French Third Republic

French Republic République française
1870–1940
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Liberté, égalité, fraternité ("Liberty, equality, fraternity")
Anthem: La Marseillaise ("The Marseillaise")
Great Seal of France:
The French Republic in 1939   France   French protectorates
Territories and colonies of the French Republic at the end of 1939 Dark blue: Metropolitan territory Light blue: Colonies, mandates, and protectorates
Capital	Paris
Common languages	French (official), several others
Religion	Roman Catholicism Calvinism Lutheranism Judaism
Government	Unitary parliamentary republic
President
• 1871–1873 (first)	Adolphe Thiers
• 1932–1940 (last)	Albert Lebrun
President of the Council of Ministers
• 1870–1871 (first)	Louis Jules Trochu
• 1940 (last)	Philippe Pétain
Legislature	Parliament
• Upper house	Senate
• Lower house	Chamber of Deputies
History
• Proclamation by Leon Gambetta	4 September 1870
• Vichy France established	10 July 1940
Area
• Total	13,500,000 km2 (5,200,000 sq mi)
1894 (Metropolitan France)	536,464 km2 (207,130 sq mi)
Population
• 1894 (Metropolitan France)	36,100,000
• 1938 (including colonies)	150,000,000
Currency	French Franc
Preceded by Succeeded by Second French Empire Vichy France Free France German military administration Italian military administration
Today part of	France  Algeria  Senegal  Central African Republic  Madagascar  Cambodia  Vietnam  Laos  Djibouti  Chad  Gabon  Tunisia  Mali  Benin  Mauritania

The French Third Republic (French: La Troisième République, sometimes written as La III^e République) was the system of government created in France from 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War, until 10 July 1940 after France's defeat by Nazi Germany in World War II led to the creation of the Vichy government in France.

It was formed in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War from 1870-1871. After France was defeated Napoleon III was exiled from France. In 1914 France declared war on the German Empire led by Kaiser Wilhelm II until Germany became the Weimar Republic Era in 1918 after World War 1.

In 1940 after Nazi Germany started World War 2 the French surrendered. Southern France became Vichy France and France’s Colonies in North Africa surrendered while the Empire of Japan took French Indochina before Japan Attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941.

Church and state

Throughout the lifetime of the Third Republic (1870–1940), there were battles over the status of the Catholic Church in France among the republicans, monarchists and the authoritarians (such as the Napoleonists). The French clergy and bishops were closely associated with the monarchists and many of its hierarchy were from noble families. Republicans were based in the anti-clerical middle class, who saw the Church's alliance with the monarchists as a political threat to republicanism, and a threat to the modern spirit of progress. The republicans detested the Church for its political and class affiliations; for them, the Church represented the Ancien Régime, a time in French history most republicans hoped was long behind them.

Interwar period

French soldiers observing the Rhine at Deutsches Eck, Koblenz, during the Occupation of the Rhineland From 1919 to 1940, France was governed by two main groupings of political alliances. On the one hand, there was the right-center Bloc national led by Georges Clemenceau, Raymond Poincaré and Aristide Briand.

References