Since 1914, the French state has faced a succession of daunting and at times almost insurmountable crises. The turbulent decades from 1914 to 1969 witnessed near-defeat in 1914, economic and political crisis in 1926, radical political polarization in the 1930s, military conquest in 1940, the deep division of France during the Nazi Occupation, political reconstruction after 1944, de-colonization (with threatening civil war provoked by the Algerian crisis), and dramatic postwar modernization. However, this tumultuous period was not marked just by crises but also by tremendous change. Economic, social and political ‘modernization’ transformed France in the twentieth century, restoring its confidence and its influence as a leader in global economic and political affairs. This combination of crises and renewal has received surprisingly little attention in recent years.
The present collection show-cases significant new scholarship, reflecting greater access to French archival sources, and focuses on the role of crises in fostering modernization in areas covering politics, economics, women, diplomacy and war.
Table of Content
Chapter 1. Crisis and Renewal in France Since the First World War
K. Mouré and M.S. Alexander
Chapter 2. John Cairns and the Historiography of Great Britain and the Fall of France: Il n’y que le premier pas qui coute
P.M.H. Bell
Chapter 3. Poincaré-la-peur: France and the Ruhr Crisis of 1923
S. Marks
Chapter 4. Women’s Right and the ‘Rights of Man’
W.D. Irvine
Chapter 5. The Gold Standard Illusion: France and the Gold Standard in an Era of Currency Instability, 1914-1939
K. Mouré
Chapter 6. The Cagoule Plot, 1936-1937
J. Blatt
Chapter 7. Retreat or Resistance: Strategic Reappraisal and the Crisis of French Power in Eastern Europe, September 1938 to August 1939
Y. Imlay
Chapter 8. Nous allons vers les Monastères: French Pacifism and the Crisis of the Second World War
N. Ingram
Chapter 9. Crisis and Change in the Juvenile Justice System, 1934-1945
S. Fishman
Chapter 10. The Liberation of France as a Moment of State-Making
H. Chapman
Chapter 11. Modernizing French Politics in the Fourth Republic: Women in the Movement républicain populaire, 1944-1958
P. Prestwich
Chapter 12. Crisis and Modernization in the Fourth French Republic: From Suez to Rome
W.I. Hitchcock
Chapter 13. Seeking France’s ‘Lost Soldiers’: Refelections on the French Military Crisis in Algeria
M.S. Alexander
Chapter 14. Une journée portée disparue: The Paris Massacre of 1961 and Memory
J. House and N. Mac Master
Notes on Contributors
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Martin S. Alexander is Professor of International Politics at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK
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