of Mang Yang Pass ends in defeat for French forces.
20 July: Battlefield ceasefire announced.
21 July: The Geneva Conference partitions Vietnam into North Vietnam and South Vietnam.
1 August: Armistice effected, sealing French defeat.
31 October: The Algerian National Liberation Front begins a revolt against French rule.
1 November: The FLN attacks Representative and public buildings of the France colonial power

Sports: On 8 July,Tour de France begins. It ends on 1 August, won by Louison Bobet.

Cinema: Ah! Les belles bacchantes, Before the Deluge, Le Grand Jeu, French Cancan, Sang et lumières, The Unfrocked One


1955

28 March: SNCF sets a new world rail speed record of 331 km/h using electric traction.
5 May: Bonn–Paris conventions come into force, putting an end to the Allied occupation of West Germany.
11 June: 1955 Le Mans disaster. Driver Pierre Levegh and 82 spectators killed in a crash during the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans race.
25 June: Notre Dame du Haut in Ronchamp, designed by Le Corbusier, is dedicated.
28 July: The first Interlingua congress in Tours, France, leads to the founding of the Union Mundial pro Interlingua.
15 September: Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita is published in Paris by Olympia Press
6 October: The Citroen DS, a large saloon car, is launched at the Paris Motor Show

Sports: On 7 July, Tour de France begins. It ends on 30 July, won by Louison Bobet
Cinema: Black Dossier, Les Diaboliques, The Grand Maneuver, Lady Chatterley's Lover, Napoléon, Razzia sur la chnouf

For more information, see this and thiswebsite.