List of heads of state of France

From 1340 to 1801 (but not from 1360 to 1369), the Kings of England and Great Britain claimed the title of King of France. Under the terms of the 1420 Treaty of Troyes, Charles VI had recognized his son-in-law Henry V of England as regent and heir. Henry V predeceased Charles VI and so Henry V's son, Henry VI, succeeded his grandfather Charles VI as King of France. Most of Northern France was under English control until 1435, but by 1453, the English had been expelled from all of France save Calais (and the Channel Islands), and Calais itself fell in 1558. Nevertheless, English and then British monarchs continued to claim the title for themselves until the creation of the United Kingdom in 1801.

Portrait	Coat of arms	Name	From	Until	Claim	Title
		Henry VI of England (Henri VI d'Angleterre)	21 October 1422	19 October 1453	• By right of his father Henry V of England by the Treaty of Troyes become heir and regent to the French throne	King of France (Roi de France)

The first President of France is considered to be Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (later Napoleon III), who was elected in the 1848 election, under the French Second Republic.

From 22 September 1792 to 2 November 1795, the French Republic was governed by the National Convention, whose president (elected from within for a 14-day term) may be considered as France's legitimate Head of State during this period. Historians generally divide the Convention's activities into three periods, moderate, radical, and reaction, and the policies of presidents of the Convention reflect these distinctions. During the radical and reaction phases, some of the presidents were executed, most by guillotine, committed suicide, or were deported. In addition, some of the presidents were later deported during the Bourbon Restoration in 1815.

The National Convention governed France from 20 September 1792 until 26 October 1795 during the most critical period of the French Revolution. The election of the National Convention took place in September 1792 after the election of the electoral colleges by primary regional assemblies on 26 August. Owing to the abstention of aristocrats and the anti-republicans, and the general fear of victimization, the voter turnout in the departments was low – as little as 7.5 percent or as much as 11.9% of the electorate, compared to 10.2% in the 1791 elections, despite the doubling of the number of eligible voters.[7]

Initially elected to provide a new constitution after the overthrow of the monarchy on 10 August 1792, the Convention included 749 deputies drawn from businesses and trades, and from such professions as law, journalism, medicine, and the clergy. Among its earliest acts was the formal abolition of the monarchy, through Proclamation, on 21 September, and the subsequent establishment of the Republic on 22 September. The French Republican Calendar discarded all Christian reference points and calculated time from the Republic's first full day after the monarchy – 22 September 1792, the first day of Year One.[8][9]

According to its own rules, the Convention elected its President every fortnight (two weeks). He was eligible for re-election after the lapse of a fortnight. Ordinarily the sessions were held in the morning, but evening sessions also occurred frequently, often extending late into the night. In exceptional circumstances, the Convention declared itself in permanent session and sat for several days without interruption. For both legislative and administrative deliberations, the Convention used committees, with powers more or less widely extended and regulated by successive laws.[10] The most famous of these committees included the Committee of Public Safety and the Committee of General Security.[9]

The Convention held both legislative and executive powers during the first years of the French First Republic and had three distinct periods: Girondins (moderate), Montagnard (radical) and Thermidorian (reaction). The Montagnards favored granting the poorer classes more political power; the Girondins favored a bourgeois republic and wanted to reduce the power and influence of Paris over the course of the revolution. A popular uprising in Paris helped to purge the Convention of the Girondins between 31 May and 2 June 1793;[9] the last of the Girondins served as presidents in late July.[11]

In its second phase, the Montagnards controlled the convention (June 1793 to July 1794). War and an internal rebellion convinced the revolutionary government to establish a Committee of Public Safety which exercised near dictatorial power. Consequently, the democratic constitution, approved by the convention on 24 June 1793, did not go into effect and the Convention lost its legislative initiative.[9] The rise of Mountaineers (Montagnards) corresponded with the decline of the Girondins. The Girondin party had hesitated on the correct course of action to take with Louis XVI after his attempt to flee France on 20 June 1791. Some elements of the Girondin party believed they could use the king as figurehead. While the Girondins hesitated, the Montagnards took a united stand during the trial in December 1792 – January 1793 and favored the king's execution.[12] Riding on this victory, the Montagnards then sought to discredit the Girondins using tactics previously used against themselves, denouncing the Girondins as liars and enemies of the Revolution.[13] The last quarter of the year was marked by the Reign of Terror (5 September 1793 – 28 July 1794),[14] also known as The Terror (French: la Terreur), a period of violence incited by conflict between these rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of the revolution". The death toll ranged in the tens of thousands, with 16,594 executed by guillotine (2,639 in Paris),[13] and another 25,000 in summary executions across France.[15] Most of the Parisian victims of the guillotine filled the Madeleine, Mosseaux (also called Errancis), and Picpus cemeteries.[16]

In the third phase, called Thermidor after the month in which it began, many of the members of the Convention overthrew the most prominent member of the committee, Maximilien Robespierre. This reaction to the radical influence of the Committee of Public Safety reestablished the balance of power in the hands of the moderate deputies. The Girondins who had survived the 1793 purge were recalled and the leading Montagnards were themselves purged, and many executed. In August 1795, the Convention approved the Constitution for the regime that replaced it, the bourgeois-dominated Directory, which exercised power from 1795 to 1799, when a coup d'etat by Napoleon Bonaparte overthrew it.[9]

Initially, La Marais, or The Plain, a moderate, amorphous group, controlled the Convention. At the first session, held on 20 September 1792, the elder statesman Philippe Rühl presided over the session. The following day, amidst profound silence, the proposition was put to the assembly, "That royalty be abolished in France"; it carried, with cheers. On the 22nd came the news of the Republic's victory at the Battle of Valmy. On the same day, the Convention decreed that "in future, the acts of the assembly shall be dated First Year of the French Republic". Three days later, the Convention added the corollary of "the French republic is one and indivisible", to guard against federalism.[17]

The following men were elected for two-week terms as Presidents, or executives, of the Convention.[18]

Image	Dates	Name	Fate
	20 September 1792	Philippe Rühl	Suicide, 29/30 May 1795
	20 September 1792  – 4 October 1792	Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve	Botched suicide, guillotined 18 June 1794
	4 October 1792  – 18 October 1792	Jean-François Delacroix	Guillotined with Georges Danton, 5 April 1794
	18 October 1792  – 1 November 1792	Marguerite-Élie Guadet	Guillotined 17 June 1794
	1 November 1792  – 15 November 1792	Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles	Guillotined with Georges Danton, 5 April 1794
	15 November 1792  – 29 November 1792	Henri Grégoire	Died 28 May 1831
	29 November 1792 – 13 December 1792	Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac	Died 13 January 1841
	13 December 1792  – 27 December 1792	Jacques Defermon des Chapelieres	20 June 1831
	27 December 1792  – 10 January 1793	Jean-Baptiste Treilhard	Died 1 December 1810
	10 January 1793  – 24 January 1793	Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud	31 October 1793, guillotined.
	24 January 1793  – 7 February 1793	Jean-Paul Rabaut Saint-Étienne	5 December 1793, guillotined
	7 February 1793  – 21 February 1793	Jean-Jacques Bréard, dit Bréard-Duplessis	2 January 1840
	21 February 1793  – 7 March 1793	Edmond Louis Alexis Dubois-Crancé	29 June 1814
	7 March 1793  – 21 March 1793	Armand Gensonné	31 October 1793, guillotined
	21 March 1793  – 4 April 1793	Jean Antoine Joseph Debry	6 January 1834, Paris
	4 April 1793  – 18 April 1793	Jean-François-Bertrand Delmas	Disappeared 19 August 1798[Notes 1]
	18 April 1793  – 2 May 1793	Marc David Alba Lasource	31 October 1793, guillotined with the Girondists
	2 May 1793  – 16 May 1793	Jean-Baptiste Boyer-Fonfrède	31 October 1793, guillotined
	16 May 1793  – 30 May 1793	Maximin Isnard	12 March 1825
	30 May 1793  – 13 June 1793	François-René-Auguste Mallarmé	25 July 1835

At the end of May 1793, an uprising of the Parisian sans culottes, the day-laborers and working class, undermined much of the authority of the moderate Girondins.[19] At this point, although Danton and Hérault de Séchelles both served one more term each as Presidents of the Convention, the Girondins had lost control of the Convention: in June and July compromise after compromise changed the course of the revolution from a bourgeois event to a radical, working class event. Price controls were introduced and a minimum wage guaranteed to workers and soldiers. Over the course of the summer, the government became truly revolutionary.[20]

After the insurrection, any attempted resistance to revolutionary ideals was crushed. The insurrection of 31 May – 2 June 1793 marked a significant milestone in the history of the French Revolution. The days of 31 May – 2 June (French: journées) resulted in the fall of the Girondin party under pressure of the Parisian sans-culottes, Jacobins of the clubs, and Montagnards in the National Convention. The following men were elected as presidents of the Convention during its transition from its moderate to radical phase.[11]

Portrait	Dates	Name	Death
	13 June 1793  – 27 June 1793	Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois	8 June 1796, deported to French Guiana, died of yellow fever
	27 June 1793  – 11 July 1793	Jacques Alexis Thuriot de la Rosière	20 June 1829, died in exile
	11 July 1793  – 25 July 1793	Andre Jeanbon Saint Andre	10 December 1813
	25 July 1793  – 8 August 1793	Georges Jacques Danton	A moderate guillotined by the radicals, 5 April 1794
	8 August 1793  – 22 August 1793	Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles	Guillotined with Georges Danton, 5 April 1794

After 1793, President of the National Convention became a puppet office under the Committee of Public Safety The following men were elected as presidents of the Convention during its radical phase.[11]

Portrait	Dates	Name	Death
	22 August 1793  – 5 September 1793	Maximilien Robespierre	28 July 1794, guillotined during the Reaction
	5 September 1793  – 19 September 1793	Jacques Nicolas Billaud-Varenne	3 June 1819
	19 September 1793  – 3 October 1793	Pierre Joseph Cambon	15 February 1820
	3 October 1793  – 22 October 1793	Louis-Joseph Charlier	23 February 1797
	22 October 1793  – 6 November 1793	Moïse Antoine Pierre Jean Bayle	1812 or 1815
	6 November 1793  – 21 November 1793	Pierre-Antoine Lalloy	16 March 1846
	21 November 1793  – 6 December 1793	Charles-Gilbert Romme	17 June 1795, suicide prior to guillotine
	6 December 1793  – 21 December 1793	Jean-Henri Voulland	23 February 1801
	21 December 1793 – 5 January 1794	Georges Auguste Couthon	28 July 1794, guillotined during the Reaction One of the few members of La Marais to be elected President
	5 January 1794  – 20 January 1794	Jacques-Louis David	29 December 1825
	20 January 1794  – 4 February 1794	Marc Guillaume Alexis Vadier	14 December 1828
	4 February 1794  – 19 February 1794	Joseph-Nicolas Barbeau du Barran	16 May 1816, exiled in Switzerland during Bourbon Restoration
	19 February 1794  – 6 March 1794	Louis Antoine de Saint-Just	28 July 1794, guillotine during Reaction
	7 March 1794  – 21 March 1794	Philippe Rühl	29/30 May 1795, suicide
	21 March 1794  – 5 April 1794	Jean-Lambert Tallien	16 November 1820
	5 April 1794  – 20 April 1794	Jean-Baptiste-André Amar	21 December 1816
	20 April 1794  – 5 May 1794	Robert Lindet	17 February 1825
	5 May 1794  – 20 May 1794	Lazare Carnot	2 August 1823
	20 May 1794  – 4 June 1794	Claude-Antoine Prieur-Duvernois	11 August 1832
	4 June 1794  – 19 June 1794	Maximilien Robespierre	28 July 1794, guillotined during the Reaction
	19 June 1794  – 5 July 1794	Élie Lacoste	26 November 1806
	5 July 1794  – 19 July 1794	Jean-Antoine Louis, also called Louis du Bas-Rhin

In 1794, Maximilien Robespierre continued to consolidate his power over the Montagnards with the use of the Committee of Public Safety.[21] By late spring, the moderate members of the Convention had had enough. They began to conspire secretly against Robespierre and his allies. The Thermidorian Reaction was a revolt within the Convention against the leadership of the Jacobin Club over the Committee of Public Safety. The National Convention voted to remove Maximilien Robespierre, Louis Antoine de Saint-Just, and several other leading members of the revolutionary government, and they were executed the following day. This ended the most radical phase of the French Revolution.[22][Notes 2]

The following men were Presidents of the Convention until its end.[11]

Portrait	Dates	Name	Death
	19 July 1794  – 3 August 1794	Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois	8 June 1796
	3 August 1794  – 18 August 1794	Philippe Antoine Merlin, dit Merlin de Douai	26 December 1838
	18 August 1794  – 2 September 1794	Antoine Merlin de Thionville	14 September 1833
	2 September 1794  – 22 September 1794	André Antoine Bernard, dit Bernard de Saintes	19 October 1818
	22 September 1794  – 7 October 1794	André Dumont	19 October 1838
	7 October 1794  – 22 October 1794	Jean-Jacques-Régis de Cambacérès	8 March 1824 One of the few members of La Marais to be elected President Authored Napoleon's Civil Code
	22 October 1794  – 6 November 1794	Pierre-Louis Prieur, dit Prieur de la Marne	31 May 1827
	6 November 1794  – 24 November 1794	Louis Legendre	13 December 1797, died of natural causes (dementia)
	24 November 1794  – 6 December 1794	Jean-Baptiste Clauzel	2 July 1803
	6 December 1794  – 21 December 1794	Jean-François Reubell	23 November 1807
	21 December 1794  – 6 January 1795	Pierre-Louis Bentabole	1797
	6 January 1795  – 20 January 1795	Étienne-François Le Tourneur	4 October 1817
	20 January 1795  – 4 February 1795	Stanislas Joseph François Xavier Rovère	died in 1798 in French Guiana
	4 February 1795  – 19 February 1795	Paul Barras	29 January 1829
	19 February 1795  – 6 March 1795	François Louis Bourdon	22 June 1798, after being deported to French Guiana
	6 March 1795  – 24 March 1795	Antoine Claire Thibaudeau	8 March 1854
	24 March 1795  – 5 April 1795	Jean Pelet, also Pelet de la Lozère	26 January 1842
	5 April 1795  – 20 April 1795	François-Antoine de Boissy d'Anglas	1828 One of the few members of La Marais to be elected President
	20 April 1795  – 5 May 1795	Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès	20 June 1836 One of the few members of La Marais to be elected President
	5 May 1795  – 26 May 1795	Théodore Vernier
	26 May 1795  – 4 June 1795	Jean-Baptiste Charles Matthieu
	4 June 1795  – 19 June 1795	Jean Denis, comte Lanjuinais	died in 1828 in Paris
	19 June 1795  – 4 July 1795	Jean-Baptiste Louvet de Couvray	25 August 1797
	4 July 1795  – 19 July 1795	Louis-Gustave Doulcet de Pontécoulant	17 November 1764 – 3 April 1853
	19 July 1795  – 3 August 1795	Louis-Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux	24 March 1824
	3 August 1795  – 19 August 1795	Pierre Claude François Daunou	20 June 1840
	19 August 1795  – 2 September 1795	Marie-Joseph Chénier	10 January 1811
	2 September 1795  – 23 September 1795	Théophile Berlier	12 September 1844
	23 September 1795  – 8 October 1795	Pierre-Charles-Louis Baudin	1799
	8 October 1795  – 26 October 1795	Jean Joseph Victor Génissieu	27 October 1804

Political parties

  Montagnard
  Thermidorian
  Marais

No.	Portrait	Name (birth and death)	Term of office		Political party	Ref.
1		Georges Danton (1759–1794)	6 April 1793	27 July 1793	Montagnard	[23]
			When all executive power was conferred upon a Committee of Public Safety, Danton had been one of the nine original members of that body. He was dispatched on frequent missions from the Convention to the republican armies in Belgium, and wherever he went he infused new energy into the army. He pressed forward the new national system of education, and he was one of the legislative committee charged with the construction of a new system of government.
2		Maximilien Robespierre (1758–1794)	27 July 1793	27 July 1794	Montagnard	[24]
			When Robespierre took the power, the "Reign of Terror" was established. Monarchists, Girondists, Modérés but also commonly citizens were guillotined. The Roman Catholicism was replaced by the Cult of the Supreme Being. After one year of absolute power, Robespierre was deposed by the Thermidorian Reaction and executed.
3		Jacques Nicolas Billaud-Varenne (1756–1819)	31 July 1794	1 September 1794	Montagnard	[25]
			After the Robespierre's execution, Billaud-Varenne, that was one of traitors, became the acting chief of the Committee of Public Safety. He was then attacked himself in the Convention for his ruthlessness, and a commission was appointed to examine his conduct and that of some other members of the former Committee of Public Safety and decreed his immediate deportation to French Guiana.
4		Philippe-Antoine Merlin de Douai (1754–1838)	5 March 1795	5 April 1795	Thermidorian
			After the Thermidorian Reaction, he became president of the Convention and a member of the Committee of Public Safety. Merlin de Douai convinced the Committee of Public Safety to agree with the closing of the Jacobin Club, on the ground that it was an administrative rather than a legislative measure. Merlin de Douai recommended the readmission of the survivors of the Girondists to the Convention, and drew up a law limiting the right of insurrection.
5		Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès (1753–1824)	5 April 1795	2 August 1795	Marais
			Cambacérès was considered too conservative to be one of the five Directors who took power in the coup of 1795, and finding himself in opposition to the nascent Executive Directory he retired from politics.
6		Philippe-Antoine Merlin de Douai (1754–1838)	2 August 1795	1 September 1795	Thermidorian
			-
7		Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès (1753–1824)	1 September 1795	27 October 1795	Marais

The Directory (French: Directoire) was the government of France following the collapse of the National Convention in late 1795. Administered by a collective leadership of five directors, it preceded the Consulate established in a coup d'etat by Napoleon. It lasted from 2 November 1795 until 10 November 1799, a period commonly known as the "Directory era". The directory operated with a bicameral structure. A Council of the Ancients, selected by lot, named the directors. For its own security, the Left (whose members dominated the Council) resolved that all five must be old members of the Convention and regicides who had voted to execute King Louis XVI. The Ancients chose Jean-François Rewbell; Paul François Jean Nicolas, vicomte de Barras; Louis Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux; Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot; and Étienne-François Le Tourneur.[11]

The Directory was officially led by a president, as stipulated by Article 141 of the Constitution of the Year III. An entirely ceremonial post, the first president was Rewbell who was chosen by lot on 2 November 1795. The directors conducted their elections privately, with the presidency rotating every three months.[26] The last president was Gohier.[27]

The key figure of the Directory was Paul Barras, the only Director to serve throughout the Directory.

Directors of the Directory (1 November 1795 – 10 November 1799)
Paul Barras	Louis-Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux	Jean-François Rewbell	Lazare Carnot	Étienne-François Letourneur
				Letourneur drawn by lot to be replaced 1 Prairial year V (20 May 1797).
				François Barthélemy
			Barthélemy & Carnot proscribed and replaced after Coup of 18 Fructidor year V (4 Sept. 1797).
			Philippe-Antoine Merlin de Douai	François de Neufchâteau
				Neufchâteau drawn by lot to be replaced 26 Floréal year VI (15 May 1798).
				Jean-Baptiste Treilhard
		Rewbell drawn by lot to be replaced 27 Floréal year VII (16 May 1799).
		Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès
	Compelled to resign, 30 Prairial year VII (18 June 1799).		Compelled to resign, 30 Prairial year VII (18 June 1799).	Treilhard's election annulled as irregular, 29 Prairial year VII (17 June 1799).
	Roger Ducos		Jean-François-Auguste Moulin	Louis-Jérôme Gohier
After the Coup of 18 Brumaire (9 November 1799), Barras, Ducos & Sieyès resigned. Moulin & Gohier, refusing to resign, were arrested by General Moreau.

For a few days during the July Revolution, Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette held executive power and was offered the presidency of a Republic. He refused.

Louis XIX was technically king for 20 minutes on 2 August 1830, and his nephew Henri V for ten days after that.

Political parties

  Moderate Republican

No.	Portrait	Name (birth and death)	Term of office		Political party	Ref.
Provisional Government of the Republic
–		Jacques-Charles Dupont de l'Eure (President of the Provisional Government) (1767–1855)	24 February 1848	9 May 1848	Moderate Republican
			His prestige and popularity prevented the heterogeneous republican coalition from having to immediately agree upon a common leader. Due to his great age (upon entering office, he was just a few days short of his 81st birthday), Dupont de l'Eure effectively delegated part of his duties to Minister of Foreign Affairs Alphonse de Lamartine. On 4 May, he resigned in order to make way for the Executive Commission, which he declined to join.
Executive Commission
–		Executive Commission: François Arago (President) Alphonse de Lamartine Louis-Antoine Garnier-Pagès Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin Pierre Marie de Saint-Georges	9 May 1848	24 June 1848	Moderate Republican
			In May 1848 the National Assembly decided to establish the Executive Commission as a form of collective presidency, similar to that of Year III in the first French Revolution. The members were chosen from prominent members of the former Provisional Government. These members acted jointly as head of state. The experiment was a failure and lasted slightly more than a month before chaos rocked Paris and much of the country.
Cavaignac Martial Law
–		Louis-Eugène Cavaignac (Chief of the Executive Power) (1802–1857)	28 June 1848	20 December 1848	Moderate Republican
			On 24 June, the Executive Commission was defeated by a vote of no confidence and Cavaignac was granted full powers, making him France's de facto head of state and dictator. After laying down his dictatorial powers, he continued to preside over the Executive Committee till the election of a regular President of the Republic.

Political parties

  Bonapartiste

No.	Portrait	Name (birth and death)	Term of office (election year)		Political party	Ref.
1		Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (1808–1873)	20 December 1848	2 December 1852	Bonapartiste	[28]
			1848
			Nephew of Napoléon I. Elected first President of the French Republic, in the 1848 election against Louis-Eugène Cavaignac. He provoked the French coup of 1851, and proclaimed himself Emperor of the French in 1852.

• Louis Jules Trochu (4 September 1870 – 13 February 1871)

• Adolphe Thiers (17 February 1871 – 30 August 1871), became President on 31 August 1871

Political parties

  Independent
  Moderate Monarchist
  Opportunist Republican
  Democratic Republican Alliance
  Radical-Socialist Party

No.	Portrait	Name (birth and death)	Term of office		Political party	Ref.
2		Adolphe Thiers (1797–1877)	31 August 1871	24 May 1873	Independent	[29]
			Initially a moderate monarchist, named President following the adoption of the Rivet law. He became a Republican during his term, and resigned in the face of hostility from the Assemblée nationale, largely in favour of a return to monarchy.
3		Patrice de Mac-Mahon, duc de Magenta (1808–1893)	24 May 1873	30 January 1879	Moderate Monarchist	[30]
			A Marshal of France, he was the only monarchist (and only Duke) to serve as President of the Third Republic. He resigned shortly after the Republican victory in the 1877 legislative elections, following his decision to dissolve the Chamber of Deputies. During his term, the French Constitutional Laws of 1875 that served as the Constitution of the Third Republic were passed, and he therefore became the first president under the constitutional settlement that would last until 1940.
4		Jules Grévy (1807–1891)	30 January 1879	2 December 1887	Opportunist Republican	[31]
			The first president to complete a full term, he was easily re-elected in December 1885. He was nonetheless forced to resign, following an honours scandal in which his son-in-law was implicated.
5		Marie François Sadi Carnot (1837–1894)	3 December 1887	25 June 1894†	Opportunist Republican	[32]
			His term was marked by boulangist unrest and the Panama scandals, and by diplomacy with Russia. †Assassinated (stabbed) by Sante Geronimo Caserio a few months before the end of his mandate, he is interred at the Panthéon, Paris.
6		Jean Casimir-Perier (1847–1907)	27 June 1894	16 January 1895	Opportunist Republican	[33]
			Perier's was the shortest Presidential term: he resigned after six months and 20 days.
7		Félix Faure (1841–1899)	17 January 1895	16 February 1899†	Opportunist Republican; Progressive Republican	[34]
			Pursued colonial expansion and ties with Russia. President during the Dreyfus Affair. †Four years into his term he died of apoplexy at the Élysée Palace, allegedly in flagrante.
8		Émile Loubet (1838–1929)	18 February 1899	18 February 1906	Democratic Republican Alliance	[35]
			During his seven-year term, the 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State was adopted, and only four Presidents of the Council succeeded to the Hôtel Matignon. He did not seek re-election at the end of his term.
9		Armand Fallières (1841–1931)	18 February 1906	18 February 1913	Democratic Republican Party	[36]
			President during the Agadir Crisis, when French troops first occupied Morocco. He was a party to the Triple Entente, which he strengthened by diplomacy. Like his predecessor, he did not seek re-election.
10		Raymond Poincaré (1860–1934)	18 February 1913	18 February 1920	Democratic Republican Party	[37]
			President during World War I. He subsequently served as President of the Council 1922–1924 and 1926–1929.
11		Paul Deschanel (1855–1922)	18 February 1920	21 September 1920	Democratic Republican and Social Party	[38]
			An intellectual elected to the Académie française, he overcame the popular Georges Clemenceau, to general surprise, in the January 1920 election. He resigned after eight months due to mental health problems.
12		Alexandre Millerand (1859–1943)	23 September 1920	11 June 1924	Independent	[39]
			An "Independent Socialist" increasingly drawn to the right wing, he resigned after four years following the victory of the Cartel des Gauches in the 1924 legislative elections.
13		Gaston Doumergue (1863–1937)	13 June 1924	13 June 1931	Radical-Socialist Party	[40]
			The first Protestant President, he took a firm political stance against Germany and its resurgent nationalism. His seven-year term was marked by ministerial discontinuity.
14		Paul Doumer (1857–1932)	13 June 1931	7 May 1932†	Radical-Socialist Party	[41]
			Elected in the second round of the 1931 election, having displaced the pacifist Aristide Briand. †Assassinated (shot) by the mentally unstable Paul Gorguloff.
15		Albert Lebrun (1871–1950)	10 May 1932	11 July 1940 (de facto)	Democratic Alliance	[42]
			Re-elected in 1939, his second term was interrupted de facto by the rise to power of Marshal Philippe Pétain.

Under the Third Republic, the President of the Council served as acting president whenever the office of president was vacant.

• Jules Armand Dufaure (30 January 1879)
• Maurice Rouvier (2–3 December 1887)
• Charles Dupuy (25–27 June 1894, 16–17 January 1895 and 16–18 February 1899)
• Alexandre Millerand (21–23 September 1920)
• Frédéric François-Marsal (11–13 June 1924)
• André Tardieu (7–10 May 1932)

The office of President of the French Republic did not exist from 1940 until 1947.

  Vichy collaborationist

No.	Portrait	Name (birth and death)	Term of office		Political party	Ref.
—		Philippe Pétain (1856–1951)	11 July 1940	19 August 1944	Independent
			Pétain was Chief of the French State from 1940 to 1944. An elder authoritarian military leader, Pétain issued fascist, clerical and antisemitic laws under Nazi Germany's supervisions. After the liberation of France in 1944, Pétain was imprisoned for life.

Political parties:   Socialist (SFIO)   Centre-right (CNIP)

No.	Portrait	Name (birth and death)	Term of office (election year)		Political party	Ref.
16		Vincent Auriol (1884–1966)	16 January 1947	16 January 1954	French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO)	[43]
			1947
			First President of the Fourth Republic; his term was marked by the First Indochina War.
17		René Coty (1882–1962)	16 January 1954	8 January 1959	National Centre of Independents and Peasants (CNIP)	[44]
			1953
			Presidency marked by the Algerian War; appealed to Charles de Gaulle to resolve the May 1958 crisis. Following the promulgation of the Fifth Republic, he resigned after five years as president, giving way to De Gaulle. Technically, he is the first President of the Fifth Republic since he resigned after its establishment.

Political parties:   Socialist (PS)   Christian-Centrist (CD)   Republican (FNRI; PR)   Gaullist (UNR; UDR; RPR)   Neo-Gaullist (UMP)   Centrist (REM)

No.	Portrait	Name (birth and death)	Term of office (election year)		Political party	Ref.
18		Charles de Gaulle (1890–1970)	8 January 1959	28 April 1969	Union for the New Republic (UNR) until 1967 Union of Democrats for the Fifth Republic (UDR) from 1967	[45]
			1958, 1965
			Leader of the Free French Forces (1940–1944). President of the Provisional Government (1944–1946). Appointed President of the Council by René Coty in May 1958, to resolve the crisis of the Algerian War. He adopted a new Constitution, thus founding the Fifth Republic. Easily elected president in the 1958 election by electoral college, he took office the following month; he was re-elected by universal suffrage in the 1965 election. In 1966, he withdrew France from NATO integrated military command, and expelled the American bases on French soil. Having refused to step down during the crisis of May 1968, resigned following the failure of the 1969 referendum on regionalisation.
—		Alain Poher (interim) (1909–1996)	28 April 1969	20 June 1969	Democratic Centre (CD)	[46]
			Interim President, as President of the Senate. Defeated by Georges Pompidou in the second round of the 1969 election.
19		Georges Pompidou (1911–1974)	20 June 1969	2 April 1974†	Union of Democrats for the Republic (UDR)	[47]
			1969
			Prime Minister under Charles de Gaulle (1962–1968). Elected President in the 1969 election against the centrist Alain Poher. Favoured European integration. Supported economic modernisation and industrialisation. Faced the 1973 oil crisis. †Died in office of Waldenström's macroglobulinemia, two years before the end of his mandate.
—		Alain Poher (interim) (1909–1996)	2 April 1974	27 May 1974	Democratic Centre (CD)	[46]
			Interim President again, as President of the Senate. Did not stand against Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in the 1974 election.
20		Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (1926–2020)	27 May 1974	21 May 1981	Independent Republicans (RI) until 1977 Republican Party (PR) from 1977	[48]
			1974
			Founder of the FNRI and later the UDF in his efforts to unify the centre-right, he served in several Gaullist governments. Narrowly elected in the 1974 election, he instigated numerous reforms, including the lowering of the age of civil majority from 21 to 18, and the legalisation of abortion. He soon faced a global economic crisis and rising unemployment. Although the polls initially gave him a lead, he was defeated in the 1981 election by François Mitterrand, partly due to the disunion within the right wing.
21		François Mitterrand (1916–1996)	21 May 1981	17 May 1995	Socialist Party (PS)	[49]
			1981, 1988
			Candidate of a united left-wing ticket in the 1965 election, he founded the Socialist Party in 1971. Having narrowly lost the 1974 election, he was finally elected in the 1981 election. He instigated several reforms (abolition of the death penalty, a fifth week of paid leave for employees). After the right-wing victory in the 1986 legislative elections, he named Jacques Chirac Prime Minister, thus beginning the first cohabitation. Re-elected in the 1988 election against Chirac, he was again forced to cohabit with Édouard Balladur following the 1993 legislative elections. He retired in 1995 after the conclusion of his second term. He was the first president elected twice by universal suffrage, he was the first left-wing President of the Fifth Republic, and his presidential tenure was the longest of the Fifth Republic.
22		Jacques Chirac (1932–2019)	17 May 1995	16 May 2007	Rally for the Republic (RPR) until 2002 Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) from 2002	[50]
			1995, 2002
			Prime Minister (1974–1976); on resignation, founded the RPR. Eliminated in the first round of the 1981 election, he again served as Prime Minister (1986–1988). Beaten in the 1988 election, he was elected in the 1995 election. He engaged in social reforms to counter "social fracture". In 1997, he dissolved the Assemblée nationale; a left-wing victory in the 1997 legislative elections, forced him to name Lionel Jospin Prime Minister for a five-year cohabitation. Presidential terms reduced from seven to five years. In 2002, he was re-elected against the leader of the extreme right-wing Jean-Marie Le Pen. Opposed the Iraq War. He did not run in 2007, he retired from political life and returned to the Conseil constitutionnel.
23		Nicolas Sarkozy (1955–)	16 May 2007	15 May 2012	Union for a Popular Movement (UMP)	[51]
			2007
			Served in numerous ministerial posts 1993–1995 and 2002–2007. Leader of the UMP since 2004. In the 2007 election, he topped the first round poll, and was elected in the second round against Ségolène Royal. Soon after taking office, he introduced the French fiscal package of 2007 and other laws to counter illegal immigration and recidivism. President of the Council of the EU in 2008, he defended the Treaty of Lisbon and mediated in the South Ossetia War; at national level, he had to deal with the financial crisis and its consequences. Following the 2008 constitutional reform, he became the first president since Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte to address the Versailles Congress on 22 June 2009. President of the G8 and the G20 in 2011. Defeated in the 2012 election.
24		François Hollande (1954–)	15 May 2012	14 May 2017	Socialist Party (PS)	[52]
			2012
			Served as a member of the National Assembly for Corrèze's 1st constituency (1988–1993; 1997) and as First Secretary of the Socialist Party (1997–2008). He was Mayor of Tulle (2001–2008), and President of the Corrèze General Council (2008–2012). The second left-wing President of the Fifth Republic. Elected in the 2012 election, defeating Nicolas Sarkozy. Chose not to run for reelection in the 2017 election due to historically low approval ratings brought on by high unemployment and other economic factors.
25		Emmanuel Macron (1977–)	14 May 2017	Incumbent	La République En Marche! (REM)
			2017, 2022
			Served as Deputy Secretary General of the Élysée (2012–2014), Minister of the Economy, Industry and Digital Affairs (2014–2016). Elected in the 2017 election, defeating Marine Le Pen (FN).

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