French Fourth Republic

France’s republican regime from 1946 to 1958, characterized by parliamentary government, frequent cabinet changes, postwar reconstruction, and decolonization crises.

French Constitution of 1946: The constitution that established France’s Fourth Republic and defined its parliamentary institutions. It created a powerful National Assembly and a government dependent on parliamentary confidence.
Provisional Government of the French Republic: France’s transitional government that governed from 1944 until the establishment of the Fourth Republic. It restored republican authority and prepared the constitutional settlement.
Charles de Gaulle: French general and statesman who led Free France and later founded the Fifth Republic. He resigned from the provisional government in 1946 over the proposed parliamentary system, then returned during the 1958 crisis.
First Indochina War: A war from 1946 to 1954 between France and the Viet Minh over the future of French Indochina. Its defeat at Dien Bien Phu and the Geneva settlement ended French rule in Indochina.
National Assembly of France: The lower house of France’s Parliament, elected by direct universal suffrage. Its shifting coalitions repeatedly made or unmade Fourth Republic governments.
French constitutional referendum of 1945: A referendum in which French voters rejected restoring the prewar constitutional order and called for a constituent assembly. Its result opened the way to a new constitution rather than a return to the Third Republic.
Vincent Auriol: French Socialist politician who served as the first president of the Fourth Republic from 1947 to 1954. His presidency illustrates the limited executive role established by the regime.
Battle of Dien Bien Phu: The 1954 battle in which Viet Minh forces defeated a French garrison in northwestern Vietnam. The defeat hastened the Fourth Republic’s withdrawal from Indochina.
Council of the Republic: The upper chamber of France’s Parliament under the Fourth Republic, renamed the Senate in 1958. Its limited powers contrasted with the National Assembly’s control over governments.
French constitutional referendum of May 1946: A referendum in which French voters rejected the first draft constitution of the Fourth Republic. The rejection forced a second constituent assembly to produce a revised draft.

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