The Radicals' 'Bull of Vaucluse', who helped build the Popular Front and dismantled it with his own hands
'The fools! If only they knew what they are cheering', to an aide on seeing the crowds cheering him at Le Bourget airfield on his return from Munich, 30 September 1938 (as recalled by those who flew with him)
A baker's son and history teacher who rose to lead the Radical Party. He resigned as premier the day after the riot of 6 February 1934, then brought the Radicals into the Popular Front and served as Blum's defence minister. Returning as premier in April 1938, he signed the Munich agreement in September, dismantled the 40-hour week by decree in November and broke the protest general strike, ending the Popular Front. He declared war on Germany in September 1939 and banned the Communist Party after the Nazi-Soviet pact, then fell in March 1940 over the failure to aid Finland. Tried alongside Blum at Vichy's Riom trial and interned near Buchenwald, he returned to the Chamber after the war and sat until 1958.
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
- 1936–1937Defence minister in Blum's Popular Front cabinet
- 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
- 1942–1945Defendant at the Riom trial; interned near Buchenwald
- 1946–1958Returns to the Chamber; elder of the Radical Party
- 1970.10Dies in Paris
Related historical events
- 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 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.