Before I begin, France has A LOT of history. I can’t cover it in detail (this is, after all, only one blog post), but I’ll do my best to do it justice. This will be a very brief sum up of France’s history. If anything interests you, I encourage you to look deeper into it. I encourage it in general. And please, if you feel like anything in this post needs a follow up, post it in the comments below! I would love to read it!
During BCE (before common era), France is split into several groups: the Gauls, the Aquitani, the Greeks, and the Belgae. The Romans, under Julius Caesar, conquered the Gallic region of France in the Gallic Wars. The war lasted from 58-51 BCE. France went through several wars in which they gained and lost land under several leaders. One of the more significant conflicts is the Hundred Year’s War, a series of wars that lasted from 1337-1453. It began after Charles IV of France died, leaving no blood heir other than Edward III of England. Edward III was Charles IV’s nephew and Phillip IV of France’s grandson which made him the last living male member of the House of Capet (aka House of France). Edward III’s Mother Isabella of France was unable to claim the throne due to a principle established in 1316 that made it impossible for women to succeed the throne so Isabella claimed it for her son. The French rejected this claim, stating that Isabella didn’t have the right to assert a ruler of France. The French wanted the House of Valois to control France, and so the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet went to war to decide who would rule over France. Joan of Arc entered the war in 1429, helped retake the city of Orléans, France, inspired the takeback of several other cities, and then was killed by the English in 1430. In the end, the French won, and Charles VII (aka Charles the Victorious) remained King of France. The most notable changes that came from the Hundred Year’s War were: the democratization of the French army, the modernization of weapons and the creation of French nationalism. During the Hundred Year’s War, the Black Death broke out (between 1348-1353). The Black Death is one of the most catastrophic pandemics; a plague that resulted in the death of something between 75-200 million people (worldwide).
More wars over land and religion ensued. One of those was a war with Italy, the First Italian War (over land and power), in which they lost but became inspired by the Italian Renaissance so they came home and started the French Renaissance. The French Renaissance was a cultural and artistic movement in France between the 15th-17th centuries. Most notably what came from the French Renaissance was the spread of humanism, exploration of the “New World,” the development of art, an elaboration of etiquette and the urbanization of Paris. More wars happened. Louis XIV created the idea of an absolute monarchical rule, known as the divine right of kings, which made the monarch more powerful than everyone, except for God. This means he was better than, and therefore didn’t have to listen to the people, the aristocracy, or even the church. More wars followed that made France the primal power in Europe.
In 1754, conflicts over territories in North America with the English led to the Seven Year War. The English won in 1763 which led to the French losing “New France” which consisted of territories in North America, Spanish Florida, several islands in the West Indies, the colony of Senegal on the West African coast, and superiority over the French trading outposts in India. This loss also meant that France was no longer the primal power in Europe anymore. Upset about this, the French assisted the Americans in their upheaval against the British in the American Revolutionary War. They did this hoping that it would help them gain back some of the land they lost in the Seven Year War, however it left them in further debt, and they gained very little from it.
After the recent wars (Seven Year War and American Revolutionary War) left the French bankrupt, a highly inefficient tax system screwed over the poor, years of bad harvests lead to increased food prices, malnutrition, and hunger, the rich couldn’t give a damn about the majority of France’s problems. All of which led to the French Revolutionary War. Notable events that occurred during the French Revolutionary War were: the storming of the Bastille (will cover in greater detail later), the curtailment of the church powers (this law reorganized the French Catholic Church, made it so the salaries of the priests would be paid by the state, abolished the Church’s authority to levy a tax on crops, and again cancelled some privileges for the clergy), and the creation of a constitutional monarchy (the King has to share power with an elected legislative assembly). Napoleon Bonaparte was a military and political figure that came to rise during the French Revolutionary War. Napoleon did a lot, however, the biggest impacts he had were: he shifted more power to Paris so that all decisions about France would be made in Paris, decreased hostility between the government and the church, came up with a modernized, more efficient tax system, made it so any man could serve in the army rather than the aristocrats choosing for them, and most importantly, helped create the Napoleonic Code (According to Wikipedia: “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.”). After Napoleon died, France became politically unstable with the government changing every few months (even during peaceful times).
And you know what happened next! More wars over land and religion! Eventually the French railway system became popular which led to the modernization of French rural cities, and helped facilitate the rise of the industrial revolution. In 1869, the French said “NON” to the possible candidate to the throne of Spain, Prince Leopold von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. The war over that (the Franco-Prussian War) ended with the Treaty of Frankfurt which meant the newly formed German Empire could keep Alsace and Lorraine (previously French provinces). Franz Ferndinand, an Austrian archduke, was shot and a shit ton of countries went to war with each other (World War I). Eventually France joined in, partly out of obligation, partly because they were hoping to get the provinces back that they had lost in the Franco-Prussian War. The Great Depression finally hit France around 1931, though not nearly as hard as it hit some other countries.
Germany invaded Poland in 1939 which forced Britain and France to declare war on Germany even though they REAAAAAALLLLLLLYYYY didn’t want to. In 1940, Germany defeated and occupied France but the Allies (the side France was on) won in 1945. After World War II, France was financially and socially messed up. Charles de Gaulle stepped up to put France’s shit back in order. He founded the fifth republic (France’s current system of government), initiated the “Politics of Grandeur” which stated that France shouldn’t rely on other countries for national protection and prosperity, withdrew the French military from NATO, and restored Franco-German relations.
The dissolution of the Soviet Union lessened tension in France leading to the reduction in their nuclear arsenal. Although nuclear threat went down, terrorism became more prevalent. To this day, terrorism in France remains a highly controversial topic. But when it does happen, the French remain strongly unified. Vive la France!
Or if watching videos is more your thing, check out Suibhne’s sum up of French history! It’s magnificent!:
And if you want to hear more about World War II, feel free to watch Eddie Izzard’s bit about it (he curses a lot):
Additional Reading:
http://www.expatica.com/fr/about/30-interesting-facts-about-France_109142.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_France
Good day! I know this is kinda off topic nevertheless I’d figured I’d ask.
Would you be interested in exchanging links or maybe guest writing a blog article
or vice-versa? My website addresses a lot of the same subjects as yours and I think we could
greatly benefit from each other. If you happen to be interested feel free
to send me an e-mail. I look forward to hearing from you! Wonderful blog by the way!
This post is truly a fastidious one it assists new net people, who are wishing for blogging.
Excellent post! We are linking to this particularly great content on our website.
Keep up the great writing.
Wow, this article is fastidious, my sister is analyzing these
kinds of things, so I am going to inform her.
Valuable info. Lucky me I found your web site by accident, and I’m surprised why
this twist of fate did not happened earlier!
I bookmarked it.
Hey There. I found your blog using msn. This is a really well written article.
I’ll make sure to bookmark it and come back to read more of your useful info.
Thanks for the post. I’ll definitely comeback.
Excellent write-up. I definitely love this website. Thanks!
It is the best time to make a few plans for the longer term and it is time to be happy.
I have read this publish and if I may just I desire to recommend you few attention-grabbing things or tips.
Maybe you can write next articles referring to this article.
I desire to learn even more issues about it!
Simply wish to say your article is as amazing.
The clearness in your publish is simply excellent and i could
assume you’re an expert on this subject. Well along with your permission allow me to clutch your RSS feed
to stay up to date with forthcoming post. Thank you one million and please
carry on the gratifying work.
Very good article! We are linking to this particularly great post on our site.
Keep up the great writing.
I constantly spent my half an hour to read this webpage’s content every day along with a mug of coffee.
Heya i am for the primary time here. I came
across this board and I find It really useful & it helped me out much.
I am hoping to offer one thing again and aid others such as you helped me.
We’re a bunch of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community.
Your site offered us with useful information to work on. You have done an impressive task and our
whole neighborhood will likely be thankful
to you.
Tremendous issues here. I’m very glad to look your article.
Thanks so much and I am having a look forward to contact
you. Will you please drop me a e-mail?
Hi, There’s no doubt that your blog could possibly be having web browser
compatibility issues. When I look at your website in Safari, it
looks fine however, if opening in IE, it has some overlapping issues.
I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Besides that, fantastic site!
Fantastic items from you, man. I have consider your stuff previous to
and you’re just too excellent. I really like what you’ve received right
here, certainly like what you are stating and the
way in which in which you say it. You’re making it enjoyable and you continue
to take care of to keep it wise. I can not wait to learn far
more from you. This is actually a terrific site.
I really like your blog.. very nice colors & theme.
Did you design this website yourself or did you hire someone to
do it for you? Plz answer back as I’m looking to design my
own blog and would like to know where u got this from. many thanks
Wonderful article! That is the type of information that are
meant to be shared across the web. Disgrace on the search engines for
not positioning this publish upper! Come on over
and consult with my website . Thank you =)
Appreciate the recommendation. Let me try it out.
Why viewers still make use of to read news papers when in this technological world the whole thing is existing on web?
Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wanted to
say that I’ve really enjoyed surfing around your blog posts.
After all I’ll be subscribing to your rss feed and I
hope you write again soon!
What’s up to every single one, it’s genuinely a pleasant for
me to go to see this website, it contains valuable Information.
Having read this I thought it was extremely informative.
I appreciate you taking the time and effort
to put this content together. I once again find
myself personally spending way too much time both reading and commenting.
But so what, it was still worthwhile!
Wow, awesome blog layout! How long have you been blogging for?
you make blogging look easy. The overall look of your site is great, as well as the content!
It’s remarkable to pay a visit this web page and reading the views of all friends about this post, while I am also eager
of getting know-how.
I visited multiple sites except the audio feature for audio songs
current at this web page is in fact fabulous.
This site was… how do I say it? Relevant!!
Finally I have found something which helped me.
Appreciate it!
Wow, this article is nice, my younger sister is analyzing these
kinds of things, therefore I am going to tell her.
Greetings from Los angeles! I’m bored at work so I decided to check out your
blog on my iphone during lunch break. I really
like the knowledge you present here and can’t wait to take a look when I get home.
I’m amazed at how quick your blog loaded on my phone ..
I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyhow, very good site!
Hey There. I found your blog using msn. This is an extremely well written article.
I’ll make sure to bookmark it and return to read more of your useful info.
Thanks for the post. I will certainly return.
With havin so much written content do you ever run into any issues of plagorism or copyright infringement?
My website has a lot of unique content I’ve either
authored myself or outsourced but it seems a lot of it is popping it up all over the internet without my permission. Do you know any ways to help reduce content from being
stolen? I’d genuinely appreciate it.
My spouse and I stumbled over here coming from a different
website and thought I should check things out. I like what I see so now i am following you.
Look forward to looking over your web page repeatedly.
When someone writes an paragraph he/she retains the idea of a user in his/her brain that how a user can understand it.
Therefore that’s why this post is outstdanding.
Thanks!
This piece of writing presents clear idea for the new users of blogging, that genuinely how to do running a blog.
I don’t know whether it’s just me or if perhaps everyone else experiencing issues with your blog.
It looks like some of the text on your content are running off the screen. Can somebody else please provide feedback and let me know
if this is happening to them as well? This could be a issue
with my internet browser because I’ve had this happen before.
Thank you
Howdy! Someone in my Facebook group shared this site with us so I came to take a look.
I’m definitely enjoying the information. I’m bookmarking and will be tweeting this to my followers!
Fantastic blog and excellent design and style.
I got this web page from my friend who shared with me on the topic of this web page and at the moment this time
I am browsing this web page and reading very informative content at this time.
Great work! This is the kind of info that
are supposed to be shared around the net. Shame on Google for not positioning this
post higher! Come on over and visit my website . Thanks =)
I want to to thank you for this good read!!
I absolutely loved every bit of it. I have you book marked to look at new stuff you post…
always i used to read smaller posts that also clear
their motive, and that is also happening with this paragraph which I am reading here.
This paragraph will assist the internet people for setting up new website or even a blog from start to end.
Hi there i am kavin, its my first occasion to commenting anywhere, when i read this paragraph i thought i could also create
comment due to this brilliant article.
Spot on with this write-up, I seriously believe this amazing site needs a lot more attention. I’ll probably be back again to see more, thanks for the info!
Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make
your point. You definitely know what youre talking about, why waste your intelligence on just posting videos to your weblog when you could
be giving us something informative to read?
I was wondering if you ever considered changing
the page layout of your site? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say.
But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect
with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or two pictures.
Maybe you could space it out better?
fantastic post, very informative. I’m wondering why
the other specialists of this sector do not understand this.
You must proceed your writing. I’m sure, you have a huge readers’ base
already!
Hurrah! Finally I got a webpage from where I be able to truly take
valuable information concerning my study and knowledge.
It’s a shame you don’t have a donate button! I’d certainly donate to this
brilliant blog! I suppose for now i’ll settle for bookmarking and adding your
RSS feed to my Google account. I look forward to brand new updates
and will share this site with my Facebook group. Talk soon!
Greate post. Keep posting such kind of information on your page.
Im really impressed by it.
Hey there, You have done an excellent job. I’ll definitely digg it and in my opinion suggest to my friends.
I am confident they will be benefited from this web site.
It’s an remarkable piece of writing in support of all the web users; they will obtain advantage
from it I am sure.