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THE NAZI INTERLUDE AND THE FOURTH REPUBLIC |
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LINK TO... NAZI INTERLUDE, 4TH REPUBLIC |
  Between 1940 and 1944 France was theoretically under Nazi rule. Actually the Nazis left the French under the control of the Vichy government, headed by Marshal Petain, an autocratic man who supported Nazi policies and followed German orders. However, the government never quite controlled the French Resistance, an organized force that challenged Vichy France largely through its disloyalty to the regime, as well as by its guerilla-style attacks launched in many parts of the country. France was liberated by the Allied armies in 1944, and the hero of the French Liberation forces, Charles De Gaulle, headed the provisional government that replaced the Nazis. However, the Fourth Republic, founded in 1944, proved disappointing to De Gaulle, with its emphasis on Parliamentary government and its lack of a strong executive. De Gaulle resigned as head of the provisional government in 1946 and retired to his country house while the Fourth Republic languished. The National Assembly was deadlocked with splits among several antagonistic political parties, and a parliamentary majority was impossible. Cabinets had to include coalitions of several parties, and virtually any issue could split the cabinet apart, and a pattern emerged in which governments were constantly forced to resign. Find out more about Vichy France... 
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