History Of France

BACKGROUND

Early humans migrated to France during the Paleolithic period, and between 30,000 and 10,000 years ago, modern people leave evidence of their existence in cave art. After 600 B.C. Greek and Phoenician traders worked along the French coast, while the Celts migrated west from the Rhine Valley, settling in an area later known as Gaul by the Romans. The Romans under Julius Caesar conquered part of Gaul in 57-52 BC, and remained in Rome until the Western Roman Empire disintegrated into small-scale farming communities when the Franks invaded the fifth century AD. . After his death, his three grandchildren split his empire and settled in areas adjacent to almost France, Germany and Italy. Violence erupted in the region, and many local chiefs ruled over it. The Vikings, or “Northmans,” invaded the coast, formed a colony of Normandy, named after them, and in 1066 conquered England, installing Duke William⎯William, king of England, Conqueror⎯as. Meanwhile, from 987 and over the next 350 years, the unchanging ranks of the Capetian kings added to their base, a region around Paris known as Île-de-France. As imperial power gained power over imperial empires, major monastic orders and emerging cities fueled economic and cultural prosperity. In 1328 and with the succession of Philip VI, the first emperor of Valois, France boasted of the great success of ancient European culture ⎯ Romanesque and Gothic architecture⎯and was the most powerful nation in Europe, with a population of 15 million. These people, like others in Europe, experienced a human catastrophe after 1348, when the Black Death (bubonic plague) invaded France via Marseille and killed about a third of the country's population.

Ten years before the Black Death struck, a power struggle between France and England led to the Great War (1337-1453) in France. When the French finally won, with the help of young Joan of Arc, the English did not retain their French possessions except Calais. The capture of the Valois dynasty was similar to modern-day France, when Burgundy and Brittany were heard. After the 1540's, John Calvin's Protestantism spread throughout France and led to civil war. The Edict of Nantes (1598), published by Henry IV of the Bourbon dynasty, cemented Catholicism as an established French religion but gave tolerance to French Protestants (Huguenots) and silenced religious dissent. A complete monarchy reached its zenith during the reign of Louis XIV (1643-1715), the Sun King, who built the palace of Versailles, a celebration of French art and architecture.

Prominent projects and the military campaigns of Louis and his successors led to endless financial problems in the eighteenth century. Deteriorating economic conditions and popular outbursts against the system of rights and tax exemptions enjoyed by officials and educators were among the principal causes of the French Revolution (1789–94). The Revolution abolished unrestricted monarchy, increased the power of the elite, and brought about equitable land distribution to farmers. France's revolutionary ideas - especially national ideals and universal rights have had a profound impact on the development of a global movement. However, France's first attempt at Republican rule and equality fell into disarray, culminating in “the Reign of Terror.” France returned to the form of dictatorship or constitutional dynasty four times in the nineteenth century - Napoleon Bonaparte's reign (1804-14, and three-month restoration, 1815), Bourbon Restoration (1814-30), Louis-Philippe's reign (1830-48), and Napoléon's Second Empire III (1852-70). Under Napoléon Bonaparte, France expanded its rule and cultural influence to many European countries before the defeat at Waterloo in 1815. Another defeat a century later, in the Franco-Prussian War (1870), ended the reign of Napoléon III and ushered in the Third Republic, which lasted until the defeat of French troops at the hands of **** Germany in 1940. Throughout all these political changes, France remained among the world's leaders in industry, science, and technology, and finally labor and social law. France has also played a key role in the expansion of European colonies, following Britain alone in Africa, the Middle East, and the Far East. Eventually, France remained the magnet for generations of avant-garde artists and writers.

Although on the winning side of World War I, France suffered heavy casualties and fought in the war and emerged at the end of 1918 determined to keep Germany weak through coalition and defense programs. Despite this, France was defeated by **** Germany at the start of World War II. In 1940 **** troops entered Paris unprotected, and Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain signed an armistice. France was divided into a densely populated north and a deserted south, Vichy France, which became the kingdom of the German doll Pétain as its head. Vichy France confessed to looting French resources and deporting Jews to Germany. Four years later, Allies liberated France in August 1944, with a provisional government led by General Charles de Gaulle, a former warlord of the Free France. In 1946 de Gaulle resigned, and a new constitution created the Fourth Republic, which had a parliamentary system governed by a series of party coalitions. Under this government program, France took important steps to promote international cooperation, joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and leading the unification of Europe. In 1951, in a remarkable reconciliation, France and Germany, along with four other countries, formed the European Coal and Steel Community. There were joint administrations, parliament, and the supreme court, the institutions that still govern the modern-day European Union (EU). In 1957 France and these five countries formed a broader economic bloc, the European Economic Community, or Common Market, when they ratified the Treaty of Rome, the EU's basic treaty.

In addition to achieving that, the French government used to deal with the problems of the Cabinet and showed inadequacy in the challenge of the country's independent colonial struggles in France Indochina, or modern-day Vietnam (1945-54), and Algeria (1954-62). The French war against Communist insurgents in Indochina was abandoned after the defeat of French troops in Dien Bien Phu in 1954. The uprising in Algeria was so divisive in France that it threatened to overthrow the military, which led to the 1958 National Assembly inviting Gaulle to return as prime minister. Under the new Gaulist constitution of the Fifth Republic, which strengthened the presidency and reduced the power of the legislature, he was elected president in December 1958. Under Daululle, the French overseas empire was dissolved. The French Moroccan and Tunisian defenders had gained independence in 1956. In 1960 France in West Africa was divided, and new countries were granted independence. Algeria, after a long civil war, finally gained independence in 1962. Many former colonies maintained close economic and cultural ties with France.

In the example of France's compulsory foreign policy, de Gaulle withdrew France from NATO military control in 1967 and expelled all foreign troops from the country. De Gaulle's government was weakened by mass protests in May 1968 when student rallies were linked to wild strikes by millions of factory workers across France. The group aims to overthrow the dictatorial regime of France and is close to forcing de Gaulle to power. After the reorganization of the order in 1969, de Gaulle resigned and his successor, Georges Pompidou (1969-74), modified Gaullist policies to include a strong market sector in domestic economic affairs. Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, the former president-elect of 1974, also supported a series of policies, which support business.

Socialist François Mitterrand was elected president in 1981, starting recording 14 years in that office. He saw seven prime ministers and two “coexistence” times (1986-88 and 1993-995) in which the prime minister appeared in the middle opposition. She also saw France's first female prime minister, Edith Cresson (1991-92). At the beginning of the presidency of Mitterrand, the victorious social workers, made their campaign promises, introduced property taxes, key industries, announced 39 working hours and five-week pay holidays, suspended nuclear tests, halted nuclear power plant construction, and abolished the death penalty. The most notable and lasting achievements of the Mitterrand presidency, however, came at the international stage, where France's greater commitment remained the European Economic Community and, in particular, made good relations with Franco-Germany, which is regarded as key to European unification. Under Mitterrand, after decades of difficult and turbulent times, the General Market gained momentum in the single European Convention of 1986, which limited the free movement of goods and workers. The realization of the big stone came in the 1992 Maastricht Agreement, which established a common currency and created the EU to link foreign policy with immigrants and the economy. In promoting the agreement with the financial union, Mitterrand worked closely with German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, strengthening Franco-Germany's economic and security ties.

France has continued to be a factor in the EU's continued growth under former Gaullist Prince Jacques Chirac, who won the presidency in 1995 on a platform to reduce chronic unemployment in France. Chirac has re-launched a French nuclear test in the South Pacific, despite widespread international protests. During his five years of coexistence (1997-2002) with the socialist legal system, the euro was introduced (2002) and the franc retired as a legal tender. In 1999 France participated in NATO aviation operations in Kosovo, despite internal strife. During the 2002 election, Jean-Marie Le Pen, a neo-fascist leader, the anti-immigrant party in the National Front, shocked France with its strong performance, second in the first round of voting. He took 17 percent of the vote, gave a humiliating reduction to Lionel Jospin, the prime minister of the Socialist Party, whose party supported Chrac in power and strengthened his 82 percent victory in the run-up to the by-elections.

In 2003, in the second Chirac forest, France insulted the United States and the United Kingdom during the Iraq war by calling for more weapons and communications tests. The situation in France, although supported by popular sentiment in France, severely strained relations with the United States. In the domestic arena, the Chirac government has pushed for tightening of belts and renewing laws, for example, pension and wage schemes, to meet the budgetary needs of the unions set out in the Maastricht agreement. Proposed changes were greeted each time by protests and street protests throughout France. Voters reversed Chirac in May 2005, when they rejected the EU constitution, which he strongly supported. In November 2005, widespread riots in French-occupied territories sparked widespread dissatisfaction and sparked a major French inquiry into France's approach to immigration and social problems.

In 2007, in a two-round presidential election, Nicolas Sarkozy of the middle class defeated Ségolène Royal, a Socialist candidate and the first female president of France, by 53 percent to 47 percent. Sarkozy has appointed a part-time colleague with François Fillon as Prime Minister and a Cabinet of 15 ministers, including one to serve in the controversial new post of Minister of Immigration and Immigration. Among those nominated as Minister Sarkozy are renowned Socialist Bernard Kouchner, founder of the Nobel Prize-winning Doctors Without Borders, and seven women, including a North African-born justice minister. Parliamentary elections in June 2007 are expected to move the majority of the middle party led by Sarkozy.