History of France

France is a major country on the continent of Europe, the second-largest colonial empire in world history after Great Britain. France has invaded and colonized many regions of the world, so France is one of the countries with a great and influential history on the continent of Europe and the world. Origin of the name France The name of France, derived from the word Frank. It means the peoples of the Franks. He is one of the Germanic peoples who came from the north and settled in France. This term was used after the fall of Rome until the Middle Ages, to denote the country where France currently exists. After Hugues Capet was crowned king of the Franks, he called it the Kingdom of Francia. After that, it was officially called France during the reign of Philippe August. History of France The emergence of humanity on French soil dates back to ancient stone ages. The oldest traces of human life in France date back about 1.8 million years. The weather at that time was very cold, and it had a great impact on humans. France also has a large number of caves dating back to the Stone Age, the most famous of which is the Lascaux Cave. Greeks from the city of Fos built Marseilles in 600 BC. At the same time, some Celtic peoples penetrated deep into the territory of present-day France. The term Gaul began to emerge, land settled by the Celts. And then the Gaul became a prosperous country. But the southern part of it was subject to Greek and Roman influences. In 125 BC, the Roman Republic invaded Gaul and built some cities, including Toulouse and Urbona. In 58 BC, Julius Caesar, the Roman leader, began wars called the Gallic Wars. The Roman Julius Caesar waged a series of wars against the Gaul tribes. Which led to the expansion of the Roman Republic to all parts of the Gaul. In the early Renaissance, specifically in 1494, the French kings began to wage many wars against Italy, and these wars were called the Italian Wars, and they arose because of the dispute over the succession of the Duchy of Milan and the Kingdom of Naples, and wars then became a struggle for power and territory between the belligerents. Between 1515 and 1547, the rule of France was characterized by the rule of monarchy, and that period of time was during the reign of François I, and the reign of his son Henry II, which was characterized by absolute rule and tyranny. With the emergence of the era of intellectual and literary Renaissance, a period that was heavily influenced by Italy. In 1539, a decree was issued making French the official legal and administrative language of the kingdom. But unity in the kingdom did not last long about the character of the king in France, which led to a complete halt in almost everything, and it happened in the second half of the 16th century, and also because of religious problems. Then there were eight religious wars between Catholicism and Calvinism, and then there were major economic and political problems. Calvinism is a Protestant Christian doctrine founded by the French reformer John Calvin. During that time, there was a massacre called the famous St. Bartholomew Massacre, which lasted for several days between Catholics and Protestants, which killed nearly 30,000 people. But, in 1598, King Henry IV issued a decree allowing freedom of belief for Protestants. Between 1610 and 1643, King Louis XIII was in power, and launched a number of successful wars. He began to create the first large French empire, which was made up of many colonies, the most important of which was the New France, in the Caribbean, as well as on the road to India. At that time Louis XIV took office, asserted his absolute rule authority, until he called himself King of the Sun, and considered himself God's place on earth. He created the Palace of Versailles, made him a symbol of his rule, and surrounded himself with writers and scholars. He also worked on religious unification in the country, where he resumed the persecution of the Protestants again, and repealed the previous decree that allowed freedom of belief in the kingdom. When Louis XV took office, he fought many wars, the results of which were mixed, and then the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1763, to end the wars, under which France abandoned her holdings in North America, but seized the Duchy of Lorraine and Corsica. Louis then began to witness great popularity and prosperity in agricultural and industrial production, which was accompanied by a revolution in the cultural and intellectual field. In 1774, Louis XVI took office, supporting Americans who were seeking independence from Great Britain. This support led to major economic and financial crises, as a result of his support for the Americans and the American Revolution, and that financial crisis was one of the factors that contributed to the outbreak of the French Revolution. Also, during that period there were many important scientific inventions, which were discovered by French scientists, which in turn led to the philosophy of Enlightenment and also contributed and paved the way for the French Revolution. During the phase of the indebtedness of the French monarchy, King Louis XVI ordered the holding of public sessions for it, which opened in 1789, which was considered a national constituent assembly, and was the day of its opening on July 14, the day that later became the French National Day, where the people of Paris broke into the Bastille prison, and abolished the system of absolute monarchy, and then the system of government and France became a constitutional monarchy. In August of the same year, the National Assembly decided to abolish aristocratic privileges. Human and citizen rights, freedom and security, resistance to injustice and tyranny were declared, and it was decided that access to public office was based on competence, not dissent. The monarchy then diminished and all citizens had the right to participate in the legislation. Freedom of the press and freedom of expression were proclaimed, in contrast to the divine right granted to the French monarchy, which characterized French rule. The privileges of nobles and clerics were also eliminated. At the time, King Louis XVI, the constitutional king, had tried to escape to his supporters in eastern France, but was arrested in the village of Ferran in 1791. Rumors circulated at the time that the king had hoped for political salvation, with the possibility of interference and external invasion from neighboring countries to help him, and then the king's credibility faded to the point of abolishing the monarchy. And then the republic was established. In fact, the European kingdoms have united against the new regime in France, and they have tried to restore the absolute monarchy to it again. With these external threats, internal unrest increased, and the war against Austria was declared in 1792, after which the Republic of France was declared. At the same time, King Louis XVI was convicted of treason and executed in 1793. The emerging Republic of France faced great pressure from European monarchies, as there was an internal guerrilla war and rebellions against the revolution, so between 20,000 and 40,000 people were executed in western France. But the civil war in France continued between the National Revolutionary Army, which was called Blue. Which means blue color, and they were supporters of the revolution, and between the Royal Army, which was nicknamed Blanc. Which means white color, and they were the supporters of the monarchy. The wars continued between 1793 and 1796, killing nearly 450,000 people. But in the end, the revolution succeeded, defeating both the anti-revolution and the foreign armies that supported the rebellion. Then things calmed down in the country, and the threat surrounding the new French Republic receded. After that, a five-member council was formed to run the country. Only afterwards, the council was overthrown after a military coup led by Napoleon Bonaparte, who put an end to the French Revolution and took control of the Republic. Napoleon then became Emperor of France in a referendum, and the French Empire was established in 1804. Continuing the wars sparked by European monarchies against the French Republic, the war against Napoleon's empire was declared. But Napoleon won, and his armies invaded most of Europe, and he appointed members of his family as kings of some newly created kingdoms. Those war victories, won by Napoleon Bonaparte, led to the expansion of his empire in many parts of the world, and Napoleon Bonaparte became an ideal in the whole world. About one million French soldiers died during the Napoleonic Wars. Napoleon was eventually defeated in 1815, in a battle called the Battle of Waterloo, after which the monarchy was re-established in France, and the Bourbon family was restored to rule France again, but with new constitutional restrictions. But this monarchy lost its credibility and was overthrown by the Revolution of 1830, and then it established another constitutional monarchy, which continued until 1848, after which the Second French Republic was declared. In 1852, the President of the Republic was Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon I's nephew. After assuming the authority of the Presidency of the Republic, he made a coup against the Republican system, proclaimed the Second French Empire, installed himself Emperor over France, and called himself Napoleon III. During Napoleon III's reign, the war between France and Prussia took place in 1870. Napoleon III was defeated in that war, overthrown, and declared the Third French Republic. From the beginning of the 19th century until the beginning of the 28th century, the French colonial empire expanded abroad, with a total land area under French rule amounting to about 8.6% of the world's territory, and became the second-largest empire in the world after the British Empire. Between 1870 and 1914, there were no international wars, but they were known as the era of armed peace. This was because the countries of the continent competed for influence and world trade markets. Meanwhile, Europe was divided into two camps. The first camp included Germany, Austria, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire. The second camp consists of Britain, France and Russia, which was called the Tripartite Alliance, and other countries joined during World War I. World War I took place between the two sides, and France emerged victorious in that war in 1918. However, the French economy was on the verge of collapse, causing internal crises that lasted for a long time. Also, the casualties of France in that war were very large, with the number of French soldiers killed to about 1,400,000, which made things difficult and exacerbated internal crises. When World War II broke out, France entered the war alongside British troops. But the French fortifications, known as Maginot fortifications, were not enough to repel German attacks. Which led to the collapse of these fortifications and the entry of German troops into the heart of Paris. France fell at the hands of German forces, and the French government signed a ceasefire agreement with the Germans in 1940, after which the French split between supporters and opponents. While General Pétain formed the Vichy government loyal to the German armed forces, General de Gaulle left France for Britain and made his famous appeal to the French, calling on them to continue fighting against the Germans. And he formed a national committee, which was the basis for an interim government. And it was that government that continued the armed resistance against the Germans. In 1944, coalition forces, along with French forces led by General de Gaulle, managed to enter Paris and drive the Germans out of Paris. After that, the Fourth Republic was founded in France after World War II, after which the country experienced significant economic growth, and France was one of the founding countries of NATO in 1949. Between 1945 and 1958, France was subjected to major changes and divisions, which led to the emergence of new forces in French society, such as labor forces, and other forces. At the time, France was suffering from an economy that was nearing collapse, along with tensions in the region. Also, in the colonies of France, including the revolutions of Algeria and the revolutions of Indochina, which led to the defeat of the French army in those colonies. The Geneva Convention was then signed to withdraw French troops from Vietnam. This weakness in France led to the instability of the Fourth Republic, and paved the way for the establishment of the Fifth Republic, which included strengthening the authority of the presidency. Charles de Gaulle was able to maintain the cohesion of the country, taking steps to end the war in Algeria, which led to Algeria's independence from France. France has also gradually granted independence to its other colonies. In 1968, there were a series of protests around the world, including France, which left significant social impacts in French society, and was an important watershed at the time. After that, France went from a conservative moral ideal, both in religion and respect for power and patriotism, to a more liberal moral ideal. Currently, France is one of the largest countries in the world, both in the economic and military fields. France is also one of the most important policy centers around the world, and is the second largest economy in Europe, and the fifth largest in the world, in terms of gross domestic product. As for the total wealth of French families, France is the richest country in Europe and the fourth in the world, where the French citizen enjoys high levels of living. France is also well rated globally in terms of education and health care, civil liberties and human development indicators. Thank you for watching the video, and we are happy to subscribe to the channel, and do not forget to support us by clicking the like button.