French Committee of National Liberation

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For other uses, see Committee of National Liberation.

Poster announcing the founding of the French Committee of National Liberation.

The French Committee of National Liberation (French: Comité français de Libération nationale, [kɔmite fʁɑ̃sɛ də libeʁasjɔ̃ nasjɔnal]) was a provisional government of Free France formed by the French generals Henri Giraud and Charles de Gaulle to provide united leadership, organize and coordinate the campaign to liberate France from Nazi Germany during World War II. The committee was formed on 3 June 1943 and after a period of joint leadership, on 9 November it came under the chairmanship of de Gaulle.[1] The committee directly challenged the legitimacy of the Vichy regime and unified all the French forces that fought against the Nazis and collaborators. The committee functioned as a provisional government for Algeria (then a part of metropolitan France) and the liberated parts of the colonial empire. Later it evolved into the Provisional Government of the French Republic, under the premiership of Charles de Gaulle.

Background

First page of La Dépêche algérienne headlining the creation of the French Committee of National Liberation 4 June 1943

After the occupation of France in 1940, the Vichy regime was set up under Marshal

Allied invasion of North Africa in 1942, de Gaulle moved the Free French forces[clarify][citation needed] to Algiers in French Algeria, where he linked up with Giraud's forces. Although Giraud had briefly[clarify] supported the Vichy regime, he joined de Gaulle in creating a united front and command of all French forces in North Africa, Europe, and in the colonial possessions in Asia.[citation needed
]

When the Allies arrived in November 1942, North Africa supported Vichy.

French Civil and Military Commander-in-chief in North Africa, an appointment that De Gaulle strongly opposed, calling for a purge (épuration) of Vichy collaborators. From March 1943, Giraud started to become more critical of Vichy (notably in a speech written by advisor Jean Monnet). By June, the different branches of Free France, led by de Gaulle out of London and Giraud out of Algeria, merged into one, creating the unified French Committee of National Liberation.[3]

Formation

Henri Giraud and de Gaulle

The Committee was formed on 3 June 1943 in Algiers, the capital of

French resistance, thus becoming the forerunners in the process to form a provisional government for France as liberation approached.[5] However, Charles de Gaulle politically outmaneuvered Gen. Giraud, and asserted complete control and leadership over the Committee.[4]

Provisional government

Main article: Provisional Government of the French Republic

With the

Socialists and French Communists.[5] The Committee also began the process of writing a new constitution to found the French Fourth Republic. However, Charles de Gaulle resigned in 1946 over the provisional legislature's refusal to grant more powers to the President and owing to the in-fighting between various political factions and the Communists.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ "French embassy". Archived from the original on 10 December 2007. Retrieved 7 December 2007.
  2. OCLC 1085291500
    . Retrieved 23 July 2020. Most of the European colonial population of Algeria wholeheartedly supported the Vichy government. ... Even after the Allies under General Dwight D. Eisenhower liberated Algeria in November 1942, General Henri Giraud, appointed by Eisenhower as civil and military commander in chief, only slowly rescinded the Vichy legislation. It was almost a year before the Crémieux decrees were reactivated, against the virulent opposition of the European colonialists.
  3. OCLC 1037916970
    . Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  4. ^ a b c "Charles de Gaulle biography". Archived from the original on 23 November 2007.
  5. ^ a b c d e "GI Roundtable Series | AHA". www.historians.org. Archived from the original on 5 June 2013. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
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