|
France had
colonial possessions, in various forms, since
the beginning of the 17th century until the 1960s.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, its global colonial
empire was the second largest in the world behind
the British Empire. At its peak, between 1919
and 1939, the second French colonial empire extended
over 12,347,000 square kilometres (4,767,000 sq.
mi) of land. Including metropolitan France, the
total area of land under French sovereignty reached
12,898,000 square kilometres (4,980,000 sq. mi)
in the 1920s and 1930s, which is 8.6% of the world's
land area.
France's
ultimate victory in World War I and World War
II after initially being invaded and partly occupied
by German forces did not prevent the loss of the
colonial empire, the comparative economic status,
population and status as a dominant nation state.
The Fourth Republic was established after World
War II, to be replaced in 1958 by the current
semi-presidential Fifth Republic established under
General Charles de Gaulle.
In 1946,
France's attempt at regaining control of its Indochina
colony resulted in the First Indochina War, which
finally ended with French defeat and withdrawal
in 1954. Only months later, France faced a new,
and even harsher conflict in its oldest major
colony, Algeria. The debate over whether or not
to keep control of Algeria, then home to over
1 million European settlers, wracked the country
and nearly led to civil war. In 1958, the Fifth
French Republic was established, with a greatly
strengthened presidency; in this role, Charles
de Gaulle managed to keep the country together
while taking steps to end the war. The Algerian
War of Independence was concluded with peace negotiations
in 1962, which led to Algerian independence.
In recent
decades, France's reconciliation and cooperation
with Germany have proved central to the political
and economic integration of the evolving European
Union, including the introduction of the euro
in January 1999. France has been at the forefront
of European Union member states seeking to exploit
the momentum of monetary union to create a more
unified and capable European Union based political,
defence and security apparatus. However the French
electorate voted against ratification of the European
Constitutional Treaty in May 2005.
|
