1.
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
2.
Jacques Chaban-Delmas
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Jacques Chaban-Delmas was a French Gaullist politician. He served as Prime Minister under Georges Pompidou from 1969 to 1972 and he was the Mayor of Bordeaux from 1947 to 1995 and a deputy for the Gironde département. Jacques Chaban-Delmas was born Jacques Michel Pierre Delmas in Paris and he studied at the Lycée Lakanal in Sceaux, before attending the École Libre des Sciences Politiques. In the resistance underground, his final nom de guerre was Chaban, after World War II, as a general of brigade in the resistance, he took part in the Parisian insurrection of August 1944, with general de Gaulle. He was the youngest French general since François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers, during the First French Empire, a member of the Radical Party, he finally joined the Gaullist Rally of the French People, which opposed the Fourth Republics governments. In 1947, he became mayor of Bordeaux, which was for 48 years his electoral fief, as a member of the National Assembly, he sat with the RPF. In 1953, when the RPF group split, Chaban-Delmas became head of the Union of Republicans for Social Action and he tied up with centre-left parties and joined Pierre Mendès-Frances cabinet one year later as Minister of Public Works. He took part in the centre-left coalition Republican Front, which won the 1956 legislative election and he was Frances Defence Minister in 1957–1958. His governmental participation during the Fourth Republic inspired the distrust of de Gaulle, following Gen. de Gaulles return to power in 1958, Chaban-Delmas agreed to the advent of the French Fifth Republic and the new Constitution. He took part in the foundation of the Union for the New Republic and was elected, against de Gaulles will and he kept this function until the end of de Gaulles presidency in 1969. Unlike some Gaullists, for instance, Jacques Soustelle, he supported de Gaulles policy to end the Algerian War of Independence, during the 1959 UNR Congress, he was the first politician to evoke a reserved presidential domain, composed chiefly of defence and diplomacy. This interpretation of the Constitution of 1958 has survived, in 1969, when Georges Pompidou acceded to the presidency, he chose Chaban-Delmas, who had concluded that the May 68 crisis was the consequence of a strained and conflicted society, as prime minister. Chaban-Delmas tried to promote what he called a new society, based on dialogue between the different social forces in French society, in addition, regular increases were made to the minimum wage which prevented greater wage disparities. A new legal aid scheme was introduced, along with a number of new social welfare benefits, as a result of his social policies, Chaban-Delmas was viewed as too progressive by the conservative wing of the Gaullist movement. He was suspected of wanting to tie up again with the centre-left, indeed, his advisers who inspired the new society programme were considered as close to the centre-left. Besides, a latent conflict opposed Chaban-Delmas to President Pompidou and the presidential circle and they accused him of trying to weaken the presidency in favour of himself. The satirical paper Le Canard Enchaîné accused him of breaking the law through tax evasion and in 1972 and he did obtain this, but the President still managed to force his resignation. Two years later, following the death in office of President Pompidou and he was supported by the lords of gaullism, but 43 personalities close to the late president, led by Jacques Chirac, published the Call of the 43 in favour of the candidacy of Valéry Giscard dEstaing
3.
Pierre Messmer
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Pierre Joseph Auguste Messmer was a French Gaullist politician. A member of the French Foreign Legion, he was considered as one of the historical Gaullists and he was elected a member of the Académie française in 1999. Pierre Joseph Auguste Messmer was born in Vincennes in 1916 and he graduated in 1936 in the language school Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales and the following year at the Ecole nationale de la France doutre-mer. He then became a civil servant in the colonial administration. In the outbreaks of World War II, he was sous-lieutenant of the 12th regiment of Senegalese tirailleurs, Messmer then participated to the campaign in Eritrea, in Syria, in Libya, participating to the Battle of Bir Hakeim, and in the Tunisia campaign. He also fought at the Battle of El Alamein in Egypt and he joined in London General Koenigs military staff and participated in the landings in Normandy in August 1944 and the Liberation of Paris. Named Compagnon de la Libération in 1941, he received the Croix de guerre with six citations after the Liberation, as well as the medal of the Resistance. After World War II, he returned to the colonies and was a prisoner of war of the Vietminh and he was named the following year general secretary of the interministerial committee for Indochina and then head of staff of the high commissary of the Republic. Messmer began his high-level African service as governor of Mauritania from 1952 to 1954 and he initiated a decolonization process and imported the counter-revolutionary warfare methods theorized in Indochina and implemented during the Algerian War. Visiting de Gaulle in Paris, he was granted permission for his change of policies in Cameroon. A Pacification Zone – the ZOPAC was created on 9 December 1957, furthermore, a civilian-military intelligence apparatus was created, combining colonial and local staff, assisted by a civilian militia. Mao Zedongs peoples war was reversed, in an attempt to separate the population from the guerrilla. In this aim, the population was rounded-up in guarded villages located on the main roads. Messmer served as commissioner of French Equatorial Africa from January 1958 to July 1958. From 1959 to 1969, under Charles de Gaulles presidency and in the turmoil of the Algerian War and he was confronted with the 1961 Generals Putsch, reorganized the Army and adapted it to the nuclear era. Along with the Minister of Research, Gaston Palewski, Messmer was present at the Béryl nuclear test in Algeria, on 1 May 1962, officials, soldiers and Algerian workers escaped as they could, often without wearing any protection. Palewski died in 1984 of leukemia, which he always has attributed to the Beryl incident, de Gaulle said of Messmer that, along with Maurice Couve de Murville, he was one of his two arms. In May 68, he advised de Gaulle against the use of the military, Messmer became a personality of the Gaullist Party and was elected deputy in 1968, representing Moselle département
4.
Charles de Gaulle
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Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman. He was the leader of Free France and the head of the Provisional Government of the French Republic, in 1958, he founded the Fifth Republic and was elected as the 18th President of France, a position he held until his resignation in 1969. He was the dominant figure of France during the Cold War era, born in Lille, he graduated from Saint-Cyr in 1912. He was an officer of the First World War, wounded several times. During the interwar period, he advocated mobile armoured divisions, during the German invasion of May 1940, he led an armoured division which counterattacked the invaders, he was then appointed Under-Secretary for War. Refusing to accept his governments armistice with Nazi Germany, de Gaulle exhorted the French population to resist occupation and he led a government in exile and the Free French Forces against the Axis. Despite frosty relations with Britain and especially the United States, he emerged as the leader of the French resistance. He became Head of the Provisional Government of the French Republic in June 1944, frustrated by the return of petty partisanship in the new Fourth Republic, he resigned in early 1946 but continued to be politically active as founder of the RPF party. He retired in the early 1950s and wrote his War Memoirs, when the Algerian War was ripping apart the unstable Fourth Republic, the National Assembly brought him back to power during the May 1958 crisis. De Gaulle founded the Fifth Republic with a presidency. He granted independence to Algeria and progressively to other French colonies and he restored cordial Franco-German relations to create a European counterweight between the Anglo-American and Soviet spheres of influence. However, he opposed any development of a supranational Europe, favouring a Europe of sovereign nations, De Gaulle openly criticised the US intervention in Vietnam and the exorbitant privilege of the US dollar. In his later years, his support for an independent Quebec, De Gaulle resigned in 1969 after losing a referendum in which he proposed more decentralization. He died a year later at his residence in Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, leaving his Presidential memoirs unfinished, many French political parties and figures claim the Gaullist legacy. De Gaulle was ranked as Le Plus Grand Français de tous les temps, De Gaulle was born in the industrial region of Lille in the Nord departement, the third of five children. He was raised in a devoutly Catholic and traditional family and his father, Henri de Gaulle, was a professor of history and literature at a Jesuit college who eventually founded his own school. Henri de Gaulle came from a line of parliamentary gentry from Normandy and Burgundy. De Gaulles mother, Jeanne, descended from a family of entrepreneurs from Lille
5.
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
6.
Maurice Couve de Murville
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Maurice Couve de Murville was a French diplomat and politician who was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1958 to 1968 and Prime Minister from 1968 to 1969 under the presidency of General de Gaulle. He was born Maurice Couve in Reims and died in Paris at the age of 92 from natural causes. Couve de Murville joined the corps of finance inspectors in 1930, in March 1943, after the American landing in North Africa, he was one of the few senior officials of Vichy to join the Free French. He left for Algiers, via Spain, where he joined General Henri Giraud, on 7 June 1943, he was named commissioner of finance of the French Committee of National Liberation. A few months later, he joined General Charles de Gaulle, in February 1945, he became a member of the Provisional Government of the French Republic with the rank of ambassador attached to the Italian government. After the war, he occupied posts as French Ambassador, in Cairo, at NATO, in Washington. The following year he was succeeded by Jacques Chaban-Delmas, Couve de Murville continued his political career first as a UDR deputy, then RPR deputy for Paris until 1986, then as a senator until 1995. Maurice Couve de Murville, the Roman Catholic Archbishop Emeritus of Birmingham, was his cousin, ISBN unknown Le Monde en face. A film clip Longines Chronoscope with Maurice Couve de Murville is available at the Internet Archive
7.
Constitutional Council (France)
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The Constitutional Council is the highest constitutional authority in France. It was established by the Constitution of the Fifth Republic on 4 October 1958 and this article refers extensively to individual articles in the Constitution of France. The reader should refer to the translation of the Constitution on the site of the French National Assembly. Another recommended reading is the Constitutional Council overview on the Council web site, the Government of France consists of an executive branch, a legislative branch, and a judicial branch. For historical reasons there has long been a hostility to having anything resembling a Supreme Court—that is, whether the Council is a court is a subject of academic discussion, but some scholars consider it the supreme court of France. Article 34 of the Constitution exhaustively lists the areas reserved for statute law, any regulation issued by the executive in the areas constitutionally reserved for statute law is unconstitutional unless it has been authorized as secondary legislation by a statute. Any citizen with an interest in the case can obtain the cancellation of these regulations by the Council of State, furthermore, the Council of State can quash regulations on grounds that they violate existing statute law, constitutional rights or the general principles of law. In addition, new acts can be referred to the Constitutional Council by a petition just prior to being signed into law by the President of the Republic. The most common circumstance for this is that 60 opposition members of the National Assembly, if the Prime Minister thinks that some clauses of existing statute law instead belong to the domain of regulations, he can also ask the Council to reclassify these clauses as regulations. Traditionally, France refused to accept the idea that courts could quash legislation enacted by Parliament, French courts were then prohibited from making rulings of a general nature. Yet, in the late 20th century, courts, especially courts, began applying the consequences of international treaties, including law of the European Union. A2009 reform, effective on 1 March 2010, enables parties to a lawsuit or trial to question the constitutionality of the law that is being applied to them, the supreme court collects such referrals and submits them to the Constitutional Council. If the Constitutional Council rules a law to be unconstitutional, this law is struck down from the law books, the Council has two main areas of power, The first is the supervision of elections, both presidential and parliamentary and ensuring the legitimacy of referendums. They issue the official results, they ensure proper conduct and fairness, the Council is the supreme authority in these matters. The Council can declare an election to be invalid if improperly conducted, or if the elected candidate used illegal methods, the second area of Council power is the interpretation of the fundamental meanings of the constitution, procedure, legislation, and treaties. It also may declare laws to be in contravention of treaties which France has signed and their declaring that a law is contrary to constitutional or treaty dispositions renders it invalid. The Council also may impose reservations as to the interpretation of certain provisions in statutes, the decisions of the Council are binding on all authorities. In some cases, examination of laws by the Council is compulsory, organic bills, those which fundamentally affect government and treaties, need to be assessed by the Council before they are considered ratified
8.
French Third Republic
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It came to an end on 10 July 1940. Harsh reparations exacted by the Prussians after the war resulted in the loss of the French regions of Alsace and Lorraine, social upheaval, and the establishment of the Paris Commune. The early governments of the Third Republic considered re-establishing the monarchy, but confusion as to the nature of that monarchy, thus, the Third Republic, which was originally intended as a provisional government, instead became the permanent government of France. The French Constitutional Laws of 1875 defined the composition of the Third Republic and it consisted of a Chamber of Deputies and a Senate to form the legislative branch of government and a president to serve as head of state. The period from the start of World War I to the late 1930s featured sharply polarized politics, Adolphe Thiers called republicanism in the 1870s the form of government that divides France least, however, politics under the Third Republic were sharply polarized. On the left stood Reformist France, heir to the French Revolution, on the right stood conservative France, rooted in the peasantry, the Roman Catholic Church and the army. The Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871 resulted in the defeat of France, after Napoleons capture by the Prussians at the Battle of Sedan, Parisian deputies led by Léon Gambetta established the Government of National Defence as a provisional government on 4 September 1870. The deputies then selected General Louis-Jules Trochu to serve as its president and this first government of the Third Republic ruled during the Siege of Paris. After the French surrender in January 1871, the provisional Government of National Defence disbanded, French territories occupied by Prussia at this time did not participate. The resulting conservative National Assembly elected Adolphe Thiers as head of a provisional government, due to the revolutionary and left-wing political climate that prevailed in the Parisian population, the right-wing government chose the royal palace of Versailles as its headquarters. The new government negotiated a settlement with the newly proclaimed German Empire. To prompt the Prussians to leave France, the government passed a variety of laws, such as the controversial Law of Maturities. The following repression of the communards would have consequences for the labor movement. The Orléanists supported a descendant of King Louis Philippe I, the cousin of Charles X who replaced him as the French monarch in 1830, his grandson Louis-Philippe, Comte de Paris. The Bonapartists were marginalized due to the defeat of Napoléon III and were unable to advance the candidacy of any member of his family, the Bonaparte family. Legitimists and Orléanists came to a compromise, eventually, whereby the childless Comte de Chambord would be recognised as king, consequently, in 1871 the throne was offered to the Comte de Chambord. Chambord believed the monarchy had to eliminate all traces of the Revolution in order to restore the unity between the monarchy and the nation, which the revolution had sundered apart. Compromise on this was if the nation were to be made whole again
9.
French Fifth Republic
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Alsace-Lorraine would be restored at the end of World War I. Unlike other European countries France did not experience a population growth in the mid and late 19th century. From a population of around 39 million in 1880, France still had only a population of 40 million in 1945, the post-war years would bring a massive baby boom, and with immigration, France reached 50 million in 1968. This growth slowed down in 1974, since 1999, France has seen an unprecedented growth in population. In 2004, population growth was 0. 68%, almost reaching North American levels, France is now well ahead of all other European countries in population growth and in 2003, Frances natural population growth was responsible for almost all the natural growth in European population. Today, France, with a population of 62 and a million, or 65 million including overseas territories, is the third most populous country of Europe, behind Russia. Immigration in the 20th century differed significantly from that of the previous century, the 1920s saw great influxes from Italy and Poland, in the 1930-50s immigrants came from Spain and Portugal. Since the 1960s however, the greatest waves of immigrants have been from former French colonies, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Mali, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam. Much of this recent immigration was initially economical, but many of these immigrants have remained in France, gained citizenship, estimates vary, but of the 60 million people living in France today, close to 4 million claim foreign origin. Eastern-European and North-African Jewish immigration to France largely began in the mid to late 19th century, in 1872, there was an estimated 86,000 Jews living in France, and by 1945 this would increase to 300,000. Many Jews integrated into French society, although French nationalism led to anti-Semitism in many quarters, since the 1960s, France has experienced a great deal of Jewish immigration from the Mediterranean and North Africa, and the Jewish population in France is estimated at around 600,000 today. By far the largest of these is Paris, at 2.1 million inhabitants, followed by Lille, Lyon, much of this urbanization takes place not in the traditional center of the cities, but in the suburbs that surround them. With immigration from countries, these cités have been the center of racial. Compounding the loss of regionalism is the role of the French capital, the post-war years saw the state take control of a number of French industries. The modern political climate has however been for increasing regional power, many French intellectuals welcomed the war to avenge the humiliation of defeat and loss of territory to Germany following the Franco-Prussian War of 1871. A pacifist, was assassinated at the start of the war, Prime Minister Rene Viviani called for unity—for a Union sacrée --Which was a wartime truce between the right and left factions that had been fighting bitterly. However, war-weariness was a factor by 1917, even reaching the army. The soldiers were reluctant to attack, Mutiny was a factor as soldiers said it was best to wait for the arrival of millions of Americans, the economy was hurt by the German invasion of major industrial areas in the northeast
10.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
11.
Union for the New Republic
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The Union for the New Republic, was a French political party founded on 1 October 1958 that supported Prime Minister Charles de Gaulle in the 1958 elections. The UNR won 206 of 579 seats in the November 1958 elections, in 1962, the UNR grouped with the Gaullist Democratic Union of Labour to form the UNR-UDT. They won 233 seats out of 482, slightly less than an absolute majority,35 Independent Republicans boosted their support. In 1967, UNR candidates ran under the title Union of Democrats for the Fifth Republic, the UNR was renamed Union for the Defense of the Republic in 1968, and later Union of Democrats for the Republic in 1971
12.
Claude Pompidou
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Claude Jacqueline Pompidou was the wife of President of France Georges Pompidou. She was a philanthropist and a patron of art, especially through the Centre Georges Pompidou. She was born Claude Jacqueline Cahour in Château-Gontier, Mayenne, one of two daughters of a doctor and her mother died when she was three years old. She moved to Paris to study law and she met Georges Pompidou, her future husband, during the first year of her studies, he was then working as a literature teacher at a lycée. Their adopted son, Alain Pompidou, was born in 1942, Georges Pompidou fought in the Battle of France in the Second World War, before resuming his career as a teacher. He joined the staff of Charles de Gaulle after France was liberated and he joined de Rothschild Frères as a banker in 1953, and became general manager of a bank in 1956. De Gaulle appointed Georges Pompidou as Prime Minister of France in 1962, the couple did not move to the Prime Ministers official residence at the Hôtel Matignon, staying instead in their apartment in Quai de Béthune on Île Saint-Louis. Pompidou won public acclaim for his handling of the May 1968 strike but it caused friction with De Gaulle, meanwhile, Mme Pompidou was noted for her interest in fashion. Pompidou ran for the Presidency in 1969 and was elected and she did not enjoy political life, once calling the Élysée Palace a house of sadness. The couple redecorated rooms in the Élysée Palace in modern style, with painted walls and colourful carpets by Yaacov Agam. Her husband died in office in 1974, the daring decorations were removed by the next President, Valéry Giscard dEstaing. In 1970, Mme Pompidou set up the Claude Pompidou Foundation to help disabled children, jacques Chirac served as the Treasurer of the Foundation for over three decades. His wife Bernadette Chirac became the president of the Foundation, following the death of Mme Pompidou, Pompidou played a key role in establishing the Centre Georges Pompidou. The building was designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers and the choice of artwork for the Centre was based largely of her knowledge of her husbands tastes and she was particularly inspired by the work of Yves Klein. Pompidou continued to play an role in French artistic life in subsequent decades. She also played a role in the foundation. She published her memoirs, L’Élan du Coeur, in 1997
13.
Alma mater
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Alma mater is an allegorical Latin phrase for a university or college. In modern usage, it is a school or university which an individual has attended, the phrase is variously translated as nourishing mother, nursing mother, or fostering mother, suggesting that a school provides intellectual nourishment to its students. Before its modern usage, Alma mater was a title in Latin for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele. The source of its current use is the motto, Alma Mater Studiorum, of the oldest university in continuous operation in the Western world and it is related to the term alumnus, denoting a university graduate, which literally means a nursling or one who is nourished. The phrase can also denote a song or hymn associated with a school, although alma was a common epithet for Ceres, Cybele, Venus, and other mother goddesses, it was not frequently used in conjunction with mater in classical Latin. Alma Redemptoris Mater is a well-known 11th century antiphon devoted to Mary, the earliest documented English use of the term to refer to a university is in 1600, when University of Cambridge printer John Legate began using an emblem for the universitys press. In English etymological reference works, the first university-related usage is often cited in 1710, many historic European universities have adopted Alma Mater as part of the Latin translation of their official name. The University of Bologna Latin name, Alma Mater Studiorum, refers to its status as the oldest continuously operating university in the world. At least one, the Alma Mater Europaea in Salzburg, Austria, the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, has been called the Alma Mater of the Nation because of its ties to the founding of the United States. At Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, the ancient Roman world had many statues of the Alma Mater, some still extant. Modern sculptures are found in prominent locations on several American university campuses, outside the United States, there is an Alma Mater sculpture on the steps of the monumental entrance to the Universidad de La Habana, in Havana, Cuba. Media related to Alma mater at Wikimedia Commons The dictionary definition of alma mater at Wiktionary Alma Mater Europaea website
14.
Sciences Po
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Sciences Po, or Paris Institute of Political Studies is a selective university located in Paris, France, and is widely considered to be one of the most prestigious in France. Sciences Po is a university focused on the social sciences and its main campus encircles Boulevard Saint Germain in the 7th arrondissement. Undergraduate students can choose to study in one of its six campuses in Reims, Dijon, Le Havre, Nancy, Poitiers or Menton, each focusing on a different cultural. The institution is a member of several academic consortia, Sciences Po was created in 1872 to improve the training of public servants and politicians in the aftermath of the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian war of 1871. Many notable public figures are among its alumni, including most French presidents and it has also been strongly criticized for creating an oligarchy in French society and being at the centre of several scandals. Following defeat in the 1870 war, the demise of Napoleon III, and the Paris Commune, politically and economically, people feared Frances international stature was waning due to inadequate teaching of its political and diplomatic corps. ELSP was meant to serve as breeding ground where nearly all the major, non-technical state commissioners were trained. ”New disciplines such as International Relations, International Law, Political Economy. In August 1894, the British Association for the Advancement of Science spoke out for the need to advance the study of politics along the lines of ELSP. Sidney and Beatrice Webb used the purpose and curriculum of Sciences Po as part of their inspiration for creating the London School of Economics in 1895. As per ordinance 45-2284 issued on 9 October 1945, two entities were created from ELSP, Fondation nationale des sciences politiques or FNSP, and Institut détudes politiques de Paris or IEP Paris. Both entities were tasked by the French government to ensure “the progress, the epithet Sciences Po was applied to both entities, which inherited the reputation previously vested in ELSP. Frances Legislature entrusted FNSP with managing IEP Paris, its library, and budget, and they are not to be confounded with Sciences Pos satellite campuses. FNSP further strengthened its role as a publication center with significant donations from the Rockefeller Foundation. Sciences Po underwent various reforms under the directorship of Richard Descoings, in these years, Sciences Po introduced a compulsory year abroad component to its undergraduate degree, and began to offer a multilingual curriculum in French, English, and other languages. It was during this period that Sciences Po added its regional campuses, Sciences Po also implemented reforms in its admissions process. Previously, Sciences Po recruited its students exclusively on the basis of a competitive examination and this system was seen to favor students from prestigious preparatory high schools or those who could afford year-long preparatory courses. In March 2001, the governing council widened its admissions policy. Sciences Po is located in Paris, in the 6th and 7th districts,27 rue Saint-Guillaume houses the office since 1879
15.
French Army
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The French Army, officially the Land Army is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. Along with the French Air Force, the French Navy and the National Gendarmerie, the current Chief of Staff of the French Army is General Jean-Pierre Bosser, a direct subordinate of the Chief of the Defence Staff. All soldiers are considered professionals following the suspension of conscription, voted in parliament in 1997, as of 2014, the French Army employed 111,628 personnel. In addition, the element of the French Army consisted of 15,453 personnel of the Operational Reserve. The Kings of France needed reliable troops during and after the Hundred Years War and these units of troops were raised by issuing ordonnances to govern their length of service, composition and payment. These Compagnies dordonnance formed the core of the Gendarme Cavalry into the sixteenth century, stationed throughout France and summoned into larger armies as needed. There was also made for Francs-archers units of bowmen and foot soldiers raised from the non-noble classes. The bulk of the infantry for warfare was still provided by urban or provincial militias, raised from an area or city to fight locally and named for their recruiting grounds. Gradually these units became more permanent, and in 1480s Swiss instructors were recruited and these men would be paid and contracted and receive training. Henry II further regularised the French army by forming standing Infantry regiments to replace the Militia structure, the first of these the Régiments de Picardie, Piémont, Navarre and Champagne were called the Les Vieux Corps. It was normal policy to disband regiments after a war was over as a cost saving measure with the Vieux Corps and the Kings own Household Troops the Maison du Roi being the only survivors. Regiments could be raised directly by the King and so called after the region in which they were raised, or by the nobility and so called after the noble or his appointed colonel. In 1684 there was a reorganisation of the French infantry and again in 1701 to fit in with Louis XIVs plans. This reshuffle created many of the regiments of the French Army and standardised their equipment. The army of the Sun King tended to wear coats with coloured linings. There were exceptions and the troops, recruited from outside France. In addition to these regiments of the line the Maison du Roi provided several elite units, the Swiss Guards, French Guards, the revolution split the army with the main mass losing most of its officers to aristocratic flight or guillotine and becoming demoralised and ineffective. The French Guard joined the revolt and the Swiss Guards were massacred during the storming of the Tuileries palace, under Napoleon I, the French Army conquered most of Europe during the Napoleonic Wars
16.
Lieutenant
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A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations armed forces, fire service or police. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different military formations, but is often subdivided into senior and junior ranks, in navies it is often equivalent to the army rank of captain, it may also indicate a particular post rather than a rank. The rank is used in fire services, emergency medical services, security services. Lieutenant may also appear as part of a used in various other organisations with a codified command structure. It often designates someone who is second-in-command, and as such, for example, a lieutenant master is likely to be second-in-command to the master in an organisation using both ranks. Political uses include lieutenant governor in various governments, and Quebec lieutenant in Canadian politics, in the United Kingdom, a lord lieutenant is the sovereigns representative in a county or lieutenancy area, while a deputy lieutenant is one of the lord lieutenants deputies. However, their efforts failed, and the French word is used, along with its many variations. The early history of the pronunciation is unclear, Middle English spellings suggest that the /luː-/ and /lɛf-/ pronunciations may have existed even then. The rare Old French variant spelling luef for Modern French lieu supports the suggestion that a final of the Old French word was in certain environments perceived as an, in Royal Naval tradition—and other English-speaking navies outside the United States—a reduced pronunciation /ləˈtɛnənt/ is used. This is not recognised as current by recent editions of the OED, conventionally, armies and other services or branches which use army-style rank titles have two grades of lieutenant, but a few also use a third, more junior, rank. Where more junior officers were employed as deputies to the lieutenant, they went by names, including second lieutenant, sub-lieutenant, ensign. The senior grade of lieutenant is known as first lieutenant in the United States, and as lieutenant in the United Kingdom, in countries which do not speak English, the rank title usually translates as lieutenant, but may also translate as first lieutenant or senior lieutenant. The Israel Defense Forces rank segen literally translates as deputy, which is equivalent to a lieutenant, there is great variation in the insignia used worldwide. In most English-speaking and Arabic-speaking countries, as well as a number of European and South American nations, an example of an exception is the United States, whose armed forces distinguish their lieutenant ranks with one silver bar for first lieutenant and one gold bar for second lieutenant. Second lieutenant is usually the most junior grade of commissioned officer, in non-English-speaking countries, the equivalent rank title may translate as second lieutenant, lieutenant, sub-lieutenant or junior lieutenant. Non-English terms include alferes, alférez, fänrik, ensign, Leutnant, letnan, poručík, a few non-English-speaking militaries maintain a lower rank, frequently translated as third lieutenant OF1c. The rank title may translate as second lieutenant, junior lieutenant, sub-lieutenant or ensign. Warsaw Pact countries standardised their ranking systems on the Soviet system, some of the former Soviet and Warsaw Pact nations have now discarded the third rank while many retain it like Bulgaria
17.
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
18.
Cantal
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Cantal is a department in south-central France, with its capital at Aurillac. Its residents are known as Cantalians and its principal towns are Aurillac, Saint-Flour, and Mauriac. Cantal is part of the current region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and borders the departments of Puy-de-Dôme, Haute-Loire, Aveyron, Lot, Lozère, the department is named for the Plomb du Cantal, the central peak of the bare and rugged Monts du Cantal mountain chain which traverses the area. Cantal lies in the middle of Frances central plateau, the Cantal range is a group of extinct and eroded volcanic peaks. Its highest point is the Plomb du Cantal, which reaches an elevation of 1,858 meters and its neighbors are Puy Mary and Puy Chavaroche. To their north lie the Cézallier and Dore ranges and the arid Artense Plateau, immediately to their east is the fertile Planèze Plateau, bound on its east by the Monts de la Margeride. The principal rivers are the Alagnon, which is tributary to the Allier, the Celle and Truyère, tributary to the Lot, at an elevation of 250 meters above sea level, the low point of the province lies in the Lot valley. The Truyère valley skirts the Planèze on the south and divides it from the Monts dAubrac, the western area of the department consists of grassy plateaus and beautiful river valleys. At first, Cantal was divided into four arrondissements—Aurillac, Mauriac, Murat, Murat was later merged into the others. The climate of the department varies considerably, prevailing winds and mountain ranges divide Cantal into four climatic zones, The west is subject to oceanic winds which bring rains. The mountains of the Cantal and the Cézallier create a shadow, it rains. The Planèze of Saint-Flour and the region of Massiac receive less precipitation, the plateaux of the Margeride and the Aubrac have harsh winters and pleasant summers. Generally, the weather is mild and dry in the plain between Murat and St-Fleur and around Aurillac, while summer storms and winters can be long and severe in the northern. The west—nearer precipitation coming in from the Atlantic—is well watered, there is abundant snowfall which can remain up to six months on the mountaintops. Winter temperatures can fall to below −15 °C, whereas in summer 25 °C is often reached, the southern part of the department, on its borders with Aveyron and Lot, is the hottest region. Aurillac averaged 2080 hours of sunlight per year over the period from 1991 to 2000, fog is rare and disappears quickly. Wind is usually not very strong, but the lightning flashes in this department are among the most spectacular in France, televised French weather forecasts often note Aurillac as the coldest city in France in the mornings. This status should be understood in light of their derivation from temperature readings by Météo France, of the 30 cities included on its maps, Aurillac is by far the one with the highest altitude, at 640 m above sea level
19.
Guy de Rothschild
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Baron Guy Édouard Alphonse Paul de Rothschild was a French banker and member of the Rothschild family. He owned the bank Rothschild Frères from 1967 to 1979, when it was nationalized by the French government and he was named to the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1985. Baron Guy de Rothschild was born in Paris, the son of Baron Édouard de Rothschild and his wife, guys elder brother, Édouard Alphonse Émile Lionel, died at the age of four of appendicitis, he also had two younger sisters, Jacqueline and Bethsabée. Half of his great-grandparents were Rothschilds and he was a great-great grandson of the German patriarch of the Rothschild family Mayer Amschel Rothschild, who founded the familys banking in the 18th century in Frankfurt, Germany. He grew up at his parents townhouse on the corner of the rue de Rivoli and he was educated at the Lycée Condorcet and Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris, and by private tutors. He undertook military service with the cavalry at Saumur, and played golf for France and he won the Grand Prix de Sud-Ouest in 1948. Guy de Rothschild married twice, In 1937, he married a distant cousin, Alix was the former wife of Kurt Krahmer and the younger daughter of Baron Philipp Schey von Koromla, the first Hungarian Jew to be made an Austrian noble. They had one child, David René de Rothschild, Rothschild also raised his wifes daughters from her prior marriage to Krahmer, Lili and Bettina. In 1957, he married Baroness Marie-Hélène van Zuylen van Nyevelt, marie-Hélènes first marriage to Count François de Nicolay—with whom she had one son, Philippe de Nicolay—had been dissolved in 1956. Like his first wife, she was a distant cousin, though in this case and they had one child, Baron Édouard de Rothschild. After his second marriage, Guy de Rothschild renovated the Château de Ferrières, using it to put on lavish balls in the early 1970s, the same year, he bought the Hôtel Lambert on the Île Saint-Louis in Paris, the top floors of which became his Paris residence. In 1940, as a result of the German occupation of France in World War II, Guy de Rothschilds parents and sister Bethsabée fled France and made their way to safety in New York City. Guy de Rothschild had enlisted in the French Army and was a commander in the 3rd Light Mechanised Division during the Battle of France in early 1940. After fighting the Nazis at Carvin, he was part of the French Army that was forced to retreat to Dunkirk and he was awarded the Croix de Guerre for his actions on the beaches at Dunkirk, from where he was evacuated to England. He immediately returned to France, landing at Brest, and taking charge of the office at La Bourboule. Under the Vichy government, his father and uncles were stripped of their French nationality, removed from the register of the Légion dhonneur, Rothschild managed to persuade the buyers to grant options under which he would later be able to buy the familys interests back. He left France again, via Spain and Portugal, to join his parents in New York City and he joined the Free French Forces and boarded the cargo ship, Pacific Grove, to travel back to Europe. His ship was torpedoed and sunk in March 1943, and he was rescued after spending 12 hours in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, in England, he joined the staff of General Koenig at Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force near Portsmouth
20.
NM Rothschild and Sons
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N M Rothschild & Sons Limited or Rothschild Group is a British multinational investment banking company controlled by the Rothschild family. It was founded in the City of London in 1811 and now serves as the British division of Rothschild & Co and it is the 7th oldest bank in continuous operation in the United Kingdom. Rothschilds financial advisory division is known to serve British nobility, including the British Royal Family, chairman Sir Evelyn Rothschild is currently the personal financial advisor of Queen Elizabeth II, and she knighted him in 1989 for his services to banking and finance. In the late 18th century and early 19th century, Mayer Amschel Rothschild rose to one of Europes most powerful bankers in the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel in the Holy Roman Empire. In pursuit of expansion, he appointed his sons to start banking operations in the capitals of Europe, including sending his third son, Nathan Mayer Rothschild. Nathan Mayer Rothschild first settled in Manchester, where he established a business in finance and he later moved to London, where he founded N M Rothschild & Sons in 1811, through which he made a fortune with his involvement in the government bonds market. According to historian Niall Ferguson, For most of the nineteenth century, through the creation of a network of agents, couriers and shippers, the bank was able to provide funds to the armies of the Duke of Wellington in Portugal and Spain. In 1818 the Rothschild bank arranged a £5 million loan to the Prussian government, the providing of other innovative and complex financing for government projects formed a mainstay of the banks business for the better part of the century. N M Rothschild & Sons financial strength in the City of London became such that by 1825, Nathan Mayers eldest son, Lionel de Rothschild succeeded him as head of the London branch. Under Lionel the bank financed the British governments 1875 purchase of a controlling interest in the Suez Canal, Lionel also began to invest in railways as his uncle James had been doing in France. In 1869, Lionels son, Alfred de Rothschild, became a director of the Bank of England, Alfred was one of those who represented the British Government at the 1892 International Monetary Conference in Brussels. In 1873 de Rothschild Frères in France and N M Rothschild & Sons of London joined with other investors to acquire the Spanish governments money-losing Rio Tinto copper mines, the new owners restructured the company and turned it into a profitable business. By 1905, the Rothschild interest in Rio Tinto amounted to more than 30%, in 1887, the French and English Rothschild banking houses loaned money to, and invested in, the De Beers diamond mines in South Africa, becoming its largest shareholders. The First World War marked a change of fortune and emphasis for Rothschild, after the War, the Rothschild banks began a steady transition towards advisory work and finance raising for commercial concerns, including the London Underground. In 1938, the Austrian Rothschilds’ interests were given to the Nazis, in France and Austria, the family was scattered for the duration of the Second World War. In the 1980s, Rothschild took a role in the international phenomenon of privatisation. The company was involved from the beginning and developed a role which spread out to more than thirty countries worldwide. In recent years, Rothschild advised on nearly a thousand completed mergers, Rothschild also advised on some of the largest and most high-profile corporate restructurings around the world
21.
Jacques Chirac
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Jacques René Chirac is a French politician, who served as the President of France and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra from 1995 to 2007. Chirac served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976, from 1986 to 1988, Chirac occupied various senior positions, including Minister of Agriculture, Minister of the Interior, Prime Minister, Mayor of Paris, and President of the French Republic. Chiracs internal policies initially included lower tax rates, the removal of controls, strong punishment for crime and terrorism. After pursuing these policies as Prime Minister, Chirac changed his method, Jacques Chirac has emerged as an improbable icon of retro taste and a figure of public affection. On 15 December 2011, the Paris court declared him guilty of diverting public funds and abusing public confidence, and gave Chirac a two-year suspended prison sentence. Chirac, born in the Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire clinic, is the son of Abel François Marie Chirac, an executive for an aircraft company, and Marie-Louise Valette. His great grandparents on both sides were peasants, but his two grandfathers were teachers from Sainte-Féréole in Corrèze, according to Chirac, his name originates from the langue doc, that of the troubadours, therefore that of poetry. He was educated in Paris at the Cours Hattemer, a private school and he then attended the Lycée Carnot and at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand. After his baccalauréat, he served for three months as a sailor on a coal-transporter, Chirac played rugby union for Brives youth team, and also played at university level. He played no.8 and second row, in 1956, he married Bernadette Chodron de Courcel, with whom he had two daughters, Laurence and Claude. Chirac is the grandfather of Martin Rey-Chirac by the relationship of Claude with French judoka Thierry Rey, Jacques and Bernadette Chirac also have a foster daughter, Anh Dao Traxel. Inspired by General Charles de Gaulle, Chirac started to pursue a civil career in the 1950s. During this period, he joined the French Communist Party, sold copies of LHumanité, in 1950, he signed the Soviet-inspired Stockholm Appeal for the abolition of nuclear weapons – which led him to be questioned when he applied for his first visa to the United States. Chirac trained as a military officer in armoured cavalry at Saumur. He then volunteered to fight in the Algerian War, using connections to be sent despite the reservations of his superiors. His superiors did not want to make him an officer because they suspected he had communist leanings, after leaving the ENA in 1959, he became a civil servant in the Court of Auditors. In April 1962, Chirac was appointed head of the staff of Prime Minister Georges Pompidou. This appointment launched Chiracs political career, Pompidou considered Chirac his protégé, and referred to him as my bulldozer for his skill at getting things done
22.
National Assembly (France)
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The National Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic. The upper house is the Senate, the National Assemblys members are known as députés. There are 577 députés, each elected by a constituency through a two-round voting system. Thus,289 seats are required for a majority, the assembly is presided over by a president, normally from the largest party represented, assisted by vice-presidents from across the represented political spectrum. The term of the National Assembly is five years, however and it is guarded by Republican Guards. The Constitution of the French Fifth Republic greatly increased the power of the executive at the expense of Parliament, the President of the Republic can decide to dissolve the National Assembly and call for new legislative elections. This is meant as a way to resolve stalemates where the Assembly cannot decide on a political direction. The National Assembly can overthrow the government by a vote of no confidence. For this reason, the minister and his cabinet are necessarily from the dominant party or coalition in the assembly. The Government used to set the priorities of the agenda for the Assemblys sessions and this, however, was amended on 23 July 2008. Under the amended constitution, the Government sets the priorities for two weeks in a month, another week is designated for the Assemblys control prerogatives. And the fourth one is set by the Assembly, also, one day per month is set by a minority or opposition group. Members of the assembly can ask written or oral questions to ministers, the Wednesday afternoon 3 p. m. session of questions to the Government is broadcast live on television. Like Prime Ministers Questions in Britain, it is largely a show for the viewers, with members of the majority asking flattering questions, while the opposition tries to embarrass the government. Since 1988, the 577 deputies are elected by universal suffrage with a two-round system by constituency, for a five-year mandate. The constituencies each have approximately 100,000 inhabitants, however, districts were not redrawn between 1982 and 2009. As a result of population movements over that period, there were inequalities between the less populous rural districts and the urban districts, the constituencies were redrawn in 2009, but this redistribution was controversial. Among other controversial measures, it created eleven constituencies and seats for French residents overseas, albeit without increasing the overall number of seats beyond 577
23.
French legislative election, 1962
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French legislative elections took place on 18 November and 25 November 1962 to elect the second National Assembly of the Fifth Republic. This policy was disapproved by some members of the Presidential Majority, simultaneously, when Georges Pompidou replaced Michel Debré as Prime minister, the center-right parties left the majority due to de Gaulles eurosceptic declaration. Like the Left, they denounced the presidentialization of the regime, on 22 August de Gaulle escaped from an assassination attempt by the OAS in Le Petit-Clamart. He subsequently announced a referendum in which he proposed the election of the president of the French Republic under universal suffrage. However, de Gaulle finally won the referendum and dissolved the National Assembly, during the legislative campaign, all the parties, except the UNR and the RI, criticized the personal power which they believed distorted Frances Republican institutions. Indeed, in the French political culture and in their mind, Republicanism was inseparable from parliamentary democracy, contrary to the previous legislative election, the left-wing parties finalized an electoral agreement. The subsequent legislative elections saw advances for the left-wing opposition, however, conservative voters sanctioned the center-right parties, preferring to vote for the Gaullist party
24.
French legislative election, 1967
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French legislative elections took place on 5 and 12 March 1967 to elect the third National Assembly of the Fifth Republic. In December 1965, Charles de Gaulle was re-elected President of France in the first Presidential election by universal suffrage, however, contrary to predictions, there had been a second ballot. This election marked a process of rebuilding by the opposition, françois Mitterrands unexpected result, as De Gaulles challenger in the second round of the presidential election, allowed him to establish himself as the leader of the non-Communist Left. The centrist and right-wing opposition to de Gaulle gathered in the Democratic Centre led by Jean Lecanuet, in January 1966, a cabinet reshuffle took place. The Independent Republicans leader and Economy minister Valéry Giscard dEstaing was dismissed from the cabinet and his group stayed in the Presidential Majority but with a more critical position. He summed up this attitude by a yes, but. to Gaullist policies, the result of the first round was perceived as a punishment against the Presidential Majority, which obtained a surprisingly low result. The outcome of the second round depended on the centrist voters, the Gaullists warned voters against a return to the Fourth Republic, political instability and Communist danger. The alliance between centrists and the candidates of the Presidential Majority in some constituencies explained the victory of the Right in the second round, the Left improved in comparison with the previous legislative election and the Presidential Majority won with only a one-seat majority. The centrist deputies were not numerous enough numerous to force the Gaullists to make compromises, georges Pompidou was confirmed as Prime Minister of a UDR-RI cabinet
25.
May 1968 events in France
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The volatile period of civil unrest in France during May 1968 was punctuated by demonstrations and massive general strikes as well as the occupation of universities and factories across France. At the height of its fervor, it brought the economy of France to a virtual halt. May 68 had a impact on French society that would be felt for decades to come. It is considered to this day as a cultural, social and moral turning point in the history of the country, as Alain Geismar—one of the leaders of the time—later pointed out, the movement succeeded as a social revolution, not as a political one. The unrest began with a series of student occupation protests against capitalism, consumerism and traditional institutions, values and it then spread to factories with strikes involving 11 million workers, more than 22% of the total population of France at the time, for two continuous weeks. It was the largest general strike ever attempted in France, the student occupations and wildcat general strikes initiated across France were met with forceful confrontation by university administrators and police. De Gaulle went to a French military base in Germany, and after returning dissolved the National Assembly, Violence evaporated almost as quickly as it arose. Workers went back to their jobs, and when the elections were held in June. In February 1968, the French Communists and French Socialists formed an electoral alliance, the universitys administration called the police, who surrounded the university. After the publication of their wishes, the left the building without any trouble. After this first record some leaders of what was named the Movement of 22 March were called together by the committee of the university. Following months of conflicts between students and authorities at the Paris University at Nanterre, the shut down the university on May 2,1968. Students at the Sorbonne University in Paris met on May 3 to protest against the closure and the threatened expulsion of several students at Nanterre. More than 20,000 students, teachers and supporters marched towards the Sorbonne, still sealed off by the police, who charged, wielding their batons, as soon as the marchers approached. While the crowd dispersed, some began to create out of whatever was at hand, while others threw paving stones. The police then responded with tear gas and charged the crowd again, high school student unions spoke in support of the riots on 6 May. Negotiations broke down, and students returned to their campuses after a report that the government had agreed to reopen them. The students now had a near revolutionary fervor, on Friday,10 May, another huge crowd congregated on the Rive Gauche
26.
Baden-Baden
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Baden-Baden is a spa town, located in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwestern Germany. The springs at Baden-Baden were known to the Romans as Aquae, in modern German, Baden is a gerund meaning bathing but Baden, the original name of the town, derives from an earlier plural form of Bad. As with the English placename Bath, there are various other Badens at hot springs throughout Central Europe, the current doubled name arose to distinguish it from the others, particularly Baden near Vienna in Austria and Baden near Zürich in Switzerland. It is a reference to the Margraviate of Baden-Baden, a subdivision of the Margraviate of Baden, Baden-Baden became its formal name in 1931. Baden-Baden lies in a valley of the Northern Black Forest in southwestern Germany, the western districts lie within the Upper Rhine Plain. The highest mountain of Baden-Baden is the Badener Höhe, which is part of the Black Forest National Park, the old town lies on the side of a hill on the right bank of the Oos. Since the 19th century, the resorts have been located on the other side of the river. There are 29 natural springs in the area, varying in temperature from 46 to 67 °C. The water is rich in salt and flows from artesian wells 1,800 m under Florentine Hill at a rate of 341 litre per minute and is conveyed through pipes to the towns baths. Roman settlement at Baden-Baden has been dated as far back as the emperor Hadrian, the known ruins of the Roman bath were rediscovered just below the New Castle in 1847 and date to the reign of Caracalla, who visited the area to relieve his arthritic aches. The facilities were used by the Roman garrison in Strasbourg, the town fell into ruin but its church was first constructed in the 7th century. By 1112, it was the seat of the Margraviate of Baden, the Lichtenthal Convent was founded in 1254. The margraves initially used Hohenbaden Castle, whose ruins still occupy the summit above the town, Baden suffered severely during the Thirty Years War, particularly at the hands of the French, who plundered it in 1643. They returned to occupy the city in 1688 at the onset of the Nine Years War, the margravine Sibylla rebuilt the New Castle in 1697, but the margrave Louis William removed his seat to Rastatt in 1706. The Stiftskirche was rebuilt in 1753 and houses the tombs of several of the margraves, the town began its recovery in the late 18th century, serving as a refuge for émigrés from the French Revolution. The town was frequented during the Second Congress of Rastatt in 1797–99 and she came for medicinal reasons, as the waters were recommended for gout, rheumatism, paralysis, neuralgia, skin disorders, and stones. The Ducal government subsequently subsidized the resorts development, guests included Queen Victoria, Wilhelm I, and Berlioz. The pumproom was completed in 1842, the Grand Duchys railways mainline reached Baden in 1845
27.
French legislative election, 1968
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French legislative elections took place on 23 and 30 June 1968 to elect the fourth French National Assembly of the Fifth Republic. They were held in the aftermath of the events of May 1968, the Far-Left and the Unified Socialist Party protested against the passivity of the left-wing parties. The Gaullist Union for the Defence of the Republic became the first party in the French Republics history to obtain a parliamentary majority. However, the relation between the two heads of the power had deteriorated during the crisis. One month later, Georges Pompidou resigned and was replaced by Maurice Couve de Murville
28.
French constitutional referendum, 1969
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A constitutional referendum was held in France on 27 April 1969. The reforms would have led to government decentralization and changes to the Senate and it was rejected by 52. 4% of voters, and failure of the amendments led to President Charles de Gaulles resignation. The first part of the project aimed to classify the existence of Regions in the constitution as Territorial Collectivities and that would affect the regional circonscriptions created in 1960, and Corsica. The Regions jurisdiction would be enlarged, primarily with taking control of utilities, housing. In order to exercise these new powers, the Region would be able to borrow money, enter contracts, create, manage or grant public organizations. Special arrangements would be taken for the Parisian Region, Corsica, the second part of the project would combine the Senate and the Economic, Social and Environmental Council into one new senate having a consultative function and no blocking power. Senators would be elected for six years, with elections held for half the house three years. They would have to be over twenty-three, rather than the minimum age of thirty-five. De Gaulle announced that if the reforms were refused, he would resign, also, former finance minister Valéry Giscard dEstaing declared that he would not vote yes. Only the UDR campaigned for a yes and this decision will take effect today at midday. Alain Poher, president of the senate, became president of the Republic until the next elections
29.
French presidential election, 1969
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The 1969 French presidential election took place on 1 June and 15 June 1969. It occurred due to the resignation of President Charles de Gaulle on 28 April 1969, de Gaulle had decided to consult the voters by referendum about regionalisation and the reform of the Senate, and he had announced he would resign if it resulted in a no vote. On 27 April,53. 5% of the voters had voted no, in the presidential election, the Gaullist Party was represented by former Prime Minister Georges Pompidou. He was very popular in the conservative electorate due to growth when he led the cabinet and his role in the settlement of the May 68 crisis. In his presidential campaign, he obtained the support of the Independent Republicans and their leader Valéry Giscard dEstaing, the French Communist Party proposed to the French Section of the Workers International to present a candidate with a common programme, but the SFIO refused. The Left was severely divided in this election, the PCF candidate was Jacques Duclos, one of the historical leaders of the party. The mayor of Marseille, Gaston Defferre, was the SFIO candidate and campaigned with Pierre Mendès France and this candidacy was the first – and so far, only – dual ticket in a French presidential election. But Defferres campaign was weakened by the decision of centrist interim President Alain Poher to run, as Chairman of the Senate, Poher had led the no campaign in the referendum. The success of the no campaign gave him the legitimacy to run for the Presidency and he rallied a large swathe of centre-right, michel Rocard and Alain Krivine stood as candidates expressing the ideas of the May 1968 movements, though the Trotskyist Krivine took a far more radical stance. The first round of voting was held on 1 June 1969, out of a total of 28,774,041 eligible voters, participation in the first round hovered around 78% of the electorate. Pompidou and Poher won the right to compete in the round by claiming 43. 9% and 23. 4% of the vote respectively. The second round saw Pompidou facing Poher, none of the left-wing candidates reached the second round, in spite of the good campaign and result of Duclos, who scored the best ever result for a Communist in a presidential election. The Socialists supported reluctantly the centrist Chairman of the Senate, the Communists refused to choose and used a slogan which was equivalent to the phrase Its six of one and half a dozen of the other. The second round was held on 15 June 1969, about 69% of eligible voters participated. Pompidou was elected President of France with a majority of more than 57%
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Alain Poher
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Alain Émile Louis Marie Poher was a French centrist politician, affiliated first with the Popular Republican Movement and later with the Democratic Centre. He served as a Senator for Val-de-Marne from 1946 to 1995 and he was president of the Senate from 3 October 1968 to 1 October 1992 and, in that capacity, served twice as the countrys interim president. A leading candidate in the 1969 presidential election, he was defeated by Georges Pompidou in the second round, Poher was born in Ablon-sur-Seine, Val-de-Marne. He graduated from the Lycée Louis-le-Grand and the Lycée Saint-Louis in Paris, on 19 August 1938 he married Henriette Tugler, with whom he had one daughter, Marie-Agnès. His political career began in 1938, when he became an executive officer in the Ministry of Finance. As Senator he continued to serve in some governments and as his home-town mayor, like Schuman, he was known for strongly pro-European integration positions, he served as President of the European Parliament from 1966 to 1969. Pohers first service as president came on 29 April 1969. Previously he was one of de Gaulles most notable political opponents, during his interim Presidency Poher continued to serve as Senate President. However, he resided during this time in the Élysée Palace Initially Poher tried to recruit General Marie Pierre Kœnig as a candidate for the Presidency and offered him his full support. Kœnig, however, declined to run, citing his poor health, after Kœnigs refusal, Poher himself announced his candidacy. Due to favourable polls he was viewed as the strongest opponent of Georges Pompidou, lack of a longstanding party machine, however, hurt his chances. During his short term in office Pohers main task was overseeing the incoming election, Poher also ordered the directors of Frances state-controlled radio and television networks to keep public media politically neutral and refrain from acting in the interest of any particular party. He also ordered the redeployment of a police force in Paris in the wake of the May 1968 events. During his tenure, Poher served with the Gaullist government of Prime Minister Maurice Couve de Murville, some even referred to this period as the first cohabitation. Despite sharp political differences, Poher was widely credited for model cooperation with the government and his accomplishments helped Poher, previously largely unknown to the public, develop significant popularity during his interim presidency, despite his defeat in the election. He served again as Interim President in 1974 after Pompidou died in office and this time, however, he did not run for his own term and stepped down after Valéry Giscard dEstaing was elected. S. Press to Harry Truman, due to his style and succession According to the discredited historical theories of the Priory of Sion. Jean-Raymond Tournoux, Le tourment et la fatalité,1974 A Caretaker Who Cares Alain Poher – Présidence de la République Embassy of France in the US – Alain Poher
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United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
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France
Croix de Guerre
