Heads of state and government of France

Constitutional monarchy (1789–1792)

Louis XVI kept the throne, but legislative power passed to the National Constituent Assembly and then the Legislative Assembly, and the Constitution of 1791 made him 'King of the French'. There was no head of government: ministers such as Necker ran their departments separately under the king. The insurrection of 10 August 1792 suspended the monarchy.

1. 1774.05.10–1792.09.21 Louis XVI King suspended 10 August 1792

National Convention (1792–1795)

After the Republic was proclaimed the Convention itself was the head of state; there was no individual head of state or government. The Committee of Public Safety, created in April 1793, was the de facto government: after a first committee led by Danton, from July the twelve-man 'Great Committee' of Robespierre, Saint-Just, Couthon, Carnot and others directed the Terror. After 9 Thermidor (27 July 1794) the committee was partly renewed every month and had no dominant leader, so its later members are not listed.

1. 1793.04.06–07.10 Georges Danton Member of the Committee of Public Safety
2. 1793.04.06–07.10 Pierre-Joseph Cambon Member of the Committee of Public Safety
3. 1793.04.06–1794.09.01 Bertrand Barère Member of the Committee of Public Safety
4. 1793.04.07–1794.10.06 Robert Lindet Member of the Committee of Public Safety
5. 1793.06.10–1794.07.27 Louis Antoine de Saint-Just Member of the Committee of Public Safety
6. 1793.06.10–1794.07.27 Georges Couthon Member of the Committee of Public Safety
7. 1793.06.10–1794.07.31 André Jeanbon Saint-André Member of the Committee of Public Safety
8. 1793.06.10–12.29 Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles Member of the Committee of Public Safety
9. 1793.07.10–1794.07.31 Pierre-Louis Prieur Member of the Committee of Public Safety
10. 1793.07.27–1794.07.27 Maximilien Robespierre Member of the Committee of Public Safety
11. 1793.08.14–1794.10.06 Lazare Carnot Member of the Committee of Public Safety
12. 1793.08.14–1794.10.06 Claude-Antoine Prieur-Duvernois Member of the Committee of Public Safety
13. 1793.09.06–1794.09.01 Jacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne Member of the Committee of Public Safety
14. 1793.09.06–1794.09.01 Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois Member of the Committee of Public Safety

Directory (1795–1799)

Under the Constitution of the Year III five directors held executive power collectively, one being replaced each year. The coups of Fructidor 1797 and Prairial 1799 replaced several directors at once; only Barras served from start to finish.

1. 1795.11.01–1799.11.09 Paul Barras Director
2. 1795.11.01–1799.06.18 Louis-Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux Director
3. 1795.11.01–1799.05.16 Jean-François Reubell Director
4. 1795.11.01–1797.09.04 Lazare Carnot Director
5. 1795.11.01–1797.05.20 Étienne-François Le Tourneur Director
6. 1797.05.20–09.04 François Barthélemy Director
7. 1797.09.04–1798.05.15 Nicolas François de Neufchâteau Director
8. 1797.09.04–1799.06.18 Philippe-Antoine Merlin de Douai Director
9. 1798.05.15–1799.06.17 Jean-Baptiste Treilhard Director
10. 1799.05.16–11.09 Emmanuel Sieyès Director
11. 1799.06.17–11.09 Louis Gohier Director
12. 1799.06.18–11.09 Roger Ducos Director
13. 1799.06.18–11.09 Jean-François Moulin Director

Consulate (1799–1804)

After the coup of 18 Brumaire Bonaparte, Sieyès and Ducos served as provisional consuls; under the Constitution of the Year VIII First Consul Bonaparte held practically all power, the Second and Third Consuls being advisers.

1. 1799.11.10–12.25 Napoleon Bonaparte Provisional Consul
2. 1799.11.10–12.25 Emmanuel Sieyès Provisional Consul
3. 1799.11.10–12.25 Roger Ducos Provisional Consul
4. 1799.12.25–1804.05.18 Napoleon Bonaparte First Consul consul for life from 1802
5. 1799.12.25–1804.05.18 Jean-Jacques-Régis de Cambacérès Second Consul
6. 1799.12.25–1804.05.18 Charles-François Lebrun Third Consul

First Empire (1804–1815)

Emperor Napoleon led both state and government; there was no head of government. His abdication in 1814 brought back the monarchy until his return for the Hundred Days in 1815; after Waterloo and his second abdication a government commission under Fouché ruled in the name of the nominal Napoleon II.

1. 1804.05.18–1814.04.06 Napoleon Bonaparte Emperor
2. 1815.03.20–06.22 Napoleon Bonaparte Emperor Hundred Days
3. 1815.06.22–07.07 Napoleon II Emperor nominal
4. 1815.06.23–07.07 Joseph Fouché President of the Government Commission

Bourbon Restoration (1814–1830)

The Bourbon kings Louis XVIII and Charles X ruled under the Charter. From the Second Restoration of 1815 a president of the council led the government, but ministries answered to the king rather than parliament, and the Polignac ministry's ordinances provoked the July Revolution of 1830.

July Monarchy (1830–1848)

Louis-Philippe of Orléans reigned as 'King of the French'. Presidents of the council changed often and the king intervened heavily; from 1840 Foreign Minister Guizot effectively ran the government, becoming its president in 1847. The regime fell in the February Revolution of 1848.

Second Republic (1848–1852)

After the February Revolution executive power passed in turn to the Provisional Government, the five-man Executive Commission, and Cavaignac, who crushed the June Days. Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was elected president in December 1848; from autumn 1849 he ran the government himself without a formal president of the council, and after his coup of 1851 he founded the Empire.

Second Empire (1852–1870)

Emperor Napoleon III led both state and government, his ministers answering only to him. Only with the 'Liberal Empire' in January 1870 did Ollivier head a cabinet; the regime fell on 4 September amid defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, after the short Palikao cabinet.

Government of National Defence and Paris Commune (1870–1871)

After the Republic was proclaimed on 4 September, the Government of National Defence under General Trochu carried on the war, while in the provinces the Tours delegation under Gambetta raised armies. On 18 March 1871 the people of Paris rose and on 28 March proclaimed the Commune. The Commune was governed collectively by its elected council, first through an executive commission and from 1 May through a Committee of Public Safety; this track lists that committee's members and the last Delegate for War, Delescluze.

1. 1870.09.04–1871.02.17 Louis-Jules Trochu President of the Government of National Defence
2. 1871.05.01–28 Antoine Arnaud Member of the Committee of Public Safety Paris Commune
3. 1871.05.01–28 Gabriel Ranvier Member of the Committee of Public Safety Paris Commune
4. 1871.05.01–09 Léo Melliet Member of the Committee of Public Safety Paris Commune
5. 1871.05.01–09 Charles Gérardin Member of the Committee of Public Safety Paris Commune
6. 1871.05.01–05 Félix Pyat Member of the Committee of Public Safety Paris Commune
7. 1871.05.09–10 Charles Delescluze Member of the Committee of Public Safety Paris Commune
8. 1871.05.09–28 Émile Eudes Member of the Committee of Public Safety Paris Commune
9. 1871.05.09–28 Charles Gambon Member of the Committee of Public Safety Paris Commune
10. 1871.05.10–28 Alfred-Édouard Billioray Member of the Committee of Public Safety Paris Commune
11. 1871.05.10–25 Charles Delescluze Delegate for War Paris Commune

Third Republic (1871–1940)

Thiers went from head of the executive power to president; after the constitutional laws of 1875 the president, elected by parliament, was largely a figurehead. Real power lay with the president of the council, answerable to parliament, whose formal title until March 1876 was vice-president. Cabinets fell often, so many held the post several times. The regime ended in July 1940 when the National Assembly gave full powers to Pétain.

Vichy regime (1940–1944)

Pétain, Chief of the 'French State', held legislative and executive power and led the government himself, with Laval, Flandin and Darlan in turn as vice-president of the council. From April 1942 Laval, as head of government, drove collaboration with the German occupiers. After the Liberation of August 1944 a government commission survived in exile at Sigmaringen.

Free France and Provisional Government (1940–1947)

Refusing the armistice, de Gaulle led Free France from London through the Empire Defence Council and the French National Committee. In Algiers in 1943 he formed the French Committee of National Liberation with Giraud and then edged him out; the committee became the Provisional Government in June 1944. Its president was both head of state and head of government until the Fourth Republic elected its president in January 1947.

1. 1940.06.28–1941.09.24 Charles de Gaulle Leader of Free France Chairman of the Empire Defence Council from October 1940
2. 1941.09.24–1943.06.03 Charles de Gaulle President of the French National Committee
3. 1943.06.03–1944.06.03 Charles de Gaulle President of the French Committee of National Liberation co-president until 2 October 1943
4. 1943.06.03–10.02 Henri Giraud Co-President of the French Committee of National Liberation
5. 1944.06.03–1946.01.20 Charles de Gaulle President of the Provisional Government
6. 1946.01.26–06.24 Félix Gouin President of the Provisional Government
7. 1946.06.24–12.16 Georges Bidault President of the Provisional Government
8. 1946.12.16–1947.01.16 Léon Blum President of the Provisional Government

Fourth Republic (1946–1958)

The president, elected by parliament, was a figurehead; power lay with the president of the council, answerable to parliament. Short-lived coalition cabinets fell frequently, and in the Algerian crisis of May 1958 de Gaulle returned as the last president of the council and drafted a new constitution.

Fifth Republic (1958–)

The 1958 constitution gave the president power to appoint the prime minister and dissolve parliament, and since 1962 the president has been directly elected. The president leads national policy and the prime minister runs the government, but in periods of 'cohabitation', when president and parliamentary majority differ, the prime minister's role grows.