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| Anthem | "La Parisienne" | |||||||||||
| Capital (and largest city) |
Paris | |||||||||||
| Language official |
French | |||||||||||
| others | German, Italian, Spanish | |||||||||||
| Religion main |
Roman Catholic | |||||||||||
| others | Protestantism | |||||||||||
| Government | Parliamentary constitutional monarchy | |||||||||||
| Legislature | Parliament | |||||||||||
| King | Henry V (First) Philippe VIII (Last) | |||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Adolphe Thiers (First) | |||||||||||
| Currency | Franc | |||||||||||
Philippian France refers to the period of French history where the Orleanist dynasty returned to power as a constitutional monarchy following the collapse of the Second French Empire in the Franco-Prussian War and the exile of the Bonapartes as a political force in France. During this time, France stabilized and remained the second largest colonial empire in the world. French prestige was once again amongst the top of the great powers, but France's growing rivalry and hatred towards Germany cast a dark shadow over French society.
This rivalry manifested over time in international relations, where France sought allies that could temper Germany's rise to European dominance. French ties with Russia and to a lesser extent Great Britain grew as a result, eventually culminating in the Franco-Russian Alliance of 1892 and the Triple Entente of 1907. These alliances offered a powerful counterweight to the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, assuaging French concerns in the event of another war.
However, Europe's complex systems of alliances were not enough to prevent war from breaking out in 1914. In short order German armies crossed the Belgian and French borders, launching France into a war for national survival only miles away from Paris. Over time, the inability of either side to change the static nature of the western fronts caused considerable political upheaval in France, which suffered mutinies that helped to contribute to the second fall of Paris. Not long after, King Philippe VIII abdicated to avoid a revolution similar to that which was consuming Russia, and France sued for peace. France's defeat and the end of the Orleanist dynasty would sow the seeds for a socially and economically fractured Third French Republic and the fascist French State that succeeded it.
History[]
The Accord de Drapeau[]
The strong electoral majority of French monarchists in the 1871 legislative elections made a French return to monarchy possible.
The Kingdom of France now typically referred to as "Philippian" begins in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and 1871. German forces led by Prussia defeated the Second French Empire of Napoleon III at the Battle of Sedan, forcing Napoleon to abdicate the throne and enter exile. A provisional government was formed to determine peace with Germany and maintain stability throughout the country. In the first elections of the provisional government on February 8th, 1871, monarchists of both the Legitimists and Orleanists won and vowed to negotiate an end to the war. When peace had been negotiated with the German Empire, France was to surrender the province of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany amongst other provisions.
The Provisional French government immediately had other domestic issues that it needed to face as well. The Paris Commune, established by radical socialists, seized much of the capital and was only defeated after four months of siege. In addition, while monarchists held the government, there was disagreement as to who would become king. The majority Orleanists wanted Philippe the Duke of Paris to become king while the Legitimists believed that Henri the Count of Chambord held the greater claim. To add greater instability, the provisional government was helmed by Adolphe Thiers, a strong politician who believed that a republican form of government was the one that divided France the least. To find a resolution, the Orleanists and Legitimists began talking of compromise.
They soon reached one. Under the terms, the Legitimist Henri would take the throne as Henri V. Upon doing so the childless Henri would recognize the Orleanist Philippe as his heir. Doing so would allow both monarchist camps to have their candidate upon the throne of France. Philippe readily agreed to this plan but it was with Henri that the plan stalled. Henri believed that it was his right to rule as per his ancestors of the Ancien Régime and wanted to change the flag of France from the Tricolore back to the Bourbon banner, something that was unthinkable for the rest of France. Negotiations continued for several months trying to reach a compromise with Henri, which was reached on October 27th, 1871. Under the terms of the Accord de Drapeau, the flag of France would remain the Tricolore, albeit with a royalist coat of arms in the center. In exchange Henri would be allowed to use the Bourbon flag as his personal banner. Not long after, the French government offered the throne and Henri was crowned as Henri V of France.
Ordre Moral[]
The Ordre Moral refers to the French political establishment that existed under Henri V's 12-year reign. The term originates from the repression of First Paris Commune, whose platform for changing French society was viewed as morally degenerate by large portions of the conservative population of France. A socially conservative program was supported by most successive governments, defending the role and rights of the crown and defending the importance of the Catholic church in French society, although not to the status of a state religion. These policies often found opposition within the Republican left and the more liberal Orleanists. As a result, the political stability during Henri V's reign was comparatively low and was not helped by his frequent attempts at meddling in state affairs. Many Republicans and Orleanists hoped that his imminent demise would herald a more relaxed and neutral monarchy.
Such hopes were made true by the crowning of King Philippe VII in 1883. He would retain some of Henri V's more traditional styles such as remaining "King of France" rather than "King of the French" like Philippe's father. However, he would also institute some important changes like modifying "By the Grace of God" to "By the Grace of God and the Constitution" and returning the King's banner to the Tricolore rather than the white Bourbon banner of Henri V. In light of his constitutional preferences, Philippe VII ended much of the monarchy's formal support for conservative interests, instead preferring to be above politics and embody the heart and unity of the nation. This action made him considerably more popular with liberals and moderate republicans but cost him the support of some conservatives. While the government of France continued to push an international colonial empire, Philippe VII's titles and prestige grew, similar to that of Queen Victoria in Great Britain. This helped to mollify the feelings of despair following France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War and helped to strengthen the monarchy's support within France.
However, while support for monarchism was strengthened, there were still competing claims that had to be accounted for. The growth of conservative sentiment during Heni V's reign also bolstered the claim of the Bonapartists and various political organizations loyal to the claimant Louis-Napoleon, known to his supporters as Napoleon IV. Napoleon, exiled in Britain since the fall of his father's government in 1870, quickly gained the support of Bonapartists and the British royal family. Indeed, Queen Victoria is known to have believed that placing Napoleon on the French throne would be best for the peace of Europe and after Napoleon returned to London from his service in the British military he married Beatrice, Victoria's youngest daughter. Britain's perceived support for Napoleon led to a brief chilling of relations as the French government passed legislation outlawing the return of senior members of the Bonapartes to France. Nevertheless, support for a Bonaparte restoration remained a constant concern for the government and Orleanist monarchs.
"Modern France"[]
Philippe VII was succeeded by his son, who took the throne as Philippe VIII and would ultimately preside over a period of intense political and social change within France. In 1892, the government was implicated in the Panama Scandals. The Panama Canal Company, charged with building a canal across the Panama Isthmus, went bankrupt with millions of losses after years of disease, death, inefficiency, and widespread corruption. Nearly a billion francs in total were lost as the French government took bribes to ignore the company's financial troubles. Domestically, French income levels were higher than those in Germany despite France having fewer natural resources and French government spending was also lower than Germany's. As a result, France lagged behind Germany and Great Britain in creating public health, unemployment insurance and national old age pension plans. However, many of these plans were voluntary, and therefore did not extend to all of society. Only in the early years of the 20th century were health plans made mandatory, as excess deaths that could target military-age men was deemed a threat to national security.
While a monarchy, the French government largely remained in the liberal tradition of the secular French Revolution. Conflicts of interest and power frequently arose between the Catholic Church and the government as a result, and some citizens and organizations implemented their own policies as it suited them. The most obvious example of this was the Dreyfus Affair. Artillery Captain Alfred Dreyfus, who was of Jewish descent, was convicted in 1894 of selling French military secrets to the German embassy in Paris and sentenced to the penal colony of Devil's Island in French Guiana. Two years later, evidence surfaced that a French Army major named Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy was the real spy.
In response, senior military officials suppressed the evidence, acquitted Esterhazy of all charges, and charged Dreyfus with new crimes. In 1899 Dreyfus returned to France for trial, with French society divided between the pro-Army conservatives and Catholic traditionalists and liberal and pro-republican intellectuals and academics. Dreyfus was convicted again for a total of ten years but received a pardon from Philippe VIII. Over time, all charges against Dreyfus were determined to be baseless and he was reinstated into the Army in 1906. Even so, the Dreyfus Affair made many question the integrity of the government and both monarchists and republicans began to accuse the monarchy of being too friendly to the opposite faction. These tensions would last throughout the remainder of the Philippian monarchy and would feed into the fall of the monarchy and the weakness of the French Third Republic.
Internationally, French foreign policy was focused on containing Germany, whose demographic and industrial growth France could not match. At the same time, imperialism was a factor, and France was determined to not fall behind Great Britain or Germany in creating a great colonial empire of its own across Africa and Asia. In Africa, British and French interests came into conflict in Egypt with the Suez Canal and in Sudan in the Fashoda Incident. In both cases, France ultimately withdrew, although the French government retained some control over the Suez. In Asia, France experimented with military ties to Japan, sending numerous military missions to help modernize the Japanese army. In addition, France sometimes came into conflict with China over protectorates and trade. Under the leadership of expansionist Jules Ferry, Philippian France greatly expanded the French colonial empire. France acquired Indochina, Madagascar, vast territories in West Africa and Central Africa, and much of Polynesia.
First World War[]
Despite the wounds exposed in France between the conservative monarchists and liberal republicans, both factions staunchly opposed the growth of German power in Europe. This led France to confirm mutual defense pacts with Great Britain and the Russian Empire to counteract German military strength. In 1914, those pacts would enter into force as Germany's ally Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary in response, leading to Germany declaring war on both Russia and France preemptively. The French government and French society reacted to the war favorably, seeing it as a chance to gain revenge for the defeat in the Franco-Prussian War nearly forty years earlier. Germany's invasion of Belgium in order to capture Paris in the Schlieffen Plan led to Britain joining the war and French troops halted Germany near Paris in the First Battle of the Marne.
With the capital threatened and much of northeastern France occupied, King Philippe VIII called for national unity in the form of a "Union sacrée" ("Sacred Union"), and in France there were few dissenters. A state of emergency was proclaimed and censorship imposed. The economy was hurt by the German invasion of major industrial areas in the northeast. Although the occupied area in 1914 contained only 14% of France's industrial workers, it produced 58% of the steel and 40% of the coal. In 1914, the government implemented a war economy with controls and rationing. By 1915, the war economy went into high gear, as millions of French women and colonial men replaced the civilian roles of many of the 3 million soldiers. The damages caused by the war amounted to about 113% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 1913, chiefly the destruction of productive capital and housing. The national debt rose from 66% of GDP in 1913 to 170% in 1919, reflecting the heavy use of bond issues to pay for the war. Inflation was severe, with the franc losing over half its value against the British pound.
To uplift the French national spirit, many intellectuals began to fashion patriotic propaganda. The Union sacrée sought to draw the French people closer to the actual front and thus garner social, political, and economic support for the soldiers. As the war of attrition on the Western Front continued, however, French economic and social strength was beginning to fray, with large numbers of mutinies against offensives throughout 1917. In 1918, the German Spring Offensive conquered large portions of northeastern France, including the important railway juncture of Amiens and the Channel ports. In a panic, the French government opted to evacuate Paris and move the King and much of its ministers to the south of France. With more mutinies breaking out after plans for more offensives were announced in October 1918, the French government began to collapse as public support evaporated and an armistice with Germany was requested and granted in November.
Revolt and Decline[]
In July and August, the French High Command were making plans to launch an offensive against German positions to drive them away from Paris. Exhausted from high casualties and years of war, French troops began to mutiny when the orders were announced in October. The general public, increasingly drawn to leftist movements that wanted an end to the war, followed suit with massive protests throughout France. French generals and ministers began pressuring Philippe VIII to abdicate the throne so as to concede a major demand to the republicans and avoid escalation to violent revolution. Communes comprised of workers and soldiers began to appear throughout the country. When it became clear his position within the government was untenable, Philippe VIII abdicated on November 9th, 1918. The new leftist government reached a peace deal with Germany and was able to suppress far-left uprisings, establishing the Vichy Republic.
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