EU đź‡«đź‡· French Republic Discussion Megathread

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ShadowArxxy

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Comrade
Buba said:
Some leftard fuck spouting "end of democracy! we are in a presidential monarchy!"?
Well, my barely housetrained cat has a higher IQ than he has, as she knows that the V Republic has been a presidential monarchy by design and since establishment. Because, you know, De Gaulle had an ego to match Tywin Lanister's and Republics nos. 3 and 4 were barely functional.
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From a domestic French perspective, it's hard to say De Gaulle was wrong; the Fifth Republic has been a vastly more successful government than either of the previous regimes specifically because the President has the authority to cut through when the democratic process bogs down into an indecisive morass.
 
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ShadowArxxy

Well-known member
Comrade
Lord Sovereign said:
Either?

My good man, the Fifth Republic has functioned better than any of them. Be it the First, Second, Third, or Fourth.

France has much to thank De Gaulle for, cantankerous bastard that he was.
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In my opinion, the best leader France ever had was Napoleon III, and if one could combine Napoleon I and Napoleon III into a single man, he would pretty much be the best individual monarch in the history of the world.

It says something that the civil reforms and infrastructure upgrades put in place by Napoleon III stand to this day, and that no leader since has bothered to improve on them. The Paris of today is very much Napoleon III's Paris.
 
49ersfootball

49ersfootball

Well-known member
Buba said:
BTW - I was not criticising De Gaulle's constitution - I was simply stating a fact known to all and sundry (yet aparently not) since 1958. It will soon - four and a half years - outlive the III Republic, BTW.
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De Gaulle (1959-1969): 10 years
Mitterrand (1981-1995): 14 years: don't see anyone coming close to breaking this record. Due to health problems, Mitterrand chose not to seek reelection to 3rd term in 1995.
Chirac (1995-2007): 12 years: 2nd longest-serving French President. Didn't seek reelection to 3rd term in 2007.
Macron (2017-2027): 10 years
 
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ShadowArxxy

Well-known member
Comrade
49ersfootball said:
De Gaulle died less than a year after resigning from the Presidency. What caused him to step down ?
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de Gaulle stepped down largely because although his *party* had won a sweeping victory in the 1968 elections, he personally was increasingly unpopular for his heavy-handed, autocratic style of leadership.

Basically, de Gaulle's entire Presidency coasted on the massive amount of public trust he'd gained by founding the Fifth Republic, and in particular from *actually* honoring his agreement to step down from the emergency powers he had held during the transition from the Fourth to Fifth. He correctly perceived that this wellspring of support was beginning to run dry and that political opposition was heavily focused on targeting himself personally rather than his policies per se; thus, he felt he could actually advance his vision for France better from a position of unofficial influence, as he had from his original retirement in 1946 until he was begged to assume emergency power in 1957.
 
Lord Sovereign

Lord Sovereign

The resident Britbong
ShadowArxxy said:
de Gaulle stepped down largely because although his *party* had won a sweeping victory in the 1968 elections, he personally was increasingly unpopular for his heavy-handed, autocratic style of leadership.

Basically, de Gaulle's entire Presidency coasted on the massive amount of public trust he'd gained by founding the Fifth Republic, and in particular from *actually* honoring his agreement to step down from the emergency powers he had held during the transition from the Fourth to Fifth. He correctly perceived that this wellspring of support was beginning to run dry and that political opposition was heavily focused on targeting himself personally rather than his policies per se; thus, he felt he could actually advance his vision for France better from a position of unofficial influence, as he had from his original retirement in 1946 until he was begged to assume emergency power in 1957.
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It’s strange. Despite his reputation as a bit of a blowhard, De Gaulle was a surprisingly astute and competent statesman. He brought France back from the brink more than once.
 
49ersfootball

49ersfootball

Well-known member
ShadowArxxy said:
de Gaulle stepped down largely because although his *party* had won a sweeping victory in the 1968 elections, he personally was increasingly unpopular for his heavy-handed, autocratic style of leadership.

Basically, de Gaulle's entire Presidency coasted on the massive amount of public trust he'd gained by founding the Fifth Republic, and in particular from *actually* honoring his agreement to step down from the emergency powers he had held during the transition from the Fourth to Fifth. He correctly perceived that this wellspring of support was beginning to run dry and that political opposition was heavily focused on targeting himself personally rather than his policies per se; thus, he felt he could actually advance his vision for France better from a position of unofficial influence, as he had from his original retirement in 1946 until he was begged to assume emergency power in 1957.
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Basically de Gaulle's approval ratings were trending downward & he decided to step down from the Presidency.
 
Lord Sovereign

Lord Sovereign

The resident Britbong
ShadowArxxy said:
de Gaulle was a jackass, but he was the stubborn donkey that France needed. Much like his counterpart Churchill in England.
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It’s interesting to note that whilst they were both very effective wartime leaders, De Gaulle was also an effective peacetime leader. We never really got to see what a peacetime Churchill administration would have looked like as he got voted out in 1945 (nothing personal, you understand. The electorate at the time simply liked Labour’s vision of “New Jerusalem.” Churchill’s popularity was still very high and the Tories would likely have done even worse without him), and when he came back in 1951 his age was catching up with him and he had a few mini strokes. The stubborn donkey’s spirit and body was effectively giving out on him in Churchill’s case.
 
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ShadowArxxy

Well-known member
Comrade
Lord Sovereign said:
It’s interesting to note that whilst they were both very effective wartime leaders, De Gaulle was also an effective peacetime leader. We never really got to see what a peacetime Churchill administration would have looked like as he got voted out in 1945 (nothing personal, you understand. The electorate at the time simply liked Labour’s vision of “New Jerusalem.” Churchill’s popularity was still very high and the Tories would likely have done even worse without him), and when he came back in 1951 his age was catching up with him and he had a few mini strokes. The stubborn donkey’s spirit and body was effectively giving out on him in Churchill’s case.
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That actually makes even more parallelism between them, since de Gaulle resigned in 46 in order to avoid being voted out and then came back in 1958 for the Algerian Crisis.
 
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