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| 1929, July 27 |
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| Resignation of Poincaré, on account of ill health. There followed a series of short-lived cabinets, based on shifting parliamentary blocs rather than on genuine party groupings. | 1 |
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| 1930, June 30 |
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| End of the evacuation of the Rhineland. | 2 |
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| 1931, June–1932, May |
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| PRESIDENCY OF PAUL DOUMER. Briand was passed over, since his efforts at international conciliation had estranged the Right. Death of Briand (March 7, 1932). | 3 |
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| 1931 |
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| The French economy, having experienced a boom between 1926 and 1931, went into a downswing as the effects of the depression were finally felt. While France weathered the depression better than many other nations because of its continued reliance on small farms, a traditionally conservative business approach, and the government's policy of sending home foreign workers, the downswing lasted until 1935 and the recovery was slower than in almost any other country. | 4 |
| The government's response to economic crisis was the isolation of France behind high tariffs and quotas. At the same time, the government let industry take care of itself through domestic cartel arrangements, in which industry agreed to cut production, share the home market, and keep prices at predepression levels. The government also reduced the number of people liable to income taxes. This combination favored weaker companies and traditional farmers, however. The most notable economic failures were often those industrialists, like André Citroën, who had been more dynamic before the depression. | 5 |
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| 1932 |
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| The Chamber established a system of family allowances to aid poor families and fight the low birth rate (dénatalité). | 6 |
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| May 6 |
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| President Doumer assassinated by a Russian émigré. | 7 |
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| May |
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| The elections gave the Left parties a majority. | 8 |
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| June–Dec |
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| Second ministry of Édouard Herriot. He resigned because the government proposal to pay the scheduled debt installment to the U.S. was voted down by the Chamber. There followed five short-lived ministries in the next 13 months. All were concerned with keeping France on the gold standard and with balancing the budget without resorting to inflation. | 9 |
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