The movement and the journal were founded by Maurice Pujo and Henri Vaugeois in 1899, as a nationalist reaction against the intervention of left-wing intellectuals on behalf of Alfred Dreyfus.

Under the influence of Maurras, Action Française became royalist, counter-revolutionary (objecting to the legacy of the French Revolution), anti-parliamentary, and pro-decentralization, espousing corporatism, integralism, and Roman Catholicism.

In the interwar period, the movement still enjoyed some prestige from support among conservative elites, but its popularity gradually declined as a result of the rise of fascism in Europe and of a rupture in its relations with the Catholic Church.

The movement advocated decentralization (a "federal monarchy"), with the restoration of pre-Revolutionary liberties to the ancient provinces of France (replaced during the Revolution by the departmental system).

To these, Maurras added unspecific foreigners residing in France, who had been outside French law under the Ancien Régime, and to whom he invented a slur name derived from ancient Greek history: métèques.

Under the influence of Maurras, the movement became royalist, counter-revolutionary (objecting to the legacy of the French Revolution), anti-parliamentary, and pro-decentralization, espousing corporatism, integralism, and Roman Catholicism.

France's victory in the war and the movement's anti-German intransigence on the peace terms set forth by the Treaty of Versailles (1919) between Germany and the Allied Powers resulted in a peak of success, prestige and influence during the interwar period.

[24] Action Française exploited the disquiet aroused on the right by the victory of the left-wing coalition (Cartel des Gauches) founded by the Radical politician Édouard Herriot in 1924 and the fear of communism (see also: Red Scare), sending about thirty candidates to the French Parliament.

The polemics of the review, its personal attacks on leaders, and its systematic exploitation of scandals and crises helped detach some of the intellectuals from their allegiance to the French Republic and democracy.

The successes shaped the ideology of Action Française; hence, it became more integrated into mainstream conservatism, stressing patriotism and Roman Catholicism as opposed to monarchism.

Much of this was due to the influence of Maurras, an agnostic who advocated Roman Catholicism as a factor of social cohesion and stability and a vital element of the French tradition.

Several of Maurras's writings were placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum at the same time, on 9 January 1927, with Action Française being the first newspaper ever placed on the Catholic Church's list of banned books.

Many of its members left the movement and were forced to look for a different path in politics and life, such as writers François Mauriac and Georges Bernanos, and it entered a period of decline.

As increasing numbers of people in France (as in Europe as a whole) turned to authoritarian political movements, many French citizens joined the Action Française.

It thus continued to recruit members from the new generations, such as Robert Brasillach (who would become a collaborationist during the Second World War), the novelist and former deputy and ambassador Pierre Benoist, Thierry Maulnier, and Lucien Rebatet.

[27] At the December 1931 congress, "greeted by loud acclamation", he gave himself to a full presentation of "the general situation of France", external, financial, economic, interior and religious.

We will not do it by sitting in a good armchair, in flowery salons, lavishing sweet smiles and honeyed words, fighting in white gloves with dainty foils.

[29] The group participated in the 6 February 1934 crisis, which led to the fall of the second Cartel des Gauches and to the replacement of the centre-left Radical-Socialist Édouard Daladier by the centre-right Radical Gaston Doumergue.

Marshal Philippe Pétain's proclamation of the Vichy Regime and of the Révolution nationale after the failure of the Battle of France was acclaimed by Maurras as a "divine surprise", and he rallied the collaborationist government.

Following the fall of the Vichy regime, the original Action Française newspaper was banned, and Charles Maurras was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1944, though he was released in 1952.

Although it no longer commands significant political clout, the movement has influenced contemporary right-wing currents in France, including the National Rally, due to its focus on Catholic values and preserving traditional French culture.

[21][35] In the books Neither Right nor Left[36] and The Birth of Fascist Ideology,[37] Zeev Sternhell claimed that Action française influenced national syndicalism and, consequently, fascism.