During the 1950s, France was escaping from the Napoleonic mentality and the ravages of WWII. The war in Indochina ended with French defeat and withdrawal in 1954. French lifestyles and some of society’s basic structures changed significantly with the rapid economic growth from the mid-1950s.
Rapid urbanization was France’s most significant structural transformation in the 1950s. The farm population, which constituted about a third of the 1940s, was rapidly declining. However, France managed to increase agricultural production and became one of the world’s leading agricultural exporters by implementing modern farming techniques. Industrial production also increased, which brought France to the threshold of the post-industrial age.
