De Gaulle and French Politics: What Role Did Charles de Gaulle Play in the Politics of the Fourth and Early Fifth Republics?

The Fourth Republic is remembered by the French population as an ambivalent period of time. On the one hand, France experienced an undeniable economic recovery thanks to the American assistance offered through the Marshal Plan, a worldwide economic growth, but also the reconstruction of a country devastated by four years of war. Consumption was rising, and households upgraded their appliances. Furthermore, European consolidation expanded with the Treaty of Rome in 1957 that led to the creation of a common European market. On the other side, political instability and decolonization hindered the functioning of the Fourth Republic, and led to its downfall. Therefore, in May 1958, the agonizing Fourth Republic died in general indifference and discredit, victim of a coup in Algiers, which was handled by Charles de Gaulle. In other words, 1958 symbolized the transition from the Fourth to the Fifth Republic, a transition made possible only by the appointment of Charles de Gaulle, the most influential politician in the twentieth-century French history, and a man responsible not only for solving the Algerian issue but also for establishing of a new constitution.

In order to understand what led to the collapse of the Fourth Republic, it is firstly necessary to look into its constitution, and highlight its weaknesses. Through the October 21, 1945 referendum, French citizens adopted a new constitution, promulgated on November 2nd 1945, which put an end to the Third Republic. Charles de Gaulle, chief of the Provisional Government of the French Republic (GPRF) since 1944, wished for a stronger executive but he was challenged by conservatives of the Third Republic on the one hand, and communists on the other hand. Consequently, he stepped down from the GPRF on January 20th 1946, leaving three equally-powerful parties (the French Section of the Workers' International, the Communist Party and the Popular Republican Movement) to manage the country. Under the Fourth Republic,