Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Libres (Free French Forces), a military force dedicated to fighting the Germans alongside
the Allies.
The liberation of France started with the Allied landings in Normandy on D-Day (Jour-J
in French): 6 June 1944. On 15 August that same year, Allied forces also landed in southern
France. After a brief insurrection by the Resistance and general strikes by the metro and po-
lice, Paris was liberated on 25 August by an Allied force spearheaded by Free French units -
these units were sent in ahead of the Americans so that the French would have the honour of
liberating the capital the following day. Hitler, who visited Paris in June 1940 and loved it,
demanded that the city be burned towards the end of the war. It was an order that, thank-
fully, was not obeyed.
Most historians agree that the overall military effectiveness of the Resistance was limited.
But it served as an enormous boost to French morale and has impacted French literature
and cinema right up till today.
Postwar Instability
De Gaulle returned to Paris and established a provisional government. But in January 1946
he resigned as president, wrongly believing the move would provoke a popular outcry for
his return. A few months later, a new constitution was approved by referendum. De Gaulle
formed his own party (Rassemblement du Peuple Français) and spent the next 13 years in
opposition.
The Fourth Republic saw a series of unstable coalition cabinets following one after anoth-
er with bewildering speed (on average, one every six months), and economic recovery,
helped immeasurably by massive American aid. France's disastrous defeat in Vietnam in
1954 ended its colonial supremacy in Southeast Asia. France also tried to suppress an upris-
ing by Arab nationalists in Algeria, where more than a million French settlers lived.
The Fourth Republic came to an end in 1958, when extreme right-wingers, furious at
what they saw as defeatism as opposed to tough action in dealing with the uprising in Alger-
ia, began conspiring in an effort to overthrow the government. De Gaulle was brought back
to power to prevent a military coup and possible civil war. He drafted a new constitution
that handed considerable powers to the president, at the expense of the National Assembly.
The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Secfeatures the swashbuckling adventures
of Adèle in early-20th-century Paris. Originally a graphic novel series created by Tardi, it
was released as a film in 2010.
 
Search WWH ::




Custom Search