France cannot be France without greatness. Clementine Churchill: 'General, you must not hate your friends more than you hate your enemies' De Gaulle (in English): 'France has no friends, only interests. Il vaut mieux avoir une mthode mauvaise plutt que de n'en avoir aucune.

Why do you think that at 67 I would start a career as a dictator ? Pourquoi voulez-vous qu' 67 ans je commence une carrire de dictateur ? -Press conference, May 19,1958 It is better to have a bad method than to have none.

Back from retirement by popular demand is Charles de Gaulle, Frances leader of La France Libre during the Occupation of WWII. Because of these issues, the Fourth Republic collapsed in what some historians considered to be a de facto coup d'tat, which was legitimized by a referendum in 1958 establishing the Fifth Republic 1959.

Another notable feature about the 4 th Republic is its ineffective decisions about decolonizationwhich led to bloody uprisings and wars in many of Frances former colonies. Politics in the 50s French Fourth Republic 1946-1958though there was great economic growth and strengthening of state institutions as we know them today in France, the 4 th Republic was characterized by a weak executive branch and saw frequent changes of government (20 in ten years!).

Though France would rebuild in La Patrie (the motherland), ironically, it would remain at war perpetually until 1967 in its colonies. Heavy military and civilian casualties in WWII and reopening old wounds from WWI left the country ready to move on to a new era of peace. The end of World War II in 1945 left much of France to be rebuilt.France in the 1950s La France dans les annes 1950.

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