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The ‘Disappearance’ of France, 1896–1940: French Politics and the Birth Rate*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Richard Tomlinson
Richard Tomlinson
Affiliation:
Christ's College, Cambridge
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Type
Communications
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , June 1985 , pp. 405 - 415
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

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References

1 La réforme sociale, 16 Jan. 1897, p. 179.

2 1890, 1891, 1892 and 1895.

3 Published as Fécondité (1899).

4 Spengler, Joseph J., France faces depopulation (Duke Univ., 1938), p. 128Google Scholar. Many of these organizations overlapped.

5 Bulletin de l'Alliance Nationale, Oct. 1911, p. 218, April 1916, p. 47.

6 For details of its proceedings see Collection des impressions du Conseil Supérieur de la natalité (Paris07 1921–06 1938)Google Scholar.

7 See Braudel, F. and Labrousse, E. (ed.), Hisioire économique et sociale de la France (Paris, 1970), II, 20Google Scholar.

8 Spengler, , France faces depopulation, p. 224Google Scholar.

9 See Charbit, Yves, Du Malthusianisme au populationnisme, 1840–1870 (Paris, 1981), pp. 204–207Google Scholar.

10 Journal de la Société de Statistique de Paris, 1 June 1867, p. 166.

11 DrRommel, , Au pays de la revanche (Geneva 1886), p. 230Google Scholar. ‘Rommel’ was the pseudonym of a French Protestant pastor called Alfred Pernessin, who wanted the public to suppose the book was written by a German.

12 Despite Gambetta's argument in a speech at Lille, 17 Jan 1871: ‘…what could 800,000 men do, whatever the power of their organisation, against thirty-eight million resolute Frenchmen who had sworn to conquer or die?’ Howard, Michael, The Franco-Prussian war (London, 1961), p. 403Google Scholar.

13 The latter figure for France includes the recovered provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. The latter figure for Germany excludes the territories annexed by Hitler.

14 Mitchell, B. R., European historical statistics, 1750–1970 (London, 1981), pp. 95, 101, 102Google Scholar.

15 Zeldin, T., France, 1848–1945, II (Oxford, 1977), 971Google Scholar.

16 Bulletin de l'Alliance Nationale, 15 Jan. 1899, p. 3.

17 J. O. Sénat Débats, 22 Nov. 1901, p. 1336.

18 Ibid. p. 1337.

19 The most comprehensive account of the commission's work is Beale, O. C., Racial decay (London, 1911)Google Scholar.

20 Journal Officiel, 6 Nov. 1912, pp. 9403–4, 26 Nov. 1912, pp. 9963–5.

21 J. O. Chambre, 7 July 1913, Documents parlementaires, no. 2961

22 J. O. Chambre, 17 June 1913, Doc. Parl. no. 2877.

23 Porch, Douglas, The march to the Marne, 1871–1914 (Cambridge, 1981), p. 194Google Scholar

24 J. O. Chambre, 14 May 1913, Doc. Parl. no. 2716, p. 326.

25 J. O. Chambre. Débats, 3 June 1913, pp. 1681–2.

26 Ibid. 16 June 1913, pp. 1936–7, 1949–52.

27 For a discussion of this amendment see Hunter, John C., ‘The problem of the French birth rate on the eve of World War I’, French Historical Studies, II, 4 (Fall 1962), 490–503CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

28 Bulletin de l'Alliance Nationale, May 1914, p. 388.

29 Barodets. Programmes, professions de foi et engagements électoraux 1914. For a complete breakdown of the figures see Tomlinson, R., ‘The politics of dénatalité during the French Third Republic 1890–1940’ (unpublished Cambridge Ph.D., 1983), Appendix IIIGoogle Scholar.

30 Estimate of the Statistique médicale de l'armée, quoted in Armengaud, A., La population fiançaise au XX slède (Paris, 1965), p. 16Google Scholar.

31 J. O. Sénat Débats, 11 Oct. 1919, pp. 1625–6.

32 Reported in J. O. Chambre Débats, 10 March 1921, p. 1188.

33 Isaac was also president of his own pro-natalist organization, La Plus Grande Famille.

34 Revue de l'Alliance Nationale, Feb. 1923, p. 62.

35 J. O. Chambre Débats, 3 April 1919, p. 2312.

36 Revue de l'Alliance Nationale, Dec. 1923, p. 371.

37 J. O. Chambre Débats, 23 Jul y 1920, pp. 3067–75.

38 J. O. Chambre, 25 March 1920, Doc. Parl. no. 616.

39 J. O. Chambre, 23 July 1920, Doc. Parl. no. 1357.

40 J. O. Chambre Débats, 23 July 1920, pp. 3071–4.

41 See Watson, C., ‘Birth control and abortion in France since 1939’, Population Studies (03 1952), pp. 261–85Google Scholar.

42 Revue de l'Alliance Nationale, Sept. 1943, p. 42.

43 This figure was first proposed as a reliable estimate by a doctor from Lyon called Laccassagne, in an article which appeared in Le Matin, 21 Dec. 1910.

44 Revue de la Plus Grande Famille, Jan. 1919, p. 310.

45 J. O. Chambre Débats, 23 July 1920, p. 3068.

46 Boverat, F., Patriotisme et paternité (Paris, 1913), p. 13Google Scholar.

47 Revue de l'Alliance Nationale, Oct. 1931, p. 643.

48 Revue de l'Alliance Nationale, March 1935, p. 85.

49 Between 1931 and 1936 the French population actually decreased from 41,228,000 to 41,183,000, the first time this had happened in a peacetime period since the establishment of a national census. Mitchell op. cit., p. 30.

50 Sixte-Quenin, A., Le problème de la natalité au parlement (Paris, 1933), pp. 9–21Google Scholar.

51 Boverat, had in fact made this point well before the onset of the depression. Revue de l'Alliance Nationale, 09 1929, pp. 291–4Google Scholar.

52 Reported in Revue de l'Alliance Nationale, April 1937, p. 106.

53 Revue de l'Alliance Nationale, May 1934, pp. 130–3, Sept. 1934, pp. 289–92.

54 The German birth rate increased from 14.7 per 1,000 in 1933 to 19.0 in 1936 and 20.4 in 1939. Mitchell, op. cit. p. 126. On German pro-natalism see Glass, D. V., Population policies and movements (Oxford, 1940), pp. 287–97Google Scholar.

55 J. O. Chambre Débats, 26 Jan. 1937, p. 168.

56 e.g. Young, Robert J., In command of France: French foreign policy and military planning, 1933–1940 (Harvard, 1978), p. 180CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

57 J. O. Chambre Débats, 26 Jan. 1937, p. 168.

58 Journal Officiel, 24 Feb. 1939, pp. 2550–1.

59 Ibid. 29 July 1939, pp. 9607–26.

60 Ibid. p. 9608.

61 This theory was derived from the nineteenth century social scientist Frédéric Le Play, who argued that partage forcé encouraged parents to limit their offspring in order to prevent the family estate from disintegrating. See Le Play, La réforme sociale (Paris, 1864), p. 188Google Scholar, and L'Organisation de la famille (Paris, 1871), pp. 24–5Google Scholar.

62 See Paxton, Robert, Vicky France: old guard and new order (New York, 1972), pp. 165–6, 200–9Google Scholar.

63 E.g. Lavigne, Michael, ‘Idéologie et démographie’ (unpublished thèse d' état, Toulouse, 1981)Google Scholar.

64 Le socialiste, 10 Sept. 1887.

65 On the neo-malthusian movement see Ronsin, Francis, La grève des venires (Paris, 1980)Google Scholar.

66 Sixte-Quentin op. cit. p. 4. Blum himself took no real interest in population problems, but had published a book which advocated (in certain circumstances) extra-marital relation-ships. Du mariage (Paris, 1907)Google Scholar.

67 On Soviet population policy under Stalin see Chambre, Henri, ‘L'évolution de la législation familiale soviétique de 1917 à 1952’ in Prigent, Robert (ed.), Le renouveau des idées sur la famille (INED, 1953)Google Scholar.

68 Lavigne op. cit., p. 385.

69 Revue de l'Alliance National, Oct. 1936, p. 285.

70 Journal Officiel, 29 July 1939, p. 9607.

71 Revue de l'Alliance Nationale, March–April 1940, p. 56.

72 Radio broadcast 20 June 1940. See Pétain, Philippe, Quatre années au pouvoir (Montreal, 1949), P. 49Google Scholar.

73 On post-war population policy see Dyer, C., Population and society in twentieth century France (London, 1978)Google Scholar, Chap. 5.

74 Speech by de Gaulle, 2 03 1945, quoted in Revue de l'Alliance Nationale, April–June 1945, p. 17Google Scholar.

75 Pro-natalism is still a powerful force in France today. See Huss, Marie-Monique, Demography, public opinion and politics in France, 1974–1980 (Queen Mary College Occasional Paper no. 16, 1980)Google Scholar and Tomlinson, Richard, ‘The French population debate’, The Public Interest, 07 1984, pp. 111–20Google Scholar.