France
emerged
from
the
war
demoralized,
bankrupt
and
bomb-wrecked.
The
only
possible
provisional
government
in
the
circumstances
was
de
Gaulle's
Free
French
and
the
Conseil
National
de
la
Résistance,
which
meant
a
coalition
of
Left
and
Right.
As
an
opening
move
to
deal
with
the
shambles,
coal
mines,
air
transport
and
Renault
cars
were
nationalized.
But
a
new
constitution
was
required
and
elections
,
in
which
French
women
voted
for
the
first
time,
resulted
in
a
large
Left
majority
in
the
new
Constituent
Assembly
-
which,
however,
soon
fell
to
squabbling
over
the
form
of
the
new
constitution.
De
Gaulle
resigned
in
disgust.
If
he
was
hoping
for
a
wave
of
popular
sympathy,
he
didn't
get
it.
The
constitution
finally
agreed
on,
with
little
enthusiasm
in
the
country,
was
not
much
different
from
the
discredited
Third
Republic.
And
the
new
Fourth
Republic
appropriately
began
its
life
with
a
series
of
short-lived
coalitions.
In
the
early
days
the
foundations
for
welfare
were
laid,
banks
nationalized
and
trade
union
rights
extended.
With
the
exclusion
of
the
Communists
from
the
government
in
1947,
however,
thanks
to
the
Cold
War
and
the
carrot
of
American
aid
under
the
Marshall
Plan,
France
found
itself
once
more
dominated
by
the
Right.
If
the
post-Liberation
desire
for
political
reform
was
quickly
frustrated,
the
spirit
that
inspired
it
did
bear
fruit
in
other
spheres.
From
being
a
rather
backward
and
largely
agricultural
economy
prewar,
France
in
the
1950s
achieved
enormous
industrial
modernization
and
expansion
,
its
growth
rate
even
rivalling
that
of
West
Germany
at
times.
In
foreign
policy
France
opted
to
remain
in
the
US
fold,
but
at
the
same
time
took
the
initiative
in
promoting
closer
European
integration
,
first
through
the
European
Coal
and
Steel
Community
and
then,
in
1957,
through
the
creation
of
the
European
Economic
Community.
