 |
| History of France |
Most of Europe was ruled by the Franks, for more than 400 years, over 1000 years ago. The entire area of modern france was under their control. In the year 895 the Vikings of Scandinavia settled in Northern france and were called Northerns. During the middle ages feudalism existed in France. Peasants did not own any land and they worked under the Feudal Lords.
More Topics:
Over the years the land owners grew richer and they built magnificent castles, called ‘Chateaus’, for themselves. The Feudal lords became very unpopular over the years. In the 18th century great french writers like Jean Jacques Rousseau influenced the thinking of the people through their works and laid the seeds for the French revolution.
In the year 1789 the revolution broke out, the Bastille prison was stormed by the people and the inmates released. The slogan of ‘Liberty! Equality! And Fraternity!’ was on every common man and woman’s lips the throughout France.
The king of France, Louis-XVI, was dethroned and imprisoned. Monarchy was abolished from France and a republic was established. This revolution was followed by a counter revolution in the year 1793, led a Frenchman called Robespierre. It was under him that France went through the reign of terror in 1793 in which King Louis-XVI was beheade. The reign of terror ended in 1795 when Robespierre was executed. In the last quarter of 1795 the new republic took power but was overthrown by Napoleon Bonaparte.
Napoleon was born in Corsica and was trained in Military school.
In 1799 he became the ruler of France and crowned himself emperor in 1804. he was defeated and exiled in 1814 but the returned to France in 1815. In the same year he was again defeated by the British and exiled to St. Helena were he died.In 1914 France was at war with Germany during the World War-I. During 1940 France was inveded and captured by Germans. It was only in 1944 after the allied invasion that France was liberated.
Tags:
Encyclopedia