History of France
Encyclopedia
The history of France goes back to the arrival of the earliest human being in what is now France
. Members of the genus Homo
entered the area hundreds of thousands years ago, while the first modern Homo sapiens, the Cro-Magnon
s, arrived around 40,000 years ago. A number of important archaeological sites have been discovered in the country, testifying to continuous habitation by modern humans from the Upper Palaeolithic.
According to John T. Koch
and others, France in the Late Bronze Age was part of a maritime trading-networked culture called the Atlantic Bronze Age
. This network also allegedly included Ireland
, Britain
, and the Iberian Peninsula
, where Celtic languages
developed.
The first historical records appear in the Iron Age, when what is now France made up the bulk of the region known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Gaul
. Greek and Roman writers noted the presence of three main ethno-linguistic groups in the area: the Gauls
, the Aquitani
, and the Belgae
. The Gauls, the largest and best attested group, were a Celtic people speaking what is known as the Gaulish language
. Over the course of the first millennium BC the Greeks, Romans, and Carthaginians
established colonies on the Mediterranean coast and the offshore islands. The Roman Republic
annexed southern Gaul as the province
of Gallia Narbonensis
in the late 2nd century BC, and Roman forces under Julius Caesar
conquered the rest of Gaul in the Gallic Wars
of 58–51 BC. Afterwards a Gallo-Roman culture emerged and Gaul was increasingly integrated into the Roman Empire
.
In the later stages of the Roman Empire, Gaul was subject to barbarian
raids and migration, most importantly by the Germanic
Franks
. The Frankish king Clovis I
united most of Gaul under his rule in the late 5th century, setting the stage for Frankish dominance in the region for hundreds of years. Frankish power reached its fullest extent under Charlemagne
. The medieval Kingdom of France emerged out of the western part of Charlemagne's Carolingian Empire
, known as West Francia, and achieved increasing prominence under the rule of the House of Capet
, founded by Hugh Capet in 987. A succession crisis following the death of the last Capetian monarch in 1337 led to the series of conflicts known as the Hundred Years War between the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet
. The wars ended with a Valois victory in 1453, solidifying the power of the Ancien Régime
as a highly centralized absolute monarchy
. During the next centuries, France experienced the Renaissance
and the Protestant Reformation
, as well as recurring religious conflicts and wars with other powers. A burgeoning worldwide colonial empire
was established from the 16th century. In the late 18th century the monarchy and associated institutions were overthrown in the French Revolution
, which forever changed French and world history. The country was governed for a period as a Republic
, until the French Empire
was declared by Napoleon Bonaparte. Following Napoleon's defeat in the Napoleonic Wars
France went through several further regime changes, being ruled as a monarchy
, then briefly as a Second Republic
, and then as a Second Empire
, until a more lasting Third French Republic was established in 1870.
France was one of the Triple Entente
powers in World War I
, fighting alongside the United Kingdom, Russia, and their allies
against the Central Powers
. It was one of the Allied Powers
in World War II
, but was conquered by Nazi Germany
within two months. The Third Republic was dismantled, and most of the country was controlled directly by the Axis Powers
, while the south was controlled by the collaborationist Vichy government
. Following liberation, a Fourth Republic
was established; this was succeeded in 1958 by the French Fifth Republic
, the country's current government. After the war decolonization
saw most of the French colonial empire
become independent, while other parts were incorporated into the French state as overseas departments and collectivities. Since World War II France has been a leading member in the UN, the European Union
and NATO, and remains a strong economic, cultural, military and political influence in the 21st century.
The Neanderthal
s, a member of the homo
genus, began to occupy Europe from about 200,000 BC
, but died out about 30,000 years ago,
possibly out-competed by the modern humans during a period of cold weather. The earliest modern humans – Homo sapiens – entered Europe
(including France) around 50,000 years ago (the Upper Palaeolithic). The cave paintings of Lascaux
and Gargas (Gargas in the Hautes-Pyrénées
) as well as the Carnac stones
are remains of the local prehistoric activity.
n Greeks
, originating from Phocaea
, founded the colony of Massalia (present-day Marseille
), on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea
, making it the oldest city of France. At the same time, some Gallic Celtic tribes penetrated some parts of the current territory of France, but this occupation spread in the rest of France only between the 5th and 3rd century BC.
tribes whom the Romans referred to as Gauls
and who spoke the Gaulish language
roughly between the Seine
and the Garonne
(Gallia Celtica). On the lower Garonne the people spoke Aquitanian
, an archaic language related to Basque
whereas a Belgian language
was spoken north of Lutecia
. The Celts founded cities such as Lutetia Parisiorum
(Paris) and Burdigala
(Bordeaux) while the Aquitanians founded Tolosa
(Toulouse).
Long before any Roman settlements, Greek navigators settled in what would become Provence
. The Phoceans
founded important cities such as Massalia
(Marseille) and Nikaia
(Nice), bringing them in to conflict with the neighboring Celts and Ligurians. Some Phocean great navigators, such as Pytheas
, were born in Marseille. The Celts themselves often fought with Aquitanians and Germans, and a Gaulish war band led by Brennus
invaded Rome c. 393 or 388 BC following the Battle of the Allia
. However, the tribal society of the Gauls did not change fast enough for the centralized Roman state, who would learn to counter them. The Gaulish tribal confederacies were then defeated by the Romans in battles such as Sentinum
and Telamon
. In the early 3rd century BC, the Belgae conquered the surrounding territories of the Somme in northern Gaul after a battle supposedly against the Armoricani
near Ribemont-sur-Ancre
and Gournay-sur-Aronde
, where sanctuaries were found.
When Carthaginian
commander Hannibal Barca fought the Romans, he recruited several Gaulish mercenaries who fought on his side at Cannae
. It was this Gaulish participation that caused Provence to be annexed in 122 BC by the Roman Republic
. Later, the Consul of Gaul—Julius Caesar
—conquered all of Gaul. Despite Gaulish opposition led by Vercingetorix
, the Overking of the Warriors, the Gauls succumbed to the Roman onslaught. The Gauls had some success at first at Gergovia
, but were ultimately defeated at Alesia
. The Romans founded cities such as Lugdunum
(Lyon) and Narbonensis
(Narbonne).
Gaul was divided into several different provinces. The Romans displaced populations to prevent local identities from becoming a threat to Roman control. Thus, many Celts were displaced in Aquitania
or were enslaved and moved out of Gaul. There was a strong cultural evolution in Gaul under the Roman Empire, the most obvious one being the replacement of the Gaulish language
by Vulgar Latin
. It has been argued the similarities between the Gaulish and Latin
languages favoured the transition. Gaul remained under Roman control for centuries and Celtic culture was then gradually replaced by Gallo-Roman culture
.
The Gauls became better integrated with the Empire with the passage of time. For instance, Marcus Antonius Primus
, an important general of the Roman Empire, and Emperor Claudius
were both born in Gaul, as were general Gnaeus Julius Agricola
and emperor Caracalla
. Antoninus Pius
also came from a Gaulish family. In the decade following Valerian
's capture by the Persians in 260, Postumus
established a short-lived Gallic Empire
, which included the Iberian Peninsula and Britannia, in addition to Gaul itself. Germanic tribes, the Franks
and the Alamanni
, entered Gaul at this time. The Gallic Empire ended with Emperor Aurelian
's victory at Châlons in 274.
A migration of Celts appeared in the 4th century in Armorica
. They were led by the legendary king Conan Meriadoc
and came from Britain. They spoke the now extinct British language, which evolved into the Breton
, Cornish
, and Welsh language
s.
In 418 the Aquitanian province was given to the Goths
in exchange for their support against the Vandals
. Those same Goths had previously sacked Rome in 410 and established a capital in Toulouse. The Roman Empire had difficulty responding to all the barbarian raids, and Flavius Aëtius
had to use these tribes against each other in order to maintain some Roman control. He first used the Huns
against the Burgundians
, and these mercenaries destroyed Worms
, killed king Gunther
, and pushed the Burgundians westward. The Burgundians were resettled by Aëtius near Lugdunum
in 443. The Huns, united by Attila
became a greater threat, and Aëtius used the Visigoths against the Huns. The conflict climaxed in 451 at the Battle of Châlons
, in which the Romans and Goths defeated Attila.
The Roman Empire was on the verge of collapsing. Aquitania was definitely abandoned to the Visigoths, who would soon conquer a significant part of southern Gaul as well as most of the Iberian Peninsula. The Burgundians claimed their own kingdom, and northern Gaul was practically abandoned to the Franks. Aside from the Germanic peoples, the Vascones entered Wasconia
from the Pyrenees and the Bretons formed three kingdoms in Armorica: Domnonia
, Cornouaille
and Broërec
.
In 486, Clovis I
, leader of the Salian Franks
, defeated Syagrius
at Soissons
and subsequently united most of northern and central Gaul under his rule. Clovis then recorded a succession of victories against other Germanic tribes such as the Alamanni at Tolbiac
. In 496, pagan Clovis adopted Catholicism. This gave him greater legitimacy and power over his Christian subjects and granted him clerical support against the Arian
Visigoths. He defeated Alaric II
at Vouillé
in 507 and annexed Aquitaine, and thus Toulouse, into his Frankish kingdom. The Goths retired to Toledo
in what would become Spain. Clovis made Paris his capital and established the Merovingian Dynasty
but his kingdom would not survive his death. Under Frankish inheritance traditions, all sons would inherit part of the land, so four kingdoms emerged: centered on Paris, Orléans
, Soissons
, and Rheims. Over time, the borders and numbers of Frankish kingdoms were fluid and changed frequently. Also during this time, the Mayors of the Palace
, originally the chief advisor to the kings, would become the real power in the Frankish lands; the Merovingian kings themselves would be reduced to little more than figureheads.
By this time Muslim invaders had conquered Hispania
and were threatening the Frankish kingdoms. Duke Odo the Great defeated a major invading force at Toulouse
in 721 but failed to repel a raiding party in 732. The mayor of the palace, Charles Martel
, defeated that raiding party at the Battle of Tours
(actually the battle took place between Tours and Poitiers) and earned respect and power within the Frankish Kingdom. The assumption of the crown in 751 by Pepin the Short (son of Charles Martel) established the Carolingian dynasty as the Kings of the Franks.
Carolingian power reached its fullest extent under Pepin's son, Charlemagne
. In 771, Charlemagne reunited the Frankish domains after a further period of division, subsequently conquering the Lombards
under Desiderius
in what is now northern Italy (774), incorporating Bavaria (788) into his realm, defeating the Avars
of the Danubian
plain (796), advancing the frontier with Islamic Spain
as far south as Barcelona
(801), and subjugating Lower Saxony
(804) after a prolonged campaign.
In recognition of his successes and his political support for the Papacy, Charlemagne
was crowned Emperor of the Romans, or Roman Emperor in the West, by Pope Leo III
in 800. Charlemagne's son Louis the Pious
(emperor 814–840) kept the empire united; however, this Carolingian Empire
would not survive Louis I's death. Two of his sons – Charles the Bald
and Louis the German
– swore allegiance to each other against their brother – Lothair I
– in the Oaths of Strasbourg
, and the empire was divided among Louis's three sons (Treaty of Verdun
, 843). After a last brief reunification (884–887), the imperial title ceased to be held in the western realm, which was to form the basis of the future French kingdom. The eastern realm, which would become Germany, elected the Saxon dynasty of Henry the Fowler.
Under the Carolingians, the kingdom was ravaged by Viking raiders
. In this struggle some important figures such as Count Odo of Paris
and his brother King Robert
rose to fame and became kings. This emerging dynasty, whose members were called the Robertines
, were the predecessors of the Capetian Dynasty
. Led by Rollo
, some Vikings had settled in Normandy and were granted the land, first as counts and then as dukes, by King Charles the Simple
, in order to protect the land from other raiders. The people that emerged from the interactions between the new Viking aristocracy and the already mixed Franks and Gallo-Romans became known as the Normans.
See also:
and as Count of Paris
they held their personal fiefdom, best known as Île-de-France
. The fact that the Capetians both held lands as Prince as well as in the title of King gave them a complicated status. Thus they were involved in the struggle for power within France as princes but they also had a religious authority over the Church of France
as King. However, and despite the fact that the Capetian kings often treated other princes more as enemies and allies than as subordinates, their royal title was often recognised yet not often respected. The royal authority was so weak in some remote places that bandits were the effective power.
Some of the king's vassals would grow so powerful that they would become some of the strongest rulers of western Europe. The Normans
, the Plantagenets, the Lusignans, the Hautevilles, the Ramnulfids
, and the House of Toulouse
successfully carved lands outside of France for themselves. The most important of these conquests for French history was the Norman Conquest of England
, following the Battle of Hastings
, by William the Conqueror
because it linked England to France through Normandy. Although the Normans were now both vassals of the French kings and their equals as Kings of England, their zone of political activity remained centered in France. These Norman nobles then commissioned the weaving of the Bayeux Tapestry
. An important part of the French aristocracy also involved itself in the crusades, and French knights founded and ruled the Crusader states
. An example of the legacy left in the Middle East by these nobles is the Krak des Chevaliers
' enlargement by the Counts of Tripoli
and Toulouse
.
Hugh Capet was elected by an assembly summoned in Reims
on 1 June 987. Capet was previously "Duke of the Franks" and then became "King of the Franks" (Rex Francorum). He was recorded to be recognised king by the Gauls
, Bretons, Danes, Aquitanians, Goths
, Spanish and Gascons. The Danes here are certainly the Normans (of Normandy), and the Spanish entry probably refers to the Carolingian Spanish marches. Hugh Capet's reign was marked by the loss of the Spanish marches as they grew more and more independent. Count Borell of Barcelona
called for Hugh's help against Islamic raids, but even if Hugh intended to help Borell, he was otherwise occupied in fighting Charles of Lorraine
. The loss of other Spanish principalities then followed. Hugh Capet, the first Capetian king, is not a well documented figure, his greatest achievement being certainly to survive as king and defeating the Carolingian claimant, thus allowing him to establish what would become one of Europe's most powerful house of kings.
Hugh's son – Robert the Pious
– was crowned King of the Franks before Capet's demise. Hugh Capet decided so in order to have his succession secured. Robert II, as King of the Franks, met Emperor Henry II
in 1023 on the borderline. They agreed to end all claims over each other's realm, setting a new stage of Capetian and Ottonian relationships. The reign of Robert II was quite important because it involved the Peace and Truce of God
and the Cluniac Reforms
. Although a king weak in power, Robert II's efforts were considerable. His surviving charters imply he was heavily relying on the church to rule France, much like his father did. Although he lived with a mistress —Bertha of Burgundy
— and was excommunicated because of this, he was regarded as a model of piety for monks (hence his nickname, Robert the Pious). He crowned his son —Hugh Magnus
— King of the Franks to secure his succession, however Hugh Magnus rebelled against his father and died fighting him. The next King of the Franks —Henry I
— was crowned after Robert's death, which is quite exceptional for a French king of the times.
Henry I was one of the weakest kings of the Franks, and his reign saw the rise of some very powerful nobles such as William the Conqueror. However his biggest source of concerns was his brother —Robert I of Burgundy
— who was pushed by his mother to the conflict. Robert of Burgundy was made Duke of Burgundy by King Henry I and had to be satisfied with that title. From Henry I onward the Dukes of Burgundy were relatives of the King of the Franks until the end of the Duchy proper. King Philip I
, named by his Kievan mother with a typically Eastern European name, was no more fortunate than his predecessor.
It is from Louis VI
onward that royal authority became more accepted. Louis VI was more a soldier and warmongering king than a scholar. The way the king raised money from his vassals made him quite unpopular; he was described as greedy and ambitious and that is corroborated by records of the time. His regular attacks on his vassals, although damaging the royal image, reinforced the royal power. From 1127 onward the royal adviser was a skilled politician – Abbot Suger
. The abbot was the son of a minor family of knights, but his political advice was extremely valuable to the king. Louis VI successfully defeated, both military and politically, many of the robber baron
s. Louis VI frequently summoned his vassals to the court, and those who did not show up often had their land possessions confiscated and military campaigns mounted against them. This drastic policy clearly imposed some royal authority on Paris and its surrounding areas. When Louis VI died in 1137, much progress had been made towards strengthening Capetian authority.
Thanks to Abbot Suger's political advice, King Louis VII
enjoyed greater moral authority over France than his predecessors. Even more powerful vassals such as Henry Plantagenet
paid homage to the French king. Abbot Suger arranged the marriage between Louis VII and Eleanor of Aquitaine
in Bordeaux which made Louis VII Duke of Aquitaine and gave him considerable power. However, the couple disagreed over the burning of more than a thousand people in Vitry
during the conflict against the Count of Champagne. King Louis VII was deeply horrified by the event and sought penitence by going to the holy land. He later involved the Kingdom of France in the Second Crusade
but his relationship with Eleanor did not improve. The marriage was ultimately annulled by the pope under the pretext of consanguinity and Eleanor soon married the Duke of Normandy —Henry Fitzempress
— who would become King of England as Henry II two years later. Louis VII was once a very powerful monarch and was now facing a much stronger vassal, who was his equal as King of England and his strongest prince as Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine. Abbot Suger's vision of construction became known as the Gothic Architecture
during the later Renaissance
. This style became standard for most European cathedrals built in the late middle-age.
marked an important step in the history of French monarchy. His reign saw the French royal domain and influence greatly expanded. He had set the context for the rise of power to much more powerful monarchs like Saint Louis and Philip the Fair.
Philip II spent an important part of his reign fighting the so-called Angevin Empire
, which was probably the greatest threat to the King of France since the rise of the Capetian dynasty. During the first part of his reign Philip II tried using Henry II of England's son against him. He allied himself with the Duke of Aquitaine and son of Henry II —Richard Lionheart
— and together they launched a decisive attack on Henry's castle and home of Chinon
and removed him from power. Richard replaced his father as King of England afterward. The two kings then went crusading during the Third Crusade
however their alliance and friendship broke down during the crusade. The two men were once again at odds and fought each other in France and Richard was on the verge of totally defeating Philip II. Adding to their battles in France the Kings of France and England were trying to install their respective allies at the head of the Holy Roman Empire. If Philip II Augustus supported Philip of Swabia
, member of the House of Hohenstaufen, Richard Lionheart supported Otto IV
, member of the House of Welf. Otto IV had the upper hand and became the Holy Roman Emperor at the expense of Philip of Swabia. The crown of France was saved by Richard's demise after a wound he received fighting his own vassals in Limousin
. John Lackland
, Richard's successor, refused to come to the French court for a trial against the Lusignan
s and as Louis VI often did to his rebellious vassals, Philip II confiscated John's possessions in France. John's defeat was swift and his attempts to reconquer his French possession at the Battle of Bouvines
resulted in complete failure. His allies, most notably Emperor Otto IV, were all defeated or captured and even as King of England he had no means to reconquer Normandy and Anjou. Not only had Philip II annexed Normandy and Anjou, he had captured the Counts of Boulogne and Flanders. Otto IV was overthrown by Frederick II
, ally of Philip II of France and a member of the House of Hohenstaufen. The King of France however stopped before conquering Aquitaine and Gascony who remained loyal to the Plantagenet King. In addition to defeating John of England
, Philip Augustus founded the Sorbonne and made Paris a city for scholars. Prince Louis
(the future Louis VIII) was involved in the subsequent English civil war as French and English (or rather Anglo-Norman) aristocracies were once one and were now split between allegiances. While the French kings were struggling against the Plantagenets, the Church called for the Albigensian Crusade
. Southern France was then largely absorbed in the royal domains.
It can be said that France became a truly centralised kingdom under Louis IX
, who initiated several administrative reforms. Saint Louis has often been portrayed as a one dimensional character, a flawless representant of the faith and an administrator caring for the governed ones. However, his reign was far from perfect for everyone; he made unsuccessful crusades and his expanding administrations raised oppositions; he also burned Jewish books at the Pope's urging. His judgments were not often practical, although they seemed fair by the standards of the time. It appears Louis had a strong sense of justice and always wanted to judge people himself before applying any sentence. This was said about Louis and French clergy asking for excommunications of Louis' vassals:
Louis IX was only twelve years old when he became King of France, his mother —Blanche of Castile
— was the effective power although the King was indeed Louis IX. Blanche's authority was strongly opposed by the French barons yet she could maintain her position as regent (although she did not formally use the title) until Louis was old enough to rule by himself. In 1229 the King had to struggle with a long lasting strike at the University of Paris
, the Quartier Latin
was strongly hit by these strikes. War was still going on in the County of Toulouse, the royal army was occupied fighting resistance in Languedoc and the kingdom was therefore vulnerable. Count Raymond VII of Toulouse
finally signed the Treaty of Paris
in 1229, in which he retained much of his lands to life, but his daughter, married to Count Alfonso of Poitou, produced him no heir and so the County of Toulouse went to the King of France.
King Henry III of England
had not yet recognized the Capetian overlordship over Aquitaine and still hoped to recover Normandy and Anjou and reform the Angevin Empire. He landed in 1230 at Saint-Malo
with a massive force. Henry III's allies in Brittany and Normandy fell down because they did not dare fight their king who led the counterstrike himself. This evolved into the Saintonge War
, Henry III was defeated and had to recognise Louis IX's overlordship although the King of France did not seize Aquitaine from Henry III. Louis IX was now the most important landowner of France, adding to his royal title. There were some opposition to his rule in Normandy, yet it proved remarkably easy to rule, especially compared to the County of Toulouse which had been brutally conquered. The Conseil du Roi
, which would evolve into the Parlement
, was founded in these times.
Saint Louis also supported new forms of art such as Gothic architecture
; his Sainte-Chapelle
became a very famous gothic building, and he is also credited for the Morgan Bible
. After his conflict with King Henry III of England
Louis established a cordial relation with the Plantagenet King. An amusing anecdote is about Henry III's attending the French Parlement
, as Duke of Aquitaine, the King of England was always late because he liked to stop each time he met a priest to hear the mass, so Louis made sure no priest was on the way of Henry III. Henry III and Louis IX then started a long contest in who was the most faithful up to the point none ever arrived anymore on time to the Parlement which was then allowed to debate in their absence.
The Kingdom was involved in two crusades under Saint Louis: the Seventh Crusade
and the Eighth Crusade
. Both proved to be complete failures for the French King. He died in the Eighth Crusade and Philip III
became king. Philip III took part in another crusading disaster: the Aragonese Crusade
, which cost him his life.
More administrative reforms were made by Philip the Fair
. This king was responsible for the end of the Templars
, signed the Auld Alliance
, and established the Parlement of Paris
. Philip IV was so powerful that he could name popes and emperors, unlike the early Capetians. The papacy was moved to Avignon
and all the contemporary popes were French such as Philip IV's puppet: Bertrand de Goth
.
Capetian Dynasty
(actually several distinct wars) when the Plantagenets claimed the throne of France from the Valois. This was also the time of the Black Death, as well as several civil wars. The French population suffered much from these wars. In 1420 By the Treaty of Troyes
Henry V
was made heir to Charles VI. Henry V failed to outlive Charles so it was Henry VI of England and France who concildated the Dual-Monarchy of England and France. It has been argued that the difficult conditions the French population suffered during the Hundred Years' War awakened French nationalism, a nationalism represented by Joan of Arc
. Although this is debatable, the Hundred Years' War is remembered more as a Franco-English war than as a succession of feudal struggles. During this war, France evolved politically and militarily. Although a Franco-Scottish army was successful at Baugé
, the humiliating defeats of Poitiers
and Agincourt
forced the French nobility to realise they could not stand just as armoured knights without an organised army. Charles VII
established the first French standing army, the Compagnies d'ordonnance
, and defeated the Plantagenets once at Patay
and again, using cannons, at Formigny
. The Battle of Castillon
was regarded as the last engagement of this "war", yet Calais
and the Channel Islands
remained ruled by the Plantagenets.
French Kings:
English interlude (between Charles VI and VII)
. King Louis XI
faced Charles the Bold during Burgundian Wars
and the French King was allied with the Old Swiss Confederacy
. The Duke of Burgundy was defeated at Morat
, Battle of Grandson
, Héricourt
and ultimately defeated at Nancy
in 1477. The Duchy of Burgundy was annexed by France but the part of Burgundy that formed Franche-Comté was given to Philip I of Castile
in 1493. From 1487 to 1491, France attacked and defeated Brittany, an independent duchy.
In 1532, Brittany was incorporated
into the Kingdom of France.
(1494–1559), which marked the beginning of early modern France. Francis I
faced powerful foes, and he was captured at Pavia
. The French monarchy then sought for allies and found one in the Ottoman Empire
. The Ottoman Admiral Barbarossa captured Nice on 5 August 1543 and handed it down to Francis I. Around this same time, the Protestant Reformation
, led in France mainly by John Calvin
, was challenging the power of the Catholic Church in France.
During the 16th century, the Spanish and Austrian Habsburgs were the dominant power in Europe. In addition to Spain and Austria, they controlled a number of kingdoms and duchies across Europe. Charles Quint
, under the titles of Count of Burgundy, Holy Roman Emperor, and King of Aragon, Castile and Germany, among others, encircled France. The Spanish Tercio
was used with great success against French knights. Finally, on 7 January 1558, the Duke of Guise
seized Calais from the English.
(born in 1500) quipped, "I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men, and German to my horse."
Because of its international status, there was a desire to regulate the French language. Several reforms of the French language worked to make it more uniform. The Renaissance writer François Rabelais
(b. 1494) helped to shape French as a literary language, Rabelais' French is characterised by the re-introduction of Greek and Latin words. Jacques Peletier du Mans
(born 1517) was one of the scholars who reformed the French language. He improved Nicolas Chuquet
's long scale
system by adding names for intermediate numbers ("milliards" instead of "thousand million", etc.).
and began to claim North American territories. Jacques Cartier
was one of the great explorers who ventured deep into American territories during the 16th century. The largest settlement was New France
, with the towns of Quebec City
and Montreal
with settlement commencing in the early 17th century with the voyages of Samuel de Champlain.
Renewed Catholic reaction headed by the powerful duke of Guise
, led to a massacre of Huguenots at Vassy
in 1562, starting the first of the French Wars of Religion
, during which English, German, and Spanish forces intervened on the side of rival Protestant and Catholic forces. In the most notorious incident, thousands of Huguenots were murdered in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre
of 1572. The Wars of Religion culminated in the War of the Three Henrys in which Henry III
assassinated Henry de Guise
, leader of the Spanish-backed Catholic league
, and the king was murdered in return. Following this war Henry III of Navarre became king of France as Henry IV
and enforced the Edict of Nantes
(1598). Religious conflicts resumed under Louis XIII
when Cardinal Richelieu forced Protestants to disarm their army and fortresses. This conflict ended in the Siege of La Rochelle
(1627–1628), in which Protestants and their English supporters were defeated. The following Peace of Alais
confirmed religious freedom yet dismantled the Protestant defences.
The religious conflicts that plagued France also ravaged the Habsburg-led Holy Roman Empire. The Thirty Years War eroded the power of the Catholic Habsburgs. Although Cardinal Richelieu, the powerful chief minister of France, had previously mauled the Protestants, he joined this war on their side in 1636 because it was the raison d'état
. Imperial Habsburg forces invaded France, ravaged Champagne
, and nearly threatened Paris. Richelieu died in 1642 and was succeeded by Cardinal Mazarin, while Louis XIII died one year later and was succeeded by Louis XIV
. France was served by some very efficient commanders such as Louis II de Bourbon
(Condé) and Henry de la Tour d'Auvergne
(Turenne). The French forces won a decisive victory at Rocroi
(1643), and the Spanish army was decimated; the Tercio was broken. The Truce of Ulm (1647) and the Peace of Westphalia
(1648) brought an end to the war. But some challenges remained. France was hit by civil unrest known as the Fronde
which in turn evolved into the Franco-Spanish War
in 1653. Louis II de Bourbon joined the Spanish army this time, but suffered a severe defeat at Dunkirk
(1658) by Henry de la Tour d'Auvergne. The terms for the peace inflicted upon the Spanish kingdoms in the Treaty of the Pyrenees
(1659) were harsh, as France annexed Northern Catalonia.
Amidst this turmoil, René Descartes
sought answers to philosophical questions through the use of logic and reason and formulated what would be called Cartesian Dualism
in 1641.
Louis XIV
, known as the "Sun King", wanted to be remembered as a patron of the arts, like his ancestor Louis IX. He invited Jean-Baptiste Lully
to establish the French opera
. A tumultuous friendship was established between Lully and Molière
. Jules Hardouin Mansart
became France's most important architect of the period. Louis XIV's long reign saw France involved in many wars that drained its treasury. His reign began during the Thirty Years' War and during the Franco-Spanish war. His military architect, Vauban
, became famous for his pentagonal fortresses, and Jean-Baptiste Colbert
supported the royal spending as much as possible. French dominated League of the Rhine
fought against the Ottoman Turks
at the Battle of Saint Gotthard in 1664. The battle was won by the Christians, chiefly through the brave attack of 6,000 French troops led by La Feuillade and Coligny. France fought the War of Devolution
against Spain
in 1667. France's defeat of Spain and invasion of the Spanish Netherlands alarmed England and Sweden. With the Dutch Republic
they formed the Triple Alliance to check Louis XIV's expansion. Louis II de Bourbon had captured Franche-Comté
, but in face of an indefensible position, Louis XIV agreed to a peace at Aachen
. Under its terms, Louis XIV did not annex Franche-Comté but did gain Lille
.
Peace was fragile, and war broke out again between France and the Dutch Republic in the Franco-Dutch War
(1672–1678). Louis XIV asked for the Dutch Republic to resume war against the Spanish Netherlands, but the republic refused. France attacked the Dutch Republic and was joined by England in this conflict. Through targeted inundations of polder
s by breaking dykes, the French invasion of the Dutch Republic was brought to a halt. The Dutch Admiral Michiel de Ruyter
inflicted a few strategic defeats on the Anglo-French naval alliance and forced England to retire from the war
in 1674. Because the Netherlands could not resist indefinitely, it agreed to peace in the Treaties of Nijmegen
, according to which France would annex France-Comté and acquire further concessions in the Spanish Netherlands. On 6 May 1682, the royal court moved to the Palace of Versailles
, which Louis XIV had greatly expanded. Peace did not last, and war between France and Spain again resumed. The War of the Reunions
broke out (1683–1684), and again Spain, with its ally the Holy Roman Empire, was easily defeated. Meanwhile, in October 1685 Louis signed the Edict of Fontainebleau
ordering the destruction of all Protestant churches and schools in France. Its immediate consequence was a large Protestant exodus from France. The two massive famine
s struck France between 1693 and 1710, killing over two million people.
France would soon be involved in another war, the War of the Grand Alliance
. This time the theatre was not only in Europe but also in North America. Although the war was long and difficult (it was also called the Nine Years War), its results were inconclusive. The Treaty of Ryswick in 1697 confirmed French sovereignty over Alsace
, yet rejected its claims to Luxembourg
. Louis also had to evacuate Catalonia
and the Palatinate. This peace was considered a truce by all sides, thus war was to start again. In 1701 the War of the Spanish Succession
began. The Bourbon Philip of Anjou
was designated heir to the throne of Spain. The Habsburg Emperor Leopold
opposed a Bourbon succession, because the power that such a succession would bring to the Bourbon rulers of France would disturb the delicate balance of power
in Europe. Therefore, he claimed the Spanish thrones for himself. England and the Dutch Republic joined Leopold against Louis XIV and Philip of Anjou. The allied forces were led by John Churchill
and by Prince Eugene of Savoy
. They inflicted a few resounding defeats to the French army; the Battle of Blenheim
in 1704 was the first major land battle lost by France since its victory at Rocroi in 1643. Yet, after the extremely bloody battles of Ramillies
and Malplaquet
, Pyrrhic victories
for the allies, they had lost too many men to continue the war. Led by Villars
, the French forces recovered much of the lost ground in battles such as Denain
. Finally, a compromise was achieved with the Ultrecht
in 1713. Philip of Anjou was confirmed as Philip V, king of Spain, and Emperor Leopold did not get the throne, but Philip V was barred from inheriting France.
The population was predominantly rural. In the 17th century rich peasants who had ties to the market economy provided much of the capital investment necessary for agricultural growth, and frequently moved from village to village (or town). Geographic mobility, directly tied to the market and the need for investment capital, was the main path to social mobility. The "stable" core of French society, town guildspeople and village laboureurs, included cases of staggering social and geographic continuity, but even this core required regular renewal. Accepting the existence of these two societies, the constant tension between them, and extensive geographic and social mobility tied to a market economy holds the key to a clearer understanding of the evolution of the social structure, economy, and even political system of early modern France. Collins (1991) argues that the Annales School
paradigm underestimated the role of the market economy; failed to explain the nature of capital investment in the rural economy; and grossly exaggerated social stability.
's regency joined the War of the Quadruple Alliance
against Spain. King Philip V of Spain
had to withdraw from the conflict confronted with the reality that Spain was no longer a great power of Europe. Under Cardinal Fleury's administration, peace was maintained as long as possible. However, in 1733 another war broke in central Europe, this time about the Polish succession
, and France joined the war against the Austrian Empire. This time there was no invasion of the Netherlands, and Britain remained neutral. As a consequence, Austria was left alone against a Franco-Spanish alliance and faced a military disaster. Peace was settled in the Treaty of Vienna (1738)
, according to which France would annex, through inheritance, the Duchy of Lorraine.
Two years later, in 1740, war broke out over the Austrian succession
, and France seized the opportunity to join the conflict. The war played out in North America and India as well as Europe, and inconclusive terms were agreed to in the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748)
. Once again, no one regarded this as a peace, but rather as a mere truce. Prussia
was then becoming a new threat, as it had gained substantial territory from Austria. This led to the Diplomatic Revolution of 1756
, in which the alliances seen during the previous war were mostly inverted. France was now allied to Austria and Russia while Britain was now allied to Prussia. In the North American theatre, France was allied with various Native American peoples during the Seven Years' War
and, despite a temporary success at the battles of the Great Meadows
and Monongahela
, French forces were defeated at the disastrous Battle of the Plains of Abraham
in Quebec. In Europe, repeated French attempts to overwhelm Hanover
failed. In 1762 Russia, France and Austria were on the verge of crushing Prussia, when the Anglo-Prussian Alliance
was saved by the Miracle of the House of Brandenburg. At sea naval defeats against British fleets at Lagos
and Quiberon Bay
in 1759 and a crippling blockade forced France to keep its ships in port. Finally peace was concluded in the Treaty of Paris (1763)
, and France lost its North American empire.
Britain's success
had allowed them to eclipse France as the leading colonial power.
Many sought revenge for this defeat, and under Choiseul
France started to rebuild. In 1766 the French Kingdom annexed Lorraine and the following year bought Corsica
from Genoa
.
Having lost its colonial empire, France saw a good opportunity for revenge against Britain in signing an alliance with the Americans in 1778, and sending an army and navy
that turned the American Revolution
into a world war. Spain, allied to France by the Family Compact
, and the Dutch Republic also joined the war on the French side. Admiral de Grasse
defeated a British fleet at Chesapeake Bay
while Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau
and Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette
joined American forces in defeating the British at Yorktown
. The war was concluded by the Treaty of Paris (1783)
, under which Britain lost its former American colonies. Despite this the war had largely been a disappointment for France, it had been extremely expensive and they had only received Tobago
for their efforts.
While the state expanded, new ideas broke on the role of the king and the powers of the state. Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu
described the separation of powers
. Many other French philosophers and intellectuals gained social, political and philosophical influence on a global scale, including Voltaire
, Denis Diderot
and Jean-Jacques Rousseau
, whose essay The Social Contract, Or Principles of Political Right
was a catalyst for governmental and societal reform throughout Europe. Science, mathematics and technology also flourished. French scientists such as Antoine Lavoisier
worked to replace the archaic units of weights and measures by a coherent scientific system, commissioned by king Louis XVI. Lavoisier also formulated the law of Conservation of mass
and discovered oxygen and hydrogen.
The Early Modern period in French history spans the following reigns, from 1461 to the Revolution, breaking in 1789:
See also:
The immediate trigger for the Revolution was Louis XVI's attempts to solve the government's worsening financial situation. In February 1787 his finance minister, Charles Alexandre de Calonne
, convened an Assembly of Notables
, a group of nobles, clergy, bourgeoisie, and bureaucrats selected in order to bypass the local parliaments. This group was asked to approve a new land tax that would, for the first time, include a tax on the property of nobles and clergy. The assembly did not approve the tax, instead demanding that Louis XVI call the Estates-General
. In August 1788 the King agreed to convene the Estates-General in May 1789
. While the Third Estate demanded and was granted "double representation" so as to balance the First and Second Estate, voting was to occur "by orders" – votes of the Third Estate were to be weighted – effectively canceling double representation. This eventually led to the Third Estate breaking away from the Estates-General and, joined by members of the other estates, proclaiming the creation of the National Assembly
, an assembly not of the Estates but of "the People." In an attempt to keep control of the process and prevent the Assembly from convening, Louis XVI ordered the closure of the Salle des États where the Assembly met. After finding the door to their chamber locked and guarded, the Assembly met nearby on a tennis court and pledged the Tennis Court Oath
on 20 June 1789, binding them "never to separate, and to meet wherever circumstances demand, until the constitution of the kingdom is established and affirmed on solid foundations." They were joined by some sympathetic members of the Second and First estates.
After the king fired his finance minister, Jacques Necker
, for giving his support and guidance to the Third Estate, worries surfaced that the legitimacy of the newly formed National Assembly might be threatened by royalists. Paris was soon consumed with riots, anarchy, and widespread looting. Because the royal leadership essentially abandoned the city, the mobs soon had the support of the French Guard, including arms and trained soldiers. On 14 July 1789, the insurgents set their eyes on the large weapons and ammunition cache inside the Bastille fortress, which also served as a symbol of royal tyranny. Insurgents seized the Bastille prison
, killing the governor and several of his guards. The French now celebrate 14 July each year as a symbol of the shift away from the Ancien Regime to a more modern, democratic state. Gilbert du Motier
, a hero of the War of American Independence, took command of the National Guard, and the king was forced to recognize the Tricolour Cockade
. Although peace was made, several nobles did not regard the new order as acceptable and emigrated in order to push the neighboring, aristocratic kingdoms to war against the new democratic regime. Because of this new period of instability, the state was struck for several weeks in July and August 1789 by the Great Fear
, a period of violent class conflict.
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was adopted by the National Assembly in August 1789 as a first step in their effort to write a constitution. Considered to be a precursor to modern international rights instruments and using the U.S. Declaration of Independence as a model, it defined a set of individual rights and collective rights of all of the estates as one. Influenced by the doctrine of natural rights, these rights were deemed universal and valid in all times and places, pertaining to human nature itself. The Assembly also replaced France's historic provinces with eighty-three departments, uniformly administered and approximately equal to one another in extent and population. On 4 August 1789, the Assembly abolished feudalism, in what became known as the August Decrees, sweeping away both the seigneurial rights of the Second Estate and the tithes gathered by the First Estate. In the course of a few hours, nobles, clergy, towns, provinces, companies, and cities lost their special privileges. The Assembly abolished the symbolic paraphernalia of the Ancien Régime, armorial bearings, liveries, etc., which alienated the more conservative nobles. Amidst these intrigues, the Assembly continued to work on developing a constitution. A new judicial organization made all magistracies temporary and independent of the throne. The legislators abolished hereditary offices, except for the monarchy itself. Jury trials started for criminal cases. The King would have the unique power to propose war, with the legislature then deciding whether to declare war. The Assembly abolished all internal trade barriers and suppressed guilds, masterships, and workers' organizations. Consequently, an individual could only gain the right to practice a trade through the purchase of a license and worker strikes became illegal.
The Revolution brought about a massive shifting of powers from the Roman Catholic Church to the state. Under the Ancien Régime, the Church had been the largest landowner in the country. Legislation enacted in 1790 abolished the Church's authority to levy a tax on crops, cancelled special privileges for the clergy, and confiscated Church property. The Assembly essentially addressed the financial crisis in part by having the nation take over the property of the Church.
The republican government also enforced the Système International d'Unités
, commissioned by Louis XVI, which became known as the Metric System. Charles-Augustin de Coulomb
and André-Marie Ampère
's works on electricity and electromagnetism were also recognised, and their units are integrated into the Metric System.
When a mob from Paris attacked the royal palace at Versailles in October 1789 seeking redress for their severe poverty, the royal family was forced to move to the Tuileries Palace in Paris. Later in June 1791, the royal family secretly fled Paris in disguise for Varennes near France's northeastern border in order to seek royalist support the king believed he could trust, but they were soon discovered en route. They were brought back to Paris, after which they were essentially kept under house-arrest at the Tuileries.
Factions within the Assembly began to clarify. The opposition to revolution sat on the right-hand side of the Assembly. The "Royalist democrats" or monarchiens inclined toward organizing France along lines similar to the British constitutional model. The "National Party", representing the centre or centre-left of the assembly represented somewhat more extreme views. The increasingly middle-class National Guard under Lafayette also slowly emerged as a power in its own right. With most of the Assembly still favoring a constitutional monarchy rather than a republic, the various groupings reached a compromise that left Louis XVI little more than a figurehead. He had perforce to swear an oath to the constitution, and a decree declared that retracting the oath, heading an army for the purpose of making war upon the nation, or permitting anyone to do so in his name would amount to de facto abdication. Under the Constitution of 1791
, France would function as a constitutional monarchy. The King had to share power with the elected Legislative Assembly, but he still retained his royal veto and the ability to select ministers.
The Legislative Assembly first met on 1 October 1791 and degenerated into chaos less than a year later. The Legislative Assembly consisted of about 165 Feuillants (constitutional monarchists) on the right, about 330 Girondists (liberal republicans) in the center, a vocal group of Jacobins
(radical revolutionaries) on the left, and about 250 deputies unaffiliated with any of those factions. Early on, the King vetoed legislation that threatened the émigrés with death and that decreed that every non-juring clergyman must take within eight days the civic oath mandated by the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. Over the course of a year, disagreements like this would result in a constitutional crisis, leading the Revolution to higher levels.
On the foreign affairs front, in the Declaration of Pillnitz
of August 1791 Emperor Leopold II
, Count Charles of Artois
and King William II of Prussia
made Louis XVI's cause their own. These noblemen also required the Assembly to be dissolved through threats of war, but, instead of cowing the French, it infuriated them. The borders were militarised as a consequence. Under the Constitution of 1791
, the solution of a constitutional monarchy was adopted, and the king supported a war against Austria in order to increase his popularity, starting the long French Revolutionary Wars
. On the night of the 10 August, the Jacobins
, who had mainly opposed the war, suspended the monarchy. With the Prussian army entering France, more doubts were raised against the aristocracy, and these tensions climaxed during the September Massacres
. After the first great victory of the French revolutionary troops at the Battle of Valmy
on 20 September 1792, the French First Republic
was proclaimed the next day, on 21 September 1792. The new French Republican Calendar
was then legally enforced.
The Mountain
is the English translation for the French word, Montagne
, which was the radical political faction of the National Convention
who considered themselves the true patriots of the French Revolution. Customarily, its members, called Montagnards
, sat on the highest tiered benches in the Convention hall, therefore giving the party its name. An alternate meaning of the name, one more metaphorical, implied that mountains are a natural, pure landscape preferred to the corruption of the city, which was represented by its opposing faction, the Girondins. The Mountain had 302 members during its reign in 1793 and 1794, including committee members and deputies who voted with the faction. Most of its members came from the middle class and tended to represent the Parisian population. Its leaders included Maximilien Robespierre
, Jean-Paul Marat
, and Georges Danton
. This party eventually gained overwhelming power in the Convention and governed France during the Reign of Terror
.
The Montagnards and the Girondins were both originally Jacobins
, a political club which was founded according to republican beliefs and whose members wanted a French democratic republic. The Jacobin Club, however, encountered political tension beginning in 1791 due to conflicting viewpoints in response to several revolutionary events and how to best achieve a democratic republic. As a result, two factions emerged: the Girondins and the Montagnards. The latter sided with the Parisian militants, also known as the sans-culottes, who aimed for a more repressive form of government that would institute a price maximum on essential consumer goods and would punish all traitors and enemies of the Republic. Additionally, between war and political differences, the Montagnards believed these crises required emergency solutions.
Possibly the two most significant factors in the quarrel and consequential split between the Montagnards and the Girondins include the Trial of King Louis XVI and the September Massacres. The official fall of the monarchy came on 10 August 1792 after Louis XVI refused to rescind his veto of the constitution of the National Assembly. The Mountain argued for immediate execution of the king by military court-martial, insisting that he was undermining the Revolution. Because a trial would require the "presumption of innocence," such a proceeding would contradict the mission of the National Convention. The Girondins, in contrast, agreed that the king was guilty of treason but argued for his clemency and favored the option of exile or popular referendum as his sentence. However, the trial progressed and Louis XVI was executed by guillotine on 21 January 1793.
The second key factor in the split between the Montagnards and the Girondins was the September Massacres of 1792. Radical Parisians, members of the National Guard, and fédérés were angry with the poor progress in the war against Austria and Prussia and the forced enlistment of 30,000 volunteers. On 10 August, radicals went on a killing spree, slaughtering roughly 1,300 inmates in various Paris prisons, many of whom were simply common criminals, not the treasonous counterrevolutionaries condemned by the Mountain. The Girondins did not tolerate the massacres, but neither the Montagnards of the Legislative Assembly nor the Paris Commune took any action to stop or condemn the killings. Members of the Girondins later accused Marat, Robespierre, and Danton as inciters of the massacres in an attempt to further their dictatorial power.
Members of the Mountain went on to establish the Committee of Public Safety under Robespierre, which would be responsible for the Terror, the bloodiest and one of the most controversial phases of the French Revolution. The time between 1792 and 1794 was dominated by the ideology of the Mountain until the execution of Robespierre on 28 July 1794.
When the Brunswick Manifesto
of July 1792 once more threatened the French population with Austrian (Imperial) and Prussian attacks, Louis XVI was suspected of treason and taken along with his family from the Tuileries Palace in August 1792 by insurgents supported by a new revolutionary Paris Commune. The King and Queen ended up prisoners, and a rump session of the Legislative Assembly suspended the monarchy. Little more than a third of the deputies were present, almost all of them Jacobins. The King was later tried and convicted and, on 21 January 1793, was executed by the guillotine. Marie Antoinette, would follow him to the guillotine on 16 October.
What remained of a national government depended on the support of the insurrectionary Commune. When the Commune sent gangs into prisons to arbitrarily adjudicate and butcher 1400 victims, and then addressed a circular letter to the other cities of France, inviting them to follow this example, the Assembly could offer only feeble resistance. This situation persisted until a National Convention
, charged with writing a new constitution, met on 20 September 1792 and became the new de facto government of France. The next day it abolished the monarchy and declared a republic.
When the war went badly, prices rose, and the sans-culottes (poor labourers and radical Jacobins) rioted, counter-revolutionary activities began in some regions. This encouraged the Jacobins to seize power through a parliamentary coup, backed up by force effected by mobilising public support against the Girondist faction, and by utilising the mob power of the Parisian sans-culottes. An alliance of Jacobin and sans-culottes elements thus became the effective centre of the new government. Policy became considerably more radical. In September 1793 a period known as the Reign of Terror
ensued for approximately 12 months. The Committee of Public Safety
, set up by the National Convention on 6 April 1793, formed the de facto executive government of France. Under war conditions and with national survival seemingly at stake, the Jacobins under Maximilien Robespierre
centralized denunciations, trials, and executions under the supervision of this committee of twelve members. At least 18,000 people met their deaths under the guillotine or otherwise, after accusations of counter-revolutionary activities. In 1794, Robespierre had ultra-radicals and moderate Jacobins executed. As a consequence of these actions, however, Robespierre's own popular support eroded markedly. On 27 July 1794, the Thermidorian Reaction
led to the arrest and execution of Robespierre. The new government was predominantly made up of Girondists who had survived the Terror and, after taking power, they took revenge as well by banning the Jacobin Club and executing many of its former members in what was known as the White Terror.
After the stated aim of the National Convention to export revolution, the guillotining of Louis XVI of France, and the French opening of the Scheldt, a military coalition was formed and set up against France. Spain, Naples, Great Britain and the Netherlands joined Austria and Prussia in The First Coalition
(1792–1797), the first major concerted effort of multiple European powers to contain Revolutionary France. It took shape after the wars had already begun. The Republican government in Paris was radicalised after a diplomatic coup from the Jacobins and said it would be the Guerre Totale
and called for a Levée en masse
. Royalist invasion forces were defeated at Toulon
in 1793, leaving the French republican forces in an offensive position and granting a young officer, Napoleon Bonaparte, a certain fame. Following their victory at Fleurus
, the Republicans occupied Belgium and the Rhineland. An invasion of the Netherlands established the puppet Batavian Republic
. Finally, a peace agreement was concluded between France, Spain and Prussia in 1795 at Basel
.
The Convention approved a new "Constitution of the Year III" on 17 August 1795; a plebiscite ratified it in September; and it took effect on 26 September 1795. The new constitution created the Directory and the first bicameral legislature in French history. The parliament consisted of 500 representatives – le Conseil des Cinq-Cents (the Council of the Five Hundred) – and 250 senators – le Conseil des Anciens (the Council of Elders). Executive power went to five "directors", named annually by the Conseil des Anciens from a list submitted by the le Conseil des Cinq-Cents. The nation desired rest and the healing of its many wounds. Those who wished to restore Louis XVIII and the Ancien Régime and those who would have renewed the Reign of Terror were insignificant in number. The possibility of foreign interference had vanished with the failure of the First Coalition. Nevertheless, the four years of the Directory were a time of arbitrary government and chronic disquiet. The late atrocities had made confidence or goodwill between the parties impossible. As the majority of French people wanted to be rid of them, they could achieve their purpose only by extraordinary means. The Convention habitually disregarded the terms of the constitution, and, when the elections went against them, appealed to the sword. They resolved to prolong the war as the best expedient for prolonging their power. They were thus driven to rely upon the armies, which also desired war and were becoming increasingly less civic in temper. The Directory lasted until 1799 when Napoleon staged a coup and installed the Consulate. The Consulate still operated within the First Republic, which was replaced by the First Empire, established by Napoleon in 1804.
During the War of the First Coalition the Directoire
had replaced the National Convention. Five directors then ruled France. As Great Britain was still at war with France, a plan was made to take Egypt from the Ottoman Empire, a British ally. This was Napoleon's idea and the Directoire agreed to the plan in order to send the popular general away from the mainland. Napoleon defeated the Ottoman forces during the Battle of the Pyramids
and sent hundreds of scientists and linguists out to thoroughly explore modern and ancient Egypt. Unexpectedly the British fleet under Admiral Nelson
, destroyed the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile
. Napoleon planned to move into Syria but was defeated and he returned to France without his army. It surrendered.
The Directoire was threatened by the Second Coalition
. Royalists and their allies still dreamed of restoring the monarchy to power, while the Prussian and Austrian crowns did not accept their territorial losses during the previous war. The Russian army expelled the French from Italy in battles such as Cassano
while the Austrian army defeated the French in Switzerland at Stockach
and Zurich
. Napoleon then seized power through a coup and established the Consulate
in 1799. The Austrian army was defeated at Marengo
in 1800 and again at Hohenlinden
. While at sea the French
had some success at Boulogne but Nelson's Royal Navy destroyed an anchored Danish and Norwegian fleet at Copenhagen
because the Scandinavian kingdoms were against the British blockade on France. The Second Coalition was beaten and peace was settled in two distinct treaties: The Treaty of Lunéville
and the Treaty of Amiens
. A brief interlude of peace ensued in 1802-3, during which Napoleon sold French Louisiana
to the United States because it was indefensible. George F. Nafziger, Historical Dictionary of the Napoleonic Era (2002)
In 1801 Napoleon concluded a "Concordat" with Pope Pius VII that opened peaceful relations between church and state in France. The policies of the Revolution were reversed--except the Church did not get its lands back. Bishops and clergy were to receive state salaries and the government paid for the building and maintenance of churches. Napoleon reorganized higher learning by dividing the Institut National into four (later five) academies.
Of permanent importance was the Napoleonic Code
created by eminent jurists under Napoleon's supervision. Praised for its Gallic clarity, it spread rapidly throughout Europe and the world in general, and marked the end of feudalism and the liberation of Jews where it took effect. The Code recognized the principles of civil liberty, equality before the law, and the secular character of the state. It discarded the old right of primogeniture (where only the eldest son inherited) and required that inheritances be divided equally among all the children. The court system was standardized; all judges were appointed by the national government in Paris.
In 1804 Napoleon was titled Emperor by the senate, thus founding the French Empire
. Napoleon's rule was constitutional, and although autocratic, it was much more advanced than traditional European monarchies of the time. The proclamation of the French Empire was met by the Third Coalition. The French army was renamed the Grande Armée
in 1805 and Napoleon used propaganda and nationalism to control the French population. The French army achieved a resounding victory at Ulm
, where an entire Austrian army was captured. However, a Franco-Spanish fleet was defeated at Trafalgar
and all plans to invade Britain were then made impossible. Despite this naval defeat, it was on the ground that this war would be won, Napoleon inflicted the Austrian and Russian Empires one of their greatest defeats at Austerlitz
, destroying the third coalition. The peace was settled in the Treaty of Pressburg, the Austrian Empire lost the title of Holy Roman Emperor and the Confederation of the Rhine
was created by Napoleon over former Austrian territories.
Prussia joined Britain and Russia, thus forming the Fourth Coalition
. Although the Coalition was joined by other allies, the French Empire was also not alone since it now had a complex network of allies and submitted states. Largely outnumbered, the Prussian army was crushed at Jena-Auerstedt
in 1806, Napoleon captured Berlin and went as far as Eastern Prussia. There the Russian Empire was defeated at the Battle of Friedland
. Peace was dictated in the Treaties of Tilsit
, in which Russia had to join the Continental System
and Prussia handed down half of its territories to France. The Duchy of Warsaw
was formed over these territorial losses, and the Polish troops entered the Grande Armée in significant numbers.
Freed from his obligation in the east, Napoleon then went back to the west, as the French Empire was still at war with Britain. Only two countries remained neutral in the war: Sweden and Portugal, and Napoleon then looked toward the latter. In the Treaty of Fontainebleau
, a Franco-Spanish alliance against Portugal was sealed as Spain eyed Portuguese territories. French armies entered Spain in order to attack Portugal, but then seized Spanish fortresses and took over the kingdom by surprise. Joseph Bonaparte
, Napoleon's brother, was made King of Spain after Charles IV
's abdication. This occupation of the Iberian peninsula fueled local nationalism, and soon the Spanish and Portuguese would fight the French using guerilla tactics, defeating the French forces at the Battle of Bailén
. Britain sent a short-lived ground support force to Portugal, and French forces evacuated Portugal as defined in the Convention of Sintra
following the Allied victory at Vimeiro
. France was only controlling Catalonia
and Navarre
and could have been definitely expelled from the Iberian peninsula had the Spanish armies attacked again, but the Spanish did not. Another French attack was launched on Spain, led by Napoleon himself, and was described as "an avalanche of fire and steel." However, the French Empire was no longer regarded as invincible by European powers. In 1808 Austria formed the War of the Fifth Coalition
in order to break down the French Empire. The Austrian Empire defeated the French at Aspern-Essling
, yet was beaten at Wagram
while the Polish allies defeated the Austrian Empire at Raszyn
. Although not as decisive as the previous Austrian defeats, the peace treaty
caused Austria to lose a large amount of territories, reducing it even more.
In 1812 war broke out with Russia, engaging Napoleon in the disastrous Patriotic War. Napoleon assembled the largest army Europe had ever seen, including troops from all submitted states, to invade Russia, which had just left the continental system and was gathering an army on the Polish frontier. Following an exhausting march and the bloody but inconclusive Battle of Borodino
, near Moscow, the Grande Armée entered and captured Moscow, just to find it burning, as part of the Russian scorched earth
tactics. Although there still were battles such as Maloyaroslavets
the Napoleonic army left Russia decimated most of all by the Russian winter, exhaustion and scorched earth warfare. On the Spanish front the French troops were defeated at Vitoria
and then at the Battle of the Pyrenees
. Since the Spanish guerrillas seemed to be uncontrollable, the French troops eventually evacuated Spain. France having been defeated on these two fronts, the states controlled and previously conquered by Napoleon saw a good opportunity to strike back. The Sixth Coalition
was formed and the German states of the Confederation of the Rhine switched sides, finally opposing Napoleon. Napoleon was largely defeated in the Battle of the Nations
and was overwhelmed by much larger armies during the Six Days Campaign
, although, because of the much larger amount of casualties suffered by the allies, the Six Days Campaign is often considered a tactical masterpiece.
Napoleon abdicated on 6 April 1814, and was exiled to Elba
. The conservative
Congress of Vienna
reversed the political changes that had occurred during the wars. Napoleon's attempted restoration, a period known as the Hundred Days
, ended with his final defeat at Waterloo
in 1815. The monarchy was subsequently restored and Louis XVIII
became king.
and was marked by conflicts between reactionary Ultra-royalists, who wanted to restore the pre-1789 system of absolute monarchy, and liberals, who wanted to strengthen constitutional monarchy. Louis XVIII was the younger brother of Louis XVI, and reigned from 1814 to 1824. On becoming king, Louis issued a constitution known as the Charter which preserved many of the liberties won during the French Revolution and provided for a parliament composed of an elected Chamber of Deputies and a Chamber of Peers that was nominated by the king. However the right to vote in elections to the Chamber of Deputies was restricted to only the wealthiest men. Louis was succeeded in turn by a younger brother, Charles X, who reigned from 1824 to 1830. On 12 June 1830 Polignac
, King Charles X
's minister, exploited the weakness of the Algerian Dey
by invading Algeria and establishing French rule in Algeria
. However, the news of the fall of Algiers had barely reached Paris when a new revolution broke out and quickly resulted in a change of regime.
in what is known as the July Revolution
. The July Revolution is traditionally regarded as a rising of the bourgeoisie against the absolute monarchy of the Bourbons. Participants in the July Revolution included Marie Joseph Paul Ives Roch Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette. Working behind the scenes on behalf of the bourgeois propertied interests was Louis Adolphe Thiers. Thiers was perfectly willing to see changes made in the government so long as property was not harmed. Thiers wanted the "middle class accommodated" with the vote realizing that, ironically, although the petty bourgeoisie (the inn and cafe keepers, restaurant owners, wine merchants, small traders, shop keepers, handicraftsmen, etc.) were all being ruined by the rise of the larger bourgeoisie that the petty bourgeoisie remained strong supporters of property interests. Lafayette believed the Orleanist constitutional monarchy was the safest course for the propertied interests and so Lafayette and Thiers became supporters of the Orleanist "Citizen King"--Louis-Philippe. Consequently, Louis-Philippe became "king by the grace of the barricades."
Louis-Philippe's "July Monarchy" (1830–1848) was dominated by the haute bourgeoisie (high bourgeoisie) of bankers, financiers, industrialists and merchants.
During the reign of the July Monarchy, the Romantic Era
was starting to bloom. Driven by the Romantic Era, an atmosphere of protest and revolt was all around in France. On 22 November 1831 in Lyon (the second largest city in France) the silk workers revolted and took over the town hall in protest of recent salary reductions and working conditions. This was one of the first occasions of a workers revolt in the entire world. The revolt was vigorously put down by Casimir Perier. The Right was also unhappy with the July Monarchy. On 28 October 1836, Prince Louis-Napoleon, son of Napoleon's brother, Louis, King of Holland attempted to overthrow the July Monarchy in a coup d'état. It failed but in August 1840, Prince Louis Napoleon tried another coup at Boulogne with hired soldiers. It failed as well.
Because of the constant threats to the throne, the July Monarchy began to rule with a stronger and stronger hand. Soon political meetings were outlawed. However, "banquets" were still legal. Accordingly, all through 1847, there was a nation-wide campaign of democracy and/or republican banquets. The climaxing banquet was scheduled for 22 February 1848 in Paris. The government was scared and overreacted and banned the banquet. On 22 February, citizens of all classes poured out onto the streets of Paris in a revolt against the July Monarchy. Demands were made for abdication of "Citizen King" Louis-Phillipe and for establishment of a representative democracy in France. Representative classes in this revolt included the full range of French society from the industrial bourgeoisie (who had been excluded from the "finance aristocracy" that formed the major part of the bourgeoisie that supported the July Monarchy), the petty bourgeoisie and the workers. Accordingly, the last King of France abdicated, and the French Second Republic
was proclaimed. A Constituent Assembly was elected which was seated in Paris. Alphonse Marie Louis de Lamartine, who had been a leader of the moderate republicans in France during the 1840s became the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Provisional Government that was established by this Assembly. In reality Lamartine was the virtual head of government in 1848.
Frustration among the laboring classes arose when the Constituent Assembly did not address the concerns of the workers. Strikes and worker demonstrations became more common as the workers gave vent to these frustrations. These demonstrations reached a climax when on 15 May 1848, workers from the secret societies broke out in armed uprising against the anti-labor and anti-democratic policies being pursued by the Constituent Assembly and the Provisional Government.
Fearful of a total breakdown of law and order, the Provisional Government invited General Louis Eugene Cavaignac
back from Algeria, in June 1848, to put down the workers armed revolt. From June 1848 until December 1848 General Cavaignac became head of the executive of the Provisional Government. Louis Napoleon Bonaparte
was elected president on 10 December 1848 over Cavaignac and Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin
. Louis Napoleaon received 5,587,759 votes as opposed to 1,474,687 votes for Cavaignac and 370,000 for the petty bourgeoisie socialist Ledru-Rollin. François-Vincent Raspail, a working class revolutionary socialist ended up a distant fourth in this election. Louis Napoleon's support came from a wide section of the French public. Various classes of French society voted for Louis Napoleon for very different and often contradictory reasons. Louis Napoleon, himself encouraged this contradiction by "being all things to all people." One of his major promises to the peasantry and other groups was that there would be no new taxes. Elected with Louis Napoleon on 10 December 1848 was a new National Legislative Assembly. Within each of the National Assemblies elected since the start of the Revolution of 1848, there had been a group that designated itself as the Mountain
or "Montagne" in French. Members of this group, the Montagnards, took their name from the political grouping of 302 members within the National Convention that formed the ruling body of the government between 1793 and 1794 during the original French Revolution. Both Louis Napoleon and the new National Constituent Assembly took office on 20 December 1848. As a result, France now possessed a new "Napoleon" side by side with a new "Montagne." However, these new forms were mere caricatures of their great forerunners. The new Napoleon did not change the world as did Napoleon I. The new Mountain formed only an opposition grouping within the various National Assemblies that were formed during the Revolution of 1848, but never really formed the ruling government during those times like its predecessor. In this regard, Karl Marx
stated that "History repeats itself. First as a tragedy and secondly as a farce."
On their last day in office the old Constituent Assembly rejected a proposed amnesty for the insurgents of the June Days. The new National Constituent Assembly was, however, heavily composed of royalist symphathizers of both the Legitimist (Bourbon) wing and the Orleanist (Citizen King Louis Phiippe) wing. Consequently, there was no hope that such an amnesty would be passed in the future.
Because of the ambiguity surrounding Louis Napoleon's political positions, his agenda as president was very much in doubt. However, some doubt was removed when Louis Napoleon appointed Odilon Barrot
as his first prime minister. Odilon Barrot had been the last prime minister under the Citizen King—King Louis Philippe. Thus, the prime minister was a Orleanist. So to were Léon Faucher
, who was appointed Minister of the Interior; Achille Fould
, who was appointed Minister of Finance; and Thomas Robert Bugeaud, who was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Alpine army. To balance these appointments, and to curry favor with the other major royalist wing composing a large part of the Legislative Assembly—the Legitimists (Bourbons), Louis Napoleon appointed Frédéric Alfred Pierre Falloux, a Legitimist, as the Minister of Relious Affairs. Another Legitimist, Nicolas Anne Théodule Changarnier was appointed to the unified command of the National Guard for the Department of the Seine and of the Mobile Guard. Clearly, the new government under Louis Napoleon was going to chart a course very much in favor of the great landowners (supporters of the Legitimists) and of the finance capitalist section of the bourgeoisie (supporters of the Orleanists) to the detriment of the other classes of French society.
On 27 December 1848, just seven days after assuming the presidency, Louis Napoleon proposed retention of the salt tax which had been abolished by the Provisional Government. Restoration of the salt tax alienated Louis Napoleon's mainstay of support in the election—the peasantry. Because they had not been paying the salt tax they saw this measure as violation of Louis Napoleon's pledge of "no new taxes." However, Louis Napoleon needed the revenues of that would be raised by the salt tax to put the government on a firm financial footing and to support his active new foreign policy objectives. The struggle over the salt tax mushroomed into a full-blown conflict between Louis Napoleon and the Legislative Assembly. Jean Piere Lamotte Rateau introduced a motion in the Legislative Assembly on 6 January 1849, requesting that the Assembly dissolve itself in favor of a dictatorship of Louis Napoleon. The proposed restoration of the salt tax was rejected by the Legislative Assembly on 29 January 1849 setting up the first governmental crisis of the Louis Napoleon presidency.
On 21 March 1849, another crisis between the executive and the legislative branches of the government burst into flames over the introduction of a bill by Minister of the Interior Leon Flaucher. The government became alarmed about the hundreds of political clubs that were popping up everywhere in Paris. This bill sought to make all these clubs illegal. The Assembly reminded the executive that this measure violated Section 8 of the French Constitution which guaranteed every Frenchman the "right of assembly."
On April 14, 1849, Louis Napoleon sent a 14,000 man expeditionary force of troops to the Papal State under General Nicolas Charles Victor Oudinot
. Sending this expeditionary force became a nightmare that would haunt Louis Napoleon's government until the end. The revolutionary upsurge that afflicted Europe in 1848, did not spare the Papal State. Pelligrino Rossi a moderate minister of the Papal State was murdered on November 15, 1848. The next day on November 16, 1848, an insurrection broke out which required the pope--Pius IX--to appoint a new democratic cabinet. In alarm, Pope Pius eventually fled to Naples for protection. On February 9, 1849, a Roman Republic was proclaimed in the Papal State. General Oudinot's expeditionary force was sent to Rome by Louis Napoleon to crush the Roman Republic and to restore the secular authority of the pope in the Papal State. However, on April 30, 1849, the French Expeditionary force was defeated and pushed back from Rome by Giuseppi Garibaldi's volunteer corps. An armistice was signed between Garibauldi and the French Expeditionalry force. However, General Oudinot broke the armistice on June 3, 1849 and started a new offensive resulted in the capture of Rome after a month of fighting. On June 30, 1849, the Roman Republic was crushed.
Back home in Paris the Legislative Assembly was in an uproar. Sending the expeditionary force to Rome was a violation of the French Constitution. This cause further alienation of Napoleon from the legislative branch of his government. Following the defeat of the expeditionary force in front of Rome, the decision to send the troops was heavily criticized. On May 8, 1849, Ledru Rollin introduced a bill of impeachment in the National Constituent Assembly against Louis Napoleon for exceeding his constitutional authority as President in sending the expeditionary force to Rome. Article V of the preamble to the French Constitution stated that "The French republic never employs its forces against the liberty of any people whatsoever." Additionally, Section 54 of the main body of the Constitution prohibited the executive branch of the government from declaring any war whatsoever, without the consent of the National Assembly. A few days later, on May 13, 1848, elections were held for a new National Legislative Assembly which was to replace the National Constituent Assembly. When the elections were over, both the political right and the political left had been strengthened at the expense of the moderates in the center. When the Legislative Assembly took its seat on May 28, 1848, the right-wing Party of Order took control over the new Assembly. However, the parties of the left had also been encouraged by their increased strength as a result of the elections. Ledru-Rollin had also been elected to the new National Legislative Assembly. On June 11, 1848, Ledru-Rollin once again offered his bill of impeachment against Louis Napoleon. On June 12, 1848, the Legislative Assembly defeated this impeachment bill and by a vote of 377 to 8. The Legislative Assembly also voted 361 to 205 to pass from discussing the bombardment of rome to the next item on the agenda. Thereby, all further discussion of this emotionally charged issue was cut off. The reaction in the street was furious as some 30,000 working class citizens, once again filled the streets, on June 13, 1848. Once again barricades were established set up in the streets of Paris in what has become known as the "June Days."
Following the June Days a frightful reaction arose in France. Ledru-Rollin, Felix Pyat
, Victor Considérant, Auguste Joseph Guinard
and 30 other elected deputies of the Mountain
, the opposition group within the Legislative Assembly, were deprived of their electoral mandates and were placed on trial. The government raided the editorial offices of several democratic and socialist newspapers in France, especially in Paris. The newspapers were banned and the editors were arrested. Foreign nationals living in Paris were deported. Karl Marx, who had been living in Paris since June 7, 1849 was one of these foreign nationals now threatened with deportment. Marx's radical socialist newspaper, Neue Rheinische Zeitung
in Cologne, Germany had been closed by Prussian authorities on May 19, 1849. Marx, himself, had been expelled from Germany by Prussian authorities. Now, during the repression that followed the June Days of 1849 in Paris, Marx was once again faced with deportment. As a conseuence, Marx immigrated to London, England on August 24, 1849, where he remained for therest of his life.
The government sought ways to balance its budget and reduce its debts. Toward this end, Hippolyte Passy
was appointed Finance Minister. When the Legislative Assembly met at the beginning of October, 1849, Passy proposed an income tax to help balance the finances in France. There was a huge protest from the whole bourgeoisie, finance, industrial etc., who would stand to lose the most under a progressive income tax. The furor over the income tax caused the downfall of Barrot as prime minister. Louis Napoleon announced to the Legislative Assembly on November 1, 1849 that a new prime minister would appointed to form a new government. On December 20, 1849, the first anniversary of Louis Napoleon's assumption of office, the government announced the resumption of wine tax. The wine tax had been instituted on prior occasions in modern French history. However, each the tax had proved itself to be so unpopular with the people that the tax had to be rescinded. Indeed, in exile on St. Helenes, Napoleon I blamed the institution of the wine tax by his government as being the reason for his eventual downfall.
On March 10, 1850, complimentary elections were held which resulted in a majority resolved to conduct "a Roman expedition at home." This meant a campaign to suppress all "subversive actiities" in France. François Vidal, a petty bourgeois socialist, Deflotte, a friend of Louis Augustin Blanqui, and Lazare Hippolyte Carnot, a moderate republican, were among those elected in the March 10, 1850 elections. Still the reactionary petty bourgeoisie controlled the Legislative Assembly. As a result, the legislative agenda of the new Legislative Assempby was conservative in tone. Under the Falloux law which resulted, the Catholic Church was given increased influence over the education of children. Although a new electoral law was passed which respected the principle of universal (male) suffrage, the stricter residential requirement of the new law actually had the effect of disenfranchising 3,000,000 of 10,000,000 voters. Following the elections of March 10, 1850, Louis Napoleon underwent some cabinet revisions. He appointed a Pierre Jules Baroche as the new Minister of the Interior. Alphonse Henri d'Hautpoul was removed as War Minister and appointed as Governor of Algiers. The new War Minister was General Jean Paul Adam Schramm
. General Maximillian Georg Joseph Neumayer was moved from Paris to Nantes.
As 1851 opened, Louis Napoleon's thoughts were dominated by the fact tht the Constitution of 1848 forbid him from seeking re-election as President of France. He felt disinclined to retire to private life in May of 1852 when his term as president would end. Later in 1851, Louis Napoleon proclaimed himself President for Life following a coup in December
that was confirmed and accepted in a dubious referendum. Napoleon III of France took the imperial title in 1852 and held it until his downfall in 1870.
The era saw great industrialization, urbanization (including the massive rebuilding of Paris by Baron Haussmann
) and economic growth, but Napoleon III's foreign policies were not so successful. In 1854, The Second Empire joined the Crimean War
, which saw France and Britain opposed to the Russian Empire, who were decisively defeated at Sevastopol in 1855 and at Inkerman
. In 1856 France joined the Second Opium War
on the British side against China; a missionary's murder was used as a pretext to take interests in southwest Asia in the Treaty of Tientsin
.
In 1859 the Second Italian War of Independence
broke out between the northern Italian kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia and Austria. The Second French Empire joined the war on the Italian side, which was concluded by an Austrian defeat at Solferino
. In return for this intervention, Piedmont ceded the County of Nice
(which included the city of Nice
and the rugged Alpine territory to its north and east) and the Duchy of Savoy. In 1861 Napoleon III largely supported Maximilian
in his claim to Mexico, a move that was also supported by Britain and Spain but condemned by the U.S. This led to the French intervention in Mexico
, which turned out to be a failure.
When France was negotiating with The Netherlands about purchasing Luxembourg, the Prussian Kingdom threatened the French government with war. This came as a shock to French diplomats as there previously was an agreement between the Prussian and French governments about Luxembourg. Napoleon III suffered stronger and stronger criticism from Republicans like Jules Favre
, and his position seemed more fragile with the passage of time. France was looking for more interests in Asia and interfered in Korea
in 1866 taking, once again, missionaries' murders as a pretext. The French finally withdrew from the war with little gain but war's booty. The next year a French expedition to Japan was formed to help the Tokugawa shogunate
to modernize its army. However, Tokugawa was defeated during the Boshin War
at the Battle of Toba-Fushimi
by large Imperial armies.
Rising tensions in 1869 about the possible candidacy of Prince Leopold von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen to the throne of Spain, caused a rise in the scale of animosity between France and Germany. Prince Leopold was a part of the Prussian royal family. He had been asked by the Spanish Cortes
to accept the vacant throne of Spain. Such an event was more than France could possibly accept. Relations between France and Germany deteriorated and finally, the Franco-Prussian War
(1870–1871) broke out. German nationalism united the German states, with the exception of Austria, against Napoleon III. The French Empire was defeated decisively at Metz
and Sedan
. Indeed, Emperor Louis Napoleon III surrendered himself and 100,000 French troops to the German troops at Sedan on 1 September through 2, 1870. Two days later, on 4 September 1870, Leon Gambetta
proclaimed a new republic in France. Later when Paris was encircled by German troops, Gambetta fled Paris by means of a hot air balloon and he became the virtual dictator of the war effort which was carried on from the rural provinces. Metz remained under siege until 27 October 1870, when 173,000 French troops were located there finally surrendered. Surrounded Paris and was forced to surrender on 28 January 1871. The last straw was the Siege of Paris
. The Treaty of Frankfurt
allowed the newly formed German Empire to annex the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine.
. One writer hoped that railways might improve the lot of "populations two or three centuries behind their fellows" and eliminate "the savage instincts born of isolation and misery." Consequently, France built a centralized system that radiated from Paris (plus lines that cut east to west in the south). This design was intended to achieve political and cultural goals rather than maximize efficiency. After some consolidation, six companies controlled monopolies of their regions, subject to close control by the government in terms of fares, finances, and even minute technical details. The central government department of Ponts et Chaussées [roads and bridges] brought in British engineers and workers, handled much of the construction work, provided engineering expertise and planning, land acquisition, and construction of permanent infrastructure such as the track bed, bridges and tunnels. It also subsidized militarily necessary lines along the German border, which was considered necessary for the national defense. Private operating companies provided management, hired labor, laid the tracks, and built and operated stations. They purchased and maintained the rolling stock—6,000 locomotives were in operation in 1880, which averaged 51,600 passengers a year or 21,200 tons of freight. Much of the equipment was imported from Britain and therefore did not stimulate machinery makers. Although starting the whole system at once was politically expedient, it delayed completion, and forced even more reliance on temporary experts brought in from Britain. Financing was also a problem. The solution was a narrow base of funding through the Rothschilds and the closed circles of the Bourse in Paris, so France did not develop the same kind of national stock exchange that flourished in London and New York. The system did help modernize the parts of rural France it reached, but it did not help create local industrial centers. Critics such as Emile Zola complained that it never overcame the corruption of the political system, but rather contributed to it. The railways probably helped the industrial revolution in France by facilitating a national market for raw materials, wines, cheeses, and imported manufactured products. Yet the goals set by the French for their railway system were moralistic, political, and military rather than economic. As a result, the freight trains were shorter and less heavily loaded than those in such rapidly industrializing nations such as Britain, Belgium or Germany. Other infrastructure needs in rural France, such as better roads and canals, were neglected because of the expense of the railways, so it seems likely that there were net negative effects in areas not served by the trains.
, Otto von Bismarck
proposed harsh terms for peace—including the German occupation of the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. A new French National Assembly was elected to consider the German terms for peace. Elected on 8 February 1871, this new National Assembly was composed of 650 deputies. Sitting in Bourdeaux, the French National Assembly established the Third Republic. However, 400 members of the new Assembly were monarchists. (Leon Gambetta
was one of the "non-monarchist" Republicans that were elected to the new National Assembly from Paris.) On 16 February 1871 elected Adolphe Thiers
as the chief executive of the new Republic. Because of the revolutionary unrest in Paris, the center of the Thiers government was located at Versailles .
Meanwhile, the people of Paris, however, were seething at the thought of peace with Germany under the humiliating terms proposed by Bismarck. On 31 October 1870 and on 22 January 1871, the people of Paris rose up in premature and unsuccessful uprisings. Adolphe Thiers could recognize a revolutionary situation when he saw it. Ever since 28 January 1871, the National Guard within Paris had become increasingly restive and defiant of the police, the army chief of staff and even their own National Guard commanders. Accordingly, on 18 March 1871, Thiers sent regular army units to Paris to remove the cannon pieces that belonged to the National Guard of Paris. However, the soldiers of the army units began to fraternize with the Paris National Guard and the people of Paris, sympathized with them and began to join them in revolt against the Thiers government. The people of Paris revolted and threw up the barricades just as they had in 1830 and 1848. The Paris Commune was born. Just as in prior Paris revolts, the famous Hotel de Ville, or Town Hall became center of attention for the people in revolt. This time the Hotel de Ville became the seat of an actual government. Other cities in France followed the example of the Paris Commune. On 22 March 1871, the people of Lyon overtook their local government and proclaimed a "Commune." On 23 March 1871, Communes were also declared at Marseille and Toulouse. On 26 March 1871 another Commune was proclaimed in Le Creusot. However, all of these Communes outside Paris were crushed by the Thiers government after just a few days of existence.
On 26 March 1871, new municipal elections were held in Paris in which 229,000 Parisians voted. From the first, the new government of Paris reflected something totally new. The industrial Revolution in France had been in full bloom for some time, by 1871. Consequently, a large number of Paris citizens who came out in the streets in revolt and who subsequently formed the new government of the Paris Commune were working class citizens who worked for wages in the factories in the city. These working class citizens directed the tone of the government of the Paris Commune in a way that represented working class interests. Thus, the Paris Commune became the first "proletarian revolution" in history. The government of the Paris Commune was divided, but the political divisions were totally new to the political scene. Despite the fact that Louis Auguste Blanqui
had been arrested on 17 March 1871 and remained in prison for the whole life of the Paris commune, a majority of the "Communards" forming the Provisional government were his followers--"Blanquists." The Blanquists tended to plan and layout a course for the Communard government. The minority opposition within the communard government were anarchists and followers of Pierre Joseph Proudhon (1809–1855). As anarchists, the "Proudhonists" were supporters of limited or no government and wanted the revolution to follow an ad hoc course with little or no planning.
The Commune may have been a "working class" revolution but the Communards were not full-blown socialists. There was some confiscation of abandoned factories by the Communard government. These abandoned factories were then turned over to worker-owned cooperatives which operated the enterprises. However, there were no governmental expropriations of active industrial factories or businesses. Indeed the Commune is faulted with not having taken over control of the Bank of France which continued normal operations within Paris without any interruption during the whole life of the Commune. Expropriation of the Bank of France or perhaps the mere threat of expropriation would have vested the Bank in the future of the Communard government rather than acting as an agent for the Thiers government against the Commune. Such a measure might have made the Commune successful against the Thiers government. Furthermore, it wasn't as if this Commune was not made aware of the importance of the Bank to the Commune. An article in the moderate Paris newspaper, Le Chatiment published on 31 March 1871, decried the position of the worker as "continually being under the heel of Capital" and "in the grip of usury." and called for a "Bank for Workers." Later an even clearer call was expressed directly to the Communard government in a letter from the chairman of a local club of the Paris neighborhood around Saint Severin Church. This letter, addressed to Raoul Rigault, member of the Commune, expressed the necessity of "crushing the bourgeoisie once and for all." and that the only way to accomplish this was to "take over the Bank of France."
Feelings of national guilt and a desire for vengeance ("revanchism
") would be major preoccupations of the French throughout the next half century as the result of the defeat of the Paris Commune. The repression of the Commune was bloody. Hundreds were executed in front of the Communards' Wall
in the Père Lachaise cemetery, while thousands of others were marched to Versailles for trials. The number killed during La Semaine Sanglante (The Bloody Week of 21 May through 28 May 1871) can never be established for certain, but the best estimates are 30,000 dead. Many more were wounded, and perhaps as many as 50,000 later executed or imprisoned; 7,000 were exiled to New Caledonia
. Thousands of them fled to Belgium, England, Italy, Spain and the United States.
Besides the defeat of the Paris Commune, the Republican
movement also had to confront counterrevolutionaries who rejected the legacy of the 1789 Revolution. Both the Legitimist, embodied in the person of Henri, Count of Chambord, grandson of Charles X; and the Orleanist
royalists rejected republicanism, which they saw as an extension of modernity
and atheism
, breaking with France's traditions. This conflict became increasingly sharp in 1873, when Thiers, himself was censured by the National Assembly as not being "sufficiently conservative." Finally, on 24 May 1873 Thiers reluctantly resigned the presidency of the Third Republic to make way for Marshal Patrice MacMahon who assumed the presidency. Amidst the rumors of right wing intrigue and/or coups by the Bonapartists or the Bourbons in 1874, the National Assembly set about drawing up a new constitution which would be acceptable to all parties. The new constitution allowed for universal male suffrage and called for a bi-cameral legislature, consisting of a Senate and A Chamber of Deputies. The first election under this new constitution held in early 1876 resulted in a republican victory, with 363 republicans elected as opposed to 180 monarchists. However, 75 of the monarchists elected to the new Chamber of Deputies were Bonaopartists. The "Bonapartist threat" of a coup de etat was an ever-present danger in these early days of the Republic. Under the constitution, President MacMahon was required to pick a "premier" to actually lead the day-to-day affairs of the government. The most natural leader to pick following this republican victory at the polls would have been Leon Gambetta
. However, the old Marshal was dead set against Gambetta and chose, instead, moderate Armand Dufaure. Dufaure tried to form a government but he was quickly overthrown. Next Marshall MacMahon chose conservative Jules Simon
. Jules Simon was a university professor and a prolific author, but he was too conservative for the Chamber of Deputies and Simon was forced to resign on 16 May 1877, setting the stage for the "Crisis of the Sixteenth of May."
The 16 May 1877 crisis
eventually led to the resignation of royalist Marshal MacMahon in January 1879. During his life Henri, comte de Chambord
, who, as the grandson of Charles X, had refused to abandon the fleur-de-lys and the white flag
. Thus, Henri's own short-sightedness in this regard jeopardized the alliance between Legitimists (Bourbons) and Orleanists. Therefore, the monarchist cause remained divided did not present as strong a threat to the Third Republic as might have been the case had they been unified. Because of this division many remaining Orleanists rallied themselves to the Republic, behind Adolphe . The vast majority of the Legitimists abandoned the political arena or became marginalised. Still they remained a potent threat of trouble for the young Third Republic, especially while Henri Count of Chabord lived. When he died on 24 August 1883, the Third Republic had a large threat to its existence removed. Marshal MacMahon's successor as President of the Republic on 30 January 1879 was Jules Grevy
. In January 1886, Georges Boulanger became Minister of War in the French government. Georges Clemanceau was instrumental in obtaining this appointment for Boulanger. This was the start of the Boulanger era, and was the start of another time of threats.
Following the death of Henri Count of Chabord, the Legitimist (Bourbon) party was limited within the political arena within France. Some of them founded Action Française
in 1898, during the Dreyfus Affair
, which became an influential movement throughout the 1930s, in particular among the intellectuals of Paris' Quartier Latin. In 1891, Pope Leo XIII
's encyclic Rerum Novarum
brought legitimacy to the Social Catholic
movement, which in France could be traced back to Hughes Felicité Robert de Lamennais
' efforts under the July Monarchy.
The initial republic was in effect led by pro-royalists, but republicans (the "Radicals") and bonapartists
scrambled for power. The period from 1879–1899 saw power come into the hands of moderate republicans and former "radicals" (around Léon Gambetta
); these were called the "Opportunists". The newly found Republican control of the Republic allowed the vote of the 1881 and 1882 Jules Ferry laws
on a free, mandatory and laic
public education
.
The moderates however became deeply divided over the Dreyfus Affair
, and this allowed the Radicals eventually to gain power from 1899 until World War I. During this period, crises like the potential "Boulangist" coup d'état (see Georges Boulanger
) in 1889, showed the fragility of the republic. The Radicals' policies on education (suppression of local languages, compulsory education), mandatory military service, and control of the working classes eliminated internal dissent and regionalisms. Their participation in the Scramble for Africa
and in the acquiring of overseas possessions (such as French Indochina
) created myths of French greatness. Both of these processes transformed a country of regionalisms into a modern nation state. Conflicts between the Chinese Emperor and the French Republic over Indochina climaxed during the Sino-French War
. Admiral Courbet
destroyed the Chinese fleet anchored at Foochow
. The treaty ending the war, put France in a protectorate over northern and central Vietnam, which it divided into Tonkin
and Annam
.
In an effort to isolate Germany, France went to great pains to woo Russia and the United Kingdom to its side, first by means of the Franco-Russian Alliance
of 1894, the 1904 Entente Cordiale
with the U.K, and finally, with the signing of the Anglo-Russian Entente
in 1907 which became the Triple Entente
and eventually led Russia and the UK to enter World War I as Allies. France still had interests in Asia and looked for alliances and found in Japan a possible ally. During his visit to France, Iwakura Tomomi
asked for French assistance in reforming Japan. French military missions were sent to Japan in 1872–1880
, in 1884–1889
and the last one much later in 1918–1919
to help modernize the Japanese army.
Distrust of Germany, faith in the army and native French anti-semitism
combined to make the Dreyfus Affair
(the unjust trial and condemnation of a Jewish military officer for treason) a political scandal of the utmost gravity. The nation was divided between "dreyfusards" and "anti-dreyfusards", and far-right Catholic agitators inflamed the situation even when proofs of Dreyfus' innocence came to light. The writer Emile Zola
published an impassioned editorial on the injustice, and was himself condemned by the government for libel. Once Dreyfus was finally pardoned, the progressive legislature enacted the 1905 laws on laïcité
, which created a complete separation of church and state
and stripped churches of most of their property rights.
The period at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century is often termed the belle époque
. Although associated with cultural innovations and popular amusements (cabaret, can-can, the cinema, new art forms such as Impressionism
and Art Nouveau
), France was nevertheless a nation divided internally on notions of religion, class, regionalisms and money, and on the international front France came repeatedly to the brink of war with the other imperial powers, including Great Britain (the Fashoda Incident
). World War I was inevitable, but its human and financial costs would be catastrophic for the French.
In 1889 the Exposition Universelle
took place in Paris, and the Eiffel Tower
was built as a temporary gate to the fair. Meant to last only a few decades, the tower was never removed and became France's most iconic landmark.
See also:
on 2 August and gave neutral Belgium an ultimatum: let German armies pass through on their way to invade France or face invasion itself. The Belgians refused, so Germany invaded and declared war on France. Britain entered the war on 4 August, although was relatively unprepared militarily and thus couldn't assist France much until 7 August. (See main entry for World War I for more detailed background about events leading up to France's entry into the war.)
The war on the Western Front
was fought largely in France and characterized by extremely violent battles, often with new and more destructive military technology. Famous battles in France include First Battle of the Marne
, Battle of Verdun
, Battle of the Somme and the Second Battle of the Marne
. Germany's plan (see Schlieffen Plan
) was to defeat the French quickly and then shift from defense to offense against Russia on the Eastern Front. The Germans captured Brussels by 20 August and soon had taken over a large portion of northern France. The original plan was to continue southwest and attack Paris from the west. By early September they were within 40 miles of Paris, and the French government had relocated to Bordeaux. The Allies finally stopped the advance northeast of Paris at the Marne River. This was the farthest push west by the Germans during the entire war.
On the Western Front the small improvised trenches of the first few months rapidly grew deeper and more complex, gradually becoming vast areas of interlocking defensive works. The land war quickly became dominated by the muddy, bloody stalemate of Trench warfare
, a form of war in which both opposing armies had static lines of defense. The war of movement quickly turned into a war of position. Attack followed others counterattack after counterattack. Neither side advanced much, but both sides suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties. German and Allied armies produced essentially a matched pair of trench lines from the Swiss border in the south to the North Sea coast of Belgium. Trench warfare prevailed on the Western Front from September 1914 until the Germans launched their "Spring Offensive", Operation Michael, in March 1918. The space between the opposing trenches was referred to as "no man's land" (for its lethal uncrossability) and varied in width depending on the battlefield. On the Western Front it was typically between 100 and 300 yards (90–275 m), though sometimes much less. The common infantry soldier had four weapons to use in the trenches: the rifle, bayonet, shotgun, and hand grenade.
Britain introduced the first tanks
to the war, while Renault enhanced the concept by adding a turret
. The use in large quantity of these light tanks by Jean-Baptiste Estienne can be considered a decisive evolution in World War I's strategies.
When Russia exited the war in 1917 due to revolution, the Central Powers
controlled all of the Balkans and could now shift military efforts to the Western Front. The U.S. had entered the war also in 1917, so the Central Powers hoped this could be achieved mostly prior to America's delivery of military support. In March 1918 Germany launched the last major offensive on the Western Front. By May Germany had reached the Marne again, as in September 1914, and was again close to Paris. In Second Battle of the Marne
, however, the Allies were able to defend and then shift to offense due in part to the fatigue of the Germans and the arrival of more Americans. The Germans were ultimately pushed back toward the German border. Other Central Power strongholds in Europe had fallen, and in early October, when a new government assumed power in Germany, it asked for an armistice.
Peace terms were agreed upon in the Treaty of Versailles
on 11 November, largely negotiated by Georges Clemenceau
for French matters. Germany was required to take full responsibility for the war and to pay war reparations
; and the German industrial Saar Basin
, a coal and steel region, was occupied by France. The German African colonies were partitioned between France and Britain such as Kamerun
. Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France, and the German Empire lost eastern territories such as the Danzig Corridor
. Ferdinand Foch
wanted a peace that would never allow Germany to be a threat to France again. After the peace was signed he said, This is not a peace. It is an armistice for 20 years. The war brought great losses of troops and resources. Fought in large part on French soil, the war led to approximately 1.4 million French dead including civilians (see World War I casualties
), and four times as many casualties. From the remains of the Ottoman Empire, France acquired the Mandate of Syria
and the Mandate of Lebanon
.
and in the Polish-Soviet War
and France also joined Spain during the Rif War
. This period of time is also called the Great Depression
. Leon Blum
, leading the Popular Front
was elected Prime Minister from 1936 to 1937 and became the first Jew to lead France. During the Spanish Civil War
he did not support the Spanish Republicans because of the French internal political context of complex alliances and risk of war with Germany and Italy. In the 1920s, France established an elaborate system of border defences (the Maginot Line
) and alliances (see Little Entente
) to offset resurgent German strength and in the 1930s, the massive losses of the war led many in France to choose a policy guaranteeing peace, even in the face of Hitler
's violations of the Versailles treaty and (later) his demands at Munich in 1938; this would be the much maligned policy of appeasement
. Édouard Daladier
refused to go to war against Germany and Italy without British support as Neville Chamberlain
wanted to save peace at Munich
.
finally caused France and Britain to declare war against Germany. But the Allies did not launch massive assaults and kept a defensive stance: this was called the Phoney War in Britain or Drôle de guerre—the funny sort of war—in France. It did not prevent the German army from conquering Poland in a matter of weeks with its innovative Blitzkrieg
tactics and helped by the Soviet Union's attack on Poland. When Germany had its hands free for an attack in the west, the Battle of France
began in May 1940, and the same tactics proved just as devastating there. The Wehrmacht
bypassed the Maginot Line
by marching through the Ardennes forest. A second German force was sent into Belgium and the Netherlands to act as a diversion to this main thrust. In six weeks of savage fighting the French lost 90,000 men. Many civilians sought refuge by taking to the roads of France: some two million refugees from Belgium and Holland were joined by between eight and ten million French civilians, representing a quarter of the French population, all heading south and west. This movement may well have been the largest single movement of civilians in history prior to 1947.
Paris fell to the Germans on 14 June 1940, and the French leaders surrendered on 24 June 1940 after the British Expeditionary Force
was evacuated from Dunkirk. Nazi Germany occupied three fifths of France's territory, leaving the rest in the southeast to the new Vichy
government. This regime sought to collaborate with Germany. It was established on 10 July 1940. The Vichy Regime was led by Philippe Pétain
, the aging war hero of First World War. It was originally intended to be a temporary, care-taker regime, to supervise French administration before the soon-expected defeat of Britain. Instead, it lasted four years. It was unique among the various collaborating regimes of wartime Europe in that it was established constitutionally, through the French parliament. However, Charles de Gaulle
declared himself on Radio Londres
the head of a rival government in exile, gathering the Free French Forces
around him, finding support in some French colonies and recognition from Britain and the USA.
The Vichy regime adopted violent, repressive anti-semitic policies on its own initiative, without direction from Nazi Germany, as has been highlighted by the historian Robert Paxton. During the German occupation 76,000 Jews would be deported, often with the help of the Vichy French authorities, and murdered in the Nazis' extermination camps. After the Attack on Mers-el-Kébir in 1940, where the British fleet destroyed a large part of the French navy, still under command of Vichy France
, that killed about 1,100 sailors, there was nationwide indignation and a feeling of distrust in the French forces, leading to the events of the Battle of Dakar
. Eventually, several important French ships such as the Richelieu
and the Surcouf
joined the Free French Forces. On the Eastern Front the USSR was lacking pilots and several French pilots joined the Soviet Union and fought the Luftwaffe in the Normandie-Niemen
squadron. Within France proper, very few people organized themselves against the German Occupation in the summer of 1940. However, their numbers grew as the Vichy regime resorted to more strident policies in order to fulfill the enormous demands of the Nazis and the eventual decline of Nazi Germany became more obvious. Isolated opposers eventually formed a real movement: the Resistance
. The most famous figure of the French resistance was Jean Moulin
, sent in France by De Gaulle in order to link all resistance movements. He was tortured by Klaus Barbie
(the "butcher of Lyon"). Increasing repression culminated in the complete destruction and extermination of the village of Oradour-sur-Glane
, at the height of the Battle of Normandy. There were also Frenchmen who joined the SS, they were known as the Charlemagne Division
; knowing they would not survive should Germany be defeated, they were among the last ones to surrender at Berlin
.
Whilst recognising this extensive collaboration, the British historian Simon Kitson has shown that the Vichy regime engaged in an extensive programme of arresting German intelligence agents in the unoccupied zone. Around 2000 were arrested and some were subsequently executed. Vichy's purpose in this respect was to preserve its sovereignty.
In November 1942 Vichy France was finally occupied by German forces, because the war in North Africa was coming to an end; the Germans foresaw a threat in southern Europe by the allied forces.
On 6 June 1944 the Allies landed in Normandy
while on 15 August they landed in Provence
(including the 260,000 men of the French army B). General Leclerc
freed Paris
between 19-25 August 1944, and Strasbourg. He later, along with the battleship Richelieu, represented France at Tokyo during the Japanese surrender
. The Vichy regime fled to Germany. The 1st French army recruited French Forces of the Interior
fighters to continue the war until the final defeat of Germany. This army numbered 300,000 men by September 1944 and 370,000 by spring in 1945 (the 2nd DB wasn't in it).
France was liberated by allied forces in 1944. The day Germany surrendered French forces were involved in the Sétif massacre
in Algeria.
was established led by General Charles de Gaulle
, a new constitution (13 October 1946) established the Fourth Republic
under a parliamentary form of government controlled by a series of coalitions. During the following 16 years the French Colonial Empire would disintegrate.
Israel was established in 1948, and France was one of the fiercest supporters of the Jewish state, supplying it with extensive weaponry it used during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
. The French Republic needed an alliance with Israel to secure the Suez Canal
from potential threats in a context of decolonisation.
In Indochina the French government was facing the Viet Minh
communist rebels and lost its Indochinese colonies during the First Indochina War
in 1954 after the Battle of Dien Bien Phu
. Vietnam
was divided in two states while Cambodia
and Laos
were made independent. France left Indochina only to be replaced there by the United States, which would soon be engaged in the long Vietnam War
.
In 1956 another crisis struck French colonies, this time in Egypt. The Suez Canal, having been built by the French government, belonged to the French Republic and was operated by the Compagnie universelle du canal maritime de Suez
. Great Britain had bought the Egyptian share from Isma'il Pasha
and was the second largest owner of the canal before the crisis. The Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser
nationalized the canal despite French and British opposition; he estimated a European answer was most unlikely to happen. Great Britain and France attacked Egypt and built an alliance with Israel against Nasser. Israel attacked from the east, Britain from Cyprus and France from Algeria. Egypt, the most powerful Arab state of the time, was defeated in a mere few days.
The Suez crisis caused an outcry of indignation in the entire Arab world and Saudi Arabia set an embargo on oil on France and Britain. The US President Dwight D. Eisenhower
forced a ceasefire when he threatened to sell all American shares of British Pounds and to crash the British economy. The British forces were retired from the conflict and Israel, having seized interests in the Sinai region, withdrew soon leaving France alone in Egypt. Under stronger political pressures the French government ultimately evacuated its troops from Suez. This was a major political defeat for France and the American threats during the war were received with indignation by the French popular opinion. This led directly, and was used as a point, to the French withdrawal from the integrated military command of NATO in 1966. Another consequence of this was the French loss of geopolitical interests in the region; this meant an alliance with Israel was no longer of any use for French diplomacy.
General de Gaulle was elected president in 1958 and made the French Force de Frappe, the nuclear power, a priority of the French Defence. France then adopted the dissuasion du faible au fort doctrine
which meant a Soviet attack on France would only bring total destruction to both sides.
The May 1958 seizure of power in Algiers
by French army units and French settlers opposed to concessions in the face of Arab nationalist insurrection led to the fall of the French government and a presidential invitation to de Gaulle to form an emergency government to forestall the threat of civil war. The new constitution of the French Fifth Republic
, introduced on 5 October 1958, gave greater powers to the presidency. Algeria
became independent in 1962.
In May 1968 students revolted, with a variety of demands including educational, labor and governmental reforms, sexual and artistic freedom, and the end of the Vietnam War. The student protest in unruly movements quickly joined with labor, and mass strikes erupted. De Gaulle responded by calling a legislative election for 23 June
, in which his UDR party increased their vote, and the protests faded away during the summer.
After the fall of the USSR and the end of the Cold War
potential menaces to mainland France appeared considerably reduced. France began reducing its nuclear capacities and conscription was abolished in 2001. In 1990 France, led by François Mitterrand
, joined the short lived Gulf War
against Iraq, the French participation to this war would be called the Opération Daguet
.
However, despite the end of the cold war and the fact future conflicts would be fought away from home, there were still menaces against mainland France in the form of terrorism. In 1994 Air France Flight 8969
was hijacked by Islamic terrorists with the suspected intent to crash the plane over Paris. The hijacking was a failure for the terrorist group, known as the GIA
after an intervention from the GIGN in Marseille, where the plane was grounded. More terrorist attacks would happen and these culminated into the 1995 Paris Metro bombing. Important leaders of the GIA in France fell afterward: Khaled Kelkal
was killed in Lyon by the EPIGN and Rachid Ramda
was arrested in London although it took ten years for the French justice to have him extradited.
Jacques Chirac
assumed office as president on 17 May 1995, after a campaign focused on the need to combat France's stubbornly high unemployment rate. While France continues to revere its rich history and independence, French leaders increasingly tie the future of France to the continued development of the European Union. In 1992 France ratified the Maastricht Treaty
establishing the European Union
. In 1999, the Euro was introduced to replace the French franc. Beyond membership in the European Union
, France is also involved in many joint European projects such as Airbus
, the Galileo positioning system and the Eurocorps
.
The French have stood among the strongest supporters of NATO and EU policy in the Balkans to prevent genocide in Yugoslavia
. French troops joined the 1999 NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. France has also been actively involved against international terrorism. In 2002 Alliance Base
, an international Counterterrorist Intelligence Center
, was secretly established in Paris. The same year France contributed to the toppling of the Taliban regime
in Afghanistan, but it strongly rejected the 2003 invasion of Iraq
, even threatening to veto in central coners in the US proposed resolution.
Jacques Chirac was reelected in 2002, mainly because his socialist rival Lionel Jospin
was defeated by the extreme right wing candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen
. France was struck by a long period of civil unrest
in 2005 after the death of two teenagers. At the end of his second term Jacques Chirac chose not to run again at the age of 74.
The cabinet minister and rival Nicolas Sarkozy
was elected and took office on 16 May 2007. The problem of high unemployment has yet to be resolved. In 2008, France was one of the first states to recognise Kosovo
as an independent nation.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. Members of the genus Homo
Homo (genus)
Homo is the genus that includes modern humans and species closely related to them. The genus is estimated to be about 2.3 to 2.4 million years old, evolving from australopithecine ancestors with the appearance of Homo habilis....
entered the area hundreds of thousands years ago, while the first modern Homo sapiens, the Cro-Magnon
Cro-Magnon
The Cro-Magnon were the first early modern humans of the European Upper Paleolithic. The earliest known remains of Cro-Magnon-like humans are radiometrically dated to 35,000 years before present....
s, arrived around 40,000 years ago. A number of important archaeological sites have been discovered in the country, testifying to continuous habitation by modern humans from the Upper Palaeolithic.
According to John T. Koch
John T. Koch
Professor John T. Koch is an American academic, historian and linguist who specializes in Celtic studies, especially prehistory and the early Middle Ages....
and others, France in the Late Bronze Age was part of a maritime trading-networked culture called the Atlantic Bronze Age
Atlantic Bronze Age
The Atlantic Bronze Age is a cultural complex of the Bronze Age period of approximately 1300–700 BC that includes different cultures in Portugal, Andalusia, Galicia, Armorica and the British Isles.-Trade:...
. This network also allegedly included Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, and the Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
, where Celtic languages
Celtic languages
The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic"; a branch of the greater Indo-European language family...
developed.
The first historical records appear in the Iron Age, when what is now France made up the bulk of the region known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
. Greek and Roman writers noted the presence of three main ethno-linguistic groups in the area: the Gauls
Gauls
The Gauls were a Celtic people living in Gaul, the region roughly corresponding to what is now France, Belgium, Switzerland and Northern Italy, from the Iron Age through the Roman period. They mostly spoke the Continental Celtic language called Gaulish....
, the Aquitani
Aquitani
The Aquitani were a people living in what is now Aquitaine, France, in the region between the Pyrenees, the Atlantic ocean and the Garonne...
, and the Belgae
Belgae
The Belgae were a group of tribes living in northern Gaul, on the west bank of the Rhine, in the 3rd century BC, and later also in Britain, and possibly even Ireland...
. The Gauls, the largest and best attested group, were a Celtic people speaking what is known as the Gaulish language
Gaulish language
The Gaulish language is an extinct Celtic language that was spoken by the Gauls, a people who inhabited the region known as Gaul from the Iron Age through the Roman period...
. Over the course of the first millennium BC the Greeks, Romans, and Carthaginians
Carthage
Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
established colonies on the Mediterranean coast and the offshore islands. The Roman Republic
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
annexed southern Gaul as the province
Roman province
In Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and, until the Tetrarchy , largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of Italy...
of Gallia Narbonensis
Gallia Narbonensis
Gallia Narbonensis was a Roman province located in what is now Languedoc and Provence, in southern France. It was also known as Gallia Transalpina , which was originally a designation for that part of Gaul lying across the Alps from Italia and it contained a western region known as Septimania...
in the late 2nd century BC, and Roman forces under Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
conquered the rest of Gaul in the Gallic Wars
Gallic Wars
The Gallic Wars were a series of military campaigns waged by the Roman proconsul Julius Caesar against several Gallic tribes. They lasted from 58 BC to 51 BC. The Gallic Wars culminated in the decisive Battle of Alesia in 52 BC, in which a complete Roman victory resulted in the expansion of the...
of 58–51 BC. Afterwards a Gallo-Roman culture emerged and Gaul was increasingly integrated into the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
.
In the later stages of the Roman Empire, Gaul was subject to barbarian
Barbarian
Barbarian and savage are terms used to refer to a person who is perceived to be uncivilized. The word is often used either in a general reference to a member of a nation or ethnos, typically a tribal society as seen by an urban civilization either viewed as inferior, or admired as a noble savage...
raids and migration, most importantly by the Germanic
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...
Franks
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
. The Frankish king Clovis I
Clovis I
Clovis Leuthwig was the first King of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one ruler, changing the leadership from a group of royal chieftains, to rule by kings, ensuring that the kingship was held by his heirs. He was also the first Catholic King to rule over Gaul . He was the son...
united most of Gaul under his rule in the late 5th century, setting the stage for Frankish dominance in the region for hundreds of years. Frankish power reached its fullest extent under Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
. The medieval Kingdom of France emerged out of the western part of Charlemagne's Carolingian Empire
Carolingian Empire
Carolingian Empire is a historiographical term which has been used to refer to the realm of the Franks under the Carolingian dynasty in the Early Middle Ages. This dynasty is seen as the founders of France and Germany, and its beginning date is based on the crowning of Charlemagne, or Charles the...
, known as West Francia, and achieved increasing prominence under the rule of the House of Capet
House of Capet
The House of Capet, or The Direct Capetian Dynasty, , also called The House of France , or simply the Capets, which ruled the Kingdom of France from 987 to 1328, was the most senior line of the Capetian dynasty – itself a derivative dynasty from the Robertians. As rulers of France, the dynasty...
, founded by Hugh Capet in 987. A succession crisis following the death of the last Capetian monarch in 1337 led to the series of conflicts known as the Hundred Years War between the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet
House of Plantagenet
The House of Plantagenet , a branch of the Angevins, was a royal house founded by Geoffrey V of Anjou, father of Henry II of England. Plantagenet kings first ruled the Kingdom of England in the 12th century. Their paternal ancestors originated in the French province of Gâtinais and gained the...
. The wars ended with a Valois victory in 1453, solidifying the power of the Ancien Régime
Ancien Régime in France
The Ancien Régime refers primarily to the aristocratic, social and political system established in France from the 15th century to the 18th century under the late Valois and Bourbon dynasties...
as a highly centralized absolute monarchy
Absolute monarchy
Absolute monarchy is a monarchical form of government in which the monarch exercises ultimate governing authority as head of state and head of government, his or her power not being limited by a constitution or by the law. An absolute monarch thus wields unrestricted political power over the...
. During the next centuries, France experienced the Renaissance
French Renaissance
French Renaissance is a recent term used to describe a cultural and artistic movement in France from the late 15th century to the early 17th century. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that many cultural historians believe originated in northern Italy in the fourteenth century...
and the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
, as well as recurring religious conflicts and wars with other powers. A burgeoning worldwide colonial empire
French colonial empire
The French colonial empire was the set of territories outside Europe that were under French rule primarily from the 17th century to the late 1960s. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the colonial empire of France was the second-largest in the world behind the British Empire. The French colonial empire...
was established from the 16th century. In the late 18th century the monarchy and associated institutions were overthrown in the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, which forever changed French and world history. The country was governed for a period as a Republic
French First Republic
The French First Republic was founded on 22 September 1792, by the newly established National Convention. The First Republic lasted until the declaration of the First French Empire in 1804 under Napoleon I...
, until the French Empire
First French Empire
The First French Empire , also known as the Greater French Empire or Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France...
was declared by Napoleon Bonaparte. Following Napoleon's defeat in the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
France went through several further regime changes, being ruled as a monarchy
Bourbon Restoration
The Bourbon Restoration is the name given to the period following the successive events of the French Revolution , the end of the First Republic , and then the forcible end of the First French Empire under Napoleon – when a coalition of European powers restored by arms the monarchy to the...
, then briefly as a Second Republic
French Second Republic
The French Second Republic was the republican government of France between the 1848 Revolution and the coup by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte which initiated the Second Empire. It officially adopted the motto Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité...
, and then as a Second Empire
Second French Empire
The Second French Empire or French Empire was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in France.-Rule of Napoleon III:...
, until a more lasting Third French Republic was established in 1870.
France was one of the Triple Entente
Triple Entente
The Triple Entente was the name given to the alliance among Britain, France and Russia after the signing of the Anglo-Russian Entente in 1907....
powers in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, fighting alongside the United Kingdom, Russia, and their allies
Allies of World War I
The Entente Powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The members of the Triple Entente were the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire; Italy entered the war on their side in 1915...
against the Central Powers
Central Powers
The Central Powers were one of the two warring factions in World War I , composed of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria...
. It was one of the Allied Powers
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, but was conquered by Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
within two months. The Third Republic was dismantled, and most of the country was controlled directly by the Axis Powers
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
, while the south was controlled by the collaborationist Vichy government
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
. Following liberation, a Fourth Republic
French Fourth Republic
The French Fourth Republic was the republican government of France between 1946 and 1958, governed by the fourth republican constitution. It was in many ways a revival of the Third Republic, which was in place before World War II, and suffered many of the same problems...
was established; this was succeeded in 1958 by the French Fifth Republic
French Fifth Republic
The Fifth Republic is the fifth and current republican constitution of France, introduced on 4 October 1958. The Fifth Republic emerged from the collapse of the French Fourth Republic, replacing the prior parliamentary government with a semi-presidential system...
, the country's current government. After the war decolonization
Decolonization
Decolonization refers to the undoing of colonialism, the unequal relation of polities whereby one people or nation establishes and maintains dependent Territory over another...
saw most of the French colonial empire
French colonial empire
The French colonial empire was the set of territories outside Europe that were under French rule primarily from the 17th century to the late 1960s. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the colonial empire of France was the second-largest in the world behind the British Empire. The French colonial empire...
become independent, while other parts were incorporated into the French state as overseas departments and collectivities. Since World War II France has been a leading member in the UN, the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
and NATO, and remains a strong economic, cultural, military and political influence in the 21st century.
Prehistory
The Neanderthal
Neanderthal
The Neanderthal is an extinct member of the Homo genus known from Pleistocene specimens found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia...
s, a member of the homo
Homo (genus)
Homo is the genus that includes modern humans and species closely related to them. The genus is estimated to be about 2.3 to 2.4 million years old, evolving from australopithecine ancestors with the appearance of Homo habilis....
genus, began to occupy Europe from about 200,000 BC
Anno Domini
and Before Christ are designations used to label or number years used with the Julian and Gregorian calendars....
, but died out about 30,000 years ago,
possibly out-competed by the modern humans during a period of cold weather. The earliest modern humans – Homo sapiens – entered Europe
Early human migrations
Early human migrations began when Homo erectus first migrated out of Africa over the Levantine corridor and Horn of Africa to Eurasia about 1.8 million years ago, a migration probably sparked by the development of language Early human migrations began when Homo erectus first migrated out of Africa...
(including France) around 50,000 years ago (the Upper Palaeolithic). The cave paintings of Lascaux
Lascaux
Lascaux is the setting of a complex of caves in southwestern France famous for its Paleolithic cave paintings. The original caves are located near the village of Montignac, in the department of Dordogne. They contain some of the best-known Upper Paleolithic art. These paintings are estimated to be...
and Gargas (Gargas in the Hautes-Pyrénées
Hautes-Pyrénées
Hautes-Pyrénées is a department in southwestern France. It is part of the Midi-Pyrénées region.-History:...
) as well as the Carnac stones
Carnac stones
The Carnac stones are an exceptionally dense collection of megalithic sites around the French village of Carnac, in Brittany, consisting of alignments, dolmens, tumuli and single menhirs. The more than 3,000 prehistoric standing stones were hewn from local rock and erected by the pre-Celtic people...
are remains of the local prehistoric activity.
Greek colonies
In 600 BC, IoniaIonia
Ionia is an ancient region of central coastal Anatolia in present-day Turkey, the region nearest İzmir, which was historically Smyrna. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements...
n Greeks
Greeks in pre-Roman Gaul
The Greeks in pre-Roman Gaul have a significant history of settlement, trade, cultural influence, and armed conflict in the Celtic territory of Gaul , starting from the 6th century BCE during the Greek Archaic period...
, originating from Phocaea
Phocaea
Phocaea, or Phokaia, was an ancient Ionian Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia. Greek colonists from Phocaea founded the colony of Massalia in 600 BC, Emporion in 575 BC and Elea in 540 BC.-Geography:Phocaea was the northernmost...
, founded the colony of Massalia (present-day Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
), on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
, making it the oldest city of France. At the same time, some Gallic Celtic tribes penetrated some parts of the current territory of France, but this occupation spread in the rest of France only between the 5th and 3rd century BC.
Gaul
Covering large parts of modern day France, Belgium, northwest Germany and northern Italy, Gaul was inhabited by many Celtic and BelgaeBelgae
The Belgae were a group of tribes living in northern Gaul, on the west bank of the Rhine, in the 3rd century BC, and later also in Britain, and possibly even Ireland...
tribes whom the Romans referred to as Gauls
Gauls
The Gauls were a Celtic people living in Gaul, the region roughly corresponding to what is now France, Belgium, Switzerland and Northern Italy, from the Iron Age through the Roman period. They mostly spoke the Continental Celtic language called Gaulish....
and who spoke the Gaulish language
Gaulish language
The Gaulish language is an extinct Celtic language that was spoken by the Gauls, a people who inhabited the region known as Gaul from the Iron Age through the Roman period...
roughly between the Seine
Seine
The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...
and the Garonne
Garonne
The Garonne is a river in southwest France and northern Spain, with a length of .-Source:The Garonne's headwaters are to be found in the Aran Valley in the Pyrenees, though three different locations have been proposed as the true source: the Uelh deth Garona at Plan de Beret , the Ratera-Saboredo...
(Gallia Celtica). On the lower Garonne the people spoke Aquitanian
Aquitanian language
The Aquitanian language was spoken in ancient Aquitaine before the Roman conquest and, probably much later, until the Early Middle Ages....
, an archaic language related to Basque
Basque language
Basque is the ancestral language of the Basque people, who inhabit the Basque Country, a region spanning an area in northeastern Spain and southwestern France. It is spoken by 25.7% of Basques in all territories...
whereas a Belgian language
Belgian language
Belgian is a hypothetical extinct Indo-European language. It was described by the Ghentian linguist Maurits Gysseling - who himself attributed the term to Prof. Dr. S.J. De Laet - as an Indo-European language that was spoken distinct from Celtic in late prehistory, in certain parts of what has...
was spoken north of Lutecia
Lutécia
Lutécia is a municipality/county in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The population in 2004 was 3,029, the density is 6.4 inhabitants/km² . The area is 475.88 km² . The elevation is 581 m....
. The Celts founded cities such as Lutetia Parisiorum
Lutetia
Lutetia was a town in pre-Roman and Roman Gaul. The Gallo-Roman city was a forerunner of the re-established Merovingian town that is the ancestor of present-day Paris...
(Paris) and Burdigala
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
(Bordeaux) while the Aquitanians founded Tolosa
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
(Toulouse).
Long before any Roman settlements, Greek navigators settled in what would become Provence
Provence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
. The Phoceans
Phocaea
Phocaea, or Phokaia, was an ancient Ionian Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia. Greek colonists from Phocaea founded the colony of Massalia in 600 BC, Emporion in 575 BC and Elea in 540 BC.-Geography:Phocaea was the northernmost...
founded important cities such as Massalia
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
(Marseille) and Nikaia
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
(Nice), bringing them in to conflict with the neighboring Celts and Ligurians. Some Phocean great navigators, such as Pytheas
Pytheas
Pytheas of Massalia or Massilia , was a Greek geographer and explorer from the Greek colony, Massalia . He made a voyage of exploration to northwestern Europe at about 325 BC. He travelled around and visited a considerable part of Great Britain...
, were born in Marseille. The Celts themselves often fought with Aquitanians and Germans, and a Gaulish war band led by Brennus
Brennus (3rd century BC)
Brennus was one of the leaders of the army of Gallic invasion of the Balkans, defeated the assembled Greeks at Thermopylae, and is popularly reputed to have sacked and looted Delphi, although the ancient sources do not support this.In 280 BC a great army, comprising about 85,000 warriors, coming...
invaded Rome c. 393 or 388 BC following the Battle of the Allia
Battle of the Allia
The Battle of the Allia was a battle of the first Gallic invasion of Rome. The battle was fought near the Allia river: the defeat of the Roman army opened the route for the Gauls to sack Rome. It was fought in 390/387 BC.-Background:...
. However, the tribal society of the Gauls did not change fast enough for the centralized Roman state, who would learn to counter them. The Gaulish tribal confederacies were then defeated by the Romans in battles such as Sentinum
Battle of Sentinum
The Battle of Sentinum was the decisive battle of the Third Samnite War, fought in 295 BC near Sentinum , in which the Romans were able to overcome a formidable coalition of Samnites, Etruscans, Umbrians, and their Gallic allies...
and Telamon
Battle of Telamon
The Battle of Telamon was fought between the Roman Republic and an alliance of Gauls in 225 BC. The Romans, led by the consuls Gaius Atilius Regulus and Lucius Aemilius Papus, defeated the Gauls, thus extending their influence over northern Italy....
. In the early 3rd century BC, the Belgae conquered the surrounding territories of the Somme in northern Gaul after a battle supposedly against the Armoricani
Armoricani
The Armoricani were a tribe living in the area now called Brittany and all along the coast up to Dieppe in Normandy. They inhabited the area in the Iron Age, though there is plenty of evidence of earlier settlement in that part of Gaul. Strabo and Poseidonius describe the Armoricani as belonging...
near Ribemont-sur-Ancre
Ribemont-sur-Ancre
Ribemont-sur-Ancre is a commune in the Somme department in Picardie in northern France.-Geography:The commune is situated northeast of Amiens, on the D119 road and by the banks of the river Ancre, a tributary of the Somme River.-Population:...
and Gournay-sur-Aronde
Gournay-sur-Aronde
Gournay-sur-Aronde is a small village in northern France. It is designated municipally as a commune within the département of Oise.Gournay-sur-Aronde is best known for a Late Iron Age sanctuary that dates back to the 4th century BCE, and was burned and levelled at the end of the 1st century BCE. ...
, where sanctuaries were found.
When Carthaginian
Carthaginian Republic
Ancient Carthage was a civilization centered on the Phoenician city-state of Carthage, located in North Africa on the Gulf of Tunis, outside what is now Tunis, Tunisia. It was founded in 814 BC...
commander Hannibal Barca fought the Romans, he recruited several Gaulish mercenaries who fought on his side at Cannae
Battle of Cannae
The Battle of Cannae was a major battle of the Second Punic War, which took place on August 2, 216 BC near the town of Cannae in Apulia in southeast Italy. The army of Carthage under Hannibal decisively defeated a numerically superior army of the Roman Republic under command of the consuls Lucius...
. It was this Gaulish participation that caused Provence to be annexed in 122 BC by the Roman Republic
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
. Later, the Consul of Gaul—Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
—conquered all of Gaul. Despite Gaulish opposition led by Vercingetorix
Vercingetorix
Vercingetorix was the chieftain of the Arverni tribe, who united the Gauls in an ultimately unsuccessful revolt against Roman forces during the last phase of Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars....
, the Overking of the Warriors, the Gauls succumbed to the Roman onslaught. The Gauls had some success at first at Gergovia
Battle of Gergovia
The Battle of Gergovia took place in 52 BC in Gaul at Gergovia, the chief town of the Arverni. The battle was fought between a Roman Republic army, led by proconsul Julius Caesar, and Gallic forces led by Vercingetorix...
, but were ultimately defeated at Alesia
Battle of Alesia
The Battle of Alesia or Siege of Alesia took place in September, 52 BC around the Gallic oppidum of Alesia, a major town centre and hill fort of the Mandubii tribe...
. The Romans founded cities such as Lugdunum
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
(Lyon) and Narbonensis
Narbonne
Narbonne is a commune in southern France in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Once a prosperous port, it is now located about from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea...
(Narbonne).
Roman Gaul
Gallia Aquitania
Gallia Aquitania was a province of the Roman Empire, bordered by the provinces of Gallia Lugdunensis, Gallia Narbonensis, and Hispania Tarraconensis...
or were enslaved and moved out of Gaul. There was a strong cultural evolution in Gaul under the Roman Empire, the most obvious one being the replacement of the Gaulish language
Gaulish language
The Gaulish language is an extinct Celtic language that was spoken by the Gauls, a people who inhabited the region known as Gaul from the Iron Age through the Roman period...
by Vulgar Latin
Vulgar Latin
Vulgar Latin is any of the nonstandard forms of Latin from which the Romance languages developed. Because of its nonstandard nature, it had no official orthography. All written works used Classical Latin, with very few exceptions...
. It has been argued the similarities between the Gaulish and Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
languages favoured the transition. Gaul remained under Roman control for centuries and Celtic culture was then gradually replaced by Gallo-Roman culture
Gallo-Roman culture
The term Gallo-Roman describes the Romanized culture of Gaul under the rule of the Roman Empire. This was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman mores and way of life in a uniquely Gaulish context...
.
The Gauls became better integrated with the Empire with the passage of time. For instance, Marcus Antonius Primus
Marcus Antonius Primus
Marcus Antonius Primus was a Roman Empire general.Primus was born at Tolosa in Gaul. During the reign of Nero, he was resident in Rome and a member of the Senate, from which he was expelled for conspiring to forge a will with Valerius Fabianus, and was banished from the city...
, an important general of the Roman Empire, and Emperor Claudius
Claudius
Claudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...
were both born in Gaul, as were general Gnaeus Julius Agricola
Gnaeus Julius Agricola
Gnaeus Julius Agricola was a Roman general responsible for much of the Roman conquest of Britain. His biography, the De vita et moribus Iulii Agricolae, was the first published work of his son-in-law, the historian Tacitus, and is the source for most of what is known about him.Born to a noted...
and emperor Caracalla
Caracalla
Caracalla , was Roman emperor from 198 to 217. The eldest son of Septimius Severus, he ruled jointly with his younger brother Geta until he murdered the latter in 211...
. Antoninus Pius
Antoninus Pius
Antoninus Pius , also known as Antoninus, was Roman Emperor from 138 to 161. He was a member of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty and the Aurelii. He did not possess the sobriquet "Pius" until after his accession to the throne...
also came from a Gaulish family. In the decade following Valerian
Valerian (emperor)
Valerian , also known as Valerian the Elder, was Roman Emperor from 253 to 260. He was taken captive by Persian king Shapur I after the Battle of Edessa, becoming the only Roman Emperor who was captured as a prisoner of war, resulting in wide-ranging instability across the Empire.-Origins and rise...
's capture by the Persians in 260, Postumus
Postumus
Marcus Cassianius Latinius Postumus was a Roman emperor of Batavian origin. He usurped power from Gallienus in 260 and formed the so-called Gallic Empire...
established a short-lived Gallic Empire
Gallic Empire
The Gallic Empire is the modern name for a breakaway realm that existed from 260 to 274. It originated during the Roman Empire's Crisis of the Third Century....
, which included the Iberian Peninsula and Britannia, in addition to Gaul itself. Germanic tribes, the Franks
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
and the Alamanni
Alamanni
The Alamanni, Allemanni, or Alemanni were originally an alliance of Germanic tribes located around the upper Rhine river . One of the earliest references to them is the cognomen Alamannicus assumed by Roman Emperor Caracalla, who ruled the Roman Empire from 211 to 217 and claimed thereby to be...
, entered Gaul at this time. The Gallic Empire ended with Emperor Aurelian
Aurelian
Aurelian , was Roman Emperor from 270 to 275. During his reign, he defeated the Alamanni after a devastating war. He also defeated the Goths, Vandals, Juthungi, Sarmatians, and Carpi. Aurelian restored the Empire's eastern provinces after his conquest of the Palmyrene Empire in 273. The following...
's victory at Châlons in 274.
Armorica
Armorica or Aremorica is the name given in ancient times to the part of Gaul that includes the Brittany peninsula and the territory between the Seine and Loire rivers, extending inland to an indeterminate point and down the Atlantic coast...
. They were led by the legendary king Conan Meriadoc
Conan Meriadoc
Conan Meriadoc is a legendary British leader credited with founding Brittany. Versions of his story circulated in both Brittany and Great Britain from at least the early 12th century, and supplanted earlier legends of Brittany's foundation...
and came from Britain. They spoke the now extinct British language, which evolved into the Breton
Breton language
Breton is a Celtic language spoken in Brittany , France. Breton is a Brythonic language, descended from the Celtic British language brought from Great Britain to Armorica by migrating Britons during the Early Middle Ages. Like the other Brythonic languages, Welsh and Cornish, it is classified as...
, Cornish
Cornish language
Cornish is a Brythonic Celtic language and a recognised minority language of the United Kingdom. Along with Welsh and Breton, it is directly descended from the ancient British language spoken throughout much of Britain before the English language came to dominate...
, and Welsh language
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
s.
In 418 the Aquitanian province was given to the Goths
Goths
The Goths were an East Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin whose two branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe....
in exchange for their support against the Vandals
Vandals
The Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Vandals under king Genseric entered Africa in 429 and by 439 established a kingdom which included the Roman Africa province, besides the islands of Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics....
. Those same Goths had previously sacked Rome in 410 and established a capital in Toulouse. The Roman Empire had difficulty responding to all the barbarian raids, and Flavius Aëtius
Flavius Aëtius
Flavius Aëtius , dux et patricius, was a Roman general of the closing period of the Western Roman Empire. He was an able military commander and the most influential man in the Western Roman Empire for two decades . He managed policy in regard to the attacks of barbarian peoples pressing on the Empire...
had to use these tribes against each other in order to maintain some Roman control. He first used the Huns
Huns
The Huns were a group of nomadic people who, appearing from east of the Volga River, migrated into Europe c. AD 370 and established the vast Hunnic Empire there. Since de Guignes linked them with the Xiongnu, who had been northern neighbours of China 300 years prior to the emergence of the Huns,...
against the Burgundians
Burgundians
The Burgundians were an East Germanic tribe which may have emigrated from mainland Scandinavia to the island of Bornholm, whose old form in Old Norse still was Burgundarholmr , and from there to mainland Europe...
, and these mercenaries destroyed Worms
Worms, Germany
Worms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts, who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over the title of "Oldest City in Germany." Worms is the only...
, killed king Gunther
Gunther
Gunther is the German name of a semi-legendary king of Burgundy of the early 5th century...
, and pushed the Burgundians westward. The Burgundians were resettled by Aëtius near Lugdunum
Lugdunum
Colonia Copia Claudia Augusta Lugdunum was an important Roman city in Gaul. The city was founded in 43 BC by Lucius Munatius Plancus. It served as the capital of the Roman province Gallia Lugdunensis. To 300 years after its foundation Lugdunum was the most important city to the west part of Roman...
in 443. The Huns, united by Attila
Attila the Hun
Attila , more frequently referred to as Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns from 434 until his death in 453. He was leader of the Hunnic Empire, which stretched from the Ural River to the Rhine River and from the Danube River to the Baltic Sea. During his reign he was one of the most feared...
became a greater threat, and Aëtius used the Visigoths against the Huns. The conflict climaxed in 451 at the Battle of Châlons
Battle of Chalons
The Battle of the Catalaunian Plains , also called the Battle of Châlons sur Marne, took place in AD 451 between a coalition led by the Visigothic king Theodoric I and the Roman general Flavius Aëtius, against the Huns and their allies commanded by their leader Attila...
, in which the Romans and Goths defeated Attila.
The Roman Empire was on the verge of collapsing. Aquitania was definitely abandoned to the Visigoths, who would soon conquer a significant part of southern Gaul as well as most of the Iberian Peninsula. The Burgundians claimed their own kingdom, and northern Gaul was practically abandoned to the Franks. Aside from the Germanic peoples, the Vascones entered Wasconia
Duchy of Vasconia
The Duchy of Vasconia , or Wasconia, was originally a Frankish march formed by 602 to keep the Basques in check. It comprised the former Roman province of Novempopulania and, at least in some periods, also the lands south of the Pyrenees centred on Pamplona.In the ninth century, civil war within...
from the Pyrenees and the Bretons formed three kingdoms in Armorica: Domnonia
Domnonia
Domnonée is the modern French version of the Latin name Dumnonia , which denoted a kingdom in northern Brittany founded by migrants from Dumnonia in Great Britain...
, Cornouaille
Cornouaille
Cornouaille is a historic region in Brittany, in northwest France. The name is identical to the French name for the Duchy of Cornwall, since the area was settled by migrant princes from Cornwall...
and Broërec
Broërec
Broërec is a traditional French province in the south of Brittany. It derives its name from Waroch, a 6th century warlord who called the region Bro Waroch ....
.
Frankish kingdoms (486–987)
Clovis I
Clovis Leuthwig was the first King of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one ruler, changing the leadership from a group of royal chieftains, to rule by kings, ensuring that the kingship was held by his heirs. He was also the first Catholic King to rule over Gaul . He was the son...
, leader of the Salian Franks
Salian Franks
The Salian Franks or Salii were a subgroup of the early Franks who originally had been living north of the limes in the area above the Rhine. The Merovingian kings responsible for the conquest of Gaul were Salians. From the 3rd century on, the Salian Franks appear in the historical records as...
, defeated Syagrius
Syagrius
Syagrius was the last Roman official in Gaul, whose defeat by king Clovis I of the Franks is considered the end of Roman rule outside of Italy. He came to this position through inheritance, for his father was Aegidius, the last Roman magister militum per Gallias...
at Soissons
Battle of Soissons (486)
The Battle of Soissons in the year 486 was fought between the Frankish forces under Clovis I, and the Gallo-Roman Kingdom of Soissons under Syagrius...
and subsequently united most of northern and central Gaul under his rule. Clovis then recorded a succession of victories against other Germanic tribes such as the Alamanni at Tolbiac
Battle of Tolbiac
The Battle of Tolbiac was fought between the Franks under Clovis I and the Alamanni, traditionally set in 496. The site of "Tolbiac", or "Tulpiacum" is usually given as Zülpich, North Rhine-Westphalia, about 60km east of the present German-Belgian frontier, which is not implausible...
. In 496, pagan Clovis adopted Catholicism. This gave him greater legitimacy and power over his Christian subjects and granted him clerical support against the Arian
Arian
Arian may refer to:* Arius, a Christian presbyter in the 3rd and 4th century* a given name in different cultures: Aria, Aryan or Arian...
Visigoths. He defeated Alaric II
Alaric II
Alaric II, also known as Alarik, Alarich, and Alarico in Spanish and Portuguese or Alaricus in Latin succeeded his father Euric on December 28, 484, in Toulouse. He established his capital at Aire-sur-l'Adour in Aquitaine...
at Vouillé
Battle of Vouillé
The Battle of Vouillé or Vouglé was fought in the northern marches of Visigothic territory, at Vouillé, Vienne near Poitiers , in the spring of 507 between the Franks commanded by Clovis and the Visigoths of Alaric II, the conqueror of Spain.Clovis and Anastasius I of the Byzantine Empire agreed...
in 507 and annexed Aquitaine, and thus Toulouse, into his Frankish kingdom. The Goths retired to Toledo
Toledo, Spain
Toledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...
in what would become Spain. Clovis made Paris his capital and established the Merovingian Dynasty
Merovingian dynasty
The Merovingians were a Salian Frankish dynasty that came to rule the Franks in a region largely corresponding to ancient Gaul from the middle of the 5th century. Their politics involved frequent civil warfare among branches of the family...
but his kingdom would not survive his death. Under Frankish inheritance traditions, all sons would inherit part of the land, so four kingdoms emerged: centered on Paris, Orléans
Orléans
-Prehistory and Roman:Cenabum was a Gallic stronghold, one of the principal towns of the Carnutes tribe where the Druids held their annual assembly. It was conquered and destroyed by Julius Caesar in 52 BC, then rebuilt under the Roman Empire...
, Soissons
Soissons
Soissons is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardy in northern France, located on the Aisne River, about northeast of Paris. It is one of the most ancient towns of France, and is probably the ancient capital of the Suessiones...
, and Rheims. Over time, the borders and numbers of Frankish kingdoms were fluid and changed frequently. Also during this time, the Mayors of the Palace
Mayor of the Palace
Mayor of the Palace was an early medieval title and office, also called majordomo, from the Latin title maior domus , used most notably in the Frankish kingdoms in the 7th and 8th centuries....
, originally the chief advisor to the kings, would become the real power in the Frankish lands; the Merovingian kings themselves would be reduced to little more than figureheads.
By this time Muslim invaders had conquered Hispania
Umayyad conquest of Hispania
The Umayyad conquest of Hispania is the initial Islamic Ummayad Caliphate's conquest, between 711 and 718, of the Christian Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania, centered in the Iberian Peninsula, which was known to them under the Arabic name al-Andalus....
and were threatening the Frankish kingdoms. Duke Odo the Great defeated a major invading force at Toulouse
Battle of Toulouse (721)
The Battle of Toulouse was a victory of an Aquitanian army led by Duke Odo of Aquitaine over an Umayyad army besieging the city of Toulouse, and led by the governor of Al-Andalus, Al-Samh ibn Malik al-Khawlani...
in 721 but failed to repel a raiding party in 732. The mayor of the palace, Charles Martel
Charles Martel
Charles Martel , also known as Charles the Hammer, was a Frankish military and political leader, who served as Mayor of the Palace under the Merovingian kings and ruled de facto during an interregnum at the end of his life, using the title Duke and Prince of the Franks. In 739 he was offered the...
, defeated that raiding party at the Battle of Tours
Battle of Tours
The Battle of Tours , also called the Battle of Poitiers and in Battle of the Court of the Martyrs, was fought in an area between the cities of Poitiers and Tours, located in north-central France, near the village of Moussais-la-Bataille, about northeast of Poitiers...
(actually the battle took place between Tours and Poitiers) and earned respect and power within the Frankish Kingdom. The assumption of the crown in 751 by Pepin the Short (son of Charles Martel) established the Carolingian dynasty as the Kings of the Franks.
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
. In 771, Charlemagne reunited the Frankish domains after a further period of division, subsequently conquering the Lombards
Lombards
The Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...
under Desiderius
Desiderius
Desiderius was the last king of the Lombard Kingdom of northern Italy...
in what is now northern Italy (774), incorporating Bavaria (788) into his realm, defeating the Avars
Eurasian Avars
The Eurasian Avars or Ancient Avars were a highly organized nomadic confederacy of mixed origins. They were ruled by a khagan, who was surrounded by a tight-knit entourage of nomad warriors, an organization characteristic of Turko-Mongol groups...
of the Danubian
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
plain (796), advancing the frontier with Islamic Spain
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries...
as far south as Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
(801), and subjugating Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
(804) after a prolonged campaign.
In recognition of his successes and his political support for the Papacy, Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
was crowned Emperor of the Romans, or Roman Emperor in the West, by Pope Leo III
Pope Leo III
Pope Saint Leo III was Pope from 795 to his death in 816. Protected by Charlemagne from his enemies in Rome, he subsequently strengthened Charlemagne's position by crowning him as Roman Emperor....
in 800. Charlemagne's son Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious , also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was the King of Aquitaine from 781. He was also King of the Franks and co-Emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813...
(emperor 814–840) kept the empire united; however, this Carolingian Empire
Carolingian Empire
Carolingian Empire is a historiographical term which has been used to refer to the realm of the Franks under the Carolingian dynasty in the Early Middle Ages. This dynasty is seen as the founders of France and Germany, and its beginning date is based on the crowning of Charlemagne, or Charles the...
would not survive Louis I's death. Two of his sons – Charles the Bald
Charles the Bald
Charles the Bald , Holy Roman Emperor and King of West Francia , was the youngest son of the Emperor Louis the Pious by his second wife Judith.-Struggle against his brothers:He was born on 13 June 823 in Frankfurt, when his elder...
and Louis the German
Louis the German
Louis the German , also known as Louis II or Louis the Bavarian, was a grandson of Charlemagne and the third son of the succeeding Frankish Emperor Louis the Pious and his first wife, Ermengarde of Hesbaye.He received the appellation 'Germanicus' shortly after his death in recognition of the fact...
– swore allegiance to each other against their brother – Lothair I
Lothair I
Lothair I or Lothar I was the Emperor of the Romans , co-ruling with his father until 840, and the King of Bavaria , Italy and Middle Francia...
– in the Oaths of Strasbourg
Oaths of Strasbourg
The Oaths of Strasbourg were several historical documents which included mutual pledges of allegiance between Louis the German , ruler of East Francia, and his brother Charles the Bald , ruler of West Francia...
, and the empire was divided among Louis's three sons (Treaty of Verdun
Treaty of Verdun
The Treaty of Verdun was a treaty between the three surviving sons of Louis the Pious, the son and successor of Charlemagne, which divided the Carolingian Empire into three kingdoms...
, 843). After a last brief reunification (884–887), the imperial title ceased to be held in the western realm, which was to form the basis of the future French kingdom. The eastern realm, which would become Germany, elected the Saxon dynasty of Henry the Fowler.
Under the Carolingians, the kingdom was ravaged by Viking raiders
Siege of Paris (885-886)
The Siege of Paris of 885 to 886 was a Viking siege of Paris, then capital of the kingdom of the West Franks. It was, in hindsight, the most important event of the reign of the Emperor Charles the Fat and a turning point in the fortunes of the Carolingian dynasty and the history of France.The...
. In this struggle some important figures such as Count Odo of Paris
Odo, Count of Paris
Odo was a King of Western Francia, reigning from 888 to 898. He was a son of Robert the Strong, count of Anjou, whose branch of the family is known as the Robertians....
and his brother King Robert
Robert I of France
Robert I , King of Western Francia , was the younger son of Robert the Strong, count of Anjou, and the brother of Odo, who became king of the Western Franks in 888. West Francia evolved over time into France; under Odo, the capital was fixed on Paris, a large step in that direction...
rose to fame and became kings. This emerging dynasty, whose members were called the Robertines
Robertian dynasty
The Robertians, or Robertines, were a prominent Frankish predecessor family centered in the Western Frankish Kingdom, West Francia and fathers of what...
, were the predecessors of the Capetian Dynasty
Capetian dynasty
The Capetian dynasty , also known as the House of France, is the largest and oldest European royal house, consisting of the descendants of King Hugh Capet of France in the male line. Hugh Capet himself was a cognatic descendant of the Carolingians and the Merovingians, earlier rulers of France...
. Led by Rollo
Rollo of Normandy
Rollo , baptised Robert and so sometimes numbered Robert I to distinguish him from his descendants, was a Norse nobleman of Norwegian or Danish descent and founder and first ruler of the Viking principality in what soon became known as Normandy...
, some Vikings had settled in Normandy and were granted the land, first as counts and then as dukes, by King Charles the Simple
Charles the Simple
Charles III , called the Simple or the Straightforward , was the undisputed King of France from 898 until 922 and the King of Lotharingia from 911 until 919/23...
, in order to protect the land from other raiders. The people that emerged from the interactions between the new Viking aristocracy and the already mixed Franks and Gallo-Romans became known as the Normans.
See also:
- List of Frankish Kings
- Merovingians
- CarolingianCarolingianThe Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The name "Carolingian", Medieval Latin karolingi, an altered form of an unattested Old High German *karling, kerling The Carolingian dynasty (known variously as the...
s - Carolingian EmpireCarolingian EmpireCarolingian Empire is a historiographical term which has been used to refer to the realm of the Franks under the Carolingian dynasty in the Early Middle Ages. This dynasty is seen as the founders of France and Germany, and its beginning date is based on the crowning of Charlemagne, or Charles the...
- Carolingian RenaissanceCarolingian RenaissanceIn the history of ideas the Carolingian Renaissance stands out as a period of intellectual and cultural revival in Europe occurring from the late eighth century, in the generation of Alcuin, to the 9th century, and the generation of Heiric of Auxerre, with the peak of the activities coordinated...
- Early Middle AgesEarly Middle AgesThe Early Middle Ages was the period of European history lasting from the 5th century to approximately 1000. The Early Middle Ages followed the decline of the Western Roman Empire and preceded the High Middle Ages...
State building into the Kingdom of France (987–1453)
France was a very decentralised state during the Middle Ages. The authority of the king was more religious than administrative. The 11th century in France marked the apogee of princely power at the expense of the king when states like Normandy, Flanders or Languedoc enjoyed a local authority comparable to kingdoms in all but name. The Capetians, as they were descended from the Robertines, were formerly powerful princes themselves who had successfully unseated the weak and unfortunate Carolingian kings. The Carolingian Kings had nothing more than a royal title when the Capetian Kings added their principality to that title. The Capetians, in a way, held a dual status of King and Prince; as king they held the Crown of CharlemagneCrown of Charlemagne
The Crown of Charlemagne was the ancient coronation crown of Kings of the Franks, and later Kings of France after 1237. It was probably originally made as a simple circlet of four curved rectanglar jewelled plates for Charles the Bald, but later, four large jewelled fleur-de-lis were added to...
and as Count of Paris
Count of Paris
Count of Paris was a title for the local magnate of the district around Paris in Carolingian times. Eventually, the count of Paris was elected to the French throne...
they held their personal fiefdom, best known as Île-de-France
Île-de-France (province)
The province of Île-de-France or Isle de France is an historical province of France, and the one at the centre of power during most of French history...
. The fact that the Capetians both held lands as Prince as well as in the title of King gave them a complicated status. Thus they were involved in the struggle for power within France as princes but they also had a religious authority over the Church of France
Roman Catholicism in France
The Roman Catholic Church of France, sometimes called the "eldest daughter of the Church" owing to its early and unbroken communion with the bishop of Rome, is part of the worldwide Catholic Church...
as King. However, and despite the fact that the Capetian kings often treated other princes more as enemies and allies than as subordinates, their royal title was often recognised yet not often respected. The royal authority was so weak in some remote places that bandits were the effective power.
Some of the king's vassals would grow so powerful that they would become some of the strongest rulers of western Europe. The Normans
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
, the Plantagenets, the Lusignans, the Hautevilles, the Ramnulfids
Ramnulfids
The Ramnulfids, or the House of Poitiers, were a French dynasty ruling the County of Poitou and Duchy of Aquitaine in the ninth through twelfth centuries. Their power base was Poitou. In the early tenth century, they contested the dominance of northern Aquitaine and the ducal title to the whole...
, and the House of Toulouse
Counts of Toulouse
The first Counts of Toulouse were the administrators of the city and its environs under the Merovingians. No succession of such royal appointees is known, though a few names survive to the present...
successfully carved lands outside of France for themselves. The most important of these conquests for French history was the Norman Conquest of England
Norman conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...
, following the Battle of Hastings
Battle of Hastings
The Battle of Hastings occurred on 14 October 1066 during the Norman conquest of England, between the Norman-French army of Duke William II of Normandy and the English army under King Harold II...
, by William the Conqueror
William I of England
William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...
because it linked England to France through Normandy. Although the Normans were now both vassals of the French kings and their equals as Kings of England, their zone of political activity remained centered in France. These Norman nobles then commissioned the weaving of the Bayeux Tapestry
Bayeux Tapestry
The Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidered cloth—not an actual tapestry—nearly long, which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England concerning William, Duke of Normandy and Harold, Earl of Wessex, later King of England, and culminating in the Battle of Hastings...
. An important part of the French aristocracy also involved itself in the crusades, and French knights founded and ruled the Crusader states
Crusader states
The Crusader states were a number of mostly 12th- and 13th-century feudal states created by Western European crusaders in Asia Minor, Greece and the Holy Land , and during the Northern Crusades in the eastern Baltic area...
. An example of the legacy left in the Middle East by these nobles is the Krak des Chevaliers
Krak des Chevaliers
Krak des Chevaliers , also Crac des Chevaliers, is a Crusader castle in Syria and one of the most important preserved medieval castles in the world. The site was first inhabited in the 11th century by a settlement of Kurds; as a result it was known as Hisn al Akrad, meaning the "Castle of the...
' enlargement by the Counts of Tripoli
Tripoli
Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...
and Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
.
The Early Capetians (987–1165)
Reims
Reims , a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lies east-northeast of Paris. Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....
on 1 June 987. Capet was previously "Duke of the Franks" and then became "King of the Franks" (Rex Francorum). He was recorded to be recognised king by the Gauls
Gauls
The Gauls were a Celtic people living in Gaul, the region roughly corresponding to what is now France, Belgium, Switzerland and Northern Italy, from the Iron Age through the Roman period. They mostly spoke the Continental Celtic language called Gaulish....
, Bretons, Danes, Aquitanians, Goths
Goths
The Goths were an East Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin whose two branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe....
, Spanish and Gascons. The Danes here are certainly the Normans (of Normandy), and the Spanish entry probably refers to the Carolingian Spanish marches. Hugh Capet's reign was marked by the loss of the Spanish marches as they grew more and more independent. Count Borell of Barcelona
Borrell II, Count of Barcelona
Borrell II was Count of Barcelona, Girona, and Ausona from 945 and Count of Urgell from 948.Borrell is first seen acting as count during the reign of his father Marquis Sunyer in 945 at the consecration of the nunnery church of Sant Pere de les Puelles in Barcelona, and succeeded Sunyer along with...
called for Hugh's help against Islamic raids, but even if Hugh intended to help Borell, he was otherwise occupied in fighting Charles of Lorraine
Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine
Charles of Lorraine was the son of Louis IV of France and Gerberga of Saxony and younger brother of King Lothair. He was a sixth generation descendant of Charlemagne...
. The loss of other Spanish principalities then followed. Hugh Capet, the first Capetian king, is not a well documented figure, his greatest achievement being certainly to survive as king and defeating the Carolingian claimant, thus allowing him to establish what would become one of Europe's most powerful house of kings.
Hugh's son – Robert the Pious
Robert II of France
Robert II , called the Pious or the Wise , was King of France from 996 until his death. The second reigning member of the House of Capet, he was born in Orléans to Hugh Capet and Adelaide of Aquitaine....
– was crowned King of the Franks before Capet's demise. Hugh Capet decided so in order to have his succession secured. Robert II, as King of the Franks, met Emperor Henry II
Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry II , also referred to as Saint Henry, Obl.S.B., was the fifth and last Holy Roman Emperor of the Ottonian dynasty, from his coronation in Rome in 1014 until his death a decade later. He was crowned King of the Germans in 1002 and King of Italy in 1004...
in 1023 on the borderline. They agreed to end all claims over each other's realm, setting a new stage of Capetian and Ottonian relationships. The reign of Robert II was quite important because it involved the Peace and Truce of God
Peace and Truce of God
The Peace and Truce of God was a medieval European movement of the Catholic Church that applied spiritual sanctions in order to limit the violence of private war in feudal society. The movement constituted the first organized attempt to control civil society in medieval Europe through non-violent...
and the Cluniac Reforms
Cluniac Reforms
The Cluniac Reforms were a series of changes within medieval monasticism of West focused on restoring the traditional monastic life, encouraging art, and caring for the poor. The movement is named for the Abbey of Cluny in Burgundy, where it started within the Benedictine order. The reforms were...
. Although a king weak in power, Robert II's efforts were considerable. His surviving charters imply he was heavily relying on the church to rule France, much like his father did. Although he lived with a mistress —Bertha of Burgundy
Bertha of Burgundy
Bertha of Burgundy was the daughter of Conrad the Peaceful, King of Burgundy and his wife Matilda, daughter of Louis IV, King of France and Gerberga of Saxony. She was named for her father's mother, Bertha of Swabia.She first married Odo I, Count of Blois in about 983...
— and was excommunicated because of this, he was regarded as a model of piety for monks (hence his nickname, Robert the Pious). He crowned his son —Hugh Magnus
Hugh Magnus of France
Hugh Magnus of France was co-King of France under his father, Robert II, from 1017 until his death in 1025...
— King of the Franks to secure his succession, however Hugh Magnus rebelled against his father and died fighting him. The next King of the Franks —Henry I
Henry I of France
Henry I was King of France from 1031 to his death. The royal demesne of France reached its smallest size during his reign, and for this reason he is often seen as emblematic of the weakness of the early Capetians...
— was crowned after Robert's death, which is quite exceptional for a French king of the times.
Henry I was one of the weakest kings of the Franks, and his reign saw the rise of some very powerful nobles such as William the Conqueror. However his biggest source of concerns was his brother —Robert I of Burgundy
Robert I, Duke of Burgundy
Robert I Capet or Robert I of Burgundy, known as Robert the Old was duke of Burgundy between 1032 to his death...
— who was pushed by his mother to the conflict. Robert of Burgundy was made Duke of Burgundy by King Henry I and had to be satisfied with that title. From Henry I onward the Dukes of Burgundy were relatives of the King of the Franks until the end of the Duchy proper. King Philip I
Philip I of France
Philip I , called the Amorous, was King of France from 1060 to his death. His reign, like that of most of the early Direct Capetians, was extraordinarily long for the time...
, named by his Kievan mother with a typically Eastern European name, was no more fortunate than his predecessor.
Louis VI of France
Louis VI , called the Fat , was King of France from 1108 until his death . Chronicles called him "roi de Saint-Denis".-Reign:...
onward that royal authority became more accepted. Louis VI was more a soldier and warmongering king than a scholar. The way the king raised money from his vassals made him quite unpopular; he was described as greedy and ambitious and that is corroborated by records of the time. His regular attacks on his vassals, although damaging the royal image, reinforced the royal power. From 1127 onward the royal adviser was a skilled politician – Abbot Suger
Abbot Suger
Suger was one of the last Frankish abbot-statesmen, an historian, and the influential first patron of Gothic architecture....
. The abbot was the son of a minor family of knights, but his political advice was extremely valuable to the king. Louis VI successfully defeated, both military and politically, many of the robber baron
Robber baron
A robber baron or robber knight was an unscrupulous and despotic nobility of the medieval period in Europe, for example, Berlichingen. It has slightly different meanings in different countries. In modern US parlance, the term is also used to describe unscrupulous industrialists...
s. Louis VI frequently summoned his vassals to the court, and those who did not show up often had their land possessions confiscated and military campaigns mounted against them. This drastic policy clearly imposed some royal authority on Paris and its surrounding areas. When Louis VI died in 1137, much progress had been made towards strengthening Capetian authority.
Thanks to Abbot Suger's political advice, King Louis VII
Louis VII of France
Louis VII was King of France, the son and successor of Louis VI . He ruled from 1137 until his death. He was a member of the House of Capet. His reign was dominated by feudal struggles , and saw the beginning of the long rivalry between France and England...
enjoyed greater moral authority over France than his predecessors. Even more powerful vassals such as Henry Plantagenet
Henry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
paid homage to the French king. Abbot Suger arranged the marriage between Louis VII and Eleanor of Aquitaine
Eleanor of Aquitaine
Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Western Europe during the High Middle Ages. As well as being Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right, she was queen consort of France and of England...
in Bordeaux which made Louis VII Duke of Aquitaine and gave him considerable power. However, the couple disagreed over the burning of more than a thousand people in Vitry
Vitry-en-Perthois
Vitry-en-Perthois is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France.-History:Vitry-en-Perthois was called Vitry-le-Brûlé after being burnt two times; in 1142 by the armies of Louis VII of France and in 1544 by the armies of Charles V.-Geography:The Chée flows into the Saulx in the...
during the conflict against the Count of Champagne. King Louis VII was deeply horrified by the event and sought penitence by going to the holy land. He later involved the Kingdom of France in the Second Crusade
Second Crusade
The Second Crusade was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa the previous year to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crusade by Baldwin of Boulogne in 1098...
but his relationship with Eleanor did not improve. The marriage was ultimately annulled by the pope under the pretext of consanguinity and Eleanor soon married the Duke of Normandy —Henry Fitzempress
Henry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
— who would become King of England as Henry II two years later. Louis VII was once a very powerful monarch and was now facing a much stronger vassal, who was his equal as King of England and his strongest prince as Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine. Abbot Suger's vision of construction became known as the Gothic Architecture
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
during the later Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
. This style became standard for most European cathedrals built in the late middle-age.
The late Capetians (1165–1328)
The late direct Capetian kings were considerably more powerful and influential than the earliest ones. While Philip I could hardly control his Parisian barons, Philip IV could dictate popes and emperors. The late Capetians, although they often ruled for a shorter time than their earlier peers, were often much more influential. This period also saw the rise of a complex system of international alliances and conflicts opposing, through dynasties, Kings of France and England and Holy Roman Emperor.Philip II Augustus
The reign of Philip II AugustusPhilip II of France
Philip II Augustus was the King of France from 1180 until his death. A member of the House of Capet, Philip Augustus was born at Gonesse in the Val-d'Oise, the son of Louis VII and his third wife, Adela of Champagne...
marked an important step in the history of French monarchy. His reign saw the French royal domain and influence greatly expanded. He had set the context for the rise of power to much more powerful monarchs like Saint Louis and Philip the Fair.
Philip II spent an important part of his reign fighting the so-called Angevin Empire
Angevin Empire
The term Angevin Empire is a modern term describing the collection of states once ruled by the Angevin Plantagenet dynasty.The Plantagenets ruled over an area stretching from the Pyrenees to Ireland during the 12th and early 13th centuries, located north of Moorish Iberia. This "empire" extended...
, which was probably the greatest threat to the King of France since the rise of the Capetian dynasty. During the first part of his reign Philip II tried using Henry II of England's son against him. He allied himself with the Duke of Aquitaine and son of Henry II —Richard Lionheart
Richard I of England
Richard I was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Nantes, and Overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period...
— and together they launched a decisive attack on Henry's castle and home of Chinon
Chinon
Chinon is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France well known for Château de Chinon.In the Middle Ages, Chinon developed especially during the reign of Henry II . The castle was rebuilt and extended, becoming one of his favorite residences...
and removed him from power. Richard replaced his father as King of England afterward. The two kings then went crusading during the Third Crusade
Third Crusade
The Third Crusade , also known as the Kings' Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin...
however their alliance and friendship broke down during the crusade. The two men were once again at odds and fought each other in France and Richard was on the verge of totally defeating Philip II. Adding to their battles in France the Kings of France and England were trying to install their respective allies at the head of the Holy Roman Empire. If Philip II Augustus supported Philip of Swabia
Philip of Swabia
Philip of Swabia was king of Germany and duke of Swabia, the rival of the emperor Otto IV.-Biography:Philip was the fifth and youngest son of Emperor Frederick I and Beatrice I, Countess of Burgundy, daughter of Renaud III, count of Burgundy, and brother of the emperor Henry VI...
, member of the House of Hohenstaufen, Richard Lionheart supported Otto IV
Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Otto IV of Brunswick was one of two rival kings of the Holy Roman Empire from 1198 on, sole king from 1208 on, and emperor from 1209 on. The only king of the Welf dynasty, he incurred the wrath of Pope Innocent III and was excommunicated in 1215.-Early life:Otto was the third son of Henry the...
, member of the House of Welf. Otto IV had the upper hand and became the Holy Roman Emperor at the expense of Philip of Swabia. The crown of France was saved by Richard's demise after a wound he received fighting his own vassals in Limousin
Limousin (province)
Limousin is one of the traditional provinces of France around the city of Limoges. Limousin lies in the foothills of the western edge of the Massif Central, with cold weather in the winter...
. John Lackland
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
, Richard's successor, refused to come to the French court for a trial against the Lusignan
Lusignan
The Lusignan family originated in Poitou near Lusignan in western France in the early 10th century. By the end of the 11th century, they had risen to become the most prominent petty lords in the region from their castle at Lusignan...
s and as Louis VI often did to his rebellious vassals, Philip II confiscated John's possessions in France. John's defeat was swift and his attempts to reconquer his French possession at the Battle of Bouvines
Battle of Bouvines
The Battle of Bouvines, 27 July 1214, was a conclusive medieval battle ending the twelve year old Angevin-Flanders War that was important to the early development of both the French state by confirming the French crown's sovereignty over the Angevin lands of Brittany and Normandy.Philip Augustus of...
resulted in complete failure. His allies, most notably Emperor Otto IV, were all defeated or captured and even as King of England he had no means to reconquer Normandy and Anjou. Not only had Philip II annexed Normandy and Anjou, he had captured the Counts of Boulogne and Flanders. Otto IV was overthrown by Frederick II
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick II , was one of the most powerful Holy Roman Emperors of the Middle Ages and head of the House of Hohenstaufen. His political and cultural ambitions, based in Sicily and stretching through Italy to Germany, and even to Jerusalem, were enormous...
, ally of Philip II of France and a member of the House of Hohenstaufen. The King of France however stopped before conquering Aquitaine and Gascony who remained loyal to the Plantagenet King. In addition to defeating John of England
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
, Philip Augustus founded the Sorbonne and made Paris a city for scholars. Prince Louis
Louis VIII of France
Louis VIII the Lion reigned as King of France from 1223 to 1226. He was a member of the House of Capet. Louis VIII was born in Paris, France, the son of Philip II Augustus and Isabelle of Hainaut. He was also Count of Artois, inheriting the county from his mother, from 1190–1226...
(the future Louis VIII) was involved in the subsequent English civil war as French and English (or rather Anglo-Norman) aristocracies were once one and were now split between allegiances. While the French kings were struggling against the Plantagenets, the Church called for the Albigensian Crusade
Albigensian Crusade
The Albigensian Crusade or Cathar Crusade was a 20-year military campaign initiated by the Catholic Church to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc...
. Southern France was then largely absorbed in the royal domains.
Saint Louis
Louis IX of France
Louis IX , commonly Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death. He was also styled Louis II, Count of Artois from 1226 to 1237. Born at Poissy, near Paris, he was an eighth-generation descendant of Hugh Capet, and thus a member of the House of Capet, and the son of Louis VIII and...
, who initiated several administrative reforms. Saint Louis has often been portrayed as a one dimensional character, a flawless representant of the faith and an administrator caring for the governed ones. However, his reign was far from perfect for everyone; he made unsuccessful crusades and his expanding administrations raised oppositions; he also burned Jewish books at the Pope's urging. His judgments were not often practical, although they seemed fair by the standards of the time. It appears Louis had a strong sense of justice and always wanted to judge people himself before applying any sentence. This was said about Louis and French clergy asking for excommunications of Louis' vassals:
Louis IX was only twelve years old when he became King of France, his mother —Blanche of Castile
Blanche of Castile
Blanche of Castile , was a Queen consort of France as the wife of Louis VIII. She acted as regent twice during the reign of her son, Louis IX....
— was the effective power although the King was indeed Louis IX. Blanche's authority was strongly opposed by the French barons yet she could maintain her position as regent (although she did not formally use the title) until Louis was old enough to rule by himself. In 1229 the King had to struggle with a long lasting strike at the University of Paris
University of Paris strike of 1229
In 1229, a student riot at the University of Paris resulted in the deaths of a number of students, and the ensuing "dispersion" or student strike in protest lasted more than two years and led to a number of reforms of the medieval university...
, the Quartier Latin
Latin Quarter
Latin Quarter is a part of the 5th arrondissement in Paris.Latin Quarter may also refer to:* Latin Quarter , a British pop/rock band* Latin Quarter , a 1945 British film*Latin Quarter, Aarhus, part of Midtbyen, Aarhus C, Denmark...
was strongly hit by these strikes. War was still going on in the County of Toulouse, the royal army was occupied fighting resistance in Languedoc and the kingdom was therefore vulnerable. Count Raymond VII of Toulouse
Raymond VII of Toulouse
Raymond VII of Saint-Gilles was Count of Toulouse, Duke of Narbonne and Marquis of Provence from 1222 until his death. He was the son of Raymond VI of Toulouse and Joan of England...
finally signed the Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris (1229)
The Treaty of Paris was signed on April 12, 1229 between Raymond VII of Toulouse and Louis IX of France. Louis was still a minor and it was his mother Blanche of Castile who had been responsible for the treaty. The agreement officially ended the Albigensian Crusade in which Raymond conceded defeat...
in 1229, in which he retained much of his lands to life, but his daughter, married to Count Alfonso of Poitou, produced him no heir and so the County of Toulouse went to the King of France.
King Henry III of England
Henry III of England
Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
had not yet recognized the Capetian overlordship over Aquitaine and still hoped to recover Normandy and Anjou and reform the Angevin Empire. He landed in 1230 at Saint-Malo
Saint-Malo
Saint-Malo is a walled port city in Brittany in northwestern France on the English Channel. It is a sub-prefecture of the Ille-et-Vilaine.-Demographics:The population can increase to up to 200,000 in the summer tourist season...
with a massive force. Henry III's allies in Brittany and Normandy fell down because they did not dare fight their king who led the counterstrike himself. This evolved into the Saintonge War
Saintonge War
The Saintonge War was a feudal dynastic encounter that occurred in 1242 between forces of Louis IX of France and those of Henry III of England. Saintonge is the region around Saintes in the center-west of France. The conflict arose because some vassals of Louis were displeased with accession of his...
, Henry III was defeated and had to recognise Louis IX's overlordship although the King of France did not seize Aquitaine from Henry III. Louis IX was now the most important landowner of France, adding to his royal title. There were some opposition to his rule in Normandy, yet it proved remarkably easy to rule, especially compared to the County of Toulouse which had been brutally conquered. The Conseil du Roi
Conseil du Roi
The Conseil du Roi or King's Council is a general term for the administrative and governmental apparatus around the king of France during the Ancien Régime designed to prepare his decisions and give him advice...
, which would evolve into the Parlement
Parlement
Parlements were regional legislative bodies in Ancien Régime France.The political institutions of the Parlement in Ancien Régime France developed out of the previous council of the king, the Conseil du roi or curia regis, and consequently had ancient and customary rights of consultation and...
, was founded in these times.
Saint Louis also supported new forms of art such as Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
; his Sainte-Chapelle
Sainte-Chapelle
La Sainte-Chapelle is the only surviving building of the Capetian royal palace on the Île de la Cité in the heart of Paris, France. It was commissioned by King Louis IX of France to house his collection of Passion Relics, including the Crown of Thorns - one of the most important relics in medieval...
became a very famous gothic building, and he is also credited for the Morgan Bible
Morgan Bible
The Morgan Bible is a medieval picture bible of 44 folios. It is also called the Morgan Bible of Louis IX, the Book of Kings, the Crusader Bible, and the Maciejowski Bible...
. After his conflict with King Henry III of England
Henry III of England
Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
Louis established a cordial relation with the Plantagenet King. An amusing anecdote is about Henry III's attending the French Parlement
Parlement
Parlements were regional legislative bodies in Ancien Régime France.The political institutions of the Parlement in Ancien Régime France developed out of the previous council of the king, the Conseil du roi or curia regis, and consequently had ancient and customary rights of consultation and...
, as Duke of Aquitaine, the King of England was always late because he liked to stop each time he met a priest to hear the mass, so Louis made sure no priest was on the way of Henry III. Henry III and Louis IX then started a long contest in who was the most faithful up to the point none ever arrived anymore on time to the Parlement which was then allowed to debate in their absence.
The Kingdom was involved in two crusades under Saint Louis: the Seventh Crusade
Seventh Crusade
The Seventh Crusade was a crusade led by Louis IX of France from 1248 to 1254. Approximately 800,000 bezants were paid in ransom for King Louis who, along with thousands of his troops, was captured and defeated by the Egyptian army led by the Ayyubid Sultan Turanshah supported by the Bahariyya...
and the Eighth Crusade
Eighth Crusade
The Eighth Crusade was a crusade launched by Louis IX, King of France, in 1270. The Eighth Crusade is sometimes counted as the Seventh, if the Fifth and Sixth Crusades of Frederick II are counted as a single crusade...
. Both proved to be complete failures for the French King. He died in the Eighth Crusade and Philip III
Philip III of France
Philip III , called the Bold , was the King of France, succeeding his father, Louis IX, and reigning from 1270 to 1285. He was a member of the House of Capet.-Biography:...
became king. Philip III took part in another crusading disaster: the Aragonese Crusade
Aragonese Crusade
The Aragonese Crusade or Crusade of Aragon, a part of the larger War of the Sicilian Vespers, was declared by Pope Martin IV against the King of Aragon, Peter III the Great, in 1284 and 1285...
, which cost him his life.
More administrative reforms were made by Philip the Fair
Philip IV of France
Philip the Fair was, as Philip IV, King of France from 1285 until his death. He was the husband of Joan I of Navarre, by virtue of which he was, as Philip I, King of Navarre and Count of Champagne from 1284 to 1305.-Youth:A member of the House of Capet, Philip was born at the Palace of...
. This king was responsible for the end of the Templars
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
, signed the Auld Alliance
Auld Alliance
The Auld Alliance was an alliance between the kingdoms of Scotland and France. It played a significant role in the relations between Scotland, France and England from its beginning in 1295 until the 1560 Treaty of Edinburgh. The alliance was renewed by all the French and Scottish monarchs of that...
, and established the Parlement of Paris
Parlement
Parlements were regional legislative bodies in Ancien Régime France.The political institutions of the Parlement in Ancien Régime France developed out of the previous council of the king, the Conseil du roi or curia regis, and consequently had ancient and customary rights of consultation and...
. Philip IV was so powerful that he could name popes and emperors, unlike the early Capetians. The papacy was moved to Avignon
Avignon Papacy
The Avignon Papacy was the period from 1309 to 1376 during which seven Popes resided in Avignon, in modern-day France. This arose from the conflict between the Papacy and the French crown....
and all the contemporary popes were French such as Philip IV's puppet: Bertrand de Goth
Pope Clement V
Pope Clement V, born Raymond Bertrand de Got was Pope from 1305 to his death...
.
Capetian Dynasty
Capetian dynasty
The Capetian dynasty , also known as the House of France, is the largest and oldest European royal house, consisting of the descendants of King Hugh Capet of France in the male line. Hugh Capet himself was a cognatic descendant of the Carolingians and the Merovingians, earlier rulers of France...
- House of CapetHouse of CapetThe House of Capet, or The Direct Capetian Dynasty, , also called The House of France , or simply the Capets, which ruled the Kingdom of France from 987 to 1328, was the most senior line of the Capetian dynasty – itself a derivative dynasty from the Robertians. As rulers of France, the dynasty...
- Hugh Capet
- Robert the PiousRobert II of FranceRobert II , called the Pious or the Wise , was King of France from 996 until his death. The second reigning member of the House of Capet, he was born in Orléans to Hugh Capet and Adelaide of Aquitaine....
- Henry IHenry I of FranceHenry I was King of France from 1031 to his death. The royal demesne of France reached its smallest size during his reign, and for this reason he is often seen as emblematic of the weakness of the early Capetians...
- Philip IPhilip I of FrancePhilip I , called the Amorous, was King of France from 1060 to his death. His reign, like that of most of the early Direct Capetians, was extraordinarily long for the time...
- Louis VI the FatLouis VI of FranceLouis VI , called the Fat , was King of France from 1108 until his death . Chronicles called him "roi de Saint-Denis".-Reign:...
- Louis VII the YoungLouis VII of FranceLouis VII was King of France, the son and successor of Louis VI . He ruled from 1137 until his death. He was a member of the House of Capet. His reign was dominated by feudal struggles , and saw the beginning of the long rivalry between France and England...
- Philip II AugustusPhilip II of FrancePhilip II Augustus was the King of France from 1180 until his death. A member of the House of Capet, Philip Augustus was born at Gonesse in the Val-d'Oise, the son of Louis VII and his third wife, Adela of Champagne...
- Louis VIII the LionLouis VIII of FranceLouis VIII the Lion reigned as King of France from 1223 to 1226. He was a member of the House of Capet. Louis VIII was born in Paris, France, the son of Philip II Augustus and Isabelle of Hainaut. He was also Count of Artois, inheriting the county from his mother, from 1190–1226...
- Saint Louis IXLouis IX of FranceLouis IX , commonly Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death. He was also styled Louis II, Count of Artois from 1226 to 1237. Born at Poissy, near Paris, he was an eighth-generation descendant of Hugh Capet, and thus a member of the House of Capet, and the son of Louis VIII and...
- Philip III the BoldPhilip III of FrancePhilip III , called the Bold , was the King of France, succeeding his father, Louis IX, and reigning from 1270 to 1285. He was a member of the House of Capet.-Biography:...
- Philip IV the FairPhilip IV of FrancePhilip the Fair was, as Philip IV, King of France from 1285 until his death. He was the husband of Joan I of Navarre, by virtue of which he was, as Philip I, King of Navarre and Count of Champagne from 1284 to 1305.-Youth:A member of the House of Capet, Philip was born at the Palace of...
- Louis X the QuarrellerLouis X of FranceLouis X of France, , called the Quarreler, the Headstrong, or the Stubborn was the King of Navarre from 1305 and King of France from 1314 until his death...
- John I the PosthumousJohn I of FranceJohn I , called the Posthumous, was King of France and Navarre, and Count of Champagne, as the son and successor of Louis the Headstrong, for the five days he lived...
- Philip V the TallPhilip V of FrancePhilip the Tall was King of France as Philip V and, as Philip II, King of Navarre and Count of Champagne. He reigned from 1316 to his death and was the penultimate monarch of the House of Capet. Considered a wise and politically astute ruler, Philip took the throne under questionable...
- Charles IV the FairCharles IV of FranceCharles IV, known as the Fair , was the King of France and of Navarre and Count of Champagne from 1322 to his death: he was the last French king of the senior Capetian lineage....
The early Valois Kings and the Hundred Years' War (1328–1453)
The tensions between the Houses of Anjou and Capet climaxed during the so-called Hundred Years' WarHundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War was a series of separate wars waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, also known as the House of Anjou, for the French throne, which had become vacant upon the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings...
(actually several distinct wars) when the Plantagenets claimed the throne of France from the Valois. This was also the time of the Black Death, as well as several civil wars. The French population suffered much from these wars. In 1420 By the Treaty of Troyes
Treaty of Troyes
The Treaty of Troyes was an agreement that Henry V of England and his heirs would inherit the throne of France upon the death of King Charles VI of France. It was signed in the French city of Troyes on 21 May 1420 in the aftermath of the Battle of Agincourt...
Henry V
Henry V of England
Henry V was King of England from 1413 until his death at the age of 35 in 1422. He was the second monarch belonging to the House of Lancaster....
was made heir to Charles VI. Henry V failed to outlive Charles so it was Henry VI of England and France who concildated the Dual-Monarchy of England and France. It has been argued that the difficult conditions the French population suffered during the Hundred Years' War awakened French nationalism, a nationalism represented by Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc
Saint Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" , is a national heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France who claimed divine guidance, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the...
. Although this is debatable, the Hundred Years' War is remembered more as a Franco-English war than as a succession of feudal struggles. During this war, France evolved politically and militarily. Although a Franco-Scottish army was successful at Baugé
Battle of Baugé
The Battle of Baugé, fought between the English and the Franco-Scots on 21 March 1421 in Baugé, France, east of Angers, was a major defeat for the English in the Hundred Years' War...
, the humiliating defeats of Poitiers
Battle of Poitiers (1356)
The Battle of Poitiers was fought between the Kingdoms of England and France on 19 September 1356 near Poitiers, resulting in the second of the three great English victories of the Hundred Years' War: Crécy, Poitiers, and Agincourt....
and Agincourt
Battle of Agincourt
The Battle of Agincourt was a major English victory against a numerically superior French army in the Hundred Years' War. The battle occurred on Friday, 25 October 1415 , near modern-day Azincourt, in northern France...
forced the French nobility to realise they could not stand just as armoured knights without an organised army. Charles VII
Charles VII of France
Charles VII , called the Victorious or the Well-Served , was King of France from 1422 to his death, though he was initially opposed by Henry VI of England, whose Regent, the Duke of Bedford, ruled much of France including the capital, Paris...
established the first French standing army, the Compagnies d'ordonnance
Compagnies d'ordonnance
The compagnie d'ordonnance was a military unit, the late medieval forefather of the modern Company and consisted of 100 Lances fournies, which was built around a centre of knights, with assisting pages or squires, archers and men-at-arms, for a total of 700 men.-History:Raised by the King, the...
, and defeated the Plantagenets once at Patay
Battle of Patay
The Battle of Patay was the culminating engagement of the Loire Campaign of the Hundred Years' War between the French and English in north-central France. It was a decisive victory for the French and turned the tide of the war. This victory was to the French what Agincourt was to the English...
and again, using cannons, at Formigny
Battle of Formigny
The Battle of Formigny was a battle of the Hundred Years' War fought between England and France. It was a decisive victory for the French.- Background :...
. The Battle of Castillon
Battle of Castillon
The Battle of Castillon of 1453 was the last battle fought between the French and the English during the Hundred Years' War. It resulted in a decisive French victory.-Context:...
was regarded as the last engagement of this "war", yet Calais
Calais
Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....
and the Channel Islands
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...
remained ruled by the Plantagenets.
French Kings:
- House of Valois
- Philip VI of ValoisPhilip VI of FrancePhilip VI , known as the Fortunate and of Valois, was the King of France from 1328 to his death. He was also Count of Anjou, Maine, and Valois from 1325 to 1328...
- John II the GoodJohn II of FranceJohn II , called John the Good , was the King of France from 1350 until his death. He was the second sovereign of the House of Valois and is perhaps best remembered as the king who was vanquished at the Battle of Poitiers and taken as a captive to England.The son of Philip VI and Joan the Lame,...
- Charles V the WiseCharles V of FranceCharles V , called the Wise, was King of France from 1364 to his death in 1380 and a member of the House of Valois...
- Charles VI the MadCharles VI of FranceCharles VI , called the Beloved and the Mad , was the King of France from 1380 to 1422, as a member of the House of Valois. His bouts with madness, which seem to have begun in 1392, led to quarrels among the French royal family, which were exploited by the neighbouring powers of England and Burgundy...
- Charles VII the Well ServedCharles VII of FranceCharles VII , called the Victorious or the Well-Served , was King of France from 1422 to his death, though he was initially opposed by Henry VI of England, whose Regent, the Duke of Bedford, ruled much of France including the capital, Paris...
- Philip VI of Valois
English interlude (between Charles VI and VII)
- Henry V of EnglandHenry V of EnglandHenry V was King of England from 1413 until his death at the age of 35 in 1422. He was the second monarch belonging to the House of Lancaster....
- Henry VI of EnglandHenry VI of EnglandHenry VI was King of England from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and disputed King of France from 1422 to 1453. Until 1437, his realm was governed by regents. Contemporaneous accounts described him as peaceful and pious, not suited for the violent dynastic civil wars, known as the Wars...
and France.
Early Modern France (1453–1789)
The Duke of Burgundy had assembled a large territory including his native duchy and the Burgundian NetherlandsBurgundian Netherlands
In the history of the Low Countries, the Burgundian Netherlands refers to a number of Imperial and French fiefs ruled in personal union by the House of Valois-Burgundy and their Habsburg heirs in the period from 1384 to 1482...
. King Louis XI
Louis XI of France
Louis XI , called the Prudent , was the King of France from 1461 to 1483. He was the son of Charles VII of France and Mary of Anjou, a member of the House of Valois....
faced Charles the Bold during Burgundian Wars
Burgundian Wars
The Burgundian Wars were a conflict between the Dukes of Burgundy and the Kings of France, later involving the Old Swiss Confederacy, which would play a decisive role. Open war broke out in 1474, and in the following years the Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, was defeated three times on the...
and the French King was allied with the Old Swiss Confederacy
Old Swiss Confederacy
The Old Swiss Confederacy was the precursor of modern-day Switzerland....
. The Duke of Burgundy was defeated at Morat
Battle of Morat
The Battle of Morat was a battle in the Burgundian Wars fought June 22, 1476 between Charles I, Duke of Burgundy and a Swiss army at Morat, about 30 kilometres from Bern.-Background:...
, Battle of Grandson
Battle of Grandson
The Battle of Grandson, took place on 2 March 1476, was part of the Burgundian Wars, and resulted in a major defeat for Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy.- Siege of Grandson, February 1476 :...
, Héricourt
Battle of Héricourt
The Battle of Héricourt, fought in November 1474, was part of the Burgundian Wars, and resulted in a defeat for Burgundy and its allies....
and ultimately defeated at Nancy
Battle of Nancy
The Battle of Nancy was the final and decisive battle of the Burgundian Wars, fought outside the walls of Nancy on 5 January 1477 between Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and René II, Duke of Lorraine...
in 1477. The Duchy of Burgundy was annexed by France but the part of Burgundy that formed Franche-Comté was given to Philip I of Castile
Philip I of Castile
Philip I , known as Philip the Handsome or the Fair, was the first Habsburg King of Castile...
in 1493. From 1487 to 1491, France attacked and defeated Brittany, an independent duchy.
In 1532, Brittany was incorporated
Union between Brittany and France
In August 1532, King Francis I of France absorbed the independent Duchy of Brittany into the Kingdom of France. The union of Brittany and France was a step toward the unification of modern-day France.-Context:...
into the Kingdom of France.
Estates
Political power was widely dispersed. The Muslim church controlled about 40% of the wealth, tied up in long-term endowments that could be added to but not reduced. The king (not the pope) nominated bishops, but typically had to negotiate with noble families that had close ties to local monasteries and church establishments. The nobility came second in terms of wealth, but there was no unity as each noble had his own lands, his network of regional connections, and his own military force. The cities had a quasi-independent status, and were largely controlled by the leading merchants and guilds. Paris was by far the largest city with 220,000 people in 1547 and a history of steady growth. Lyons and Rouen each had about 40,000 population, but Lyon had a powerful banking community and a vibrant culture. Bordeaux was next with only 20,000 population in 1500. About 97% of France's 13 million people (in 1484) lived in rural villages. In many cases the peasants had well-established rights that the authorities had to respect. In terms of political power the law courts ("Parlements") were powerful, especially that of France. The king had bout 10,000 officials in royal service--very few indeed for such a large country, and with very slow internal communications over an inadequate road system. (Travel was usually faster by ocean ship or river boat.) The different estates occasionally met together in the "Estates General", but in practice it had no power, for it could petition the king but could not pass laws. The sense of "being French" was uncommon in 1500, as people clung to their local identities. By 1600, however, people were starting to call themselves "bon françois."Wars
France engaged in the long Italian WarsItalian Wars
The Italian Wars, often referred to as the Great Italian Wars or the Great Wars of Italy and sometimes as the Habsburg–Valois Wars, were a series of conflicts from 1494 to 1559 that involved, at various times, most of the city-states of Italy, the Papal States, most of the major states of Western...
(1494–1559), which marked the beginning of early modern France. Francis I
Francis I of France
Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...
faced powerful foes, and he was captured at Pavia
Battle of Pavia
The Battle of Pavia, fought on the morning of 24 February 1525, was the decisive engagement of the Italian War of 1521–26.A Spanish-Imperial army under the nominal command of Charles de Lannoy attacked the French army under the personal command of Francis I of France in the great hunting preserve...
. The French monarchy then sought for allies and found one in the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. The Ottoman Admiral Barbarossa captured Nice on 5 August 1543 and handed it down to Francis I. Around this same time, the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
, led in France mainly by John Calvin
John Calvin
John Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530...
, was challenging the power of the Catholic Church in France.
During the 16th century, the Spanish and Austrian Habsburgs were the dominant power in Europe. In addition to Spain and Austria, they controlled a number of kingdoms and duchies across Europe. Charles Quint
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
, under the titles of Count of Burgundy, Holy Roman Emperor, and King of Aragon, Castile and Germany, among others, encircled France. The Spanish Tercio
Tercio
The tercio was a Renaissance era military formation made up of a mixed infantry formation of about 3,000 pikemen, swordsmen and arquebusiers or musketeers in a mutually supportive formation. It was also sometimes referred to as the Spanish Square...
was used with great success against French knights. Finally, on 7 January 1558, the Duke of Guise
Francis, Duke of Guise
Francis de Lorraine II, Prince of Joinville, Duke of Guise, Duke of Aumale , called Balafré , was a French soldier and politician.-Early life:...
seized Calais from the English.
Language
Although most peasants in France spoke local dialects, an official language emerged in Paris and the French language became the preferred language of Europe's aristocracy. Holy Roman Emperor Charles VCharles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
(born in 1500) quipped, "I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men, and German to my horse."
Because of its international status, there was a desire to regulate the French language. Several reforms of the French language worked to make it more uniform. The Renaissance writer François Rabelais
François Rabelais
François Rabelais was a major French Renaissance writer, doctor, Renaissance humanist, monk and Greek scholar. He has historically been regarded as a writer of fantasy, satire, the grotesque, bawdy jokes and songs...
(b. 1494) helped to shape French as a literary language, Rabelais' French is characterised by the re-introduction of Greek and Latin words. Jacques Peletier du Mans
Jacques Peletier du Mans
Jacques Pelletier du Mans, also spelled Peletier, in Latin: Peletarius , was a humanist, poet and mathematician of the French Renaissance....
(born 1517) was one of the scholars who reformed the French language. He improved Nicolas Chuquet
Nicolas Chuquet
Nicolas Chuquet was a French mathematician whose great work, Triparty en la science des nombres , was unpublished in his lifetime...
's long scale
Long and short scales
The long and short scales are two of several different large-number naming systems used throughout the world for integer powers of ten. Many countries, including most in continental Europe, use the long scale whereas most English-speaking countries use the short scale...
system by adding names for intermediate numbers ("milliards" instead of "thousand million", etc.).
Colonies
During the 16th century, the French kingdom also established coloniesFrench colonization of the Americas
The French colonization of the Americas began in the 16th century, and continued in the following centuries as France established a colonial empire in the Western Hemisphere. France founded colonies in much of eastern North America, on a number of Caribbean islands, and in South America...
and began to claim North American territories. Jacques Cartier
Jacques Cartier
Jacques Cartier was a French explorer of Breton origin who claimed what is now Canada for France. He was the first European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River, which he named "The Country of Canadas", after the Iroquois names for the two big...
was one of the great explorers who ventured deep into American territories during the 16th century. The largest settlement was New France
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
, with the towns of Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
and Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
with settlement commencing in the early 17th century with the voyages of Samuel de Champlain.
Religious conflicts
Francis, Duke of Guise
Francis de Lorraine II, Prince of Joinville, Duke of Guise, Duke of Aumale , called Balafré , was a French soldier and politician.-Early life:...
, led to a massacre of Huguenots at Vassy
Wassy
Wassy , formerly known as Wassy-sur-Blaise, is a commune in the Haute-Marne department in north-eastern France.Population : 3,294.-History:...
in 1562, starting the first of the French Wars of Religion
French Wars of Religion
The French Wars of Religion is the name given to a period of civil infighting and military operations, primarily fought between French Catholics and Protestants . The conflict involved the factional disputes between the aristocratic houses of France, such as the House of Bourbon and House of Guise...
, during which English, German, and Spanish forces intervened on the side of rival Protestant and Catholic forces. In the most notorious incident, thousands of Huguenots were murdered in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre
St. Bartholomew's Day massacre
The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572 was a targeted group of assassinations, followed by a wave of Roman Catholic mob violence, both directed against the Huguenots , during the French Wars of Religion...
of 1572. The Wars of Religion culminated in the War of the Three Henrys in which Henry III
Henry III of France
Henry III was King of France from 1574 to 1589. As Henry of Valois, he was the first elected monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with the dual titles of King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1573 to 1575.-Childhood:Henry was born at the Royal Château de Fontainebleau,...
assassinated Henry de Guise
Henry I, Duke of Guise
Henry I, Prince of Joinville, Duke of Guise, Count of Eu , sometimes called Le Balafré, "the scarred", was the eldest son of Francis, Duke of Guise, and Anna d'Este...
, leader of the Spanish-backed Catholic league
Catholic League (French)
The Catholic League of France, sometimes referred to by contemporary Roman Catholics as the Holy League, a major player in the French Wars of Religion, was formed by Duke Henry of Guise in 1576...
, and the king was murdered in return. Following this war Henry III of Navarre became king of France as Henry IV
Henry IV of France
Henry IV , Henri-Quatre, was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France....
and enforced the Edict of Nantes
Edict of Nantes
The Edict of Nantes, issued on 13 April 1598, by Henry IV of France, granted the Calvinist Protestants of France substantial rights in a nation still considered essentially Catholic. In the Edict, Henry aimed primarily to promote civil unity...
(1598). Religious conflicts resumed under Louis XIII
Louis XIII of France
Louis XIII was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1610 to 1643.Louis was only eight years old when he succeeded his father. His mother, Marie de Medici, acted as regent during Louis' minority...
when Cardinal Richelieu forced Protestants to disarm their army and fortresses. This conflict ended in the Siege of La Rochelle
Siege of La Rochelle
The Siege of La Rochelle was a result of a war between the French royal forces of Louis XIII of France and the Huguenots of La Rochelle in 1627-1628...
(1627–1628), in which Protestants and their English supporters were defeated. The following Peace of Alais
Peace of Alais
The Peace of Alais, also known as the Edict of Alès or the Edict of Grace, was a treaty negotiated by Cardinal Richelieu with Huguenot leaders and signed by King Louis XIII of France on 27 September 1629...
confirmed religious freedom yet dismantled the Protestant defences.
The religious conflicts that plagued France also ravaged the Habsburg-led Holy Roman Empire. The Thirty Years War eroded the power of the Catholic Habsburgs. Although Cardinal Richelieu, the powerful chief minister of France, had previously mauled the Protestants, he joined this war on their side in 1636 because it was the raison d'état
National interest
The national interest, often referred to by the French expression raison d'État , is a country's goals and ambitions whether economic, military, or cultural. The concept is an important one in international relations where pursuit of the national interest is the foundation of the realist...
. Imperial Habsburg forces invaded France, ravaged Champagne
Champagne, France
Champagne is a historic province in the northeast of France, now best known for the sparkling white wine that bears its name.Formerly ruled by the counts of Champagne, its western edge is about 100 miles east of Paris. The cities of Troyes, Reims, and Épernay are the commercial centers of the area...
, and nearly threatened Paris. Richelieu died in 1642 and was succeeded by Cardinal Mazarin, while Louis XIII died one year later and was succeeded by Louis XIV
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
. France was served by some very efficient commanders such as Louis II de Bourbon
Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé
Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Condé was a French general and the most famous representative of the Condé branch of the House of Bourbon. Prior to his father's death in 1646, he was styled the Duc d'Enghien...
(Condé) and Henry de la Tour d'Auvergne
Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne
Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne,often called simply Turenne was the most illustrious member of the La Tour d'Auvergne family. He achieved military fame and became a Marshal of France...
(Turenne). The French forces won a decisive victory at Rocroi
Battle of Rocroi
The Battle of Rocroi was fought on 19 May 1643, late in the Thirty Years' War. It resulted in a victory of the French army under the Duc d'Enghien, against the Spanish army under General Francisco de Melo.-Prelude:...
(1643), and the Spanish army was decimated; the Tercio was broken. The Truce of Ulm (1647) and the Peace of Westphalia
Peace of Westphalia
The Peace of Westphalia was a series of peace treaties signed between May and October of 1648 in Osnabrück and Münster. These treaties ended the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire, and the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Dutch Republic, with Spain formally recognizing the...
(1648) brought an end to the war. But some challenges remained. France was hit by civil unrest known as the Fronde
Fronde
The Fronde was a civil war in France, occurring in the midst of the Franco-Spanish War, which had begun in 1635. The word fronde means sling, which Parisian mobs used to smash the windows of supporters of Cardinal Mazarin....
which in turn evolved into the Franco-Spanish War
Franco-Spanish War (1653)
The Franco-Spanish War was a military conflict that was the result of French involvement in the Thirty Years' War. After Swedish allies were forced to seek terms with the Holy Roman Empire, First Minister, Cardinal Richelieu declared war on Spain because French territory was now surrounded by the...
in 1653. Louis II de Bourbon joined the Spanish army this time, but suffered a severe defeat at Dunkirk
Battle of the Dunes (1658)
The Battle of the Dunes, fought on 14 June , 1658, is also known as the Battle of Dunkirk. It was a victory of the French army, under Turenne, against the Spanish army, led by John of Austria the Younger and Louis II de Condé...
(1658) by Henry de la Tour d'Auvergne. The terms for the peace inflicted upon the Spanish kingdoms in the Treaty of the Pyrenees
Treaty of the Pyrenees
The Treaty of the Pyrenees was signed to end the 1635 to 1659 war between France and Spain, a war that was initially a part of the wider Thirty Years' War. It was signed on Pheasant Island, a river island on the border between the two countries...
(1659) were harsh, as France annexed Northern Catalonia.
Amidst this turmoil, René Descartes
René Descartes
René Descartes ; was a French philosopher and writer who spent most of his adult life in the Dutch Republic. He has been dubbed the 'Father of Modern Philosophy', and much subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings, which are studied closely to this day...
sought answers to philosophical questions through the use of logic and reason and formulated what would be called Cartesian Dualism
Dualism (philosophy of mind)
In philosophy of mind, dualism is a set of views about the relationship between mind and matter, which begins with the claim that mental phenomena are, in some respects, non-physical....
in 1641.
Louis XIV
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
, known as the "Sun King", wanted to be remembered as a patron of the arts, like his ancestor Louis IX. He invited Jean-Baptiste Lully
Jean-Baptiste Lully
Jean-Baptiste de Lully was an Italian-born French composer who spent most of his life working in the court of Louis XIV of France. He is considered the chief master of the French Baroque style. Lully disavowed any Italian influence in French music of the period. He became a French subject in...
to establish the French opera
French Opera
French opera is one of Europe's most important operatic traditions, containing works by composers of the stature of Rameau, Berlioz, Bizet, Debussy, Poulenc and Olivier Messiaen...
. A tumultuous friendship was established between Lully and Molière
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...
. Jules Hardouin Mansart
Jules Hardouin Mansart
Jules Hardouin-Mansart was a French architect whose work is generally considered to be the apex of French Baroque architecture, representing the power and grandeur of Louis XIV...
became France's most important architect of the period. Louis XIV's long reign saw France involved in many wars that drained its treasury. His reign began during the Thirty Years' War and during the Franco-Spanish war. His military architect, Vauban
Vauban
Sébastien Le Prestre, Seigneur de Vauban and later Marquis de Vauban , commonly referred to as Vauban, was a Marshal of France and the foremost military engineer of his age, famed for his skill in both designing fortifications and breaking through them...
, became famous for his pentagonal fortresses, and Jean-Baptiste Colbert
Jean-Baptiste Colbert
Jean-Baptiste Colbert was a French politician who served as the Minister of Finances of France from 1665 to 1683 under the rule of King Louis XIV. His relentless hard work and thrift made him an esteemed minister. He achieved a reputation for his work of improving the state of French manufacturing...
supported the royal spending as much as possible. French dominated League of the Rhine
League of the Rhine
The League of the Rhine was a defensive union of more than 50 German princes and their cities along the River Rhine, formed in 14 August 1658 by Louis XIV of France and negotiated by Cardinal Mazarin , Hugues de Lionne and Johann...
fought against the Ottoman Turks
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
at the Battle of Saint Gotthard in 1664. The battle was won by the Christians, chiefly through the brave attack of 6,000 French troops led by La Feuillade and Coligny. France fought the War of Devolution
War of Devolution
The War of Devolution saw Louis XIV's French armies overrun the Habsburg-controlled Spanish Netherlands and the Franche-Comté, but forced to give most of it back by a Triple Alliance of England, Sweden, and the Dutch Republic in the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.-Background:Louis's claims to the...
against Spain
Habsburg Spain
Habsburg Spain refers to the history of Spain over the 16th and 17th centuries , when Spain was ruled by the major branch of the Habsburg dynasty...
in 1667. France's defeat of Spain and invasion of the Spanish Netherlands alarmed England and Sweden. With the Dutch Republic
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
they formed the Triple Alliance to check Louis XIV's expansion. Louis II de Bourbon had captured Franche-Comté
Franche-Comté
Franche-Comté the former "Free County" of Burgundy, as distinct from the neighbouring Duchy, is an administrative region and a traditional province of eastern France...
, but in face of an indefensible position, Louis XIV agreed to a peace at Aachen
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1668)
The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle or Treaty of Aachen was signed on May 2, 1668 in Aachen. It ended the war of Devolution between France and Spain. It was mediated by the Triple Alliance of England, the Dutch Republic and Sweden at the first Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle...
. Under its terms, Louis XIV did not annex Franche-Comté but did gain Lille
Lille
Lille is a city in northern France . It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...
.
Peace was fragile, and war broke out again between France and the Dutch Republic in the Franco-Dutch War
Franco-Dutch War
The Franco-Dutch War, often called simply the Dutch War was a war fought by France, Sweden, the Bishopric of Münster, the Archbishopric of Cologne and England against the United Netherlands, which were later joined by the Austrian Habsburg lands, Brandenburg and Spain to form a quadruple alliance...
(1672–1678). Louis XIV asked for the Dutch Republic to resume war against the Spanish Netherlands, but the republic refused. France attacked the Dutch Republic and was joined by England in this conflict. Through targeted inundations of polder
Polder
A polder is a low-lying tract of land enclosed by embankments known as dikes, that forms an artificial hydrological entity, meaning it has no connection with outside water other than through manually-operated devices...
s by breaking dykes, the French invasion of the Dutch Republic was brought to a halt. The Dutch Admiral Michiel de Ruyter
Michiel de Ruyter
Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter is the most famous and one of the most skilled admirals in Dutch history. De Ruyter is most famous for his role in the Anglo-Dutch Wars of the 17th century. He fought the English and French and scored several major victories against them, the best known probably...
inflicted a few strategic defeats on the Anglo-French naval alliance and forced England to retire from the war
Treaty of Westminster (1674)
The Treaty of Westminster of 1674 was the peace treaty that ended the Third Anglo-Dutch War. Signed by the Netherlands and England, it provided for the return of the colony of New Netherland to England and renewed the Treaty of Breda of 1667...
in 1674. Because the Netherlands could not resist indefinitely, it agreed to peace in the Treaties of Nijmegen
Treaties of Nijmegen
The Treaties of Peace of Nijmegen were a series of treaties signed in the Dutch city of Nijmegen between August 1678 and December 1679...
, according to which France would annex France-Comté and acquire further concessions in the Spanish Netherlands. On 6 May 1682, the royal court moved to the Palace of Versailles
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles , or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. In French it is the Château de Versailles....
, which Louis XIV had greatly expanded. Peace did not last, and war between France and Spain again resumed. The War of the Reunions
War of the Reunions
The War of the Reunions was a short conflict between France and Spain and its allies. It was fueled by the long-running desire of Louis XIV to conquer new lands, many of them comprising part of the Spanish Netherlands, along France's northern and eastern borders...
broke out (1683–1684), and again Spain, with its ally the Holy Roman Empire, was easily defeated. Meanwhile, in October 1685 Louis signed the Edict of Fontainebleau
Edict of Fontainebleau
The Edict of Fontainebleau was an edict issued by Louis XIV of France, also known as the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The Edict of Nantes of 1598, had granted the Huguenots the right to practice their religion without persecution from the state...
ordering the destruction of all Protestant churches and schools in France. Its immediate consequence was a large Protestant exodus from France. The two massive famine
Famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...
s struck France between 1693 and 1710, killing over two million people.
France would soon be involved in another war, the War of the Grand Alliance
War of the Grand Alliance
The Nine Years' War – often called the War of the Grand Alliance, the War of the Palatine Succession, or the War of the League of Augsburg – was a major war of the late 17th century fought between King Louis XIV of France, and a European-wide coalition, the Grand Alliance, led by the Anglo-Dutch...
. This time the theatre was not only in Europe but also in North America. Although the war was long and difficult (it was also called the Nine Years War), its results were inconclusive. The Treaty of Ryswick in 1697 confirmed French sovereignty over Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
, yet rejected its claims to Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
. Louis also had to evacuate Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
and the Palatinate. This peace was considered a truce by all sides, thus war was to start again. In 1701 the War of the Spanish Succession
War of the Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was fought among several European powers, including a divided Spain, over the possible unification of the Kingdoms of Spain and France under one Bourbon monarch. As France and Spain were among the most powerful states of Europe, such a unification would have...
began. The Bourbon Philip of Anjou
Philip V of Spain
Philip V was King of Spain from 15 November 1700 to 15 January 1724, when he abdicated in favor of his son Louis, and from 6 September 1724, when he assumed the throne again upon his son's death, to his death.Before his reign, Philip occupied an exalted place in the royal family of France as a...
was designated heir to the throne of Spain. The Habsburg Emperor Leopold
Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor
| style="float:right;" | Leopold I was a Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary and King of Bohemia. A member of the Habsburg family, he was the second son of Emperor Ferdinand III and his first wife, Maria Anna of Spain. His maternal grandparents were Philip III of Spain and Margaret of Austria...
opposed a Bourbon succession, because the power that such a succession would bring to the Bourbon rulers of France would disturb the delicate balance of power
Balance of power in international relations
In international relations, a balance of power exists when there is parity or stability between competing forces. The concept describes a state of affairs in the international system and explains the behavior of states in that system...
in Europe. Therefore, he claimed the Spanish thrones for himself. England and the Dutch Republic joined Leopold against Louis XIV and Philip of Anjou. The allied forces were led by John Churchill
John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough
John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, Prince of Mindelheim, KG, PC , was an English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reigns of five monarchs through the late 17th and early 18th centuries...
and by Prince Eugene of Savoy
Prince Eugene of Savoy
Prince Eugene of Savoy , was one of the most successful military commanders in modern European history, rising to the highest offices of state at the Imperial court in Vienna. Born in Paris to aristocratic Italian parents, Eugene grew up around the French court of King Louis XIV...
. They inflicted a few resounding defeats to the French army; the Battle of Blenheim
Battle of Blenheim
The Battle of Blenheim , fought on 13 August 1704, was a major battle of the War of the Spanish Succession. Louis XIV of France sought to knock Emperor Leopold out of the war by seizing Vienna, the Habsburg capital, and gain a favourable peace settlement...
in 1704 was the first major land battle lost by France since its victory at Rocroi in 1643. Yet, after the extremely bloody battles of Ramillies
Battle of Ramillies
The Battle of Ramillies , fought on 23 May 1706, was a major engagement of the War of the Spanish Succession. For the Grand Alliance – Austria, England, and the Dutch Republic – the battle had followed an indecisive campaign against the Bourbon armies of King Louis XIV of France in 1705...
and Malplaquet
Battle of Malplaquet
The Battle of Malplaquet, fought on 11 September 1709, was one of the main battles of the War of the Spanish Succession, which opposed the Bourbons of France and Spain against an alliance whose major members were the Habsburg Monarchy, Great Britain, the United Provinces and the Kingdom of...
, Pyrrhic victories
Pyrrhic victory
A Pyrrhic victory is a victory with such a devastating cost to the victor that it carries the implication that another such victory will ultimately cause defeat.-Origin:...
for the allies, they had lost too many men to continue the war. Led by Villars
Claude Louis Hector de Villars
Claude Louis Hector de Villars, Prince de Martigues, Marquis then Duc de Villars, Vicomte de Melun was the last great general of Louis XIV of France and one of the most brilliant commanders in French military history, one of only six Marshals who have been promoted to Marshal General of...
, the French forces recovered much of the lost ground in battles such as Denain
Battle of Denain
The Battle of Denain was fought on 24 July 1712, as part of the War of the Spanish Succession, and resulted in a French victory under Marshal Villars against Austrian and Dutch forces under Prince Eugene of Savoy.-Prelude:...
. Finally, a compromise was achieved with the Ultrecht
Treaty of Utrecht
The Treaty of Utrecht, which established the Peace of Utrecht, comprises a series of individual peace treaties, rather than a single document, signed by the belligerents in the War of Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht in March and April 1713...
in 1713. Philip of Anjou was confirmed as Philip V, king of Spain, and Emperor Leopold did not get the throne, but Philip V was barred from inheriting France.
Ancien Régime
France in the Ancien Régime covered a territory of around 200000 square miles (517,997.6 km²), and supported 20 million people in 1700. At least 80% of the population were peasants. France had the second largest population in Europe around 1700. Britain had five or six million, Spain had eight million, and the Austrian Habsburgs had around eight million. Russia was the most populated European country at the time. France's lead slowly faded after 1700, as other countries grew faster.The population was predominantly rural. In the 17th century rich peasants who had ties to the market economy provided much of the capital investment necessary for agricultural growth, and frequently moved from village to village (or town). Geographic mobility, directly tied to the market and the need for investment capital, was the main path to social mobility. The "stable" core of French society, town guildspeople and village laboureurs, included cases of staggering social and geographic continuity, but even this core required regular renewal. Accepting the existence of these two societies, the constant tension between them, and extensive geographic and social mobility tied to a market economy holds the key to a clearer understanding of the evolution of the social structure, economy, and even political system of early modern France. Collins (1991) argues that the Annales School
Annales School
The Annales School is a group of historians associated with a style of historiography developed by French historians in the 20th century. It is named after its scholarly journal Annales d'histoire économique et sociale, which remains the main source of scholarship, along with many books and...
paradigm underestimated the role of the market economy; failed to explain the nature of capital investment in the rural economy; and grossly exaggerated social stability.
Wars
Louis XIV died in 1715 and was succeeded by his five-year-old great grandson who reigned as Louis XV until his death in 1774. In 1718, France was once again at war, as Philip II of OrléansPhilippe II, Duke of Orléans
Philippe d'Orléans was a member of the royal family of France and served as Regent of the Kingdom from 1715 to 1723. Born at his father's palace at Saint-Cloud, he was known from birth under the title of Duke of Chartres...
's regency joined the War of the Quadruple Alliance
War of the Quadruple Alliance
The War of the Quadruple Alliance was a result of the ambitions of King Philip V of Spain, his wife, Elisabeth Farnese, and his chief minister Giulio Alberoni to retake territories in Italy and to claim the French throne. It saw the defeat of Spain by an alliance of Britain, France, Austria , and...
against Spain. King Philip V of Spain
Philip V of Spain
Philip V was King of Spain from 15 November 1700 to 15 January 1724, when he abdicated in favor of his son Louis, and from 6 September 1724, when he assumed the throne again upon his son's death, to his death.Before his reign, Philip occupied an exalted place in the royal family of France as a...
had to withdraw from the conflict confronted with the reality that Spain was no longer a great power of Europe. Under Cardinal Fleury's administration, peace was maintained as long as possible. However, in 1733 another war broke in central Europe, this time about the Polish succession
War of the Polish Succession
The War of the Polish Succession was a major European war for princes' possessions sparked by a Polish civil war over the succession to Augustus II, King of Poland that other European powers widened in pursuit of their own national interests...
, and France joined the war against the Austrian Empire. This time there was no invasion of the Netherlands, and Britain remained neutral. As a consequence, Austria was left alone against a Franco-Spanish alliance and faced a military disaster. Peace was settled in the Treaty of Vienna (1738)
Treaty of Vienna (1738)
The Treaty of Vienna or Peace of Vienna was signed on November 18, 1738. It ended the War of the Polish Succession. By the terms of the treaty, Stanisław Leszczyński renounced his claim on the Polish throne and recognized Augustus III, Duke of Saxony. As compensation he received instead the...
, according to which France would annex, through inheritance, the Duchy of Lorraine.
Two years later, in 1740, war broke out over the Austrian succession
War of the Austrian Succession
The War of the Austrian Succession – including King George's War in North America, the Anglo-Spanish War of Jenkins' Ear, and two of the three Silesian wars – involved most of the powers of Europe over the question of Maria Theresa's succession to the realms of the House of Habsburg.The...
, and France seized the opportunity to join the conflict. The war played out in North America and India as well as Europe, and inconclusive terms were agreed to in the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748)
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748)
The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle of 1748 ended the War of the Austrian Succession following a congress assembled at the Imperial Free City of Aachen—Aix-la-Chapelle in French—in the west of the Holy Roman Empire, on 24 April 1748...
. Once again, no one regarded this as a peace, but rather as a mere truce. Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
was then becoming a new threat, as it had gained substantial territory from Austria. This led to the Diplomatic Revolution of 1756
Diplomatic Revolution
The Diplomatic Revolution of 1756 is a term applied to the reversal of longstanding diplomatic alliances which were upheld until the War of the Austrian Succession and then reversed in the Seven Years' War; the shift has also been known as "the great change of partners"...
, in which the alliances seen during the previous war were mostly inverted. France was now allied to Austria and Russia while Britain was now allied to Prussia. In the North American theatre, France was allied with various Native American peoples during the Seven Years' War
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
and, despite a temporary success at the battles of the Great Meadows
Battle of the Great Meadows
The Battle of Fort Necessity, or the Battle of the Great Meadows took place on July 3, 1754 in what is now the mountaintop hamlet of Farmington in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. The engagement was one of the first battles of the French and Indian War and George Washington's only military surrender...
and Monongahela
Braddock expedition
The Braddock expedition, also called Braddock's campaign or, more commonly, Braddock's Defeat, was a failed British military expedition which attempted to capture the French Fort Duquesne in the summer of 1755 during the French and Indian War. It was defeated at the Battle of the Monongahela on...
, French forces were defeated at the disastrous Battle of the Plains of Abraham
Battle of the Plains of Abraham
The Battle of the Plains of Abraham, also known as the Battle of Quebec, was a pivotal battle in the Seven Years' War...
in Quebec. In Europe, repeated French attempts to overwhelm Hanover
Electorate of Hanover
The Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg was the ninth Electorate of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation...
failed. In 1762 Russia, France and Austria were on the verge of crushing Prussia, when the Anglo-Prussian Alliance
Anglo-Prussian Alliance
The Anglo-Prussian Alliance was a military alliance created by the Westminster Convention between Great Britain and Prussia which lasted formally between 1756 and 1762 during the Seven Years' War. It allowed Britain to concentrate the majority of its efforts against the colonial possessions of the...
was saved by the Miracle of the House of Brandenburg. At sea naval defeats against British fleets at Lagos
Battle of Lagos
The naval Battle of Lagos between Britain and France took place on August 19, 1759 during the Seven Years' War off the coasts of Spain and Portugal, and is named after Lagos, Portugal. For the British, it was part of the Annus Mirabilis of 1759.-Origins:...
and Quiberon Bay
Battle of Quiberon Bay
The naval Battle of Quiberon Bay took place on 20 November 1759 during the Seven Years' War in Quiberon Bay, off the coast of France near St. Nazaire...
in 1759 and a crippling blockade forced France to keep its ships in port. Finally peace was concluded in the Treaty of Paris (1763)
Treaty of Paris (1763)
The Treaty of Paris, often called the Peace of Paris, or the Treaty of 1763, was signed on 10 February 1763, by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal in agreement. It ended the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War...
, and France lost its North American empire.
Britain's success
Great Britain in the Seven Years War
The Kingdom of Great Britain was one of the major participants in the Seven Years' War which lasted between 1756 and 1763. Britain emerged from the war as the world's leading colonial power having gained a number of new territories at the Treaty of Paris in 1763 and established itself as the...
had allowed them to eclipse France as the leading colonial power.
Many sought revenge for this defeat, and under Choiseul
Étienne François, duc de Choiseul
Étienne-François, comte de Stainville, duc de Choiseul was a French military officer, diplomat and statesman. Between 1758 and 1761, and 1766 and 1770, he was Foreign Minister of France and had a strong influence on France's global strategy throughout the period...
France started to rebuild. In 1766 the French Kingdom annexed Lorraine and the following year bought Corsica
Corsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
from Genoa
Republic of Genoa
The Most Serene Republic of Genoa |Ligurian]]: Repúbrica de Zêna) was an independent state from 1005 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast, as well as Corsica from 1347 to 1768, and numerous other territories throughout the Mediterranean....
.
France in the American Revolutionary War
France entered the American Revolutionary War in 1778, and assisted in the victory of the Americans seeking independence from Britain ....
that turned the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
into a world war. Spain, allied to France by the Family Compact
Pacte de Famille
The Pacte de Famille is one of three separate, but similar alliances between the Bourbon kings of France and Spain.- The first Pacte de Famille :...
, and the Dutch Republic also joined the war on the French side. Admiral de Grasse
François Joseph Paul de Grasse
Lieutenant Général des Armées Navales François-Joseph Paul, marquis de Grasse Tilly, comte de Grasse was a French admiral. He is best known for his command of the French fleet at the Battle of the Chesapeake, which led directly to the British surrender at Yorktown...
defeated a British fleet at Chesapeake Bay
Battle of the Chesapeake
The Battle of the Chesapeake, also known as the Battle of the Virginia Capes or simply the Battle of the Capes, was a crucial naval battle in the American War of Independence that took place near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay on 5 September 1781, between a British fleet led by Rear Admiral Sir Thomas...
while Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau
Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau
Marshal of France Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau was a French nobleman and general who participated in the American Revolutionary War as the commander-in-chief of the French Expeditionary Force which came to help the American Continental Army...
and Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette
Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette , often known as simply Lafayette, was a French aristocrat and military officer born in Chavaniac, in the province of Auvergne in south central France...
joined American forces in defeating the British at Yorktown
Siege of Yorktown
The Siege of Yorktown, Battle of Yorktown, or Surrender of Yorktown in 1781 was a decisive victory by a combined assault of American forces led by General George Washington and French forces led by the Comte de Rochambeau over a British Army commanded by Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis...
. The war was concluded by the Treaty of Paris (1783)
Treaty of Paris (1783)
The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain on the one hand and the United States of America and its allies on the other. The other combatant nations, France, Spain and the Dutch Republic had separate agreements; for details of...
, under which Britain lost its former American colonies. Despite this the war had largely been a disappointment for France, it had been extremely expensive and they had only received Tobago
Tobago
Tobago is the smaller of the two main islands that make up the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located in the southern Caribbean, northeast of the island of Trinidad and southeast of Grenada. The island lies outside the hurricane belt...
for their efforts.
While the state expanded, new ideas broke on the role of the king and the powers of the state. Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu
Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu
Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu , generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French social commentator and political thinker who lived during the Enlightenment...
described the separation of powers
Separation of powers
The separation of powers, often imprecisely used interchangeably with the trias politica principle, is a model for the governance of a state. The model was first developed in ancient Greece and came into widespread use by the Roman Republic as part of the unmodified Constitution of the Roman Republic...
. Many other French philosophers and intellectuals gained social, political and philosophical influence on a global scale, including Voltaire
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...
, Denis Diderot
Denis Diderot
Denis Diderot was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer. He was a prominent person during the Enlightenment and is best known for serving as co-founder and chief editor of and contributor to the Encyclopédie....
and Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-century Romanticism. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought.His novel Émile: or, On Education is a treatise...
, whose essay The Social Contract, Or Principles of Political Right
Social Contract (Rousseau)
Of The Social Contract, Or Principles of Political Right by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, is the book in which Rousseau theorized about the best way in which to set up a political community in the face of the problems of commercial society which he had already identified in his Discourse on Inequality...
was a catalyst for governmental and societal reform throughout Europe. Science, mathematics and technology also flourished. French scientists such as Antoine Lavoisier
Antoine Lavoisier
Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier , the "father of modern chemistry", was a French nobleman prominent in the histories of chemistry and biology...
worked to replace the archaic units of weights and measures by a coherent scientific system, commissioned by king Louis XVI. Lavoisier also formulated the law of Conservation of mass
Conservation of mass
The law of conservation of mass, also known as the principle of mass/matter conservation, states that the mass of an isolated system will remain constant over time...
and discovered oxygen and hydrogen.
The Early Modern period in French history spans the following reigns, from 1461 to the Revolution, breaking in 1789:
- House of Valois
- Louis XI the PrudentLouis XI of FranceLouis XI , called the Prudent , was the King of France from 1461 to 1483. He was the son of Charles VII of France and Mary of Anjou, a member of the House of Valois....
- Charles VIII the AffableCharles VIII of FranceCharles VIII, called the Affable, , was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. Charles was a member of the House of Valois...
- Louis XIILouis XII of FranceLouis proved to be a popular king. At the end of his reign the crown deficit was no greater than it had been when he succeeded Charles VIII in 1498, despite several expensive military campaigns in Italy. His fiscal reforms of 1504 and 1508 tightened and improved procedures for the collection of taxes...
- Francis IFrancis I of FranceFrancis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...
- Henry IIHenry II of FranceHenry II was King of France from 31 March 1547 until his death in 1559.-Early years:Henry was born in the royal Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, the son of Francis I and Claude, Duchess of Brittany .His father was captured at the Battle of Pavia in 1525 by his sworn enemy,...
and Catherine de' MediciCatherine de' MediciCatherine de' Medici was an Italian noblewoman who was Queen consort of France from 1547 until 1559, as the wife of King Henry II of France.... - Francis IIFrancis II of FranceFrancis II was aged 15 when he succeeded to the throne of France after the accidental death of his father, King Henry II, in 1559. He reigned for 18 months before he died in December 1560...
- Charles IXCharles IX of FranceCharles IX was King of France, ruling from 1560 until his death. His reign was dominated by the Wars of Religion. He is best known as king at the time of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre.-Childhood:...
- Henry IIIHenry III of FranceHenry III was King of France from 1574 to 1589. As Henry of Valois, he was the first elected monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with the dual titles of King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1573 to 1575.-Childhood:Henry was born at the Royal Château de Fontainebleau,...
- Louis XI the Prudent
- House of BourbonHouse of BourbonThe House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...
- Henry IV the GreatHenry IV of FranceHenry IV , Henri-Quatre, was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France....
- the Regency of Marie de Medici
- Louis XIII the JustLouis XIII of FranceLouis XIII was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1610 to 1643.Louis was only eight years old when he succeeded his father. His mother, Marie de Medici, acted as regent during Louis' minority...
and his minister Cardinal Richelieu - the Regency of Anne of AustriaAnne of AustriaAnne of Austria was Queen consort of France and Navarre, regent for her son, Louis XIV of France, and a Spanish Infanta by birth...
and her minister Cardinal Mazarin - Louis XIV the Sun KingLouis XIV of FranceLouis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
and his minister Jean-Baptiste ColbertJean-Baptiste ColbertJean-Baptiste Colbert was a French politician who served as the Minister of Finances of France from 1665 to 1683 under the rule of King Louis XIV. His relentless hard work and thrift made him an esteemed minister. He achieved a reputation for his work of improving the state of French manufacturing... - the RégenceRégenceThe Régence is the period in French history between 1715 and 1723, when King Louis XV was a minor and the land was governed by a Regent, Philippe d'Orléans, the nephew of Louis XIV of France....
of Philip II of Orléans - Louis XV the BelovedLouis XV of FranceLouis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723...
and his minister Cardinal André-Hercule de Fleury - Louis XVILouis XVI of FranceLouis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
- Henry IV the Great
See also:
- French RenaissanceFrench RenaissanceFrench Renaissance is a recent term used to describe a cultural and artistic movement in France from the late 15th century to the early 17th century. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that many cultural historians believe originated in northern Italy in the fourteenth century...
- French colonization of the AmericasFrench colonization of the AmericasThe French colonization of the Americas began in the 16th century, and continued in the following centuries as France established a colonial empire in the Western Hemisphere. France founded colonies in much of eastern North America, on a number of Caribbean islands, and in South America...
- French OperaFrench OperaFrench opera is one of Europe's most important operatic traditions, containing works by composers of the stature of Rameau, Berlioz, Bizet, Debussy, Poulenc and Olivier Messiaen...
- Wars of ReligionFrench Wars of ReligionThe French Wars of Religion is the name given to a period of civil infighting and military operations, primarily fought between French Catholics and Protestants . The conflict involved the factional disputes between the aristocratic houses of France, such as the House of Bourbon and House of Guise...
- Ancien Régime in FranceAncien Régime in FranceThe Ancien Régime refers primarily to the aristocratic, social and political system established in France from the 15th century to the 18th century under the late Valois and Bourbon dynasties...
- Age of EnlightenmentAge of EnlightenmentThe Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
The Revolution
Charles Alexandre de Calonne
Charles Alexandre, vicomte de Calonne was a French statesman, best known for his involvement in the French Revolution.-Rise to prominence:...
, convened an Assembly of Notables
Assembly of Notables
The Assembly of Notables was a group of notables invited by the King of France to consult on matters of state.-History:Assemblies of Notables had met in 1583, 1596–97, 1617, 1626, 1787, and 1788. Like the Estates General, they served a consultative purpose only...
, a group of nobles, clergy, bourgeoisie, and bureaucrats selected in order to bypass the local parliaments. This group was asked to approve a new land tax that would, for the first time, include a tax on the property of nobles and clergy. The assembly did not approve the tax, instead demanding that Louis XVI call the Estates-General
Estates-General of 1789
The Estates-General of 1789 was the first meeting since 1614 of the French Estates-General, a general assembly representing the French estates of the realm: the nobility, the Church, and the common people...
. In August 1788 the King agreed to convene the Estates-General in May 1789
Estates-General of 1789
The Estates-General of 1789 was the first meeting since 1614 of the French Estates-General, a general assembly representing the French estates of the realm: the nobility, the Church, and the common people...
. While the Third Estate demanded and was granted "double representation" so as to balance the First and Second Estate, voting was to occur "by orders" – votes of the Third Estate were to be weighted – effectively canceling double representation. This eventually led to the Third Estate breaking away from the Estates-General and, joined by members of the other estates, proclaiming the creation of the National Assembly
National Assembly
National Assembly is either a legislature, or the lower house of a bicameral legislature in some countries. The best known National Assembly, and the first legislature to be known by this title, was that established during the French Revolution in 1789, known as the Assemblée nationale...
, an assembly not of the Estates but of "the People." In an attempt to keep control of the process and prevent the Assembly from convening, Louis XVI ordered the closure of the Salle des États where the Assembly met. After finding the door to their chamber locked and guarded, the Assembly met nearby on a tennis court and pledged the Tennis Court Oath
Tennis Court Oath
The Tennis Court Oath was a pivotal event during the first days of the French Revolution. The Oath was a pledge signed by 576 of the 577 members from the Third Estate who were locked out of a meeting of the Estates-General on 20 June 1789...
on 20 June 1789, binding them "never to separate, and to meet wherever circumstances demand, until the constitution of the kingdom is established and affirmed on solid foundations." They were joined by some sympathetic members of the Second and First estates.
After the king fired his finance minister, Jacques Necker
Jacques Necker
Jacques Necker was a French statesman of Swiss birth and finance minister of Louis XVI, a post he held in the lead-up to the French Revolution in 1789.-Early life:...
, for giving his support and guidance to the Third Estate, worries surfaced that the legitimacy of the newly formed National Assembly might be threatened by royalists. Paris was soon consumed with riots, anarchy, and widespread looting. Because the royal leadership essentially abandoned the city, the mobs soon had the support of the French Guard, including arms and trained soldiers. On 14 July 1789, the insurgents set their eyes on the large weapons and ammunition cache inside the Bastille fortress, which also served as a symbol of royal tyranny. Insurgents seized the Bastille prison
Storming of the Bastille
The storming of the Bastille occurred in Paris on the morning of 14 July 1789. The medieval fortress and prison in Paris known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the centre of Paris. While the prison only contained seven inmates at the time of its storming, its fall was the flashpoint...
, killing the governor and several of his guards. The French now celebrate 14 July each year as a symbol of the shift away from the Ancien Regime to a more modern, democratic state. Gilbert du Motier
Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette , often known as simply Lafayette, was a French aristocrat and military officer born in Chavaniac, in the province of Auvergne in south central France...
, a hero of the War of American Independence, took command of the National Guard, and the king was forced to recognize the Tricolour Cockade
Cockade
A cockade is a knot of ribbons, or other circular- or oval-shaped symbol of distinctive colors which is usually worn on a hat.-Eighteenth century:...
. Although peace was made, several nobles did not regard the new order as acceptable and emigrated in order to push the neighboring, aristocratic kingdoms to war against the new democratic regime. Because of this new period of instability, the state was struck for several weeks in July and August 1789 by the Great Fear
Great Fear
The "Great Fear" occurred from 20 July to 5 August 1789 in France at the start of the French Revolution. Rural unrest had been present in France since the worsening grain shortage of the spring, and the grain supplies were now guarded by local militias as rumors that bands of armed men were...
, a period of violent class conflict.
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was adopted by the National Assembly in August 1789 as a first step in their effort to write a constitution. Considered to be a precursor to modern international rights instruments and using the U.S. Declaration of Independence as a model, it defined a set of individual rights and collective rights of all of the estates as one. Influenced by the doctrine of natural rights, these rights were deemed universal and valid in all times and places, pertaining to human nature itself. The Assembly also replaced France's historic provinces with eighty-three departments, uniformly administered and approximately equal to one another in extent and population. On 4 August 1789, the Assembly abolished feudalism, in what became known as the August Decrees, sweeping away both the seigneurial rights of the Second Estate and the tithes gathered by the First Estate. In the course of a few hours, nobles, clergy, towns, provinces, companies, and cities lost their special privileges. The Assembly abolished the symbolic paraphernalia of the Ancien Régime, armorial bearings, liveries, etc., which alienated the more conservative nobles. Amidst these intrigues, the Assembly continued to work on developing a constitution. A new judicial organization made all magistracies temporary and independent of the throne. The legislators abolished hereditary offices, except for the monarchy itself. Jury trials started for criminal cases. The King would have the unique power to propose war, with the legislature then deciding whether to declare war. The Assembly abolished all internal trade barriers and suppressed guilds, masterships, and workers' organizations. Consequently, an individual could only gain the right to practice a trade through the purchase of a license and worker strikes became illegal.
The Revolution brought about a massive shifting of powers from the Roman Catholic Church to the state. Under the Ancien Régime, the Church had been the largest landowner in the country. Legislation enacted in 1790 abolished the Church's authority to levy a tax on crops, cancelled special privileges for the clergy, and confiscated Church property. The Assembly essentially addressed the financial crisis in part by having the nation take over the property of the Church.
The republican government also enforced the Système International d'Unités
International System of Units
The International System of Units is the modern form of the metric system and is generally a system of units of measurement devised around seven base units and the convenience of the number ten. The older metric system included several groups of units...
, commissioned by Louis XVI, which became known as the Metric System. Charles-Augustin de Coulomb
Charles-Augustin de Coulomb
Charles-Augustin de Coulomb was a French physicist. He is best known for developing Coulomb's law, the definition of the electrostatic force of attraction and repulsion. The [SI unit] of charge, the coulomb, was named after him....
and André-Marie Ampère
André-Marie Ampère
André-Marie Ampère was a French physicist and mathematician who is generally regarded as one of the main discoverers of electromagnetism. The SI unit of measurement of electric current, the ampere, is named after him....
's works on electricity and electromagnetism were also recognised, and their units are integrated into the Metric System.
When a mob from Paris attacked the royal palace at Versailles in October 1789 seeking redress for their severe poverty, the royal family was forced to move to the Tuileries Palace in Paris. Later in June 1791, the royal family secretly fled Paris in disguise for Varennes near France's northeastern border in order to seek royalist support the king believed he could trust, but they were soon discovered en route. They were brought back to Paris, after which they were essentially kept under house-arrest at the Tuileries.
Factions within the Assembly began to clarify. The opposition to revolution sat on the right-hand side of the Assembly. The "Royalist democrats" or monarchiens inclined toward organizing France along lines similar to the British constitutional model. The "National Party", representing the centre or centre-left of the assembly represented somewhat more extreme views. The increasingly middle-class National Guard under Lafayette also slowly emerged as a power in its own right. With most of the Assembly still favoring a constitutional monarchy rather than a republic, the various groupings reached a compromise that left Louis XVI little more than a figurehead. He had perforce to swear an oath to the constitution, and a decree declared that retracting the oath, heading an army for the purpose of making war upon the nation, or permitting anyone to do so in his name would amount to de facto abdication. Under the Constitution of 1791
French Constitution of 1791
The short-lived French Constitution of 1791 was the first written constitution of France. One of the basic precepts of the revolution was adopting constitutionality and establishing popular sovereignty, following the steps of the United States of America...
, France would function as a constitutional monarchy. The King had to share power with the elected Legislative Assembly, but he still retained his royal veto and the ability to select ministers.
The Legislative Assembly first met on 1 October 1791 and degenerated into chaos less than a year later. The Legislative Assembly consisted of about 165 Feuillants (constitutional monarchists) on the right, about 330 Girondists (liberal republicans) in the center, a vocal group of Jacobins
Jacobin (politics)
A Jacobin , in the context of the French Revolution, was a member of the Jacobin Club, a revolutionary far-left political movement. The Jacobin Club was the most famous political club of the French Revolution. So called from the Dominican convent where they originally met, in the Rue St. Jacques ,...
(radical revolutionaries) on the left, and about 250 deputies unaffiliated with any of those factions. Early on, the King vetoed legislation that threatened the émigrés with death and that decreed that every non-juring clergyman must take within eight days the civic oath mandated by the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. Over the course of a year, disagreements like this would result in a constitutional crisis, leading the Revolution to higher levels.
On the foreign affairs front, in the Declaration of Pillnitz
Declaration of Pillnitz
The Declaration of Pillnitz was a statement issued on 27 August 1791 at Pillnitz Castle near Dresden by the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II and Frederick William II of Prussia...
of August 1791 Emperor Leopold II
Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor
Leopold II , born Peter Leopold Joseph Anton Joachim Pius Gotthard, was Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary and Bohemia from 1790 to 1792, Archduke of Austria and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1765 to 1790. He was a son of Emperor Francis I and his wife, Empress Maria Theresa...
, Count Charles of Artois
Charles X of France
Charles X was known for most of his life as the Comte d'Artois before he reigned as King of France and of Navarre from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. A younger brother to Kings Louis XVI and Louis XVIII, he supported the latter in exile and eventually succeeded him...
and King William II of Prussia
Frederick William II of Prussia
Frederick William II was the King of Prussia, reigning from 1786 until his death. He was in personal union the Prince-Elector of Brandenburg and the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel.-Early life:...
made Louis XVI's cause their own. These noblemen also required the Assembly to be dissolved through threats of war, but, instead of cowing the French, it infuriated them. The borders were militarised as a consequence. Under the Constitution of 1791
French Constitution of 1791
The short-lived French Constitution of 1791 was the first written constitution of France. One of the basic precepts of the revolution was adopting constitutionality and establishing popular sovereignty, following the steps of the United States of America...
, the solution of a constitutional monarchy was adopted, and the king supported a war against Austria in order to increase his popularity, starting the long French Revolutionary Wars
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
. On the night of the 10 August, the Jacobins
Jacobin (politics)
A Jacobin , in the context of the French Revolution, was a member of the Jacobin Club, a revolutionary far-left political movement. The Jacobin Club was the most famous political club of the French Revolution. So called from the Dominican convent where they originally met, in the Rue St. Jacques ,...
, who had mainly opposed the war, suspended the monarchy. With the Prussian army entering France, more doubts were raised against the aristocracy, and these tensions climaxed during the September Massacres
September Massacres
The September Massacres were a wave of mob violence which overtook Paris in late summer 1792, during the French Revolution. By the time it had subsided, half the prison population of Paris had been executed: some 1,200 trapped prisoners, including many women and young boys...
. After the first great victory of the French revolutionary troops at the Battle of Valmy
Battle of Valmy
The Battle of Valmy was the first major victory by the army of France during the French Revolution. The action took place on 20 September 1792 as Prussian troops commanded by the Duke of Brunswick attempted to march on Paris...
on 20 September 1792, the French First Republic
French First Republic
The French First Republic was founded on 22 September 1792, by the newly established National Convention. The First Republic lasted until the declaration of the First French Empire in 1804 under Napoleon I...
was proclaimed the next day, on 21 September 1792. The new French Republican Calendar
French Republican Calendar
The French Republican Calendar or French Revolutionary Calendar was a calendar created and implemented during the French Revolution, and used by the French government for about 12 years from late 1793 to 1805, and for 18 days by the Paris Commune in 1871...
was then legally enforced.
The Mountain
The Mountain
The Mountain refers in the context of the history of the French Revolution to a political group, whose members, called Montagnards, sat on the highest benches in the Assembly...
is the English translation for the French word, Montagne
The Mountain
The Mountain refers in the context of the history of the French Revolution to a political group, whose members, called Montagnards, sat on the highest benches in the Assembly...
, which was the radical political faction of the National Convention
National Convention
During the French Revolution, the National Convention or Convention, in France, comprised the constitutional and legislative assembly which sat from 20 September 1792 to 26 October 1795 . It held executive power in France during the first years of the French First Republic...
who considered themselves the true patriots of the French Revolution. Customarily, its members, called Montagnards
The Mountain
The Mountain refers in the context of the history of the French Revolution to a political group, whose members, called Montagnards, sat on the highest benches in the Assembly...
, sat on the highest tiered benches in the Convention hall, therefore giving the party its name. An alternate meaning of the name, one more metaphorical, implied that mountains are a natural, pure landscape preferred to the corruption of the city, which was represented by its opposing faction, the Girondins. The Mountain had 302 members during its reign in 1793 and 1794, including committee members and deputies who voted with the faction. Most of its members came from the middle class and tended to represent the Parisian population. Its leaders included Maximilien Robespierre
Maximilien Robespierre
Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre is one of the best-known and most influential figures of the French Revolution. He largely dominated the Committee of Public Safety and was instrumental in the period of the Revolution commonly known as the Reign of Terror, which ended with his...
, Jean-Paul Marat
Jean-Paul Marat
Jean-Paul Marat , born in the Principality of Neuchâtel, was a physician, political theorist, and scientist best known for his career in France as a radical journalist and politician during the French Revolution...
, and Georges Danton
Georges Danton
Georges Jacques Danton was leading figure in the early stages of the French Revolution and the first President of the Committee of Public Safety. Danton's role in the onset of the Revolution has been disputed; many historians describe him as "the chief force in theoverthrow of the monarchy and the...
. This party eventually gained overwhelming power in the Convention and governed France during the Reign of Terror
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...
.
The Montagnards and the Girondins were both originally Jacobins
Jacobin (politics)
A Jacobin , in the context of the French Revolution, was a member of the Jacobin Club, a revolutionary far-left political movement. The Jacobin Club was the most famous political club of the French Revolution. So called from the Dominican convent where they originally met, in the Rue St. Jacques ,...
, a political club which was founded according to republican beliefs and whose members wanted a French democratic republic. The Jacobin Club, however, encountered political tension beginning in 1791 due to conflicting viewpoints in response to several revolutionary events and how to best achieve a democratic republic. As a result, two factions emerged: the Girondins and the Montagnards. The latter sided with the Parisian militants, also known as the sans-culottes, who aimed for a more repressive form of government that would institute a price maximum on essential consumer goods and would punish all traitors and enemies of the Republic. Additionally, between war and political differences, the Montagnards believed these crises required emergency solutions.
Possibly the two most significant factors in the quarrel and consequential split between the Montagnards and the Girondins include the Trial of King Louis XVI and the September Massacres. The official fall of the monarchy came on 10 August 1792 after Louis XVI refused to rescind his veto of the constitution of the National Assembly. The Mountain argued for immediate execution of the king by military court-martial, insisting that he was undermining the Revolution. Because a trial would require the "presumption of innocence," such a proceeding would contradict the mission of the National Convention. The Girondins, in contrast, agreed that the king was guilty of treason but argued for his clemency and favored the option of exile or popular referendum as his sentence. However, the trial progressed and Louis XVI was executed by guillotine on 21 January 1793.
The second key factor in the split between the Montagnards and the Girondins was the September Massacres of 1792. Radical Parisians, members of the National Guard, and fédérés were angry with the poor progress in the war against Austria and Prussia and the forced enlistment of 30,000 volunteers. On 10 August, radicals went on a killing spree, slaughtering roughly 1,300 inmates in various Paris prisons, many of whom were simply common criminals, not the treasonous counterrevolutionaries condemned by the Mountain. The Girondins did not tolerate the massacres, but neither the Montagnards of the Legislative Assembly nor the Paris Commune took any action to stop or condemn the killings. Members of the Girondins later accused Marat, Robespierre, and Danton as inciters of the massacres in an attempt to further their dictatorial power.
Members of the Mountain went on to establish the Committee of Public Safety under Robespierre, which would be responsible for the Terror, the bloodiest and one of the most controversial phases of the French Revolution. The time between 1792 and 1794 was dominated by the ideology of the Mountain until the execution of Robespierre on 28 July 1794.
Brunswick Manifesto (1792)
The Brunswick Manifesto was a proclamation issued by Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, commander of the Allied Army , on July 25, 1792 to the population of Paris, France during the French Revolutionary Wars. The Brunswick Manifesto threatened that if the French royal family were harmed,...
of July 1792 once more threatened the French population with Austrian (Imperial) and Prussian attacks, Louis XVI was suspected of treason and taken along with his family from the Tuileries Palace in August 1792 by insurgents supported by a new revolutionary Paris Commune. The King and Queen ended up prisoners, and a rump session of the Legislative Assembly suspended the monarchy. Little more than a third of the deputies were present, almost all of them Jacobins. The King was later tried and convicted and, on 21 January 1793, was executed by the guillotine. Marie Antoinette, would follow him to the guillotine on 16 October.
What remained of a national government depended on the support of the insurrectionary Commune. When the Commune sent gangs into prisons to arbitrarily adjudicate and butcher 1400 victims, and then addressed a circular letter to the other cities of France, inviting them to follow this example, the Assembly could offer only feeble resistance. This situation persisted until a National Convention
National Convention
During the French Revolution, the National Convention or Convention, in France, comprised the constitutional and legislative assembly which sat from 20 September 1792 to 26 October 1795 . It held executive power in France during the first years of the French First Republic...
, charged with writing a new constitution, met on 20 September 1792 and became the new de facto government of France. The next day it abolished the monarchy and declared a republic.
When the war went badly, prices rose, and the sans-culottes (poor labourers and radical Jacobins) rioted, counter-revolutionary activities began in some regions. This encouraged the Jacobins to seize power through a parliamentary coup, backed up by force effected by mobilising public support against the Girondist faction, and by utilising the mob power of the Parisian sans-culottes. An alliance of Jacobin and sans-culottes elements thus became the effective centre of the new government. Policy became considerably more radical. In September 1793 a period known as the Reign of Terror
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...
ensued for approximately 12 months. The Committee of Public Safety
Committee of Public Safety
The Committee of Public Safety , created in April 1793 by the National Convention and then restructured in July 1793, formed the de facto executive government in France during the Reign of Terror , a stage of the French Revolution...
, set up by the National Convention on 6 April 1793, formed the de facto executive government of France. Under war conditions and with national survival seemingly at stake, the Jacobins under Maximilien Robespierre
Maximilien Robespierre
Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre is one of the best-known and most influential figures of the French Revolution. He largely dominated the Committee of Public Safety and was instrumental in the period of the Revolution commonly known as the Reign of Terror, which ended with his...
centralized denunciations, trials, and executions under the supervision of this committee of twelve members. At least 18,000 people met their deaths under the guillotine or otherwise, after accusations of counter-revolutionary activities. In 1794, Robespierre had ultra-radicals and moderate Jacobins executed. As a consequence of these actions, however, Robespierre's own popular support eroded markedly. On 27 July 1794, the Thermidorian Reaction
Thermidorian Reaction
The Thermidorian Reaction was a revolt in the French Revolution against the excesses of the Reign of Terror. It was triggered by a vote of the Committee of Public Safety to execute Maximilien Robespierre, Antoine Louis Léon de Saint-Just de Richebourg and several other leading members of the Terror...
led to the arrest and execution of Robespierre. The new government was predominantly made up of Girondists who had survived the Terror and, after taking power, they took revenge as well by banning the Jacobin Club and executing many of its former members in what was known as the White Terror.
After the stated aim of the National Convention to export revolution, the guillotining of Louis XVI of France, and the French opening of the Scheldt, a military coalition was formed and set up against France. Spain, Naples, Great Britain and the Netherlands joined Austria and Prussia in The First Coalition
First Coalition
The War of the First Coalition was the first major effort of multiple European monarchies to contain Revolutionary France. France declared war on the Habsburg monarchy of Austria on 20 April 1792, and the Kingdom of Prussia joined the Austrian side a few weeks later.These powers initiated a series...
(1792–1797), the first major concerted effort of multiple European powers to contain Revolutionary France. It took shape after the wars had already begun. The Republican government in Paris was radicalised after a diplomatic coup from the Jacobins and said it would be the Guerre Totale
Total war
Total war is a war in which a belligerent engages in the complete mobilization of fully available resources and population.In the mid-19th century, "total war" was identified by scholars as a separate class of warfare...
and called for a Levée en masse
Levée en masse
Levée en masse is a French term for mass conscription during the French Revolutionary Wars, particularly for the one from 16 August 1793.- Terminology :...
. Royalist invasion forces were defeated at Toulon
Siege of Toulon
The Siege of Toulon was an early Republican victory over a Royalist rebellion in the Southern French city of Toulon. It is also often known as the Fall of Toulon.-Context:...
in 1793, leaving the French republican forces in an offensive position and granting a young officer, Napoleon Bonaparte, a certain fame. Following their victory at Fleurus
Battle of Fleurus (1794)
In the Battle of Fleurus on 26 June 1794, the army of the First French Republic under General Jean-Baptiste Jourdan faced the Coalition Army commanded by Prince Josias of Coburg in the most decisive battle of the Flanders Campaign in the Low Countries during the French Revolutionary Wars...
, the Republicans occupied Belgium and the Rhineland. An invasion of the Netherlands established the puppet Batavian Republic
Batavian Republic
The Batavian Republic was the successor of the Republic of the United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on January 19, 1795, and ended on June 5, 1806, with the accession of Louis Bonaparte to the throne of the Kingdom of Holland....
. Finally, a peace agreement was concluded between France, Spain and Prussia in 1795 at Basel
Peace of Basel
The Peace of Basel of 1795 consists of three peace treaties involving France .* The first of the three treaties of 1795, France made peace with Prussia on 5 April; , * The Second was with Spain on 22 July, ending the War of the Pyrenees; and*...
.
The Convention approved a new "Constitution of the Year III" on 17 August 1795; a plebiscite ratified it in September; and it took effect on 26 September 1795. The new constitution created the Directory and the first bicameral legislature in French history. The parliament consisted of 500 representatives – le Conseil des Cinq-Cents (the Council of the Five Hundred) – and 250 senators – le Conseil des Anciens (the Council of Elders). Executive power went to five "directors", named annually by the Conseil des Anciens from a list submitted by the le Conseil des Cinq-Cents. The nation desired rest and the healing of its many wounds. Those who wished to restore Louis XVIII and the Ancien Régime and those who would have renewed the Reign of Terror were insignificant in number. The possibility of foreign interference had vanished with the failure of the First Coalition. Nevertheless, the four years of the Directory were a time of arbitrary government and chronic disquiet. The late atrocities had made confidence or goodwill between the parties impossible. As the majority of French people wanted to be rid of them, they could achieve their purpose only by extraordinary means. The Convention habitually disregarded the terms of the constitution, and, when the elections went against them, appealed to the sword. They resolved to prolong the war as the best expedient for prolonging their power. They were thus driven to rely upon the armies, which also desired war and were becoming increasingly less civic in temper. The Directory lasted until 1799 when Napoleon staged a coup and installed the Consulate. The Consulate still operated within the First Republic, which was replaced by the First Empire, established by Napoleon in 1804.
The Napoleonic Era
French Directory
The Directory was a body of five Directors that held executive power in France following the Convention and preceding the Consulate...
had replaced the National Convention. Five directors then ruled France. As Great Britain was still at war with France, a plan was made to take Egypt from the Ottoman Empire, a British ally. This was Napoleon's idea and the Directoire agreed to the plan in order to send the popular general away from the mainland. Napoleon defeated the Ottoman forces during the Battle of the Pyramids
Battle of the Pyramids
The Battle of the Pyramids, also known as the Battle of Embabeh, was fought on July 21, 1798 between the French army in Egypt under Napoleon Bonaparte, and local Mamluk forces. It occurred during France's Egyptian Campaign and was the battle where Napoleon put into use one of his significant...
and sent hundreds of scientists and linguists out to thoroughly explore modern and ancient Egypt. Unexpectedly the British fleet under Admiral Nelson
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté, KB was a flag officer famous for his service in the Royal Navy, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. He was noted for his inspirational leadership and superb grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics, which resulted in a number of...
, destroyed the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile
Battle of the Nile
The Battle of the Nile was a major naval battle fought between British and French fleets at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt from 1–3 August 1798...
. Napoleon planned to move into Syria but was defeated and he returned to France without his army. It surrendered.
The Directoire was threatened by the Second Coalition
War of the Second Coalition
The "Second Coalition" was the second attempt by European monarchs, led by the Habsburg Monarchy of Austria and the Russian Empire, to contain or eliminate Revolutionary France. They formed a new alliance and attempted to roll back France's previous military conquests...
. Royalists and their allies still dreamed of restoring the monarchy to power, while the Prussian and Austrian crowns did not accept their territorial losses during the previous war. The Russian army expelled the French from Italy in battles such as Cassano
Battle of Cassano (1799)
The Battle of Cassano d'Adda was fought on 27 April 1799 near Cassano d'Adda, about 28 km ENE of Milan. It resulted in a victory for the Austrians and Russians under Alexander Suvorov over Jean Moreau's French army...
while the Austrian army defeated the French in Switzerland at Stockach
Battle of Stockach (1799)
On 25 March 1799, French and Austrian armies fought for control of the geographically strategic Hegau region in present day Baden-Württemberg. The battle has been called by various names: First Battle of Stockach, the Battle by Stockach, and, in French chronicles, the Battle of Liptingen...
and Zurich
First Battle of Zürich
The Helvetic Republic in 1798 became a battlefield of the French Revolutionary Wars. In the First Battle of Zurich on 4 – 7 June 1799, French general André Masséna was forced to yield the city to the Austrians under Archduke Charles and retreated beyond the Limmat, where he managed to fortify his...
. Napoleon then seized power through a coup and established the Consulate
French Consulate
The Consulate was the government of France between the fall of the Directory in the coup of 18 Brumaire in 1799 until the start of the Napoleonic Empire in 1804...
in 1799. The Austrian army was defeated at Marengo
Battle of Marengo (1800)
The Battle of Marengo was fought on 14 June 1800 between French forces under Napoleon Bonaparte and Austrian forces near the city of Alessandria, in Piedmont, Italy...
in 1800 and again at Hohenlinden
Battle of Hohenlinden (1800)
The Battle of Hohenlinden was fought on 3 December 1800 during the French Revolutionary Wars. A French army under Jean Victor Marie Moreau won a decisive victory over the Austrians and Bavarians led by Archduke John of Austria. After being forced into a disastrous retreat, the allies were compelled...
. While at sea the French
Louis-René Levassor de Latouche Tréville
Louis-René Levassor de Latouche Tréville was a French admiral and a hero of the American Revolutionary War and of the Napoleonic wars.-Early life:...
had some success at Boulogne but Nelson's Royal Navy destroyed an anchored Danish and Norwegian fleet at Copenhagen
Battle of Copenhagen (1801)
The Battle of Copenhagen was an engagement which saw a British fleet under the command of Admiral Sir Hyde Parker fight and strategically defeat a Danish-Norwegian fleet anchored just off Copenhagen on 2 April 1801. Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson led the main attack. He famously disobeyed Parker's...
because the Scandinavian kingdoms were against the British blockade on France. The Second Coalition was beaten and peace was settled in two distinct treaties: The Treaty of Lunéville
Treaty of Lunéville
The Treaty of Lunéville was signed on 9 February 1801 between the French Republic and the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, negotiating both on behalf of his own domains and of the Holy Roman Empire...
and the Treaty of Amiens
Treaty of Amiens
The Treaty of Amiens temporarily ended hostilities between the French Republic and the United Kingdom during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was signed in the city of Amiens on 25 March 1802 , by Joseph Bonaparte and the Marquess Cornwallis as a "Definitive Treaty of Peace"...
. A brief interlude of peace ensued in 1802-3, during which Napoleon sold French Louisiana
Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition by the United States of America of of France's claim to the territory of Louisiana in 1803. The U.S...
to the United States because it was indefensible. George F. Nafziger, Historical Dictionary of the Napoleonic Era (2002)
In 1801 Napoleon concluded a "Concordat" with Pope Pius VII that opened peaceful relations between church and state in France. The policies of the Revolution were reversed--except the Church did not get its lands back. Bishops and clergy were to receive state salaries and the government paid for the building and maintenance of churches. Napoleon reorganized higher learning by dividing the Institut National into four (later five) academies.
Of permanent importance was the Napoleonic Code
Napoleonic code
The Napoleonic Code — or Code Napoléon — is the French civil code, established under Napoléon I in 1804. The code forbade privileges based on birth, allowed freedom of religion, and specified that government jobs go to the most qualified...
created by eminent jurists under Napoleon's supervision. Praised for its Gallic clarity, it spread rapidly throughout Europe and the world in general, and marked the end of feudalism and the liberation of Jews where it took effect. The Code recognized the principles of civil liberty, equality before the law, and the secular character of the state. It discarded the old right of primogeniture (where only the eldest son inherited) and required that inheritances be divided equally among all the children. The court system was standardized; all judges were appointed by the national government in Paris.
In 1804 Napoleon was titled Emperor by the senate, thus founding the French Empire
First French Empire
The First French Empire , also known as the Greater French Empire or Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France...
. Napoleon's rule was constitutional, and although autocratic, it was much more advanced than traditional European monarchies of the time. The proclamation of the French Empire was met by the Third Coalition. The French army was renamed the Grande Armée
La Grande Armée
The Grande Armée first entered the annals of history when, in 1805, Napoleon I renamed the army that he had assembled on the French coast of the English Channel for the proposed invasion of Britain...
in 1805 and Napoleon used propaganda and nationalism to control the French population. The French army achieved a resounding victory at Ulm
Battle of Ulm
The Battle of Ulm was a series of minor skirmishes at the end of Napoleon Bonaparte's Ulm Campaign, culminating in the surrender of an entire Austrian army near Ulm in Württemberg....
, where an entire Austrian army was captured. However, a Franco-Spanish fleet was defeated at Trafalgar
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....
and all plans to invade Britain were then made impossible. Despite this naval defeat, it was on the ground that this war would be won, Napoleon inflicted the Austrian and Russian Empires one of their greatest defeats at Austerlitz
Battle of Austerlitz
The Battle of Austerlitz, also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of Napoleon's greatest victories, where the French Empire effectively crushed the Third Coalition...
, destroying the third coalition. The peace was settled in the Treaty of Pressburg, the Austrian Empire lost the title of Holy Roman Emperor and the Confederation of the Rhine
Confederation of the Rhine
The Confederation of the Rhine was a confederation of client states of the First French Empire. It was formed initially from 16 German states by Napoleon after he defeated Austria's Francis II and Russia's Alexander I in the Battle of Austerlitz. The Treaty of Pressburg, in effect, led to the...
was created by Napoleon over former Austrian territories.
War of the Fourth Coalition
The Fourth Coalition against Napoleon's French Empire was defeated in a war spanning 1806–1807. Coalition partners included Prussia, Russia, Saxony, Sweden, and the United Kingdom....
. Although the Coalition was joined by other allies, the French Empire was also not alone since it now had a complex network of allies and submitted states. Largely outnumbered, the Prussian army was crushed at Jena-Auerstedt
Battle of Jena-Auerstedt
The twin battles of Jena and Auerstedt were fought on 14 October 1806 on the plateau west of the river Saale in today's Germany, between the forces of Napoleon I of France and Frederick William III of Prussia...
in 1806, Napoleon captured Berlin and went as far as Eastern Prussia. There the Russian Empire was defeated at the Battle of Friedland
Battle of Friedland
The Battle of Friedland saw Napoleon I's French army decisively defeat Count von Bennigsen's Russian army about twenty-seven miles southeast of Königsberg...
. Peace was dictated in the Treaties of Tilsit
Treaties of Tilsit
The Treaties of Tilsit were two agreements signed by Napoleon I of France in the town of Tilsit in July, 1807 in the aftermath of his victory at Friedland. The first was signed on 7 July, between Tsar Alexander I of Russia and Napoleon I of France, when they met on a raft in the middle of the Neman...
, in which Russia had to join the Continental System
Continental System
The Continental System or Continental Blockade was the foreign policy of Napoleon I of France in his struggle against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland during the Napoleonic Wars. It was a large-scale embargo against British trade, which began on November 21, 1806...
and Prussia handed down half of its territories to France. The Duchy of Warsaw
Duchy of Warsaw
The Duchy of Warsaw was a Polish state established by Napoleon I in 1807 from the Polish lands ceded by the Kingdom of Prussia under the terms of the Treaties of Tilsit. The duchy was held in personal union by one of Napoleon's allies, King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony...
was formed over these territorial losses, and the Polish troops entered the Grande Armée in significant numbers.
Treaty of Fontainebleau (1807)
The Treaty of Fontainebleau was signed on 27 October 1807 in Fontainebleau between Charles IV of Spain and Napoleon I of France. The accord divided Portugal and all Portuguese dominions between the signatories. Individuals such as M. Izquierdo, councilor of Charles IV, and Don Manuel de Godoy were...
, a Franco-Spanish alliance against Portugal was sealed as Spain eyed Portuguese territories. French armies entered Spain in order to attack Portugal, but then seized Spanish fortresses and took over the kingdom by surprise. Joseph Bonaparte
Joseph Bonaparte
Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte was the elder brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, who made him King of Naples and Sicily , and later King of Spain...
, Napoleon's brother, was made King of Spain after Charles IV
Charles IV of Spain
Charles IV was King of Spain from 14 December 1788 until his abdication on 19 March 1808.-Early life:...
's abdication. This occupation of the Iberian peninsula fueled local nationalism, and soon the Spanish and Portuguese would fight the French using guerilla tactics, defeating the French forces at the Battle of Bailén
Battle of Bailén
The Battle of Bailén was contested in 1808 between the Spanish Army of Andalusia, led by Generals Francisco Castaños and Theodor von Reding, and the Imperial French Army's II corps d'observation de la Gironde under General Pierre Dupont de l'Étang...
. Britain sent a short-lived ground support force to Portugal, and French forces evacuated Portugal as defined in the Convention of Sintra
Convention of Sintra
The Convention of Cintra was an agreement signed on August 30, 1808 during the Peninsular War. By the agreement, the defeated French were allowed to evacuate their troops from Portugal without further conflict...
following the Allied victory at Vimeiro
Battle of Vimeiro
In the Battle of Vimeiro the British under General Arthur Wellesley defeated the French under Major-General Jean-Andoche Junot near the village of Vimeiro , near Lisbon, Portugal during the Peninsular War...
. France was only controlling Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
and Navarre
Navarre
Navarre , officially the Chartered Community of Navarre is an autonomous community in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France...
and could have been definitely expelled from the Iberian peninsula had the Spanish armies attacked again, but the Spanish did not. Another French attack was launched on Spain, led by Napoleon himself, and was described as "an avalanche of fire and steel." However, the French Empire was no longer regarded as invincible by European powers. In 1808 Austria formed the War of the Fifth Coalition
War of the Fifth Coalition
The War of the Fifth Coalition, fought in the year 1809, pitted a coalition of the Austrian Empire and the United Kingdom against Napoleon's French Empire and Bavaria. Major engagements between France and Austria, the main participants, unfolded over much of Central Europe from April to July, with...
in order to break down the French Empire. The Austrian Empire defeated the French at Aspern-Essling
Battle of Aspern-Essling
In the Battle of Aspern-Essling , Napoleon attempted a forced crossing of the Danube near Vienna, but the French and their allies were driven back by the Austrians under Archduke Charles...
, yet was beaten at Wagram
Battle of Wagram
The Battle of Wagram was the decisive military engagement of the War of the Fifth Coalition. It took place on the Marchfeld plain, on the north bank of the Danube. An important site of the battle was the village of Deutsch-Wagram, 10 kilometres northeast of Vienna, which would give its name to the...
while the Polish allies defeated the Austrian Empire at Raszyn
Battle of Raszyn (1809)
The first Battle of Raszyn was fought on April 19, 1809 between armies of the Austrian Empire and the Duchy of Warsaw as a part of the War of the Fifth Coalition in the Napoleonic Wars. The Austrian army was defeated....
. Although not as decisive as the previous Austrian defeats, the peace treaty
Treaty of Schönbrunn
The Treaty of Schönbrunn , sometimes known as the Treaty of Vienna, was signed between France and Austria at the Schönbrunn Palace of Vienna on 14 October 1809. This treaty ended the Fifth Coalition during the Napoleonic Wars...
caused Austria to lose a large amount of territories, reducing it even more.
Battle of Borodino
The Battle of Borodino , fought on September 7, 1812, was the largest and bloodiest single-day action of the French invasion of Russia and all Napoleonic Wars, involving more than 250,000 troops and resulting in at least 70,000 casualties...
, near Moscow, the Grande Armée entered and captured Moscow, just to find it burning, as part of the Russian scorched earth
Scorched earth
A scorched earth policy is a military strategy or operational method which involves destroying anything that might be useful to the enemy while advancing through or withdrawing from an area...
tactics. Although there still were battles such as Maloyaroslavets
Battle of Maloyaroslavets
The Battle of Maloyaroslavets took place on 24 October 1812, between the Russians, under Marshal Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov, and part of the corps of Eugène de Beauharnais, Napoleon's stepson, under General Alexis Joseph Delzons which numbered about 20,000 strong.-Prelude:On 19 October, Napoleon...
the Napoleonic army left Russia decimated most of all by the Russian winter, exhaustion and scorched earth warfare. On the Spanish front the French troops were defeated at Vitoria
Battle of Vitoria
At the Battle of Vitoria an allied British, Portuguese, and Spanish army under General the Marquess of Wellington broke the French army under Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan near Vitoria in Spain, leading to eventual victory in the Peninsular War.-Background:In July 1812, after...
and then at the Battle of the Pyrenees
Battle of the Pyrenees
The Battle of the Pyrenees was a large-scale offensive launched on 25 July 1813 by Marshal Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult from the Pyrénées region on Emperor Napoleon’s order, in the hope of relieving French garrisons under siege at Pamplona and San Sebastián...
. Since the Spanish guerrillas seemed to be uncontrollable, the French troops eventually evacuated Spain. France having been defeated on these two fronts, the states controlled and previously conquered by Napoleon saw a good opportunity to strike back. The Sixth Coalition
War of the Sixth Coalition
In the War of the Sixth Coalition , a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, Spain and a number of German States finally defeated France and drove Napoleon Bonaparte into exile on Elba. After Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia, the continental powers...
was formed and the German states of the Confederation of the Rhine switched sides, finally opposing Napoleon. Napoleon was largely defeated in the Battle of the Nations
Battle of Leipzig
The Battle of Leipzig or Battle of the Nations, on 16–19 October 1813, was fought by the coalition armies of Russia, Prussia, Austria and Sweden against the French army of Napoleon. Napoleon's army also contained Polish and Italian troops as well as Germans from the Confederation of the Rhine...
and was overwhelmed by much larger armies during the Six Days Campaign
Six Days Campaign
The Six Days Campaign was a final series of victories by the forces of Napoleon Bonaparte as the Sixth Coalition closed in on Paris....
, although, because of the much larger amount of casualties suffered by the allies, the Six Days Campaign is often considered a tactical masterpiece.
Napoleon abdicated on 6 April 1814, and was exiled to Elba
Elba
Elba is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino. The largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago, Elba is also part of the National Park of the Tuscan Archipelago and the third largest island in Italy after Sicily and Sardinia...
. The conservative
Conservative Order
The Conservative Order is a term applied to European political history after the defeat of Napoleon in 1815. From 1815 to 1830 a conscious program by conservative statesmen, including Metternich and Castlereagh, was put in place to contain revolution and revolutionary forces by restoring old...
Congress of Vienna
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
reversed the political changes that had occurred during the wars. Napoleon's attempted restoration, a period known as the Hundred Days
Hundred Days
The Hundred Days, sometimes known as the Hundred Days of Napoleon or Napoleon's Hundred Days for specificity, marked the period between Emperor Napoleon I of France's return from exile on Elba to Paris on 20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII on 8 July 1815...
, ended with his final defeat at Waterloo
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
in 1815. The monarchy was subsequently restored and Louis XVIII
Louis XVIII of France
Louis XVIII , known as "the Unavoidable", was King of France and of Navarre from 1814 to 1824, omitting the Hundred Days in 1815...
became king.
Long nineteenth century, 1815–1914
The seemingly timeless world of the French peasantry swiftly changed from 1870 to 1914. French peasants had been poor and backward until railroads, republican schools, and universal military conscription modernized rural France. The centralized government in Paris had the goal of creating a unified nation state, so it required all students be taught standardized French. In the process a new national identity was forged.Bourbon restoration: 1814–1830
This period of time is called the Bourbon RestorationBourbon Restoration
The Bourbon Restoration is the name given to the period following the successive events of the French Revolution , the end of the First Republic , and then the forcible end of the First French Empire under Napoleon – when a coalition of European powers restored by arms the monarchy to the...
and was marked by conflicts between reactionary Ultra-royalists, who wanted to restore the pre-1789 system of absolute monarchy, and liberals, who wanted to strengthen constitutional monarchy. Louis XVIII was the younger brother of Louis XVI, and reigned from 1814 to 1824. On becoming king, Louis issued a constitution known as the Charter which preserved many of the liberties won during the French Revolution and provided for a parliament composed of an elected Chamber of Deputies and a Chamber of Peers that was nominated by the king. However the right to vote in elections to the Chamber of Deputies was restricted to only the wealthiest men. Louis was succeeded in turn by a younger brother, Charles X, who reigned from 1824 to 1830. On 12 June 1830 Polignac
Jules, prince de Polignac
Prince Jules de Polignac, 3rd Duke of Polignac , was a French statesman. He played a part in ultra-royalist reaction after the Revolution...
, King Charles X
Charles X of France
Charles X was known for most of his life as the Comte d'Artois before he reigned as King of France and of Navarre from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. A younger brother to Kings Louis XVI and Louis XVIII, he supported the latter in exile and eventually succeeded him...
's minister, exploited the weakness of the Algerian Dey
Dey
Dey was the title given to the rulers of the Regency of Algiers and Tripoli under the Ottoman Empire from 1671 onwards...
by invading Algeria and establishing French rule in Algeria
French rule in Algeria
French Algeria lasted from 1830 to 1962, under a variety of governmental systems. From 1848 until independence, the whole Mediterranean region of Algeria was administered as an integral part of France, much like Corsica and Réunion are to this day. The vast arid interior of Algeria, like the rest...
. However, the news of the fall of Algiers had barely reached Paris when a new revolution broke out and quickly resulted in a change of regime.
July Monarchy 1830–1848
Protest against the absolute monarchy was in the air. The elections of deputies to the 16 May 1830 had gone very badly for King Charles X. Charles X reacted by proroguing the Chamber of Deputies and sending them all packing, and then unilaterally changed the electional laws in an attempt to create a new Chamber of Deputies more favorable to him, and muzzled the press. Opposition to the absolute monarchy was immediately expressed in the streets of Paris as suppressed deputies, gagged journalists, students from the University and many working men of Paris poured into the streets and erected barricades during the "three glorious days" (French Les Trois Glorieuses) of 26–29 July 1830. Charles X was deposed and replaced by King Louis-PhilippeLouis-Philippe of France
Louis Philippe I was King of the French from 1830 to 1848 in what was known as the July Monarchy. His father was a duke who supported the French Revolution but was nevertheless guillotined. Louis Philippe fled France as a young man and spent 21 years in exile, including considerable time in the...
in what is known as the July Revolution
July Revolution
The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution or in French, saw the overthrow of King Charles X of France, the French Bourbon monarch, and the ascent of his cousin Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans, who himself, after 18 precarious years on the throne, would in turn be overthrown...
. The July Revolution is traditionally regarded as a rising of the bourgeoisie against the absolute monarchy of the Bourbons. Participants in the July Revolution included Marie Joseph Paul Ives Roch Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette. Working behind the scenes on behalf of the bourgeois propertied interests was Louis Adolphe Thiers. Thiers was perfectly willing to see changes made in the government so long as property was not harmed. Thiers wanted the "middle class accommodated" with the vote realizing that, ironically, although the petty bourgeoisie (the inn and cafe keepers, restaurant owners, wine merchants, small traders, shop keepers, handicraftsmen, etc.) were all being ruined by the rise of the larger bourgeoisie that the petty bourgeoisie remained strong supporters of property interests. Lafayette believed the Orleanist constitutional monarchy was the safest course for the propertied interests and so Lafayette and Thiers became supporters of the Orleanist "Citizen King"--Louis-Philippe. Consequently, Louis-Philippe became "king by the grace of the barricades."
Louis-Philippe's "July Monarchy" (1830–1848) was dominated by the haute bourgeoisie (high bourgeoisie) of bankers, financiers, industrialists and merchants.
During the reign of the July Monarchy, the Romantic Era
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
was starting to bloom. Driven by the Romantic Era, an atmosphere of protest and revolt was all around in France. On 22 November 1831 in Lyon (the second largest city in France) the silk workers revolted and took over the town hall in protest of recent salary reductions and working conditions. This was one of the first occasions of a workers revolt in the entire world. The revolt was vigorously put down by Casimir Perier. The Right was also unhappy with the July Monarchy. On 28 October 1836, Prince Louis-Napoleon, son of Napoleon's brother, Louis, King of Holland attempted to overthrow the July Monarchy in a coup d'état. It failed but in August 1840, Prince Louis Napoleon tried another coup at Boulogne with hired soldiers. It failed as well.
Because of the constant threats to the throne, the July Monarchy began to rule with a stronger and stronger hand. Soon political meetings were outlawed. However, "banquets" were still legal. Accordingly, all through 1847, there was a nation-wide campaign of democracy and/or republican banquets. The climaxing banquet was scheduled for 22 February 1848 in Paris. The government was scared and overreacted and banned the banquet. On 22 February, citizens of all classes poured out onto the streets of Paris in a revolt against the July Monarchy. Demands were made for abdication of "Citizen King" Louis-Phillipe and for establishment of a representative democracy in France. Representative classes in this revolt included the full range of French society from the industrial bourgeoisie (who had been excluded from the "finance aristocracy" that formed the major part of the bourgeoisie that supported the July Monarchy), the petty bourgeoisie and the workers. Accordingly, the last King of France abdicated, and the French Second Republic
French Second Republic
The French Second Republic was the republican government of France between the 1848 Revolution and the coup by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte which initiated the Second Empire. It officially adopted the motto Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité...
was proclaimed. A Constituent Assembly was elected which was seated in Paris. Alphonse Marie Louis de Lamartine, who had been a leader of the moderate republicans in France during the 1840s became the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Provisional Government that was established by this Assembly. In reality Lamartine was the virtual head of government in 1848.
Napoleon III: 1848–1871
Fearful of a total breakdown of law and order, the Provisional Government invited General Louis Eugene Cavaignac
Louis Eugène Cavaignac
Louis-Eugène-John-Jacob-Cavaignac , French general, second son of Jean-Baptiste Cavaignac and brother of Éléonore Louis Godefroi Cavaignac, was born at Paris.- Military career :...
back from Algeria, in June 1848, to put down the workers armed revolt. From June 1848 until December 1848 General Cavaignac became head of the executive of the Provisional Government. Louis Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon III of France
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was the President of the French Second Republic and as Napoleon III, the ruler of the Second French Empire. He was the nephew and heir of Napoleon I, christened as Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte...
was elected president on 10 December 1848 over Cavaignac and Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin
Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin
Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin was a French politician.The grandson of Nicolas Philippe Ledru, the celebrated quack doctor known as "Comus" under Louis XV and Louis XVI, Ledru-Rollin was born in a house that had once been Paul Scarron's, at Fontenay-aux-Roses...
. Louis Napoleaon received 5,587,759 votes as opposed to 1,474,687 votes for Cavaignac and 370,000 for the petty bourgeoisie socialist Ledru-Rollin. François-Vincent Raspail, a working class revolutionary socialist ended up a distant fourth in this election. Louis Napoleon's support came from a wide section of the French public. Various classes of French society voted for Louis Napoleon for very different and often contradictory reasons. Louis Napoleon, himself encouraged this contradiction by "being all things to all people." One of his major promises to the peasantry and other groups was that there would be no new taxes. Elected with Louis Napoleon on 10 December 1848 was a new National Legislative Assembly. Within each of the National Assemblies elected since the start of the Revolution of 1848, there had been a group that designated itself as the Mountain
The Mountain
The Mountain refers in the context of the history of the French Revolution to a political group, whose members, called Montagnards, sat on the highest benches in the Assembly...
or "Montagne" in French. Members of this group, the Montagnards, took their name from the political grouping of 302 members within the National Convention that formed the ruling body of the government between 1793 and 1794 during the original French Revolution. Both Louis Napoleon and the new National Constituent Assembly took office on 20 December 1848. As a result, France now possessed a new "Napoleon" side by side with a new "Montagne." However, these new forms were mere caricatures of their great forerunners. The new Napoleon did not change the world as did Napoleon I. The new Mountain formed only an opposition grouping within the various National Assemblies that were formed during the Revolution of 1848, but never really formed the ruling government during those times like its predecessor. In this regard, Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
stated that "History repeats itself. First as a tragedy and secondly as a farce."
On their last day in office the old Constituent Assembly rejected a proposed amnesty for the insurgents of the June Days. The new National Constituent Assembly was, however, heavily composed of royalist symphathizers of both the Legitimist (Bourbon) wing and the Orleanist (Citizen King Louis Phiippe) wing. Consequently, there was no hope that such an amnesty would be passed in the future.
Because of the ambiguity surrounding Louis Napoleon's political positions, his agenda as president was very much in doubt. However, some doubt was removed when Louis Napoleon appointed Odilon Barrot
Odilon Barrot
Camille Hyacinthe Odilon Barrot was a French politician.-Early life:Barrot was born at Villefort Lozère. He belonged to a legal family, his father, an advocate of Toulouse, having been a member of the Convention who had voted against the death of Louis XVI. Odilon Barrot's earliest recollections...
as his first prime minister. Odilon Barrot had been the last prime minister under the Citizen King—King Louis Philippe. Thus, the prime minister was a Orleanist. So to were Léon Faucher
Léon Faucher
Léonard Joseph Léon Faucher was a French politician and economist.Faucher was born at Limoges, Haute-Vienne. When he was nine years old the family removed to Toulouse, where the boy was sent to school...
, who was appointed Minister of the Interior; Achille Fould
Achille Fould
Achille Fould was a French financier and politician.Born in Paris, the son of a successful Jewish banker, he was associated with and afterwards succeeded his father in the management of the business. As early as 1842 he entered political life, having been elected in that year as a deputy for the...
, who was appointed Minister of Finance; and Thomas Robert Bugeaud, who was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Alpine army. To balance these appointments, and to curry favor with the other major royalist wing composing a large part of the Legislative Assembly—the Legitimists (Bourbons), Louis Napoleon appointed Frédéric Alfred Pierre Falloux, a Legitimist, as the Minister of Relious Affairs. Another Legitimist, Nicolas Anne Théodule Changarnier was appointed to the unified command of the National Guard for the Department of the Seine and of the Mobile Guard. Clearly, the new government under Louis Napoleon was going to chart a course very much in favor of the great landowners (supporters of the Legitimists) and of the finance capitalist section of the bourgeoisie (supporters of the Orleanists) to the detriment of the other classes of French society.
On 27 December 1848, just seven days after assuming the presidency, Louis Napoleon proposed retention of the salt tax which had been abolished by the Provisional Government. Restoration of the salt tax alienated Louis Napoleon's mainstay of support in the election—the peasantry. Because they had not been paying the salt tax they saw this measure as violation of Louis Napoleon's pledge of "no new taxes." However, Louis Napoleon needed the revenues of that would be raised by the salt tax to put the government on a firm financial footing and to support his active new foreign policy objectives. The struggle over the salt tax mushroomed into a full-blown conflict between Louis Napoleon and the Legislative Assembly. Jean Piere Lamotte Rateau introduced a motion in the Legislative Assembly on 6 January 1849, requesting that the Assembly dissolve itself in favor of a dictatorship of Louis Napoleon. The proposed restoration of the salt tax was rejected by the Legislative Assembly on 29 January 1849 setting up the first governmental crisis of the Louis Napoleon presidency.
On 21 March 1849, another crisis between the executive and the legislative branches of the government burst into flames over the introduction of a bill by Minister of the Interior Leon Flaucher. The government became alarmed about the hundreds of political clubs that were popping up everywhere in Paris. This bill sought to make all these clubs illegal. The Assembly reminded the executive that this measure violated Section 8 of the French Constitution which guaranteed every Frenchman the "right of assembly."
On April 14, 1849, Louis Napoleon sent a 14,000 man expeditionary force of troops to the Papal State under General Nicolas Charles Victor Oudinot
Charles Oudinot
Lieutenant-General Charles Nicolas Victor Oudinot, 2nd Duc de Reggio , the eldest son of Napoleon I's marshal Nicolas Oudinot of his first marriage with Charlotte Derlin, also made a military career....
. Sending this expeditionary force became a nightmare that would haunt Louis Napoleon's government until the end. The revolutionary upsurge that afflicted Europe in 1848, did not spare the Papal State. Pelligrino Rossi a moderate minister of the Papal State was murdered on November 15, 1848. The next day on November 16, 1848, an insurrection broke out which required the pope--Pius IX--to appoint a new democratic cabinet. In alarm, Pope Pius eventually fled to Naples for protection. On February 9, 1849, a Roman Republic was proclaimed in the Papal State. General Oudinot's expeditionary force was sent to Rome by Louis Napoleon to crush the Roman Republic and to restore the secular authority of the pope in the Papal State. However, on April 30, 1849, the French Expeditionary force was defeated and pushed back from Rome by Giuseppi Garibaldi's volunteer corps. An armistice was signed between Garibauldi and the French Expeditionalry force. However, General Oudinot broke the armistice on June 3, 1849 and started a new offensive resulted in the capture of Rome after a month of fighting. On June 30, 1849, the Roman Republic was crushed.
Back home in Paris the Legislative Assembly was in an uproar. Sending the expeditionary force to Rome was a violation of the French Constitution. This cause further alienation of Napoleon from the legislative branch of his government. Following the defeat of the expeditionary force in front of Rome, the decision to send the troops was heavily criticized. On May 8, 1849, Ledru Rollin introduced a bill of impeachment in the National Constituent Assembly against Louis Napoleon for exceeding his constitutional authority as President in sending the expeditionary force to Rome. Article V of the preamble to the French Constitution stated that "The French republic never employs its forces against the liberty of any people whatsoever." Additionally, Section 54 of the main body of the Constitution prohibited the executive branch of the government from declaring any war whatsoever, without the consent of the National Assembly. A few days later, on May 13, 1848, elections were held for a new National Legislative Assembly which was to replace the National Constituent Assembly. When the elections were over, both the political right and the political left had been strengthened at the expense of the moderates in the center. When the Legislative Assembly took its seat on May 28, 1848, the right-wing Party of Order took control over the new Assembly. However, the parties of the left had also been encouraged by their increased strength as a result of the elections. Ledru-Rollin had also been elected to the new National Legislative Assembly. On June 11, 1848, Ledru-Rollin once again offered his bill of impeachment against Louis Napoleon. On June 12, 1848, the Legislative Assembly defeated this impeachment bill and by a vote of 377 to 8. The Legislative Assembly also voted 361 to 205 to pass from discussing the bombardment of rome to the next item on the agenda. Thereby, all further discussion of this emotionally charged issue was cut off. The reaction in the street was furious as some 30,000 working class citizens, once again filled the streets, on June 13, 1848. Once again barricades were established set up in the streets of Paris in what has become known as the "June Days."
Following the June Days a frightful reaction arose in France. Ledru-Rollin, Felix Pyat
Félix Pyat
Félix Pyat was a French Socialist journalist and politician.-Biography:He was born in Vierzon , the son of a Legitimist lawyer. Called to the bar in Paris in 1831, he threw his whole energies into journalism...
, Victor Considérant, Auguste Joseph Guinard
Auguste Joseph Guinard
Auguste Joseph Guinard was born in France and developed democratic beliefs. He was elected as a deputy to the Constituent Assembly in 1848 through 1849. In the Constituent Assembly, Guinard caucused with the Mountain party. On January 15, 1849, he took part in uprisings by the Mountain...
and 30 other elected deputies of the Mountain
The Mountain
The Mountain refers in the context of the history of the French Revolution to a political group, whose members, called Montagnards, sat on the highest benches in the Assembly...
, the opposition group within the Legislative Assembly, were deprived of their electoral mandates and were placed on trial. The government raided the editorial offices of several democratic and socialist newspapers in France, especially in Paris. The newspapers were banned and the editors were arrested. Foreign nationals living in Paris were deported. Karl Marx, who had been living in Paris since June 7, 1849 was one of these foreign nationals now threatened with deportment. Marx's radical socialist newspaper, Neue Rheinische Zeitung
Neue Rheinische Zeitung
The Neue Rheinische Zeitung - Organ der Demokratie was a German daily newspaper, published by Karl Marx in Cologne between June 1, 1848 and May 19, 1849. Its name refers to a paper earlier edited by Marx, the Rheinische Zeitung...
in Cologne, Germany had been closed by Prussian authorities on May 19, 1849. Marx, himself, had been expelled from Germany by Prussian authorities. Now, during the repression that followed the June Days of 1849 in Paris, Marx was once again faced with deportment. As a conseuence, Marx immigrated to London, England on August 24, 1849, where he remained for therest of his life.
The government sought ways to balance its budget and reduce its debts. Toward this end, Hippolyte Passy
Hippolyte Passy
Hippolyte Passy was a French economist. He was twice Minister of Finance in the government of Louis-Philippe of France.-References:...
was appointed Finance Minister. When the Legislative Assembly met at the beginning of October, 1849, Passy proposed an income tax to help balance the finances in France. There was a huge protest from the whole bourgeoisie, finance, industrial etc., who would stand to lose the most under a progressive income tax. The furor over the income tax caused the downfall of Barrot as prime minister. Louis Napoleon announced to the Legislative Assembly on November 1, 1849 that a new prime minister would appointed to form a new government. On December 20, 1849, the first anniversary of Louis Napoleon's assumption of office, the government announced the resumption of wine tax. The wine tax had been instituted on prior occasions in modern French history. However, each the tax had proved itself to be so unpopular with the people that the tax had to be rescinded. Indeed, in exile on St. Helenes, Napoleon I blamed the institution of the wine tax by his government as being the reason for his eventual downfall.
On March 10, 1850, complimentary elections were held which resulted in a majority resolved to conduct "a Roman expedition at home." This meant a campaign to suppress all "subversive actiities" in France. François Vidal, a petty bourgeois socialist, Deflotte, a friend of Louis Augustin Blanqui, and Lazare Hippolyte Carnot, a moderate republican, were among those elected in the March 10, 1850 elections. Still the reactionary petty bourgeoisie controlled the Legislative Assembly. As a result, the legislative agenda of the new Legislative Assempby was conservative in tone. Under the Falloux law which resulted, the Catholic Church was given increased influence over the education of children. Although a new electoral law was passed which respected the principle of universal (male) suffrage, the stricter residential requirement of the new law actually had the effect of disenfranchising 3,000,000 of 10,000,000 voters. Following the elections of March 10, 1850, Louis Napoleon underwent some cabinet revisions. He appointed a Pierre Jules Baroche as the new Minister of the Interior. Alphonse Henri d'Hautpoul was removed as War Minister and appointed as Governor of Algiers. The new War Minister was General Jean Paul Adam Schramm
Jean-Paul, comte de Schramm
Jean Paul Adam, comte de Schramm was a French Minister of War.-Career:He entered the Army in 1803.He was promoted lieutenant after the Battle of Austerlitz.He was promoted Captain in the Old Guard, after the Siege of Danzig ....
. General Maximillian Georg Joseph Neumayer was moved from Paris to Nantes.
As 1851 opened, Louis Napoleon's thoughts were dominated by the fact tht the Constitution of 1848 forbid him from seeking re-election as President of France. He felt disinclined to retire to private life in May of 1852 when his term as president would end. Later in 1851, Louis Napoleon proclaimed himself President for Life following a coup in December
that was confirmed and accepted in a dubious referendum. Napoleon III of France took the imperial title in 1852 and held it until his downfall in 1870.
The era saw great industrialization, urbanization (including the massive rebuilding of Paris by Baron Haussmann
Baron Haussmann
Georges-Eugène Haussmann, commonly known as Baron Haussmann , was a French civic planner whose name is associated with the rebuilding of Paris...
) and economic growth, but Napoleon III's foreign policies were not so successful. In 1854, The Second Empire joined the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
, which saw France and Britain opposed to the Russian Empire, who were decisively defeated at Sevastopol in 1855 and at Inkerman
Battle of Inkerman
The Battle of Inkerman was fought during the Crimean War on November 5, 1854 between the allied armies of Britain and France against the Imperial Russian Army. The battle broke the will of the Russian Army to defeat the allies in the field, and was followed by the Siege of Sevastopol...
. In 1856 France joined the Second Opium War
Second Opium War
The Second Opium War, the Second Anglo-Chinese War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a war pitting the British Empire and the Second French Empire against the Qing Dynasty of China, lasting from 1856 to 1860...
on the British side against China; a missionary's murder was used as a pretext to take interests in southwest Asia in the Treaty of Tientsin
Treaty of Tientsin
Several documents known as the "Treaty of Tien-tsin" were signed in Tianjin in June 1858, ending the first part of the Second Opium War . The Second French Empire, United Kingdom, Russian Empire, and the United States were the parties involved...
.
In 1859 the Second Italian War of Independence
Second Italian War of Independence
The Second War of Italian Independence, Franco-Austrian War, Austro-Sardinian War, or Austro-Piedmontese War , was fought by Napoleon III of France and the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia against the Austrian Empire in 1859...
broke out between the northern Italian kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia and Austria. The Second French Empire joined the war on the Italian side, which was concluded by an Austrian defeat at Solferino
Battle of Solferino
The Battle of Solferino, , was fought on June 24, 1859 and resulted in the victory of the allied French Army under Napoleon III and Sardinian Army under Victor Emmanuel II against the Austrian Army under Emperor Franz Joseph I; it was the last major battle in world...
. In return for this intervention, Piedmont ceded the County of Nice
County of Nice
The County of Nice or Niçard Country is a historical region of France, located in the south-eastern part, around the city of Nice.-History:Its territory lies between the Mediterranean Sea , Var River and the southernmost crest of the...
(which included the city of Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
and the rugged Alpine territory to its north and east) and the Duchy of Savoy. In 1861 Napoleon III largely supported Maximilian
Maximilian I of Mexico
Maximilian I was the only monarch of the Second Mexican Empire.After a distinguished career in the Austrian Navy, he was proclaimed Emperor of Mexico on April 10, 1864, with the backing of Napoleon III of France and a group of Mexican monarchists who sought to revive the Mexican monarchy...
in his claim to Mexico, a move that was also supported by Britain and Spain but condemned by the U.S. This led to the French intervention in Mexico
French intervention in Mexico
The French intervention in Mexico , also known as The Maximilian Affair, War of the French Intervention, and The Franco-Mexican War, was an invasion of Mexico by an expeditionary force sent by the Second French Empire, supported in the beginning by the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Spain...
, which turned out to be a failure.
When France was negotiating with The Netherlands about purchasing Luxembourg, the Prussian Kingdom threatened the French government with war. This came as a shock to French diplomats as there previously was an agreement between the Prussian and French governments about Luxembourg. Napoleon III suffered stronger and stronger criticism from Republicans like Jules Favre
Jules Favre
Jules Claude Gabriel Favre was a French statesman. After the establishment of the Third Republic in September 1870, he became one of the leaders of the Opportunist Republicans faction.- Early life :...
, and his position seemed more fragile with the passage of time. France was looking for more interests in Asia and interfered in Korea
French Campaign against Korea, 1866
The French campaign against Korea of 1866 is also known as Byeong-in yangyo . It refers to the French invasion of Ganghwa Island in Korea in retaliation for the earlier execution by Korea's Joseon Dynasty of French Catholic priests proselytizing in that country...
in 1866 taking, once again, missionaries' murders as a pretext. The French finally withdrew from the war with little gain but war's booty. The next year a French expedition to Japan was formed to help the Tokugawa shogunate
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...
to modernize its army. However, Tokugawa was defeated during the Boshin War
Boshin War
The was a civil war in Japan, fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and those seeking to return political power to the imperial court....
at the Battle of Toba-Fushimi
Battle of Toba-Fushimi
The occurred between pro-Imperial and Tokugawa shogunate forces during the Boshin War in Japan. The battle started on 27 January 1868 , when the forces of the Tokugawa shogunate and the allied forces of Chōshū, Satsuma and Tosa domains clashed near Fushimi...
by large Imperial armies.
Rising tensions in 1869 about the possible candidacy of Prince Leopold von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen to the throne of Spain, caused a rise in the scale of animosity between France and Germany. Prince Leopold was a part of the Prussian royal family. He had been asked by the Spanish Cortes
Cortes Generales
The Cortes Generales is the legislature of Spain. It is a bicameral parliament, composed of the Congress of Deputies and the Senate . The Cortes has power to enact any law and to amend the constitution...
to accept the vacant throne of Spain. Such an event was more than France could possibly accept. Relations between France and Germany deteriorated and finally, the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
(1870–1871) broke out. German nationalism united the German states, with the exception of Austria, against Napoleon III. The French Empire was defeated decisively at Metz
Siege of Metz
The Siege of Metz lasting from 19 August – 27 October 1870 was fought during the Franco-Prussian War and ended in a decisive Prussian victory.-History:...
and Sedan
Battle of Sedan
The Battle of Sedan was fought during the Franco-Prussian War on 1 September 1870. It resulted in the capture of Emperor Napoleon III and large numbers of his troops and for all intents and purposes decided the war in favour of Prussia and its allies, though fighting continued under a new French...
. Indeed, Emperor Louis Napoleon III surrendered himself and 100,000 French troops to the German troops at Sedan on 1 September through 2, 1870. Two days later, on 4 September 1870, Leon Gambetta
Léon Gambetta
Léon Gambetta was a French statesman prominent after the Franco-Prussian War.-Youth and education:He is said to have inherited his vigour and eloquence from his father, a Genovese grocer who had married a Frenchwoman named Massabie. At the age of fifteen, Gambetta lost the sight of his right eye...
proclaimed a new republic in France. Later when Paris was encircled by German troops, Gambetta fled Paris by means of a hot air balloon and he became the virtual dictator of the war effort which was carried on from the rural provinces. Metz remained under siege until 27 October 1870, when 173,000 French troops were located there finally surrendered. Surrounded Paris and was forced to surrender on 28 January 1871. The last straw was the Siege of Paris
Siege of Paris
The Siege of Paris, lasting from September 19, 1870 – January 28, 1871, and the consequent capture of the city by Prussian forces led to French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War and the establishment of the German Empire as well as the Paris Commune....
. The Treaty of Frankfurt
Treaty of Frankfurt (1871)
The Treaty of Frankfurt was a peace treaty signed in Frankfurt on 10 May 1871, at the end of the Franco-Prussian War.- Summary :The treaty did the following:...
allowed the newly formed German Empire to annex the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine.
Railways
Railways became a national medium for the modernization of backward regions, and a leading advocate of this approach was the poet-politician Alphonse de LamartineAlphonse de Lamartine
Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine was a French writer, poet and politician who was instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic.-Career:...
. One writer hoped that railways might improve the lot of "populations two or three centuries behind their fellows" and eliminate "the savage instincts born of isolation and misery." Consequently, France built a centralized system that radiated from Paris (plus lines that cut east to west in the south). This design was intended to achieve political and cultural goals rather than maximize efficiency. After some consolidation, six companies controlled monopolies of their regions, subject to close control by the government in terms of fares, finances, and even minute technical details. The central government department of Ponts et Chaussées [roads and bridges] brought in British engineers and workers, handled much of the construction work, provided engineering expertise and planning, land acquisition, and construction of permanent infrastructure such as the track bed, bridges and tunnels. It also subsidized militarily necessary lines along the German border, which was considered necessary for the national defense. Private operating companies provided management, hired labor, laid the tracks, and built and operated stations. They purchased and maintained the rolling stock—6,000 locomotives were in operation in 1880, which averaged 51,600 passengers a year or 21,200 tons of freight. Much of the equipment was imported from Britain and therefore did not stimulate machinery makers. Although starting the whole system at once was politically expedient, it delayed completion, and forced even more reliance on temporary experts brought in from Britain. Financing was also a problem. The solution was a narrow base of funding through the Rothschilds and the closed circles of the Bourse in Paris, so France did not develop the same kind of national stock exchange that flourished in London and New York. The system did help modernize the parts of rural France it reached, but it did not help create local industrial centers. Critics such as Emile Zola complained that it never overcame the corruption of the political system, but rather contributed to it. The railways probably helped the industrial revolution in France by facilitating a national market for raw materials, wines, cheeses, and imported manufactured products. Yet the goals set by the French for their railway system were moralistic, political, and military rather than economic. As a result, the freight trains were shorter and less heavily loaded than those in such rapidly industrializing nations such as Britain, Belgium or Germany. Other infrastructure needs in rural France, such as better roads and canals, were neglected because of the expense of the railways, so it seems likely that there were net negative effects in areas not served by the trains.
The Third Republic and the Belle Epoque
Following the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian WarFranco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
, Otto von Bismarck
Otto von Bismarck
Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...
proposed harsh terms for peace—including the German occupation of the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. A new French National Assembly was elected to consider the German terms for peace. Elected on 8 February 1871, this new National Assembly was composed of 650 deputies. Sitting in Bourdeaux, the French National Assembly established the Third Republic. However, 400 members of the new Assembly were monarchists. (Leon Gambetta
Léon Gambetta
Léon Gambetta was a French statesman prominent after the Franco-Prussian War.-Youth and education:He is said to have inherited his vigour and eloquence from his father, a Genovese grocer who had married a Frenchwoman named Massabie. At the age of fifteen, Gambetta lost the sight of his right eye...
was one of the "non-monarchist" Republicans that were elected to the new National Assembly from Paris.) On 16 February 1871 elected Adolphe Thiers
Adolphe Thiers
Marie Joseph Louis Adolphe Thiers was a French politician and historian. was a prime minister under King Louis-Philippe of France. Following the overthrow of the Second Empire he again came to prominence as the French leader who suppressed the revolutionary Paris Commune of 1871...
as the chief executive of the new Republic. Because of the revolutionary unrest in Paris, the center of the Thiers government was located at Versailles .
Meanwhile, the people of Paris, however, were seething at the thought of peace with Germany under the humiliating terms proposed by Bismarck. On 31 October 1870 and on 22 January 1871, the people of Paris rose up in premature and unsuccessful uprisings. Adolphe Thiers could recognize a revolutionary situation when he saw it. Ever since 28 January 1871, the National Guard within Paris had become increasingly restive and defiant of the police, the army chief of staff and even their own National Guard commanders. Accordingly, on 18 March 1871, Thiers sent regular army units to Paris to remove the cannon pieces that belonged to the National Guard of Paris. However, the soldiers of the army units began to fraternize with the Paris National Guard and the people of Paris, sympathized with them and began to join them in revolt against the Thiers government. The people of Paris revolted and threw up the barricades just as they had in 1830 and 1848. The Paris Commune was born. Just as in prior Paris revolts, the famous Hotel de Ville, or Town Hall became center of attention for the people in revolt. This time the Hotel de Ville became the seat of an actual government. Other cities in France followed the example of the Paris Commune. On 22 March 1871, the people of Lyon overtook their local government and proclaimed a "Commune." On 23 March 1871, Communes were also declared at Marseille and Toulouse. On 26 March 1871 another Commune was proclaimed in Le Creusot. However, all of these Communes outside Paris were crushed by the Thiers government after just a few days of existence.
On 26 March 1871, new municipal elections were held in Paris in which 229,000 Parisians voted. From the first, the new government of Paris reflected something totally new. The industrial Revolution in France had been in full bloom for some time, by 1871. Consequently, a large number of Paris citizens who came out in the streets in revolt and who subsequently formed the new government of the Paris Commune were working class citizens who worked for wages in the factories in the city. These working class citizens directed the tone of the government of the Paris Commune in a way that represented working class interests. Thus, the Paris Commune became the first "proletarian revolution" in history. The government of the Paris Commune was divided, but the political divisions were totally new to the political scene. Despite the fact that Louis Auguste Blanqui
Louis Auguste Blanqui
Louis Auguste Blanqui was a French political activist, notable for the revolutionary theory of Blanquism, attributed to him....
had been arrested on 17 March 1871 and remained in prison for the whole life of the Paris commune, a majority of the "Communards" forming the Provisional government were his followers--"Blanquists." The Blanquists tended to plan and layout a course for the Communard government. The minority opposition within the communard government were anarchists and followers of Pierre Joseph Proudhon (1809–1855). As anarchists, the "Proudhonists" were supporters of limited or no government and wanted the revolution to follow an ad hoc course with little or no planning.
The Commune may have been a "working class" revolution but the Communards were not full-blown socialists. There was some confiscation of abandoned factories by the Communard government. These abandoned factories were then turned over to worker-owned cooperatives which operated the enterprises. However, there were no governmental expropriations of active industrial factories or businesses. Indeed the Commune is faulted with not having taken over control of the Bank of France which continued normal operations within Paris without any interruption during the whole life of the Commune. Expropriation of the Bank of France or perhaps the mere threat of expropriation would have vested the Bank in the future of the Communard government rather than acting as an agent for the Thiers government against the Commune. Such a measure might have made the Commune successful against the Thiers government. Furthermore, it wasn't as if this Commune was not made aware of the importance of the Bank to the Commune. An article in the moderate Paris newspaper, Le Chatiment published on 31 March 1871, decried the position of the worker as "continually being under the heel of Capital" and "in the grip of usury." and called for a "Bank for Workers." Later an even clearer call was expressed directly to the Communard government in a letter from the chairman of a local club of the Paris neighborhood around Saint Severin Church. This letter, addressed to Raoul Rigault, member of the Commune, expressed the necessity of "crushing the bourgeoisie once and for all." and that the only way to accomplish this was to "take over the Bank of France."
Feelings of national guilt and a desire for vengeance ("revanchism
Revanchism
Revanchism is a term used since the 1870s to describe a political manifestation of the will to reverse territorial losses incurred by a country, often following a war or social movement. Revanchism draws its strength from patriotic and retributionist thought and is often motivated by economic or...
") would be major preoccupations of the French throughout the next half century as the result of the defeat of the Paris Commune. The repression of the Commune was bloody. Hundreds were executed in front of the Communards' Wall
Communards' Wall
The Communards’ Wall at the Père Lachaise cemetery is where, on May 28, 1871, one-hundred forty-seven fédérés, combatants of the Paris Commune, were shot and thrown in an open trench at the foot of the wall....
in the Père Lachaise cemetery, while thousands of others were marched to Versailles for trials. The number killed during La Semaine Sanglante (The Bloody Week of 21 May through 28 May 1871) can never be established for certain, but the best estimates are 30,000 dead. Many more were wounded, and perhaps as many as 50,000 later executed or imprisoned; 7,000 were exiled to New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
. Thousands of them fled to Belgium, England, Italy, Spain and the United States.
Besides the defeat of the Paris Commune, the Republican
Republicanism
Republicanism is the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, where the head of state is appointed by means other than heredity, often elections. The exact meaning of republicanism varies depending on the cultural and historical context...
movement also had to confront counterrevolutionaries who rejected the legacy of the 1789 Revolution. Both the Legitimist, embodied in the person of Henri, Count of Chambord, grandson of Charles X; and the Orleanist
Orléanist
The Orléanists were a French right-wing/center-right party which arose out of the French Revolution. It governed France 1830-1848 in the "July Monarchy" of king Louis Philippe. It is generally seen as a transitional period dominated by the bourgeoisie and the conservative Orleanist doctrine in...
royalists rejected republicanism, which they saw as an extension of modernity
Modernity
Modernity typically refers to a post-traditional, post-medieval historical period, one marked by the move from feudalism toward capitalism, industrialization, secularization, rationalization, the nation-state and its constituent institutions and forms of surveillance...
and atheism
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
, breaking with France's traditions. This conflict became increasingly sharp in 1873, when Thiers, himself was censured by the National Assembly as not being "sufficiently conservative." Finally, on 24 May 1873 Thiers reluctantly resigned the presidency of the Third Republic to make way for Marshal Patrice MacMahon who assumed the presidency. Amidst the rumors of right wing intrigue and/or coups by the Bonapartists or the Bourbons in 1874, the National Assembly set about drawing up a new constitution which would be acceptable to all parties. The new constitution allowed for universal male suffrage and called for a bi-cameral legislature, consisting of a Senate and A Chamber of Deputies. The first election under this new constitution held in early 1876 resulted in a republican victory, with 363 republicans elected as opposed to 180 monarchists. However, 75 of the monarchists elected to the new Chamber of Deputies were Bonaopartists. The "Bonapartist threat" of a coup de etat was an ever-present danger in these early days of the Republic. Under the constitution, President MacMahon was required to pick a "premier" to actually lead the day-to-day affairs of the government. The most natural leader to pick following this republican victory at the polls would have been Leon Gambetta
Léon Gambetta
Léon Gambetta was a French statesman prominent after the Franco-Prussian War.-Youth and education:He is said to have inherited his vigour and eloquence from his father, a Genovese grocer who had married a Frenchwoman named Massabie. At the age of fifteen, Gambetta lost the sight of his right eye...
. However, the old Marshal was dead set against Gambetta and chose, instead, moderate Armand Dufaure. Dufaure tried to form a government but he was quickly overthrown. Next Marshall MacMahon chose conservative Jules Simon
Jules Simon
Jules François Simon was a French statesman and philosopher, and one of the leader of the Opportunist Republicans faction.-Biography:Simon was born at Lorient. His father was a linen-draper from Lorraine, who renounced Protestantism before his second marriage with a Catholic Breton. Jules Simon...
. Jules Simon was a university professor and a prolific author, but he was too conservative for the Chamber of Deputies and Simon was forced to resign on 16 May 1877, setting the stage for the "Crisis of the Sixteenth of May."
The 16 May 1877 crisis
16 May 1877 crisis
The 16 May 1877 crisis was a constitutional crisis in the French Third Republic concerning the distribution of power between the President and the legislature. When the Royalist President Patrice MacMahon dismissed the Opportunist Republican Prime Minister Jules Simon, parliament on 16 May 1877...
eventually led to the resignation of royalist Marshal MacMahon in January 1879. During his life Henri, comte de Chambord
Henri, comte de Chambord
Henri, comte de Chambord was disputedly King of France from 2 to 9 August 1830 as Henry V, although he was never officially proclaimed as such...
, who, as the grandson of Charles X, had refused to abandon the fleur-de-lys and the white flag
White flag
White flags have had different meanings throughout history and depending on the locale.-Flag of temporary truce in order to parley :...
. Thus, Henri's own short-sightedness in this regard jeopardized the alliance between Legitimists (Bourbons) and Orleanists. Therefore, the monarchist cause remained divided did not present as strong a threat to the Third Republic as might have been the case had they been unified. Because of this division many remaining Orleanists rallied themselves to the Republic, behind Adolphe . The vast majority of the Legitimists abandoned the political arena or became marginalised. Still they remained a potent threat of trouble for the young Third Republic, especially while Henri Count of Chabord lived. When he died on 24 August 1883, the Third Republic had a large threat to its existence removed. Marshal MacMahon's successor as President of the Republic on 30 January 1879 was Jules Grevy
Jules Grévy
François Paul Jules Grévy was a President of the French Third Republic and one of the leaders of the Opportunist Republicans faction. Given that his predecessors were monarchists who tried without success to restore the French monarchy, Grévy is seen as the first real republican President of...
. In January 1886, Georges Boulanger became Minister of War in the French government. Georges Clemanceau was instrumental in obtaining this appointment for Boulanger. This was the start of the Boulanger era, and was the start of another time of threats.
Following the death of Henri Count of Chabord, the Legitimist (Bourbon) party was limited within the political arena within France. Some of them founded Action Française
Action Française
The Action Française , founded in 1898, is a French Monarchist counter-revolutionary movement and periodical founded by Maurice Pujo and Henri Vaugeois and whose principal ideologist was Charles Maurras...
in 1898, during the Dreyfus Affair
Dreyfus Affair
The Dreyfus affair was a political scandal that divided France in the 1890s and the early 1900s. It involved the conviction for treason in November 1894 of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a young French artillery officer of Alsatian Jewish descent...
, which became an influential movement throughout the 1930s, in particular among the intellectuals of Paris' Quartier Latin. In 1891, Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII , born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci to an Italian comital family, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903...
's encyclic Rerum Novarum
Rerum Novarum
Rerum Novarum is an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII on May 15, 1891. It was an open letter, passed to all Catholic bishops, that addressed the condition of the working classes. The encyclical is entitled: “Rights and Duties of Capital and Labour”...
brought legitimacy to the Social Catholic
Christian socialism
Christian socialism generally refers to those on the Christian left whose politics are both Christian and socialist and who see these two philosophies as being interrelated. This category can include Liberation theology and the doctrine of the social gospel...
movement, which in France could be traced back to Hughes Felicité Robert de Lamennais
Hughes Felicité Robert de Lamennais
Hugues-Félicité Robert de Lamennais , was a French priest, and philosophical and political writer.-Youth:Félicité de Lamennais was born at Saint-Malo on June 19, 1782, the son of a wealthy merchant...
' efforts under the July Monarchy.
The initial republic was in effect led by pro-royalists, but republicans (the "Radicals") and bonapartists
Bonapartism
Bonapartism is often defined as a political expression in the vocabulary of Marxism and Leninism, deriving from the career of Napoleon Bonaparte. Karl Marx was a student of Jacobinism and the French Revolution as well as a contemporary critic of the Second Republic and Second Empire...
scrambled for power. The period from 1879–1899 saw power come into the hands of moderate republicans and former "radicals" (around Léon Gambetta
Léon Gambetta
Léon Gambetta was a French statesman prominent after the Franco-Prussian War.-Youth and education:He is said to have inherited his vigour and eloquence from his father, a Genovese grocer who had married a Frenchwoman named Massabie. At the age of fifteen, Gambetta lost the sight of his right eye...
); these were called the "Opportunists". The newly found Republican control of the Republic allowed the vote of the 1881 and 1882 Jules Ferry laws
Jules Ferry laws
The Jules Ferry Laws are a set of French Laws which established free education , then mandatory and laic education . Jules Ferry, a lawyer holding the office of Minister of Public Instruction in the 1880s, is widely credited for creating the modern Republican School...
on a free, mandatory and laic
Laïcité
French secularism, in French, laïcité is a concept denoting the absence of religious involvement in government affairs as well as absence of government involvement in religious affairs. French secularism has a long history but the current regime is based on the 1905 French law on the Separation of...
public education
Public education
State schools, also known in the United States and Canada as public schools,In much of the Commonwealth, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, the terms 'public education', 'public school' and 'independent school' are used for private schools, that is, schools...
.
The moderates however became deeply divided over the Dreyfus Affair
Dreyfus Affair
The Dreyfus affair was a political scandal that divided France in the 1890s and the early 1900s. It involved the conviction for treason in November 1894 of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a young French artillery officer of Alsatian Jewish descent...
, and this allowed the Radicals eventually to gain power from 1899 until World War I. During this period, crises like the potential "Boulangist" coup d'état (see Georges Boulanger
Georges Boulanger
Georges Ernest Jean-Marie Boulanger was a French general and reactionary politician. At the apogee of his popularity in January 1889 many republicans including Georges Clemenceau feared the threat of a coup d'état by Boulanger and the establishment of a dictatorship.- Early life and career :Born...
) in 1889, showed the fragility of the republic. The Radicals' policies on education (suppression of local languages, compulsory education), mandatory military service, and control of the working classes eliminated internal dissent and regionalisms. Their participation in the Scramble for Africa
Scramble for Africa
The Scramble for Africa, also known as the Race for Africa or Partition of Africa was a process of invasion, occupation, colonization and annexation of African territory by European powers during the New Imperialism period, between 1881 and World War I in 1914...
and in the acquiring of overseas possessions (such as French Indochina
French Indochina
French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....
) created myths of French greatness. Both of these processes transformed a country of regionalisms into a modern nation state. Conflicts between the Chinese Emperor and the French Republic over Indochina climaxed during the Sino-French War
Sino-French War
The Sino–French War was a limited conflict fought between August 1884 and April 1885 to decide whether France should replace China in control of Tonkin . As the French achieved their war aims, they are usually considered to have won the war...
. Admiral Courbet
Amédée Courbet
Anatole-Amédée-Prosper Courbet was a French admiral who won a series of important land and naval victories during the Tonkin campaign and the Sino-French War .-Early years:...
destroyed the Chinese fleet anchored at Foochow
Battle of Foochow
The Battle of Fuzhou, or Battle of Foochow, also known as the Battle of the Pagoda Anchorage , was the opening engagement of the 16-month Sino-French War...
. The treaty ending the war, put France in a protectorate over northern and central Vietnam, which it divided into Tonkin
Tonkin
Tonkin , also spelled Tongkin, Tonquin or Tongking, is the northernmost part of Vietnam, south of China's Yunnan and Guangxi Provinces, east of northern Laos, and west of the Gulf of Tonkin. Locally, it is known as Bắc Kỳ, meaning "Northern Region"...
and Annam
Annam (French Colony)
Annam was a French protectorate encompassing the central region of Vietnam. Vietnamese were subsequently referred to as "Annamites." Nationalist writers adopted the word "Vietnam" in the late 1920s. The general public embraced the word "Vietnam" during the revolution of August 1945...
.
In an effort to isolate Germany, France went to great pains to woo Russia and the United Kingdom to its side, first by means of the Franco-Russian Alliance
Franco-Russian Alliance
The Franco-Russian Alliance was a military alliance between the French Third Republic and the Russian Empire that ran from 1892 to 1917. The alliance ended the diplomatic isolation of France and undermined the supremacy of the German Empire in Europe...
of 1894, the 1904 Entente Cordiale
Entente Cordiale
The Entente Cordiale was a series of agreements signed on 8 April 1904 between the United Kingdom and the French Republic. Beyond the immediate concerns of colonial expansion addressed by the agreement, the signing of the Entente Cordiale marked the end of almost a millennium of intermittent...
with the U.K, and finally, with the signing of the Anglo-Russian Entente
Anglo-Russian Entente
Signed on August 31, 1907, in St. Petersburg, Russia, the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 brought shaky British-Russian relations to the forefront by solidifying boundaries that identified respective control in Persia, Afghanistan, and Tibet...
in 1907 which became the Triple Entente
Triple Entente
The Triple Entente was the name given to the alliance among Britain, France and Russia after the signing of the Anglo-Russian Entente in 1907....
and eventually led Russia and the UK to enter World War I as Allies. France still had interests in Asia and looked for alliances and found in Japan a possible ally. During his visit to France, Iwakura Tomomi
Iwakura Tomomi
was a Japanese statesman in the Meiji period. The former 500 Yen banknote issued by the Bank of Japan carried his portrait.-Early life:Iwakura was born in Kyoto as the second son of a low-ranking courtier and nobleman . In 1836 he was adopted by another nobleman, , from whom he received his family...
asked for French assistance in reforming Japan. French military missions were sent to Japan in 1872–1880
French Military Mission to Japan (1872-1880)
The 1872–1880 French Military Mission to Japan was the second French military mission to that country. It followed the first French Military Mission to Japan , which had ended with the Boshin War and the establishment of the rule of Emperor Meiji....
, in 1884–1889
French Military Mission to Japan (1884-1889)
The 1884 French Military Mission to Japan was the third French military mission to that country and consisted of 5 men.It followed two earlier missions, the first French Military Mission to Japan , and the second French Military Mission to Japan , which had a considerable role in shaping the new...
and the last one much later in 1918–1919
French Military Mission to Japan (1918-1919)
The French Aeronautical Mission to Japan , was the first foreign military mission to Japan since the 1890s.During the early 20th century, Japan realized it was inexperienced in newer military areas, such as aviation and naval aviation...
to help modernize the Japanese army.
Distrust of Germany, faith in the army and native French anti-semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
combined to make the Dreyfus Affair
Dreyfus Affair
The Dreyfus affair was a political scandal that divided France in the 1890s and the early 1900s. It involved the conviction for treason in November 1894 of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a young French artillery officer of Alsatian Jewish descent...
(the unjust trial and condemnation of a Jewish military officer for treason) a political scandal of the utmost gravity. The nation was divided between "dreyfusards" and "anti-dreyfusards", and far-right Catholic agitators inflamed the situation even when proofs of Dreyfus' innocence came to light. The writer Emile Zola
Émile Zola
Émile François Zola was a French writer, the most important exemplar of the literary school of naturalism and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism...
published an impassioned editorial on the injustice, and was himself condemned by the government for libel. Once Dreyfus was finally pardoned, the progressive legislature enacted the 1905 laws on laïcité
Laïcité
French secularism, in French, laïcité is a concept denoting the absence of religious involvement in government affairs as well as absence of government involvement in religious affairs. French secularism has a long history but the current regime is based on the 1905 French law on the Separation of...
, which created a complete separation of church and state
1905 French law on the separation of Church and State
The 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and State was passed by the Chamber of Deputies on 9 December 1905. Enacted during the Third Republic, it established state secularism in France...
and stripped churches of most of their property rights.
Belle Époque
The Belle Époque or La Belle Époque was a period in European social history that began during the late 19th century and lasted until World War I. Occurring during the era of the French Third Republic and the German Empire, it was a period characterised by optimism and new technological and medical...
. Although associated with cultural innovations and popular amusements (cabaret, can-can, the cinema, new art forms such as Impressionism
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
and Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
), France was nevertheless a nation divided internally on notions of religion, class, regionalisms and money, and on the international front France came repeatedly to the brink of war with the other imperial powers, including Great Britain (the Fashoda Incident
Fashoda Incident
The Fashoda Incident was the climax of imperial territorial disputes between Britain and France in Eastern Africa. A French expedition to Fashoda on the White Nile sought to gain control of the Nile River and thereby force Britain out of Egypt. The British held firm as Britain and France were on...
). World War I was inevitable, but its human and financial costs would be catastrophic for the French.
In 1889 the Exposition Universelle
Exposition Universelle (1889)
The Exposition Universelle of 1889 was a World's Fair held in Paris, France from 6 May to 31 October 1889.It was held during the year of the 100th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille, an event traditionally considered as the symbol for the beginning of the French Revolution...
took place in Paris, and the Eiffel Tower
Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower is a puddle iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris. Built in 1889, it has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world...
was built as a temporary gate to the fair. Meant to last only a few decades, the tower was never removed and became France's most iconic landmark.
See also:
- French RevolutionFrench RevolutionThe French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
- Causes of the French RevolutionCauses of the French RevolutionThe Causes of the French Revolution were the significant historical factors that led to the revolution of 1789 in France.Although France in 1785 faced economic difficulties, mostly concerning the equitability of taxation, it was one of the richest and most powerful nations of Europe...
- Estates-General of 1789Estates-General of 1789The Estates-General of 1789 was the first meeting since 1614 of the French Estates-General, a general assembly representing the French estates of the realm: the nobility, the Church, and the common people...
- National AssemblyNational Assembly (French Revolution)During the French Revolution, the National Assembly , which existed from June 17 to July 9, 1789, was a transitional body between the Estates-General and the National Constituent Assembly.-Background:...
- Storming of the BastilleStorming of the BastilleThe storming of the Bastille occurred in Paris on the morning of 14 July 1789. The medieval fortress and prison in Paris known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the centre of Paris. While the prison only contained seven inmates at the time of its storming, its fall was the flashpoint...
- National Constituent Assembly
- National Constituent AssemblyNational Constituent AssemblyThe National Constituent Assembly was formed from the National Assembly on 9 July 1789, during the first stages of the French Revolution. It dissolved on 30 September 1791 and was succeeded by the Legislative Assembly.-Background:...
- French Revolution from the abolition of feudalism to the Civil Constitution of the ClergyFrench Revolution from the abolition of feudalism to the Civil Constitution of the ClergyThe French Revolution was a period in the history of France covering the years 1789 to 1799, in which republicans overthrew the Bourbon monarchy and the Roman Catholic Church perforce underwent radical restructuring...
- French Revolution from the summer of 1790 to the establishment of the Legislative AssemblyFrench Revolution from the summer of 1790 to the establishment of the Legislative AssemblyThe French Revolution was a period in the history of France covering the years 1789 to 1799, in which republicans overthrew the Bourbon monarchy and the Roman Catholic Church perforce underwent radical restructuring...
- National Constituent Assembly
- Legislative AssemblyLegislative Assembly (France)During the French Revolution, the Legislative Assembly was the legislature of France from 1 October 1791 to September 1792. It provided the focus of political debate and revolutionary law-making between the periods of the National Constituent Assembly and of the National Convention.The Legislative...
- The Legislative Assembly and the fall of the French monarchyThe Legislative Assembly and the fall of the French monarchyThe French Revolution was a period in the history of France covering the years 1789 to 1799, in which republicans overthrew the Bourbon monarchy and the Roman Catholic Church perforce underwent radical restructuring...
- National ConventionNational ConventionDuring the French Revolution, the National Convention or Convention, in France, comprised the constitutional and legislative assembly which sat from 20 September 1792 to 26 October 1795 . It held executive power in France during the first years of the French First Republic...
- Reign of TerrorReign of TerrorThe Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...
- DirectoryFrench DirectoryThe Directory was a body of five Directors that held executive power in France following the Convention and preceding the Consulate...
- ConsulateFrench ConsulateThe Consulate was the government of France between the fall of the Directory in the coup of 18 Brumaire in 1799 until the start of the Napoleonic Empire in 1804...
- GlossaryGlossary of the French RevolutionThis is a glossary of the French Revolution. It generally does not explicate names of individual people or their political associations; those can be found in List of people associated with the French Revolution....
- TimelineTimeline of the French Revolution-Events preceding but pertinent to the French Revolution:*The Enlightenment, which led to many European writers criticising the Monarchy and espousing democratic, liberalist, nationalist and socialist ideas.1756...
- WarsFrench Revolutionary WarsThe French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
- List of people associated with the French Revolution
- List of historians of the French Revolution
- Causes of the French Revolution
- First EmpireFirst French EmpireThe First French Empire , also known as the Greater French Empire or Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France...
of NapoleonNapoleon I of FranceNapoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
, Napoleonic WarsNapoleonic WarsThe Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
, Continental SystemContinental SystemThe Continental System or Continental Blockade was the foreign policy of Napoleon I of France in his struggle against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland during the Napoleonic Wars. It was a large-scale embargo against British trade, which began on November 21, 1806... - Restoration of Louis XVIIILouis XVIII of FranceLouis XVIII , known as "the Unavoidable", was King of France and of Navarre from 1814 to 1824, omitting the Hundred Days in 1815...
and Charles XCharles X of FranceCharles X was known for most of his life as the Comte d'Artois before he reigned as King of France and of Navarre from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. A younger brother to Kings Louis XVI and Louis XVIII, he supported the latter in exile and eventually succeeded him... - July RevolutionJuly RevolutionThe French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution or in French, saw the overthrow of King Charles X of France, the French Bourbon monarch, and the ascent of his cousin Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans, who himself, after 18 precarious years on the throne, would in turn be overthrown...
(1830) and the July MonarchyJuly MonarchyThe July Monarchy , officially the Kingdom of France , was a period of liberal constitutional monarchy in France under King Louis-Philippe starting with the July Revolution of 1830 and ending with the Revolution of 1848...
of Louis-PhilippeLouis-Philippe of FranceLouis Philippe I was King of the French from 1830 to 1848 in what was known as the July Monarchy. His father was a duke who supported the French Revolution but was nevertheless guillotined. Louis Philippe fled France as a young man and spent 21 years in exile, including considerable time in the...
(often treated as a continuation of the Restoration) - 1848 Revolution
- French Second RepublicFrench Second RepublicThe French Second Republic was the republican government of France between the 1848 Revolution and the coup by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte which initiated the Second Empire. It officially adopted the motto Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité...
- Second EmpireSecond French EmpireThe Second French Empire or French Empire was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in France.-Rule of Napoleon III:...
of Napoleon III - Franco-Prussian WarFranco-Prussian WarThe Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
, Paris CommuneParis CommuneThe Paris Commune was a government that briefly ruled Paris from March 18 to May 28, 1871. It existed before the split between anarchists and Marxists had taken place, and it is hailed by both groups as the first assumption of power by the working class during the Industrial Revolution... - French Third RepublicFrench Third RepublicThe French Third Republic was the republican government of France from 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed due to the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, to 1940, when France was overrun by Nazi Germany during World War II, resulting in the German and Italian occupations of France...
World War I
On 28 June 1914 a Bosnian member of the Mlada Bosna assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austria-Hungary throne, in Sarajevo, the capital of the Austrian province of Bosnia. This event ultimately triggered a complex set of formal and secret military alliances between European states, causing most of the continent, including France, to be drawn into war within a few short weeks. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia in late July, triggering Russian mobilization. On 1 August both Germany and France ordered mobilization. Germany was much better prepared militarily than any of the other countries involved, including France. Later on that day the German Empire, as an ally of Austria, declared war on Russia, when it heard no response to its request for Russia's demobilization. France was allied with Russia and Serbia and so was ready to commit to war against the German Empire. Germany occupied LuxembourgGerman occupation of Luxembourg in World War I
The German occupation of Luxembourg in World War I was the first of two military occupations of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg by Germany in the twentieth century. From August 1914 until the end of World War I in November 1918, Luxembourg was under full occupation by the German Empire...
on 2 August and gave neutral Belgium an ultimatum: let German armies pass through on their way to invade France or face invasion itself. The Belgians refused, so Germany invaded and declared war on France. Britain entered the war on 4 August, although was relatively unprepared militarily and thus couldn't assist France much until 7 August. (See main entry for World War I for more detailed background about events leading up to France's entry into the war.)
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
was fought largely in France and characterized by extremely violent battles, often with new and more destructive military technology. Famous battles in France include First Battle of the Marne
First Battle of the Marne
The Battle of the Marne was a First World War battle fought between 5 and 12 September 1914. It resulted in an Allied victory against the German Army under Chief of Staff Helmuth von Moltke the Younger. The battle effectively ended the month long German offensive that opened the war and had...
, Battle of Verdun
Battle of Verdun
The Battle of Verdun was one of the major battles during the First World War on the Western Front. It was fought between the German and French armies, from 21 February – 18 December 1916, on hilly terrain north of the city of Verdun-sur-Meuse in north-eastern France...
, Battle of the Somme and the Second Battle of the Marne
Second Battle of the Marne
The Second Battle of the Marne , or Battle of Reims was the last major German Spring Offensive on the Western Front during the First World War. The German attack failed when an Allied counterattack led by France overwhelmed the Germans, inflicting severe casualties...
. Germany's plan (see Schlieffen Plan
Schlieffen Plan
The Schlieffen Plan was the German General Staff's early 20th century overall strategic plan for victory in a possible future war in which the German Empire might find itself fighting on two fronts: France to the west and Russia to the east...
) was to defeat the French quickly and then shift from defense to offense against Russia on the Eastern Front. The Germans captured Brussels by 20 August and soon had taken over a large portion of northern France. The original plan was to continue southwest and attack Paris from the west. By early September they were within 40 miles of Paris, and the French government had relocated to Bordeaux. The Allies finally stopped the advance northeast of Paris at the Marne River. This was the farthest push west by the Germans during the entire war.
On the Western Front the small improvised trenches of the first few months rapidly grew deeper and more complex, gradually becoming vast areas of interlocking defensive works. The land war quickly became dominated by the muddy, bloody stalemate of Trench warfare
Trench warfare
Trench warfare is a form of occupied fighting lines, consisting largely of trenches, in which troops are largely immune to the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery...
, a form of war in which both opposing armies had static lines of defense. The war of movement quickly turned into a war of position. Attack followed others counterattack after counterattack. Neither side advanced much, but both sides suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties. German and Allied armies produced essentially a matched pair of trench lines from the Swiss border in the south to the North Sea coast of Belgium. Trench warfare prevailed on the Western Front from September 1914 until the Germans launched their "Spring Offensive", Operation Michael, in March 1918. The space between the opposing trenches was referred to as "no man's land" (for its lethal uncrossability) and varied in width depending on the battlefield. On the Western Front it was typically between 100 and 300 yards (90–275 m), though sometimes much less. The common infantry soldier had four weapons to use in the trenches: the rifle, bayonet, shotgun, and hand grenade.
Britain introduced the first tanks
Mark I tank
The British Mark I was a tracked vehicle developed by the British Army during the First World War and the world's first combat tank. The Mark I entered service in August 1916, and was first used in action on the morning of 15 September 1916 during the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, of the Somme...
to the war, while Renault enhanced the concept by adding a turret
Renault FT-17
The Renault FT, frequently referred to in post-WWI literature as the "FT-17" or "FT17" , was a French light tank; it is among the most revolutionary and influential tank designs in history...
. The use in large quantity of these light tanks by Jean-Baptiste Estienne can be considered a decisive evolution in World War I's strategies.
Central Powers
The Central Powers were one of the two warring factions in World War I , composed of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria...
controlled all of the Balkans and could now shift military efforts to the Western Front. The U.S. had entered the war also in 1917, so the Central Powers hoped this could be achieved mostly prior to America's delivery of military support. In March 1918 Germany launched the last major offensive on the Western Front. By May Germany had reached the Marne again, as in September 1914, and was again close to Paris. In Second Battle of the Marne
Second Battle of the Marne
The Second Battle of the Marne , or Battle of Reims was the last major German Spring Offensive on the Western Front during the First World War. The German attack failed when an Allied counterattack led by France overwhelmed the Germans, inflicting severe casualties...
, however, the Allies were able to defend and then shift to offense due in part to the fatigue of the Germans and the arrival of more Americans. The Germans were ultimately pushed back toward the German border. Other Central Power strongholds in Europe had fallen, and in early October, when a new government assumed power in Germany, it asked for an armistice.
Peace terms were agreed upon in the Treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
on 11 November, largely negotiated by Georges Clemenceau
Georges Clemenceau
Georges Benjamin Clemenceau was a French statesman, physician and journalist. He served as the Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909, and again from 1917 to 1920. For nearly the final year of World War I he led France, and was one of the major voices behind the Treaty of Versailles at the...
for French matters. Germany was required to take full responsibility for the war and to pay war reparations
War reparations
War reparations are payments intended to cover damage or injury during a war. Generally, the term war reparations refers to money or goods changing hands, rather than such property transfers as the annexation of land.- History :...
; and the German industrial Saar Basin
Saar (League of Nations)
The Territory of the Saar Basin , also referred as the Saar or Saargebiet, was a region of Germany that was occupied and governed by Britain and France from 1920 to 1935 under a League of Nations mandate, with the occupation originally being under the auspices of the Treaty of Versailles...
, a coal and steel region, was occupied by France. The German African colonies were partitioned between France and Britain such as Kamerun
Kamerun
German Cameroon was a West African colony of the German Empire from 1884 to 1916 in the region of today's Republic of Cameroon.-History:-1800s:...
. Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France, and the German Empire lost eastern territories such as the Danzig Corridor
Polish Corridor
The Polish Corridor , also known as Danzig Corridor, Corridor to the Sea or Gdańsk Corridor, was a territory located in the region of Pomerelia , which provided the Second Republic of Poland with access to the Baltic Sea, thus dividing the bulk of Germany from the province of East...
. Ferdinand Foch
Ferdinand Foch
Ferdinand Foch , GCB, OM, DSO was a French soldier, war hero, military theorist, and writer credited with possessing "the most original and subtle mind in the French army" in the early 20th century. He served as general in the French army during World War I and was made Marshal of France in its...
wanted a peace that would never allow Germany to be a threat to France again. After the peace was signed he said, This is not a peace. It is an armistice for 20 years. The war brought great losses of troops and resources. Fought in large part on French soil, the war led to approximately 1.4 million French dead including civilians (see World War I casualties
World War I casualties
The total number of military and civilian casualties in World War I were over 35 million. There were over 15 million deaths and 20 million wounded ranking it among the deadliest conflicts in human history....
), and four times as many casualties. From the remains of the Ottoman Empire, France acquired the Mandate of Syria
French Mandate of Syria
Officially the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon was a League of Nations mandate founded after the First World War and the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire...
and the Mandate of Lebanon
French Mandate of Lebanon
The state of Greater Lebanon, the predecessor of modern Lebanon, was created in 1920 as part of the French scheme of dividing the French Mandate of Syria into six states....
.
Les années folles (The mad years)
Ferdinand Foch supported Poland in the Greater Poland UprisingGreater Poland Uprising (1918–1919)
The Greater Poland Uprising of 1918–1919, or Wielkopolska Uprising of 1918–1919 or Posnanian War was a military insurrection of Poles in the Greater Poland region against Germany...
and in the Polish-Soviet War
Polish-Soviet War
The Polish–Soviet War was an armed conflict between Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine and the Second Polish Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic—four states in post–World War I Europe...
and France also joined Spain during the Rif War
Rif War (1920)
The Rif War, also called the Second Moroccan War, was fought between Spain and the Moroccan Rif Berbers.-Rifian forces:...
. This period of time is also called the Great Depression
Great Depression in France
The Great Depression affected France from about 1931 through the remainder of the decade. The depression had drastic effects on the local economy, which can partly explain the 6 February 1934 crisis and even more the formation of the Popular Front, led by SFIO socialist leader Léon Blum, who won...
. Leon Blum
Léon Blum
André Léon Blum was a French politician, usually identified with the moderate left, and three times the Prime Minister of France.-First political experiences:...
, leading the Popular Front
Popular Front (France)
The Popular Front was an alliance of left-wing movements, including the French Communist Party , the French Section of the Workers' International and the Radical and Socialist Party, during the interwar period...
was elected Prime Minister from 1936 to 1937 and became the first Jew to lead France. During the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
he did not support the Spanish Republicans because of the French internal political context of complex alliances and risk of war with Germany and Italy. In the 1920s, France established an elaborate system of border defences (the Maginot Line
Maginot Line
The Maginot Line , named after the French Minister of War André Maginot, was a line of concrete fortifications, tank obstacles, artillery casemates, machine gun posts, and other defences, which France constructed along its borders with Germany and Italy, in light of its experience in World War I,...
) and alliances (see Little Entente
Little Entente
The Little Entente was an alliance formed in 1920 and 1921 by Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia with the purpose of common defense against Hungarian revision and the prevention of a Habsburg restoration...
) to offset resurgent German strength and in the 1930s, the massive losses of the war led many in France to choose a policy guaranteeing peace, even in the face of Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
's violations of the Versailles treaty and (later) his demands at Munich in 1938; this would be the much maligned policy of appeasement
Appeasement
The term appeasement is commonly understood to refer to a diplomatic policy aimed at avoiding war by making concessions to another power. Historian Paul Kennedy defines it as "the policy of settling international quarrels by admitting and satisfying grievances through rational negotiation and...
. Édouard Daladier
Édouard Daladier
Édouard Daladier was a French Radical politician and the Prime Minister of France at the start of the Second World War.-Career:Daladier was born in Carpentras, Vaucluse. Later, he would become known to many as "the bull of Vaucluse" because of his thick neck and large shoulders and determined...
refused to go to war against Germany and Italy without British support as Neville Chamberlain
Neville Chamberlain
Arthur Neville Chamberlain FRS was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. Chamberlain is best known for his appeasement foreign policy, and in particular for his signing of the Munich Agreement in 1938, conceding the...
wanted to save peace at Munich
Munich Agreement
The Munich Pact was an agreement permitting the Nazi German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland. The Sudetenland were areas along Czech borders, mainly inhabited by ethnic Germans. The agreement was negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany, among the major powers of Europe without...
.
World War II
The Invasion of PolandInvasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
finally caused France and Britain to declare war against Germany. But the Allies did not launch massive assaults and kept a defensive stance: this was called the Phoney War in Britain or Drôle de guerre—the funny sort of war—in France. It did not prevent the German army from conquering Poland in a matter of weeks with its innovative Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg
For other uses of the word, see: Blitzkrieg Blitzkrieg is an anglicized word describing all-motorised force concentration of tanks, infantry, artillery, combat engineers and air power, concentrating overwhelming force at high speed to break through enemy lines, and, once the lines are broken,...
tactics and helped by the Soviet Union's attack on Poland. When Germany had its hands free for an attack in the west, the Battle of France
Battle of France
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
began in May 1940, and the same tactics proved just as devastating there. The Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
bypassed the Maginot Line
Maginot Line
The Maginot Line , named after the French Minister of War André Maginot, was a line of concrete fortifications, tank obstacles, artillery casemates, machine gun posts, and other defences, which France constructed along its borders with Germany and Italy, in light of its experience in World War I,...
by marching through the Ardennes forest. A second German force was sent into Belgium and the Netherlands to act as a diversion to this main thrust. In six weeks of savage fighting the French lost 90,000 men. Many civilians sought refuge by taking to the roads of France: some two million refugees from Belgium and Holland were joined by between eight and ten million French civilians, representing a quarter of the French population, all heading south and west. This movement may well have been the largest single movement of civilians in history prior to 1947.
Paris fell to the Germans on 14 June 1940, and the French leaders surrendered on 24 June 1940 after the British Expeditionary Force
British Expeditionary Force (World War II)
The British Expeditionary Force was the British force in Europe from 1939–1940 during the Second World War. Commanded by General Lord Gort, the BEF constituted one-tenth of the defending Allied force....
was evacuated from Dunkirk. Nazi Germany occupied three fifths of France's territory, leaving the rest in the southeast to the new Vichy
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
government. This regime sought to collaborate with Germany. It was established on 10 July 1940. The Vichy Regime was led by Philippe Pétain
Philippe Pétain
Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Pétain , generally known as Philippe Pétain or Marshal Pétain , was a French general who reached the distinction of Marshal of France, and was later Chief of State of Vichy France , from 1940 to 1944...
, the aging war hero of First World War. It was originally intended to be a temporary, care-taker regime, to supervise French administration before the soon-expected defeat of Britain. Instead, it lasted four years. It was unique among the various collaborating regimes of wartime Europe in that it was established constitutionally, through the French parliament. However, Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
declared himself on Radio Londres
Radio Londres
Radio Londres was a radio broadcast from 1940 to 1944 from the BBC in London to Nazi occupied France. It was entirely in French and was operated by Free French Forces who had escaped the German occupation...
the head of a rival government in exile, gathering the Free French Forces
Free French Forces
The Free French Forces were French partisans in World War II who decided to continue fighting against the forces of the Axis powers after the surrender of France and subsequent German occupation and, in the case of Vichy France, collaboration with the Germans.-Definition:In many sources, Free...
around him, finding support in some French colonies and recognition from Britain and the USA.
The Vichy regime adopted violent, repressive anti-semitic policies on its own initiative, without direction from Nazi Germany, as has been highlighted by the historian Robert Paxton. During the German occupation 76,000 Jews would be deported, often with the help of the Vichy French authorities, and murdered in the Nazis' extermination camps. After the Attack on Mers-el-Kébir in 1940, where the British fleet destroyed a large part of the French navy, still under command of Vichy France
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
, that killed about 1,100 sailors, there was nationwide indignation and a feeling of distrust in the French forces, leading to the events of the Battle of Dakar
Battle of Dakar
The Battle of Dakar, also known as Operation Menace, was an unsuccessful attempt in September 1940 by the Allies to capture the strategic port of Dakar in French West Africa , which was under Vichy French control, and to install the Free French under General Charles de Gaulle there.-Background:At...
. Eventually, several important French ships such as the Richelieu
French battleship Richelieu (1939)
The Richelieu was a battleship of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. She served during World War II, on the Vichy Regime side, notably fending off an Allied attempt on Dakar, and later with Allied forces in the Indian Ocean in 1944 and 1945...
and the Surcouf
Surcouf (N N 3)
Surcouf was a French submarine ordered to be built in December 1927, launched on 18 October 1929, and commissioned in May 1934. Surcouf—named after the French privateer Robert Surcouf—was the largest submarine ever built until surpassed by the Japanese I-400s. Her short wartime career was marked...
joined the Free French Forces. On the Eastern Front the USSR was lacking pilots and several French pilots joined the Soviet Union and fought the Luftwaffe in the Normandie-Niemen
Normandie-Niemen
The Normandie-Niemen Regiment was a fighter squadron, later regiment of the French Air Force. It served on the Eastern Front of the European Theatre of World War II with the 1st Air Army...
squadron. Within France proper, very few people organized themselves against the German Occupation in the summer of 1940. However, their numbers grew as the Vichy regime resorted to more strident policies in order to fulfill the enormous demands of the Nazis and the eventual decline of Nazi Germany became more obvious. Isolated opposers eventually formed a real movement: the Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
. The most famous figure of the French resistance was Jean Moulin
Jean Moulin
Jean Moulin was a high-profile member of the French Resistance during World War II. He is remembered today as an emblem of the Resistance primarily due to his role in unifying the French resistance under de Gaulle and his courage and death at the hands of the Germans.-Before the war:Moulin was...
, sent in France by De Gaulle in order to link all resistance movements. He was tortured by Klaus Barbie
Klaus Barbie
Nikolaus 'Klaus' Barbie was an SS-Hauptsturmführer , Gestapo member and war criminal. He was known as the Butcher of Lyon.- Early life :...
(the "butcher of Lyon"). Increasing repression culminated in the complete destruction and extermination of the village of Oradour-sur-Glane
Oradour-sur-Glane
Oradour-sur-Glane is a commune in the Haute-Vienne department in the Limousin region in west-central France.The original village was destroyed on 10 June 1944, when 642 of its inhabitants, including women and children, were massacred by a German Waffen-SS company...
, at the height of the Battle of Normandy. There were also Frenchmen who joined the SS, they were known as the Charlemagne Division
33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne (1st French)
The 33. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS Charlemagne and Charlemagne Regiment are collective names used for units of French volunteers in the Wehrmacht and later Waffen-SS during World War II...
; knowing they would not survive should Germany be defeated, they were among the last ones to surrender at Berlin
Battle of Berlin
The Battle of Berlin, designated the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, was the final major offensive of the European Theatre of World War II....
.
Whilst recognising this extensive collaboration, the British historian Simon Kitson has shown that the Vichy regime engaged in an extensive programme of arresting German intelligence agents in the unoccupied zone. Around 2000 were arrested and some were subsequently executed. Vichy's purpose in this respect was to preserve its sovereignty.
In November 1942 Vichy France was finally occupied by German forces, because the war in North Africa was coming to an end; the Germans foresaw a threat in southern Europe by the allied forces.
On 6 June 1944 the Allies landed in Normandy
D-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
while on 15 August they landed in Provence
Operation Dragoon
Operation Dragoon was the Allied invasion of southern France on August 15, 1944, during World War II. The invasion was initiated via a parachute drop by the 1st Airborne Task Force, followed by an amphibious assault by elements of the U.S. Seventh Army, followed a day later by a force made up...
(including the 260,000 men of the French army B). General Leclerc
Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque
Philippe François Marie, comte de Hauteclocque, then Leclerc de Hauteclocque, by a 1945 decree that incorporated his French Resistance alias Jacques-Philippe Leclerc to his name, , was a French general during World War II...
freed Paris
Liberation of Paris
The Liberation of Paris took place during World War II from 19 August 1944 until the surrender of the occupying German garrison on August 25th. It could be regarded by some as the last battle in the Battle for Normandy, though that really ended with the crushing of the Wehrmacht forces between the...
between 19-25 August 1944, and Strasbourg. He later, along with the battleship Richelieu, represented France at Tokyo during the Japanese surrender
Japanese Instrument of Surrender
The Japanese Instrument of Surrender was the written agreement that enabled the Surrender of Japan, marking the end of World War II. It was signed by representatives from the Empire of Japan, the United States of America, the Republic of China, the United Kingdom, the Union of Soviet Socialist...
. The Vichy regime fled to Germany. The 1st French army recruited French Forces of the Interior
French Forces of the Interior
The French Forces of the Interior refers to French resistance fighters in the later stages of World War II. Charles de Gaulle used it as a formal name for the resistance fighters. The change in designation of these groups to FFI occurred as France's status changed from that of an occupied nation...
fighters to continue the war until the final defeat of Germany. This army numbered 300,000 men by September 1944 and 370,000 by spring in 1945 (the 2nd DB wasn't in it).
France was liberated by allied forces in 1944. The day Germany surrendered French forces were involved in the Sétif massacre
Setif massacre
The Sétif massacre refers to widespread disturbances and killings in and around the Algerian market town of Sétif located to the west of Constantine in 1945. Shooting by the French authorities against local demonstrators occurred on 8 May 1945. Then, riots in the town itself were followed by...
in Algeria.
Cold War
After liberation a provisional government of the RepublicProvisional Government of the French Republic
The Provisional Government of the French Republic was an interim government which governed France from 1944 to 1946, following the fall of Vichy France and prior to the Fourth French Republic....
was established led by General Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
, a new constitution (13 October 1946) established the Fourth Republic
French Fourth Republic
The French Fourth Republic was the republican government of France between 1946 and 1958, governed by the fourth republican constitution. It was in many ways a revival of the Third Republic, which was in place before World War II, and suffered many of the same problems...
under a parliamentary form of government controlled by a series of coalitions. During the following 16 years the French Colonial Empire would disintegrate.
Israel was established in 1948, and France was one of the fiercest supporters of the Jewish state, supplying it with extensive weaponry it used during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
1948 Arab-Israeli War
The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known to Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation The war commenced after the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine and the creation of an independent Israel at midnight on 14 May 1948 when, following a period of civil war, Arab armies invaded...
. The French Republic needed an alliance with Israel to secure the Suez Canal
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...
from potential threats in a context of decolonisation.
In Indochina the French government was facing the Viet Minh
Viet Minh
Việt Minh was a national independence coalition formed at Pac Bo on May 19, 1941. The Việt Minh initially formed to seek independence for Vietnam from the French Empire. When the Japanese occupation began, the Việt Minh opposed Japan with support from the United States and the Republic of China...
communist rebels and lost its Indochinese colonies during the First Indochina War
First Indochina War
The First Indochina War was fought in French Indochina from December 19, 1946, until August 1, 1954, between the French Union's French Far East...
in 1954 after the Battle of Dien Bien Phu
Battle of Dien Bien Phu
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was the climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War between the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps and Viet Minh communist revolutionaries. The battle occurred between March and May 1954 and culminated in a comprehensive French defeat that...
. Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
was divided in two states while Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
and Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
were made independent. France left Indochina only to be replaced there by the United States, which would soon be engaged in the long Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
.
In 1956 another crisis struck French colonies, this time in Egypt. The Suez Canal, having been built by the French government, belonged to the French Republic and was operated by the Compagnie universelle du canal maritime de Suez
Suez Canal Company
The Universal Suez Ship Canal Company was the Egyptian corporation which was formed by Ferdinand de Lesseps during 1858, constructed the Suez Canal between 1859 and 1869, and owned and operated it for many years thereafter...
. Great Britain had bought the Egyptian share from Isma'il Pasha
Isma'il Pasha
Isma'il Pasha , known as Ismail the Magnificent , was the Khedive of Egypt and Sudan from 1863 to 1879, when he was removed at the behest of the United Kingdom...
and was the second largest owner of the canal before the crisis. The Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death. A colonel in the Egyptian army, Nasser led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 along with Muhammad Naguib, the first president, which overthrew the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan, and heralded a new period of...
nationalized the canal despite French and British opposition; he estimated a European answer was most unlikely to happen. Great Britain and France attacked Egypt and built an alliance with Israel against Nasser. Israel attacked from the east, Britain from Cyprus and France from Algeria. Egypt, the most powerful Arab state of the time, was defeated in a mere few days.
The Suez crisis caused an outcry of indignation in the entire Arab world and Saudi Arabia set an embargo on oil on France and Britain. The US President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
forced a ceasefire when he threatened to sell all American shares of British Pounds and to crash the British economy. The British forces were retired from the conflict and Israel, having seized interests in the Sinai region, withdrew soon leaving France alone in Egypt. Under stronger political pressures the French government ultimately evacuated its troops from Suez. This was a major political defeat for France and the American threats during the war were received with indignation by the French popular opinion. This led directly, and was used as a point, to the French withdrawal from the integrated military command of NATO in 1966. Another consequence of this was the French loss of geopolitical interests in the region; this meant an alliance with Israel was no longer of any use for French diplomacy.
General de Gaulle was elected president in 1958 and made the French Force de Frappe, the nuclear power, a priority of the French Defence. France then adopted the dissuasion du faible au fort doctrine
Mutual assured destruction
Mutual Assured Destruction, or mutually assured destruction , is a doctrine of military strategy and national security policy in which a full-scale use of high-yield weapons of mass destruction by two opposing sides would effectively result in the complete, utter and irrevocable annihilation of...
which meant a Soviet attack on France would only bring total destruction to both sides.
The May 1958 seizure of power in Algiers
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
by French army units and French settlers opposed to concessions in the face of Arab nationalist insurrection led to the fall of the French government and a presidential invitation to de Gaulle to form an emergency government to forestall the threat of civil war. The new constitution of the French Fifth Republic
French Fifth Republic
The Fifth Republic is the fifth and current republican constitution of France, introduced on 4 October 1958. The Fifth Republic emerged from the collapse of the French Fourth Republic, replacing the prior parliamentary government with a semi-presidential system...
, introduced on 5 October 1958, gave greater powers to the presidency. Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
became independent in 1962.
In May 1968 students revolted, with a variety of demands including educational, labor and governmental reforms, sexual and artistic freedom, and the end of the Vietnam War. The student protest in unruly movements quickly joined with labor, and mass strikes erupted. De Gaulle responded by calling a legislative election for 23 June
French legislative election, 1968
- National Assembly by Parliamentary Group:...
, in which his UDR party increased their vote, and the protests faded away during the summer.
Post Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
potential menaces to mainland France appeared considerably reduced. France began reducing its nuclear capacities and conscription was abolished in 2001. In 1990 France, led by François Mitterrand
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
, joined the short lived Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
against Iraq, the French participation to this war would be called the Opération Daguet
Opération Daguet
Opération Daguet was the codename for French operations during the 1991 Gulf War...
.
However, despite the end of the cold war and the fact future conflicts would be fought away from home, there were still menaces against mainland France in the form of terrorism. In 1994 Air France Flight 8969
Air France Flight 8969
Air France Flight 8969 was an Air France flight that was hijacked on 24 December 1994 by the Armed Islamic Group at Algiers, where they killed three passengers, with the intention to crash it on the Eiffel tower in Paris. When the aircraft reached Marseille, the GIGN, an intervention group of the...
was hijacked by Islamic terrorists with the suspected intent to crash the plane over Paris. The hijacking was a failure for the terrorist group, known as the GIA
Armed Islamic Group
The Armed Islamic Group is an Islamist organisation that wants to overthrow the Algerian government and replace it with an Islamic state...
after an intervention from the GIGN in Marseille, where the plane was grounded. More terrorist attacks would happen and these culminated into the 1995 Paris Metro bombing. Important leaders of the GIA in France fell afterward: Khaled Kelkal
Khaled Kelkal
Khaled Kelkal was an Algerian terrorist affiliated with the GIA. He was involved in the 1995 terror bombings in France.-Biography :...
was killed in Lyon by the EPIGN and Rachid Ramda
Rachid Ramda
Rachid Ramda is the convicted mastermind behind the 1995 terror bombings in French public transportation systems. He has denied these accusations.-Algeria:...
was arrested in London although it took ten years for the French justice to have him extradited.
Jacques Chirac
Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...
assumed office as president on 17 May 1995, after a campaign focused on the need to combat France's stubbornly high unemployment rate. While France continues to revere its rich history and independence, French leaders increasingly tie the future of France to the continued development of the European Union. In 1992 France ratified the Maastricht Treaty
Maastricht Treaty
The Maastricht Treaty was signed on 7 February 1992 by the members of the European Community in Maastricht, Netherlands. On 9–10 December 1991, the same city hosted the European Council which drafted the treaty...
establishing the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
. In 1999, the Euro was introduced to replace the French franc. Beyond membership in the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, France is also involved in many joint European projects such as Airbus
Airbus
Airbus SAS is an aircraft manufacturing subsidiary of EADS, a European aerospace company. Based in Blagnac, France, surburb of Toulouse, and with significant activity across Europe, the company produces around half of the world's jet airliners....
, the Galileo positioning system and the Eurocorps
Eurocorps
Eurocorps is a multinational standing army corps available for the European Union and the Atlantic Alliance.Headquartered in Strasbourg, France, the force was created in May 1992, activated in October 1993 and declared operational in 1995....
.
The French have stood among the strongest supporters of NATO and EU policy in the Balkans to prevent genocide in Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
. French troops joined the 1999 NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. France has also been actively involved against international terrorism. In 2002 Alliance Base
Alliance Base
Alliance Base was the cover name for a secret Western Counterterrorist Intelligence Center that existed between 2002 and 2009 in Paris. The existence of CTICs were first revealed by Dana Priest in a November 17, 2005 Washington Post article, while she referred to the Alliance Base in a July 2,...
, an international Counterterrorist Intelligence Center
Counterterrorist Intelligence Center
A Counterterrorist Intelligence Center is, according to a Washington Post November 18, 2005 front page article by Dana Priest, a counterterrorist operations center run jointly by the CIA and foreign intelligence services as part of the US "War on Terror" .- Description of CTIC :According to Dana...
, was secretly established in Paris. The same year France contributed to the toppling of the Taliban regime
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001, as the armed forces of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Afghan United Front launched Operation Enduring Freedom...
in Afghanistan, but it strongly rejected the 2003 invasion of Iraq
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
, even threatening to veto in central coners in the US proposed resolution.
Jacques Chirac was reelected in 2002, mainly because his socialist rival Lionel Jospin
Lionel Jospin
Lionel Jospin is a French politician, who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002.Jospin was the Socialist Party candidate for President of France in the elections of 1995 and 2002. He was narrowly defeated in the final runoff election by Jacques Chirac in 1995...
was defeated by the extreme right wing candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen
Jean-Marie Le Pen
Jean-Marie Le Pen is a French far right-wing and nationalist politician who is founder and former president of the Front National party. Le Pen has run for the French presidency five times, most notably in 2002, when in a surprise upset he came second, polling more votes in the first round than...
. France was struck by a long period of civil unrest
2005 civil unrest in France
The 2005 civil unrest in France of October and November was a series of riots by mostly Muslim North African youths in Paris and other French cities, involving mainly the burning of cars and public buildings at night starting on 27 October 2005 in Clichy-sous-Bois...
in 2005 after the death of two teenagers. At the end of his second term Jacques Chirac chose not to run again at the age of 74.
The cabinet minister and rival Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....
was elected and took office on 16 May 2007. The problem of high unemployment has yet to be resolved. In 2008, France was one of the first states to recognise Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
as an independent nation.
See also
- Economic history of FranceEconomic history of FranceThis is a history of the economy of France. For more information on historical, cultural, demographic and sociological developments in France, see the chronological era articles in the template to the right...
- English and French monarchs overlap chartEnglish and French monarchs overlap chartThis chart shows which monarchs of England and France reigned at the same time. This chart was created to help understand the progression of relations between these kingdoms because of the long rivalry between them over the centuries. France has had no monarchs since 1870...
- French Fifth RepublicFrench Fifth RepublicThe Fifth Republic is the fifth and current republican constitution of France, introduced on 4 October 1958. The Fifth Republic emerged from the collapse of the French Fourth Republic, replacing the prior parliamentary government with a semi-presidential system...
created by Charles de GaulleCharles de GaulleCharles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969.... - French Fourth RepublicFrench Fourth RepublicThe French Fourth Republic was the republican government of France between 1946 and 1958, governed by the fourth republican constitution. It was in many ways a revival of the Third Republic, which was in place before World War II, and suffered many of the same problems...
- French judicial system in post-Napoleonic FranceFrench judicial system in post-Napoleonic FranceThe French judicial system in post-Napoleonic France was an intricate system of relations between the government and the police/judicial force. Together they helped to minimize crime while successfully fulfilling the guarantees made in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen written in...
- French Third RepublicFrench Third RepublicThe French Third Republic was the republican government of France from 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed due to the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, to 1940, when France was overrun by Nazi Germany during World War II, resulting in the German and Italian occupations of France...
- French colonial empireFrench colonial empireThe French colonial empire was the set of territories outside Europe that were under French rule primarily from the 17th century to the late 1960s. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the colonial empire of France was the second-largest in the world behind the British Empire. The French colonial empire...
- History of EuropeHistory of EuropeHistory of Europe describes the history of humans inhabiting the European continent since it was first populated in prehistoric times to present, with the first human settlement between 45,000 and 25,000 BC.-Overview:...
- History of European Union
- Bourbon DynastyHouse of BourbonThe House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...
- Kings of France family tree
- List of French monarchs
- List of Presidents of the French Republic
- List of Prime Ministers of France
- Military history of FranceMilitary history of FranceThe military history of France encompasses an immense panorama of conflicts and struggles extending for more than 2,000 years across areas including modern France, greater Europe, and European territorial possessions overseas....
- Politics of FrancePolitics of FranceFrance is a semi-presidential representative democratic republic, in which the President of France is head of state and the Prime Minister of France is the head of government, and there is a pluriform, multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is...
- Revue d'histoire moderne et contemporaineRevue d'histoire moderne et contemporaineThe Revue d’histoire moderne et contemporaine is a three-monthly French academic journal covering the history of France. It was established in 1899 by Pierre Caron and Philippe Sagnac and is published by the Société d’histoire moderne et contemporaine.-External links:* - Éditions Belin...
- Timeline of French historyTimeline of French historyThis is a timeline of French history. To read about the background to these events, see History of France. See also the list of Frankish kings, French monarchs, and presidents of the French Republic....
- Vichy FranceVichy FranceVichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
Surveys and reference
- Goubert, Pierre. The Course of French History (1991), standard French textbook excerpt and text search; also complete text online
- Haine, W. Scott. The History of France (2000), 280 pp. textbook. and text search; also online edition
- Jones, Colin, and Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie. The Cambridge Illustrated History of France (1999) excerpt and text search
- Popkin, Jeremy D. A History of Modern France (2005), 384pp; textbook coverage from 1750s; excerpt and text search
- Price, Roger. A Concise History of France (1993) excerpt and text search
- Raymond, Gino. Historical Dictionary of France (2nd ed. 2008) 528pp
Middle Ages
- see also Annales SchoolAnnales SchoolThe Annales School is a group of historians associated with a style of historiography developed by French historians in the 20th century. It is named after its scholarly journal Annales d'histoire économique et sociale, which remains the main source of scholarship, along with many books and...
- Duby, Georges. France in the Middle Ages 987–1460: From Hugh Capet to Joan of Arc (1993), survey by a leader of the Annales SchoolAnnales SchoolThe Annales School is a group of historians associated with a style of historiography developed by French historians in the 20th century. It is named after its scholarly journal Annales d'histoire économique et sociale, which remains the main source of scholarship, along with many books and...
excerpt and text search - Bloch, Marc. Feudal Society: Vol 1: The Growth and Ties of Dependence (1989); Feudal Society: Vol 2: Social Classes and Political Organisation(1989) excerpt and text search
- Bloch, Marc. French Rural History an Essay on Its Basic Characteristics (1972)
- Kibler, William W., ed. Medieval France: An Encyclopedia (Routledge, 1995)
- Le Roy Ladurie, Emmanuel. Montaillou: Cathars and Catholics in a French Village, 1294–1324 (1978) excerpt and text search
- Le Roy Ladurie, Emmanuel. The Peasants of Languedoc (1966; English translation 1974) text search
- Potter, David. France in the Later Middle Ages 1200–1500, (2003) excerpt and text search
Early Modern
- Holt, Mack P. Renaissance and Reformation France: 1500–1648 (2002) excerpt and text search
- Potter, David. A History of France, 1460–1560: The Emergence of a Nation-State (1995)
Old Regime
- Doyle, William. Old Regime France: 1648–1788 (2001) excerpt and text search
- Goubert, Pierre. Louis XIV and Twenty Million Frenchmen (1972), social history from Annales SchoolAnnales SchoolThe Annales School is a group of historians associated with a style of historiography developed by French historians in the 20th century. It is named after its scholarly journal Annales d'histoire économique et sociale, which remains the main source of scholarship, along with many books and...
- Jones, Colin. The Great Nation: France from Louis XV to Napoleon (2002) excerpt and text search
- Le Roy Ladurie, Emmanuel. The Ancien Regime: A History of France 1610 – 1774 (1999), survey by leader of the Annales SchoolAnnales SchoolThe Annales School is a group of historians associated with a style of historiography developed by French historians in the 20th century. It is named after its scholarly journal Annales d'histoire économique et sociale, which remains the main source of scholarship, along with many books and...
excerpt and text search - Lynn, John A. The Wars of Louis XIV, 1667–1714 (1999) excerpt and text search
- Roche, Daniel. France in the Enlightenment (1998), wide-ranging history 1700-1789 excerpt and text search
- Wolf, John B. Louis XIV (1968), the standard scholarly biography online edition
Enlightenment
- see EnlightenmentAge of EnlightenmentThe Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
- Baker, Keith Michael. Inventing the French Revolution: Essays on French Political Culture in the Eighteenth Century. 1990. excerpt and text search
- Blom, Philipp. Enlightening the World: Encyclopédie, the Book That Changed the Course of History. 2005. 416 pp. excerpt and text search
- Chisick, Harvey. Historical Dictionary of the Enlightenment. 2005. 512 pp
- Davidson, Ian. Voltaire. A Life (2010). ISBN 978184668261
- Delon, Michel. Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment (2001) 1480pp
- Goodman, Dena. The Republic of Letters: A Cultural History of the French Enlightenment (1994) 338 pp online edition
- Hazard, Paul. European thought in the eighteenth century: From Montesquieu to Lessing (1965)
- Kaiser, Thomas E. "This Strange Offspring of Philosophie: Recent Historiographical Problems in Relating the Enlightenment to the French Revolution." French Historical Studies 15 (Spring 1988): 549–62. in JSTOR
- Kors, Alan Charles. Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment (4 vol. 1990; 2nd ed. 2003), 1984pp excerpt and tyext search
- Roche, Daniel. France in the Enlightenment. 1998. 736 pp.
- Spencer, Samia I., ed. French Women and the Age of Enlightenment. 1984.
- Vovelle, Michel and Cochrane, Lydia G., eds. Enlightenment Portraits. 1997. 456 pp.
- Wilson, Arthur. Diderot. 1972.
Revolution
- Andress, David. French Society in Revolution, 1789–1799 (1999)
- Doyle, William. The Oxford History of the French Revolution (1989). online complete edition; also excerpt and text search
- Doyle, William. The French Revolution: A Very Short Introduction. (2001), 120pp; online edition
- Forrest, Alan. The French Revolution and the Poor (1981)
- Fremont-Barnes, Gregory. ed. The Encyclopedia of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars: A Political, Social, and Military History (ABC-CLIO: 3 vol 2006)
- Frey, Linda S. and Marsha L. Frey. The French Revolution. (2004) 190pp online edition
- Furet, François. The French Revolution, 1770–1814 (1996) excerpt and text search
- Furet, François and Mona Ozouf, eds. A Critical Dictionary of the French Revolution (1989), 1120pp; long essays by scholars; conservative perspective; stress on history of ideas excerpt and online search from Amazon.com
- Hampson, Norman. Social History of the French Revolution (2006)
- Jones, Colin. The Longman Companion to the French Revolution (1989)
- Jones, Colin. The Great Nation: France from Louis XV to Napoleon (2002) excerpt and text search
- Jones, Peter. The Peasantry in the French Revolution (1988)
- Lefebvre, Georges. The French Revolution (1962)
- Lucas, Colin. ed., The Political Culture of the French Revolution (1988)
- Neely, Sylvia. A Concise History of the French Revolution (2008)
- Palmer, Robert R. The Age of the Democratic Revolution: A Political History of Europe and America, 1760–1800. (2 vol 1959), highly influential comparative history; vol 1 online
- Paxton, John. Companion to the French Revolution (1987), hundreds of short entries.
- Schwab, Gail M., and John R. Jeanneney, eds. The French Revolution of 1789 and Its Impact (1995) online edition
- Scott, Samuel F. and Barry Rothaus. Historical Dictionary of the French Revolution, 1789–1799 (2 vol 1984), short essays by scholars
- Schama, Simon. Citizens. A Chronicle of the French Revolution (1989), highly readable narrative by scholar excerpt and text search
- Sutherland, D.M.G. France 1789–1815. Revolution and Counter-Revolution (2nd ed. 2003, 430pp) excerpts and online search from Amazon.com
- Tocqueville, Alexis de. The Old Regime and the Revolution (1856; 2010)
Napoleon
- Emsley, Clive. Napoleon 2003, succinct coverage of life, France and empire; little on warfare
- Englund, Steven. Napoleon: A Political Life. (2004). the best political biography excerpt and text search
- Fisher, Herbert. Napoleon (1913) old classic online edition free
- Fremont-Barnes, Gregory. ed. The Encyclopedia of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars: A Political, Social, and Military History (ABC-CLIO: 3 vol 2006)
- Grab, Alexander. Napoleon and the Transformation of Europe. (2003), maps; excellent synthesis
- Harold, J. Christopher. The Age of Napoleon (1963) popular history stressing empire and diplomacy
- Markham, Felix. Napoleon 1963. online edition
- McLynn, Frank. Napoleon: A Biography (2003) stress on military
- Nafziger, George F. Historical Dictionary of the Napoleonic Era. 2002.
- Nicholls, David. Napoleon: A Biographical Companion. 1999.
- Thompson, J. M. Napoleon Bonaparte: His Rise and Fall (1954), scholarly, well-balanced in topics, but pro-Britain
Restoration: 1815–1870
- Agulhon, Maurice. The Republican Experiment, 1848–1852 (The Cambridge History of Modern France) (1983) excerpt and text search
- Echard, William E. Historical Dictionary of the French Second Empire, 1852–1870 (1985) online edition
- Jardin, Andre, and Andre-Jean Tudesq. Restoration and Reaction 1815–1848 (The Cambridge History of Modern France) (1988)
- Plessis, Alain. The Rise and Fall of the Second Empire, 1852 – 1871 (The Cambridge History of Modern France) (1988) excerpt and text search
- Price, Roger. A Social History of Nineteenth-Century France (1987) 403pp. 403 pgs. online edition
Third Republic: 1871–1940
- Bernard, Philippe, and Henri Dubief. The Decline of the Third Republic, 1914 – 1938 (The Cambridge History of Modern France) (1988) excerpt and text search
- Lehning, James R.; To Be a Citizen: The Political Culture of the Early French Third Republic (2001) online edition
- Mayeur, Jean-Marie, and Madeleine Rebirioux. The Third Republic from its Origins to the Great War, 1871–1914 (The Cambridge History of Modern France) (1988) excerpt and text search
- Price, Roger. A Social History of Nineteenth-Century France (1987) 403pp. 403 pgs. complete text online at Questia
- Robb, Graham. The Discovery of France: A Historical Geography, from the Revolution to the First World War (2007)
- Weber, Eugen. Peasants into Frenchmen: The Modernization of Rural France, 1870–1914 (1976) excerpt and text search
- Zeldin, Theodore. France, 1848–1945 (2 vol. 1979), topical approach
World War I
- Tucker, Spencer, ed. European Powers in the First World War: An Encyclopedia (1999)
- Winter, J. M. Capital Cities at War: Paris, London, Berlin, 1914–1919 (1999)
Vichy (1940–44)
- Azema, Jean-Pierre. From Munich to Liberation 1938–1944 (The Cambridge History of Modern France) (1985)
- Berthon, Simon. Allies at War: The Bitter Rivalry among Churchill, Roosevelt, and de Gaulle. (2001). 356 pp.
- Funk, Arthur Layton. Charles de Gaulle: The Crucial Years, 1943–1944 (1959) online edition
- Gildea, Robert. Marianne in Chains: Daily Life in the Heart of France During the German Occupation (2004) excerpt and text search
- Jackson, Julian. France: The Dark Years, 1940–1944 (2003) excerpt and text search
- Kersaudy, Francois. Churchill and De Gaulle (2nd ed 1990 482pp
- Lacouture, Jean. De Gaulle: The Rebel 1890–1944 (1984; English ed. 1991), 640pp; excerpt and text search
- Paxton, Robert O. Vichy France 2nd ed. (2001) excerpt and text search
Fourth and Fifth Republics (1944 to present)
see also Charles de GaulleCharles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
- Berstein, Serge, and Peter Morris. The Republic of de Gaulle 1958–1969 (The Cambridge History of Modern France) (2006) excerpt and text search
- Berstein, Serge, Jean-Pierre Rioux, and Christopher Woodall. The Pompidou Years, 1969–1974 (The Cambridge History of Modern France) (2000) excerpt and text search
- Bourg, Julian ed. After the Deluge: New Perspectives on the Intellectual and Cultural History of Postwar France (2004) 426 pp. ISBN 978-0-7391-0792-8.
- Cerny, Philip G. The Politics of Grandeur: Ideological Aspects of de Gaulle's Foreign Policy. (1980). 319 pp.
- Hauss, Charles. Politics in Gaullist France: Coping with Chaos (1991) online edition
- Kolodziej, Edward A. French International Policy under de Gaulle and Pompidou: The Politics of Grandeur (1974) online edition
- Lacouture, Jean. De Gaulle: The Ruler 1945–1970 (1993)
- Northcutt, Wayne. Historical Dictionary of the French Fourth and Fifth Republics, 1946–1991 (1992)
- Rioux, Jean-Pierre, and Godfrey Rogers. The Fourth Republic, 1944–1958 (1989) (The Cambridge History of Modern France)
- Williams, Charles. The Last Great Frenchman: A Life of General De Gaulle (1997) excerpt and text search
- Williams, Philip M. and Martin Harrison. De Gaulle's Republic (1965) online edition
Historiography
see also Annales SchoolAnnales School
The Annales School is a group of historians associated with a style of historiography developed by French historians in the 20th century. It is named after its scholarly journal Annales d'histoire économique et sociale, which remains the main source of scholarship, along with many books and...
- Offen, Karen. "French Women's History: Retrospect (1789–1940) and Prospect," French Historical Studies 26, no. 4 (2003): 757+
- Thébaud, Françoise. "Writing Women's and Gender History in France: A National Narrative?" Journal of Women's History – Volume 19, Number 1, 2007, pp. 167–172 in Project MuseProject MUSEProject MUSE is an online database of current and back issues of peer-reviewed humanities and social sciences journals. It was founded in 1993 by Todd Kelley and Susan Lewis and is a project of the Johns Hopkins University Press and the Milton S. Eisenhower Library. It had support from the Mellon...
External links
- History of France by French Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- History of France, from Prehistory to Nowadays (in French + English translation)
- History of France, from Middle Ages to XIXe century (in French)
- History of France: Primary Documents (English interface)
- A History of France (in English)
- Simon Kitson's Vichy web-page http://artsweb.bham.ac.uk/vichy/
- "Becoming France," David Bell, The New Republic, 1 April 2009 (in English)