1.
Prime Minister of France
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The French Prime Minister in the Fifth Republic is the head of government and of the Council of Ministers of France. During the Third and Fourth Republics, the head of government position was called President of the Council of Ministers, the Prime Minister proposes a list of ministers to the President of the Republic. Decrees and decisions of the Prime Minister, like almost all decisions, are subject to the oversight of the administrative court system. Few decrees are taken after advice from the Council of State, all prime ministers defend the programs of their ministry, and make budgetary choices. The extent to which those decisions lie with the Prime Minister or President depends upon whether they are of the same party, manuel Valls was appointed to lead the government in a cabinet reshuffle in March 2014, after the ruling Socialists suffered a bruising defeat in local elections. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President of the Republic, the President can choose whomever they want. On the other hand, because the National Assembly does have the power to force the resignation of the government, for example, right after the legislative election of 1986, President François Mitterrand appointed Jacques Chirac prime minister. Chirac was a member of the RPR and an opponent of Mitterrand. Despite the fact that Mitterrands own Socialist Party was the largest party in the Assembly, the RPR had an alliance with the UDF, which gave them a majority. Such a situation, where the President is forced to work with a minister who is an opponent, is called a cohabitation. So far, Édith Cresson is the woman to have ever held the position of prime minister. Aristide Briand holds the record for most nomination as Prime Minister with 11 between 1909 and 1929 with some terms as short as 26 days, other members of Government are appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister can engage the responsibility of his or her Government before the National Assembly and this process consists of placing a bill before the Assembly, and either the Assembly overthrows the Government, or the bill is passed automatically. In addition to ensuring that the Government still has support in the House, the Prime Minister may also submit a bill that has not been yet signed into law to the Constitutional Council. Before he is allowed to dissolve the Assembly, the President has to consult the Prime Minister, the office of the prime minister, in its current form, dates from the formation of the French Third Republic. Under the French Constitutional Laws of 1875, he was imbued with the powers as his British counterpart. In practice, however, the minister was a fairly weak figure. Most notably, the legislature had the power to force the cabinet out of office by a vote of censure
2.
Robert Schuman
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Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Robert Schuman was a Luxembourg-born French statesman. Schuman was a Christian Democrat and an independent political thinker and activist, the 1964–1965 academic year at the College of Europe was named in his honour. Schuman was born in June 1886, in Clausen, Luxembourg, Schumans secondary schooling from 1896 to 1903 was at Athénée de Luxembourg, followed in 1904 by the Lycée impérial in Metz. In 1912 Schuman set up practice as a lawyer in Metz, when war broke out in 1914 he was called up for the auxiliary troops by the German army in Metz but excused from military service on health grounds. From 1915 to 1918 he served in the administration of the Boulay district, after the First World War, Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France and Schuman became a French citizen in 1919. Schuman became active in French politics, in 1919 he was first elected as député to parliament on a regional list, and later serving as the député for Thionville until 1958 with an interval during the war years. This harmonization of the law with the French law was called Lex Schuman. In 1940, because of his expertise on Germany, Schuman was called to become a member of Paul Reynauds wartime government and he kept that charge during the first Pétain government. On July 10, he voted to give power to Hitlers ally Marshal Pétain. Later that year, on September 14, he was arrested for acts of resistance and he was interrogated by the Gestapo but thanks to the intervention of a German lawyer, he was saved from being sent to Dachau. Transferred as a prisoner of Gauleiter Joseph Buerckel, he escaped in 1942. He addressed large conferences in the Free Zone explaining why the defeat of Germany was inevitable and this was at a time when Nazi Germany was at the peak of its power. The Germans then invaded the Free Zone, although his life was still at risk, he spoke to friends about a Franco-German and European reconciliation that must take place after the end of hostilities, as he had already done in 1939–40. After the war, Schuman rose to great prominence and he initially had difficulties because of his 1940 vote and his tenure as Pétains minister. The Defense minister Andre Diethelm stated that this Vichy product should be kicked out. As all those who had voted for Pétain, he was ineligible and he was stricken with Indignité nationale. On July 24,1945, Schuman wrote to General de Gaulle to ask him to intervene, de Gaulle answered favorably, and on September 15, Schuman regained his full civic rights, becoming able to again play an active role in French politics. He was Minister of Finance, then Prime Minister from 1947–1948, assuring parliamentary stability during a period of revolutionary strikes, in the last days of his first administration, his government proposed plans that later resulted in the Council of Europe and the European Community single market
3.
Radical Party (France)
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The Radical Party is a liberal and social-liberal political party in France. Following the legislative elections of 2012, the Radicals have six seats in the National Assembly, founded in 1901 as Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party, it is the oldest active political party in France. Coming from the Radical Republican tradition, the Radical Party upholds the principles of private property, the Radicals were originally a left-wing group, but with the emergence of the French Section of the Workers International in 1905, the Radicals shifted towards the political centre. In 1972 the left wing of the party split off to form the centre-left Radical Party of the Left, since then, the Radical Party has affiliated with the centre-right, becoming one of the founder parties of the Union for French Democracy in 1978. In 2002 the party split from the UDF and affiliated with the UMP, during the 7th term of the European Parliament, along with the UMP, three Radical MEPs sat with the European Peoples Party Group. During the 8th European Parliament, the single Radical MEP Dominique Riquet sits with the Alliance of Liberals, after the collapse of Napoleon Is empire in 1815, a reactionary Bourbon Restoration took place. The Republicans constituted the left-wing opposition, but they were also named Radicals and it was systematically used during the July Monarchy because the law forbade parties to define themselves as Republican. The conservative turn of the July Monarchy reinforced the audience of the radical opposition, some politicians such as Alexandre Ledru-Rollin and Louis Blanc formulated a Radical doctrine. They advocated democratic reforms as a vehicle of social progress and they defended the small private property against the socialist projects and the great landowners. The Radicals took a part in the 1848 Revolution and the foundation of the Second Republic. For a few months, Alexandre Ledru-Rollin was Interior Minister in the provisional government, however, the conservatives won the 1848 legislative election, the first election by universal suffrage. The repression of the June 1848 workers demonstrations disappointed the left-wing supporters of the new regime, Alexandre Ledru-Rollin obtained only 5% of votes at the December 1848 presidential election, which was won by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, who established the Second Empire after the 1851 coup. From opposition, Radicals criticized personal power and the attacks on freedoms, after the collapse of the Second Empire following the 1870 Franco-Prussian War, the Third Republic was proclaimed in September 1870. The Orléanist and Legitimist monarchists together won the first elections in February 1871, eventually the Republicans won the 1876 elections, leading to the firm establishment of the Republic. The Radicals defined the uncompromising part of the Republican Left, in this, Radicals formed the far-left opposition to the moderate Republican governments. In the 1890s, Léon Bourgeois renewed the Radical doctrine, including social reforms such as the income tax. After the Dreyfus Affair, Radicals joined forces with other Republicans, the first congress of the Radical Party was held in June 1901. Delegates represented 476 election committees,215 editorial boards of Radical newspapers,155 Masonic lodges, the existence of a national party immediately changed the political scene
4.
French Fourth Republic
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The French Fourth Republic was the republican government of France between 1946 and 1958, governed by the fourth republican constitution. It was in ways a revival of the Third Republic, which was in place before World War II. France adopted the constitution of the Fourth Republic on 13 October 1946, the greatest accomplishments of the Fourth Republic were in social reform and economic development. In 1946, the government established a social security system that assured unemployment insurance, disability and old-age pensions. Moreover, the government proved unable to make decisions regarding decolonization of the numerous remaining French colonies. After a series of crises, most importantly the Algerian crisis of 1958, wartime leader Charles de Gaulle returned from retirement to preside over a transitional administration which was empowered to design a new French constitution. The Fourth Republic was dissolved by a referendum on 5 October 1958 which established the modern-day Fifth Republic with a strengthened presidency. After the liberation of France in 1944, the Vichy government was dissolved, Charles de Gaulle led the GPRF from 1944 to 1946. Meanwhile, negotiations took place over the new constitution, which was to be put to a referendum. De Gaulle advocated a system of government, and criticized the reinstatement of what he pejoratively called the parties system. He resigned in January 1946 and was replaced by Félix Gouin, the new constituent assembly included 166 MRP deputies,153 PCF deputies and 128 SFIO deputies, giving the tripartite alliance an absolute majority. Georges Bidault replaced Félix Gouin as the head of government, a new draft of the Constitution was written, which this time proposed the establishment of a bicameral form of government. Léon Blum headed the GPRF from 1946 to 1947, after a new legislative election in June 1946, the Christian democrat Georges Bidault assumed leadership of the Cabinet. This culminated in the establishment in the year of the Fourth Republic. The President of the Republic was given a symbolic role, although he remained chief of the French Army. The wartime damage was extensive and expectations of large reparations from defeated Germany largely failed, the United States helped revive the French economy with the Marshall Plan, 1948-1951, whereby it gave France $2.3 billion with no repayment. France was the second largest recipient after Britain, the total of all American grants and credits to France from 1946 to 1953, amounted to $4.9 billion. The terms of the Marshall Plan required a modernization of French industrial and managerial systems, free trade, after the expulsion of the Communists from the governing coalition, France joined the Cold War against Stalin, as expressed by becoming a founding member of NATO in April 1949
5.
Honfleur
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Honfleur is a commune in the Calvados department in northwestern France. It is located on the bank of the estuary of the Seine across from le Havre. The Sainte-Catherine church, which has a bell tower separate from the building, is the largest church made out of wood in France. The first written record of Honfleur is a reference by Richard III, Duke of Normandy, by the middle of the 12th century, the city represented a significant transit point for goods from Rouen to England. The towns defences were strengthened by Charles V in order to protect the estuary of the Seine from attacks from the English and this was supported by the nearby port of Harfleur. However, Honfleur was taken and occupied by the English in 1357, when under French control, raiding parties often set out from the port to ransack the English coasts, including partially destroying the town of Sandwich, in Kent, England, in the 1450s. At the end of the Hundred Years War, Honfleur benefited from the boom in maritime trade until the end of the 18th century, trade was disturbed during the wars of religion in the 16th century. The port saw the departure of a number of explorers, in particular in 1503 of Binot Paulmierde Gonneville to the coasts of Brazil, in 1506, local man Jean Denis departed for Newfoundland island and the mouth of the Saint Lawrence. An expedition in 1608, organised by Samuel de Champlain, founded the city of Quebec in modern-day Canada, after 1608, Honfleur thrived on trade with Canada, the West Indies, the African coasts and the Azores. As a result, the town one of the five principal ports for the slave trade in France. During this time the growth of the town saw the demolition of its fortifications on the orders of Colbert. The wars of the French revolution and the First Empire, and in particular the continental blockade and it only partially recovered during the 19th century with the trading of wood from northern Europe. Trade was however limited by the silting up of the entrance to the port, the port however still functions today. Mentioned as Hunefleth in 1025, Hunefloth around 1062, Honneflo in 1198, Honflue in 1246, Honnefleu, traditional pronunciation, with the h strongly expirated, like in loch. It could come from a word of Old Norse origin flóð, compare Old English flōd, such a connection between two close place-names can be noted regularly in the Norman toponymy. They are, in any case, close places, Crémanfleur / Crémanville, Barfleur / Barbeville, the -ville element is almost always combined with a personal name. The similarity with the name of Bay of Húnaflói in Iceland may be coincidence, Honfleur is in the Norman département of Calvados, located on the southern bank of the estuary of the Seine, across from le Havre and very close to the exit of the Pont de Normandie. The town is at the extremity of the 40 km coastline called the Côte Fleurie
6.
Calvados (department)
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Calvados is a department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. It takes its name from a cluster of rocks off the English Channel coast, Calvados is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from a part of the province of Normandy. The name Orne inférieure was originally proposed for the department, one popular legend ascribes its etymology to the Salvador, a ship from the Spanish Armada that sank by the rocks near Arromanches-les-bains in 1588. It is more likely, however, that the name Calvados was derived from calva dorsa, meaning bare backs, after the allied victory at Waterloo the department was occupied by Prussian troops between June 1815 and November 1818. On 6 June 1944, the Allied forces landed on the beaches of the Bay of the Seine in what known as the Battle of Normandy. Calvados belongs to the region of Normandy and is surrounded by the departments of Seine-Maritime, Eure, Orne, to the north is the Baie de la Seine, part of the English Channel. On the east, the Seine River forms the boundary with Seine-Maritime, Calvados includes the Bessin area, the Pays dAuge and the area known as the Suisse normande. The most notable places in Calvados include Deauville and the formerly elegant 19th-century casino resorts of the coast, agriculture dominates the economy of Calvados. The area is known for producing butter, cheese, cider and Calvados, the President of the General Council is the centrist Jean-Léonce Dupont, the former dominant figure of the right and centre in the department. The Conseil General of Calvados and Devon County Council signed a Twinning Charter in 1971 to develop links with the English county of Devon, the inhabitants of Calvados are called Calvadosiens and Calvadosiennes. In 1999, Calvados had 648,299 inhabitants, making it the 30th most populated French department, Juno Beach Centre at Courseulles-sur-Mer, Calvados, commemorates the D-Day landing of the Canadian liberation forces at Juno Beach during World War II in 1944. The cult of Saint Thérèse de Lisieux brings large numbers of people on pilgrimage to Lisieux, every September, Deauville hosts the Festival of the American Movie and the beach resort of Cabourg hosts the Festival of the Romantic Movie. Annually, the city of Caen celebrates the festival of the electronical cultures called Nordik Impakt & The festival of Beauregard, the local dialect of the Norman language is known as Augeron. It is spoken by a minority of the population, the culinary specialties from the verdant countryside of Calvados are abundant, cider, calvados, camembert and Pont-lÉvêque cheeses. One of the advantage of Calvados is to be fairly near large urban centers, Calvados is therefore often preferred for holidays and for weekends and sometimes considered as the countryside of Paris. Calvados, via the port of Ouistreham, is an entrance to the continent from Britain, there are two airports, Caen-Carpiquet and Deauville-Saint Gatien. The department of Calvados has several popular tourist areas, the Bessin, the Plain of Caen, the Bocage Virois, the Côte de Nacre, the Côte Fleurie, several beaches of Calvados are popular for water sports, including Cabourg and Merville-Franceville-Plage
7.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
8.
Palais Bourbon
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The Palais Bourbon is a government building located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, on the left bank of the Seine, across from the Place de la Concorde. It is the seat of the French National Assembly, the legislative chamber of the French government. The Palace was originally beginning in 1722 by Louise-Françoise de Bourbon, the duchesse de Bourbon. It was nationalized during the French Revolution, and from 1795 to 1799, during the Directory, it was the place of the Council of Five Hundred. Beginning in 1806, Napoleon Bonaparte added the colonnade, to mirror that of Church of the Madeleine, facing it across the Seine. The Palace complex today includes the Hôtel de Lassay, on the west side of the Palais Bourbon, the palace was built for Louise-Françoise de Bourbon, the duchesse de Bourbon, the legitimized daughter of Louis XIV and Françoise-Athénaïs, marquise de Montespan. Until that time, the area, called the Pré-au-Clercs, an area popular for fighting duels. After the death of Louis XIV in 1715, following the example of the Regent, the Duchesse de Bourbon had been known for frivolity at the Court in Versailles, but by the 1720s she had had seven children and was widowed. The parcel of land for the new palace was large, extending from the Seine to the rue de lUniversité. The original plan called for a country surrounded by gardens, modeled after the Grand Trianon Palace at Versailles, designed by Jules Hardouin Mansart. The Italian architect Lorenzo Giardini made the first plan, but he died in 1722, having made little, the project was taken over by Pierre Cailleteau, also known as Lassurance, who had been an assistant to Hardouin-Mansart. Cailleteau had worked on the palace of Versailles and Les Invalides, and knew the style very well. He was replaced by Jean Aubert, also an assistant of Hardouin-Mansart. Aubert had built one of the grandest projects of the time, both buildings were finished in 1728. Both the Palais Bourbon and the Hôtel de Lassay were in the Italian style, with roofs hidden by balustrades, the Palais Bourbon was in a U-shape. The Hôtel de Lassay was rectangular, and more modest in size, the two buildings had identical facades facing the Seine. The facades featured alternating columns and windows, and decoration on the themes of the seasons, the elements, the space between the buildings, and between the buildings and the Seine, was filled with gardens. In addition to the reception rooms, the interior of the house had many small salons which could be arranged for a variety of purposes
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Albert Sarraut
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Albert-Pierre Sarraut was a French Radical politician, twice Prime Minister during the Third Republic. Sarraut was born on 28 July 1872 in Bordeaux, Gironde and he was Governor-General of French Indochina, from 1912 to 1914 and from 1917 to 1919. On 18 January 1920 he replaced Henry Simon as Minister of the Colonies and he took control of the family newspaper, La Dépêche de Toulouse, after the editor, his brother Maurice Sarraut, was killed by the Milice in 1943. Sarraut died in Paris on 26 November 1962. 1086/499830
10.
Alsace-Lorraine
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The Alsatian part lay in the Rhine Valley on the west bank of the Rhine River and east of the Vosges Mountains. The Lorraine section was in the upper Moselle valley to the north of the Vosges, the territory was made up of 93% of Alsace and 26% of Lorraine, the remaining portions of these regions continued to be part of France. For historical reasons, specific legal dispositions are still applied in the territory in the form of a local law, in relation to its special legal status, since its reversion to France following World War I, the territory has been referred to administratively as Alsace-Moselle. Alsace-Lorraine had an area of 14,496 km2. France long sought to attain and preserve its boundaries, which are the Pyrenees to the southwest, the Alps to the southeast. These strategic claims led to the annexation of territories located west of the Rhine river in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. What is now known as Alsace was progressively conquered by Louis XIV in the 17th century and we Germans who know Germany and France know better what is good for the Alsatians than the unfortunates themselves. In the perversion of their French life they have no idea of what concerns Germany. In 1871, the newly created German Empires demand for Alsace from France after its victory in the Franco-Prussian War was not simply a punitive measure. The transfer was controversial even among the Germans, The German Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, was opposed to it. Some German industrialists did not want the competition from Alsatian industries, from an ethnic perspective, the transfer involved people who for the most part spoke Alemannic German dialects. From a military perspective, by early 1870s standards, shifting the frontier away from the Rhine would give the Germans a strategic buffer against feared future French attacks, however, domestic politics in the new Reich may have been decisive. Although it was led by Prussia, the new German Empire was a decentralized federal state. As recently as the 1866 Austro-Prussian War, these states had been Prussias enemies, in the new Empires constitution, both states, but especially Bavaria, had been given concessions with regard to local autonomy, including partial control of their military forces. For this reason, the Prussian General Staff argued that it was necessary for the Reichs frontier with France to be under direct Prussian control, thus, by annexing Alsace-Lorraine, Berlin was able to avoid complications with Baden and Bavaria on such matters as new fortifications. Memories of the Napoleonic Wars were still fresh in the 1870s. In the years before 1870, it is arguable that the Germans feared the French more than the French feared the Germans. Many Germans at the thought that the creation of the new Empire in itself would be enough to earn permanent French enmity
11.
League of Nations
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The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organisation founded on 10 January 1920 as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first international organisation whose mission was to maintain world peace. Its primary goals, as stated in its Covenant, included preventing wars through collective security and disarmament, at its greatest extent from 28 September 1934 to 23 February 1935, it had 58 members. The diplomatic philosophy behind the League represented a shift from the preceding hundred years. The League lacked its own armed force and depended on the Great Powers to enforce its resolutions, keep to its economic sanctions, however, the Great Powers were often reluctant to do so. Sanctions could hurt League members, so they were reluctant to comply with them, after a number of notable successes and some early failures in the 1920s, the League ultimately proved incapable of preventing aggression by the Axis powers in the 1930s. Germany withdrew from the League, as did Japan, Italy, Spain, the onset of the Second World War showed that the League had failed its primary purpose, which was to prevent any future world war. The League lasted for 26 years, the United Nations replaced it after the end of the Second World War on 20 April 1946 and inherited a number of agencies and organisations founded by the League. As historians William H. Harbaugh and Ronald E. Powaski point out, the organisation was international in scope, with a third of the members of parliaments serving as members of the IPU by 1914. Its aims were to encourage governments to solve disputes by peaceful means. Annual conferences were held to help refine the process of international arbitration. Its structure consisted of a council headed by a president, which would later be reflected in the structure of the League, at the start of the 20th century, two power blocs emerged from alliances between the European Great Powers. It was these alliances that, at the start of the First World War in 1914 and this was the first major war in Europe between industrialised countries, and the first time in Western Europe that the results of industrialisation had been dedicated to war. By the time the fighting ended in November 1918, the war had had an impact, affecting the social, political and economic systems of Europe. Anti-war sentiment rose across the world, the First World War was described as the war to end all wars, the causes identified included arms races, alliances, militaristic nationalism, secret diplomacy, and the freedom of sovereign states to enter into war for their own benefit. Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson, a British political scientist, coined the term League of Nations in 1914, together with Lord Bryce, he played a leading role in the founding of the group of internationalist pacifists known as the Bryce Group, later the League of Nations Union. The group became more influential among the public and as a pressure group within the then governing Liberal Party. In Dickinsons 1915 pamphlet After the War he wrote of his League of Peace as being essentially an organisation for arbitration and conciliation
12.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
13.
Croix de Guerre
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The Croix de guerre is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was awarded during World War I, again in World War II, the Croix de guerre was also commonly bestowed on foreign military forces allied to France. The Croix de guerre may either be awarded as an individual or unit award to soldiers who distinguish themselves by acts of heroism involving combat with the enemy. The medal is awarded to those who have mentioned in dispatches. The unit award of the Croix de guerre with palm was issued to military units whose members performed heroic deeds in combat and were recognized by headquarters. The Croix de guerre medal varies depending on which country is bestowing the award, separate French medals exist for the First and Second World War. For the unit decoration of the Croix de guerre, a fourragère is awarded, regulations also permitted the wearing of multiple Croix de guerre, meaning that such medals were differentiated in service records by specifying French Croix de guerre, French Croix de guerre, etc. There are three distinct Croix de guerre medals in the French system of honours, Furthermore, the French collaborationist government created two croix during World War II. These croix are now illegal under French law and wearing them is outlawed, The Croix was created by a law of April 2,1915, the Croix reinstated an older system of mentions in dispatches, which were only administrative honours with no medal. The sculptor Paul-André Bartholomé created the medal, a cross with swords. The French Croix represents a mention in dispatches awarded by a commanding officer, depending on the officer who issued the mention, the ribbon of the Croix is marked with extra pins. Mentioned in Despatches, a star for those who had been mentioned at the regiment or brigade level. A silver star, for those who had been mentioned at the division level, a silver gilt star for those who had been mentioned at the corps level. A bronze palm for those who had been mentioned at the army level, a silver palm stands for five bronze ones. A silver gilt palm for those who had been mentioned at the Free French Forces level, the French Croix de guerre des TOE was created in 1921 for wars fought in theatres of operation outside France. It was awarded during the Indochina War, Korean War, when World War II broke out in 1939, a new Croix de guerre was created by Édouard Daladier. It was abolished by Vichy Government in 1941, which created a new Croix de guerre, in 1943 General Giraud in Algiers created another Croix de guerre
14.
Saarburg
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Saarburg is the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde Saarburg. The area around Saarburg is noted for the cultivation of Riesling grapes, the history of the city begins with the construction of the now-ruined castle by Graf Siegfried of Luxembourg in 964. It received its charter in 1291. The city has a bell foundry, the Glockengießerei Mabilion, which has been in operation since the 1770s, in 1945 to 1948 Saarburg was occupied by troops from Luxembourg. From 18 July 1946 to 6 June 1947 Onsdorf, in its municipal boundary. French troops complemented the occupation until 1955
15.
Vichy France
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Vichy France is the common name of the French State headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. In particular, it represents the southern, unoccupied Free Zone that governed the southern part of the country, from 1940 to 1942, while the Vichy regime was the nominal government of France as a whole, Germany militarily occupied northern France. Thus, while Paris remained the de jure capital of France, following the Allied landings in French North Africa in November 1942, southern France was also militarily occupied by Germany and Italy. The Vichy government remained in existence, but as a de facto client and it vanished in late 1944 when the Allies occupied all of France. After being appointed Premier by President Albert Lebrun, Marshal Pétain ordered the French Governments military representatives to sign an armistice with Germany on 22 June 1940, Pétain subsequently established an authoritarian regime when the National Assembly of the French Third Republic granted him full powers on 10 July 1940. At that point, the Third Republic was dissolved, calling for National Regeneration, the French Government at Vichy reversed many liberal policies and began tight supervision of the economy, with central planning a key feature. Labour unions came under government control. The independence of women was reversed, with a put on motherhood. Paris lost its status in European art and culture. The media were tightly controlled and stressed virulent anti-Semitism, and, after June 1941, the French State maintained nominal sovereignty over the whole of French territory, but had effective full sovereignty only in the unoccupied southern zone libre. It had limited and only civil authority in the zones under military occupation. The occupation was to be a state of affairs, pending the conclusion of the war. The French Government at Vichy never joined the Axis alliance, Germany kept two million French soldiers prisoner, carrying out forced labour. They were hostages to ensure that Vichy would reduce its forces and pay a heavy tribute in gold, food. French police were ordered to round up immigrant Jews and other such as communists. Public opinion in some quarters turned against the French government and the occupying German forces over time, when it became clear that Germany was losing the war, and resistance to them increased. Most of the legal French governments leaders at Vichy fled or were subject to show trials by the GPRF, thousands of collaborators were summarily executed by local communists and the Resistance in so-called savage purges. The last of the French State exiles were captured in the Sigmaringen enclave by de Gaulles French 1st Armoured Division in April 1945, in 1940, Marshal Pétain was known as a First World War hero, the victor of the battle of Verdun
16.
French Resistance
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The Résistance also planned, coordinated, and executed acts of sabotage on the electrical power grid, transport facilities, and telecommunications networks. Estimated to have a strength of 100,000 in June 1944 and this burden amounted to approximately 20 million German reichsmarks per day, a sum that, in May 1940, was approximately equivalent to four hundred million French francs. Because of this overvaluation of German currency, the occupiers were able to make fair and honest requisitions and purchases while, in effect. Prices soared, leading to food shortages and malnutrition, particularly among children, the elderly. The labour shortage was worsened by the fact that a number of the French were also held as prisoners of war in Germany. Beyond these hardships and dislocations, the occupation became increasingly unbearable, onerous regulations, strict censorship, incessant propaganda and nightly curfews all played a role in establishing an atmosphere of fear and repression. The sight of French women consorting with German soldiers infuriated many French men, as reprisals for Résistance activities, the authorities established harsh forms of collective punishment. For example, the militancy of communist resistance in August 1941 led to the taking of thousands of hostages from the general population. A typical policy statement read, After each further incident, a number, reflecting the seriousness of the crime, during the occupation, an estimated 30,000 French civilian hostages were shot to intimidate others who were involved in acts of resistance. In early 1943, the Vichy authorities established a paramilitary group and they worked alongside German forces that, by the end of 1942, were stationed throughout France. The group collaborated closely with the Nazis, and was the Vichy equivalent of the Gestapo security forces in Germany and their actions were often brutal and included torture and execution of Résistance suspects. After the liberation of France in the summer of 1944, the French executed many of the estimated 25,000 to 35,000 miliciens for their collaboration. Many of those who escaped arrest fled to Germany, where they were incorporated into the Charlemagne Division of the Waffen SS, the experience of the Occupation was a deeply psychologically disorienting one for the French as what was once familiar and safe become strange and threatening. Many Parisians could not get over the shock experienced when they first saw the huge swastika flags hanging over the Hôtel de Ville, Many résistants often spoke of some climax when they saw some intolerable act of injustice, after which they could not longer remain passive. Barthelt recalled, I recognized him only by his hat, only by his hat, I tell you and because I was waiting on the roadside to see him pass. I saw his face all right, but there was no skin on it, both his poor eyes had been closed into two purple and yellow bruises. In the beginning, resistance was limited to such as severing phone lines, vandalizing posters. Another form of resistance was underground newspapers like Musée de lHomme which circulated clandestinely, the Musée de lHomme was founded by two professors, Paul Rivet and the Russian émigré Boris Vildé in July 1940
17.
Ministry of Justice (France)
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The Ministry of Justice is controlled by the French Minister of Justice - Keeper of the Seals, a top-level cabinet position in the French Government. The current Minister of Justice is Jean-Jacques Urvoas, the ministry is headquartered in Paris. The Minister of Justice also holds the office of Keeper of the Seals and. This symbolic role is shown in the order of words of the ministers official designation, Keeper of Seals
18.
Paul Ramadier
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Paul Ramadier was a prominent French politician of the Third and Fourth Republics. Mayor of Decazeville, starting in 1919, he served as the first Prime Minister of the Fourth Republic in 1947, on 10 July 1940, he voted against the granting of the full powers to Marshal Philippe Pétain, who installed the Vichy regime the next day. Ramadier took part in the Resistance where he used the nom de guerre Violette and his name was included in the Yad Vashem Jewish memorial after the war. He voted for the Marshall Plan, from 1956 until 1957, Ramadier was Minister of Finance under Guy Mollet. The other Communist ministers also resign,9 May 1947 – Daniel Mayer succeeds Croizat as Minister of Labour and Social Security. Robert Prigent succeeds Marranne as Minister of Public Health and Population, jean Letourneau succeeds Tillon as Minister of Reconstruction and Town Planning. Eugène Thomas enters the Cabinet as Minister of Posts,11 August 1947 – Robert Lacoste succeeds Letourneau as Minister of Commerce, becoming thus Minister of Commerce and Industry
19.
President of France
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The President of the French Republic, is the executive head of state of the French Fifth Republic. The powers, functions and duties of prior presidential offices, and their relation with the prime minister, the current President of France is François Hollande, who took office on 15 May 2012. Hollande has announced that he stand down in the upcoming 2017 French presidential election. President Chirac was first elected in 1995 and again in 2002, at that time, there was no limit on the number of terms, so Chirac could have run again, but chose not to. He was succeeded by Nicolas Sarkozy on 16 May 2007, following a further change, the Constitutional law on the Modernisation of the Institutions of the Fifth Republic,2008, a president cannot serve more than two consecutive terms. François Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac are the only Presidents to date who have served a two terms. In order to be admitted as a candidate, potential candidates must receive signed nominations from more than 500 elected officials. These officials must be from at least 30 départements or overseas collectivities, furthermore, each official may nominate only one candidate. There are exactly 45,543 elected officials, including 33,872 mayors, spending and financing of campaigns and political parties are highly regulated. There is a cap on spending, at approximately 20 million euros, if the candidate receives less than 5% of the vote, the government funds €8,000,000 to the party. Advertising on TV is forbidden but official time is given to candidates on public TV, an independent agency regulates election and party financing. After the president is elected, he or she goes through an investiture ceremony called a passation des pouvoirs. The French Fifth Republic is a semi-presidential system, unlike many other European presidents, the French President is quite powerful. The president holds the nations most senior office, and outranks all other politicians, the presidents greatest power is his/her ability to choose the prime minister. When the majority of the Assembly has opposite political views to that of the president, when the majority of the Assembly sides with them, the President can take a more active role and may, in effect, direct government policy. The prime minister is then the choice of the President. This device has been used in recent years by François Mitterrand, Jacques Chirac, since 2002, the mandate of the president and the Assembly are both 5 years and the two elections are close to each other. Therefore, the likelihood of a cohabitation is lower, among the powers of the government, The president promulgates laws
20.
Barentin
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Barentin is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France. A town of light industry and farming situated by the banks of the Austreberthe River in the Pays de Caux, some 10 miles northwest of Rouen at the junction of the D6015, D143, SNCF operates a TER rail service here. The church of St. Martin, dating from the nineteenth century, a seventeenth century fountain on the town square. More than 200 statues in the town, by Rodin, Janniot, Bourdelle, Drivier, Frémiet, Lagriffoul, the railway viaduct, constructed in 1847 by Joseph Locke, with 27 arches 33m high. The sixteenth century chapel of Saint-Hélier
21.
Rouen
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Rouen is a city on the River Seine in the north of France. It is the capital of the region of Normandy, formerly one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe, Rouen was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy during the Middle Ages. It was one of the capitals of the Anglo-Norman dynasties, which ruled both England and large parts of modern France from the 11th to the 15th centuries. The population of the area at the 2007 census was 532,559. People from Rouen are known as Rouennais, Rouen and its metropolitan area of 70 suburban communes form the Agglomeration community of Rouen-Elbeuf-Austreberthe, with 494,382 inhabitants at the 2010 census. Rouen was founded by the Gaulish tribe of Veliocasses, who controlled an area in the lower Seine valley. The Gauls named the settlement Ratumacos and the Romans called it Rotomagus, Roman Rotomagus was the second city of Gallia Lugdunensis, after Lugdunum. In the 5th century, it became the seat of a bishopric, in the 10th century Rouen became the capital of the Duchy of Normandy and the residence of the dukes, until William the Conqueror established his castle at Caen. During the early 12th century the population reached 30,000. In 1150, Rouen received its charter, which permitted self-government. During the 12th century, Rouen was probably the site of a Jewish yeshiva, at that time, about 6,000 Jews lived in the town, comprising about 20% of the total population. The well-preserved remains of a medieval Jewish building, that could be a yeshiva, were discovered in the 1970s under the Rouen Law Courts. In 1200, a destroyed part of Rouens Romanesque cathedral, leaving just St Romains tower, the side porches of its front. New work on the present Gothic cathedral of Rouen began, in the nave, transept, choir, on 24 June 1204, Philip Augustus entered Rouen and annexed Normandy to the French Kingdom. The fall of Rouen meant the end of Normandys sovereign status and he demolished the Norman castle and replaced it with his own, the Château Bouvreuil, built on the site of the Gallo-Roman amphitheatre. A textile industry developed based on wool imported from England, competing with the northern County of Flanders, the city found its market niche in the Champagne fairs. Rouen also depended on the traffic of the Seine for its prosperity. Wine and wheat were exported to England, with tin and wool received in return, in the late 13th century urban strife threatened the city, in 1291, the mayor was assassinated and noble residences in the city were pillaged
22.
Jules Moch
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Jules Salvador Moch was a French politician. Jules was born into a renowned French Jewish military family, the Son of Capt. Gaston Moch and his upbringing occurred during a growing socialist movement in France. As an engineer who took part in the X-Crise Group, he was a socialist member of Parliament for Drôme and then Hérault from 1928 to 1936 and he was Under-secretary of State in prime minister Léon Blums office and became Minister of Public Works in 1938. He later became critical of The Vichy French Government and was jailed, during World War II Moch joined and helped organize the Paris underground. He also helped other French Resistance activities in France, when The Free French Naval Forces was organized, he rallied to de Gaulle in 1942 and participated in The Invasion of Normandy toward The Free French Liberation of France with The Allied Forces. In Post World War II, Moch was a member of the Consultative Assembly and he was eight times Minister during the Fourth Republic, Public works and Transportation, Interior, Defence. As Transport Minister, he contributed to the rebuilding of railways, ports, road, navy, as Interior Minister, he had to deal with the communist-inspired great strikes in November 1947 and has shown great firmness. In the Defence Ministry, he contributed to the modernisation of the Army, organised French participation in the Korean War and he also suggested and participated in the forming of METO for The Middle East. He fought the gaullist and communist parties during the Fourth Republic and was one of the leaders of the Troisième Force, Jules Moch was deputy prime minister from 1949 to 1950. He was Frances delegate at the UN disarmament commission from 1951 to 1960, as rapporteur of the Foreign affairs Committee, he opposed the European Community of Defence that was defeated by the National Assembly in 1954. His last ministerial post was in Pierre Pflimlins government in May 1958 and he left the socialist party in 1975. He was married to Germaine Picard, one of the first early woman lawyers of France and she was also an active advocate of the womens rights movement in France and Europe. He has published, Confrontations, Gallimard 1952 Yougoslavie, terre dexpérience, autobiography of Jules Moch, Jules Moch une si longue vie, published by Robert Laffont 1976, Paris List of Interior Ministers of France
23.
Paul Reynaud
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Paul Reynaud was a French politician and lawyer prominent in the interwar period, noted for his stances on economic liberalism and militant opposition to Germany. He was the penultimate Prime Minister of the Third Republic and vice-president of the Democratic Republican Alliance center-right party, after the outbreak of World War II and the collapse of French resistance in 1940, Reynaud persistently refused to support an armistice with Germany and resigned. After unsuccessfully attempting to flee France, he was arrested by Philippe Petains administration, surrendered to German custody in 1942, he was imprisoned in Germany and later Austria until liberation in 1945. Elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1946, he became a prominent figure again in French political life, Reynaud was born in Barcelonnette, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. His father had made a fortune in the industry, enabling Reynaud to study law at the Sorbonne. He entered politics and was elected to the French Chamber of Deputies from 1919 to 1924, representing Basses-Alpes, in the 1920s, Reynaud developed a reputation for laxity on German reparations, at a time when many in the French government backed harsher terms for Germany. In the 1930s during the Great Depression, particularly after 1933, Reynaud backed a strong alliance with the United Kingdom and, unlike many others on the French Right, better relations with the Soviet Union as a counterweight against the Germans. Reynaud held several posts in the early 1930s, but he clashed with members of his party after 1932 over French foreign. He was not given another position until 1938. Like Winston Churchill, Reynaud was a maverick in his party and often alone in his calls for rearmament and he strongly opposed appeasement in the run-up to the Second World War. He also clashed with his party on economic policy, backing the devaluation of the franc as a solution to Frances economic woes. Pierre Étienne Flandin, the leader of the Democratic Republican Alliance, agreed with several of Reynauds key policy stances, Reynaud returned to the cabinet in 1938 as Minister of Finance under Édouard Daladier. Reynaud publicly made his case, and in response Flandin pamphleted Paris in order to pressure the government to agree to Hitlers demands, Reynaud subsequently left his party to become an independent. Reynaud still had Daladiers support, however, whose politique de fermeté was very similar to Reynauds notion of deterrence, Reynaud, however, had always wanted the Finance ministry. Reynauds reforms were implemented, and the government stood down a one-day strike in opposition. Reynaud addressed Frances business community, arguing that We live in a capitalist system, for it to function we must obey its laws. These are the laws of profits, individual risk, free markets, more importantly, Frances industrial productivity jumped from 76 to 100 from October 1938 to May 1939. At the outbreak of war, however, Reynaud was not bullish on Frances economy, the French Right was ambivalent about the war in late 1939 and early 1940, feeling that the greater threat was from the Soviets
24.
Robert Lacoste
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Robert Lacoste was a French politician. He was a socialist MP of the Dordogne from 1945 to 1958 and from 1962 to 1967, robert Lacoste was born at Azerat. He studied at the law school in Paris, and became a civil servant, a member of both houses of parliament, and socialist MP for the Dordogne, he was Minister of Industry until 1950. He was Minister of Finance and the Economy in 1956, after Guy Mollets visit to Algeria, greeted by colons throwing tomatoes at him, Lacoste replaced general Catroux in February 1956, becoming resident minister and governor general of Algeria. He remained the minister of Algeria until May 1958, a proponent of forceful action, he played a principal role in the Algerian War. He also promoted accelerated social and economic programmes, highlighted by his efforts to Algerianise the administration and he increased Algerias départements to twelve and drafted the Loi Cadre designed to enhance internal autonomy and Muslim representation. He sat in the National Assembly once more from 1962 to 1967, from 1971 to 1980, he was elected socialist senator of the Dordogne, assuming from 1974 to 1979 the vice-presidency of the regional council of Aquitaine. President of the council of electricity and gas of France in 1950. He died, aged 90, at Périgueux and he was then Minister of Industry and Commerce from 11 August 1947 to 7 February 1950. He served as Minister of Economic and Financial Affairs from 1 to 9 February 1956 and he was Resident Minister in Algeria from 9 February 1956 to 13 June 1957 then Minister of Algeria from 13 June 1957 to 14 May 1958
25.
Pierre Pflimlin
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Pflimlin was born in Roubaix in the Nord department. A lawyer and a member of the Christian democratic Popular Republican Movement and he held some governmental offices during the Fourth Republic, notably as Minister of Agriculture and as Minister of Economy and Finance. On 13 May 1958, the French National Assembly approved his nomination as Prime Minister, but the same day, riots took place in Algiers. The French generals in Algeria feared he would arrange for a solution with the Algerian nationalists giving them control of Algeria. They refused to recognize his cabinet, at this point the leading politicians deserted him, including Guy Mollet, Vincent Auriol, and Antoine Pinay. The crisis brought Charles de Gaulle as Prime Minister on 1 June, Pflimlin was Minister of State until 1959. As Minister of Cooperation in 1962, he resigned with the other MRP ministers in order to protest against the euro-scepticism of de Gaulle, Pflimlin served as the first Catholic mayor of Strasbourg from 1959 to 1983. He also was the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from 1963 to 1966, the Pierre Pflimlin bridge over the Rhine south of Strasbourg, connecting France to Germany, is named after him and was opened in 2002. Jules Moch succeeds Faure as Minister of the Interior, albert Gazier enters the ministry as Minister of Information. Max Lejeune succeeds Houphouët-Boigny as Minister of State, the Little Plum Time June 10,1957 Cook, Bernard A. Europe Since 1945, An Encyclopedia. Homo politicus, the careers of Pierre Pflimlin and Jacques Chaban‐Delmas. Modern & Contemporary France 1.1, 42-44
26.
Christian Pineau
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Christian Pineau was a noted French Resistance fighter. Pineau was born in 1904 in Chaumont-en-Bassigny, Haute-Marne, France and his stepfather was the writer Jean Giraudoux, who was married to Pineaus mother. Later, Christian Pineau would say that it was Giraudoux who gave him his love of writing, a World War II French Resistance leader and a close ally of Charles de Gaulle, Pineau was arrested by the Gestapo in 1943 and survived Buchenwald concentration camp. Pineau represented the Sarthe department as a Socialist in the French National Assembly from 1946 to 1958, after the war, he served as a minister in French governments, 1945–1958. He was minister of supply in Charles de Gaulles government and minister of works in various governments. He was finance minister for a time in 1948. As foreign minister, Pineau was responsible for handling the Suez crisis, with Guy Mollet, he visited Moscow. In October 1956, he signed the Protocol of Sèvres with Great Britain, Pineau was a lifelong advocate of European integration. Pineau is buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris
27.
Ministry of National Education (France)
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The Ministrys headquarters is located in the 18th century Hôtel de Rochechouart on the rue de Grenelle in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. Given that National Education is Frances largest employer, and employs more than half of the French state civil servants, the current minister is Najat Vallaud-Belkacem. A governmental position overseeing public education was first created in France in 1802, the position has also occasionally been combined with Minister of Sports and Minister of Youth Affairs. In 1975, it created the Comité détudes sur les formations dingénieurs which studies the training, list of Education Ministers of France Education in France France Ministry of National Education – Official website
28.
Bourbon Restoration
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The Bourbon Restoration was the period of French history following the fall of Napoleon in 1814 until the July Revolution of 1830. The brothers of executed Louis XVI of France reigned in highly conservative fashion, and they were nonetheless unable to reverse most of the changes made by the French Revolution and Napoleon. At the Congress of Vienna they were treated respectfully, but had to give up all the gains made since 1789. King Louis XVI of the House of Bourbon had been overthrown and executed during the French Revolution, a coalition of European powers defeated Napoleon in the War of the Sixth Coalition, ended the First Empire in 1814, and restored the monarchy to the brothers of Louis XVI. The Bourbon Restoration lasted from 6 April 1814 until the uprisings of the July Revolution of 1830. There was an interlude in spring 1815—the Hundred Days—when the return of Napoleon forced the Bourbons to flee France, when Napoleon was again defeated by the Seventh Coalition they returned to power in July. During the Restoration, the new Bourbon regime was a monarchy, unlike the absolutist Ancien Régime. The period was characterized by a conservative reaction, and consequent minor but consistent occurrences of civil unrest. It also saw the reestablishment of the Catholic Church as a power in French politics. The eras of the French Revolution and Napoleon brought a series of changes to France which the Bourbon Restoration did not reverse. First of all, France became highly centralized, with all decisions made in Paris, the political geography was completely reorganized and made uniform. France was divided more than 80 departments, which have endured into the 21st century. Each department had an administrative structure, and was tightly controlled by a prefect appointed by Paris. The Catholic Church lost all its lands and buildings during the Revolution, the bishop still ruled his diocese, and communicated with the pope through the government in Paris. Bishops, priests, nuns and other people were paid salaries by the state. All the old rites and ceremonies were retained, and the government maintained the religious buildings. The Church was allowed to operate its own seminaries and to some extent local schools as well, bishops were much less powerful than before, and had no political voice. However, the Catholic Church reinvented itself and put a new emphasis on personal religiosity that gave it a hold on the psychology of the faithful, education was centralized, with the Grand Master of the University of France controlling every element of the entire educational system from Paris
