# France becomes founding UN Security Council permanent member (1945)

URL: https://history-france.com/timeline/1945-france-becomes-founding-un-security-council-permanent-member
Location: United Nations

France entered the postwar international order as one of five permanent Security Council members. Within the broader Occupation, Liberation & Fourth Republic period, Defeat in 1940 divided France between Vichy, occupation and resistance. Liberation restored republican government, followed by reconstruction, welfare-state building, European integration and violent decolonization under the Fourth Republic. At this point in the timeline, the relevant governing authority is Charles de Gaulle (Leader of Free France / Provisional Government). France becomes founding UN Security Council permanent member mattered because it reshaped France’s external relationships, territory or place in wider international systems. The event is positioned here so visitors can read it alongside changes in government, warfare, society, religion, culture and France’s wider international setting.

## Why it matters
France becomes founding UN Security Council permanent member mattered because it reshaped France’s external relationships, territory or place in wider international systems.

Ruler at the time: [Charles de Gaulle](https://history-france.com/rulers/charles-de-gaulle-1940)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia topic lookup — France becomes founding UN Security Council permanent member](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=France+becomes+founding+UN+Security+Council+permanent+member&go=Go)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica topic lookup — France becomes founding UN Security Council permanent member](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=France+becomes+founding+UN+Security+Council+permanent+member)
- [Vie-publique — French institutions and history](https://www.vie-publique.fr/)