Skeletons of Neanderthals and the caves they have inhabited have been found in France that date back to 90,000 40,000 BC. Many caves inhabited by Cro-Magnon man that date back 35,000 years have been found, as well as the skeletons of the people themselves. France also has many remains from the Neolithic period, 4000 7,500 years ago. The Neolithic era ushered in major development in human advancement. People went from being hunter-gatherer nomads living in caves to settling in villages, growing crops and raising livestock. Tools were advanced and woven fabrics were developed.
The Celtic Gauls moved into what is now France between 1500 and 500 BC, and the region was called Gaul. Gaul’s borders were roughly the same as today’s France. By then, the Greeks already had settlements along the Mediterranean in what is now Southern France. The Romans took Southern France fairly early on in their expansion era, around 125 BC. In 51 BC, after many years of conflict between the Romans and the Celtics, Julius Caesar finally conquered Gaul. With the fall of Gaul, all of what is now France was part of the Roman Empire. Infrastructure flourished under the Roman rule. The people adopted the Roman language and culture.
There was overall peace and prosperity in the region until the beginning of the 3rd century, when Germanic Barbarian invaders from the east, including Franks, Visigoths and Vandals started raiding Gaul. The people were looking for protection from these raiders and began allaying themselves with the local lords in exchange for protection. This was the root of the feudal system that later took hold throughout Europe.
In 455 AD, one particular Germanic group, the Franks, moved in and overran Gaul. By 470, they had defeated the Romans entirely. This was one of the last nails in the coffin for the Western Roman Empire, and it disintegrated shortly thereafter. The Franks were the first Germanic people group to adopt Catholic Christianity as their official religion. The Franks brought relative peace; however, they also changed France from a central power system to a collection of small feudal states by dividing up territories as gifts and rewards. The Franks ruled until the 10th century, hence the name change from Gaul to France.
In 732, Charles Martel defeated the Muslims, thus preventing France from falling under Muslim rule as Spain had. He was named king of the Franks, and also conquered more territory for the French. Martel’s successor, Pepin II, struck a deal with the Vatican whereby the Vatican would hand a big portion of Italy to the Franks if the Franks would protect the Papal States. Martel’s son, Charlemagne, was crowned the Holy Roman Emperor and conquered parts of Italy and Germany.
In the 800’s, Scandinavian Vikings, often called Norsemen (which evolved into Norman), seized a portion of France’s northwest coast and created their own feudal state of Normandy. Remember that in the 11th century, the Normans, in an effort to grow their empire, conquered Malta, Sicily, and parts of Tunisia from the Arabs, though they only held Tunisia briefly. In 1066, Norman leader William the Conqueror invaded England and was crowned as the English King. William II was carefully aligned in marriage with a woman who had rights to the western portion of France.
In 1095, the Roman Catholic church initiated the first crusade against the Muslims in the Holy Land of Israel/Palestine. Given the Frank’s cozy relationship with the church, they were obligated to play a leading role in all the crusades.
In 1209, the French in the north declared a crusade against the feudal communities in what is today southern France, who were a separate people group from the Franks in the north. In the south, the Roman Catholics were co-existing peacefully with Jews, Muslims and another sect of Christianity called Cathars, and the northern French claimed it was their duty to expel all heretics. As soon as the crusades began, it became immediately evident that the crusaders were primarily interested in controlling the southern land and wealth, and religion was a minor sidebar. The French conquered almost the entire region.
In 1337, a French king died and the reigning British King declared himself ruler of the French throne (per birthright noted above) and went to war over control of French lands. The war lasted until 1453 and is called the 100 Year War. Not only did the French suffer devastating effects of war, they were also hit with famines, “black death” and the bubonic plague during the same time frame. The war finally came to turning point in 1429 when a teenage girl known as Joan of Arc, who believed that God had called her to drive the British out, took up the fight. She was martyred shortly thereafter, but she had inspired the French to put more effort into the fight and the war ended shortly thereafter.
John Calvin, a Frenchman, challenged the Roman Catholic church and created a new sect of Christianity called Protestantism. The Protestant Reformation swept through Europe in the 1530’s and Calvin was exiled to Geneva. In 1562, the French Monarchy initiated the Wars of Religion against people within their country of protestant faith, which tore the country to pieces and created divisions among the nobility. The wars lasted until 1593. Shortly after they ended, Louis XIV quashed the feuding aristocracy and created the first centralized French state. One of his secrets was constantly keeping the nobility busy with elaborate court life at the palace, keeping the nobility too busy to undermine his power. Louis XIV was constantly at war with someone, particularly over overseas colonies in the new world. The wars were a huge drain on the country’s finances. He also built the overly opulent Palace of Versailles. The state of the finances was a frustration for the people, and under Louis XV, the Bourgeoisie (lower class) started demanding more rights.
In the 18th century, the Enlightenment age began, where philosophers such as Voltaire and Rousseau challenged the old aristocratic and religious order. The French aided the rebellious American colonies in American Revolution. The American colonists set up a government using these Enlightenment principals. The French were inspired by this new little country and decided it was time for their own revolution. In July 1789 the people rose up and overtook the government, which led to chaos and turmoil. Major institutional and social reforms were introduced. Several different government schemes were tried and failed. This era is called the Reign of Terror because many people were murdered during this time, including the revolution leaders themselves.
Napoleon Bonaparte seized power in 1799, bringing stability. He embraced the social reforms of the revolution. He named himself emperor. Interestingly, at Napoleon’s coronation, he took the crown from the pope’s hand and placed it on his own head, rather than allowing the normal formality of the pope putting the crown on the ruler’s head. In doing so, he challenged the authority of the church. Napoleon set about conquering the rest of western Europe. In 1815 he was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo. The monarchy came back to power, exiled Napoleon, and went back to the old monarchy ways. In 1830 there was another civil uprising. The people demanded the leaders to change to a constitutional monarchy, which the monarchy honored. In 1848 the constitutional monarchy was replaced with a republic. Napoleon’s nephew, Napoleon III, was elected to president and in 1852 named himself emperor. Napoleon III ushered the Industrial revolution into France. He was overthrown in 1870 when the Prussians (today Germany) captured Paris. After four months, the French surrendered and the Prussians took some of France’s territories in exchange for leaving Paris. Once the invasion was over, the French tried again at a republic and elected a new president.
In the late 1800’s, France emerged as a world cultural center for the creative arts, attracting writers, artists, and philosophers. New styles such as impressionism, jazz, surrealism, and art nouveau all flourished here, as did the brand new art form of cinema that was introduced in 1895.
World War I began in the northeast portion of France in 1914. The French suffered heavy losses and damage in. They lost 1.35 million people, but emerged victorious. And, yes, they got the land back that the Prussians had taken 40 years prior. The Treaty of Versailles that followed the end of the war was humiliating to the Germans, stripping them of most of their assets and indebting them beyond possible repayment. The resentment at this treaty left Germany ripe for an extreme leader like Hitler. In World War II, the Nazis occupied Paris, the north and the west of France. General Charles de Gaulle led a resistance movement that worked in conjunction with the allies. When the allies defeated the Nazis, De Gaulle headed up the new government of France. The French lost 700,000 people in the second war.
By the 1920’s, France had the second largest collection of overseas colonies in the world. Several colonies revolted and demanded independence in the 50’s, including Indochina, Algeria, Tunisia, west and equatorial Africa. However, France still retains a huge amount of overseas states and territories. Mainland France extends from the Mediterranean Sea on the south to the English Channel and the North Sea on the north, from the Rhine to the east, and to the Atlantic Ocean on the west. In addition, they have many more states around the world, including the island of Corsica in the Mediterranean, the French West Indies in the Caribbean, French Guiana in South America, islands in the Indian Ocean and islands off the east coast of Canada. In addition, France has numerous small possessions called overseas territories. These include a group of widely scattered islands in the South Pacific, and many small islands in the southern oceans, including the Kerguelen and Crozet archipelagos and the islands of St. Paul and Amsterdam (Indian Ocean). The overseas departments and territories are represented in the French National Assembly.
France currently has the 6th largest economy in the world (GDP). It was one of the founding members of both the UN and the EU. France has invested heavily in nuclear power, making it the most energy independent and the smallest carbon dioxide producer in the industrialized world. France is the largest agricultural producer and exporter in Europe, and received heavy EU subsidies for agriculture. France is the most visited country in the world with 82 million foreign tourists.