France’s “Unofficial Bankruptcies” Since 1789

A cynical field guide to not-paying people without saying “we defaulted.”

Legend

• 🟥 Official default: openly stiffing creditors.

• 🟧 Unofficial default: inflation, devaluation, capital controls, forced loans, payment delays—same haircut, nicer haircutting scissors.

• 💸 = savers torched; 🧊 = payments frozen; 🪙 = specie/convertibility broken; 🧯 = central-bank firehose; 🚧 = capital controls; 🎭 = rebrand/redenominate.

🔴 Revolution & Empire

• 1793–1796 — Assignat Hyperinflation 💸🪙
  Paper money printed like confetti. Prices explode, savings evaporate. No “default,” just a currency that politely dies.

• 1797 — “Banqueroute des deux tiers” (Official) 🟥💸
  The Directoire cancels ~⅔ of the public debt. Brutally honest for once: we’re not paying that.

• 1812–1813 — War-Broke Empire 🟧🧊
  After Russia, cash is a rumor. Delays, forced “patriotic” funding, state IOUs. No decree of default—just the practical experience of one.

• 1814–1815 — Regime Change, Selective Memory 🟧
  Some Imperial obligations are quietly… “reconsidered.” Not a default, just an administrative miracle where debts vanish.

🔴 Restoration & July Monarchy

• 1830–1832 — Revolution, Cholera & Credit Panic 🟧🧯🪙🚧
  Markets tank, capital flees, cholera rips through the economy. The Bank of France tightens and triages; cross-border payments jam. No formal default—just “extreme measures” that feel exactly like one.

🔴 1848 & the road to the Second Empire

• 1848 — Specie Suspended, Paper Elevated 🟧🪙🧊
  Convertibility into metal is paused, banknotes get legal-tender muscle, and the Treasury sprays short-term paper. Savers discover “liquidity preference” means the State prefers their liquidity.

🔴 Franco-Prussian War & Early Third Republic

• 1870–1871 — Catastrophe with a Payment Plan 🟧🧯
  Crushed by indemnities, France avoids default via patriotic mega-loans. Not a default—just decades of taxpayers doing penance.

🔴 The 20th Century: Soft Defaults, Hard Lessons

• 1914–1918 — WWI: Gold Window Shut 🟧🪙💸
  Gold convertibility suspended; inflation does the quiet haircut. Creditors are paid—in progressively smaller money.

• 1936–1939 — Devaluation(s) as Public Policy 🟧💸
  The franc is marked down (more than once). Official line: “competitiveness.” Unofficial outcome: savers donate purchasing power to the national cause.

• 1945–late 1940s — Liberation via Inflation 🟧💸🚧
  Postwar controls and price/inflation storms. Financial repression keeps the system “stable,” the way a lid keeps a boiling pot “calm.”

🔴 The Fifth Republic: Technicolor Haircuts

• 1958 — The “New Franc” Makeover 🟧🎭💸
  100 old francs become 1 new franc. It’s not theft, it’s simplicity. (Also: prior devaluations did the heavy lifting on your savings.)

• 1968–1969 — Crisis, Outflows, Devaluation 🟧🚧💸
  After social upheaval and speculative pressure, the franc gets trimmed in 1969. Not a default—just another “price discovery” for your money.

• 1981–1983 — Déjà Vu with Extra Controls 🟧🚧💸🧯
  Capital flight scares, three devaluations in two years, and tighter exchange controls. Then the “austerity turn.” Translation: the party ends, the bill stays.

• 1992–1993 — ERM (EMS) Crises 🟧🧯
  Speculative attacks smash the franc. The central bank sets interest rates to “sky.” Default avoided; recession embraced. Creditor faith preserved, everyone else’s nerves not so much.

✅ TL;DR (brutally honest)

• Official bankruptcy since 1789: 1797 (the two-thirds wipe-out).

• Everything else: a masterclass in not calling it default while achieving similar outcomes—via inflation, devaluation, convertibility suspensions, capital controls, selective repudiations, and redenomination.

Cynic’s rule of thumb: When politicians say “confidence is returning,” hide your savings. When they say “strong fundamentals,” dollar-cost-average your aspirin. 💊