A Brief History of France

After the disintegration of the Roman Empire in the fifth century, Gaul was settled by Germanic peoples from the east. During the eighth and ninth centuries Gaul became the heart of Charlemagne's Frankish empire, which stretched from the Pyrenees to the Baltic.

The following centuries saw the area under the control of the French kings gradually increased, although it was not until the reign of Louis VI (1108-1137) that royal authority became more than an empty theory in some areas of France. In 1328, however, the direct line of the royal house became extinct: one of the claimants to the throne was Edward III of England.

The resulting intermittent conflict was known as the Hundred Years' War, and did not resolved until the final English defeat in 1453. The period of French recovery is associated with the reign of the astute Louis XI (1460-1483): by the time of his death the area of France was much as it is today.

During the late 15th and 16th centuries, France was again distracted by foreign adventures, including the Italian Wars and several other grand European schemes, and internal troubles.

This latter conflict was ended by Henry IV, a Protestant-turned-Catholic who was assassinated in 1610, but his work of building up the power of the French state was continued and by 1700 the country had replaced Spain as the major European power.

The 18th century was a period of great colonial expansion, and France again became involved in conflicts with England. The reign of Louis XV (1715-74) was in general a time of great prosperity in France, but also witnessed a widening gap between rich and poor being underlying cause of the French Revolution of 1789 which overthrew Louis XVI.

The government of the last years of the 18th century was deeply unstable and unpopular, and was overthrown in 1799 by a rising army commander named Napoleon Bonaparte.

After five years Napoleon was declared Emperor and embarked on a military campaign to establish a French empire in Europe. Defeat at Trafalgar at the hands of Nelson in 1805 left Britain in command of the sea, but on land, Napoleon scored a series of stunning victories over the next seven years.

After the ill-fated invasion of Russia in April 1812 Napoleon's fortunes went into decline and he was briefly forced into exile. His final demise was his defeat at Waterloo by the Duke of Wellington.

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