The Radicals' 'Bull of Vaucluse', who helped build the Popular Front and dismantled it with his own hands
'Ah! les cons! s'ils savaient...', the words attributed to him on seeing the crowds cheering at Le Bourget airfield on his return from Munich on 30 September 1938. Whether he said them, and where and to whom, is disputed.
A baker's son and history teacher who rose to lead the Radical Party. He quit as premier after the 6 February 1934 riot, then as defence minister from June 1936 helped sustain the Popular Front, but after returning as premier in April 1938 he ended the 40-hour week by decree in November and broke the general strike. He signed the Munich accords in September 1938, declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939 and banned the Communist Party after the Nazi-Soviet pact. He fell over the failure to aid Finland in March 1940, stood trial at Riom and was interned near Buchenwald and at Itter Castle until 5 May 1945. Back in the Chamber after the war, he opposed de Gaulle's full powers in 1958 and died in Paris on 10 October 1970.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1884–1914Baker's son from Carpentras; history teacher
- 1914–1918Fights the First World War, rising from private to lieutenant
- 1919–1933Radical deputy; rises to lead the party
- 1934.01–02Premier; resigns the day after the riot of 6 February
- 1936–1940Defence minister, also premier from 1938
- 1938.04–09Returns as premier; signs the Munich agreement
- 1938.11Dismantles the 40-hour week by decree and breaks the general strike
- 1939.09Declares war on Germany; bans the Communist Party after the Nazi-Soviet pact
- 1940.03Falls over the failure to aid Finland
- 1940–1945Defendant at the Riom trial; interned near Buchenwald and at Itter Castle
- 1946–1958Returns to the Chamber; elder of the Radical Party
- 1970.10Dies in Paris
Related historical events
- 1914–1918First World WarFrench soldier and officerHe fought in the First World War from 1914 to 1918, rising from private to lieutenant.
- 1934.01–07The Fascist Riot of 6 February 1934Prime minister on 6 FebruaryHe removed Prefect Chiappe promising to face down the leagues, then resigned the day after the riot although he held his majority: the first premier of the Third Republic pushed out by the street.
- 1934–1938The French Popular Front and the Strikes of 1936Radical leader; Blum's defence ministerThe premier toppled by the February riot and the right-hand pillar of the coalition; back as premier in 1938, he ended the Popular Front himself with the November decrees and the breaking of the general strike.
- 1939.11–1940.03The Winter WarFrench premier who fell over aid to FinlandHe pressed for an Anglo-French expedition but missed the moment, and resigned over it in March 1940, just after Finland made peace.
- 1940–1944The Fall of France and the Vichy RegimePresident of the CouncilHe led the government until March 1940, directing rearmament, post-Munich diplomacy, the guarantee to Poland, and the 1939 mobilization.
- 1940–1944The French Resistance and the Liberation of FrancePrewar premierPremier from 1938 until March 1940, he directed rearmament and the war against Germany and banned the Communist Party.
From the Popular Front to Munich
Daladier's trajectory condensed the Radical Party's tension between left coalition politics and the defence of the republic. In 1935 he helped bring the Radicals into the Popular Front with Léon Blum's Socialists and the Communist Party, and as defence minister in Blum's 1936 cabinet he helped sustain the coalition's institutional foundations. After returning as premier in 1938, however, he invoked fiscal and monetary stability while retreating from the Popular Front's social gains. His November decrees reversing the forty-hour week, and the suppression of the general strike that followed, marked the rupture between the Radical government and the labour movement. His signature on the Munich Agreement in September 1938 likewise combined a calculation to avoid war with the consequence of conceding Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany. Once war began in 1939, he declared war on Germany but dissolved the French Communist Party and banned its press after the Nazi-Soviet pact. Daladier should therefore be understood not simply as a symbol of appeasement, but as a politician who helped construct an anti-fascist coalition and then dismantled it in the name of national defence and an anti-communist order.