Читать книгу The Loire Cycle Route. From the source in the Massif Central to the Atlantic coast онлайн

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Twentieth-century France

Despite being on the winning side, the French economy was devastated by the First World War and the depression of the 1930s. Invasion by Germany in the Second World War saw the French army retreat south across the Loire. Almost all Loire bridges were destroyed either by the retreating army or by German bombing that also damaged many riverside towns – Gien (Stage 14) being particularly badly hit. Surrender saw France temporarily partitioned, with all of southern France becoming part of Vichy – a nominally independent state that was in reality a puppet government controlled by the Germans. In St Nazaire the occupying Germans built an impregnable submarine pen that was so vigorously defended that the city was the last in France to be liberated.

After the war, France was one of the original signatories to the Treaty of Rome (1957), which established the European Economic Community (EEC) and led to the European Union (EU). Economic growth was strong and the French economy prospered. Political dissent, particularly over colonial policy, led to a new constitution and the establishment of the Fifth Republic under Charles de Gaulle in 1958. Subsequent withdrawal from overseas colonies has led to substantial immigration into metropolitan France from ex-colonies, creating the most ethnically diverse population in Europe. Since the 1970s old heavy industry has almost completely disappeared and been replaced with high-tech industry and employment in the service sector.