Editing Political history of France (section)

==Coup of May 1958==
{{further|May 1958 crisis|Charles De Gaulle}}

===Political background===
The May 1958 crisis, also known as the "Algiers putsch" or "the coup of 13 May" was a political crisis in [[France]] during the turmoil of the [[Algerian War of Independence]] (1954–1962) which led to the collapse of the [[French Fourth Republic|Fourth Republic]] and its replacement by the [[French Fifth Republic|Fifth Republic]] led by [[Charles de Gaulle]] who returned to power after a twelve-year absence. It started as a political uprising in [[Algiers]] on 13 May 1958 and then became a military [[coup d'état]] led by a coalition headed by [[député|Algiers deputy]] and reserve airborne officer [[Pierre Lagaillarde]], French Generals [[Raoul Salan]], [[Edmond Jouhaud]], Jean Gracieux, and [[Jacques Massu]], and by Admiral [[Philippe Auboyneau]], commander of the Mediterranean fleet. The coup was supported by former Algerian Governor General [[Jacques Soustelle]] and his activist allies.

The coup had as its aim to oppose the formation of [[Pierre Pflimlin]]'s new government and to impose a change of policies in favor of the right-wing partisans of [[French Algeria]].

===Initial events===
After his tour as Governor General, [[Jacques Soustelle]] had returned to France to organize support for de Gaulle's return to power, while retaining close ties to the army and the settlers. By early 1958, he had organized a coup d'état, bringing together dissident army officers and colonial officials with sympathetic [[Gaullist]]s. On 13 May, right-wing elements seized power in Algiers and called for a Government of Public Safety under General de Gaulle. Massu became chairman of the Public Safety Committee and one of the leaders of the revolt.<ref name="Fenby">{{cite book |title=The General Charles de Gaulle and the France he saved |last=Jonathan |first=Fenby |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=2010 |isbn=9781847394101 |pages=383–4, 389}}</ref> [[General Salan]] assumed leadership of a [[Committee of Public Safety]]<ref>The term "[[Committee of Public Safety]]" recalls the body of that name which acted as the [[de facto]] executive government in France during the [[Reign of Terror]] (1793–94), a stage of the [[French Revolution]]. In effect, by using this term Massu and Salan claimed to be the new [[Robespierre]]s.</ref> formed to replace the civil authority and pressed the [[Military junta|junta]]'s demands that de Gaulle be named by French president [[René Coty]] to head a government of national union invested with extraordinary powers to prevent the "abandonment of Algeria".

Salan announced on radio that the Army had "provisionally taken over responsibility for the destiny of French Algeria". Under the pressure of Massu, Salan declared ''Vive de Gaulle!'' from the balcony of the Algiers Government-General building on 15 May. De Gaulle answered two days later that he was ready to "assume the powers of the Republic".<ref>French: ''« prêt à assumer les pouvoirs de la République »''</ref> Many worried as they saw this answer as support for the army.<ref name=Fenby/>{{rp|373–416}} At a 19 May press conference, de Gaulle asserted again that he was at the disposal of the country. When a journalist expressed the concerns of some who feared that he would violate civil liberties, de Gaulle retorted vehemently:
<blockquote>Have I ever done that? Quite the opposite, I have reestablished them when they had disappeared. Who honestly believes that, at age 67, I would start a career as a dictator?<ref name="Fenby" /></blockquote>

On 24 May, French [[paratrooper]]s from Algeria landed on [[Corsica]] by aircraft, taking the French island in a bloodless action called "[[Opération Corse]]." Subsequently, preparations were made in Algeria for "[[Operation Resurrection]]," which had as objectives the seizure of Paris and the removal of the French government, through the use of paratroopers and armoured forces based at [[Rambouillet]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Crozier |first=Brian |author2=Mansell, Gerard |date=July 1960 |title=France and Algeria |journal=[[International Affairs (journal)|International Affairs]] |volume=36 |issue=3 |page=310 |doi=10.2307/2610008 |jstor= 2610008|publisher=Blackwell Publishing |s2cid=153591784 }}</ref> "Operation Resurrection" was to be implemented if one of three scenarios occurred: if de Gaulle was not approved as leader of France by Parliament, if de Gaulle asked for military assistance to take power, or if it seemed that the [[French Communist Party]] was making any move to take power in France.<ref>Daniel Gagnon,  "Algeria, De Gaulle, and the Birth of the French Fifth Republic." (Providence College History Student Papers. Paper 15.
2014) [http://digitalcommons.providence.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=history_students online].</ref>

Political leaders on many sides agreed to support the General's return to power with the notable exceptions of [[François Mitterrand]], who was a minister in [[Guy Mollet]]'s Socialist government, [[Pierre Mendès-France]] (a member of the [[Radical Party (France)|Radical-Socialist Party]], former Prime Minister), [[Alain Savary]] (also a member of the [[French Section of the Workers' International]] (SFIO)), and the Communist Party. The philosopher [[Jean-Paul Sartre]], a noted atheist, said, "I would rather vote for God", as he would at least be more modest than de Gaulle. Mendès-France and Savary, opposed to their respective parties' support of de Gaulle, would form together, in 1960, the ''[[Autonomous Socialist Party (France)|Parti socialiste autonome]]'' (PSA, Socialist Autonomous Party), ancestor of the ''[[Unified Socialist Party (France)|Parti socialiste unifié]]'' (PSU, Unified Socialist Party).<ref>[[Philip Thody]], ''The Fifth French Republic: Presidents, Politics and Personalities'' (1998).</ref>

=== De Gaulle's return to power (29 May 1958) ===
[[File:Demonstraties in Parijs tgv en voor De Gaulle, Bestanddeelnr 909-6034.jpg|thumb|upright|Demonstration on [[rue du Faubourg-du-Temple]] in Paris on 1 June]]
On 29 May President René Coty told parliament that the nation was on the brink of civil war, so he was "turning towards the most illustrious of Frenchmen, towards the man who, in the darkest years of our history, was our chief for the reconquest of freedom and who refused dictatorship in order to re-establish the Republic. I ask General de Gaulle to confer with the head of state and to examine with him what, in the framework of Republican legality, is necessary for the immediate formation of a government of national safety and what can be done, in a fairly short time, for a deep reform of our institutions."<ref>{{cite book|author=Jonathan Fenby|title=The General|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qzVrCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA396|year=2013|page=396|publisher=Skyhorse Publishing |isbn=9781620878057}}</ref>

De Gaulle accepted Coty's proposal under the precondition that a new constitution would be introduced creating a powerful presidency in which a sole executive, the first of which was to be himself, ruled for seven-year periods. Another condition was that he be granted [[state of emergency|extraordinary powers]] for a period of six months.<ref name=":0">{{cite book|author=W. Scott Haine|title=The History of France|publisher=Greenwood Press|url=https://archive.org/details/historyoffrance00hain|url-access=registration|year=2000|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyoffrance00hain/page/180 180]|isbn=9780313303289 }}</ref>

De Gaulle's newly formed cabinet was approved by the National Assembly on 1 June 1958, by 329 votes against 224, while he was granted the power to govern by [[Ordonnance (French constitutional law)|ordinances]] for a six-month period as well as the task to draft a new Constitution.<ref name=":0" />

The May 1958 crisis indicated that the Fourth Republic by 1958 no longer had any support from the French army in Algeria, and was at its mercy even in civilian political matters. This decisive shift in the balance of power in civil-military relations in France in 1958 and the threat of force was the main immediate factor in the return of de Gaulle to power in France.