Basic Information
Name- République française
Official Languages- French
Capital City - Paris
Demonym - French
Population - 135,730,618 - 52,199,710 in Metropolitan France; 83,530,908 throughout the rest of the French Union

History:
The French Republic has its origins in the French Revolution of 1789, in which the failure of the Ancien Régime to deal with a sick economy, poor harvest, rising food prices and a woefully inefficient and antiquated financial situation. With an indecisive king unable to overturn the strong opposition to restore France to greatness, public opinion inflamed by the writers and pamphleteers of France soon turned against the monarchy and overthrew the institution a bloody revolution. The rest of Europe were alarmed at what was happening in France and began the French Revolutionary Wars, in which the great powers sought to either forcibly put the Bourbon monarchy back on the throne, prevent the revolution from spreading to their own lands or even to take advantage of the chaos in France. Due to immensely strong leadership in the military, the Republican French army managed to stave off the initial invasions and annex up to the Rhineland while humiliating their enemies. In 1799, a coup d'état led by France's greatest general, Napoleon Bonaparte, allowed for him to assume the position of First Consul of the struggling Republic. Already the most powerful person in France, he penned a new constitution merely three years later in which he was given the authority to rule for life, and by 1804 had crowned himself Napoleon I, Emperor of the French. Napoleon heralded grand changes throughout his new Empire. The Napoleonic Code was introduced; a civil code which is still used by France to this very day. The lycée was also introduced; a three-year course of further secondary education for children between the ages of 15 and 18. This led to the baccalauréat; the main diploma required to pursue university studies in France. Artworks gathered by Napoleon brought forth the vast expansion of the Louvre. His ill-fated campaign in Egypt led to the discovery of the Rosetta Stone, allowing for an interest in Egypt to spark throughout all Europe. The emancipation of the Jews soon followed, a truly revolutionary move in Europe. Last but not least, he naturally conducted some of the world's most brilliant military campaigns which are still studied to this very day.

After nearly two decades of warfare, however, Napoleon was finally bested and exiled by 1815 by a combined coalition of all the great powers of Europe - the Concert of Vienna. From then on France was ruled by the restored Bourbon kings underneath a constitutional monarchy. It was a political system not meant to last, and was overthrown during the Revolutions of 1848 after only three kings in which a brief Second Republic was proclaimed. Its first elected president was Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon's nephew. He had overthrown the government in a military coup d'etat by 1852 and a rigged plebiscite granted him absolute power in which he proclaimed the Second French Empire with himself as Emperor. Ruling with the idea of leading the people internally towards justice and externally towards perpetual peace, Napoleon III was granted legitimacy by the use of universal male suffrage and popular referendum. Napoleon III encouraged economic planning, industrialization and free trade, which granted France a lengthy period of prosperity and stability at home. He gave Paris her wide, picturesque boulevards, serving the joint purpose of both beautifying the city as well as making it all the more difficult for rioting rebels to erect barricades in the streets. However, despite his talk of peace, the shadow of his famous uncle pushed him toward an active foreign policy. He embarked on a series of bold adventures, in which he fought wars in Europe, Asia and the Americas alike in an attempt to solidify French power throughout the globe. Meeting success in his wars against Austria and Russia and failures in his war against Mexico, Napoleon III's last foreign adventure would be against Otto Von Bismarck of Prussia, in which the French Army was devastated at Sedan. With the loss of Alsace-Lorraine and the humiliation of France, the Second French Empire came to an end.

With the French Third Republic established in 1870, the political life of France was dominated by disputes among the two flavours of monarchist: the ultraconservative Legitimists, who were more or less deeply autocratic Catholics and wanted Charles X's grandson to become King, and the rather more liberal Orléanists, largely bourgeois or otherwise middle-class, who supported the descendants of Louis-Philippe. They quickly settled on a governing platform and agreed in principle to the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy, the only sticking point being who would become king. Due to the continuing disputes over who would inherit the throne, people eventually tired of monarchism and voted in a republican majority in Parliament for the first time. Following a crisis in 1877 between a monarchist president and republican parliament, the Third Republic settled into the form that it would take until 1940: a parliamentary republic, with very little role for the President and incessantly-changing political alliances. Allying itself with the Russian Empire and later the United Kingdom against the growing power of the German Empire, it was the French Third Republic which led France in the Great War during which time its fierce army bore the brunt of German assaults. Triumphing under the leadership of Georges Clemenceau, the French Third Republic pushed for a harsh interpretation of the Treaty of Versailles. Although what was signed was a more lenient version of what France had hoped for, they still left the war with the spoils of Alsace-Lorraine and possessing the greatest army in Europe.

Political decay and constant infighting made for a weak actor in the international stage, however, and a series of successive governments found themselves unable to halt the rise of Adolf Hitler. With a defensive position favoured by the conservative military leaders and a government prone to collapsing several times in the same year, no action was taken in the initial years of Hitler's reign. The conquest of Poland sparked off the Second World War for the French Third Republic, and although a few promising generals showed success in combating the revolutionary tactics of the Germans, flaws in the ancient thinking of the French leadership paved the way for the defeat of France. A collaborationist government was established in the south of France by Philippe Pétain, the Hero of Verdun, in which fascist policies were enacted. At the same time, Charles De Gaulle fled to the colonies of France where he led the Free French forces in assisting the Allies in combating the Axis. Known for his immense pride and belief in France, he soon found himself at the leadership of all French colonies and paved the way for the swift liberation of France, with the French Armies of the Interior and the Free French Forces providing assistance to their allies. With the liberation of France complete, the French Fourth Republic was soon established.

Politics and Government:
Governed as a Parliamentary Republic, the French Fourth Republic can be viewed as a revival of the Third Republic. Executive power essentially resides in the hands of the Prime Minister, and the President has been given a largely symbolic role. By 1953, the President is Vincent Auriol, and the Prime Minister is René Mayer.

In international politics, the French Republic is regarded as one of the world's most powerful countries, possessing one of five permanent security council seats.

Military:
Possessing an army of ~720,000 men, the French military is the largest in Western Europe. Having been newly re-established following the liberation of France in 1944, the organisational structures have been aimed at facilitating rapid battlefield manoeuvre, including the Javelot brigade and the 7e Division Mecanique Rapide. A striking feature of the French formations of this period is the extent to which they were tank-heavy.

Geography:
Metropolitan France stretches 1,000km (600mi) from north to south and the same from east to west, covering an area of 551,500km² (213,000mi²). It is therefore the second largest country in Europe after the Soviet Union. Metropolitan France has four coastlines: the North Sea, English Channel, the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The total length of its coastline reaches 3427 km. With the exception of its north-eastern border, the country is bounded mainly by seas and oceans and natural borders: the river Rhine, and the Jura, Alps, and Pyrénées mountains.

Economy:
The great hardships of wartime, and of the immediate post-war period, were succeeded by a period of steady economic development. Alternating policies of "interventionist" and "free market" ideas enabled the French to build a society in which both industrial and technological advances could be made but also worker security and privileges established and protected. In the year 1946 France signed a treaty with US that waved off a large part of its debt, while being granted $2.3 billion with no repayment due to the Marshall Plan. Having agreed to reduce trade barriers and modernize its management system in return, the total of all American grants and credits to France by 1953 had came to $4.9 billion.

With reconstruction having began immediately after the end of the war, great confidence was brought back in the future. A baby boom had began as the natality rate surged rapidly. In the same year, key economic sectors (energy, air transport, savings banks, assurances) and big companies such as Renault were nationalised, and a welfare state was set up with the creation of Social Security and of works councils.

With the Planning Commission having been established in 1946 by Jean Monnet, the 1st economic plan for the 1947-1952 period focused on basic economic activities; energy, steel, cement, transports and, agriculture equipment. The future second plan is to have broader aims; housing construction, urban development, scientific research, and manufacturing industries.

Due to the measures undertaken by the government, the French economy is currently one of the fastest growing economies in all the world averaging at over 5%. Among the major nations, only Japan and Spain had faster growth in this era than France.

Culture:
In the Middle Ages, in art, architecture, music and literature, the courts and monasteries of France played a pivotal role in the development and refining of what is more generally defined as "western culture". From the Renaissance onwards, national cultures in Europe developed more independently as national languages progressively replaced Latin as vehicles for the expression of ideas and thought. In France, culture blossomed, producing specifically French traditions in literature and music, and French schools in art and architecture.

France has contributed massively to the common cultural heritage of humanity. In theatre and literature, poetry and philosophy, painting and sculpture, architecture and music, some of the greatest names in history - names such as Molière or Zola, Hugo and Voltaire, Monet, Rodin or Chopin - have been French, and their heritage remains an integral part of European culture to this day.

Fiercely proud of their culture, the French people are determined to fight against the internationalisation of culture, and defend French culture against what is perceived by many as Anglo-Saxon cultural imperialism.

Infrastructure , science and development:
Science and technology in France has a long history, with French scientific research protected and encouraged since the reign of the Sun King. France's achievements in science and technology have been significant throughout the past centuries, and indeed research and development efforts form an integral part of the country's economy. From Braille to the pencil, from bicycles to the parachute, and from film-making to photography, the French have been responsible for some of the world's most important inventions.

Analysis:
With a weak government at the helm, France is unable to take full advantage of its powerful status as of yet. Political change is all but inevitable for the Fourth Republic, having already gone through thirteen governments in seven years. It is propelled by a natural desire to stay as an important global superpower and protect its national sovereignty, and therefore its future will most likely revolve around solidifying and maintaining its power around the world.