The formal agreement between Britain and the United States to form an offensive and defensive alliance was under great pressure for the Soviet Union. Because in terms of strength, Britain and the United States combined accounted for almost half of the world's industrial and economic capabilities. If we include France, which are both NATO countries, the alliance system of Britain, the United States and France almost has an overwhelming advantage.

Looking at the allies of the Soviet Union, they are almost a group of poor brothers and poor brothers. How can they fight against the rich and handsome men such as Britain, the United States, France and others with this group of hardships?

Anyway, in terms of strength, the gap is indeed very big. If the Soviet Union allows this alliance to encircle itself, it will be more dangerous. But how could Li Xiaofeng stand by? In the international community, it is an inevitable routine to unite and rank. If you don’t follow this routine, you will be dead.

Li Xiaofeng didn't want to commit suicide, so as Britain and the United States kept getting closer, he also began to make arrangements in advance, and it was unrealistic and impossible to break up the alliance between Britain and the United States. So Li Xiaofeng did not waste his energy in this regard. However, in the NATO group, there are not only Britain and the United States, but also France that seems not so important.

It is also strange to France. At the end of World War II, it was closer to the Soviet Union, and once it was a serious trick on Britain and the United States. However, with the economic downturn and Charles de Gaulle's resignation, the situation changed by 180 degrees, and began to abandon the Soviet Union and put it into the arms of the United States. This made many agreements between the Soviet Union and France ended in the early post-war period, and most of Li Xiaofeng's efforts were wiped out.

However, Li Xiaofeng was not too anxious at that time because he knew the French too well. On the better part, the French were very romantic and were more emotional when doing things, but on the worse part, the French were more rude. Especially during the period after the war, because the Second World War won a lot, the French were more excited. As long as everything goes up to the height of the nation and the country, then wait and see the show!

What good show should I see? It is of course a good show for Americans. I have said before that the fundamental purpose of the United States' aid to France is not to help France rise again, but to control France. The essence of the Marshall Plan is actually to control Europe. The Fourth Republic of France fully accepted the so-called aid from the United States, and France paid a certain price to get life-saving money.

Logically speaking, this is acceptable, but the proud French people do not think so. From the subsequent public opinion surveys, it can be seen that French people are among the few in Europe who believe that the US aid is not the fundamental reason for helping France restore its economy. Instead, it is believed that it is precisely because of the so-called aid from the United States that France lost its political independence and autonomy.

Look, the French really don’t buy American accounts. In fact, the French don’t buy anyone’s accounts. They are proud of them. In fact, the French have no good feelings for the Fourth Republic since the beginning. To figure out this point, we must first see how the Fourth Republic was born.

It should be said that the Fourth Republic has been very distorted since its birth. In October 1945, France held its first post-war referendum, and the vast majority of citizens advocated abandoning the 1875 Constitution and re-engineering a new Constitution.

But what kind of constitution does the French really need? There are considerable differences among them. For example, General Charles de Gaulle, who was the head of the provisional government at that time, strongly opposed the implementation of a multi-party system and parliamentary system in France, believing that this would lead to the weakness of the state's regime. He advocated the adoption of a new constitution through a referendum to establish a presidential bourgeois republic, and the president monopolized all power to improve the government's administrative capabilities.

However, Charles de Gaulle's ideals were full but the reality was very skinny. De Gaulle could not control the situation at all. The French, Socialist Party and the People's Republic of China, which rose in the resistance movement, won many votes and seats in the Constituent Assembly elections in October 1945, and became the three major political parties in the parliament.

Although De Gaulle was the head of the government, he had no power in the parliament. The parties in the Constituent Assembly did not agree with De Gaulle's proposition, which required the establishment of a parliament with the highest power and a multi-party parliamentary republic. Even De Gaulle's proposition failed to receive the support of the French people. The French people, who suffered from the suffering of war and suppressed by German fascism, longed for freedom after the war and demanded more freedom. There was a strong resistance to the proposition to strengthen government power. In this case, De Gaulle said that France "inevitably wanted to return to the old path of parliamentaryism."

Let me put it this way, the Fourth Republic is actually not much different from the Third Republic, it is almost a replica of the Third Republic. What's more important is that the constitutional amendment promoted by the Fourth Republic is not ideal. The new constitution passed in October 1946 was not widely accepted by the French. This constitution was actually barely passed. According to the voting results, about 9 million French people agreed with the new constitution, while 8 million opposed the new constitution, and 8 million people abstained.

In the words of Charles de Gaulle, the French's attitude towards the new constitution is: "One-third of the French are left to fate, one-third of the French oppose, and one-third of the French do not understand at all."

The political system built around such a low-support constitution will naturally not be liked by the French. According to the new constitution, France is a parliamentary republic and the power of the parliament is quite large. So what is the new parliament like?

The National Assembly was composed of various political parties representing the interests of different classes or social groups. At that time, France had many parties and never had a stable majority. During the Fourth Republic, the National Assembly mainly consisted of six political parties or political groups with almost equal strength, namely the Socialist Party representing the interests of the petty bourgeoisie, the People's Republican Party (Christian Democratic Party), which represented the interests of the working class, the Radical Socialist Party (abbreviated as the Radical Party), the French People's League headed by Charles de Gaulle, and the traditional conservatives.

In addition, there are some small political parties, such as the Democratic Socialist Resistance Alliance, the Brzetes, the Liberal Republicans and the Independents. Unlike Britain and the United States, France's political parties have relatively short history, and due to internal divisions and the narrowness of the interests they represent, they "have no roots in the entire society and have no support." In the elections of the National Assembly, the abstention of many electoral representatives illustrates this.

Since no political party accounts for an absolute majority in parliament, it is difficult to reach a consensus on the policies proposed by the government. Parliament is often paralyzed due to endless debates. The multi-party existence of the National Assembly determines that the cabinet is usually composed of a mixture of different parties (that is, the so-called coalition government). Due to internal differences of opinions and mutual conflict, the cabinet may be overthrown by a simple vote at any time (it seems that France also applies to the unchanging truth of one monk carrying water to eat, two monks carrying water to eat, and three monks having no water to eat).

After stepping down, Charles de Gaulle once sarcastically said: "And these votes often only express the* of those who can't wait to be ministers."

After Charles de Gaulle stepped down, the three major political parties in the French Constitutional Convention, the Socialist Party and the People's Republic of China signed a three-party joint formation agreement, which began the period of the three-party joint rule. However, this joint rule did not last long, and soon the three-party alliance broke down and was expelled from the government.

Afterwards, the "third force" period was launched. The third force was the centrist force, including the Socialist Party, the radical Socialist Party and the People's Republic of China. They opposed both the left-wing * and the right-wing French People's Alliance, and advocated the establishment of a centralist alliance between the two. However, the composition of the centrist was constantly changing, and it was a "very unstable alliance composed of various interest groups". In February 1950, the Socialist Party withdrew from the government and joined the opposition. The People's Republic of China suffered a crushing defeat in the 1951 election, and the "third force" fell apart. In this way, the mutual struggle between the equally powerful parties caused the National Assembly, the center of power, to fall into endless quarrels. At the same time, the continuous division and union between the parties led to frequent changes in the government cabinet (anyway, the ministers of the cabinet did not last long, and the average term of office was pitifully short).

Due to strict restrictions by the parliament, it is difficult for the government to let go and formulate a complete set of long-term plans for the country and put them into implementation. Therefore, problems that require long-term efforts to solve, such as schools, housing, transportation and social welfare, have been backlogged by the government and postponed to resolve. For major issues related to national security and foreign policy, the government often adopts an ostrich-like evasion policy for major issues related to national security and foreign policy because of fear of mishandling, and the government often adopts an ostrich-like evasion policy. The Guy government once publicly stated

Advocate the "inaction" policy of handling affairs, trying to bypass difficulties rather than face up to contradictions and solve problems. The multi-party system of parliament seriously restricts the government's administrative capabilities. Edgar Fur, who has been prime minister for only 40 days, has deep complaints. He pointed out: "For the head of government, the parliamentary system is really unbearable. ... The policies he implements are rarely his own policies. In other words, the policies he implements are just compromises he seeks between what he wants and is afraid of smashing everything."

The government's administrative capabilities are limited, and the social, economic, political and diplomatic problems are not resolved in time, so the government has become the target of attacks by the entire society, especially the opposition party. The change of the cabinet is only a stopgap measure to ease dissatisfaction and does not help the fundamental solution to the domestic political crisis.

Think about it, can the French be satisfied with such a painful state? Moreover, France was not only internally, but the problems faced by the outside were not smaller than those of Britain at all. It also had to face the tide of colonial liberation. The demand for national independence of the colonial people has become an irresistible and powerful historical trend. In Indochina, Madagascar, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria in Africa, the calls for French colonial rule were rising and falling. French colonists carried out crazy and barbaric suppression of the national independence movement in the colonial areas. However, the barbaric actions of the colonial people could only arouse greater anger and resistance from the colonial people. Under the tenacious struggle of the colonial people, the French team retreated step by step and suffered heavy losses.

These failures not only waste a lot of money, but also deepen the army's dissatisfaction with the government. The army generally believes that the government betrayed them. When they were "fighting bloody", the government easily surrendered to international pressure and gave way to a large number of interests that belonged to the French people.

In other words, the Fourth Republic of France was already in a turmoil at this time. The internal political parties were quarreling in a mess and could not do anything. The external pressure was under the pressure of the Soviet Union and the United States, and they were defeated again and again on the colonial issue. In addition, the economy was still in a recession and social welfare could not be guaranteed. It can be said that the fall of the Fourth Republic was only a matter of time.

In history, the Fourth Republic was shaky and supported until 1959. In this time and space, because the Soviet Union put more pressure on it, and De Gaulle was much stronger than in history, the fall of the Fourth Republic was faster and more sudden, and all it needed was a fuse.

In fact, it is not just one fuse that detonated the Fourth Republic of France now, but three, namely Morocco, Tunisia and Algenia. Comrades familiar with the history of World War II will soon feel that these three places look familiar, aren’t they the three locations of Operation Torch?

Yes, in order to reduce the difficulty, Operation Torch specially selected three French colonies in North Africa to take action. Objectively speaking, Operation Torch kicked off the Allies' opening of a new battlefield and a strategic counterattack, but colleagues also shook France's rule in these three areas to varying degrees.

After the victory of World War II, these three national liberation movements were one after another, and together with Vietnam, the French were worried. In the post-war economic tension, in order to quell the colonial rebellion, the Fourth Republic had to continuously increase military spending, which made the French people, whose social welfare was already very poor, unable to bear it.

From a practical perspective, the French should choose to cut their flesh or be smarter while learning the successful experience of Britain, giving up the colony, while retaining some contradictions and conflict points, so as to play with the conflicting sides, so as to achieve the goal of dividing and conquering.

Unfortunately, the pride of the French made them not accept the British's approach. They chose to be tough and tough, and devoted themselves to encircle and suppress the uprisingers. In the end, they spent money and were scolded by the international community. In the end, they didn't get anything.

Of course, this is a long-term process in history. Whether it is Morocco, Algeria or Tunisia, it was only opened up in the mid-to-late 1950s. However, that was in history, in this time and space, a certain immortal secretly strengthened the three steps... (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!