FRENCH HISTORY

French history

France holds its name of the Francs, people which were installed on the territory after the fall of the Roman Empire. Here essential reference marks of the French history.

FRANCE WITH THE MIDDLE AGES

It is with the Middle Ages that France of today constitutes itself. Several dynasties follow one another the head of the territory, which passes from the kingdom of the Francs to the kingdom of France.

Mérovingiens

? THE DYNASTY 
First dynasty of kings de France, the dynasty of Mérovingiens  is rested by Clovis; it reigned from 481 to 751. Its principal members are Clovis (481-511), Clotaire (558-561) and  Dagobert  (629-639). 

? EVENTS 
The kings mérovingiens (of the Francs) constitute  the first honest kingdom. 

The last kings are called "the lazy kings " to have left the capacity to  the mayors of the palate, in particular in Charles Martel (the father of Pip the Brief).

In 732, Charles Martel  pushes back the Arabs close to Poitiers.

Carolingiens

? THE DYNASTY 
Second dynasty of kings de France, the dynasty of Carolingiens  is rested by Pépin the Brief; it reigned from 751 to 987. Its principal members are Pépin the Brief (751-768),  Charlemagne  (768-814),  Louis the Piles  (814-840) and Charles the Bald person (843-877). 

? EVENTS 
The Empire carolingien  is founded in year 800 by Charlemagne. It is the first empire of Western Europe since the disappearance of the Roman Empire to  O C century. 

To the ix ^E century, the Vikings  (of the sailors of Scandinavia) unload on the French coasts and start to plunder the country. In 911, the king carolingien prefers to buy peace and yields to the king Rollon Viking  Normandy  ("ground of the men of North").

Capétiens

? THE DYNASTY 
Third dynasty of kings de France, the dynasty of Capétiens  is rested by Hugues Capet; it reigned from 987 to 1328. Its principal members are Hugues Capet (987-996), Robert the Piles (996-1031),  Philippe Auguste  (1180-1223),  Saint Louis  (1226-1270) and  Philippe the Beautiful one  (1285-1314). 

? EVENTS 
In 1095, the pope states the war holy against the Moslems of the Middle East in order to release the holy places of Christianity. Many Christians answer this call to the crusade. It is in all  eight crusades  that the Christians will launch, between 1095 and 1270, against the Moslems of the Middle East. 

First Valois

? THE DYNASTY 
Fourth dynasty of kings de France, the dynasty of Valois  is rested by Philippe de Valois; it reigned of 1328 to 1589, with horse between the Middle Ages and Ancien Régime. Its principal members during the medieval period are Philippe de Valois (1328-1350), Jean II the Good (1350-1364), Charles V (1364-1380),  Charles VII  (1422-1461),  Louis XI  (1463-1483) and Charles VIII (1483-1498). 

? EVENTS 
Between 1337 and 1453, the kings of France and England are opposed during  the One hundred Year old war. Ground owners in France, the English sovereigns assert the crown and, with the wire of their victories, seize the territory. However, in 1429,  Jeanne d' Arc  convinces the king Charles VII to give him an army and releases part of France. It is the beginning of the final reconquest and the French victory. 

Since 1448, in full One hundred Year old war, a great  epidemic of Black Death  arrives to France by the wearing of Marseilles. It devastates all Europe.

FRANCE OF ANCIEN RÉGIME

Since the end of the Middle Ages, the kings of France do not cease affirming their authority. The operation of the mode that they set up, Ancien Régime, rests on: 

? the Church; 
?  the government by the king; 
? the division of  the company in three orders  (clergy, the nobility and the third state); 
? the granting of privileges  on certain subjects. 

The Valois last

? THE DYNASTY 
Founded with the Middle Ages by Philippe de Valois, the dynasty of Valois reigned on France under three successive branches: Valois direct, Valois-Orleans and Valois-Angouleme. Its principal members during the modern period are Charles VIII (1483-1498), Louis XII (1498-1515),  François I ^er  (1515-1547) and Henri III (1574-1589). 

? EVENTS 
Between 1494 and 1559, Valois launch out to the conquest of Italy ( wars of Italy). Although they fail militarily, they grow rich by their discovery of arts of  the Italian  Rebirth; they invite artists in France then (like Léonard de Vinci) and make set up  the castles of the Loire Valley. 

The Protestant religion, rested by the German Martin Luther at the beginning of  the xvi ^E century, is spread in France thanks to the lesson of the theologist  Jean Calvin. The Protestants of France are called the huguenots.

Between 1562 and 1598, eight  wars of religion  oppose the catholics and the Protestants, and tear the kingdom of France. They are punctuated by true massacres, as  the massacre of Saint-Barthélemy  who causes the death of 3 000 Protestants in Paris, in 1572. The wars of religion end with the edict of Nantes, promulgated in 1598.

Bourbons

? THE DYNASTY 
Fifth dynasty of kings de France, the dynasty of the Bourbons  is rested by Henri IV  of Navarre; it reigned of 1589 to 1792 (then again to  the xix ^E century). During Ancien Régime, its members are Henri IV (1589-1610),  Louis XIII  (1610-1643),  Louis XIV  (1643-1715),  Louis XV  (1715-1774) and  Louis XVI  (1774-1792). 

? EVENTS 
Henri IV puts an end to the wars of religion and brings back peace in the kingdom of France by promulgating the edict of Nantes  in 1598. 

During the childhood of Louis XIV, a great revolt of the princes shakes the kingdom (the Sling). The sovereign, called  the Sun king, decides to set up a mode of any power since 1661: absolutism. It makes increase  the castle of Versailles, where it settles and accomodates its immense court (what enables him to supervise the large princes).

To the xviii ^E century, called the "century of the Lights ", the philosophers develop the ideas of freedom and equality. They think of new systems of government which gradually call into question the absolute monarchy. The principal work of the philosophers of the Lights is  the Encyclopaedia  of Diderot and Alembert.

CONTEMPORARY FRANCE

The French revolution

The French revolution bursts in May 1789 and lasts ten years, until November 1799. It upsets the French history deeply, by reversing monarchy to set up the first republic of the French history; it exports also its principles of equality and democracy in the rest of Europe. The French revolution is divided into several periods, which correspond to the successive revolutionary assemblies.

1. Constituent (or the constituent French National Assembly) the control surface France from July 1789 to October 1791. It is in the beginning many innovative laws and, in particular,  Declaration of the rights of man and of the citizen. It is also under the Constituent one that the first French Constitution is written.

2. The Legislative one (or the legislative Parliament) directs revolutionary France from October 1791 at September 1792. It is during the Legislative one that  monarchy is abolished  and that the king Louis XVI is relieved.

3. Convention (or national Convention) is the assembly which directs France from September 1792 at October 1795. In September 1792, the revolutionists proclaim  the I ^Re Republic  (which lasts until 1799). To sit the new mode, they condemn and guillotinent the king (January 1793).

4. The Directory lasts from October 1795 at November 1799. This moderate mode directed by five people (Directors) must fight at the same time the partisans of one return to monarchy and the revolutionists more the extremists.

First Empire

French General, Napoleon Bonaparte puts a term at the Revolution in 1799 by  the coup d'etat  of the 18 Brumaire. He then becomes the First consul of the new mode (Consulate).

The Empire napoléonien itself, or  First Empire, is founded in 1804; Napoleon Bonaparte, crowned emperor, takes the name of  Napoleon I ^er. He reigns as a Master on Europe until 1815. Except for England, all the European States either vassal, or are then combined Empire napoléonien.

Restoration

One calls "Restoration" the monarchical system which succeeded the period napoléonienne and directed France between 1814 and 1830.  The dynasty of the Bourbons, which lost the throne since the French revolution, "is restored" with the accession with the throne of the two brothers of Louis XVI:  Louis XVIII  (1814-1824), then  Charles X  (1824-1830).

The monarchy of July

In July 1830, the people revolt against the king Charles X and offer the throne of France  to Louis-Philippe  (a member of  the dynasty of Bourbon-Orleans). The new mode, called the monarchy of July, lasts until 1848.

The II ^E Republic

The II ^E République of the French history is proclaimed in February 1848, following a popular revolution. It is for this period that is instituted  the male vote for all. The II ^E République lasts only four years: its president, prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (the nephew of Napoleon), makes  a coup d'etat  in December 1851 and founds the Second Empire in January 1852.

Second Empire

The Second Empire, directed by Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (become  Napoleon III), is the mode which directs France of 1852 to 1870. It is one period of great  economic advancement  (industrial revolution), which sees also the development of the working class. The Second Empire breaks down in 1870, during  the Franco-German war  (1870-1871).

The III ^E Republic

Created in 1870, the III ^E République consolidates the French democracy as a voter of the fundamental laws:  school laws  of Jules Ferry (1879-1882), law of  the separation of the Church and the State  (1905), law over  the duration of the working time  and law creating  the paid-leaves  (1936, for the period called  the Popular Front). It is as under this mode as  the First World War  bursts. The III ^E République ends in 1940, during  the Second World war.

The mode of Vichy

In July 1940, in full world war,  the Pétain marshal  obtains the full powerss. He installs his government in Vichy and sets up  a mode of collaboration  with the Nazi Germany. The Vichy government lasts until the release of France in 1944. It is replaced by a provisional government, until the proclamation of a new Constitution.

The IV ^E Republic

In 1946, a new Constitution is proclaimed; it sets up the IV ^E République, which lasts until 1958. The IV ^E République is marked by  a ministerial instability  (a succession of governments, which weakens the State), by  the war of decolonization of Indo-China  (1946-1954) and by the release of  the war of Algeria  in 1954.It is also at that time that France is rebuilt after the war and knows a strong growth of the economy ("the Thirty Glorious ones ") and population (the "Baby-boom "). It is finally under the IV ^E République that France engages in the construction industry of the European Community  (in 1957).

The O C Republic

The war of decolonization of Algeria causes a serious political crisis and the collapse of the IV ^E République. A new Constitution, adopted in 1958, sets up the O C République, which lasts today still. The O C République grants independence to Algeria  (in 1962). It undergoes the social crisis of  May 68. It is also under this mode that France invests itself in the European Union, in particular with  the passage to the euro  (in 2002).

TO GO FURTHER

? kings of France
? the French Republic
? presidents of the O C Republic

? the Middle Ages
? the Empire carolingien
? the feudal company
? the One hundred Year old war
? Ancien Régime in France
? wars of religion
? the Thirty Year old war
? absolutism of Louis XIV
? the century of the Lights
? the French revolution
? Empire of Napoleon I ^er
? the First World War
? the Second World war
? the war of Algeria
? European construction

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