Prehistory
The first humans found in France, known as Homo Erectus, are believed
to have lived around 950,000 B.C. They evolved slowly, through four
glaciations, discovered fire in the process (around 400,000 B.C.)The
Celts, emerging from Central Europe, settled in Germany and Gaul as
early as 2500 B.C. They started to work with iron to make tools and
weapons, and lived in well organized societies until 125 B.C., when
the Roman Empire began its in the South of France.
Antiquity
The Greeks first tried to settle in Celtic Gaul and managed to establish
a small colony in Marseille in 600 BC. Then it was the turn of the Romans,
lead by Julius Caesar, who entirely invaded Gaul during the Gallic Wars
(58-51 BC). The Romans brought unity and peace for two centuries of
Pax Romana during which agriculture, cattle-breeding and urban development
were greatly improved. The Pont du Gard, a Roman aqueduct built in 19
BC in Provence During the 2nd century AC, Romans brought Christianity
into Gaul and by the third century, the power of the Roman Empire had
begun its decline. The 4th century started with Barbarian invaders from
the East such as the Franks, the Vandals and the Visigoths. Clovis,
King of the Franks, converted to christianity and his power brought
unity to Gaul, starting the Merovingian dynasty.
Middle Ages
Charles Martel, the first leader of the Carolingian dynasty, initiated
the expansion of the Franks' kingdom and stopped the Muslim advance
from Spain in 732. Charlemagne (742-814) continued this expansion and
conquered most of Germany and Italy to reunite most of the former Roman
Empire. Shortly after his death, however, his kingdom was divided under
the pressure of invaders such as the Normans (Vikings) and the Magyars
(Hungarians). The Carolingian dynasty died out in 987 when Hugues Capet
was elected to the throne of France by the Lords, starting the Capetian
Dynasty. The early Capetian kings had very limited power over the independent
Lords. In 1066, William, Duke of Normandy invaded England while the
first Crusades started in 1095.
In 1337 the Hundred years War was started
Renaissance
Between 1562 and 1598, the increasse in the number of the Protestants
led to the Wars of Religion. Catherine de Medici ordered the St. Bartholomew's
Day Massacre of hundreds of Protestants. In 1589, Henri IV, a target
of the massacre, becomes the first (Bourbon) king of France. Henri IV
converted to catholism ending the Wars of Religion by enacting the Edict
of Nantes, which guaranteed religious and political rights to the ptotestants.
The 17th century was marked by a period of exeptional power and glamour
for the French Monarchy. Louis XIV, also known as the Sun King, was
the most powerful and opulent monarch Europe had seen since the Roman
Empire. Political brillance in this period was matched only by the genius
of the writers, architects and musicians generously promoted by the
royal court of france(Versailles).
The enlightenment
The 18th century's Enlightment brought thinkers such as Voltaire and
Rousseau to struggle against the principles of the old regime and absolutism.
In 1789, the state's financial crisis brought social turmoil, triggering
the Revolution. On July 14th, a Parisian mob revolted and stormed the
Bastille prison, symbol of the old regime. A few weeks later, the revolutionaries
enacted the Declaration of the Rights of Man which embodied the principles
of Liberté, Egalité, and Fraternité (Freedom, Equality,
Fraternity) and had far reaching consequences for all the other European
monarchies.
The Napoleon Era
The French Revolution ends in 1799 when Napoleon Bonaparte entered
Paris and was crowned First Consul at the age of thirty. A brilliant
politician and a military genius, he took the title of emperor Napoleon
I in 1804. After establishing a powerful central administration and
a strong code of law, he started numerous military campaigns which almost
gave him the control of the entire European continent. First defeated
in Russia in 1812 and then in Waterloo in 1815, he was replaced by Louis
XVIII.
In 1848, Louis Napoleon, nephew of Napoleon I, was elected the first
president of the Second Republic. In 1852, he was proclaimed Emperor
Napoleon III by national plebiscite. He commissioned Baron Haussman,
to redesign Paris, andin turn started the French industrial revolution.
19th Century
In 1870, the Franco-Prussian war erupted, Paris fell to the Germans
and France lost the Alsace and Lorraine regions. Following the defeat,
Napoleon III was exiled and France's Third Republic marked the definite
end of centuries of monarchy. The industrial expansion was not slowed
by the war. To "commemorate" the centenial of the French Revolution,
the Eiffel Tower was constructed during the Universal Exhibition of
1889. The cultural and artistic scene of France thrived and evolved
with the Impressionists, the Art Nouveau style, the novelist Flaubert
and the satirist Zola.
20th Century
The First World War erupted in 1914 in northeast France and after two
years of German victories, fell into the horrors of trench warfare.
The United States entered the war in 1917 and helped France to victory.
The Allies demanded generous restitutions and payments from the Germans,
who resented the humiliation for years, and was one of the factors which
sparked WWII. Despite the devastation of the war, the Between Wars period
allowed France to hold a leading role in the avant garde movement. From
Paris to the Riviera, France attracted experimental artists, musicians,
filmmakers and musicians from all over the world.
In 1940, the Germans invaded Paris and occupied the north and west parts
of France until 1944. The rest of the country was under the authority
of the puppet Government of Vichy led by Marshal Petain. Simultaneously,
General Charles de Gaulle was organizing the Resistance movement of
the Free France from London. Soon after the American, British and Canadian
military invasion on the Normandy Beaches on June 6, 1944, de Gaulle
entered Paris to head the new government of the Fourth Republic.
The postwar years deeply changed French society: consumerism was born,
the service sector rapidly expanded, and high-tech national projects
were successfully launched (Concorde, TGV...). Meanwhile, in the 50's
and 60's, France had difficulty in coping with the claim to independence
of its African and Asian colonies and with the liberalization of its
society, leading to wars in Algeria, Indochina (Vietnam) and the violent
student revolts of 1968.
Present
France is one of the remarkable countries in the world, it is marked
with history and beauty.
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