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
Do you mind if I quote a couple of your posts as long as I provide credit and sources back to your weblog?
My blog site is in the exact same area of interest as yours and my visitors would definitely benefit from
some of the information you present here. Please let
me know if this okay with you. Thank you!
Good day very cool web site!! Man .. Excellent .. Superb
.. I will bookmark your blog and take the feeds also?
I’m glad to seek out numerous useful info here
within the publish, we want develop extra strategies on this regard, thank you for sharing.
. . . . .
Good day! I could have sworn I’ve visited this site before but after looking at many of the posts I realized it’s
new to me. Nonetheless, I’m certainly happy I found it and
I’ll be bookmarking it and checking back frequently!
Nice answers in return of this question with solid arguments and describing the whole thing on the topic of that.
I take pleasure in, result in I found exactly what I was having a look
for. You’ve ended my four day long hunt! God Bless
you man. Have a nice day. Bye
Hi there! Do you know if they make any plugins to help with SEO?
I’m trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I’m not seeing very good gains.
If you know of any please share. Thank you!
Hi there, just became alert to your blog through Google, and found that it is truly informative.
I am going to watch out for brussels. I’ll be grateful if you continue this in future.
Lots of people will be benefited from your writing.
Cheers!
Hello my loved one! I want to say that this article is awesome, great written and
come with almost all significant infos. I’d like to peer
more posts like this .
Why users still use to read news papers when in this technological world everything is presented on web?
Thanks for every other fantastic post. The place else could anyone get
that type of information in such a perfect means of writing?
I have a presentation subsequent week, and I’m on the look
for such information.
My brother recommended I may like this blog. He was entirely right.
This post truly made my day. You can not imagine just how much time I had spent for this info!
Thanks!
My developer is trying to persuade me to move to .net from PHP.
I have always disliked the idea because of
the costs. But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using
Movable-type on various websites for about a year and am worried about switching to another
platform. I have heard fantastic things about blogengine.net.
Is there a way I can import all my wordpress content into it?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Have you ever considered creating an e-book or guest authoring on other blogs?
I have a blog based on the same information you discuss and would love to have you share some stories/information.
I know my visitors would enjoy your work. If you are even remotely interested, feel
free to send me an email.
Excellent article. I will be facing many of these issues as
well..
Right here is the right webpage for everyone who wishes to find out about this topic.
You know so much its almost hard to argue with you (not that I actually will need to…HaHa).
You definitely put a new spin on a subject that’s been discussed for decades.
Excellent stuff, just excellent!
Hello, i think that i saw you visited my web site thus i came to “return the favorâ€.I’m
attempting to find things to enhance my web site!I suppose its ok to use some of
your ideas!!
I was recommended this blog by my cousin. I’m not sure whether this post is written by him as nobody else know such detailed
about my trouble. You are wonderful! Thanks!
Thanks for the good writeup. It in truth used to be a enjoyment account it.
Look advanced to far brought agreeable from you!
By the way, how can we be in contact?
Wow that was odd. I just wrote an incredibly long comment but after I clicked submit
my comment didn’t appear. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Regardless, just wanted
to say wonderful blog!
I’m excited to uncover this page. I need to to thank you
for ones time due to this wonderful read!! I definitely appreciated every little bit of it and i also
have you book-marked to look at new things in your blog.
I could not resist commenting. Perfectly written!
What’s up mates, nice piece of writing and nice arguments commented at this place,
I am truly enjoying by these.
Your way of describing all in this article is truly pleasant,
all can easily understand it, Thanks a lot.
Hello there, I believe your blog might be having web
browser compatibility issues. When I look at your website in Safari, it looks fine however, when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping issues.
I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other than that, excellent blog!
What a material of un-ambiguity and preserveness of valuable
familiarity about unexpected feelings.
Hi, I think your website might be having browser compatibility
issues. When I look at your blog site in Firefox, it looks fine
but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping.
I just wanted to give you a quick heads up!
Other then that, great blog!
If some one wishes to be updated with most up-to-date
technologies then he must be visit this web site and
be up to date all the time.
May I simply just say what a relief to find somebody that
actually knows what they’re talking about on the internet.
You certainly realize how to bring an issue to light and make it important.
More and more people need to look at this and understand this
side of the story. I can’t believe you aren’t more popular because you most certainly have the gift.
What’s up everybody, here every one is sharing these experience,
therefore it’s pleasant to read this webpage, and I used to visit this web site daily.
Woah! I’m really enjoying the template/theme of this website.
It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s tough to get that
“perfect balance” between superb usability and appearance.
I must say that you’ve done a great job with this. In addition, the blog
loads very quick for me on Internet explorer.
Outstanding Blog!
It’s really very complex in this busy life to listen news on Television, thus I just use the web for that
reason, and take the hottest news.
You should take part in a contest for one of the greatest
sites on the net. I most certainly will recommend this web site!
Hello there! I know this is somewhat off topic
but I was wondering which blog platform are you using for this website?
I’m getting fed up of WordPress because I’ve had problems with hackers and I’m looking at alternatives
for another platform. I would be fantastic if you could
point me in the direction of a good platform.
Hello, its pleasant paragraph regarding media print, we all be aware
of media is a enormous source of facts.
You’re so interesting! I don’t think I have read through anything
like that before. So nice to discover another person with unique thoughts on this subject.
Seriously.. thank you for starting this up. This website is something that is required on the
web, someone with a bit of originality!
After I originally left a comment I seem to have clicked the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and now each time a comment is added I recieve 4 emails with
the same comment. Is there an easy method you are able to
remove me from that service? Thank you!
You can certainly see your enthusiasm within the article
you write. The sector hopes for more passionate writers like
you who aren’t afraid to mention how they believe.
At all times follow your heart.
Hello there! Quick question that’s totally off topic.
Do you know how to make your site mobile friendly? My weblog
looks weird when browsing from my iphone 4. I’m trying to find a theme
or plugin that might be able to resolve this problem.
If you have any recommendations, please share.
Thank you!
I’m impressed, I must say. Rarely do I encounter a blog that’s both equally educative and entertaining, and
let me tell you, you have hit the nail on the head. The problem is an issue that too few folks are speaking
intelligently about. I’m very happy that I stumbled across this during my hunt for
something regarding this.
You have made some good points there. I checked on the
internet for more info about the issue and found most individuals will go along with your views on this
website.
Do you mind if I quote a few of your articles as long as I provide credit and sources back to your webpage?
My website is in the very same area of interest as yours and my visitors would definitely benefit from a lot of the information you provide here.
Please let me know if this okay with you. Thanks!
whoah this weblog is wonderful i love reading your articles.
Keep up the good work! You know, many people are searching
round for this information, you can aid them greatly.
If some one needs to be updated with most up-to-date technologies
afterward he must be pay a visit this web site and be up to date all the time.
Hello There. I found your blog using msn. This is a very 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 will definitely return.
Thanks , I’ve just been looking for info about this subject for a long time and yours is the best
I have discovered till now. However, what in regards to the conclusion? Are you positive about the supply?
Hey there fantastic blog! Does running a blog similar to this take a great deal of work?
I have very little knowledge of coding however I had
been hoping to start my own blog soon. Anyways, should you have any
recommendations or tips for new blog owners please share.
I know this is off topic nevertheless I simply wanted to ask.
Thanks!
Excellent site you have here but I was wondering if you knew of any forums that cover
the same topics talked about in this article?
I’d really love to be a part of group where I can get feed-back from other experienced people that
share the same interest. If you have any suggestions, please
let me know. Cheers!
I’ve learn several just right stuff here. Definitely worth bookmarking for revisiting.
I wonder how a lot effort you place to make the sort of excellent informative site.
Its like you learn my thoughts! You seem to understand so much about this, like you wrote the book in it or something.
I feel that you simply could do with some
% to force the message house a little bit, but other than that, that is
fantastic blog. An excellent read. I’ll definitely be back.
I was recommended this website via my cousin. I’m now not sure whether this
put up is written by means of him as nobody else know such particular approximately
my problem. You are incredible! Thank you!