History of France

As you will discover, France is a country with so much history that you may not appreciate everything you see or understand its significance if you have no knowledge of French history. You’ll enjoy your trip more if you know something about where you’ll be going and what you’ll be seeing.

Early Inhabitants

France has been inhabited since pre-historic times. Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon remains have been discovered in the Dordogne (Périgord) region in southwestern France. The first pre-historic art has been attributed to the Cro-Magnon race, with examples of it in the form of the world-famous cave paintings in Lascaux and other caves in the Vezère valley. The first villages in France were built 7,500 to 4,000 years ago—at the same time that enormous stone monuments were being built at Carnac in Brittany in northwestern France. Forts began being built and a military elite formed as the use of durable bronze became widespread around 2,500 B.C. Iron was the next arrival, brought to France by the Celts.

Gauls and Romans

Celtic Gauls arrived in France in 1,500 to 500 B.C. By 600 B.C. they were trading with the Greeks, whose colonies on the Mediterranean coast included what is now the city of Marseilles. In 300 B.C. a Celtic tribe named the Parisii, who made a living fishing and trading, constructed a grouping of huts on a site that would eventually become the city of Paris. Gauls and Romans battled each other until 52 B.C., when Julius Caesar’s legions took control of Gaul. Christianity was introduced into Gaul in the second century. Roman rule ended in the fifth century when the Franks and Alemanii took control. They adopted elements of the existing Gallo-Roman culture; their assimilation resulted in a fusion of Germanic, Celtic and Roman culture.

Merovingians and Carolingians

The tradition by which the succession of Frank rulers was ensured transformed their kingdom into a collection of feudal states. Because of Charles Martel’s victory against the Moors at Poitiers in 732, France did not come under Muslim rule as Spain—its neighbor to the south—did. Martel’s grandson, Charlemagne, extended the kingdom and was crowned Holy Roman Emperor (of the west) in 800. In the 10th century Scandinavian Vikings created Normandy in the lower Seine Valley.

The Middle Ages

The Capetian Dynasty began with Hugh Capet ruling over a domain centered on Paris and Orléans—none could have foreseen the great power this dynasty would eventually hold. In 1066 Normandy—under William the Conqueror—occupied England, making England a rival of France, as Normandy was. In 1152 a third of France came under British rule because of a strategic marriage—France and England fought land battles for three centuries afterwards. France played a leading role in the crusades at the same time as its major cathedrals were constructed, between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries. By the early 1300’s the Capetian dynasty ruled much of what is now France. The Hundred Years’ War was fought on and off between Capetian-ruled France and Plantagenet-ruled England from 1337 to 1453. The Bubonic Plague ravaged France in 1348 and 1349, killing approximately one third of the population, this at a time when division was growing inside the Church. The Capetians lost control of France in 1415. In 1422 an English ruler was installed in France. Joan of Arc, a teenaged peasant, managed to inspire French troops to a victory against the English occupiers, although she later lost her life to them. It was not until 1453 that the French managed to chase the British from every place but Calais, the northernmost region.

The Renaissance (Rebirth)

Early in the 16th century French troops came home from Italy with the art and concepts of the Italian Renaissance. The French aristocracy under Francois I was first exposed to the secular scholarship of the Renaissance at this time. The Gothic architecture of the Middle Ages—visible in French Cathedrals—suddenly acquired an Italian influence. The monarchy used this new architecture to symbolize its absolute power at a time when Protestantism was becoming increasingly popular in France.

The Reformation

In the 1530’s Frenchman Jean (John) Calvin was the herald of the Protestant Reformation sweeping through Europe. Protestants met violence at the hands of ultra-Catholic nobles seeking to maintain the status-quo. The Wars of Religion (1562-98) culminated with the massacre of 3,000 French Protestants (called Huguenots) in Paris in 1572. The Catholic League removed the king under whom the massacre occurred and he was succeeded by Henry IV, a Protestant, who guaranteed Huguenots certain rights under the Edict of Nantes in 1598. The most important right was freedom of conscience. However, Henry IV converted to Catholicism in order to be granted entry to Paris, which was under siege since he gained power. In the 17th century the French monarchy became increasingly aggressive due to the influence of the Cardinal Richelieu.

Louis XIV and the Ancien Régime

Louis the XIV, the Sun King, ascended to power at age 5 in 1643 and ruled until 1715. Supported by the belief that he was divine, he exerted his extremely strong influence at home and abroad. He moved the French aristocracy to his impressive palace at Versailles where they became his courtiers, and thus he was able to control them and establish the first centralized French State. He persecuted French Protestants because he perceived them as a threat to himself and the State, and he repealed the Edict of Nantes. His successor moved the royal court back to Paris, where the anti-establishment and anti-clerical ideas of the Age of Enlightenment had taken hold. In addition, the democratic ideas of the American Revolution further called into question the style of government of the French monarchy.

The French Revolution and the First Republic

In an attempt to save a failing economy, Louis XVI’s finance minister tried to institute a tax reform without the parliament’s approval. Members of nobility, the clergy and the bourgeoisie were outraged by this action and declared themselves a National Assembly, replacing parliament in 1789. When Louis XVI responded by sending his troops, Parisians (which were already angered by unemployment and soaring food prices) armed themselves at the Invalides and then stormed the infamous Bastille prison on July 14, 1789. That date has become the French Independence Day. The moderate republican Girondins held power immediately after the revolution but were soon replaced by the radical Jacobins led by Robespierre, Danton and Marat. They declared the First Republic in September 1792. In January 1793, Louis XVI was beheaded at what is now the Place de la Concorde in Paris. A reign of terror was established under Jacobin rule during which 17,000 people were beheaded, and eventually Jacobin leaders turned on one another. After the terror, Napoleon Bonaparte first made a name for himself in October 1795 by intercepting royalist rebels in Paris who had aimed to overthrow the Republic. Future victories only strengthened his influence.

Napoleon and the First Empire

Napoleon assumed power in 1799 and in 1802 a referendum declared him consul for life. He had Pope Pius VII crown him French Emperor at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris in 1804. His ambition led to a short-lived conquest of much of Europe, only to see him eventually exiled to Elba, a tiny island-kingdom in the Mediterranean. He returned to power for 100 days in 1815 before being exiled to a more distant island where he spent the rest of his days. His greatest accomplishment was to make permanent the changes brought about by the Revolution.

The Second Republic

Following two monarchies and two revolutions which ended them, a Second Republic was established in 1848.

The Second Empire

After being elected president and leading a coup d’état in 1851, Napoleon’s nephew, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed Emperor Napoleon II. The Second Empire lasted from 1852 to 1870, when Napoleon II was taken prisoner by Prussia. The Parisian response was to take to the streets and demand that a Republic replace the Empire.

The Third Republic and the Belle Epoque

The Third republic government signed a peace with Prussia which a portion of the French population found so oppressive they revolted against it. The government killed more than 20,000 of these Communards. Despite this tragedy the Third Republic also witnessed the Belle Epoque (beautiful age), which saw great advances in art (Impressionism), architecture (Art Nouveau) and engineering (first metro line in Paris). The Eiffel Tower was constructed for the World Exhibition of 1889. Nightclub and artistic café culture flourished at this time. The Dreyfus Affair, a trial turned political and social scandal, discredited the army and Catholic Church and resulted in the legal separation of Church and State in 1905. Since the Entente Cordiale (Cordial Understanding) of 1904 ended French and British colonial rivalry in Africa, the two nations entered into a period of cooperation continuing to this day.

WWI and the Interwar Period

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914 is the event that triggered the First World War. Although it is Germany that declared war on France, France had long sought to regain the Alsace Lorraine region it lost to Germany in 1871. Regaining that territory cost France the lives of 1.3 million men, with almost another million crippled. The war was fought mostly in France and left France in a financial crisis which it sought to solve by imposing billions of dollars in reparations on Germany when the peace treaty was signed in 1919. In the 1920’s and 30’s France experienced another literary, artistic and musical revival that attracted artists from around the world to France and Paris in Particular. Discontent with conditions in Germany following WWI led to Adolf Hitler being named German chancellor in 1933.

WWII

France and Great Britain initially tried to appease Hitler’s hunger for conquest but finally declared war in 1939 after he invaded Poland. By June of 1940 France had capitulated. France was divided into two, with the northern and western coastal regions controlled directly by Germany, and a puppet French state based in Vichy in the south. The Vichy regime collaborated with the Nazis in their deportations of Jews to death camps. Charles de Gaulle, the Undersecretary of War, fled to London where he urged French patriots in a radio address to continue to resist. He also set up a government and military forces-in-exile. The very small percentage of the population that resisted Germany from within France engaged in railway sabotage, intelligence collection, assisting Allied soldiers and distributing leaflets. The liberation began June 6, 1944 with Allied forces landing in Normandy. On the 15th of August Allies landed in southern France. Paris was liberated August 25.

The Fourth Republic

Property damage and damage to the rail and road network was greater even than after WWI; France lay in ruins. A new constitution was adopted by referendum in 1946. This was followed by a rapid succession of short-lived governments. Economic recovery was rapid, however, mostly because of U.S. aid. In 1957 France participated in the creation of the European Economic Community, the European Union’s precursor. France’s colonialist tradition finally ended in the 1950’s. France lost Indochina in 1954. France was eventually unable to suppress Arab nationalists in Algeria, which was also a French colony.

The Fifth Republic

De Gaulle was returned to power in 1958 to appease civil unrest regarding the situation in Algeria, at which time he drafted a new constitution. De Gaulle negotiated an end to the war in Algeria in 1962. During that same period most French colonies and protectorates in Africa also achieved independence. Political and economic conditions in the late 60’s led to civil unrest that was appeased by government reforms such as lowering the voting age to 18, an abortion law, and self-management for workers.

Recent Developments

French voters recently rejected a referendum proposing a single constitution for all the member nations of the European Union.