Political developments (1918–1939)

List political developments in France 1918-1939

• Postwar instability

• Frequent governments

• Bloc National

• Cartel des Gauches

• Rise of right-wing leagues

• Popular Front

Describe post war instability

• 1.4 million soldiers died

• 4 million wounded

• created a “lost generation”

  => undermined national confidence and polarising politics.

Describe the frequent governments

• Between 1918–39, France had over 40 governments, and 20 prime ministers

• coalition politics under proportional representation led to instability.

Describe the time of right wing governments in France

Bloc National (1919–24)

• emphasised harsh Versailles reparations and anti-German stance

• Raymond Poincaré ordered the Ruhr occupation (1923) after German defaults (failing to pay reparations)

Describe the first instance of left wing governments in France

Cartel des Gauches (1924–26)

• The Radical Party (centralist) and Socialists (leftist)

• collapsed due to divisions and financial crisis

  • franc declined until it was worth only one-tenth of its prewar value

• fuelled conservative backlash

  • investors lost confidence in the franc and began selling francs for gold => expediting the decline

Describe the rise of right wing leagues

• Paramilitary-style groups like Action Française and Croix de Feu mobilised against the Republic

• culminated in violent riots on 6 February 1934 that killed 15 and injured 1,500, nearly toppling the government.

Describe the second instance of left wing governments in France

Popular Front 1936–38

• Coalition of Socialists (Léon Blum), Radicals, and Communists

• formed to defend democracy

• first government to include Communists

  • alarming conservatives and business elites.

List economic developments in France 1918-1939

• postwar costs

• industrial recovery

• Great Depression

• Financial instability

• Limited state intervention

Describe post war costs for France

• War left France with 30% of national wealth destroyed and huge debts, including loans from the US.

• Reparations were seen as vital but unreliable. (Germany)

Describe industrial recovery in France

• 1920s growth returned France to prewar production by 1929.

• However, reliance on small-scale family farms and fragmented industry left the economy less modernised than Germany or Britain.

Describe the effects of the Great Depression in France

• From 1931, unemployment reached 12%

  • lower than Germany but damaging for a country without a welfare safety net.

• 1931–35, prices fell by 40% devastating farmers and small businesses.

Describe financial instability

• The franc devalued in 1936 until it was only one tenth of its pre war value, after years of political paralysis.

• Blum’s Popular Front devalued currency to boost exports, but capital flight worsened the crisis.

Describe the response of governments to the economic issues

• Unlike Germany, France hesitated to adopt Keynesian measures.

• Weak governments avoided bold reforms, leaving unemployment and stagnation unresolved.

  • Édouard Herriot’s Radicals of the Cartel des Gauches supported minimal government intervention to maintain support amongst small businessmen and peasant farmers despite Socialists pushing for heavy taxation

  • In contrast, Raymond Poincaré was successful in  returning France to the gold standard, increasing indirect taxation and reducing government spending

List social developments that occurred in France 1918-1939

• Impact of WW1

• Demographic challenges

• Working class militancy

• Rural society

• Popular Front reforms

• Women

• Culture and politics

• Tensions/divisions

Describe the social impact of WW1

• France had one of Europe’s highest casualty rates.

  • 1.4 million war dead and 750,000 widows

• Veterans (anciens combattants) formed powerful lobbying groups, demanding pensions and shaping politics.

  • Union Fédérale and Croix de Feu

Describe the demographic challenges

• low birth rate meant France had a stagnant or shrinking population, in contrast to Germany and Italy.

  • ≈15 per 1,000 in the 1920s

• fed fears of national decline and reduced available manpower for rearmament.

Describe the working-class militancy

• Strikes surged in 1919–20, with railway and metalworkers demanding better wages.

• During the Depression, the CGT union (Confédération générale du travail) expanded its influence, organising general strikes in 1936 that mobilised 2 million workers.

Describe rural society

• Smallholding peasants dominated; by the 1930s

  • 50% of French people still lived in rural areas.

• Faced falling agricultural prices prompting rural radicalisation.

  • prices declined by 40% during the Depression

Describe Popular Front reforms

Popular Front reforms (1936–37):

• The Matignon Accords

  • collective bargaining

  • 40-hour work week

  • 2 weeks’ paid holiday (a first for French workers) => Summer 1936 saw thousands of workers holidaying for the first time, creating powerful cultural symbolism of social progress.

• Wages rose 7–15%

• trade union membership doubled to 5 million.

Describe the position of French women in society

• Despite suffrage elsewhere in Europe, French women were denied the vote until 1944.

• worked mainly in textiles, teaching, and agriculture

  • the Depression saw women scapegoated for “taking men’s jobs.”

Describe culture and politics of the time

• Intellectuals like Sartre, Malraux, and Aragon linked culture to politics, often supporting the left.

  • Dada: anti war

  • surrealism: anti establishment

• Cinema (Jean Renoir’s La Grande Illusion, 1937) reflected anti-war sentiment.

• Brought in lots of American artists to Paris = cultural hub

Describe political tensions amongst everyday French people

• Conservatives denounced Popular Front reforms as class warfare

• workers believed reforms did not go far enough

  => polarisation destabilised the Republic further.

List reasons for instability and authoritarian threat in France 1918-1939

• political fragmentation

• economic fragility

• right wing leagues

• fear of fascism

• Popular Front collapse

• Appeasement divisions

• Military and security concerns

• authoritarian temptation

Describe political fragmentation in reference to instability and authoritarian threat

Oversaturation of major parties prodyced unstable coalition governments

• more than a dozen significant parties (Radicals, Socialists, Communists, monarchists, far-right leagues)

• over 40 between 1918–39)

Describe economic fragility in reference to instability and authoritarian threat

• Small-scale, family-owned farms and businesses dominated => France less modernised than Germany.

• During the Depression, GDP fell 20% (1930–35)

• deflation harmed farmers and shopkeepers, traditionally pro-Republican groups

Describe right wing leagues in reference to instability and authoritarian threat

• The Croix de Feu (led by Colonel de la Rocque) had 500,000 members by 1934

• Action Française pushed monarchism

• Riots on 6 Feb 1934 left 15 dead, 1,500 injured, and nearly overthrew the government.

Describe fear of fascism in reference to instability and authoritarian threat

• Conservatives admired Mussolini and Hitler => leagues adopted uniforms, salutes, and paramilitary marches

• growing power threatened parliamentary democracy.

Describe the Popular Front collapse in reference to instability and authoritarian threat

• The coalition fractured by 1937

  • Radicals feared Communists

  • business elites resisted reforms

  • Blum faced capital flight (100 billion francs left France in 1936).

• Blum resigned in June 1937

  • workers disillusioned and conservatives emboldened.

capital flight: loss of assets from the country as a result of reduced confidence in the domestic economy

Describe the appeasement division in reference to instability and authoritarian threat

• Foreign policy deepened instability

  • conservatives backed appeasement at Munich (1938)

  • the left condemned it as betrayal.

• undermined faith in leadership just as Germany rearmed.

Describe military and security concerns in reference to instability and authoritarian threat

• France’s slow rearmament weakened confidence.

  • partly due to 40-hour work week limits

• By 1939, France was militarily dependent on Britain

  • fuelling internal doubts about survival.

Describe authoritarian temptation in reference to instability and authoritarian threat

• With democracy paralysed, many on the right increasingly looked to authoritarian “strong man” solutions

• a trend realised under Phillippe Pétain in 1940 (WW2 Vichy France strategy)