Introduction

Abstract

On 1 June 1958, Charles de Gaulle returned to power in France as the last Prime Minister of the Fourth Republic. In the preceding three weeks, the country had experienced a series of events that seemed to be dragging it towards civil war or a military coup. The regime itself seemed to be collapsing, and the political elites were unable to impose their authority on the deteriorating situation. Twelve years earlier, in January 1946, de Gaulle had resigned as Prime Minister, leaving the new Fourth Republic to its fate. He returned to his country home in Colombey-les-deux-églises, about 200kms south east of Paris, to write his Memoirs and observe politics sadly from a distance. His modest home and the village of Colombey became a kind of mythical site and place of pilgrimage. He was considered a controversial figure by many during the 1940s and 1950s,¹ but for a brief, crucial moment in 1958, he was seen as the only person who could prevent the country from descending into chaos.