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45-630: Founded in November 1903, the party competed with the more secular and centrist Alliance démocratique (Democratic Alliance). Later, most deputies of the Fédération républicaine and of Action libérale (which included Catholics rallied to the Republic) joined the Entente républicaine démocratique right-wing parliamentary group. The Republican Federation was founded in November 1903 to gather

90-623: A Federation of the Lefts . Undoubtedly, the Alliance weighed heavily on national policy as shown by the presence of its members in high cabinet positions ( Émile Loubet , Armand Fallières and Raymond Poincaré as Presidents of the Republic and Louis Barthou and Raymond Poincaré as Presidents of the council as well as many ministries). At the end of the war, the Alliance promoted new goals developed during its creation, namely that of creating

135-479: A concentration of the centers. With its 140 MPs, it organized and led in this direction the National Bloc (1919–1924). The experience was not successful because the Alliance became a prisoner of the right which constituted the bulk of the parliamentary majority, thus the failure of Aristide Briand cabinet (1921–1922) convinced its leaders to find practical ways to realize the doctrine of the just-middle despite

180-556: A generational shift in its leadership. At the same time, the party's smaller Christian-democratic and social Catholic left-wing received a boost from the arrival of the parliamentary Catholics of the Popular Liberal Action . However, the rift in political ethos was shown by the fact that these preferred to sit in a separate parliamentary grouping from the main party (such as the Popular Democratic group,

225-405: A number of cabinet posts during the interwar period. He was Minister of Commerce, under the premiership of Frédéric François-Marsal , for just five days in 1924. He was Minister of Commerce and Industry in the premierships of André Tardieu in 1931 and 1932. Between those posts, he served under Pierre Laval as Finance Minister. In 1934 (6 February to 8 November), he was Minister of Public Works in

270-530: A real party in 1911 by becoming the Republican Democratic Party (PRD). This strengthening of its structures was accompanied by an increase in its number of parliamentarians (from 39 MPs in 1902 to 125 1910 and fifty senators in 1910) and that of its supporters (around 30,000 at the beginning of the 1910s). Several leaders of the ARD in 1914 tried to form with Aristide Briand and the moderate left

315-767: A three-party system leading to the Republic of the just-middle theorized by François Guizot . The ARD was created by the progressives who supported Captain Alfred Dreyfus and opposed those who followed Jules Méline in opposition to the President of the Council Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau . At the instigation of the latter, the Democratic Republican Alliance was founded on 23 October 1901 by engineer Adolphe Carnot (brother of former French President Sadi Carnot ),

360-598: The Dreyfus affair . Unlike the Rad-Soc doctrine, it aspired to unite all Republicans and to impose the right and left a third way , that of the combination of centers around the phrase "no reaction nor revolution". Its political culture was resolutely centrist, incorporating values of both left (the reference to the French Revolution , the defense of freedom and a reformist agenda) and right ( law and order ,

405-800: The League of the Young Republic and the Popular Democratic Party ). By its values and behaviors, the AD opposed the socialist left, but also the right ( Popular Liberal Action and later the Republican Federation ). Like the Radical-Socialist Party, the Alliance adhered to the Republic and what constituted the Republic, that is the law of separation of church and state in 1905 or the quest for truth in

450-534: The Munich Agreement and the hawkish minority (Reynaud) opposing the Agreement . More profoundly, this division also reflected the significant oppositions within the party concerning the reform of the state and institutions between 1933 and 1934. Since then, the Alliance struggled to maintain a centrist position in a Republic no longer managed by the centre. It became on the contrary a party which showed

495-758: The National Center of Independents and Peasants ( Centre national des indépendants et paysans , CNIP). The AD, which in contrast to the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) or the French Communist Party (PCF), never became a mass political party founded on voting discipline (in these left-wing parties deputies usually vote in agreement with the party's consensus), turned at that time in little more than an intellectual circle whose members met during suppers. However, it

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540-731: The National Center of the Independents was the main political structure pursuing the Republican Federation's legacy after the failure of several structures, including the Republican Party of Liberty . The Republican Federation deputies sat in the following parliamentary groups in the Chamber of Deputies : Furthermore, the Republican Independents group of Georges Mandel was also close to

585-653: The Wehrmacht to reoccupy the Rhineland on 7 March 1936. He attempted to organize a strong response but was unable to without British support. Supporting appeasement during the Munich crisis hurt his career. On 13 December 1940, Vichy Chief of State Philippe Pétain appointed Flandin Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister , replacing Pierre Laval . He occupied that position for only two months. He

630-636: The right-wing of the Moderate Republicans (also known as Opportunists) who opposed both Pierre Waldeck Rousseau 's Bloc des gauches (Left-wing Block), his alliance with the Radical-Socialist Party and for some of them the defense of the Jewish officer Alfred Dreyfus . These conservative Republicans were ideologically indebted to Jules Méline , Alexandre Ribot , Jean Casimir-Perier or Charles Dupuy . They represented

675-633: The AD. The ARD was largely discredited after supporting the Vichy regime during World War II , an option strongly supported by its major leader Pierre-Étienne Flandin and other members such as Joseph Barthélemy . The centre-right party tried to reform itself under the direction of Joseph Laniel , who had taken part in the Resistance . It temporarily joined the Rally of Republican Lefts ( Rassemblement des gauches républicaines , RGR) before merging into

720-557: The Alsatian Popular Action group, or Pernot 's Social Action group). These changes were reflected in the handover of power from the Belle Époque industrialist and conservative leader Auguste Isaac to the younger militant and academic Louis Marin in 1925. Under Marin's leadership, the Republican Federation slowly transitioned from a confederation of local political bosses into a more streamlined political party on

765-558: The PRDS, the Alliance professed its willingness to co-operate with the Radical-Socialist Party . The party became the backbone of government including the Radical-Socialist Party following the fall of the Cartel des Gauches . Nevertheless, the Alliance could not get the Radicals to rally around a centrist party, the opposition crystallizing around the issue of secularism, the intervention of

810-807: The Republican bourgeoisie , closely connected to business circles and opposed to social reform . Furthermore, they were fond of a relative decentralisation , thus enrolling themselves in the legacy of the Girondins of the French Revolution . Just as the Democratic Republican Alliance , it was a party composed of notables, which rested upon local electoral committee, which merged in the National Assembly in one or several parliamentary groups. It never had many members (30,000 in 1926 and 18,000 in 1939). After World War I ,

855-584: The Republican Federation participated during the 1919 legislative election within the Bloc national (National Block)'s electoral lists. The same year, the Action libérale populaire (Popular Liberal Action), an alliance of Catholics who had accepted the legality of the Republican regime, entered the Republican Federation by sitting within parliamentary grouping of the Entente républicaine démocratique (Arago group). The Republican Federation shifted more and more to

900-459: The Republican Federation. The Republican Federation senators sieged in the ANRS group ( Action nationale républicaine et sociale , National Republican and Social Action) at least until 1936. Democratic Republican Alliance The Democratic Alliance ( French : Alliance démocratique , AD ), originally called Democratic Republican Alliance ( Alliance républicaine démocratique , ARD ),

945-530: The center" ( concentration républicaine ) strategy advocated by the centre-right Democratic Republican Alliance . Following the experience of the Bloc National first and then of the Cartel des gauches (Left-Wing Cartel) in 1924, many voices inside the party argued in favor of a strategy enforcing the unity of the right-wings instead of a centrist strategy. After the 6 February 1934 riots which toppled

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990-554: The centre-right parties such as the Democratic Alliance or the Popular Democrats. This shift to the right of the party during the 1930s explain how several important pre-war figures of the party (such as Laurent Bonnevay ) left it. The Republican Federation acted as the nexus between parliamentary conservatives and the anti-Republican nationalist right organized in the various far-right paramilitaries and in

1035-422: The defense of liberalism and opposition to statism and collectivism ). The theme of gradual reform was seen by the Alliance as the antidote to the opponents of the Republic, that is the collectivists (the French Section of the Workers' International and the French Communist Party ) Its creation reflects the will to oppose the polarization due to the progressive division during the Dreyfus affair and impose

1080-579: The deputies Henry Blanc, Edmond Halphen and publicist Charles Pallu de la Barrière. The Alliance built strong support networks with the Ligue des droits de l'homme (including Paul Stapfer ), the League of Education and former political networks around Jules Ferry , Léon Gambetta and Léon Say . Its initial recruitment is that of the Parisian elite (including scientists) and the provincial notables. Even if

1125-408: The different opinions chosen by the men from the Republican and parliamentary rights to address the social and political crises of the thirties. The Democratic Alliance was a centre-right party which occupied between 1901 and 1940 a central position on the political spectrum and this despite the iron rule of French politics developed by René Rémond which said that each party would evolve further to

1170-538: The discredited right to power in France. Between 1912 and 1914, the ARD supported the right-wing governments which included Raymond Poincaré , Aristide Briand and Louis Barthou . During the same period, the Alliance operated a shift to the right on the political spectrum and ended the policy of mutual withdrawals with the Radical-Socialists in electoral runoffs. Meanwhile, the Alliance was transformed into

1215-479: The fact that one of its members, Raymond Poincaré, occupied the post of President of the Council between 1922 and 1924. The Alliance focused its political doctrine in line with that which prevailed when it was created, even though the generation of pre-war faded (Adolphe Carnot, Charles Pallu de la Barrière and so forth) and that a new generation took over, such as Charles Jonnart its new president in 1920. Known as

1260-672: The group of Republicans of the Left, those of René Besse around the Independents of the Left and those of Paul Reynaud and André Tardieu around the Republican Centre . These divergences were apparent during the Léon Blum government where Alliance members ranged from moderate support of the laws of the left-wing Popular Front , the division of the party was sensitive by 1938 between a pacifist majority (Flandin) supporting

1305-526: The left or right due to the development of new political movements. Thus, even if the leaders of the Alliance saw the party as the incarnation of the centre-left in the wake of the parliamentary group formed by Léon Say (1871–1896), the party shifted to the right in Parliament due to two factors, namely the downfall of the monarchist and Bonapartist right and the rise of the new left ( socialism and later communism ) as well as new centrist parties such as

1350-483: The left-right divide. The Alliance demonstrated its difference from the right (the Republican Federation and the ALP) by supporting the 1905 law . Above all, the ARD encouraged political circles including Alliancists and Radicals. Faced with the disintegration of the bloc and the emergence of socialism , the Alliance sought to establish in 1907 a democratic bloc with the right which demonstrated its willingness to reinstate

1395-533: The model created by the Republican Left at the turn of the century, becoming more hierarchisesd with the creation of youth sections while ordinary members were given more weight. Although several members participated to the Doumergue , Flandin and Laval governments of 1934–1935, most of the party opposed itself to this cooperation with the republican centre, which seemed to vindicate the "rallying of

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1440-616: The new regime of the Révolution nationale . However, the Republican Federation was part of one of the six member parties of the Conseil national de la Résistance (National Council of Resistance) represented by Jacques Debû-Bridel. Alongside Louis Marin, the latter tried without success to recreate the Republican Federation at the Liberation , but the party remained discredited by the passive attitude of most of its members. After 1949,

1485-421: The number of member to about 20,000 in 1936. Flandin's leadership marked the end of the Alliance's overtures to the Radicals. However, the Alliance was torn on the doctrinal front. Common ground on the base of the defense of institutions, the middle class and the rejection of the extremes disintegrated due to divergent views adopted by the personalities of the Alliance, namely those of Pierre-Étienne Flandin around

1530-678: The party's principal leaders were often related to business, the majority of its elected officials opposed the wishes of businessmen, in particular on social policies. Pierre-%C3%89tienne Flandin Pierre-Étienne Flandin ( French pronunciation: [pjɛʁ etjɛn flɑ̃dɛ̃] ; 12 April 1889 – 13 June 1958) was a French conservative politician of the Third Republic , leader of the Democratic Republican Alliance (ARD), and Prime Minister of France from 1934 to 1935. A military pilot during World War I, Flandin held

1575-427: The right during the interwar period and it is important to note that it cannot be simply labelled a Christian-democratic party (a label that is more rightly applied to the very small Popular Democratic Party ). Its religious-right and ultranationalist wing were strengthened by the election victory of the centre-left in 1924 and the subsequent rise of the anti-parliamentary and nationalist leagues as well as by

1620-627: The right of the newly formed Radical-Socialist Party . However, after World War I and the parliamentary disappearance of monarchists and Bonapartists it quickly became the main centre-right party of the Third Republic . It was part of the National Bloc right-wing coalition which won the elections after the end of the war. The ARD successively took the name "Democratic Republican Party" ( Parti Républicain Démocratique , PRD), and then "Social and Republican Democratic Party" ( Parti Républicain Démocratique et Social ), before becoming again

1665-585: The second Cartel des gauches , the majority of the party chose this right-wing strategy, taking the side of the opponents to the Republic accused of being anti-patriotic. The Republican Federation thus formed in 1937 during the Popular Front a Front de la liberté (Freedom Front) along with Jacques Doriot 's fascist Parti populaire français (French Popular Party) and the small Parti républicain national et social and French Agrarian and Peasant Party ( Fleurant Agricola ). Although this Freedom Front

1710-764: The second cabinet of Gaston Doumergue . He became Prime Minister in November 1934, but his premiership lasted only until June 1935. However, a number of important pacts were negotiated during his term: the Franco-Italian Agreement of 1935 , the Stresa Front and the Franco-Soviet Pact . Flandin was, at 45, the youngest prime minister in French history. Flandin was the French Foreign Minister when Adolf Hitler ordered

1755-474: The state or in terms of foreign policy (contrast between Aristide Briand and Raymond Poincaré). Pierre-Étienne Flandin took the chair of the Alliance in 1933 with the aim to reorganize the party in a way which Louis Marin had done ten years earlier with the Republican Federation . Until then a grouping more than a party, the Alliance became a party which established a hierarchy and became more centralized. The party expanded its regional structures and increased

1800-539: The ultramonarchist Action française . Party members such as Philippe Henriot or Xavier Vallat (both future collaborationists ) thus served as intermediaries between the leaders of the Republican Federation and the extra-parliamentary right. Defunct Defunct Although few important members of the Republican Federation actively engaged in collaborationism during the Vichy regime , their conservative allegiance ( traditional Catholicism , anti-communism and conservative nationalism ) induced most of them to accept

1845-418: Was a French political party created in 1901 by followers of Léon Gambetta such as Raymond Poincaré , who would be president of the Council in the 1920s. The party was originally formed as a centre-left gathering of moderate liberals , independent Radicals who rejected the new left-leaning Radical-Socialist Party, and Opportunist Republicans (Gambetta and the like), situated at the political centre and to

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1890-530: Was dissolved in only 1978, long after its effective disappearance from the political scene. Under the Third Republic, the majority of the AD's deputies sat in the Left Republicans ( Républicain de Gauche ) group, the main centre-right parliamentary formation (due to a particularity called sinistrisme right-wing politicians took some time to accept the label 'right-wing', as republicanism

1935-523: Was ousted by François Darlan in January 1941. After the Liberation of France , Flandin was put on trial for treason but the high court acquitted him. He was instead sentenced to 5 years in prison for “national unworthiness”, however his sentence was remitted due to his help of the resistance during the war. A street in Avallon was named in his honour. In May 2017, it was renamed in honour of

1980-457: Was theorized by Louis Marin and the other leaders of the party as a tactic against the growing influence of Colonel François de La Rocque 's French Social Party —one of the first right-wing French mass party—this union also corresponded with the ideology of the leading classes outside Paris (such as Victor Perret in the Rhône region) and of the activists opposed both to the lefts and to

2025-462: Was traditionally associated with the left-wing and the right-wing traditionally meant some form of monarchism: see Legitimist and Orléanist ). In 1901, it supported the Bloc des gauches around Waldeck-Rousseau , even if it tried to stand out by 1902. However, it supported the policy of the bloc until 1907, when the presidency was entrusted to Émile Combes (1902–1905), who imposed for the first time

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