Egypt 2011 Harkens Back to France 1968

May 14, 1968: Armed police face a crowd of student demonstrators during the student riots at Paris. (Reg Lancaster/Express/Getty Images)

As analysts and pundits search for historical precedents to sort through the events in Cairo — Iran in 1979 and Tiananmen Square in 1989 are often cited — there’s one totally overlooked that may becoming more relevant: France in 1968.

In a year of global turmoil, from Vietnam to the U.S. to the Soviet invasion of reformist Czechoslovakia, the “events of May” (as they are now known in French history) are offering some parallels: A largely leaderless revolt of the young, and a government initially in disarray, ending as the middle classes demanded a restoration of order and the government regained control of the situation.

France’s modern history has been defined by revolution, and its literature imbued with tales of romantic youth at the barricades, so perhaps it should not have been surprising that the 1968 rebellion was sparked by a very 1960s demand at a suburban university: co-ed dorms. But it quickly spread to the Sorbonne and Latin Quarter, and police began confronting students behind barricades on famous Left Bank boulevards.

The students, to the degree their rebellion had leadership, found their voice in a German immigrant, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, who would become the first of a generation of celebrity revolutionaries. They soon made cause with the powerful trade union movement, the old left joining the new left. Together, they brought economic activity in the country to a standstill for several weeks.

Their demands for change to a centralized French system found a personal target in the figure of President Charles de Gaulle. The symbol of France’s fight against Nazism, he had returned to power in 1958 in a desperate effort to avoid civil war over Algeria and been re-elected only three years before. “Ten Years is enough” was one of the rallying cries of the protesters. De Gaulle was dismissive and uncomprehending of their motivations. His ministers were divided over whether to confront them with force, or to try to respond to their demands.

What the government eventually did was buy off the union movement with big pay raises and promise participation in the management of French companies, thereby eventually peeling off the workers from the students.

But it was all a closely-run thing. At one point, contemplating resignation, President de Gaulle totally disappeared before it was discovered he had gone to consult with his former military comrades at a French base in Germany. He came back restored, and gave one of his classic radio speeches to rally his supporters. They responded with a march of more than half a million of the French bourgeoisie in the Place de la Concorde, declaring their support for the Republic — and also hoping they could soon get gasoline for their cars.

The revolt fizzled, and special elections for a new parliament provided a rebuke to the left and a resounding win for the Gaullists.

But in less than a year, de Gaulle was gone. He staked his future on an inconsequential referendum, and the French decided he had served long enough. They voted no on the referendum, and he was gone in 24 hours.

France has elected five presidents since, all but one of them Gaullists.