Interwar France

Interwar France
1918–1939
6 February 1934 crisis also known as the Veterans' Riot
Location	France
Including	Années folles The Great Depression
President(s)	Raymond Poincaré Paul Deschanel Alexandre Millerand Gaston Doumergue Paul Doumer Albert Lebrun
Prime Minister(s)	Georges Clemenceau Alexandre Millerand Georges Leygues Aristide Briand Raymond Poincaré Frédéric François-Marsal Édouard Herriot Paul Painlevé André Tardieu Camille Chautemps Théodore Steeg Pierre Laval Joseph Paul-Boncour Édouard Daladier Albert Sarraut Pierre-Étienne Flandin Fernand Bouisson Léon Blum
Chronology World War I, Belle Époque World War II

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Ancient Prehistory   Greek colonies 600 BC – 49 BC Celtic Gaul   until 50 BC Roman Gaul 50 BC – 486 AD
Middle Ages Francia and the Frankish settlement   Merovingians 481–751 Carolingians 751–987     West Francia 843–987 Kingdom of France 987–1792     Direct Capetians 987–1328     Valois 1328–1498
Early modern Ancien Régime Valois-Orléans kings 1498–1515 Valois-Angoulême kings 1515–1589 Bourbon kings 1589–1792
Long 19th century French Revolution 1789–1799 Kingdom of France 1791–1792 First Republic 1792–1804 First Empire 1804–1814 Restoration 1814–1830 July Monarchy 1830–1848 Second Republic 1848–1852 Second Empire 1852–1870 Third Republic 1870–1940     Belle Époque 1871–1914
20th century Third Republic 1870–1940     Interwar period 1919–1939         Années folles 1920–1929 Free France Vichy France 1940–1944 Provisional Republic 1944–1946 Fourth Republic 1946–1958 Fifth Republic 1958–present
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Interwar France covers the political, economic, diplomatic, cultural and social history of France from 1918 to 1939. France suffered heavily during World War I in terms of lives lost, disabled veterans and ruined agricultural and industrial areas occupied by Germany as well as heavy borrowing from the United States, Britain, and the French people. However, postwar reconstruction was rapid, and the long history of political warfare along religious lines of the time was ended.

Parisian culture was world-famous in the 1920s, with expatriate artists, musicians and writers from across the globe contributing their cosmopolitanism, such as jazz music, and the French empire was in flourishing condition, especially in North Africa, and in sub-Saharan Africa. Although the official goal was complete assimilation, few colonial subjects were actually assimilated.

Major concerns were forcing Germany to pay for the war damage by reparations payments and guaranteeing that Germany, with its much larger population, would never be a military threat in the future. Efforts to set up military alliances worked poorly. Relations remained very tense with Germany until 1924, when they stabilized thanks to large American bank loans. However, after 1929 the German economy was very badly hit by the Great Depression, and its political scene descended into chaos and violence. The Nazis under Hitler took control in early 1933 and aggressively rearmed. Paris was bitterly divided between pacifism and rearmament, so it supported London's efforts to appease Hitler.

French domestic politics became increasingly chaotic and grim after 1932, moving back and forth between right and left, without clear goals in mind. The economy finally succumbed to the Great Depression by 1932 and did not recover. The popular mood turned very sour and focused its wrath on the corruption and scandals in high government places. There was a growing threat of politicized right-wing violence in the streets of Paris, but the numerous right-wing groupings were unable to forge a political coalition.

On the left, the Popular Front pulled together Radicals (a centrist group), socialists and communists. The coalition stayed in power for 13 months from 1936 to 1937. After massive labor union strikes, it passed a series of reforms designed to help the working classes. The reforms were mostly failures, and the disheartened Popular Front collapsed on foreign policy issues.

War came when Hitler's Germany stunningly reached a détente with Stalin's Soviet Union in August 1939, and both countries invaded Poland In September 1939. France and Britain had pledged to defend Poland and so declared war on Germany.