The locust years

The Fourth Republic, inaugurated in the autumn of 1946 after de Gaulle's resignation as head of the provisional post-war government, was the most turbulent and fascinating period of modern French history. Under a succession of short-lived governments, battling with seemingly intractable problems at home and abroad and with a fragile balance of power among the leading parties, were laid the foundations of modern France. In this lucid, knowledgeable account, Frank Giles charts the complexities of post-war French politics with immense skill, focusing on both the men and the issues which dominated the Fourth Republic. Chief among the latter were German rearmament and nationalist uprisings in France's former colonies, notably Indochina and Algeria, and among the former Jean Monnet, who revitalized the French economy and established, with the European Coal and Steel Community, the beginnings of the EEC, and Charles de Gaulle, whose brooding presence dominated French politics until he was swept back to power during the extraordinary events of May 1958, when France found itself on the brink of civil war. Frank Giles is exceptionally well qualified to write this story. As The Times correspondent in Paris for much of the period, he had a ringside seat at many of the events he describes.