World War II and Its Aftermath

World War II brought new traumas to rural France. The 1940 exodus saw millions of urban refugees fleeing to the countryside. Occupation meant requisitions, forced labor, and the dangerous choices between collaboration and resistance. The Maquis found refuge in rural areas, particularly mountainous regions, creating lasting bonds between some urban resisters and rural communities.

Liberation brought hope but also scores to settle. The post-war purges (épuration) tore through villages, as old grievances mixed with political accusations. The war's end found rural France exhausted, its infrastructure damaged, its population further depleted.

Yet the post-war period also initiated the most dramatic transformation in French rural history. The Marshall Plan provided capital for mechanization. The European Common Agricultural Policy, established in 1962, guaranteed prices and protected markets. The Pisani Law of 1960-62 promoted farm consolidation and modernization. Within a generation, French agriculture transformed from one of Europe's least productive to among its most efficient.

This transformation came at enormous social cost. Between 1954 and 1974, the agricultural workforce fell from 5 million to 2 million. Entire categories of rural workers - shepherds, threshers, wheelwrights - vanished. Small villages, especially in mountainous areas, emptied as consolidated farms required fewer workers and services concentrated in larger towns.