French Social Republic (Vote Socialist)

French Social Republic
République Sociale Française
Timeline: Vote Socialist
OTL equivalent: French Fourth Republic
French Social Republic République Sociale FrançaiseTimeline: Vote Socialist ; OTL equivalent: French Fourth Republic
Flag	Coat of arms
	Motto: ; Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite / Travail, Famille, Patria
	Anthem: ; La Marseillaise;
Capital	Paris
Other cities	Calais, Marseilles, Nice, Dijon
Official languages	French, Arabic, Berber
Regional languages	Occitan, Corsican, Breton
Religion	Secularism, Catholicism
Demonym	French
Government	Satellite State of the German Empire
Legislature	National Assembly

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The French Social Republic was a centralized nationalist republic based on the model of the German Empire under the NSPD. It was established after the Germans defeated the French Kingdom in World War II. The Social Republic sought to accomodate both moderate leftists and reactionary rightists under one regime through an ideologically ambigious authoritarian structure. The Presidents of the Republic were all from the French Popular Party which opted to collaborate with the Germans after they had occupied France. The first president, Marcel Deat, described his ideology as Neosocialism, a revisionist current of marxism that stressed the spirit of the nation and the need for top down revolution. In terms of foreign policy, Deat kept his Republic at odds with the Socialist Powers and friendly with the capitalist United Kingdom. The Republic would continue to decay as the German Empire weakened and colonial wars in Indochina and Algeria would continue to cause cracks in the German bloc. Eventually, in May 1968, a wave of revolutionary sentiment passed across the World and the arch-conservative government of Trixier-Vignancour would be overthrown and replaced with a new French Fifth Republic which would inherit many problems from the Social Republic and break down into civil war between capitalists and communists.

Background[]

Main Article: World War II (Vote Socialist)

In 1939, after the French Kingdom had seized Wallonia and established a puppet state in Flanders, they went that final crucial step. With the tacit support of England, the King and General de la Rocque demanded the one thing France was really after - Alsace-Lorraine. The French army had attempted to communicate with the pro-French party in Alsace and the German government had subsequently banned it. The King declared that this was oppression of the French people and launched a war against Germany with Britain's tacit support. After France allied with Japan to fight against the large German Navy and to protect the colonies of Indochina. Japan would start a war in the Pacific with the US, China, Russia, and Britain. France would also attempt to influence foreign nationalists in the countries attacking them in order to stop the wave of reinforcements. This partially worked in Britain, who decided to focus on Japan and remain neutral towards France, and the US, where America only officially declared war on Japan. Nontheless, after the nuking of Hiroshima it was clear that the Kingdom's days were numbered. Left wing members of the government, namely the revisionist neosocialist Marcel Deat, rode a worker's uprising into power with the help of the German Empire.

History[]

Marcel Deat's Government[]

In 1945, after the German capture of Paris and the collapse of the French Kingdom, numerous opposition forces rallied to the Germans' side. The opposition to the dictatorial kingdom had been forced underground but had continued a guerrilla war mostly from bases in the Spanish Socialist Republic. Marcel Deat, a former socialist and resistance fighter, would advocate for collaboration with the Germans and would be appointed President. Deat would quickly implement a series of reforms in order to gain the support of the French people and legitimize what was still seen as a German puppet government. Deat would reintroduce a limited form of democracy, though he would maintain a one-party state under his French Popular Party (PPF). The PPF would develop left and right wings but would be governed under the ambigious ideology of Neosocialism, which had been developed by Deat and which catered to socialists, liberals, and authoritarians. Deat would release political prisoners and loosen restrictions on union organizing. Although initially left-leaning, increasing labor unrest and terrorism by underground communist and anarchist groups would lead Deat to adopt an increasingly right wing policy. Deat would attempt to ease pressure on France's fragile colonial empire by allowing colonies increased autonomy and independence. However, this wouldn't prevent colonial uprisings, and in Vietnam the French had been fighting the Viet Minh and other opposition groups since 1945. The war in Indochina would go particularly badly for the French, who would lose battle after battle. This combined with labor unrest would result in an internal schism in the ruling PPF and the ascension of the leftist Jacques Doriot.

Jacques Doriot's Government[]

Jacques Doriot, a former communist and member of the left faction of the PPF, socialized the economy and centralized the rule of the party. In 1954, Doriot and German chancellor Konrad Adenauer made peace with the new Socialist Republic of Vietnam and their American and Chinese allies. Just as Doriot had "solved" the Indochina problem, war burst out in Algeria as the FLN would wage a guerrilla campaign agains the French. In 1957, the French and FLN would engage in the bloody battle of Algiers, which would result in a strategic Algerian victory and the collapse of Doriot's reputation.

Algiers Putsch[]

After Doriot's resignation, his close ally Paul Marion would take power. Marion was a pragmatist and was especially afraid of the possibility of an independent communist Algeria. Marion hoped to come to an agreement with the FLN that would exclude the Algerian Communist Party and maintain friendly relations between Algeria and France. However, this was deeply opposed by sections of the military that were part of a secret ultranationalist group known as the Organisation Armee Secrete or OAS. The OAS had originally formed to be an extrajudicial paramilitary force in Algeria to combat the rebels and was deeply dedicated to making sure Algeria stayed in French hands. In 1958, when Marion and the FLN were on the verge of coming to an agreement, OAS leader Paul Laigaillarde would seize power with the support of the Germans and a large section of the military.

OAS Junta and Downfall[]

With the ascendancy of president Paul Laigaillarde, all political parties were banned and the military took over rule over all aspects of the government. The OAS remained the governing force of France from behind the scenes as well as effectively its secret police. Laigaillarde sought to be a moderate and promoted corporatist policies to fuel the costly war in Algeria. International support for the FLN also pressured the French and their principal allies, the Germans. Laigaillarde also abolished the French Union, the federal body of France and her colonies. It was replaced with an even looser body, the French Community. In 1962, much of the French army was driven from Algeria and a new FLN-Communist coalition government would be recognized by the socialist bloc. However, the significant Franco-Algerian population would continue an insurgency against Algeria under the banner of the OAS and with the support of the French government. Soon, the Algerian War would spread into France and leftist demonstrations, communist unrest, and pacifist sentiments spread across France proper. Much of the French population would also become deeply conservative and reactionary, blaming the moderate government of Laigaillarde. A group of these men in the military would force Laigaillarde to resign and he would be replaced by Jean-Louis Trixier-Vignancour, who would revive the conservative values of the French Kingdom while keeping the support of the Germans and keeping remnants of the old system. Vignancour would isolate France from the outside world and conduct a propaganda campaign showing that the French were winning the war against the Algerians. Vignancour himself was a veteran of the war and was a fierce advocate of torture. His policies were widely denounced by the UN and France was sanctioned to a breaking point. In May 1968, the student protests, communist unrest, and pacifism would merge and culminate in May of 1968, when these protests would reach immense scales across the entirety of the Defense Pact and Vignancour would be toppled. With the end of French support for the Pied-noirs, many of the remaining white inhabitants of Algeria fled to France or to other places (notably South Africa and Belgium).