Editing Political history of France (section)

==Third Republic (1870 – 1940)==
{{main|French Third Republic}}

The French Third Republic was the system of government adopted in [[History of France|France]] from 4 September 1870, when the [[Second French Empire]] collapsed during the [[Franco-Prussian War]], until 10 July 1940, after the [[Fall of France]] during [[World War II]] led to the formation of the [[Vichy France|Vichy government]].

The early days of the Third Republic were dominated by political disruptions caused by the [[Franco-Prussian War]] of 1870–1871, which the Republic continued to wage after the fall of Emperor [[Napoleon III]] in 1870. Harsh reparations exacted by the Prussians after the war resulted in the loss of the French regions of [[Alsace]] (keeping the {{lang|fr|[[Territoire de Belfort]]|italic=no}}) and [[Lorraine]] (the northeastern part, i.e. present-day [[Moselle (department)|department of Moselle]]), social upheaval, and the establishment of the [[Paris Commune]]. The early governments of the Third Republic considered re-establishing the monarchy, but disagreement as to the nature of that monarchy and the rightful occupant of the throne could not be resolved. Consequently, the Third Republic, originally envisioned as a [[provisional government]], instead became the permanent form of government of France.

The [[French Constitutional Laws of 1875]] defined the composition of the Third Republic. It consisted of a [[Chamber of Deputies (France)|Chamber of Deputies]] and a [[Senate of France|Senate]] to form the legislative branch of government and a [[List of Presidents of France#French Third Republic (1870–1940)|president]] to serve as head of state. Calls for the re-establishment of the monarchy dominated the tenures of the first two presidents, {{lang|fr|[[Adolphe Thiers]]|italic=no}} and {{lang|fr|[[Patrice de MacMahon]]|italic=no}}, but growing support for the republican form of government among the French populace and a series of republican presidents in the 1880s gradually quashed prospects of a monarchical restoration.

The Third Republic established many [[French colonial empire|French colonial possessions]], including [[French Indochina]], [[French Madagascar]], [[French Polynesia]], and large territories in [[French West Africa|West Africa]] during the [[Scramble for Africa]], all of them acquired during the last two decades of the 19th century. The early years of the 20th century were dominated by the [[Democratic Republican Alliance]], which was originally conceived as a [[centre-left]] political alliance, but over time became the main [[centre-right]] party.

The period from the start of [[World War I]] to the late 1930s featured sharply polarized politics, between the Democratic Republican Alliance and the [[Radical Party (France)|Radicals]]. The government fell less than a year after the outbreak of World War II, when Nazi forces [[occupied France|occupied much of France]], and was replaced by the rival governments of [[Charles de Gaulle]]'s [[Free France]] ({{lang|fr|La France libre}}) and [[Philippe Pétain]]'s [[French State]] ({{lang|fr|L'État français}}).

During the 19th and 20th centuries, the French colonial empire was the second largest colonial empire in the world only behind the [[British Empire]]; it extended over {{convert|13500000|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} of land at its height in the 1920s and 1930s. In terms of population however, on the eve of World War II, France and its colonial possessions totaled only 150 million inhabitants, compared with 330 million for [[British India]] alone.

{{lang|fr|[[Adolphe Thiers]]|italic=no}} called republicanism in the 1870s "the form of government that divides France least"; however, politics under the Third Republic were sharply polarized. On the left stood reformist France, heir to the [[French Revolution]]. On the right stood conservative France, rooted in the peasantry, the Roman Catholic Church, and the army.<ref>{{cite book |first=Maurice |last=Larkin |author-link=Maurice Larkin |title=Religion, Politics and Preferment in France since 1890: La Belle Epoque and its Legacy |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-521-52270-0 |page=3 |url={{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=7rPaeTm4lm4C |page=3}} }}</ref> In spite of France's sharply divided electorate and persistent attempts to overthrow it, the Third Republic endured for seventy years, which {{as of|2023|lc=y}} makes it the longest lasting system of government in France since the collapse of the {{lang|fr|[[Ancien Régime]]}} in 1789.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Night the Old Regime Ended: August 4, 1789 and the French Revolution By Michael P. Fitzsimmons |url=https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/0-271-02233-7.html |access-date=7 October 2021 |publisher=[[Penn State University|Penn State University Press]] |archive-date=7 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211007140507/https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/0-271-02233-7.html |url-status=live }}</ref>