People of the Revolution and the USSR

France state institutions Liberalism and republicanism 1841–1929 ○ Died

Radical French prime minister at the end of the First World War who pressed harsh terms on Hungary at the Paris Peace Conference

A physician turned journalist from the Vendée, he became mayor of the 18th arrondissement of Paris in 1870 and the next year tried to broker a compromise between the Paris Commune and the government. A key figure of the Independent Radicals, he advocated the separation of church and state. As interior minister in 1906 he ordered repressive policies toward the workers’ movement and was nicknamed “the Tiger”, and he was prime minister in 1906–1909 and 1917–1920. Appointed in November 1917 at one of the darkest hours of the war, he demanded total victory over Germany and achieved the Treaty of Versailles at the Paris Peace Conference. Seeking to weaken Hungary as Germany was weakened, he brought about the stringent terms of the Treaty of Trianon. He died in 1929.

France state institutions Liberalism and republicanism 1878–1966 ○ Natural causes

A republican statesman who urged resistance in the face of defeat

In June 1940, he argued that France should continue the war from North Africa.

Paul Reynaud was a French republican statesman and lawyer whose independent positions ranged across economics, colonial policy, and defence. Facing Nazi Germany, he pressed for wartime financial mobilisation and modern warfare built around tanks and air power. When France collapsed in 1940, he sought to preserve the alliance with Britain and continue the war from North Africa, but resigned as premier after the armistice camp prevailed and was subsequently detained by Vichy and Germany. After liberation he returned to parliament and remained a prominent defender of parliamentary government.

France state institutions Liberalism and republicanism 1884–1970 ○ Illness

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.

France state institutions Liberalism and republicanism 1902–1989 ○ Natural causes

A Radical Socialist who defended the Republic

“Long live the Republic all the same!”

Vincent Badie was a French Radical Socialist lawyer and politician who worked in local government and parliament, defending veterans and republican institutions. In July 1940 he accepted that constitutional revision might be considered, but rejected transferring power to Pétain in a way that would abolish the Republic; he tried to present a motion signed by 27 parliamentarians and then voted against the grant of full powers. After Vichy suspended him as mayor, he joined the Resistance, was arrested, and deported to Dachau. After the war he returned to parliament and twice served as minister for veterans, while also defending French colonial rule and overseas presence.

France state institutions Liberalism and republicanism 1907–1982 ○ Natural causes

French prime minister who promised a ceasefire within four months after Điện Biên Phủ and concluded the 1954 Geneva Accords

As prime minister in 1954, Pierre Mendès France negotiated directly with the Viet Minh at Geneva, securing the July armistice that ended the fighting in Indochina, while also initiating talks on Tunisian autonomy.

A Radical Party lawyer and economist of Jewish descent, he joined the Free French during the war. An early critic of the Indochina War, he became prime minister on 17 June 1954, after the fall of Điện Biên Phủ, promising to resign if he failed to secure a ceasefire within four months, and kept the promise with the Geneva Accords of 21 July. In eight months in office he conceded autonomy to Tunisia, and the Algerian War broke out that November; he also laid the groundwork for military co-operation with Israel and the French nuclear programme.