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France

France, major industrialized nation in western Europe. France is the third largest country in Europe,

after Russia and Ukraine, and the fourth most populous. Officially the French Republic (République

Française), the nation includes ten overseas possessions, most of them remnants of France’s former

colonial empire. Paris is the nation’s capital and largest city.

Roughly hexagonal in shape, France shares boundaries with Belgium and Luxembourg to the

northeast; Germany, Switzerland, and Italy to the east; and Spain and Andorra to the southwest. In

the northwest, France is bounded by the English Channel. At the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of

the channel, France and England are separated by just 34 km (21 mi). France faces three major seas:

the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the North Sea to the north, and the Mediterranean Sea to the

southeast.

France is a nation of varied landscapes, ranging from coastal lowlands and broad plains in the north,

to hilly uplands in south central France, to lush valleys and towering, snow-capped Alps in the east.

Mountainous and hilly areas lie on nearly all of France’s borders, creating a series of natural

boundaries for the country. Only the nation’s northeastern border is largely unprotected. Several

major rivers drain France, including the Seine, Loire, Garonne, and Rhône.

France is highly urbanized. Three-quarters of the population lives in cities, including more than ten

million people in the metropolitan area of Paris, the most densely populated region in France. The

French are among the healthiest, wealthiest, and best-educated people in the world. A comprehensive

social welfare system is in place, guaranteeing all citizens a minimal standard of living and health

care. Most citizens speak French, the principal language. The dominant religion is Roman Catholicism.

I INTRODUCTION

France: Flag and Anthem

© Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved./© Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

France

Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006. © 1993-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

French culture, especially French art and literature, has profoundly influenced the Western world.

Paris, one of the world’s great intellectual capitals, has been at the center of Western cultural life since

the Middle Ages. World-renowned French cultural figures include philosophers, writers, painters,

sculptors, architects, composers, playwrights, and film directors. French literary and artistic

contributions during the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment deeply influenced the path of

Western cultural development. Impressionism, an innovative painting movement in the late 19th

century, originated in France. During the 20th century, French writers and artists were at the center of

movements such as dada, surrealism, existentialism, and the theater of the absurd. France has a long

reputation for excellence in cuisine, and French fashion styles are imitated throughout the world.

The economy of France is large, diverse, and one of the most highly developed in the European Union

(EU). It is a leading manufacturing nation, producing goods such as automobiles, electrical equipment,

machine tools, and chemicals. France is the EU’s most important agricultural nation—shipping cereals,

wine, cheese, and other agricultural products to the rest of Europe and the world. In recent decades

service industries, including banking, retail and wholesale trade, communications, health care, and

tourism, have come to dominate the French economy.

France is one of the oldest states in the Western world and its history is rich and varied. Little is

known of France’s earliest inhabitants. Cave paintings in southwestern France dated to about 15,000

BC reveal the existence of a sophisticated and creative people (see Paleolithic Art). By the 8th century

Village of the Massif Central

Uzerche is perched on a hill of the Massif Central, a large plateau that covers about 91,000 square kilometers (about 35,135 square miles) of south central France. The region is hilly, with deep river valleys. The Dordogne River, regarded by many people as the most beautiful in France, runs through the region en route to the Atlantic Ocean. Also found in the region are the famous Grotte de Lascaux and the Grotte du Pech-Merle, underground chambers in which magnificent Paleolithic Age paintings of animals decorate the walls.

Photo Researchers, Inc./J.M. Charles-Rapho

France


BC hordes of Celts, among other tribes, began entering and settling in France. A Celtic word, Gaul, was

a name used in antiquity for the region of France. The ancient Romans incorporated France in the 1st

century BC and ruled the region until the Roman Empire collapsed in the 5th century AD.

After the fall of Rome, a series of royal dynasties ruled much of what would become France. Royal

power declined in the Middle Ages with the spread of feudalism, which distributed power among local

rulers. From the 14th to 18th century the power of the monarchy grew steadily as French kings and

their ministers built a centralized bureaucracy and a large standing army. The French Revolution in

1789 toppled the monarchy, ushering in decades of political instability. Despite this turmoil, the

revolution, and the subsequent rule of Napoleon Bonaparte, established a uniform administrative state

in France.

French strength and prosperity grew during the 19th and early 20th centuries, and France built a

worldwide colonial empire rivaling that of the United Kingdom. Much of World War I (1914-1918) was

fought on French soil, and the nation suffered heavy losses. During World War II (1939-1945),

Germany occupied northern France while a collaborationist regime was established at Vichy in central

France. After the war France rebuilt its shattered economy and emerged as one of the world’s major

industrial countries. Growing resistance to French rule in the colonies increased in the postwar period,

triggering a wave of decolonization that stripped France of most of its overseas possessions.

In 1958 an uprising in Algeria, then a French colony, threatened France with civil war. The French

government surrendered dictatorial power to Charles de Gaulle, a resistance leader during World War

II, and invited de Gaulle to form a new government. French voters approved a new constitution by

popular referendum that strengthened the powers of the presidency, and de Gaulle became the new

government’s first president. De Gaulle viewed France as a great power, and he followed an

independent stance in foreign affairs, a policy that helped boost France’s international influence. In

recent decades, France, working closely with Germany, has played a leading role in the move toward

greater European economic and political integration.

Geography of France

II LAND AND RESOURCES

Area 543,965 sq km 210,026 sq mi

Coastline 3,427 km 2,129 mi

Highest point Mont Blanc 4,810 m/15,782 ft

France


The total area of France is 543,965 sq km (210,026 sq mi), including inland waters. The

Mediterranean isle of Corsica is considered part of the total area of metropolitan France. France has an

extreme length from north to south of about 965 km (600 mi) and maximum width from east to west

of about 935 km (580 mi). The country spans the breadth of the European peninsula, from the Atlantic

Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea, and stretches from the coastal lowlands of the Great European Plain

to the Alps.

France has three distinctive types of surface features—rolling plains, uplands, and high mountains.

Nearly two-thirds of France consists of lands that are less than 250 m (820 ft) above sea level in

elevation. Despite the existence of several uplands in the French interior, there is relatively easy

access from lowland to lowland. Most of the high mountains are located on France’s borders.

French Alps

The Alps make up the largest mountain system in Europe. They extend from the Gulf of Genoa to the Danube River near Vienna. The craggy peaks of the French Alps, pictured here, provide some of the world’s best skiing.

A Natural Regions

A1 Plains

ALLSTOCK, INC./Ken Graham

France


The north and west of France are dominated by segments of the Great European Plain, a vast lowland.

This plain includes the Basin of Aquitaine in the southwest, which stretches from the foothills of the

Pyrenees, near the border with Spain, to west central France. The basin narrows midway up the coast

where it meets the expansive Paris Basin in north central France, the nation’s heartland. Here the

landscape consists mainly of plains separated by low plateaus. The plateaus typically rise in a series of

concentric, outward-facing escarpments (cliffs). The escarpments resemble saucers of progressively

smaller size stacked atop one another, with the city of Paris in the middle of the smallest, central

saucer. These escarpments, particularly those facing east, have been the sites of many battles, as

France defended itself against invasions.

In both the Paris and Aquitaine basins, fertile soils derived from limestone and wind-deposited dust,

called loess, have supported prosperous agriculture since ancient times. Other lowlands in France are

scattered and relatively small. They include the Alsace Plain in the east, bordering Germany, the valley

of the Rhône River in the southeast, and the Languedoc Plain along the Mediterranean coast.

France contains several regions of uplands, the worn down remains of ancient mountain systems. The

largest of these is the vast plateau of the Massif Central, in south central France. A region of rounded

hills, the Massif Central has abundant extinct volcanoes, remnants of the powerful geologic pressures

that uplifted the region. Deep river gorges cut many parts of the Massif Central. The steepest areas of

the region are to the east, nearest the Alps. To the west and north the Massif Central gradually

descends to meet the Aquitaine and Paris basins.

The Armorican Massif in the far northwest forms the peninsula of Brittany, a landform that juts into

the Atlantic Ocean. Less elevated than the Massif Central, the Armorican Massif is still deeply scored

by stream valleys and has comparatively little level land. Steep slopes and poor soils restrict

agriculture in much of the region. Other uplands include the Vosges and Ardennes mountain ranges in

the northeast, where rounded and wooded hills rise above deep valleys.

Lavender Cultivation in France

Lavender is commonly grown in France. It is a shrubby Mediterranean herb with narrow leaves and small lilac-purple flowers containing oil of lavender. Lavender is used to make perfume, and dried flowers of lavender are used to make sachets for perfuming clothing and linens.

A2 Uplands

Denis Tremblay Labtex Inc.

France


Imposing mountains form the southeastern and southwestern borders of France. These mountains,

created by the ongoing collision of the African and Eurasian tectonic plates, are younger than the

eroded mountain systems of the French interior (see Plate Tectonics).

The high, rugged mountains of the Alps border southeastern France. Mont Blanc, in the French Alps, is

one of the highest points in Europe at 4,807 m (15,771 ft). Rivers carved deep valleys in the Alps, and

Ice Age glaciers gouged the valleys wider and deeper. These broad valleys offer a number of low

passes that permit relatively easy travel through the mountains.

A3 Mountains

Mont Blanc

The northwestern slope of Mont Blanc dominates the view from the town of Sallanches in eastern France’s Haute-Savoie department. Located on the French-Italian border, Mont Blanc is the loftiest peak in the Alps and the highest point in western Europe.

Scope/Andre Fournier

France


The Pyrenees, a mountain range of fairly uniform height, lie along the border with Spain. The highest

peak in the Pyrenees is Pic de Vignemale, at 3,298 m (10,820 ft). The Pyrenees were not heavily

glaciated during the Ice Age and are devoid of the large lakes, pleasant valleys, and serrated ridges

characteristic of the Alps. Their high, difficult, and infrequent passes establish a true barrier and have

historically served to limit traffic between France and Spain.

The Jura Mountains form the boundary with Switzerland to the east. Although less rugged than the

Alps, the Jura Mountains were created at the same time and are related geologically to the Alps.

Pyrenees Mountains

The Pyrenees extend along the entire southern border of France from the Mediterranean Sea to the Bay of Biscay. Their rugged peaks and high altitudes form a natural border. Pic de Vignemale, whose summit reaches an altitude of 3298 m (10,820 ft), is the highest peak in the French Pyrenees.

B Rivers

Photo Researchers, Inc./Francois Gohier

France


France has several major rivers. The Seine, in northern France, drains much of the Paris Basin and

flows northwest into the Atlantic Ocean. The Seine’s even flow is well suited to navigation, and the

river is an important water route to and from Paris. The Loire rises in the Massif Central, flows west

across the southern portion of the Paris Basin, and enters the Atlantic Ocean at the Bay of Biscay. The

Loire’s water level fluctuates greatly, and floods are frequent. Stretching more than 1,000 km (620

mi), the Loire is the longest river in France. The Garonne rises in the Pyrenees and flows north,

draining much of the Aquitane Basin. The Dordogne rises in the Massif Central and flows west, joining

the Garonne to form the Gironde estuary, just before the Atlantic. These four great rivers all lie

entirely within French territory.

Seine River, France

Flowing through northern France, the Seine River passes through such cities as Paris and Rouen before flowing into the English Channel at Le Havre. Shown here overlooking the Seine are the ruins of 12th-century Château Gaillard at Les Andelys.

Scope/Noel Hautemaniere

France


Major rivers with some sources outside of France include the Rhône, the great river of the

Mediterranean region of France. The Rhône rises in Switzerland, joins the Saône at Lyon, and crosses

the Languedoc Plain en route to the Mediterranean Sea. Draining the French Alps region, the Rhône is

the largest river in France measured in terms of volume of discharge. The Rhine, which is one of the

world’s most important inland waterways, rises in the Swiss Alps and flows northwest, forming part of

France’s eastern boundary. The river then travels through Germany and The Netherlands before

entering the North Sea. The Meuse traverses northeastern France and passes through Belgium and

The Netherlands before also emptying into the North Sea.

An extensive network of canals connects the major rivers with each other and with other river and

canal systems. Nearly all of France’s more than 200 streams are commercially navigable for varying

distances. France has only a few lakes. Lake Geneva (also known as Lake Leman), situated along the

Franco-Swiss border, lies mainly in Switzerland.

Rhône River

The principal river in southeastern France, the Rhône is navigable between Lyon in east central France and Marseille, a major port on the Mediterranean Sea. The Rhône is also connected via waterways and canals to major northern rivers, including the Rhine, the Seine, and the Loire. Shown here is the Rhône at Saint Vallier.

C Coastline

Scope/Jacques Guillard

France


The coastline of mainland France, about 3,430-km (2,130-mi) long, is highly varied. A marshy lowland

prevails along the northern coast, and many areas must be artificially drained. Moving west, along the

English Channel, these lowlands give way to the cliffs of Normandy and then to the rugged, ragged

coast of Brittany. Stretching south of Brittany, a low, sandy coast meets the Atlantic Ocean.

Normandy Cliffs

The white cliffs of Aval, in the Normandy region of northern France, rise above the English Channel.

FPG International, LLC/David Noble

France


The Mediterranean coast is equally varied. In the Riviera district to the east, the Maritime Alps plunge

abruptly into the sea, forming one of the most scenic areas of Europe. West of the Riviera, the

coastline gives way to the large, marshy delta of the Rhône. West of the Rhône delta, a coastal

lowland dotted with wetlands stretches all the way to the Pyrenees.

The French coast has relatively few natural harbors. The northern coast, along the English Channel

and the North Sea, is broken by a number of promontories, river estuaries, and minor indentations,

few of which provide safe anchorages. The harbor at Le Havre, at the mouth of the Seine, is the one

outstanding exception. A number of harbors in the north have been formed by the construction of

breakwaters, including the seaport at Cherbourg. Along the Atlantic coast, important harbors are at

Brest, Lorient, and Saint-Nazaire. The best natural harbors in France are on the Mediterranean and

include the harbors of Marseille, Toulon, and Nice.

France’s generally mild climate, ample rainfall, variety of elevations, and long growing season, offer

habitat for many species of plants and animals. Centuries of human settlement have profoundly

altered the land and greatly reduced the number and diversity of indigenous species. Conservation

efforts in recent decades have helped protect important undeveloped areas that remain.

Cannes, France

Located on the Côte d’Azur of the Mediterranean Sea, also called the French Riviera, Cannes has long been a fashionable resort frequented by wealthy people. Today, it is best known for its prestigious annual film festival, which draws worldwide attention.

D Plant and Animal Life

REUTERS/John Schults

France


The natural vegetation of France is closely related to climatic conditions. In the mountains, the highest

elevations near the snow line consist of expanses of bare rock with only a few varieties of moss and

lichen growing in sheltered areas. Farther down the mountainside, but still above the timberline,

alpine pastures provide good grazing for sheep and cattle during the summer months. Below the tree

line the higher forests are composed of coniferous species such as pine, larch, fir, and spruce.

Below the coniferous forest is a deciduous forest of oak, beech, and chestnut. Only tiny remnants of

the great forest that once covered the plains and lower mountain slopes of France remain. Most of the

lowlands of France are now in farmland, and forests are restricted to areas of poorer soil. Yet the

lowlands of France are not treeless; lines of stately trees border many highways and canals, and in the

hedgerow country of Normandy and Brittany virtually every tiny plot of ground is enclosed by an

embankment planted with bushes or trees.

Expanses of an evergreen shrub, called maquis, prevail along much of the Mediterranean coast, where

summers are generally long, hot, and dry (see Shrub Land). The Mediterranean region once supported

open forests of live oaks and grasses. This native vegetation was destroyed by centuries of

overgrazing, burning, and woodcutting. Many areas have been reduced to expanses of bare ground.

The most common trees found in the Mediterranean region are the olive, the cork oak, and the Aleppo

pine.

The destruction of France’s native woodlands led to a sharp decline of native animals, a process that

continues to the present day. Few specimens of the larger mammals remain in France; the most

common of these include species of deer and fox. Red deer and roe deer are still hunted, as are wild

boar, which survive in remote forest areas. The rare chamois, a type of goat, is found in the Alps and

in the Pyrenees. Among the smaller animals found in the region are the porcupine, skunk, marmot,

and marten. Endangered species include beaver, otter, and badger. A small population of brown bears

and lynx survive high in the Pyrenees.

France has an abundance of bird life. Many species of migrating birds, including ducks, geese, and

thrushes, spend their winters in France. The Mediterranean region is home to various exotic bird

species, including the flamingo, bee-eater, egret, heron, and black-winged stilt. Reptiles are rare, and

the only venomous reptile in France is the adder.

France is richly endowed with agricultural resources. The fertile soils of its basins and plains have

supported a robust farming culture since antiquity. Today, France is the largest exporter of agricultural

goods in the European Union (EU). The French landscape, most of which receives abundant

precipitation, also supports a thriving timber industry. Today, about one-quarter of France is forested,

and commercial tree farms constitute a significant share of this total.

France is not exceptionally rich in natural mineral resources. The coal deposits of northern France and

the iron ore deposits in the east were important to the nation’s early industrialization. However,

France’s coal deposits have largely been depleted, and the low quality of French iron ore has lead to a

sharp decline in domestic production. Deposits of petroleum and natural gas are small and largely

E Natural Resources

France


tapped. Today, France imports iron ore along with most other minerals important in industrial

production. However, France remains a significant producer of uranium, a fuel used in nuclear

reactors, and bauxite, from which aluminum is made.

The climate of France is generally temperate with three major variations: oceanic, continental, and

Mediterranean. The climate of any particular region of the country is largely determined by the

dominant of these three influences in the region, although elevation and other local conditions are also

important. In general, the climate of France is well suited to agriculture.

The oceanic climate prevails throughout much of the country, especially in the north and west, where

westerly winds from the Atlantic Ocean bring mild and moist conditions. These winds, charged with

moisture, produce cool summers, mild winters, and year-round rainfall. The rain usually comes in the

form of a slow, steady drizzle. Overcast skies are common, but snow and frost are rare. Paris, for

example, receives 650 mm (26 in) of precipitation annually, with rain occurring an average of 188

days each year. The average daily temperature range in Paris is 1° to 6°C (34° to 40°F) in January

and 13° to 24°C (55° to 75°F) in July. The oceanic climate fully dominates the west coast. Brest, in

Brittany, has an average January temperature range of 4º to 9ºC (39° to 47°F) and an average July

temperature range of 12º to 19ºC (54° to 67°F).

The continental climate has a pronounced influence in northeastern France. Winds and air masses

coming from the east, over the great Eurasian landmass, bring little moisture and more extreme

temperatures. In winter these air masses bring cold weather, and in summer they bring heat. The

eastern city of Strasbourg, for example, has an average January temperature range of -2º to 3ºC (28º

F Climate

French Riviera

The mild climate, numerous resorts, and bright, sunny skies of the French Riviera attract vacationers year-round.

Stone/Bruno De Hogues

France


to 38ºF). In the course of an average winter the temperature in Strasbourg is below freezing for 80

days, and on at least 20 days snow is recorded. But the summers in Strasbourg, which average 13º to

25ºC (56º to 77ºF), are hot and often oppressive, with heavy precipitation during summer

thundershowers.

The Mediterranean climate holds sway over regions of southern France, with the strongest influence

felt in areas lying within 160 km (100 mi) of the sea. Winters are mild and moist, although much of

the precipitation comes in short showers. Summers are hot and rainless. The Mediterranean city of

Marseille, for instance, has an average daily temperature of 2° to 10°C (35° to 50°F) in January and

17° to 29°C (63° to 84°F) in July. Average precipitation in Marseille is 550 mm (22 in) annually, with

rain occurring an average of 95 days a year. Occasionally, a cold, dry wind, called a mistral, blows

down from the north, through the narrow Rhône-Saône trench valley, and out onto the Languedoc

Plain. The mistral is strongest and most frequent in the winter and spring and can temporarily bring

chilly temperatures to the Mediterranean shore.

Severe climates are found only in the mountains. High in the French Alps and Pyrenees, winters are

long and snowy, sufficient to support ski resorts. In several places in the Alps, remnant glaciers

survive.

G Conservation

The Camargue

The Camargue Regional Park on the southern coast of France covers an area of marshy flats where the Rhône River splits to meet the Mediterranean Sea. The park’s extensive brine lagoons provide habitat for many birds, including the greater flamingo. This photograph shows a wild white Arabian horse grazing in the park.

Corbis/Pat Groves

France


For centuries the French devoted few resources to the protection and conservation of the

environment. Like most of the world’s peoples, they have focused mainly on economic development of

national lands and waters. A conservation movement arose in France in the 19th century, as

environmental problems associated with industrialization accumulated. However, the movement did

not gain broader popular support until the end of World War II (1939-1945). Rapid industrial

expansion, urbanization, and the proliferation of automobiles further degraded the environment,

leaving the nation’s air and water supplies severely polluted, and its remaining forests and wild

animals threatened.

Since the early 1960s, France has undertaken a variety of initiatives to conserve and protect its

environment. A cornerstone of this effort was the creation of a system of parks and reserves. Today,

about 10 percent of the French national territory enjoys some type of protected status. This includes

six national parks, several dozen regional nature parks, and more than 100 smaller nature reserves.

In addition, numerous measures are in place to reduce air pollution, water pollution, and soil erosion.

Terry G. Jordan-Bychkov contributed the Land and Resources section of this article.

People of France

The population of France is 60,656,178 (2005 estimate). It is the fourth most populous nation in

Europe, after Russia, Germany, and the United Kingdom. France is western Europe’s largest nation in

total area and is sparsely populated by European standards, with an average population density of 111

persons per sq km (288 per sq mi). The population is distributed unevenly within France. The most

crowded area is Paris in north central France and the surrounding urban region, where population

density exceeds 921 persons per sq km (2,386 per sq mi). The region of Limousin in the hill lands of

central France, with 42 persons per sq km (109 per sq mi), and the mountainous Mediterranean isle of

Corsica, with just 30 persons per sq km (78 per sq mi), have the sparsest settlement. France is

overwhelmingly urban: Three of every four people live in cities and towns.

III PEOPLE AND SOCIETY

Population 60,656,178 (2005 estimate)

Population density 111 persons per sq km 288 persons per sq mi (2005 estimate)

Urban population distribution 76 percent (2003 estimate)

Rural population distribution 24 percent (2003 estimate)

Largest cities, with population Paris, 2,142,800 (2004) Marseille, 795,600 (2004) Lyon, 468,300 (2004)

Main language French

Chief religious affiliations Roman Catholic, 81 percent Protestant, 2 percent Jewish, 1 percent

Life expectancy 79.6 years (2005 estimate)

Infant mortality rate 4 deaths per 1,000 live births (2005 estimate)

Literacy rate 99 percent (1995)

France


France’s annual rate of population growth of 0.37 percent is low compared to most of the world. In

1800 France was the most populous nation in western Europe. During the late 19th and early 20th

centuries, the birth rate in France declined relative to that of the rest of Europe, and the French

population grew slowly. By the mid-20th century the population of France had fallen behind that of

Germany, the United Kingdom, and Italy. (France’s population narrowly surpassed Italy’s in the

1990s). The slow growth of the French population can be partly attributed to the bloody wars of the

Napoleonic era in the early 19th century and the two world wars in the 20th century. The early and

wide-scale adoption of birth control by the French people also slowed population growth. Immigration,

especially from Europe and North Africa, was a major source of French population growth during the

20th century. The population of France is projected to gradually begin declining sometime during the

early 21st century.

The age structure of France changed dramatically in the late 20th century, with elderly people

accounting for an ever larger share of the total population. The segment of the population between

the ages of 0 and 14 declined from 26.4 percent in 1960 to 18.4 percent in 2005, while the number of

people aged 65 or older increased from 11.6 percent to 16.4 percent. The number of older people is

growing in France, as it is in most industrialized nations, as a result of the low birth rate and medical

advances that have prolonged life. Life expectancy in France is now 83.4 years for females—one of the

highest expected longevities in the world—and 76 years for males. France’s infant mortality rate (the

number of infants per 1,000 who die before the age of 1) is 4.3, one of the world’s lowest.

A Principal Cities

Toulouse, France

Woodfin Camp and Associates, Inc./Jose Nicolas

France


The capital and largest city of France is Paris, with a population of 2,142,800 (2004). Located on the

shores of the Seine, Paris dominates France economically, politically, and culturally. It is the nation’s

leading industrial center, and most key services, including banking and finance, are concentrated

there. Paris is the seat of the national government and home to France’s most prestigious educational

and cultural institutions. About 10 million people live in the Paris metropolitan area, more than 15

percent of the country’s total population.

France’s second largest city is Marseille (795,600) on the Mediterranean coast. Marseille is a major

seaport and a diversified manufacturing center. Founded by Greek mariners in the 6th century BC,

Marseille has long served as an important commercial and trading city. Today, Marseille is socially and

ethnically diverse, with a large immigrant population. The third largest city is Lyon (468,300) in east

central France. Lyon is an industrial center located at the junction of the Saône and Rhône rivers. It is

famous for its fine textiles, although other manufactures, including chemicals, automobiles, and

petroleum products, are now more important. The urban area surrounding Lyon is the second largest

in France, after greater metropolitan Paris.

An arched bridge spans the Garonne River in Toulouse, in southern France. Known as an important settlement since before the Roman conquest of Gaul in 50 BC, Toulouse contains an impressive array of architectural styles dating back more than 1000 years. It remains a center of manufacturing, transportation, and trade.

Dawn in Marseille

On a hill above a harbor in Marseille stands Notre Dame de la Garde, a

Photo Researchers, Inc./Spencer Grant

France


Other major cities include Toulouse (426,700), a major manufacturing and trade center in

southwestern France; Nice (339,000), a resort city on the French Riviera; and Nantes (276,200), a

seaport on the Atlantic coast that is noted for shipbuilding, food processing, and other industries.

Strasbourg (273,100) is the principal French port on the Rhine River and is also a major industrial

center. Bordeaux (229,500) is a major seaport in southwestern France and the principal exporting

center for one of the great French vineyard regions. Montpellier (244,700) is a commercial and

manufacturing city in southern France. Lille (184,657), an industrial city in northern France, is situated

amid a cluster of cities that have a combined population exceeding 1 million. According to 1999

population estimates, more than 25 additional French cities had populations surpassing 100,000.

The predominant ethnic stock in France is mixed, the result of thousands of years of ethnic mixing. A

succession of migrating and invading groups, including Celts, Romans (see Roman Empire), and

Germanic peoples, have left their ethnic imprint among the French people. The very name for the

nation, France, comes from the Germanic Franks, who invaded the area as the Roman Empire

collapsed.

The French government has long pursued an active campaign of assimilating ethnic minorities. The

expansion of the French state, completed by the mid-17th century, brought centralized rule over

diverse peripheral ethnic groups. As late as the French Revolution in 1789, less than half the

population spoke French. After the revolution, the French government sought to build a unified nation-

state based on a common language. The “law of the soil” (droit du sol), a key part of this effort, held

that residency and ethnic identity were inseparable—that is, if a person lived in France, he or she was

French. Only in recent years, under the prodding of the European Union (EU), did France extend any

noteworthy rights or privileges to ethnic minorities. Instead, every effort was made to absorb them

into the French mainstream, with considerable success.

The indigenous ethnic minorities of France inhabit ancient homelands, all of which lie on the nation’s

frontiers. In the far northern part of France live a people of Flemish descent, in and around the

marshland town of Dunkerque in the historic region of Flanders. Flemings, many of whom speak a

dialect of Dutch, harbor no separatist sentiment and have largely been assimilated. In the western

peninsular region of Brittany live the Bretons, a people of Celtic descent (see Celts). Many Bretons

seek cultural autonomy and resent French dominance. They present an overtly Celtic image to visitors,

incorporating bagpipes and Celtic harps into their local musical traditions. Dozens of Breton-language

schools have opened in Brittany since the early 1990s.

In southwestern France, where the Pyrenees and Atlantic Ocean meet, live the French Basques. Many

commanding 19th-century cathedral. Reminiscent of the splendid Basilique nationale du Sacré-Cœur in Paris, the church is topped with a statue of Mary, whom Christians believe to be the virgin mother of Jesus Christ.

B Ethnic Groups

B1 Indigenous Ethnic Minorities

France


French Basques share the separatist sentiments of the Basques across the border in Spain, but the

French Basque country has not experienced the terrorist violence that has occurred for decades in

Spanish territory. At the eastern end of the Pyrenees, in the Mediterranean region, is the Catalan

homeland. French Catalonians share a language (see Catalan Language) and culture with the peoples

of eastern Spain, where Catalan autonomy has been achieved and separatist sentiment is common.

The French Catalonians, however, are not nearly so numerous, and they do not desire to secede from

France. In recent decades, bilingual French-Catalan signs have become common.

In the Alsace-Lorraine area of eastern France live the Alsatians, a people whose native tongue is a

dialect of High German. This ancient frontier area has been the object of disputes between French and

Germanic rulers since the Middle Ages, and control over the region has changed hands many times.

Since the end of World War II (1939-1945) the region has belonged to France. A desire for cultural

autonomy is widespread in Alsace, but there is little sentiment for joining Germany. On the French-

ruled island of Corsica in the Mediterranean live a people of Italian ancestry. Corsica’s most famous

son, Napoleon Bonaparte (see Napoleon I), had an Italian surname. A movement seeking

independence for Corsica has been active since the 1970s.

Immigrants account for about 7.5 percent of the total population of France. French immigrants come

from diverse places, including Europe, North and Central Africa, the Americas and the Caribbean, and

Asia. The largest immigrant group in France consists of people from the largely Islamic nations of

North Africa, including Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. Many Muslims from Turkey have also immigrated

to France. An estimated 4 million Muslims, or followers of Islam, live in France, mainly within the

nation’s largest cities.

France has a long history of immigration. A strong tradition of readily accepting immigrants as citizens

dates to the French Revolution, which popularized new notions of citizenship and universal rights.

During the 19th century, the French government recruited many immigrants to work the nation’s

farmlands and in its expanding coal, steel, and textile industries. Until the mid-20th century,

immigrants came largely from other Christian European countries, including Belgium, Italy, Poland,

Portugal, and Spain. Most of these immigrants were rapidly assimilated into the French population and

culture.

Immigration significantly increased after World War II (1939-1945), when the nation’s postwar

economic expansion generated an enormous need for workers. By the 1950s the main source of

immigration had shifted from European countries to the largely Islamic countries of North Africa, the

heart of France’s former colonial empire. In the mid-1970s France began to tighten its immigration

policies in response to a slowing economy.

By the late 1970s immigration had become a controversial social issue in France. Many people worried

that large numbers of recent immigrants appeared unwilling to adopt French customs and culture.

Unlike earlier generations of European immigrants, the newcomers were often distinguishable by their

skin color and Islamic religion, as well as by their food, dress, and music. Nationalist political

movements, such as the National Front, emerged to promote anti-immigrant policies, including

B2 Immigrants

France


repatriation. These groups argued that immigration threatened French culture and social cohesion.

By the 1980s, heated political debate had arisen over the wearing of traditional Islamic head coverings

by girls in public schools. In 2004 the French government passed legislation prohibiting students in

primary and secondary schools from wearing conspicuous religious symbols. Although no specific

religious symbols were mentioned in the legislation, many Muslims viewed the law as targeting the

wearing of headscarves. Hostility toward immigrants has led to discrimination, social tensions, and

episodes of violence.

C Language

Traditional Vocal Music of France

In the relatively isolated French region of Brittany, the tradition of singing and songwriting in the Breton language is still very much alive. Lyrical love songs and songs praising the beauty of the Breton countryside are most prominent. As this example by Paul Huellou illustrates, the singing in this style is with a relaxed voice and very little ornamentation. A major musical event that is still practiced in Brittany is the fest-noz (night festival), which is a popular gathering of singers, dancers, storytellers, and musicians.

"Ar Gwezen Avalou" from Paul Huellou: Songs from Brittany (Cat.# Music of the World C-209) (p)1989 Music of the World, Ltd. All rights reserved./© 1989 Music of the World Ltd./J. Pol Huellou

France


French is the official language of France and is spoken by the vast majority of people in the country.

Modern French is a dialect of the langue d’oïl, a form of the French language that originated in

northern France. This dialect developed in the Île de France, a historic province that includes Paris and

much of the surrounding Paris Basin. Beginning in medieval times, the language of the Île de France

gradually began to supplant other French dialects. Today it enjoys overwhelming dominance in French

daily life, including in commerce, education, government, and culture.

In addition to French, regional languages are spoken in many areas. The most widely spoken regional

language is Occitan, also called the langue d’oc (Languedoc), which is prevalent in southern France.

Perhaps 5 or 6 million people speak Provençal, the major dialect of the langue d’oc. Virtually all of

these speakers speak the dominant French language as well. The languages spoken north and south

of the Loire River began diverging in the early Middle Ages and by the late 13th century had emerged

as distinct languages. The langue d’oc is rooted in a Latin-derived regional culture that was once much

more Mediterranean and Roman-influenced than the German-influenced culture of northern France.

The French state’s historical drive to create a unified French language, in part by requiring state

primary schools to teach in the language of the Île de France, has succeeded in assimilating the

langue d’oc. In 1993, in a show of greater tolerance, the French government permitted state schools

to teach regional languages, including the langue d’oc.

Several other regional languages are spoken in France. About 1 million people living in Alsace speak a

dialect of High German. Perhaps 600,000 people speak Breton, a Celtic language based in Brittany.

(See also Breton Literature). About 250,000 people speak Catalan in the Pyrenees region. Some

80,000 people speak Basque, another language based in the Pyrenees. Flemish, a Dutch dialect used

in the French portion of Flanders in the north, is spoken by perhaps 60,000 people. Corse, an Italian

dialect used on the island of Corsica, is spoken by about 100,000 people. Many of France’s various

immigrant populations also retain their separate languages, including Arabic and Turkish.

D Religion

France


Roman Catholicism is the dominant religion in France. More than 80 percent of the French population

officially identifies with this faith, although only a minority claim to be practicing Catholics. About 5

percent of the population practices Islam, France’s second most popular religion. A small minority,

about 2 percent of the population, is Protestant. Many Protestants fled France during the 16th and

17th centuries to escape Catholic persecution, and few parishes survived. About 1 percent of the

population is Jewish (see Judaism). More than 10 percent of the people claim no religion.

Secularization has made deep inroads in France, greatly diminishing the role of the once-powerful

Catholic Church. The extent of secularization varies from one region to another. The most highly

secularized regions are the Paris Basin and the Mediterranean coast. The largest percentages of

practicing Catholics live in rural areas, including Flanders to the north, Brittany to the west, Alsace to

the east, and the Basque country in the southwest. The great pilgrimage town of Lourdes in the

southwest, at the foot of the Pyrenees, draws millions of visitors annually.

The French Jewish community, although small, has long played an important role in the nation’s

economy and culture. An estimated 700,000 French citizens are Jewish, accounting for about one-third

of the total Jewish population in Europe. In recent decades, many Muslim immigrants from former

French colonies in North Africa have settled in France, leading to a significant expansion of the Islamic

faith there. Immigrants have also brought other religions to France, including Buddhism and Hinduism.

The church and state have been officially separated in France since 1905. During the 19th century, the

Christian and Jewish religions were subsidized by the state. Popular opposition to the Catholic Church,

Pilgrims at Lourdes, France

Every year millions of pilgrims visit a grotto in Lourdes, France, where in 1858 a 14-year-old girl, Bernadette Soubirous (later Saint Bernadette), had visions of the Virgin Mary. Bernadette claimed that the Virgin had given miraculous healing powers to the waters of a spring near the grotto.

Spectrum Colour Library

France


and to church control of public education, resulted in legislation prohibiting the payment of public

funds to Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish clergy. This legislation, and subsequent measures, led to the

withdrawal of official state recognition of any religion.

The French constitution guarantees all permanent residents a basic education. School attendance is

compulsory for students aged 6 to 16, and all public schools up to the university level are free. Higher

public education is free for all students who qualify. There are also about 10,000 private schools and

colleges in France, most controlled by the Roman Catholic Church. About one in six students under the

age of 16 attends private schools. The adult literacy rate in France is 99 percent, one of the world’s

highest.

Public education in France is highly centralized. The centralization of state control over school

administration began in the early 19th century under Napoleon I. Prior to the French Revolution in

1789, most schools were administered by the Roman Catholic Church. Many of the main features of

the modern educational system were adopted in the late 19th century, under the leadership of

Education Minister Jules Ferry. A series of laws, enacted between 1881 and 1886, provided for free,

compulsory public education entirely under government control. Among later modifications were the

establishment of free tuition in secondary and technical schools, the separation of church and state in

E Education

High School Classroom in France

This secondary student attends a centuries-old high school in the town of Bazas. In France most decisions regarding curriculum and other matters are made in Paris by a national ministry for education and implemented by local educational districts called académies. However, education is somewhat less centralized than it once was. Massive student revolts in 1968 resulted in important changes to the school system, especially at the university level, and additional measures to decentralize education have been taken in recent years.

Material World/Alexandra & Pierre Boulat

France


education in 1905, and the extension of compulsory school attendance to the age of 16 in 1959.

Today, the central government’s administrative role is strongest in primary and secondary education.

Metropolitan France is divided into 27 educational districts called académies. Each district is under the

jurisdiction of a rector, who is accountable to the ministry of education. The ministry is responsible for

maintaining schools, hiring and allocating staff, defining academic programs and curricula, and other

matters. The ministry also supervises private schools.

As a result of student unrest in 1968, in which strong demands were made for greater decentralization

in higher education, the government created an independent ministry of universities. Prior to 1968,

the universities were organized into facultés, or schools, according to the subject taught, and were

directly administered by the ministry of education. Afterward, they were reorganized into autonomous

multidisciplinary universities, and students and faculty were given a voice in university administration.

Under the reform, most of France’s large universities were restructured into smaller units. The

University of Paris, the largest, was split into 13 independent universities, 3 of which were formed

from the oldest unit, the Sorbonne (see Paris, Universities of).

The French educational system is competitive. After two or three years of optional preschool activities,

students attend a primary (elementary) school from age 6 to 11. Secondary education is divided into

two phases. In the first phase, students attend a collège (middle school) until the age of 15. During

the second phase, students either take academic courses in general lycées (secondary schools) or

take technical and vocational courses in separate institutions called professional lycées. Students

attending professional lycées typically earn a professional certificate or diploma after one to three

years of study. The general lycée program lasts three years and ends with a comprehensive

nationwide examination for the baccalauréate degree, which is required to enter the universities. The

baccalaureate examination is rigorous; only two-thirds of those taking the test typically pass it the

first time.

The university sector has gradually expanded to offer a wider range of educational opportunities and

serve an increasing number of students. In 1966 several instituts universitaires de technologie

(technological institutes, or IUTs) were founded. These schools depart from the general studies of the

traditional university and specialize in technology subjects. Community colleges, called antennes

universitaires, have been established in medium-sized towns such as Blois, Troyes, Tarbes, Beauvais,

and Bayonne. In 1991 the government adopted an ambitious program designed to enlarge the system

of higher education. By the early 2000s there were 100 IUTs and 87 universities in France. Besides

the Universities of Paris I-XIII, noted French institutes of higher education include the Universities of

Aix-Marseille I-III, the Universities of Lille I-III, the Universities of Lyon I-III, the Universities of Nancy

I-II, and the Universities of Strasbourg I-III.

Alongside the universities is an elite network of graduate schools, known as the grandes écoles.

Admission to the grandes écoles is limited by special competitive examinations. Founded by Napoleon

Bonaparte (see Napoleon I), these prestigious schools train executives for the highest positions in

business and government. Among the best known of these schools are the École Polytechnique

(Polytechnic School), founded in 1794 to instruct military professionals, and the École Nationale

d’Administration (National School of Administration), a training ground for government leaders.

France


In a unique category are the Collège de France, founded in 1530, and the Académie Française (French

Academy), founded in 1635. The Collège de France invites eminent scholars from all over the world to

lecture publicly on their research. Membership in the Académie Française is limited to 40 of the

nation’s most prominent citizens, the immortels. The Académie was established in 1635 to uphold the

highest standards in the French language and literature, and it is responsible for the publication of the

standard grammar and dictionary of the French language. It is the oldest of the five learned societies

that make up the prestigious Institut de France.

The French Revolution swept away many of the ancient legal privileges enjoyed by the nobility and the

clergy and established the principle of legal equality among all citizens. Yet the revolution did not

erase sharp distinctions among social groups, nor did it fundamentally alter the distribution of wealth.

France still retained a rigid social structure in the early 20th century, with little mobility among social

groups. The social strata included peasants, craft and factory workers, shopkeepers, merchants, civil

servants, intellectuals, landowners, and petty nobility.

The old social order changed considerably after World War II, as the postwar economic expansion

brought growing affluence to an ever larger share of the French population. The vast expansion of the

middle classes reduced inequality of wealth and blurred the lines between many social groups. Today

power, success, and money are more important than birth in determining a person’s social status.

Another sweeping change in postwar France is the growing role of women in society. Beginning in the

early 1970s, women began entering the workforce in increasing numbers, many taking jobs in the

expanding service sector. Today women constitute 45.5 percent of all French workers. However,

women tend to be concentrated in low-paying jobs, and they are more likely than men to be

unemployed. In recent decades women have also played a growing role in politics. Women won the

right to vote in 1944; today they account for 53 percent of the French electorate. Many women have

pursued successful careers in politics, but their representation in the national parliament is still lower

than in most other nations in the European Union (EU).

Many social divisions remain visible in France. A privileged elite composed mainly of leading

politicians, senior civil servants, business leaders, and wealthy families still retains a strong grasp on

the levers of power. The middle classes are highly stratified. Among white-collar workers, two different

groups have emerged: the successful, upwardly mobile senior executives and professionals with

expanding spending power and stable jobs, and a growing mass of people in clerical, retail, and food-

service jobs for whom unemployment and lower living standards have become increasingly the norm.

Blue-collar workers remain, to some extent, economically and socially segregated; only a small

proportion of university students come from blue-collar households. The number of blue-collar workers

has steadily declined in recent years as the economy has shifted from jobs in industry to those in the

service sector.

F Social Structure

G Way of Life

France


For centuries the French have taken pride in the sophistication of their culture, the beauty of their

spoken language, and their diverse accomplishments in literature, the arts, and sciences. Even French

cuisine and clothing fashions have long been a source of national pride. During the second half of the

20th century, as French society grew increasingly middle class and consumer oriented, a new set of

attitudes and pursuits appeared alongside these elitist cultural attitudes. Material comforts, such as

homes, new appliances, and automobiles, became synonymous with a high standard of living.

Despite the concentration of the French population in urban areas, nearly 60 percent of French people

live in houses, rather than in apartment buildings. Most dwellings are comfortable and have modern

conveniences. In 1962 less than 20 percent of French housing had central heating. By the 1990s

nearly 80 percent had central heating, at least one telephone, and access to hot water. Housing is in

short supply, and housing costs, as a share of household budgets, have risen in recent decades.

Outlays for housing absorb about one-fifth of all household spending.

Café Life in Paris

People in Paris can enjoy numerous sidewalk cafés, such as this one in the Les Halles district of the city’s Right Bank. The Right Bank area contains the business and banking districts of Paris, as well as many palaces, monuments, restaurants, and nightclubs.

ALLSTOCK, INC./David Barnes

France


The French enjoy a wide range of sports and recreational activities. Millions of people belong to sports

clubs, the most common of which are devoted to soccer, tennis, a bowling game called boules, and

basketball. The most popular professional sports are soccer and bicycle racing (see Cycling). The

monthlong Tour de France, the world’s most famous and prestigious bicycle race, has been held

annually since 1903. Horse racing at Longchamps and Auteuil in Paris and automobile racing at Le

Mans also draw large crowds. The French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros Stadium in Paris

attracts international attention.

Tour de France

Bicyclists ride past the Montserie castle in southwestern France during the annual Tour de France, the nation’s premier sporting event.

AP/Wide World Photos/Laurent Rebours

France


Many French people enjoy eating, drinking, and socializing at sidewalk cafes, which are prevalent in

most cities and towns. The cinema is also very popular, drawing some 15 million patrons each year.

Music concerts are well attended throughout France, and many provincial towns host their own music,

theater, and dance festivals.

Open-Air Market

Shoppers crowd an open-air market in Paris, France. Open-air markets are popular throughout France, and they offer consumers access to some of the freshest, most desirable locally grown foods.

Woodfin Camp and Associates, Inc./Catherine Karnow

France


The French are famous for their cuisine, and fine food remains an important part of the French way of

life. Thousands of regional dishes are popular in France. Beloved ingredients include generous

amounts of garlic, olive oil, butter, cream, and local cheeses and wines. French dishes that have risen

to national and international prominence include a seafood soup called bouillabaisse, crepes, quiches,

andouillette sausage, and a goose-liver paste called pâté de foie gras. Breads and pastries are a daily

staple and are widely available at local bakeries, known as boulangeries.

The traditional French meal pattern is to eat a light breakfast, a large lunch, and a somewhat lighter

dinner. French wines are often served with lunch or dinner. In recent decades fast food has grown in

popularity, especially among young people, and elaborate meals are increasingly reserved for special

occasions. The movement toward convenience in eating is also evident in the growing consumption of

frozen and prepackaged foods.

The French are devoted to holidays and vacations. In addition to the Christmas, New Year’s Day, and

Easter holidays, the religious feast days of Mardi Gras in the spring, Pentecost in May or June,

Assumption Day on August 15th, and All Saint’s Day on November 1st are celebrated across France.

The national holiday, Bastille Day on July 14th, commemorates the fall of the Bastille in the French

Revolution. Most French workers are entitled to five weeks of paid vacation annually, and travel

abroad has become increasingly popular. August is the most popular month for vacation, leading to

enormous congestion in resort areas at that time of year.

Bastille Day in Paris

In celebration of Bastille Day on 14 July, French troops march down the Avenue des Champs Élysées past crowds of cheering spectators. The holiday commemorates the 1789 storming of a prison called the Bastille and the start of the French Revolution. In many French towns, the celebration begins on the night before with music and dancing in the streets. Formal balls and spectacular fireworks displays top off the festivities in Paris.

Liaison Agency/Ribeiro-Simon-Stevens

France


Despite the generally high living standards enjoyed by many French citizens, the nation has not

escaped serious social problems. One of the most pressing issues is the apparent formation of a

permanent underclass. During the 1990s, unemployment consistently exceeded 10 percent of the

workforce—a high rate by the standards of the more prosperous countries of the European Union

(EU)—and it declined only marginally in the early 2000s. The unemployed include blue-collar workers

unable to find work in an economy increasingly dominated by services and high-quality manufactures;

immigrants, especially from countries in North Africa; and large numbers of women and young people.

Unemployment rates are highest in the old coal- and steel-producing regions of northern France and

along the Mediterranean coast. Strikes and labor unrest are common in France. Student protests are

also prevalent and bear some relationship to the difficulty young people have in finding good jobs.

A serious social issue related to the persistence of high rates of unemployment has been a rise in

crime and violence, particularly among youth. During the 1990s the number of people aged 13 to 18

jailed for violent crime nearly tripled. Youth violence and other criminal activity are often associated

with gangs in the tough, low-income housing projects that ring many French cities. Most of these

complexes were originally built in the 1960s and 1970s to help solve housing shortages, but they soon

became homes for the disadvantaged and underprivileged. Immigrants tend to be concentrated in

these housing projects, and unemployment usually far exceeds the national average. Major riots

erupted in some of these complexes in the 1980s and 1990s. Some critics put part of the blame for

the rise in crime and youth violence on the French state, blaming the government for failing to

integrate immigrant populations into French society.

Racism is an enduring social problem in France. The most significant expressions of contemporary

racism are anti-Semitism and anti-immigrant racism. Most of the violence directed against Jewish

people in recent decades has been symbolic, such as anti-Semitic graffiti and the desecration of

synagogues and graves. Immigrants, especially those bearing visible signs of ethnic and cultural

difference, have also been targets of racial violence in recent years. The anti-immigrant National

Front, led by Jean-Marie Le Pen, blames immigrants, particularly people from North Africa, for high

unemployment and urban violence in France. National programs are in place to address racism,

including the diversification of France’s police force, but many underlying problems remain.

Terry G. Jordan-Bychkov contributed the People and Society section of this article.

The culture of France has profoundly influenced that of the entire Western world, particularly in the

areas of art and letters, and Paris has long been regarded as the fountainhead of French culture.

France first attained cultural preeminence in Europe during the Middle Ages; later, the wealth of the

French crown in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries provided a subsidization of art on a scale

comparable to that of the papacy in Rome, attracting to Paris many of Europe’s most talented artists

and artisans. Wealth also created a leisure class, which had both the time and the means for

developing elegance in dress, manners, furnishings, and architecture. French styles still pervade much

H Social Issues

IV CULTURE

France


of Western culture. In the 20th century French cinema assumed a leading world position, particularly

in the 1960s with the nouvelle vague (“new wave”) group of film directors, such as Jean-Luc Godard,

Alain Resnais, and François Truffaut.

See French Literature.

France has produced many world-famous painters, and several influential schools of painting,

including impressionism, were developed here. Among French Mannerist painters of the 16th century

were Jean Clouet and his son François; 17th-century baroque artists included Georges de La Tour,

Nicolas Poussin, and Claude Lorrain. The most renowned French rococo masters of the 18th century

were Jean-Antoine Watteau, François Boucher, Jean Fragonard, Jean Chardin, and Jean-Baptiste

Greuze. Paris became the chief art center of Europe in the 19th century. Jacques-Louis David, whose

highly influential career began in the last quarter of the 18th century, was most active in the early

19th century, as were the romantic painters Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Eugène Delacroix, and

Théodore Géricault. Noted realist artists of the mid-19th century were Gustave Courbet, Honoré

Daumier, Jean François Millet, and Camile Corot. The impressionist school, influenced by Édouard

Manet, emerged around 1872; its most important members were the painters Claude Monet, Camille

Pissarro, and Pierre Auguste Renoir. Major French postimpressionist painters of the late 19th century

were Edgar Degas, Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Paul Signac; also

active in this period were Henri Rousseau and Gustav Moreau. Internationally known French artists of

the 20th century include Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, Georges Rouault, Marcel Duchamp, Fernand

Léger, Pierre Bonnard, and Jean Dubuffet. The artist Pablo Picasso was born in Spain but settled in

Paris in the early 1900s.

France has also produced many influential sculptors. Jean Goujon and Germain Pilon were famous

16th-century Mannerist sculptors; in the 17th century Pierre Puget sculpted in the baroque style;

Puget inspired the 18th-century French rococo sculptors Jean Baptiste Pigalle and Claude Michel.

Leading 19th-century sculptors were François Rude, Antoine Louis Barye, and Jean Baptiste Carpeaux.

The most important 19th-century sculptor, however, was Auguste Rodin. In the early 20th century

Romanian-born Constantin Brancusi and Italian-born Amedeo Modifliani both worked in Paris. Noted

artists Marcel Duchamp and Jean Arp also sculpted in Paris in the 20th century.

A Literature

B Art and Architecture

France


France is renowned for its great Gothic churches, built from the 12th to 15th century. Particularly

significant are the abbey church at Saint-Denis, the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, and the cathedrals at

Amiens, Chartres, Paris, and Reims. Splendid Renaissance structures include the palace at

Fontainebleau and the famous châteaux of the Loire River valley. The outstanding baroque buildings in

France are the neoclassicized enlargements of the enormous royal palace at Versailles and the Louvre,

in Paris. Among the outstanding structures of the 19th century are the Second Empire Paris Opéra

(1861-1875) of Charles Garnier and the wrought-iron Eiffel Tower (1889), the symbol of Paris. The

pioneering 20th-century architect Auguste Perret and the influential Le Corbusier (a Swiss living in

Paris) were noted for designing daring structures, mainly of concrete and steel.

France has a long and distinguished musical tradition. From the 11th to the 13th century, chansons de

geste (“song of deeds”), epic poems sung by minstrels, were produced in northern France, and the

troubadours, aristocratic poet-musicians who composed famous songs that dealt chiefly with courtly

love, war, and nature, were active in southern France.

The most influential French composer of the 14th century was Guillaume de Machaut, who contributed

to the polyphonic form of composition. In the 15th and 16th centuries, songs, motets, and settings of

parts of the Mass were among the leading French musical compositions.

Pont des Arts, Paris

The Pont des Arts, a bridge for pedestrians, crosses the Seine in the city of Paris, France. The most important river in the country’s waterway system, the Seine provides economically vital links between Paris, the country’s economic, political, and cultural center, and other cities, including the Atlantic seaport of Le Havre.

C Music

ALLSTOCK, INC./Tom Benoit

France


In the second half of the 17th century, the Italian-born composer Jean Baptiste Lully created a French

operatic style by combining traditional court spectacle with plots of contemporary French dramas, set

to musical forms from ballet, dance, and Italian opera. In the early 18th century noted works for

harpsichord were composed by François Couperin and Jean Philippe Rameau; the latter is also known

for his operas.

In the late 18th and 19th centuries, many foreign-born opera composers were active in Paris; these

included Christoph Willibald Gluck, Luigi Cherubini, A.E.M. Grétry, Giacomo Meyerbeer, and Jacques

Offenbach. French-born opera composers of the 19th century included Jacques Halévy, Charles

Gounod, Georges Bizet, and Jules Massenet.

The chief French composer of orchestral music in the early 19th century was Hector Berlioz. Camille

Saint-Saëns became active in the 1850s, and he later taught Gabriel Fauré, who composed in a wide

variety of forms. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries Claude Debussy composed noted works

in new styles influenced by trends in literature and painting.

In the early 20th century Maurice Ravel produced works with more formal outlines. Les Six, a group of

neoclassic composers formed in 1918 and 1919, included Erik Satie, Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc,

and Georges Auric. The influential Russian-born composer Igor Stravinsky worked in Paris in the

1920s and 1930s. More recent French composers include Oliver Messiaen and Pierre Boulez.

D Libraries and Museums

Grande Gallerie of the Louvre

The Louvre houses one of the world’s largest and finest art collections. Built in the 1200s as a fortress and expanded in the 1500s as a palace for French nobility, it became a museum in 1793 and has been incrementally renovated ever since. The Grande Gallerie is the main picture gallery of the museum.

ALLSTOCK, INC./Gary Hayes

France


Most provincial cities in France have municipal libraries and museums. The largest concentration of

such facilities is, however, in Paris. Major libraries in Paris include the Bibliothèque Nationale, with

more than 9 million books, and the libraries of the Universities of Paris. The Louvre, also in Paris,

contains one of the largest and most important art collections in the world. Other Parisian museums of

note include the Musée Nationale d’Art Moderne in the Centre National d’Art et de Culture Georges

Pompidou (see Pompidou Center); the Musée d’Orsay; and the Musée Picasso with its collection of

works by Pablo Picasso. Many of the great masterpieces of French architecture, such as churches,

cathedrals, castles, and châteaux, are maintained as national monuments.

Economy of France

Until the early 20th century, France was still largely a nation of small farms and family-owned

businesses. After World War II (1939-1945) the French government nationalized numerous business

enterprises—especially in energy, finance, and manufacturing—and it introduced a series of

development plans intended to modernize the economy. These reforms, along with European

economic integration, helped secure a period of sustained economic growth in the quarter century

following the war. Today, France is one of the world’s leading economic powers. A member of the

Group of Eight forum of highly industrialized nations and of the Organization for Economic Cooperation

and Development (OECD), France is home to the world’s fifth largest economy, behind the United

States, Japan, Germany, and the United Kingdom. It is also the leading agricultural producer in

western Europe. In 2003 France’s gross domestic product (GDP) was $1.76 trillion, and per capita

income was $29,410.

The postwar economic integration of western Europe had a powerful influence on the French economy.

France was a charter member of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), a cooperative

organization founded in 1951 to establish a free-trade area for coal and steel products. This

organization merged with the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy

Community (EAEC) in 1967 to form the European Community (EC).

Today, France is a member of the European Union (EU), a successor of the EC that promotes

economic and political cooperation among European nations. European Union members share a

common economic area composed of some 400 million consumers. The creation of a single market

required France and other EU members to remove national barriers to the free movement of goods,

services, capital, and people. French businesses long protected by trade barriers have been forced to

become more competitive to withstand foreign challengers and to take advantage of new

opportunities. In many sectors of the economy, the single market has spurred businesses to

restructure and modernize their operations. France, like many other EU members, uses the euro, the

V ECONOMY

A Overview

Gross domestic product (GDP in U.S.$) $1.76 trillion (2003)

GDP per capita (U.S.$) $29,410 (2003)

Monetary unit 1 euro (€), consisting of 100 cents

Number of workers 26,950,272 (2003)

Unemployment rate 8.9 percent (2002)

France


EU’s common currency.

Successive French governments have encouraged varying levels of intervention in the economy,

including state ownership and control of key industries. In 1982 the Socialist-led government of

president François Mitterrand initiated a program of extensive nationalization. At the peak of this

program, 13 of the 20 largest firms in France were owned by the state. The election of a center-right

parliamentary majority in 1986, however, led to a reduction of state ownership. During the 1990s and

early 2000s, the government continued the process of privatization, selling off a variety of state-

owned enterprises and reducing its holdings in others. Despite these measures, the public sector as a

share of GDP remains higher in France than in any other country to adopt the euro. In addition,

France’s progress in opening its domestic markets to foreign competition as required by the EU,

especially in the energy sector, has been slow, inviting criticism and legal challenges from the EU.

France faces several pressing economic problems in the early 21st century. One is the nation’s

persistently high unemployment rate. By the mid-1970s, as the postwar economic boom slowed, the

unemployment rate began to rise steadily, surpassing 10 percent in 1985. From 1991 to 1999 the

unemployment rate never fell below 10 percent. The unemployment rate remained at 8.9 percent in

2002. Efforts to lower unemployment, including government legislation implemented in 2000 to

reduce the official working week from 39 hours to 35 hours, had limited success. As a result, in 2004

the government announced plans to ease the rules to give employers and employees more flexibility.

The lack of vigorous economic growth has also made it more difficult for France to maintain the

traditionally generous social welfare benefits available to the country’s citizens. Reforming the welfare

state in a socially equitable manner remains a major challenge for France in the decades ahead.

The principle of a mixed economy, in which both government and private businesses exercise

influence over various sectors of the economy has long been accepted in France. The efforts of French

public officials to shape the economy are often traced back to 17th-century statesman Jean-Baptiste

Colbert. Under Colbert, an economic adviser to Louis XIV, king of France, the French state centralized

control over key industries and regulated international trade. During the 19th and early 20th

centuries, government intervention in the economy declined. This trend changed after World War II,

when vigorous government planning played a major role in France’s postwar economic revival. Bold

national plans were approved to promote economic growth and reconstruction of war-damaged

industries, communications networks, and other infrastructure.

After World War II the French state acquired a number of businesses, created others from scratch,

and adjusted the overall mix of enterprises it owned. Legislation creating a nationalized railroad

system was passed in 1937. Soon after the war ended, air transportation, major banks, and coal

mines came under government control. In addition, the government became a major shareholder in

the automotive, electronics, and aircraft and air transportation industries, as well as the primary

investor in the development of oil and natural gas reserves. From 1946 until 1981, the public sector

changed little in scope. Following the Socialist Party’s victory in 1981, however, state ownership and

control expanded dramatically. By 1983, about 9 percent of the labor force worked in enterprises

controlled by the state. In 1986 the new center-right government launched a privatization program.

B The Government’s Role in the Economy

France


From 1986 to 1988 almost 500,000 people, or about 2 percent of the labor force, ceased to work in

publicly owned enterprises, due mostly to privatization. Since then, the government has gradually

reduced its holdings in most economic sectors, including telecommunications, air transportation,

finance, and insurance.

The first national economic plan was developed in 1947, under the leadership of French statesman

Jean Monnet. An economic planning agency was authorized to develop a new plan every four or five

years. The agency convened a series of commissions, each composed of representatives of

government, business, and labor, to study the economy and to discuss ways to achieve growth and

production targets. During the early years of planning, ambitious growth goals were often exceeded.

From the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, however, planning appeared to lose much of its effectiveness

as slow growth, rising unemployment, and inflation became persistent economic problems. French

economic planners found it increasingly difficult to forecast economic trends as the French economy

became more complex and more open to international influences. Today, national economic planning

is no longer a highly visible feature of French economic policy.

The French government uses various tools to promote economic growth and stability. Until recently,

these included fiscal and monetary policies, which involve the government’s powers to tax and spend

and to control the supply of money. Fiscal policies generally seek to encourage economic expansion

when economic growth is lagging or unemployment is high. They also try to encourage economic

contraction when demand for goods and services is high enough to generate inflation (see Inflation

and Deflation). Fiscal policies to promote economic expansion include cutting taxes and increasing

government spending. These policies aim to stimulate demand by giving individuals and businesses

more money to spend. Since the mid-1970s, the French government has generally pursued

expansionary fiscal policies, and government expenditures have consistently exceeded government

revenues. Under the terms of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) established by the European Union

(EU), France and other participating EU members pledged to restrain their use of fiscal policies to keep

their budget deficits below 3 percent of GDP. France has had trouble meeting the 3 percent limit,

however. In 2003, after breaching the limit two years in a row, France received a formal warning from

the EU’s European Commission to restrain government spending. EMU participants are not permitted

to use monetary policies—efforts to adjust the supply and demand for money—to fine-tune their

economies. Since 1999 the supranational European Central Bank (ECB) has set monetary policy for all

EMU participants.

Government revenue in France comes from a variety of sources. The most important sources include

social security contributions; the value-added tax (VAT, a national sales tax); a special tax on income,

instituted in 1991 and earmarked to finance the social security system; and the personal income tax.

In general, France tends to rely on indirect taxes, such as the VAT, rather than direct taxes, such as

the personal income tax. France was the first country to implement the VAT, the primary indirect tax

used today throughout Europe. A wealth tax is levied on household assets that exceed 732,000 euros.

France is the fourth most heavily taxed nation in the EU, after Sweden, Denmark, and Belgium.

Public expenditure accounts for a large percentage of GDP in France—generally more than 40 percent.

Principal government expenditures include social security; compensation of government employees;

interest payments on the national debt; investment in tangible assets, such as infrastructure and

France


military hardware; payment of pensions; and payments to the EU. The regional and local governments

generate tax revenue themselves, but they also rely heavily on transfers from the national

government. Regional and local governments maintain the roads, oversee public assistance, and share

responsibility for the educational system.

France is a charter member of the European Union (EU), which was created in 1993 with the

ratification of the Maastricht Treaty. Many economic policy decisions that were once made at the

national level are now made at the EU level, including decisions regarding agricultural policy,

commercial policy, competition policy, and monetary policy.

Under provisions established in the Maastricht Treaty, France is among a group of EMU members that

have adopted a single, multinational currency, the euro. The euro entered into use in 1999 for

electronic transfers and accounting purposes. On January 1, 2002, euro-denominated coins and

banknotes went into circulation. National currencies such as the French franc were rapidly withdrawn

from circulation in all EMU countries and replaced by the euro. The ECB was founded to manage the

transition to the euro; since 1999 the ECB has set monetary policy for states participating in the single

currency. National central banks, such as the Banque de France, are expected to execute the

instructions of the ECB.

The total French labor force in 2003 was 27 million people. The structure of employment has changed

significantly in recent decades. In the 1950s the majority of French workers were employed in industry

and agriculture. Industry accounted for 24.4 percent of total employment in 2001, while the share for

agriculture, forestry, and fishing was down to 1.6 percent. In contrast, employment in the service

sector has grown steadily since World War II; 74.1 percent of the French work force was employed in

this sector in 2001. Job growth has been especially strong in business services, household services,

education, health and welfare, and public administration. White-collar occupations are gradually

replacing their blue-collar counterparts.

The average number of hours worked annually per worker has declined markedly since the early

1980s. This decline was especially significant in the automobile industry, in the electrical and

electronic equipment industries, and in the hotel and restaurant industry. Some of the decline reflects

legislated changes. In 1982 the government reduced the official workweek from 40 to 39 hours and

extended the minimum annual paid vacation from four weeks to five weeks. In 1998 the National

Assembly adopted legislation reducing the official working week from 39 to 35 hours. The rules took

effect in January 2000 for companies with more than 20 employees and in 2002 for smaller

companies. However, in 2004 the government—citing concerns that the mandatory 35-hour work

week inhibited flexibility and increased employer costs—announced plans to ease the rules, despite

strong objections from French trade unions.

Unemployment rates in France were stubbornly high during the 1990s, averaging 11.5 percent for the

C The European Union’s Role in the Economy

D Labor

France


years 1992 through 1998. Unemployment fell slightly at the end of the decade following several years

of steady economic growth, but it continues to remain chronically high. Unemployment rates are

highest among young people and women.

France has a relatively low rate of trade union membership compared to most other industrialized

nations in Europe, a trend reinforced by the declining number of blue-collar jobs. In 1980, 18 percent

of French workers belonged to labor unions; by the early 2000s that number had declined to about 8

percent. Yet French trade unions retain significant power. They help manage the nation’s welfare

system and negotiate nationwide agreements on wages and working conditions. French trade unions

have maintained their presence in important public utilities, including railways, subways,

telecommunications, and electricity. As a result, trade unions are often well placed to disrupt the

economy through labor strikes.

The largest trade unions in France are industrial unions (associations that seek to organize all workers

in an industry) rather than craft unions (associations that seek to organize skilled workers in particular

crafts). The principal industrial unions include Force Ouvrière (FO); the Confédération Française

Démocratique du Travail (CFDT); the Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT), a communist-led

union; and the Confédération Française des Travailleurs Chrétiens (CFTC), a Roman Catholic-oriented

union. Most French unions profess hostility toward capitalism. They prefer to lobby government

officials for legally mandated reforms rather than to bargain with business enterprises for voluntary

changes.

The French economy changed dramatically during the second half of the 20th century. In the early

1950s industry and services had emerged as the leading economic sectors, but agriculture, forestry,

and fishing still accounted for more than one quarter of all jobs. Modernization of agriculture in the

decades following World War II reduced employment in that sector while leading to large gains in

agricultural production. Agriculture now employs a small percentage of the nation’s labor force, even

though France remains the most important agricultural nation in western Europe. In 1950 industry

and services each accounted for slightly more than one-third of all economic activity in France. Today,

services—including banking, retailing, and tourism—account for more than two-thirds of all economic

activity. In 2003 services contributed 72.8 percent of the GDP; industry contributed 24.5 percent of

the GDP; and agriculture, forestry, and fishing contributed 2.7 percent of the GDP.

E Economic Sectors

E1 Agriculture

France


France is one of the world’s leading agricultural nations. France has more surface area devoted to

agriculture than any other nation in western Europe— 19.6 million hectares (48.4 million acres) in

2002, or 35.6 percent of France’s total land area. Within the European Union (EU), France is the

largest exporter of agricultural products; in world markets, France is second only to the United States.

Important farm commodities in France include dairy products, wine, beef, veal, wheat, oilseeds, and

fresh fruits and vegetables.

The large volume and diversity of agricultural products in France is made possible, in part, by

favorable natural conditions. France is endowed with extensive tracts of fertile soils, a generally

moderate climate, ample rainfall in most regions, and an extended growing season. Regional

variations in soil, topography, temperature, and climate permit farmers to produce a wide variety of

crops and agricultural products. For example, the cooler and wetter northwest region provides plentiful

grasslands for the grazing of cattle and sheep, while the warm, dry Mediterranean region offers a good

environment for growing many kinds of grapes.

Sheep Grazing in the Pyrenees

France is one of the world’s leading exporters of farm products. France’s livestock population includes about 20 million beef cattle and 10 million sheep. About one-fifth of the area of the country consists of grassland used for grazing.

Photo Researchers, Inc./Francois Gohier

France


Agriculture in France has changed considerably since World War II. In 1954 the agricultural sector,

which includes forestry and fishing, employed 5 million people; by 2003 only 900,000 people worked

in the sector. During the same period agricultural output grew dramatically. Great changes in farming

techniques contributed to this growth in production, including the rapid modernization of French

agriculture. Many farmers have come to rely heavily on machines; irrigation is now widespread; and

the use of fertilizers, pesticides, and other chemical products has risen dramatically. In addition to

modern production techniques, the size of the average farm has nearly tripled in recent decades, from

15 hectares (37 acres) in 1955 to 42 hectares (104 acres) by 2001. These changes have driven ever-

increasing yields, productivity, and efficiency.

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), provided for in the 1957 treaty that created the European

Economic Community (EEC), had an enormous impact on French agriculture. The CAP created a

system of common prices for agricultural products across the EEC and, later, its successor

organizations, the EC and the EU. The CAP stimulated agricultural production and improved the

incomes of many French farmers. As the foremost agricultural producer in western Europe, France is

the largest recipient of CAP funds.

Farmland in France

Fields of grain cover about one-half of France’s arable land. While cereals provide about one-fifth of the value of the country’s total agricultural output, other important crops, such as grapes, vegetables, and other fruits, take up less space than grain and account for a greater percentage of the total value.

PAR/NYC, Inc.

France


The most important crops in France are cereal grains. France is the EU’s largest producer and exporter

of cereals. These cereal crops, especially wheat, corn, and barley, are planted on roughly half of

France’s commercial farmland. The bulk of cereal crop production occurs in the low fertile plains of the

Paris Basin, a vast region in north central France that comprises the nation’s traditional breadbasket.

Sugar beets and oil seeds, mainly rape seed and sunflower seed, are also grown extensively in the

Paris Basin.

Production of dairy products, including France’s world-renowned cheeses such as brie, Camembert,

and blue cheese, is concentrated in the northwest and along the eastern border. Beef cattle are raised

mainly in eastern Brittany and the Massif Central. Quality wines are produced more broadly, in

Burgundy, around the city of Bordeaux, in the Rhône Valley, in Champagne, and along the Loire River.

An extensive assortment of fruits and vegetables is cultivated in the warm Mediterranean region.

Dense forests once covered much of France. By the early 19th century, much of the original forest

cover had been cleared for farmland, fuel, and building materials. The extent of tree cover has

increased significantly since then, due in part to active reforestation programs. In 2000 forests

covered 15.3 million hectares (37.9 million acres) of metropolitan France, 27.9 percent of its territory.

France is the third most forested nation in the European Union (EU), behind Sweden and Finland.

Forest cover is densest in the eastern, southern, and southwestern portions of France. About two-

thirds of the forests are made up of deciduous hardwoods, including oak, beech, and chestnut.

Softwood species, primarily pine, spruce, and fir, comprise less than one-third of forest stands; most

softwood stands are found in mountain regions. About three-quarters of the forests are privately

owned; the rest are state-owned.

French wood production in 2003 totaled 36.9 million cu m (1.30 billion cu ft). About 60 percent of the

Barrels of Wine, France

Fine wines are best stored under dark, cool, and moderately dry conditions such as basements. While the wine is aging in a barrel, wine makers take great care to limit the air space in the barrel by regularly adding wine to the barrels to fill vacant space formed as the wine evaporates. France is well known for its wines.

E2 Forestry

Denis Tremblay Labtex Inc.

France


harvested wood is used in the construction industry, 30 percent is used for pulp and paper, and 10

percent is used for firewood.

France has an extensive coastline, and commercial fishing has long been an important industry in

coastal regions. French fishing vessels operate widely, plying coastal waters, the fish-rich North Sea,

or the North Atlantic waters of Iceland and the northeastern coast of North America.

E3 Fishing

Boulogne-sur-Mer

Boulogne-sur-Mer, on the English Channel in northern France, is one of the nation’s most important fishing ports. The city is also a destination for cross-channel ferries. Much of Boulogne-sur-Mer was rebuilt after extensive damage sustained during World War II.

Robert Harding Picture Library/Robert Francis

France


The leading commercial fishing ports in France are on the Atlantic coast and include Boulogne-sur-Mer,

Lorient, Concarneau, and La Rochelle. Some of the principal fish caught are tuna, pollock, pilchard

(sardines), hake, mackerel, and whiting. The commercial cultivation of shellfish, including oysters,

clams, and mussels, occurs along the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts. France also has an extensive

freshwater fishery.

France has significant deposits of several minerals important to industry, such as iron ore, bauxite,

and uranium. France is the second largest producer of iron ore in western Europe, behind Sweden.

The nation’s iron districts, centered in the Lorraine basin in the northeast, once served as a major

source of employment. Most iron ore mined in France contains high levels of impurities, and domestic

production has declined in recent decades as the French steel industry has turned to purer ores

imported from abroad. Bauxite, or aluminum ore, is mined in substantial quantities, mainly in the

southeast. France is one of the world’s largest producers of uranium, a fuel used in nuclear reactors.

Uranium is mined at several sites in central and western France.

France also has notable deposits of coal. The coalfields of northern France remained productive into

the 1950s and 1960s, but production plummeted as seams were exhausted and extraction costs

climbed. By 1990 coal production ceased in the northern region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais, the traditional

center of coal mining in France. Limited coal mining continues in central and southern France. Today

France imports more coal than it produces domestically.

La Rochelle

Colorful fishing boats crowd the harbor in La Rochelle, an important Atlantic fishing port in western France.

E4 Mining

Photo Researchers, Inc./Marie Breton

France


Other minerals mined in significant quantities include potash salts, salt, gypsum, tungsten, and sulfur.

Large amounts of nickel are excavated in New Caledonia, a French territory in the southwestern Pacific

Ocean. French mines also produce small amounts of lead, zinc, and silver. Small deposits of petroleum

are located in the southwestern Landes region, and nearby natural gas deposits have been tapped

since the 1950s. Quarrying for construction materials such as sand, gravel, stone, and clay occurs

throughout France.

France is one of the world’s leading industrial producers. Manufacturing in France is highly diversified

and serves as the nation’s primary source of export income. Leading manufacturing sectors include

food products; automobiles, aircraft, ships, and trains; electrical machinery; mechanical equipment

and machine tools; metallurgy; chemicals and pharmaceuticals; and textiles and clothing.

During the 17th century the French state promoted mercantilism—manufacturing and trade policies

designed to develop the economy and swell the national treasury with gold bullion. These policies,

established before the age of industrialization, included state support for high-quality manufactured

E5 Manufacturing

Automobile Production in France

Automobile production contributes significantly to the French economy. Workers assemble vehicles in a Peugeot factory at Mulhouse, in eastern France.

AFP/Damien Meyer

France


goods—silk, tapestries, metalwork, porcelain (see Enamel), and other luxury items. France earned a

world reputation for producing luxury goods.

The Industrial Revolution, which originated in Britain in the 18th century, influenced industrialization

in France. By the 19th century iron and steel manufacturing, shipbuilding, and textiles had become

important industries. Industrial cities, including Lille, Lyon, and Mulhouse, grew rapidly. Despite these

changes, France remained overwhelmingly an agricultural nation of small towns and villages at the

end of the 19th century. Industrialization in France was gradual, prolonged, and steady, rather than

swift and spectacular.

Before World War II, France’s manufacturing sector consisted mostly of small, family-owned firms,

many of which were geared to produce low volumes of finely crafted goods. Manufacturing grew

dramatically after the war and was the major force behind France’s postwar economic recovery. By

the mid-20th century manufacturing had emerged as the most important sector of the French

economy. France became a leading producer of automobiles, steel, electrical equipment, and

chemicals and earned a reputation for technological innovation.

During the 1960s the French government encouraged mergers among many domestic manufacturing

firms to promote efficiency and to enhance the sector’s international competitiveness. This policy

helped create a number of large enterprises that dominated their industries domestically. By the mid-

1970s, however, manufacturing output and employment began to decline as chronic recession took

hold, foreign competition intensified, and the economy shifted toward service-based industries.

Today, food processing is France’s largest manufacturing sector in terms of employment. France is the

world’s largest producer of sugar beets; the second largest producer of wine, behind Italy; and the

second largest producer of cheese, behind the United States. Other well-known French foods include

meats, breads, and confectionaries.

France ranks fourth in the world in automobile production and second in the European Union (EU),

behind Germany. The two major auto-manufacturing firms are Renault and Peugeot, which acquired

automaker Citroën in 1974. The French automobile industry was once located mainly in the Paris

metropolitan region, but there are now major facilities in Alsace-Lorraine in the northeast and in the

western Paris Basin.

French firms are internationally known for technological innovation in aerospace, defense,

transportation, and other specialized industries. French passenger trains and railroad equipment are

sold domestically and abroad, and the French-made TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse) is among the

world’s fastest passenger trains. France produces advanced commercial and military aircraft, as well

as many kinds of military hardware. France is also a world leader in nuclear energy technology. A

large electronics industry in France produces telecommunications equipment, computers, televisions,

radios, and other items. French mechanical equipment and machine tools are sold throughout the

world.

The manufacture of iron and steel (See also Iron and Steel Manufacture) remains an important source

of employment in France, although producers are increasingly turning to imported iron ore. France is

France


also home to a large aluminum industry. The French chemical industry produces a diverse range of

products, including industrial chemicals, plastics, fertilizers, solvents, beauty products, and

pharmaceuticals. The textile and apparel industries, long famous for cotton, silk, and woolen goods,

remain important. However, production has declined dramatically since World War II due to intensified

foreign competition.

The production of services in France grew dramatically after World War II. In 1945 the majority of

French workers were employed in agriculture or industry; by 1998 the service sector employed 68

percent of all French workers. The service sector covers a broad range of economic activities, including

wholesale and retail trade, transportation, mail and telecommunications, finance and insurance, real

estate, business services, hotel and restaurant trades, health, education, welfare, and public

administration. Service industries are concentrated in urban areas, especially the Paris region.

The growth of the service sector has transformed urban landscapes in France. New office complexes

and shopping malls have proliferated in large cities, and many of the small, traditional retail shops for

which France is famous have disappeared. One prominent example of this new urban architecture is

La Défense, an area of high-rise buildings located just west of Paris. Begun in the late 1950s, La

Défense contains the offices of many multinational corporations and is one of the largest shopping

E6 Services

Floodlit Grande Arche at La Défense

La Grande Arche is the highlight of La Défense, an important business district in Paris. While the commercial area was developed mainly in the 1960s and 1970s, La Grande Arche itself was built more recently to commemorate the 1989 bicentenary of the French revolution. The monument is placed in a direct line through the Place Charles de Gaulle toward the Avenue des Champs Élysées. The huge structure, measuring about 110 m (about 360 ft) high, is one of many high-profile projects undertaken by governments of the Fifth Republic in recent decades.

Robert Harding Picture Library/Roy Rainford

France


centers in France. Similar complexes have altered the central business districts of other major cities,

including Lyon and Lille.

Large wholesale and retail outlets have come to play a major role in French commerce. Although

French department stores were already famous in the 19th century, French households tended until

recently to purchase most of their goods from small, specialized, family-owned shops or in open-air

markets. France’s first supermarket, a large retail food store, was opened in France in 1957. France’s

first hypermarket, an even larger retail store, was opened in 1963. Since then, chains of

supermarkets, hypermarkets, and large-scale home-appliance and home-improvement stores have

spread across the country.

The monetary unit of France is the single currency of the European Union (EU), the euro (1.07 euros

equal U.S. $1; 1999 average). France is among 12 EU member nations to adopt the single currency

under Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). The euro was introduced on January 1, 1999, for

electronic transfers and accounting purposes only, and France’s national currency, the franc, was used

for other purposes. Euro-denominated coins and bills entered circulation on January 1, 2002, and

replaced the French national currency.

France has a large, well-developed financial system. Banking, finance, insurance, real estate and other

business services accounted for nearly 30 percent of France’s GDP in 1998. France’s major banks are

among the largest in the world. They include Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP), Crédit Agricole, Crédit

Lyonnais, and Société Générale. The French insurance sector is the world’s fifth largest. In the late

1990s a wave of mergers, corporate restructuring, foreign investment, and continued privatization

encouraged unprecedented consolidation in the banking and insurance sectors.

The French government has long taken a strong hand in regulating the nation’s financial system. In

1945 the four largest commercial banks were nationalized. Virtually all other commercial banks, and

several major investment banks, were nationalized in 1982, giving the government control of more

than 90 percent of all bank deposits. In 1987 the government began to privatize its banks, a process

that continued into the early 2000s. In 1993 the Banque de France, the French central bank, gained

greater autonomy from the government, a requirement of membership in the EU; the bank plays an

important role in supervising and regulating the French banking sector.

In 1998 EU member countries established the European Central Bank (ECB), which is located in

Frankfurt, Germany, and is responsible for all monetary policies of the EU. In January 1999 control

over French monetary policy, including setting interest rates and regulating the money supply, was

transferred from the Banque de France to the ECB. After the changeover, the Banque de France joined

the national banks of the other EU countries that adopted the euro as part of the European System of

Central Banks (ESCB).

E6a Wholesale and Retail Trade

E6b Currency and Banking

France


Most stocks in France are traded on the Paris Stock Exchange (Paris Bourse). Smaller exchanges exist

in other large cities, including Lyon, Lille, Bordeaux, and Marseille. The stock market in France remains

relatively small compared to other wealthy industrialized countries. Traditionally, the French stock

market played a minor role in financing private investment, a function dominated by the nation’s

banks. This began to change in recent decades as investment in the stock market increased. By the

late 1990s financial securities accounted for nearly 50 percent of household financial assets. Today

more than 1,000 mutual funds and hundreds of corporations are quoted on the Paris Stock Exchange.

In 1999 the Paris Stock Exchange agreed to participate in a single electronic trading platform that

includes the other major stock exchanges in Europe.

France is one of the world’s great trading nations, and its foreign commerce includes a wide variety of

goods and services. France imports a significant portion of its energy supplies as well as industrial

minerals; machinery; transportation equipment, primarily road vehicles; and consumer goods.

Leading exports of France include electrical and specialized machinery, passenger vehicles, aircraft,

power-generating equipment, iron and steel, cereal grains, office machines and data-processing

equipment, alcoholic beverages, organic chemicals, and textiles. For much of the period following

World War II, France imported more goods than it exported. During the 1990s the value of French

exports began to exceed the value of imports, giving France a positive balance of trade.

France is a member of the European Union (EU); about three-fifths of its foreign trade is with other EU

member nations, especially Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, the United

Kingdom, and Spain. The United States and Japan are also important trading partners. France plays a

leading role in the foreign commerce of some of its former overseas possessions, including Algeria,

Morocco, Tunisia, and Côte d’Ivoire.

The leading ports in France include Marseille, located on the Mediterranean coast, and the ports of Le

Havre, Rouen, and Dunkerque on the Atlantic coast. Marseille, which is served by extensive rail and

air transport facilities, is the port of entry for much of the oil and natural gas imported into France. Le

Havre, located at the mouth of the Seine River on the English Channel, has extensive transatlantic and

transchannel shipping facilities.

France is a charter member of many international economic organizations, including the International

Monetary Fund (IMF, joined in 1946), the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development

(World Bank, 1946), the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT, 1948), which became the

World Trade Organization (WTO, 1994), and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and

Development (OECD, 1961). In addition, France is a member of the European Union, established in

1993 after the signing of the Maastricht Treaty. Prior to 1993, France was a founding member of the

EU’s precursor organizations, including the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European

Economic Community (EEC), and the European Community (EC).

E6c Foreign Trade

E6d Tourism

France


An attractive and varied landscape, a rich set of cultural resources, and a world-renowned collection of

foods and wines make France a major tourist destination. In 2003 France had 75 million visitors, more

than any other nation in the world. Tourism is a leading industry in France. The French themselves

travel widely in their own country, an activity encouraged by the mandatory five-week paid vacation

received annually by most workers.

Tourism in France

Tourism is a leading industry in France. A tour boat carries sightseers on the Seine River in Paris, one of the most visited cities in the world.

Liaison Agency/Richard Pasley

France


The most popular tourist destination in France is Paris, one of the most visited cities in the world. The

city’s attractions are many, from its colorful neighborhoods, sidewalk cafes, and famous cuisine to its

prestigious cultural institutions and world-renowned architecture. Monumental landmarks in Paris

include the Cathedral of Notre Dame, the Louvre museum, the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, and

the Georges Pompidou Center. Other popular tourist destinations in France include the Riviera on the

Mediterranean coast, with its numerous hotels and waterfront resorts, and the French Alps, which

provide some of the world’s best skiing and snowboarding.

Deauville, France

A popular seaside resort on the Normandy coast in northern France, Deauville relies heavily upon tourism. Local attractions include a casino, a racecourse, and the sandy beach.

F Infrastructure

Explorer/H. Veiller

France


France enjoys a modern and innovative economic infrastructure. France is at the forefront of Europe’s

nuclear energy industry and is one of the world’s leading producers of nuclear fuels. In transportation,

France has a dense network of highways, railroads, and navigable inland waterways. It was the first

European country to develop high-speed railway passenger service, and the rapid transit systems of

most large cities, especially Paris, are comfortable and convenient for passengers. In

telecommunications, France pioneered the Minitel, a forerunner of the Internet.

Nuclear Power Generators

Nuclear power generators sit amid rich farmlands in France’s Loire Valley. Nuclear power plants provide more than three-quarters of the electricity generated in France.

F1 Energy

The Image Works/Stuart Cohen

France


France is endowed with few natural energy resources. Coal was the primary fuel of the Industrial

Revolution, and the modest coalfields of northern France provided much of the energy for France’s

early industrial expansion. With the rapid spread of the internal-combustion engine in the 20th

century, petroleum surpassed coal as a primary energy source. With very little of its own petroleum

reserves, France had to import the vast majority of its petroleum supplies. By the early 1970s France

was importing about three-quarters of its energy, much of it petroleum.

An oil crisis in 1973 demonstrated the danger of France’s dependence on foreign oil, and the French

government undertook new initiatives to develop alternative energy sources. Much of this effort

centered on an ambitious program to generate electricity through nuclear energy. France also

diversified the types and sources of imported energy and promoted energy conservation. These

programs significantly reduced France’s dependence on external energy sources. By 1998 slightly

more than half the energy used in France was produced domestically.

France generated 78.5 percent of its electricity in nuclear power plants in 2002; only Lithuania is more

dependent on atomic power. France is the world’s second largest producer of nuclear electricity, after

the United States. Today there are 19 nuclear power generation sites in France, as well as one of the

world's largest uranium enrichment plants (uranium is a fuel for nuclear reactors). The development of

nuclear power in France has raised relatively few popular protests. Not all nuclear power projects have

met with success, however. In southeastern France a 13-year-old fast-breeder reactor, a type of

nuclear reactor that produces nuclear fuels, was permanently closed in 1998. The plant, located near

Grenoble, was shut down following technical problems, safety concerns, and opposition from

environmental groups.

The remainder of France’s electricity output is generated by hydroelectric facilities (see Waterpower)

France Electricity Production

© Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

France


and by thermal installations using coal, petroleum products, or natural gas. In 1966 France opened a

tidal power plant on the Rance River in Brittany to harness the tremendous power of the ocean tides.

France produces more electricity than it uses and is a major exporter of electricity to neighboring

countries, including the United Kingdom, Italy, and Switzerland.

Coal production and use in France declined significantly in the late 20th century. Coal production

peaked in 1958 at 58 million metric tons. By 2002, due in part to declining coal reserves and rising

extraction costs, France produced just 2.1 million metric tons. During the same year France imported

three-quarters of its coal supplies. Declining coal production was accompanied by declining

consumption, as industries and households turned to other energy sources. By 1998 coal accounted

for just 6.4 percent of the energy consumed in France.

Indigenous supplies of petroleum, located in a series of wells in southwestern France and the Paris

Basin, are extremely limited. France is therefore a major importer of petroleum. In 1998 France

imported 98 percent of the petroleum it consumed. Since the early 1970s the importance of petroleum

as an energy source has declined steadily, from 67 percent of all energy used in 1973 to 40 percent in

1998. The sources of imported petroleum have also changed. In the 1970s France imported nearly

three-quarters its petroleum from the Middle East. Today, France supplements its Middle East imports

with large shipments of petroleum from the North Sea, Africa, and the Commonwealth of Independent

States. Major petroleum refineries in France are located near Marseille, Le Havre, and Rouen.

Domestic reserves of natural gas are also small. An important supply of natural gas was discovered in

southwestern France in 1951, but it is likely to be exhausted within the first two decades of the 21st

century. In 1998 France imported 94 percent of the natural gas it consumed. Natural gas has become

an increasingly important energy source.

F2 Transportation

France


France enjoys one of the most highly developed transportation systems in the world. France has the

densest road network in Europe and an extensive network of railways and navigable waterways. Its

major airports are among the world’s busiest. Paris has long been at the center of the French

transportation system, with the nation’s chief land, water, and air routes radiating from the capital. In

recent decades major road transportation projects have focused on bypassing Paris and improving

connections between large provincial cities.

France’s road network has grown increasingly important since World War II: Today it carries three-

quarters of the nation’s freight and more than four-fifths of all passenger traffic. In 2002 France had

893,100 km (554,947 mi) of roads, including thousands of kilometers of limited-access autoroutes, or

superhighways. Compared to other countries in western Europe, France was slow to develop its

superhighway network. In 1960 the network amounted to just 174 km (108 mi); by 1965, it had

grown only to 650 km (400 mi). Then, in 1970, the government began promoting motorway

construction by granting concessions to private enterprises, which financed their projects by charging

tolls. The superhighway network grew to 6,000 km (3,700 mi) in 1985 and to 8,600 km (5,300 mi) by

1997.

Millau Viaduct

The spectacular Millau Viaduct soars above the valley of the Tarn River near Millau in southwestern France. The 2.5 km- (1.5 mi-) long cable-stayed structure is the highest vehicular bridge in the world, with the road surface reaching a maximum height of 270 m (885 ft) above the valley floor. The viaduct's tallest pier rises to a height of more than 340 m (1,115 ft). The viaduct opened to traffic in December 2004.

Corbis/Chris Hellier

France


Railway construction in France began in the early 19th century; by the end of the century many of the

main lines of the nation’s railway network were in place. Most railway lines radiated out from Paris,

which served as the nation’s transportation hub. Legislation nationalizing French railroads was passed

in 1937. Independent railway companies and the existing state-controlled railways joined together in

the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français (French National Railways, or SNCF), with the state

owning a controlling share. The railway network reached its peak length of 42,000 km (26,000 mi) in

1932. Railways declined sharply in importance in the decades after World War II. Rail’s share of

domestic freight traffic fell from 62 percent in 1958 to 16 percent in 1997. Today, France has 29,000

km (18,000 mi) of railroad track in use, two-fifths of which is electrified.

Rail passenger traffic remains important in France. The development of the high-speed TGV (Train à

Grande Vitesse) has led to the construction of several new lines and increased the rate of rail

passenger traffic. TGV can travel at speeds up to 320 km/h (200 mph) on specially built track, but the

trains must travel much slower on conventional track. The first TGV line, completed in 1981, linked

Paris with Lyon. A second line linked Paris with Nantes and Bordeaux and entered service in 1989. A

third line linked Paris with Lille and was completed in 1993. In 1994 freight and passenger train

service commenced through the English Channel Tunnel (nicknamed the “Chunnel”), connecting

Calais, France, and Dover, England. Today, high-speed rail lines link Paris and other major French

cities to many destinations outside of France, including cities in England, Belgium, The Netherlands,

Germany, and Switzerland. TGV lines have proved so successful they have largely replaced passenger

air travel between connected cities. Using the TGV, passengers can travel between Brussels and Paris

in just 90 minutes.

Train à Grande Vitesse

The French high-speed train Train à Grande Vitesse travels at about 320 km/h (200 mph) on specially built track.

Photo Researchers, Inc./Sarval/Rapho

France


France has 8,500 km (5,300 mi) of navigable rivers and canals, the longest system in Europe. Many of

the canals linking navigable rivers were built in the 19th century, and few are suitable for large

vessels. Inland water transport of freight has declined in recent decades as faster and less expensive

alternatives have become available. By the mid-1990s, inland waters accounted for just 2 percent of

all freight traffic, down from 10 percent in 1958.

France possesses a number of large maritime ports, including Marseille and Le Havre, two of the

largest ports in Europe. Other major ports are Dunkerque, Calais, Nantes, Rouen, and Bordeaux.

Marseille, Le Havre, and Rouen serve as entry points for large amounts of imported petroleum. Calais

is the nation’s major passenger port, handling a significant volume of English Channel traffic.

The principal international airports of France are located near Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Strasbourg,

and Toulouse. The two major airports near Paris, Roissy-Charles de Gaulle and Orly, handled 64

million passengers in 1998, making Paris one of the world’s busiest cities for air travel. Paris is also

one of the leading airfreight centers in Europe. The most important airline operating in France is Air

France, a part of Air France-KLM Group, the world’s largest airline group. Nationalized in 1933, Air

A Nation of Canals

A barge transports freight on a canal in northeastern France. Most navigable rivers in France are linked by canals, many of which were built in the 19th century.

SuperStock

France


France was partially privatized in 1999, and in 2003 Air France merged with The Netherlands-based

KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines) to form a new company called Air France-KLM. The French government

retained a minority ownership share in the Air France subsidiary.

France has a large and diverse communications system. The French government plays an important

role in the provision of key communications services, including postal, telephone, and radio and

television services. The free press has a long history in France. Many national and regional

newspapers and magazines enjoy wide circulation and are important sources of information for

France’s population. Most are privately owned and are not linked to political parties.

During most of the 20th century, mail, telephone, and telegraph services were managed by the same

public agency. In 1991 mail and telecommunications were separated from each other and given to

newly created, state-owned enterprises. Mail service was assigned to La Poste and

telecommunications to France Télécom.

La Poste is one of the largest mail carriers within the European Union (EU), operating postal services

in France, in several of the nation’s overseas departments and territories, and in Andorra and Monaco.

In addition to delivering mail, La Poste offers retail banking and courier services. These services,

which include savings and checking accounts, comprise an important part of La Poste’s revenues.

France enjoys a technologically advanced telecommunications system. France introduced the Minitel, a

forerunner of the Internet, in the early 1980s. It consists of a video display terminal connected to a

telecommunications network (Teletel) and is offered to telephone subscribers instead of a directory.

The Minitel evolved over the years to offer news, booking services for travel, and mail order and other

services. By 1999 France Télécom had distributed an estimated 9 million Minitel terminals to

subscribers across France, most of them in private households. Minitel terminals remain widely used in

France as they permit online access to useful services without the need for an Internet-linked personal

computer. Today, Minitel services are also available on the Internet.

France Télécom formerly held a monopoly on telecommunications across France. During the 1990s

France stepped up the deregulation of its telecommunications sector in response to directives from the

European Union, and France Télécom was partially privatized in 1997. Today France Télécom is

pursuing expansion into other European markets, and its subsidiaries provide Internet services, mobile

telephone services, and other telecommunications services.

Radio and television services are provided by independent, publicly financed organizations, as well as

by private commercial operators. All television broadcasting is monitored by an independent

regulatory commission, the Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel (CSA). Until the early 1980s French

television consisted of three public broadcasting networks. The system was largely financed by an

annual tax levied on owners of television sets. The creation of private television was authorized in

1984, and TF1—one of the state’s three broadcast networks—was privatized in 1987. Today, there are

more than 100 broadcasters of televised programs, including free broadcasting networks, pay

broadcasting networks, cable operators, and satellite channels. Major radio stations include the public

F3 Communications

France


radio networks Radio France and Radio France Internationale and the commercial stations Europe 1,

RTL, and NRJ.

The press in France is well established and free from government control and censorship. Newspapers

reflect a wide range of political viewpoints. Eight daily newspapers had a circulation of 300,000 or

more, including four in Paris. The major Paris dailies are Le Figaro, Le Parisien, L’Equipe, Le Monde,

and France-Soir. The major provincial dailies are Ouest-France in Rennes, Le Dauphiné Libéré in

Grenoble, Sud-Ouest in Bordeaux, and La Voix du Nord in Lille. The country’s leading periodicals

include Sélection du Reader’s Digest, Modes et Travaux, Nous Deux, L’Express, Paris-Match, and

Marie-Claire. The leading arts magazine is Art et Décoration and the main business periodical is

L’Expansion.

William James Adams contributed the Economy section of this article.

Government of France

France is a presidential republic with a centralized national government. France’s current system of

government, known as the Fifth Republic, is based on a constitution that was adopted by popular

referendum in 1958. This constitution significantly enlarged presidential powers and curtailed the

authority of parliament. The president, elected by direct popular vote, is head of state. This official

appoints the prime minister, who is head of government. The French parliament consists of two

chambers: the National Assembly and the Senate. The National Assembly is more powerful than the

Senate, although both chambers share legislative authority. The Constitutional Council, established by

the 1958 constitution, has authority to supervise elections and referenda and to decide constitutional

questions.

Until the French Revolution of 1789, France was a monarchy, governed by famous kings such as

Henry IV and Louis XIV. The revolution abolished the monarchy but failed to establish a durable

democracy. Power fell to Napoleon Bonaparte, and he eventually created an empire. Upon Bonaparte’s

military defeat in 1815, the countries arrayed against him restored the French monarchy. The

revolution of 1848 abolished the monarchy once again, and in 1852 Napoleon III, the nephew of

Napoleon Bonaparte, established a new empire. This regime crumbled in 1870 when Napoleon III was

taken prisoner by Germany during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871).

VI GOVERNMENT

A Overview

Form of government Presidential republic

Head of state President

Head of government Prime minister (premier)

Legislature Bicameral legislature: National Assembly, 577 deputies Senate, 321 senators

Voting qualifications Universal at age 18

Constitution 28 September 1958; amended in 1962, 1992, 1993, and 2000

Highest court Court of Cassation

France


Democracy returned to France under the Third Republic, a system of government formally established

by the constitution of 1875. A president, elected by a two-chambered parliament, replaced the

emperor, and a cabinet responsible to the parliament exercised legislative powers. Governing during

the Third Republic often proved challenging: Parliamentary coalitions shifted continually between

elections, and cabinets fell frequently. The Third Republic survived until 1940, when German troops

occupied France during World War II and an authoritarian collaborationist regime was established at

Vichy.

In 1946, after the war ended, French voters approved the constitution of the Fourth Republic. The new

constitution included several revisions intended to ensure a stable government, but it did not resolve

the nation’s recurrent cabinet crises. France had 26 different governments during the Fourth

Republic’s 12-year existence. In 1958 an insurrection in Algeria, then under French control, created

fear of a coup d'état in France itself. General Charles de Gaulle, a French resistance leader during

World War II, was invited to form a new government and draft a new constitution. De Gaulle favored a

presidential system with a strong, stable executive at the center of power. His constitution was

overwhelmingly approved by popular referendum and established the legal basis of the Fifth Republic.

De Gaulle took office as the first president of the Fifth Republic.

The constitution of the Fifth Republic took effect on October 4, 1958. It created a hybrid form of

republican government based on elements of both presidential and parliamentary systems. The

constitution trimmed the authority of parliament and vested the president with crucial powers,

including the right to dissolve the National Assembly and to choose the prime minister. Yet the prime

minister retained significant authority as head of the Council of Ministers (commonly called the

government) and leader of the majority party or coalition of parties in the National Assembly.

According to the constitution, national sovereignty belongs to the people. Under the principle of

universal suffrage, the constitution gives the people the right to exercise their political will in periodic

elections and referenda. All French citizens who have reached the age of voting eligibility, and who

have not been deprived of their civil rights, are entitled to vote. Citizens can be deprived of civil rights

temporarily, or permanently, if they are convicted of certain crimes. Women gained the right to vote

in 1944. The Fifth Republic’s age of voting eligibility, initially set at 21, was lowered to 18 in 1974.

As a requirement of its membership in the European Union (EU), the French parliament approved a

constitutional amendment allowing citizens of EU member countries who are residents in France to

vote in elections for seats on France’s municipal councils. The same group may also vote to fill

France’s seats in the European Parliament, the representative assembly of the EU. Citizens of any EU

country can be elected to a French municipal council or to a French seat in the European Parliament,

but they may not serve as mayors or as assistant mayors.

Constitutional amendments may be proposed by the president, at the request of the government, or

by the members of parliament. Amendments are adopted after they win approval by both chambers of

parliament and by a subsequent popular referendum, or merely by approval of three-fifths of

parliament.

B The Constitution

France


The constitution gives executive authority to both the president and prime minister. The former is

head of state; the latter, as leader of the Council of Ministers, is head of government. Under Charles

de Gaulle’s leadership, the powers of the presidency completely overshadowed those of the

government. The system forged by de Gaulle remains largely in place, although the government has

gradually gained responsibility for a range of national policies, especially in the domestic sphere.

Under a precedent set by de Gaulle, all presidents since 1958 have taken primary responsibility for

foreign policy and for national defense.

The president of France is the official head of state and commander in chief of the armed forces. The

president appoints the prime minister and Council of Ministers and presides over council meetings.

One of the president’s most important powers is the right to dissolve the National Assembly and call

new legislative elections. Article 16 of the constitution permits the president to assume special

emergency powers during a national crisis. In doing so the president must consult the Constitutional

Council and may not dissolve the National Assembly or prevent it from meeting. The president is also

authorized to take certain policy matters to the people in national referenda, such as the referendum

authorizing ratification of the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, also known as the Treaty on European Union.

The president is elected by direct popular vote for a term of five years. The president’s term of office

was originally seven years, as established in the 1958 constitution, but voters approved a referendum

in September 2000 to reduce the term of office to five years. The shorter term took effect with the

presidential election in 2002. The constitutional revision was the most significant since 1962, when a

referendum backed by de Gaulle established direct election of the president by popular vote. (Before

1962, presidents were elected by an electoral college of government bodies.) There is no limit to the

number of terms a president can serve.

In general, the president works with the government to define policy goals and seeks to achieve these

goals with the help of a parliamentary majority. The government is primarily responsible to

parliament, which can check the actions of the government in several ways. Members of parliament

can submit written and oral questions to the government and organize investigative committees.

When the National Assembly adopts a motion of censure, or when the assembly refuses to approve

the prime minister’s program, the prime minister must tender the government’s resignation to the

president.

Presidential power is tied to the president’s support in the parliament. When the president has the

strong support of a parliamentary majority, the prime minister tends to serve as a deputy of the

president. When the president’s party is in the parliamentary minority, however, the president still

appoints a prime minister from a party in the majority coalition. In this power-sharing arrangement,

known as cohabitation, the prime minister and president may disagree about policy goals and work to

limit each other’s influence. The first episode of cohabitation occurred from 1986 to 1988 under

Socialist president François Mitterrand, after the Socialist Party lost its majority in the National

Assembly. In 1997 President Jacques Chirac lost his conservative majority in the National Assembly,

leading to a period of cohabitation with Socialist prime minister Lionel Jospin.

C The Executive

France


The French parliament is divided into two houses, the National Assembly and the Senate. As the

legislative branch of government, parliament is engaged primarily in the debate and adoption of laws.

Legislation relating to government revenues and expenditures is especially important. The other

principal duty of parliament is to oversee the government’s exercise of executive authority, although

this oversight capacity was restricted somewhat by the 1958 constitution.

The 577 members of the National Assembly are directly elected for five-year terms. Candidates for the

National Assembly are elected by majority vote in single-member electoral districts. Runoff elections

are required if no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote. Candidates who win at least

12.5 percent of the first round vote are eligible to run in second round.

The 321 members of the Senate are elected indirectly by an electoral college. A law approved in July

2003 introduced a number of reforms in senatorial elections. The law specified that senators would

henceforth be elected to six-year terms, with one-half of the Senate elected every three years.

Previously, senators were elected for nine-year terms with one-third of the Senate elected every three

years. In addition, the law increased the number of Senate seats from 321 to 346, to take effect in

2010.

In principle, the National Assembly and the Senate share equal legislative power. In practice,

however, legislative authority is tilted to the National Assembly, since the Senate may delay, but not

D The Legislature

National Assembly Building

The National Assembly building in Paris, France, houses the lower chamber of the French Parliament.

The Image Works/Lee Snider

France


prevent, the passage of legislation. If the two chambers disagree on a bill, final decision rests with the

National Assembly, which may either accept the Senate’s version or, after a specified period, readopt

its own. The Economic and Social Council acts in an advisory capacity on economic and budgetary

matters to the National Assembly and the government. It consists of representatives from groups of

workers and employers and from professional and cultural organizations.

The constitution of the Fifth Republic introduced two distinctive measures intended to streamline the

legislative process. The first measure granted the government the authority to demand an up-or-down

vote on an entire bill or any portion of a bill, in either chamber. This reduces the opportunity for

members of parliament to propose endless amendments to bills they oppose. The second measure

authorizes the government to win adoption of a bill in the National Assembly without an actual vote.

To do so, the government announces that it considers rejection of the bill to be tantamount to a vote

of no confidence in the government. If opponents of the bill fail to submit and win a majority vote on a

motion of no confidence, the bill is adopted.

Laws must be promulgated by the French president to take effect. The president may ask parliament

to reconsider a law or any of its articles, and parliament must honor the request. The president may

also request the Constitutional Council to rule on the law’s constitutionality. In such cases the law may

not be implemented until the court has rendered its judgment. Prior to the Fifth Republic, laws

adopted by parliament were not subject to judicial review.

The parliamentary year was traditionally restricted to two separate sessions that ran from October to

December and from April to June. In 1995 the constitution was amended to provide a nine-month

parliamentary session to run continuously from October to June. In addition, the constitution permits

the National Assembly to censure the government in a motion passed by an absolute majority of

assembly members. Sponsors of failed motions of censure are barred from introducing similar motions

during the same session.

Prior to the French Revolution in 1789, judges in France exercised significant legislative and

administrative powers. The revolution stripped judges of much of their power and independence. An

extensive collection of laws drafted under the direction of Napoleon Bonaparte, known as the Code

Napoléon, affirmed the importance of limiting judicial power. The code, based largely on Roman, or

civil, law, directs judges to apply legal rules passed by legislative bodies to specific cases. This civil

law tradition contrasts with the English common law tradition in which judges rely on precedents—

customs and decisions in previous cases—to resolve cases. The succeeding French republics

maintained the ideal of a subordinate judiciary with little independent authority.

The judiciary regained some of its independence and power under the constitution of 1958. The

constitution established a new body, the nine-member Constitutional Council. The council is authorized

to rule on the constitutional validity of national elections, referenda, legislation, and parliamentary

procedures. Members of the council are appointed for staggered, nonrenewable, nine-year terms; the

president, National Assembly, and Senate each appoint three members. All former presidents also

have seats on the council.

E The Judiciary

France


The French judiciary has two main branches. One branch of courts hears administrative cases (cases

involving disputes over government regulations); another branch hears civil and criminal cases.

Jurisdictional disputes between the two judicial branches are resolved by the eight-member Tribunal of

Conflicts. Sitting judges in the criminal, civil, and administrative courts cannot be reassigned or

terminated without cause by the executive or legislative branches of government.

Most cases involving administrative law are heard initially by administrative tribunals. Decisions in

these tribunals may, upon appeal, work their way up through a hierarchy of appellate courts. At the

apex of this system is the Council of State, a tribunal founded by Napoleon Bonaparte. The Council of

State has final appellate jurisdiction in administrative law and advises the government on the legality

of decrees, regulations, and rulings issued by the executive.

Minor offenses, such as traffic violations, are usually heard first by a police tribunal. Other criminal

cases, except felonies, are heard first by correctional courts. Felonies are heard by courts of assizes.

Only the latter employs a jury. Most civil cases are heard first either by a Tribunal of Instance or by a

Tribunal of Great Instance, depending on the amount of money at stake. The Court of Cassation has

final appellate jurisdiction in all matters of criminal and civil law.

Several specialized courts exist to try crimes of a political nature, should they arise. Cases alleging

high treason by the president of the republic are heard in the High Court of Justice, comprising 24

members of parliament. Cases alleging professional misconduct by members of the government are

heard by the Court of Justice of the Republic.

Historically, government authority in France has been highly centralized. For centuries the French

monarchy sought to centralize economic and military power to control rebellious members of the

nobility in the provinces. The French Revolution of 1789 dismantled the monarchy but retained a

highly centralized national administration, centered in Paris. Today this system remains largely in

place. Reforms introduced in recent decades have transferred some powers to the three levels of

government below the national level: the 22 regions, 96 departments, and more than 36,000

communes. However, many of France’s major policy decisions are still made in the nation’s capital.

Under pressure from growing demands for increased regional and local control, the French

government took some steps toward devolution (decentralization) of authority in the 1960s and

1970s. One important step, in 1970, was the establishment of 22 administrative regions, creating a

new layer of subnational government. Then, in 1982, President François Mitterrand initiated a major

effort to transfer real decision-making powers and budgetary authority to locally elected officials.

Since then, regional and local governments have gradually gained control over a limited range of

economic, social, and cultural matters.

In another significant move toward devolution, the French parliament approved constitutional changes

F Local Government

F1 Moves Toward Decentralization

France


in March 2003 intended to pave the way toward much greater local autonomy. The changes

authorized France’s regions and departments to experiment with new powers in areas such as

education, health, transportation, and environmental policy, and they gave local governments the

power to hold referendums on matters of local concern. However, the extent to which local authorities

embrace further decentralization, which in part hinges on the central government’s willingness to

adequately finance devolved responsibilities, remains to be determined.

Among the three levels of local government, communes are the smallest. Communes range in size

from tiny villages to sections of large metropolitan areas. At the next level of government are the

departments, many of which take their names from mountains, rivers, and other local geographical

features. The departments are grouped into regions, the top level of subnational government. Each

region, department, and commune has a directly elected council and executive.

The commune, an important component of French democracy, dates to pre-Revolutionary France.

Each commune has a mayor and municipal council. The mayor, who is elected by the council, is

responsible for preparing meetings of the council and for implementing its decisions. For certain

purposes, including registration of births, marriages, and deaths, the mayor also represents the

national government. The council determines the commune’s budget and local taxes and makes

decisions regarding municipal services. Individual communes often band together to provide certain

municipal services cooperatively. Before 1982 communes were strictly supervised by representatives

of the national government.

Departments vary in population from tens of thousands of people to more than 2 million. Each

department is administered by a general council, which elects its own president. The council votes for

a budget; provides departmental services, such as health and welfare; and drafts local regulations. A

representative of the national government attends council meetings and is authorized to take steps to

ensure public order, safety, and security. Before 1982, a prefect appointed by the national

government exercised extensive authority within the department and played a key role in centralizing

decision-making authority in the hands of the national government. Today the powers of the prefect

are limited to ensuring that departmental policies do not conflict with national legislation.

The regions correspond roughly to France’s historic provinces. The primary focus of regional

government is economic and social planning. Compared to the other levels of subnational government,

the regions deliver few services to residents and employ few public officials. Each region is

administered by an elected regional council. The president of the council, elected by the council from

among its members, serves as the region’s executive. A representative appointed by the national

government speaks on behalf of the national government at council meetings and directs national

government services in the region.

The city of Paris, the capital and seat of the most important national institutions, was formerly

administered under a system designed to ensure tight central control. There was no mayor. Instead, a

prefect of Paris and a prefect of the police, both appointed by the national government, exercised

control. Under legislation passed in 1975, Paris became a department governed like any other, except

F2 Communes, Departments, and Regions

France


that supervision of the police continued under a prefect appointed by the central government. Paris

was permitted to have a municipal administration, similar to other French cities, with a mayor chosen

by an elected council. The membership of the council, known as the Conseil de Paris, is determined by

elections in 20 arrondissements (districts). In 1977 Jacques Chirac became the first mayor of Paris

under the Fifth Republic.

France’s remaining overseas dependencies are the last vestiges of a once-vast colonial empire. By the

early 20th century the French empire included colonies in Africa, Asia, the Americas, and the Indian

and Pacific oceans. These dependencies enjoyed varying degrees of integration into the French polity.

Algeria, for example, was treated almost as if it were just another part of metropolitan France.

Resistance to French rule in the colonies grew after World War II (1939-1945), first in Indochina, then

Algeria, triggering long and bloody military conflicts (see First Indochina War and Algerian War of

Independence). France’s forced withdrawal from these territories preceded a wave of decolonization

throughout its empire. From 1954 to 1962 most of France’s overseas possessions sought and

ultimately gained formal independence. Since 1962, several additional territories have sought and

received independence, including the Comoros Islands in 1975, French Somaliland (now Djibouti) in

1977, and New Hebrides (now Vanuatu) in 1980.

During the first decades of the Fifth Republic, France’s overseas dependencies were known collectively

as the French Community. Members of the community cooperated in matters of foreign policy, defense

G The Overseas Territories and Departments

Overseas Possessions of France

Vestiges of French colonialism exist around the world. The remaining French possessions, shown here, suggest the historical expanse of France’s empire and influence. Today the remaining possessions have representation in the houses of the French National Assembly.


France


policy, and economic policy. The French president played an important leadership role in community

affairs. The wholesale disappearance of its former colonies, however, prompted France in 1995 to

repeal the constitutional provisions that established the French Community.

Today France maintains four overseas territories, four overseas departments, and two special status

areas. The overseas territories enjoy substantial autonomy over internal affairs, although France

provides defense and oversees their legal and criminal justice systems. In contrast, the overseas

departments and special status islands are much like departments in metropolitan France; they are

administered by elected councils and by a prefect who represents France. Combined, these overseas

regions contribute 22 representatives to the 577-seat National Assembly in Paris.

The overseas territories are French, which includes the island of Tahiti; New Caledonia; the Wallis and

Futuna islands in the Pacific Ocean; and French Southern and Antarctic Lands. The overseas

departments are Guadeloupe, a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea; Martinique, a Caribbean island;

French Guiana, situated on the northern coast of South America; and Réunion, an island group in the

Indian Ocean. The special status areas are Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, an island collectivity off the

coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, and Mayotte, an island that chose to remain tied to France when

the rest of the Comoros opted for independence.

Political factions have long competed for power in France. The origins of organized political parties in

France can be traced back to the Third Republic. Today French parties span the full political spectrum,

from far left to far right. During the Third and Fourth republics, numerous poorly organized political

parties competed for power. Individual parties rarely succeeded in winning a parliamentary majority,

and coalitions of parties were needed to form governments. Political alliances shifted continually,

leading to weak, unstable governments.

The introduction of a strong presidential system during the Fifth Republic greatly reduced the number

of political parties. Many parties merged or joined coalitions with other groups to enhance their

political influence. Since the election of Charles de Gaulle, the Fifth Republic’s first president, most

political parties have served mainly as organizations to mobilize support for particular presidential

candidates. As the identities of the candidates change from one election to the next, so the parties

change their names and alter their platforms. Party politics in the Fifth Republic are more stable and

coherent than they were under earlier republics. Compared with political parties in other Western

democracies, however, most French parties remain weakly organized with small, often passive,

memberships.

There are several important political parties and coalitions in France. On the right is the Union for a

Popular Movement (UMP), a coalition initially named the Union for the Presidential Majority, which had

formed in 2002 to promote the reelection of President Jacques Chirac. The UMP was created by the

merger of the Rally for the Republic (RPR) and by a bloc of leaders from the Union for French

Democracy (UDF). Founded by Chirac in 1976, the RPR espoused a modern form of Gaullism, a

political philosophy that, among other things, championed a strong national government and an

aggressive foreign policy. The Union for French Democracy (UDF) was originally closely tied to former

H Political Parties

France


French president Valéry Giscard d’Estaing. The UDF, which continues as an independent political force,

supports European integration and free-market policies. On the extreme right is the National Front

(FN), led by Jean-Marie Le Pen, and the National Republican Movement (MNR), founded by Le Pen’s

former deputy, Bruno Mégret. The FN and MNR espouse nationalist, anti-immigrant platforms.

On the left of the political spectrum is the Socialist Party, founded in the early 20th century and

reformed by François Mitterrand. Under the leadership of Mitterrand, who held the presidency from

1981 to 1995, the Socialist Party pursued a moderate socialist program and promoted closer economic

and political cooperation within the European Union (EU). The French Communist Party, once a

powerful political bloc, has seen its share of the vote decline steadily in recent decades. In the 1950s

and 1960s the French Communists typically won 25 percent of the vote in national elections; today

the party receives less than 10 percent of the vote. Environmentalist parties, including the Green

Party, have grown in importance, capturing about 5 percent of the vote in the 2002 elections to the

National Assembly.

The French electoral system influences the behavior of political parties in legislative races. A candidate

for a seat in the National Assembly must compete in two rounds of voting, unless the candidate claims

more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round. Typically, the two leading candidates who meet in

the second round represent parties on the left and right. Other parties on the left and right often

withdraw their candidates from the second round to improve the chances of candidates on their side of

the political divide. Agreements between parties often specify in advance which party will withdraw in

favor of the other. Sometimes, such agreements between parties are concluded even before the first

round of voting. These agreements can promote electoral alliances, and sometimes even shared

platforms among parties.

France established a comprehensive system of social security in 1946, after World War II. Social

security is a right of citizenship in France: The constitution explicitly guarantees a minimal standard of

living and health care to all French citizens. France spends about 25 percent of its annual gross

domestic product (GDP) on social security, significantly more than is spent in the United Kingdom or

United States. Nearly 100 percent of the French population is covered by the social security system.

Universal, compulsory social insurance provides income to retirees, survivors of retirees, people

unable to work, the unemployed, the sick, and families with dependent children. It also reimburses

much of the cost of health care. More broadly, the social security system defrays virtually all of the

cost of higher education and subsidizes some housing costs, especially for people with low incomes.

France has a national minimum wage, which is adjusted periodically to account for changes in the cost

of living.

The social insurance system is financed largely from payroll taxes, with a smaller percentage

contributed from the national government’s general budget. The largest categories of expenditure are

retirement and survivorship pensions. France’s aging population—a demographic shift underway in

many industrialized nations—has raised concerns about the government’s ability to meet ever-rising

pension costs. Expenditures on health care, maternity and family benefits, and unemployment benefits

I Social Services

France


are also significant.

Nearly 20 percent of the French labor force is employed in public administration at the various levels

of government. Professional, highly trained civil servants staff most public sector jobs. Public sector

employees usually must pass competitive civil service entrance examinations. Other examinations

permit successful candidates to enter elite institutions of higher learning to prepare them for careers

in the civil service. These institutions include the Ecole Nationale, founded in 1945, and the Ecole

Polytechnique, founded in 1794.

The French civil service consists of strict hierarchies at the national, regional, and local levels. Each

level is associated with a particular set of public jobs and a particular path of career advancement. The

elite corps, which staff the national government’s highest technical and administrative positions, are

known as the grands corps de l’Etat. Most civil servants are members of unions.

France has one of western Europe’s most powerful military forces. France tested its first nuclear

weapon in 1960 and maintains an independent nuclear force capable of striking from land, air, and

sea. Military expenditures as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) have gradually declined in

recent decades, due to modernization of the armed services and a heavy dependence on nuclear

weapons. The French army is staffed by an all-volunteer professional force. Compulsory national

service, a feature of French life for more than two centuries, was formally abolished in 2001. In 2003

France’s total armed forces numbered 259,050 troops; 137,000 were serving in the army, 44,250

were in the navy, 64,000 were in the air force, and the remainder were in the strategic nuclear forces

or central staff positions.

The president of France is commander in chief of the armed forces and supreme head of defense

policy; the president alone is authorized to order the use of nuclear weapons. The president works

with the prime minister and Council of Ministers, along with Defense Council and Restricted Defense

Committee, to develop defense polices. The minister of defense, under the prime minister’s authority,

executes defense policies, including military operations and the administration of the armed services.

France was a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a regional defense

alliance, in 1949. Seeking a more independent military posture, France withdrew all of its forces from

the integrated command of NATO in 1966 but remained a member of the alliance. France rejoined the

military structure of NATO in 1995 and assumed a seat on NATO’s Military Committee that year.

However, France chose to remain outside the alliance’s formal chain of command and to retain sole

control of its nuclear weapons, known as the force de frappe.

A strong advocate of European cooperation in defense, France supports strengthening the Western

European Union (WEU), the security arm of the EU. In 1992 France and Germany created a 35,000-

person joint defense force called the Eurocorps, to be placed under the WEU’s command. To alleviate

J Civil Service

K Defense and Foreign Policy

France


concerns within Europe and the United States that the Eurocorps could undermine NATO’s security

role in Europe, France and Germany agreed to establish formal ties between the corps and NATO’s

military command.

A major goal of French foreign policy since World War II has been the preservation of France’s status

as a great power. Toward this end, France transformed itself from a colonial ruler to a leading

advocate of European integration. During the Cold War, France attempted to arbitrate between the

United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). France has tried to retain a

leadership role in Africa by building good relations with its former colonies. As one of five permanent

members of the United Nations (UN) Security Council, France is a frequent volunteer for international

peacekeeping operations; French troops have contributed to UN peacekeeping operations in

Cambodia, Somalia, Central African Republic, and the states of the former Yugoslavia.

France is a charter member of the United Nations, and holds one of five permanent seats on the UN

Security Council. France was founding member of European Union (EU) and its several precursor

organizations, including the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Economic

Community (EEC), and the European Community (EC). France is a member of the North Atlantic

Treaty Organization (NATO), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Bank for

Reconstruction and Development (World Bank), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in

Europe (OSCE), and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

France is party to numerous international treaties. Important examples include the European

Convention on Human Rights, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the Conference on Security

and Cooperation in Europe. Key treaties France has refused to sign include the Limited Nuclear Test

Ban Treaty and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. After conducting nuclear tests in the Pacific in

1995, France announced the completion of its testing program and its willingness to work with Russia,

the United Kingdom, and the United States on behalf of a comprehensive test ban treaty (see Arms

Control).

William James Adams contributed the Government section of this article.

France has enjoyed a clear sense of its own identity in the modern period, but this identity took a very

long time to develop. The term France did not refer uniquely to the territory now identified with the

French nation until the end of the Middle Ages. The French language took a standardized form only in

the 17th century. As late as the 19th century, a quarter of the population residing in France did not

speak standard French. Roman Catholicism, the religion of the vast majority of French people today,

was also adopted very slowly. Some historians argue that the majority of French people did not

practice Catholic rituals and accept Catholic doctrines in their orthodox form before the 18th century.

L International Organizations

VII HISTORY

A Overview

France


The French state took centuries to build. Until 1789 the French people lived under some 400 separate

codes of civil law. They were better described as subjects of a king than as citizens of a nation.

Similarly, not until the 19th century did a true national economy form out of several regional ones.

The history of France, then, is not the story of a fixed entity over thousands of years. Rather, it is the

history of many processes that, more by coincidence than plan, turned an increasing number of people

into Frenchmen and Frenchwomen in the last few centuries.

Geography has played a major role in the development of the nation. France, today referred to as the

“hexagon” because of the country’s roughly hexagonal shape, is located at the western end of Eurasia.

France is the only European nation that borders on both the Mediterranean Sea and the northern edge

of Europe, and it is the only one that faces both central Europe and the Atlantic Ocean. All these

exposures have influenced the development of France’s economy, government, and culture. Its

location has forced France to protect itself on both land and sea. For this reason, it developed a strong

army and, in modern times, a respectably sized navy. France’s long coastlines and several long

navigable rivers allowed easy access to many parts of the hexagon long before the coming of rail

transportation. The absence of high mountain ranges within the interior also facilitated political and

economic unification.

Yet the history of the French nation cannot be reduced to its geography. Natural forces were less

important in cementing together the French hexagon than were cultural and, especially, political

forces. France was effectively unified for the first time by the ancient Romans. The Romans

incorporated it, along with other bordering territories, as Gaul within their sprawling empire in the 1st

century BC. Once the Roman Empire disintegrated in the 5th century AD, the region was united to the

rest of western and central Europe by its growing attachment to the Roman Catholic Church.

In the Middle Ages, a series of royal dynasties laid claim to what would become France. But they could

not back their claims with an effective administration for many centuries. The Valois and Bourbon

dynasties in the early modern period developed a larger military and civilian bureaucracy, which

enabled the monarchy to pacify the region and extend France’s boundaries. As part of their efforts to

build a state, these dynasties helped establish a specifically French culture.

In 1789 the monarchy was overthrown in one of the world’s greatest revolutions. The French

Revolution opened up a century and a half of political instability as defenders battled opponents of the

revolutionary heritage. Despite this internal strife, the nation remained robust enough to develop a

modern industrial economy, build and lose a vast colonial empire, fight in two world wars, become a

nuclear power, and establish itself as a major center of the arts and sciences. France is now

negotiating to integrate itself politically and economically with the rest of Europe as it has not done

since antiquity.

Modern French identity is rooted in the ancient world, chiefly in Celtic and Roman civilizations. Seen

through the lens of time, the Celtic inheritance has the more romantic glow, and the French retain a

sentimental attachment to it. The Celts provided the point of origin of French history and its first

common culture, but the Romans laid down the first lasting foundations of any significance. Without

B The Foundations

France


its Roman past, France and French culture would almost certainly have developed differently.

Relatively little is known about the first peoples living in the area now called France. In the period

following the arrival of modern humans (Homo sapiens) in Europe around 40,000 BC, a variety of

migratory peoples circulated in the region. Fine paintings in the Lascaux caves dating from the Old

Stone Age, around 15,000 BC, give striking evidence of a relatively sophisticated culture (see

Paleolithic Art). The people who made these paintings were itinerant and depended on hunting and

gathering for food. By about 6000 BC, people in what is today France had begun to develop a

sedentary culture based on agriculture. This process fundamentally altered the entire French region by

about 3000 BC and allowed the population to grow to about 4 million to 5 million people by 1000 BC.

Metalwork was introduced around 1400 BC.

In the 8th century BC, waves of northern peoples entered the region. The most important of these

were the Celts, who spread over most of France by 400 BC, mixing with other peoples already settled

there. Although the Celts never unified the region politically, they left some traces of their culture. A

Celtic word meaning “hero” or possibly “Celts” was the origin of the name Gaul. Gaul was the common

name for the region of France in antiquity, and it was associated with the Latin word gallus, meaning

cock. Later, the cock became the symbol of the French nation.

B1 Prehistory and Settlement of the Area

Cave Painting, Lascaux

This portion of the cave painting in Lascaux, France, was done by Paleolithic artists in about 13,000 BC. The leaping cow and group of small horses were painted with red and yellow ochre that was either blown through reeds onto the wall or mixed with animal fat and applied with reeds or thistles. It is believed that prehistoric hunters painted these to gain magical powers that would ensure a successful hunt.

Bridgeman Art Library, London/New York

France


The Celts and the peoples who lived among them had developed a thriving culture of some 6 million to

8 million people at the time of the Roman conquest in the last century BC. This large pre-Roman

population was sustained by intensive agriculture, which benefited from the use of a heavy, iron-

tipped plough. Commerce also enriched the population, much of it stimulated by and traded through

the Greek colony of Massalía, which was founded in 600 BC on the site of present-day Marseille. Trade

led to the development of urban centers, which were also used for religious ceremonies. The Celtic

religion was polytheistic. Priests called Druids presided over the followers and met in yearly conclaves

(see Druidism).

Politically, the region was divided into hundreds of relatively independent units with constantly shifting

borders. These units averaged 1,500 sq km (580 sq mi) in size and were grouped into about 60 larger

federations. Units were also tied by tribal affiliations and strategic alliances. However, power relations

among the hundreds of units were constantly changing, and no formal political structure emerged that

could coordinate them in united action.

This disunity made Celtic Gaul vulnerable to incursions by the Greeks and then the Romans. Greek

culture penetrated Gaul from Massalía. The Gauls encountered Roman culture as Rome expanded into

the western Mediterranean and confronted Carthage during the Punic Wars in the 3rd and 2nd

centuries BC. Massalía was inevitably drawn into the military conflict, usually on the side of the

Romans. At the end of the 2nd century BC, Massalía called on Rome for protection against Celtic

tribes, and Rome occupied the city. A political settlement was worked out that maintained Massalía’s

independence and gave Rome territory in what is today called Languedoc and the upper Garonne

Celtic Mirror of the Iron Age

The back of this Celtic mirror shows the distinctive swirling style of Celtic art. The other side, the mirror, would be highly polished to give a reflection. Mirrors like the one pictured were rare and probably belonged to a wealthy family.

Dorling Kindersley

France


valley. During the 1st century BC, all these territories, including Massalía, were incorporated with the

Roman province of Narbonensis. From there, Rome expanded northward, ending the independence of

Celtic Gaul.

Rome was prompted to expand north by two developments. First, Germanic and Celtic tribes began

threatening the borders of the empire, eliciting a Roman military response. Second, Julius Caesar, the

governor of the Roman province that included Massalía, schemed to advance his political career by

making large conquests in Gaul. In 58 BC Caesar began military operations to subdue the area west of

the Rhine River.

Caesar exploited divisions among the tribes, but once Rome threatened to dominate them, the tribes

B2 Roman Gaul

Vercingetorix Surrenders to Caesar

The Romans did not complete their conquest of Gaul without resistance. Vercingetorix, the leader of the powerful Arverni people, sucessfully launched an armed revolt against the Romans and inflicted heavy casualties. Julius Caesar rallied his legions, however, and eventually drove the Gallic forces into the town of Alesia (near modern Dijon, France). After a long seige Vercingetorix was forced to surrender. This picture depicts the rebel leader giving himself up to Caesar in 52 BC. Caesar took Vercingetorix back to Rome where he was later executed.

Corbis

France


united behind Vercingetorix, chief of the Arverni tribe. In 52 BC Vercingetorix surrendered to Caesar

following the successful Roman siege of Alesia, and he was taken prisoner. Vercingetorix was exhibited

in chains during Caesar’s triumphal entry into Rome in 46 BC, after which he was executed.

Meanwhile, Roman troops eliminated the last vestiges of resistance. As a result of Caesar’s Gallic

Wars, which lasted until 51 BC, more than 1 million people died, and almost that many were sold into

slavery after the conquest. Following Caesar’s conquest of Gaul, the Romans divided the area north of

Narbonensis into three provinces: Aquitania, Lugdunensis, and Belgica. These provinces corresponded

roughly to the three parts of Gaul that existed at the time of Caesar’s campaigns, and which he

described in On the Gallic Wars.

Narbonensis developed somewhat differently than did the three northern provinces. It had been under

Roman domination for over half a century before the time of Caesar, and it was absorbed into the

empire relatively quickly. To further this process, Caesar settled members of his legions in four

colonies in Narbonensis shortly after the conquest.

Roman Gaul, AD 50

By the time of the death of Roman emperor Julius Caesar in 44 BC, Rome had gained control over the whole territory of Gaul, a region that stretched beyond the borders of modern France. Although they initially intended to extend the boundary of Gaul beyond the Rhine and into Germanic territories, the Romans ultimately limited themselves to defending the border after suffering a defeat at the hands of the Germans in AD 9. This map shows the extent of Gaul in AD 50.


France


The three northern provinces adopted Roman institutions more slowly. Although the Romans

eventually established colonies in these provinces as well, they forestalled opposition to their rule by

disturbing the preexisting order as little as they thought necessary. The Romans permitted the old

Celtic elites to maintain positions of power so long as they followed Roman orders. The Romans also

imposed a moderate, if not low, tax burden.

The three northern provinces, each with its own governor, were subdivided into units called the

civitates. Like the provinces, the civitates largely followed political divisions that predated the Roman

conquest. The civitates all elected representatives to a joint Gallic Council, which coordinated

administrative policy and sent common grievances to Rome. The Romans also built an excellent

system of roads and waterways in the provinces. Although built largely for military purposes, these

improvements also helped to unify Gaul.

Roman Arch, Reims, France

The ancient Romans were established in the area known as Gaul from the 1st century BC to the 3rd century AD. This triumphal arch, located in the city of Reims, France, dates from the time of their occupation.

Poseidon Pictures London

France


A system of courts and administration based on Rome’s highly developed system of law, internal

pacification, and a new transportation system encouraged the growth of cities and the expansion of

the economy. Cities mushroomed in many regions of Gaul. They were built on the model of Rome

itself, often financed by Roman capital. They featured typically Roman buildings such as public baths,

marketplaces, city halls, and temples. A considerable number of these structures survive today in

various stages of decay, particularly in southern France, which was most heavily Romanized. The

economies of these cities benefited from activities connected with public administration and the law,

but their chief sources of wealth were trade and goods manufactured by artisans. In the countryside,

agricultural production was carried on mainly in the villas—large estates owned by a few wealthy

people and worked by tenant farmers called coloni.

The governing elite in the cities were the first to adopt Roman institutions, which then slowly spread to

the countryside and the lower classes. Latin gradually replaced the old Gaulish languages, even if the

Latin commonly spoken in the street was a vulgarization of “purer” forms. Similarly, Roman pagan

cults and worship of the emperor slowly drove out the old Celtic religious practices of the Druids. In

the 2nd century AD, religions from the eastern part of the Roman Empire, including Christianity, began

to take root. Following the general cultural pattern, Christianity was first practiced in cities, each

under a bishop, and spread gradually to the countryside. Christianity’s impact outside urban areas was

minimal until long after Roman rule collapsed. Nonetheless, Roman authorities resisted the spread of

the new faith and in some instances tried to repress it.

Arc de Triomphe, Paris

In 1806 Napoleon Bonaparte, then the emperor of France, commissioned the construction of the Arc de Triomphe as a monument to his troops. The Arc de Triomphe stands 50 m (164 ft) tall and 45 m (147 ft) wide at the western end of the Champs-Élysées in Paris. The inner walls of the arch bear the names of many of Napoleon’s generals and military victories. The French built their Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Arc de Triomphe after the end of World War I in 1918.

Hi Pix

France


The decline of Roman Gaul after AD 200 was part of the complex process that led to weakening of the

grip of the Roman Empire everywhere in the west. The population declined due to plague, and people

migrated to the cities. These events crippled agricultural production—the main source of wealth in

almost all premodern societies. As agricultural production fell, so, too, did state revenues from taxes.

Furthermore, the empire was no longer expanding and could not depend on plunder for fresh supplies

of slave labor and material wealth, as it had for centuries. Landlords tried to legally bind their tenants

to the soil, while emperors embarked on administrative and tax reforms. But in the end, the economic

decline was not reversed.

In the 3rd century, Germanic tribes, especially the Franks and the Alemanni, began penetrating the

eastern boundaries of Roman Gaul and settling down without much disruption. These new arrivals may

at first have actually strengthened Roman rule, because they provided a workforce that was badly

needed to boost agricultural output and secure the borders of the empire. However, not all such

penetration was peaceful. To counter the growing pressure from some of these tribes in the 5th

century, the Romans made the Franks, and later the Burgundians and Visigoths, their foederati, or

allies. This strategy allowed Roman Gaul to escape collapse but caused Rome to gradually lose control.

The assignment of military responsibilities to these allies who were spreading through the four

provinces of Gaul meant that Roman Gaul was not so much conquered from without as it was

Germanized from within.

The Roman occupation of Gaul had an overwhelming impact on later French history. It gave Gaul its

first collective political identity. Dozens of France’s modern cities were founded in Roman times,

including Paris (then called Lutetia). Modern France is literally built on Roman origins inasmuch as

millions of French people today drive on highways paved over Roman roadbeds. Rome left behind its

legal system, which heavily influenced the course of French jurisprudence, as well as its artistic

traditions, most conspicuous in Paris’s Arc de Triomphe. The French language is derived from Latin,

although it has been enriched by Germanic and other infusions. In modern times, the French imagined

that the spread of French political influence and culture throughout the world was a continuation of the

civilizing mission they had acquired from Rome in ancient times.

B3 Merovingians and Carolingians

France


By the end of the 5th century, Gaul was rapidly becoming a land of Germanic tribes, who mixed with

the much larger number of native Gallo-Romans. Of these tribes, Franks dominated in the north,

Burgundians in the east, and Goths in the southwest. But many other peoples lived in the area as well,

including Jews, Greeks, and Syrians. They made post-Roman Gallic society highly cosmopolitan. The

nature of the interchange between the Germanic tribes and the Gallo-Romans is not well understood,

but apparently no violent shock of opposing cultures occurred. First, some of the Germanic tribes,

including the Franks, had lived for centuries on the outskirts of Roman civilization. They had become

partly Romanized before they settled within the limits of the old Roman Empire. They were familiar

enough with Latin to use it when they drafted the first written Germanic law codes. Second, the

incoming Germans seemed inclined to settle on previously unoccupied land, generally allowing the

Gallo-Romans to keep theirs. Finally, intermarriage was common; hence, most tribal distinctions

disappeared by the 8th century.

The coming of the Germanic tribes marked the onset of a period known as the Middle Ages (roughly

Baptism of Clovis I

Clovis I was king of the Franks from 481 to 511. In 496 he converted to Christianity, which gained him the support of the Roman Catholic Church for his conquests of other tribes in western and central Europe. During his rule Clovis enlarged the Frankish territory to include most of modern France and Germany.

Roger-Viollet

France


350-1450). During the early Middle Ages, from about 350 to 1050, trade, literacy, and law and order

declined among the Gallo-Romans. Historians once painted this period in the black terms of

barbarism, but today they are much less willing to do so. Historians of traditionally marginalized

groups, such as women and Jews, point out that in certain respects the condition of these groups

improved after AD 500. Women acquired more control over property as the result of Germanic laws.

Jews, whose civil status had declined when the Roman Empire was Christianized, generally faced less

persecution under the Germanic kings. Paradoxically, the condition of both women and Jews worsened

once again in the 11th century, when a more orderly society was reestablished.

The Franks conquered almost all of what had been Roman Gaul and gave the region a semblance of

political unity. Under their leader, Clovis, of the Merovingian dynasty, the Franks conquered the lands

of the Alemanni to the east, including much of present-day Germany, and those of the Goths in

present-day southwestern France. Only Brittany, in present-day western France, and the

Mediterranean coast remained outside Frankish control. Clovis, who ruled from 481 to 511, was a

capable, occasionally ruthless military leader, but he understood the importance of symbols and

ideology in strengthening his rule. He converted to an orthodox form of Christianity, that is, a form of

Christianity approved by the Roman Catholic Church. At that time most Germanic kings followed a

form of Christianity, called Arianism, that the Catholic Church condemned as heretical. Clovis’s

adoption of Catholic orthodoxy placed him in a special relation to the pope, the bishop of Rome who

was the head of the Roman Catholic Church. It also made Clovis more appealing to the growing

number of orthodox Roman Christians he had conquered. These included the bishops, who wielded

considerable influence in their localities. In addition, bishops were closely connected to powerful local

magnates, strongmen who commanded enough retainers and war supplies to exert power over a

region. From this point on, rulers in the west relied heavily on the use of Roman Catholic imagery and

associations to expand their influence and eventually to build nations.

Although the arrival of the Franks was only minimally disruptive to the Gallo-Roman peoples,

Merovingian rule did cause some changes in power relations. First, the center of power shifted to

northern Gaul, whereas under the Romans, the center of power had rested in southern regions closer

to Rome. Northern domination of the south continued into modern times with the rise of Paris as the

capital of the nation. Second, as the economy weakened, cities declined, allowing power to slip to the

countryside. Third, political rule became more personalized. The retreat of the Roman armies had left

in place a variety of local magnates. The magnates exerted power over their localities through clients

who owed some form of loyalty to them. The Merovingians allowed many local magnates to stay in

power, and they established close ties to at least some of these magnates, most of whom owed them

considerable loyalty and tribute. These personal ties did not prevent the development of rivalry and

even military conflict among the magnates. Ordinary people turned increasingly to the local magnates

for protection, submitting themselves to their rule.

The Merovingians considered their kingdom a personal possession. Following Germanic practice, Clovis

deeded his kingdom to his four surviving sons, who divided it among themselves at his death.

Although in later years the kingdom was temporarily unified, the Merovingians never developed

effective means of imposing centralized control.

During the 7th century, power within the royal government began to shift from the often ineffectual

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kings to increasingly influential court figures known as the mayors of the palace. This position was

frequently held by the Arnulfing family, later and better known as the Carolingians. This family had

strong ties to the great nobles of the kingdom and gradually strengthened the position of mayor of the

palace. By the early 8th century, the Carolingians had become the real, if not the official, head of

government.

Charles Martel became mayor of the palace in 714 and consolidated military control over outlying

regions of the kingdom. To gain support for his operations, Charles Martel distributed church lands

among his retainers. This action furthered the interpenetration of the church and the state that had

begun in early Merovingian times. These two institutions were so deeply joined that they did not

become fully disentangled in France until the 20th century. When he died in 741, Charles Martel was

buried in the abbey of Saint-Denis near Paris, which later became the burial site of many French

kings.

Charles Martel’s sons, Pepin the Short and Carloman, succeeded him. Carloman retired to a monastery

in 747, leaving Pepin to rule alone. Pepin had to put down revolts among the magnates but was

eventually able to strengthen his position. By 751 he had largely abandoned the title of mayor of the

palace in favor of the Latin title princeps (source of the title prince). Pepin was ready to end the

pretense of serving a king. The last Merovingian was bundled off to a monastery that year, and Pepin

became the first Carolingian monarch. He was acclaimed as king by an assembly of Frankish nobles

and anointed by Saint Boniface, the English missionary known as the Apostle of Germany.

Two developments made Pepin’s coup d’état possible. First, the Carolingians had accumulated vast

estates, which he used to pay off supporters. Second, the church was interested in legitimating Pepin’s

usurpation of the throne. The pope consecrated Pepin as king in 754 in return for much-needed

military support against the Lombard tribes who threatened papal security in Rome. The church’s

blessing was decisive in making Pepin’s coup a success. The Frankish magnates could accept Pepin as

king from considerations of greed and power. However, only the church’s support could effectively

remove the stain of usurpation that marked Pepin’s seizure of the royal title. The consequences were

profound for both France and the papacy.

Charlemagne

Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, was among the greatest of military leaders in the Middle Ages. He conquered much of western and central Europe. As king, Charlemagne revived the political and cultural life that had

Hulton Getty Picture Collection

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Pepin expanded Frankish rule farther south into Aquitaine, reaching perhaps as far as the Garonne

River and Bordeaux, although the kingdom’s political center remained in the north. Pepin capitalized

on his relationship with the church and ruled his freshly annexed territories through a network of

abbots who were politically loyal to him. The church suffered spiritually from its increasing use by

secular authorities, but Pepin’s reign coincided with a movement to reform the church, which his

successor would push much further. Under Pepin’s rule, the movement sought to standardize the

liturgy and the organization of the clergy throughout the kingdom.

Pepin was succeeded in 768 by his two sons, Charles (later known as Charlemagne) and Carloman,

who divided the kingdom between themselves until Carloman’s death three years later. Although

Carloman’s portion should legally have passed to his sons, Charlemagne wielded enough political

power to bend the still flexible Frankish succession law and procedures to his advantage. He seized the

inheritance of his nephews and reunited the kingdom. This usurpation provided Charlemagne with the

resources for building his empire—a political achievement unmatched by any of his Carolingian

predecessors or successors. Eventually he ruled lands stretching from the Pyrenees Mountains to the

Elbe River.

Charlemagne ruled most of his empire through officers known as counts, who received land—much of

it plundered—in exchange for their services. To secure their loyalty, the counts were obliged to swear

oaths of fidelity—sometimes sworn on holy relics to make the oath a religious obligation. The counts

had wide-ranging responsibilities, from maintaining roads to supervising the judiciary. They also

administered oaths to a variety of officials, including clerics, as a way of reinforcing loyalty to

Charlemagne. Charlemagne understood well the importance of not trusting any one group of officials

too much. Thus, he sent another set of imperial agents, called the missi dominici, to comb through the

empire to eliminate corruption and disloyalty among the counts.

It is unclear how well Charlemagne was able to control developments at the grass roots using this

system. He was frequently obliged to put down revolts against his rule. The Saxons proved particularly

hard to subdue, and their persistent resistance to Carolingian rule prompted Charlemagne to unleash

ever more bloody repression against them.

disappeared with the fall of the Western Roman Empire four centuries before.

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Charlemagne found the church to be one of his best weapons for maintaining control, and he further

integrated churchmen into his imperial system. Thus, he leaned heavily on bishops as well as the

counts to carry out his orders and appointed clergymen to serve as missi. But if political

considerations underlay much of Charlemagne’s treatment of the church, his political policies were

also rooted in genuine religious conviction. He donated large tracts of land to churches and

monasteries, worked hard on standardizing the liturgy, supported missionary efforts, and supervised

the morals and education of the clergy. The results of these efforts are hard to determine for want of

evidence. But Charlemagne’s attempts to improve the morals and education of the clergy led to his

promotion of the arts and scholarship in a movement that has been called the Carolingian

Renaissance. The Carolingian Renaissance was less a break with the past than an extension of it, for

learning was by no means dead in the kingdom when Charlemagne took power.

By the end of the 8th century, Charlemagne had made his empire reasonably secure militarily and had

enriched it with plunder. He then devoted considerable effort to expanding the empire’s intellectual

resources. Reportedly unable to write himself, Charlemagne nonetheless developed an exceptional

respect for scholarship and the arts.

Charlemagne's Empire in 800

Under the rule of Pepin the Short and his son Charlemagne, the Carolingians of the 8th and 9th centuries conquered vast territories and combined large portions of western Europe into a single unit. In 800 Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor of the Empire of the West, a region later known as the Holy Roman Empire. This map portrays the extent of the empire as it stood in the year of Charlemagne’s coronation.


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The Carolingian Renaissance occurred in schools attached to cathedrals and monasteries and in

Charlemagne’s court, headquartered in Aachen (in French, Aix-la-Chapelle), in present-day Germany.

The court attracted major scholars from around Europe, even from beyond the borders of the empire.

Most notable was Alcuin, an English scholar, who set up an educational program. Scholars

congregated at the court in part to use its large library. Scholars of the Carolingian Renaissance were

concerned mainly with art, literature, and theology. Although these scholars and artists were not

highly original, they kept learning alive, partly by recopying ancient works.

The climax of Charlemagne’s rule has traditionally been considered his coronation as emperor of the

Romans by Pope Leo III on Christmas Day 800. But historians then and now disagree sharply on what

happened on that occasion and its significance. Charlemagne was in Rome in late 800 as part of an

effort to restore the pope’s power in Rome, which was threatened by a rebellion. The pope hoped to

restore his political fortunes by crowning Charlemagne and thereby associating himself more closely

with the major political force in Europe. According to one account, the coronation was a surprise to

Charlemagne, and one he did not altogether welcome. Scholars now tend to think he knew about the

coronation beforehand and that he was happy enough to accept the imperial title.

Some historians have tried to represent the coronation as a turning point in medieval history and as a

key to Charlemagne’s notion of a Christian empire. However, neither Charlemagne’s ideas nor his

policies seem to have changed very much as a result. The Carolingians’ legitimacy had rested on the

church’s sanction for nearly half a century by this time, and Charlemagne’s elevation from king of the

Franks to emperor of the Romans seems only to have followed well-established precedent.

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Moreover, Charlemagne’s disposition of his empire suggests he was still thinking about it in traditional

Frankish terms. Rather than try to maintain its unity after his death, Charlemagne planned to divide

the empire among his three sons, Louis, Carloman, and Pepin. But two of these sons died before

Charlemagne, and Louis inherited the whole empire when his father died in 814.

Charlemagne’s reign quickly became encrusted by legend, which scholars, without denying its very

real achievements, are still trying to detach from the reality. Charlemagne’s impact on the

development of a French national consciousness was limited. He stimulated the growth of cultural and

political institutions throughout his empire. But Charlemagne did not directly promote either a specific

French or German identity; such terms had little meaning in his period. The name Francia—precursor

of France—was used, but it referred to the entire Carolingian empire outside Italy (northern and

central Italy fell under Charlemagne’s control after he defeated the Lombards in 773-774), not a more

limited region within the empire.

The reign of Louis I from 814 to 840 has traditionally been viewed as the gateway to disintegration

Carolingian Ivory Work

During his reign as king of the Franks from 768 to 814, Charlemagne sponsored a cultural revival in his empire known as the Carolingian Renaissance. Charlemagne established schools, ordered monks to copy and preserve ancient texts, and supported artists and craftsmen. Many beautiful works of art, such as this carved ivory plaque, were produced in this period.

Art Resource, NY/Giraudon

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and decline of the empire. But scholars now point out that Louis was more effective than his father in

making the administration work and did more to preserve the imperial idea. Louis’s chief problem was

the endemic conflict among the magnates. Toward the end of Louis’s reign, this conflict became

enmeshed in the struggle among his sons—Lothair, Louis, and Charles the Bald—over the division of

the empire. In 842, two years after Louis’s death, two of his sons, Charles and Louis, allied against

Lothair.

In 843 the three sons reached a fragile settlement over their respective inheritances in the Treaty of

Verdun. According to this treaty, Charles was to rule a western kingdom, including Aquitaine; Louis

was to rule a kingdom east of the Rhine; and Lothair was to rule a central kingdom, consisting of

lands lying between the two other kingdoms plus Italy. Lothair would receive the imperial title but

would have no effective control over Charles and Louis or their lands. See Lothair I; Charles II (Holy

Roman Empire).

This treaty was less significant for the development of the French nation than is often supposed. It did

help to set France’s ultimate boundaries, inasmuch as Charles acquired a claim over most of what

Carolingian Manuscript

Many important artistic and religious works were produced in what is now France and western Germany under the Carolingian dynasty of Frankish kings. This manuscript, created around 870, portrays the story of the biblical scholar Saint Jerome.

Art Resource, NY/Scala

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would later become modern France. At the time, however, it achieved little in terms of national

unification. The term Francia continued to refer to regions ruled by Charles and by his brothers.

Charles’s inheritance was commonly called West Francia and Louis’s was called East Francia. Only

centuries later did Francia denote present-day France alone. Furthermore, the brothers continued to

fight over the terms of the treaty.

Sandwiched between West and East Francia, Lothair’s portion (Lotharingia) proved extremely hard to

consolidate, and imperial authority rapidly declined there. For a long time, West Francia followed a

similar course. Brittany, which had been a Frankish dependency, began to move beyond royal control,

while Aquitaine, a region that had been under Frankish rule for only a century, gradually reasserted its

autonomy under Charles’s rule. This trend was reinforced by cultural and linguistic differences. In the

north—the old Frankish homestead—Germanic law and an early version of the French language, the

langue d’oïl (so called because of the pronunciation of the word for yes), prevailed. In the south,

including Aquitaine, the predominant tongue was the langue d’oc, which was closer to classical Latin

than was the langue d’oïl. Roman law also exercised a much greater influence in the south than in the

north.

Charles’s reign was further disturbed by the incursions of the Vikings, a marauding people from the

north who plundered many regions of western Europe beginning in the late 8th century. Historians are

now less impressed than they once were with the destructiveness of the Vikings, pointing out that

conflicts among the magnates might well have caused just as much damage to lives and property.

Still, the Vikings were at the very least a destabilizing force in Charles’s kingdom and dealt an

unwelcome blow to an already shaky regime.

The most critical weakness of Charles’s regime—one that would continue for centuries—was the

uncertain loyalty and independence of the powerful magnates, who clustered in two major factions,

the Carolingians and the Robertians, so called because of their association with Robert the Strong,

count of Neustria. Charles had less booty to offer his nobles than did Charlemagne and sought to gain

political leverage by playing off one aristocratic faction against the other. In this effort, he received

considerable assistance from the church, which Charles protected in return for the church’s spiritual

and material support. Beginning in Charles’s reign, the church started routinely anointing Frankish

kings as a part of royal ceremony. This ritual added luster and authority to the king’s title, but it also

offered bishops of the church an invitation to intervene in state affairs in God’s name. Charles also

tried to secure a stronger political base by turning eastward to secure the imperial title. In 875 he

managed to obtain it and kept it until his death two years later.

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Despite Charles’s vigorous efforts to bolster his authority, his reign can only appear in retrospect as

the prelude to one of the most disordered centuries of French history. Aristocratic factions had gained

strength during the early and middle decades of the 9th century. These factions dominated the politics

of West Francia for a long time, making the crown more a political football than the secure possession

of any one dynasty.

Carolingian kings ruled until 888 when Odo, also known as Eudes, son of Robert the Strong of the

powerful Robertian faction, became king of West Francia. The Carolingians recovered the crown when

Charles the Simple was crowned in Reims in 893 as Charles III. But the title he temporarily regained

for the Carolingians had become an increasingly empty one. Power had shifted decisively to the

magnates. In 911 Charles was sufficiently pressed by the conquering Viking chieftain Rollo to

recognize the Vikings’ conquest of the lower Seine River in an area later known as Normandy. In

return Rollo professed loyalty to Charles and promised to convert to Christianity. The territories of

Burgundy and Aquitaine, already moving beyond the king’s control, became virtually independent

states in the following decades. In 922 Charles was deposed by the Robertian faction.

The Carolingians regained the royal title in 936 and ruled without interruption until 987. But they were

faced with a growing challenge from the Robertians, who were ably led by Hugh the Great and his son

Hugh Capet. Hugh Capet wielded sufficient influence among the magnates to overthrow the

Carolingians definitively in 987, much as the Carolingians had overthrown the Merovingians more than

two centuries earlier. One usurpation had given birth to another.

Treaty of Verdun

The Treaty of Verdun was reached in 843 between the three surviving sons of the Carolingian emperor Louis I (the Pious), who had died in 840. The treaty ended a struggle among the brothers for possession of the Frankish empire consolidated by their grandfather Charlemagne.


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The 9th and 10th centuries have been viewed as the time when feudalism—a system of land tenure

and political authority in which a lord granted the use of land in return for political and military

services—took shape. Research has now made this idea obsolete as a general description of an

enormously complex situation. It is now clear that property was held on a great variety of different

legal bases. Much land, especially in the south, was held by magnates and others in the form of

alods—that is, land granted without services due to the king or a magnate. Other territories were held

in exchange for feudal services, including military service, and over the Middle Ages these obligations

became more formalized and sanctioned by custom. Nonetheless, it is hazardous to generalize about

the relationship between the king and the magnates. This relationship, like land tenures, was

extremely variable in form and guided by no clear constitutional principles. In reality royal power

always depended largely on the king’s ability to form strategic alliances with the dominating factions.

The factions fought for their own interests and sacrificed little for the king or the nation.

The growing weakness of the late Carolingians may have been aggravated by a number of factors: the

invasion of the Vikings; a decline in economic production; insufficient supplies of booty to buy support.

But the crisis of the Carolingian state was above all a crisis of state management: Like the

Merovingians, the Carolingians allowed the magnates to form constellations of power. Eventually the

Carolingian rulers succumbed to the aggressive leaders of these constellations.

Hugh Capet’s establishment of the Capetian dynasty changed little in the political, social, or economic

structure of West Francia. The monarchy had exercised little power since the days of Charlemagne.

For another two centuries, it remained weaker than the contemporary governments of the Holy

Roman Empire in Germany and Norman-dominated England. Historians have suggested that the

French crown’s very weakness helped preserve it—its relative insignificance made it less attractive as

a target for acquisition by the magnates.

Nonetheless, the Capetian monarchy was the thread that bound together the region that would

gradually become known as France. Beginning in the late 10th century, the French monarchy felt the

force of several critical developments that affected western Europe generally: a resurgent Catholic

Church, a growing economy, and better-organized states. As the landscape of medieval Europe

changed, the Capetians worked tirelessly to master it. They were most likely guided by short- and

intermediate-term political advantage rather than any deliberate policy of nation building. The

unintended result was the emergence of an embryonic French nation by the late Middle Ages.

The Capetians had usurped their title in 987, and because of this usurpation their dynastic right to rule

remained weak for some time. Until the 13th century, the Capetian kings tried to improve the chances

for a smooth and uncontested succession. Thus, before they died, the kings had their intended

successors acclaimed as king by the magnates and crowned by church officials. This process was so

important that for three centuries the Capetians dated the beginning of their respective reigns not

from the death of the previous king but from the moment of their coronation. The Capetians’

C The Growth of a National Identity

C1 A Weakened Monarchy: The Early Capetians

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dependence on other institutions, principally the church, for their authority was one major reason

effective centralized government required centuries to build.

Hugh Capet, who ruled from 987 to 996, accomplished little as king beyond keeping the royal title

alive and out of the hands of the remaining Carolingian claimants. He avoided military confrontation

when possible; he counted more on his negotiating skills and the backing of the church to shore up his

shaky position. Hugh’s immediate successors—Robert II, known as Robert the Pious (996-1031),

Henry I (1031-1060), and Philip I (1060-1108)—did little better.

Indeed, some historians believe that royal authority, flimsy as it was in 987, shrank even more during

the first century of Capetian rule. The magnates, who in reality governed most of the kingdom, did

pay homage to the king and swore fidelity to him upon becoming his vassals. But by themselves these

formalities meant little until the 12th century. Far more important were the strategic alliances that the

kings made with the magnates. The magnates would typically live up to their feudal obligations to pay

homage and to provide counsel and military service only when such alliances had been struck. Until

the 12th century, only a few scattered territories around the Île-de-France, the region centered

around Paris, made up the king’s domain—the variegated bundle of rights to exploit and administer

land directly and to collect taxes. However, the king had much greater power over appointments in

the French church, particularly the ability to appoint bishops.

C1a Serfdom

Serfdom in the Middle Ages

During the Middle Ages in Europe, peasants became legally bound to live and work in one place in servitude to wealthy landowners. In return for working the land of the owner, known as the lord, these peasants, called serfs, received a crude house, a small adjoining plot of ground, a share of the surrounding fields, some farm animals, and protection from outlaws and other lords. The serf gave part of his own crop to the lord as payment of rent

Culver Pictures

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A weak monarchy made it easier for the magnates to consolidate their hold on the lives and properties

of their underlings. Although slavery, a vestige of the Roman Empire, slowly disappeared, serfdom

arose in its place, especially in the north, where land held as alods became less common than in the

South. Serfs were legally bound to live and work on specific territories and were required to pay their

lords in the form of money, or, more typically, labor services, including work on the lord’s lands.

Limited though their liberty was, serfs should not be confused with slaves. In exchange for their

services, they retained precious rights, including the right to exploit land and the right to their lord’s

protection. Legally, they could not be sold, and if lordship of an estate to which serfs were attached

changed hands, the new lord was expected to respect the traditional rights of the serfs. In an age

when law and order was in short supply and economic opportunities were limited, the concrete rights

of the serfs to work the land and to protection undoubtedly appeared more important to most people

than the abstract condition called freedom. Serfdom became an inheritable legal condition in the 10th

and 11th centuries.

and was subject to many other payment obligations and taxes. Serfdom differed from slavery because serfs had the right to own property, could not be sold, and could theoretically purchase their freedom from their lords.

Medieval Fair

Fairs were very important to the economies of towns and cities in the Middle Ages. Traders and merchants would come from far away to meet other traders and to sell their wares. Fairs were also very lively and featured music, dancing, and other forms of entertainment. Shown here, people buy cloth and other items at a busy fair in France in the 13th century.

SuperStock/Stock Montage

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Paradoxically, at the same time, the economic forces that would eventually undermine serfdom were

gathering strength. First among these forces was a steady growth of population, which increased

demand and prompted greater production. The population of the area constituting present-day France

grew from an estimated 5 million to 6 million people in 1000 to 18 million to 21 million by the early

14th century. As the population grew, people cleared forested areas to increase the amount of arable

land, a process that also expanded supplies of timber. Timber was especially important for the

medieval economy as a source of energy and building material. In addition, agricultural productivity

increased. This increase was due to a warming climate that lengthened the growing season, modest

technological improvements, such as heavier plows, and the three-field system, which allowed land to

lie fallow for one of every three years, rather than one of every two years. Finally, trade expanded,

enabling peasants to cultivate cash crops to exchange for other products in the great markets, such as

the fairs of Champagne. Trade and cash crops encouraged the development of regional specialization.

Trade also promoted the growth of towns and cities. Paris was the most spectacular example. It grew

from between 15,000 and 20,000 people under the Carolingians to between 150,000 and 200,000

people by 1300. The growth of trade and urban areas encouraged the decline of serfdom. By the 13th

century, the population had reached the saturation point in some areas of the countryside, so not all

laborers could be productively employed. Some serfs ran away to the towns and cities in search of

work, and lords were not inclined to chase after them because their labor was not much needed.

Indeed, given the high death rates in the unhealthful cities, urban populations could grow only if

people migrated to cities from the countryside.

C1b Resurgent Church


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The revival of the economy coincided with a major movement to reform the Church. During the early

Middle Ages, the church had lost a great deal of its independence. Many of the church’s most critical

offices and sources of income were controlled by the magnates, who used them for their own political

purposes. Beginning in the early 10th century, a movement to free the church of control by laymen

emerged from the Benedictine monastery in Cluny (see Benedictines). By the end of the 11th century,

1,500 monasteries supported Cluny’s reforms, and in the 12th century, the austere Cistercian order

joined Cluny’s reform efforts (see Cistercians). Nearly from the start, the papacy had maintained close

ties to the Cluniac movement. Popes such as Gregory VII (1073-1085) tied the reform movement to

the authority of the papacy over secular rulers.

The reformers sought to recruit the ablest people, not the wellborn, to fill high church offices, and, as

a result, they strengthened the church as a whole. During the High Middle Ages from about 1050 to

about 1300, the Church expanded its presence in society. The number of monastic orders multiplied,

and the church promoted arts, education, and scholarship and encouraged the use of canon law and

ecclesiastical courts.

Abbey at Cluny

Duke William of Aquitaine founded the Benedictine monastery at Cluny, France, in 910. The monastery was highly regarded throughout Europe and acquired great wealth. The abbey, shown here, was built primarily between 1088 and 1130 and was the largest church in Europe in the Middle Ages.

C2 Growth of Royal Power: The Later Capetians

Reims Cathedral, France

This cathedral in Reims, France, represents the peak of the High Gothic architectural style. Built between 1211 and 1300, the church was used for coronations of the French monarchy. The cathedral exhibits characteristically Gothic attributes such as three-tier elevation, three-part vaults, shafted

Scope

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The resurgent economy and church contributed to the slow growth of royal power starting in the reign

of Louis VI, who became king in 1108. The expanding economy eventually allowed the kings to tap

into new sources of wealth, and they were able to build armies and a new bureaucratic administration.

The rising influence of the church and Christian religion strengthened the religious basis of the

Capetian monarchy. Henceforth, French kings were crowned in formal ceremonies at Reims, where

Clovis had been baptized. They acquired the title Most Christian King. The French kings claimed to

have the power to cure a disease related to tuberculosis called scrofula. The Capetians also benefited

from the Crusades, the military campaigns called by the church to recapture the Holy Land from the

Muslims. Participation in the Crusades enhanced the Capetians’ prestige. It also allowed them to

redirect the warring tendencies of the magnates outside the country; approximately half of the

magnates participated in the Crusades. Despite occasional differences and disputes, the Capetians

were on much better terms with the papacy in the 12th and 13th centuries than were the dynasties

ruling England or Germany.

piers, flying buttresses, and gargoyles. This is a view of the west facade, which features the first examples of bar tracery in its large rose window.

The First Crusade

In response to the announcement by Pope Urban II of a Crusade to the Holy Land in 1095, Christian forces from western Europe converged on Constantinople, where they united with Byzantine forces to attack Seljuk armies in Anatolia and Muslim armies in Syria and Palestine. By 1099 the Crusaders had achieved their goal—the capture of the city of Jerusalem. The Crusades introduced Europeans to other cultures and helped to revive trade that had lagged during the Middle Ages. Although Christian territories acquired during the First Crusade were gradually lost over the next 200 years, the revitalization that these commercial contacts brought had lasting impact on economic and cultural developments during the Renaissance.


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Louis VI and Louis VII, who ruled between 1137 and 1180, pacified their domain, which had been

overrun by marauding bandits during the reigns of their predecessors. But the real challenge they

faced was the rising power of the Plantagenet dynasty. This aristocratic family had strong bases in

both England and France. Henry II, who became the first Plantagenet king of England in 1154, had

been duke of Normandy. He had also acquired a claim to all of Aquitaine when he married Eleanor of

Aquitaine in 1152. Eleanor had been married to Louis VII, but he had annulled his marriage to Eleanor

for her alleged adultery. In the 1180s the Plantagenets also came to control Brittany.

Louis VII’s son, Philip Augustus, ruled as Philip II from 1180 to 1223. He maintained surprisingly

cordial relations with both Henry II and his successor, Richard I, until the 1190s, when the rising

Plantagenet threat erupted in conflict. Philip broke with Richard while both were on the Third Crusade.

Richard was able to gain the upper hand until his death in 1199, but Philip gained the advantage after

Richard was succeeded by his brother, John.

Coronation of Philip II of France

Philip Augustus is shown at his coronation in 1180 as King Philip II of France. Serving as king until his death in 1223, Philip established France as a leading European power.

Woodfin Camp and Associates, Inc./ERL/Sipa Press

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By 1206 Philip had overrun Normandy, Maine, Touraine, Anjou, Poitou, Auvergne, and Brittany. In

1214 he won a crushing victory over John and his allies at the Battle of Bouvines and then nearly

invaded England. With the Plantagenets suppressed, the battle determined which dynasty

predominated in France for the next two centuries. In that regard, it was a critical event in the long

history of national consolidation, even though another desperate struggle with the ruling house of

England lay in the future. During Philip’s reign, the royal domain expanded several fold in size, and for

a time, the Capetians were the dominant power in Europe.

Montségur Castle

In the 13th century the castle of Montségur was an important stronghold of the Albigenses, a group of Christian heretics active throughout southern France. In 1208 Pope Innocent III called the Albigensian Crusade, which resulted in the massacre of many of the Albigenses and the destruction of much of southern France.

The Image Works/Esbin-Anderson

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Louis VIII, king between 1223 and 1226, continued to build the royal domain. Philip II had already

allowed a group of knights led by Simon IV de Montfort to attack the Albigenses, members of a

heretical Christian sect in the south of France. The campaign against them was blessed by the pope.

Louis VIII himself went south to capitalize on Montfort’s bloody assaults and placed all Languedoc,

where the sect was strong, under his rule. Although Louis died in 1226, he had established the right of

the Capetian kings and their families to rule over much of the south. He had incorporated into the

Capetian sphere of influence areas that had been virtually autonomous since the 9th century.

Philip IV (of France)

Philip IV, king of France, is known for his struggle with the Roman Catholic church that first arose from his attempt to tax the clergy. After Pope Boniface VIII issued a statement declaring papal supremacy in 1302, Philip had him imprisoned. In 1305 Philip secured the election of one of his adherents as Pope Clement V, who moved the papacy from Rome to Avignon, France, in 1309 and came under Philip’s control.

Papal Palace, Avignon, France

In 1305, through the influence of Philip the Fair, king of France, the papal

Culver Pictures

Poseidon Pictures London

France


Under Louis IX, who ruled from 1226 to 1270, the Capetians added luster to their power. Louis, a

faithful son of the church, was so personally pious that he was eventually made a saint by the church.

A committed Crusader, he was a prominent collector of holy relics, which he housed in the

luminescent church of Sainte-Chapelle built in Paris under his direction. But he was also an effective

administrator. He extended and enforced law and order through the royal courts and the legal system.

He stabilized the currency and built the royal bureaucracy. His prestige was so high that for centuries

he was held up as a model king, and his sainthood strengthened the cult of the king as a godlike

figure.

Louis IX’s successor was Philip III, who became king in 1270. He was a far weaker and paler king,

whose reign was dominated by factions. He was followed in 1285 by Philip IV the Fair, who was very

different. Philip was the most brutal of the Capetians in using the growing power of the monarchy to

bludgeon his enemies. Although generous to religious foundations, Philip came to blows with the

papacy in defense of his right to tax church property. He thereby jeopardized the monarchy’s historic

alliance with Rome, one of the principal sources of its success. During this struggle, Philip’s agents

broke into the papal residence and sacked it. Soon thereafter, the papacy moved to Avignon, where it

stayed for nearly a century. To many contemporaries, the papacy’s agreement to relocate indicated

that it had fallen under the control of the French kings, and the papacy’s prestige suffered.

Philip IV risked destroying the alliance with Rome over finances because royal power was coming to

depend on money. Philip took other measures to gain revenue, including destroying the Knights

Templar—a rich crusading order—and expelling the Jews from France. In both cases, the king seized

the assets of his victims. In addition, Philip debased the currency. He was succeeded by the last three

Capetians—Louis X (1314-1316), Philip V (1316-1322), and Charles IV (1322-1328).

court was moved from Rome to Avignon. The papal palace, seen here, remains as evidence of that event. Today, Avignon is a manufacturing and wine-producing center.

C3 Legacy of the Capetians

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Aside from building the royal domain and uprooting the Plantagenets, the Capetians contributed to the

formation of the French nation by developing a set of core political institutions, many of which would

last until 1789. Among them was a local administration composed of judicial officials variously called

prévôts, baillis, and sénéchaux. In Paris, which gradually emerged as the country’s capital, a central

administration began to develop. Administrative and judicial duties that had previously been

performed by the royal council were assigned to other bodies, such as the parlements, courts with

wide-ranging jurisdiction, and the more specialized Chambres de Comptes, which heard fiscal cases.

Loosely associated with these courts was the Estates-General, an assembly composed of

representatives from the three estates, or legally defined social classes: clergy, nobility, and

commoners. These representatives were elected throughout the realm. The Estates-General counseled

the king and consented to important initiatives of the crown. The crown also developed a rudimentary

tax system. This system enabled the crown to tap the expanding wealth of the nation, although taxes

were always controversial and often fiercely resisted.

When it functioned, this machinery and the institutions of the church no doubt reduced the levels of

violence and disorder that had existed in earlier periods. Yet these administrative mechanisms were

also used to exclude and to repress. The king and the papacy tried to enforce religious orthodoxy,

which led to the bloody repression of nonorthodox believers such as the Albigenses. The rights of

Jews, who were associated with heretics and lepers, eroded, and they were eventually expelled from

the kingdom. Homosexuals and prostitutes also appear to have suffered increasing persecution. And

Capetian Monarchy in 1328

The Capetian monarchy, the ruling dynasty in France from 987 to 1328, gained a significant portion of its land through marriages. In order to maintain their holdings, the Capetian kings instituted the practices of heredity and primogeniture. With these rules in place, crown lands remained undivided through successive generations. This map shows the boundaries of the Capetian Monarchy in 1328, upon the death of the final Capetian king, Charles IV.


France


although it is risky to generalize in this matter, some evidence suggests that the general reform

movement of the church wresting control of church lands from lay lords caused their families to try to

keep their remaining properties intact by granting women smaller shares of family estates than they

had received during the Early Middle Ages. In sum, processes that led to the building of the nation

were hardly cost-free.

In 1328 the Valois dynasty replaced the Capetians. By this time, the royal government that controlled

the territories constituting “France” was arguably the most powerful in Europe. During the next

century, two major crises tested its creativity and endurance to the limit. One was the socioeconomic

crisis of the 14th century, which resulted from the inability to meet the material needs of an expanded

population and from the effects of the plague. The other was a political crisis that emerged from the

Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453) between the Valois and the English royal house, a conflict that grew

into a French civil war. This war indicates that a strong, pervasive national sentiment had not yet

emerged.

In the late 1340s, bubonic plague struck France and most of western and central Europe (see Black

Death). Bubonic plague was caused by bacteria carried by fleas. It spread rapidly through the cities

D France in the Late Middle Ages

D1 The Plague

Effects of the Black Death

The Black Death, an epidemic of plague in Europe that lasted from 1347 to 1351, resulted in the deaths of almost one-quarter of Europe’s population. The Black Death was the first in a cycle of plagues in Europe that continued into the 18th century. Shown here, the French city of Marseille is devastated by a later outbreak of plague.

Photo Researchers, Inc./Science Source

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and towns of medieval France, where the population was not in a strong condition to resist the

disease. Already by the late 13th century, available resources were not sufficient to supply the

growing French population, forcing farmers to cultivate even relatively infertile land to meet the

demand for food. Productivity generally declined with the onset of colder weather, which meant a

shorter growing season. Lumber, a critical resource in the medieval economy, became scarcer as

forests were cleared. Famine recurred frequently after 1300, when the population reached its peak.

Lower living standards gradually slowed the growth of population, which stagnated over the first half

of the next century.

In 1348 the plague swept northward through France from Marseille. A quarter to a third of the French

people died during the next two years. Plague remained endemic for the next 350 years and

contributed to further declines in the French population. By the middle of the 15th century, plague and

war had wiped out most of the population increases of previous centuries. Some areas did not again

reach pre-plague population levels until the 18th or 19th century.

The plague also had complex economic and social consequences, about which there is considerable

historical debate. It does seem to have contributed to the decline of serfdom and the emergence of a

commercial economy, in which goods are exchanged for profit, often over long distances. As the

population declined, so did demand for goods and the price of land. But wages rose because labor,

which had been plentiful and cheap, suddenly became scarce. Landlords and other employers now had

The Jacquerie

The Jacquerie, an uprising of French peasants against the nobility, began in May 1358. As the rebellion spread throughout northeastern France, peasants destroyed castles and killed nobles. The uprising was finally put down in June near the city of Meaux in a decisive battle, in which several thousand peasants were killed.

Roger-Viollet

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to bid for labor on a more competitive basis. Agricultural labor became even more expensive and

difficult to hire as people migrated to the cities. The rising price of labor enabled peasants and workers

to spend more money on luxuries such as meat and proportionately less on grain. Serfs may have

used the greater demand for labor to win their freedom, thereby accelerating the decline of serfdom

that had begun a century earlier.

In the end, however, the peasants were not able to retain most of their gains from the higher price of

labor. Much of their gains went to the state, which, pressed to pay for the Hundred Years’ War,

imposed higher taxes on the peasantry. To pay the taxes, the peasants often needed to obtain loans

from urban moneylenders to whom they had to pay interest, further depressing their prosperity. In

addition, landlords raised peasants’ rents where they could. Peasants’ grievances fueled a revolt in the

1350s, called the Jacquerie (after the name Jacques that nobles commonly gave to peasants). The

Jacquerie was followed by more revolts between 1379 and 1383.

The plague seems to have had a deep psychological impact on late medieval French society,

intensifying the sense of the fragility of life and the omnipresence of death. This awareness of death

provoked a variety of reactions. Some people abandoned traditional moral constraints and turned to

the unrestrained pursuit of pleasure. Others focused more on the apparently imminent judgment of

their souls and the need to repent for their sins, which some people believed were responsible for the

plague. Finally, the plague unleashed a round of accusations against those whose presence in the

community was resented for other reasons. Jews in particular were accused of poisoning wells and

conjuring with evil spirits to bring on the plague.

The despair wrought by the plague was enhanced by the devastation of the Hundred Years’ War,

which dominated the French political scene for more than a century, from 1337 to 1453. The war

originated in the Plantagenets’ efforts to make good on their claims to French territory. Indeed, the

Plantagenets suggested that they had a claim to the French crown because the mother of the

D2 The Hundred Years’ War

Edward III

In 1338 Edward III, king of England and son of Isabella of France, declared himself king of France, instigating the Hundred Years’ War between England and France. This painting features Edward, seated, wearing a robe decorated with English and French emblems. The painting is by Jean Froissart.

Art Resource, NY/Erich Lessing

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Plantagenet king of England, Edward III, was Isabella, daughter of the French king, Philip IV. To

counter this claim, the Valois floated the idea that the Salic law, dating back to early Frankish times,

prohibited women from inheriting the French throne and from passing on the right to inherit the

throne to their sons. Although denounced by the Plantagenets and others as a historical fiction, the

Salic law became one of the firmest, most widely respected French constitutional traditions.

The Hundred Years’ War began in Flanders and soon moved to other areas, notably Gascony, which

the Plantagenets controlled before the war, and Normandy. During the reigns of Philip VI and John II

the Good between 1328 and 1364, the Plantagenets clearly had the upper hand, winning major

victories at Sluys in 1340, Crécy in 1346 (Crécy, Battle of), and Poitiers in 1356. Faced with military

setbacks, the effects of the plague, peasant and urban uprisings, and his own capture, John signed the

Peace of Brétigny in 1360, in which he ceded a third of his kingdom to Edward III.

Under Charles V, who ruled from 1364 to 1380, the Valois regrouped. The crown was assisted by

Bertrand du Guesclin, an able military leader who pushed back the Plantagenets on the battlefield. The

Valois also benefited from conflicts within the English royal house. By 1380 most Plantagenet gains

had been wiped out.

But under Charles VI, who became king in 1380, the French position again deteriorated, as did the

king, who suffered from periodic bouts of insanity beginning in 1392. Two competing aristocratic

factions, the Armagnacs and the Burgundians, sought to dominate Charles, and they brought France

to the verge of civil war. Both factions solicited support from the English, who clearly benefited from

their rivalry. In 1415 the new king of England, Henry V of the house of Lancaster, landed in France

Armored Soldiers in Battle

English and French soldiers engaged in heavy fighting during the Battle of Agincourt on October 25, 1415.

Bridgeman Art Library, London/New York/Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris

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and defeated French forces at the Battle of Agincourt, which secured Plantagenet control of areas

north of the Loire. Four years later, the English allied with the Burgundians, who forced Charles VI to

give his daughter in marriage to Henry V and to sign the devastating Treaty of Troyes in 1420. This

treaty disinherited Charles’s son, the future Charles VII, and recognized Henry’s claims to the French

throne. Although many future historians would denounce it as an act of betrayal, contemporary

reaction to the treaty was by no means uniformly hostile in France, especially north of the Loire. Paris,

in particular, supported the Anglo-Burgundian union until late in the war, and the university and the

Parlement of Paris, the presiding sovereign court, recognized Henry V as their legitimate king when

Charles VI died in 1422.

From the 1420s on, however, the tide once again turned in favor of the Valois for several reasons.

First, the English sometimes treated their French subjects with brutality and made heavy financial

demands on the French. The English had to extort even more money from their French subjects than

did the kings of France because resources coming from England were inadequate. Second, the war—a

dynastic conflict that had become a civil war—gradually changed again, into a war of national

liberation. Although the notion of a French nation remained embryonic, the French tended to blame

the hardships of the war on the English. Royal propagandists exploited this tendency, emphasizing the

need for a king who was “one of our kind.” Third, the Anglo-Burgundian alliance began to develop

ultimately fatal strains. After 1435 the Burgundians threw their weight behind the Valois, decisively

Joan of Arc

At the age of 13, Joan of Arc convinced a board of theologians that she had a divine mission to save France during the 100 Years’ War with England. She led the French in several military victories over the English in 1429. When she led an unauthorized campaign the following year, she was tried and convicted of heresy for answering to God before the Roman Catholic church. Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in 1431, but after 25 years the church overturned the conviction and later canonized her.

Photo Researchers, Inc./ARCHIV

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shifting the balance of power.

Finally, there was the mission of Joan of Arc, a young woman so romanticized in her own and later

times that even today it is hard to dispel the mythology spun around her. Joan was born to relatively

comfortable peasants from Lorraine. She was dismayed by the hardships her people had suffered in

the war and sought an end to the conflict. She tried to reinvigorate the Valois dynasty so that it could

remove the English from French soil. Contrary to the popular image, Joan of Arc was never a military

commander, but she did help inspire a fighting spirit among the troops of the dauphin Charles, the

eldest son of the king and the heir apparent.

Charles, the disinherited Valois prince, had remained morose, lethargic, and uncrowned before Joan

arrived on the scene in 1428. In 1429 Joan helped lift the English siege of Orléans, which opened the

way for the dauphin to be crowned as Charles VII at Reims, the traditional site of royal coronations.

The coronation was critical at this juncture, because it undercut Charles’s disinheritance in the Treaty

of Troyes by emphasizing the divine, rather than the legal, basis of royal authority.

Seized by the English, Joan was tried for heresy and witchcraft. The English wanted not only to justify

her execution but also to make the French believe the coronation had been the work of the devil. Upon

her conviction, which was a foregone conclusion, she was burned at the stake in Rouen in 1431.

Partly as a result of Joan’s mission, partly as a result of the other factors indicated above, Charles was

able to put the English on the defensive until the end of the war. France was nearly cleared of English

forces by 1453, when the fighting finally ceased. Despite the armistice, the English and the French

viewed each other as mortal enemies for many centuries.

The Hundred Years’ War not only bled France white materially, it nearly extinguished the Valois

Charles VII of France

Charles VII was known as the Dauphin for the seven years after his father died in 1422. Charles ruled only in southern France, while northern France was ruled by the English infant King Henry VI. Charles was eventually crowned king of France at Reims, after Joan of Arc defeated the English at Orléans.

D3 Foundations of the Old Regime

Library of Congress

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dynasty. But the Valois were able to use the war as the springboard for another century-long round of

building royal institutions, expanding their power in the process. This expansion of power underlay the

emergence of the Old Regime, a complex structure of political and social institutions dominated by an

increasingly absolute monarchy.

Once the conflict was over, the French population rebounded. Historians generally agree that from the

1450s until around 1620, the French population expanded considerably. This growth was probably due

to a drop in the average age at marriage, which meant more marriages and births. The death rate also

declined, especially among children, as epidemics became less frequent. The population of cities such

as Lyon, Bordeaux, and Rouen grew between 50 and 100 percent from 1500 to 1600. By the late 16th

century, the population of Paris reached about 300,000, and the French population as a whole once

again stood at the high level of the early 14th century.

Production methods changed relatively little during this period. But rising domestic demand and

increasing foreign trade through France’s coastal cities promoted product diversification. These

changes can be seen in the growth of textile trades in northern France and the expansion of

commercial wine production in the south.

The growth of the labor supply eventually depressed wages. In addition, larger families meant that

estates were divided into smaller, less viable homesteads. Increasing demand drove up prices over

the long term. The standard of living gradually declined, and population growth leveled off about

1620.

The resurgence of population and economic growth were accompanied by the political revival of the

state. The scope of royal justice widened as parlements (royal courts) were established in Toulouse in

1443, Grenoble in 1456, Dijon in 1477, Aix-en-Provence in 1501, Rouen in 1515, and Rennes in 1551.

In addition to hearing cases and overseeing local administration, the parlements were charged with

registering, or officially adopting, royal edicts. Kings expected registration to be more or less

automatic, since in their view the procedure did not involve anything like legislative approval. But the

parlements sometimes used such occasions to protest against edicts they found objectionable by

issuing formal dissents called remonstrances. In addition to expanding the judiciary, the royal

government also compiled local customary laws and extended the system of royal administration by

establishing baillis and sénéchaux, royal administrators who supervised the prevots, in areas that now

fell within the expanding royal domain. To meet the demands of war, the crown expanded its military

capacity by recruiting mercenaries.

In periods of war, the crown needed to expand its taxing power, and it did so by levying extraordinary

wartime taxes, including indirect (sales) taxes and the taille, a tax paid by nonnobles on their personal

wealth. These taxes were gradually levied on a more routine basis. To gain consent for them, the

crown summoned a variety of local and regional assemblies, in addition to the kingdom-wide

D3a Population Growth

D3b Strengthening of State Institutions

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assembly, the Estates-General. In general, these assemblies approved royal initiatives, facilitating the

expansion of royal power. At the same time, however, the assemblies ventilated grievances against

the king, and they sometimes refused to consent to fresh taxes. For these reasons, the monarchy

gradually sought to dispense with assemblies, arguing that the king’s right to tax unilaterally had

become customary. But this right continued to be contested, as were the amount and nature of the

taxes themselves.

This opposition was one factor that prevented the monarchy from establishing a uniform tax code

before the French Revolution (1789-1799), despite its rising power. Another was that the monarchy

granted permanent exemptions from some taxes to certain groups and bodies for both political and

fiscal reasons. Nobles were free from paying the taille on the grounds that they provided military

service to the king. Some localities were similarly exempt because at some time in the past they had

bought a permanent exemption through a single large contribution. Some provinces were partially

shielded from taxes because they retained the right to negotiate the size and nature of their tax

burden with the crown through their provincial assemblies. The Catholic Church, a major landholder in

the kingdom, also acquired tax advantages. Rather than pay the standard rate, the church was

permitted to make a “free gift” to the crown. This amount was much smaller than what the church

would have owed if it paid taxes like other groups. Such exemptions meant that the tax system was

far from equitable and weighed most heavily on those who lacked the political influence to gain

exemptions, notably the peasantry.

To cover the costs of government, the crown sold state offices, a practice known as venality of office.

By the early 16th century, an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 offices had been sold; by the late 16th

century, the number had increased to about 15,000; by the 1660s, to about 50,000. By the late 18th

century, about 70,000 offices were venal, meaning that roughly one percent of all adult Frenchmen

owned one. Although not all state offices were venal, some of the most important positions, including

judgeships in the parlements, were. Venality limited the crown’s ability to control the quality of its own

officials. Offices were resold to the highest bidder, and the crown could not fire officers without

repaying the capital they had invested in their offices, a luxury that the state could hardly ever afford.

Yet by selling offices, the crown increased the loyalty of its servants: Normally few officials would

revolt against a state they partially owned. Moreover, venality allowed the monarchy to make money.

The crown not only profited from the initial sale of offices but also acquired further revenue by

annually charging officeholders a sixtieth of their office’s value to ensure inheritability. Established in

the early 17th century, this charge, called the paulette, yielded more revenue than did indirect taxes.

In addition, venality occasionally resulted in officeholders being forced to lend the state money.

Venality was crucial for the state because it provided an administrative apparatus at relatively low

cost. Venality was also the most important mechanism for ennobling wealthy commoners. Some of the

costliest offices not only paid yearly dividends gauged on their value but also conferred noble status if

held by a family for four generations.

Profiting from a somewhat healthier economy and a more muscular royal administration, the

monarchy built on the momentum it had acquired at the end of the Hundred Years’ War to expand

D4 From the Hundred Years’ War to the Wars of Religion

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control over remaining noble enclaves. In 1461, the year Louis XI became king, the Valois-Burgundian

alliance collapsed. The duke of Burgundy, Philip the Good, was attempting to reconstitute the kingdom

of Lotharingia. He made another alliance with the English and also allied with French nobles who were

antagonistic to the new French king. This faction organized a league, to which Louis was forced to

make concessions in 1465. In 1467 Charles the Bold succeeded Philip, and in 1472 he led an Anglo-

Burgundian force against Louis. Louis responded by buying off England and forming his own coalition

of powers that were threatened by Charles. Although Louis was slow to capitalize on his strategic

advantage as king, Charles was killed in battle in 1477. Louis might have annexed all of Charles’s

large inheritance, but in the end, Charles’s sole heir, Mary, wedded Maximilian I of the Habsburg

family, giving the Habsburgs a major claim on her inheritance.

The settlement of the conflict produced mixed results. Mary’s marriage to Maximilian allowed the

Habsburgs to annex the Low Countries and left France with a ragged eastern border. There conflicting

sovereignties produced a string of conflicts with German powers in succeeding centuries. At the same

time, the settlement definitively neutralized the threat to French security from Burgundy. The

Burgundian territories were dismembered, and the French crown annexed the western regions. Louis

also consolidated his hold on areas inside France, such as Guyenne and Normandy, which had been

allied with Charles.

Moreover, the royal domain continued to grow after the Burgundian settlement. In 1481 Provence and

the Var, areas in the south of France, were added. In 1491 Charles VIII, who reigned from 1483 to

D4a Growth of the Royal Domain

Charles VIII of France

Charles VIII, king of France, invaded Italy and briefly captured Naples in 1495, beginning a series of invasions into Italian territories that would last more than 50 years.

Library of Congress

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1498, married Anne of Brittany, thereby preparing for that province’s absorption into the royal domain

in 1532. These territories fell under Valois control according to a variety of terms. Many were allowed

to keep their provincial estates (regional assemblies elected by members of the clergy, nobility, and

commoners), thereby limiting the extent to which later French kings could integrate the kingdom.

With Burgundy dismantled and the domestic lords held in a tighter grip, the later Valois looked to

expand abroad. Charles VIII set off on a military campaign in 1494 to vindicate dynastic claims in

Italy. The campaign was initially successful, but ultimately an anti-French coalition forced Charles to

withdraw from Naples. Charles left Italy to organize another expedition but died before he could

undertake it.

The reign of Louis XII from 1498 to 1515 was, in some respects, a replay of Charles’s. To secure the

Breton succession, Louis married Charles’s widow, Anne of Brittany, after a scandalous divorce from

his first wife. He then embarked on another round of Italian wars, during which he, like Charles, had

to abandon Naples. In 1513, again like Charles, Louis had to leave Italy altogether in the face of a

coalition of anti-French forces led by the pope.

A third round of the Italian wars commenced when Francis I ascended the throne in 1515. Francis

D4b The Italian Campaigns

Chambord

The château of Chambord is one of the most famous in France. Completed in 1547, the structure contains 440 rooms.

Tony Stone Images/Stephen Studd

France


immediately captured Milan, but at the same time Spain occupied Naples. Spanish interest in Italy,

which stemmed in large part from Aragonese claims on Sicily and Naples, gave the Italian wars

another dimension. In 1519 the Spanish king, Charles V, of the Habsburg dynasty, became Holy

Roman emperor, thereby extending his territorial claims to include Germany and the Low Countries.

The Habsburgs threatened to encircle France, forcing the French to look to other powers as allies,

including England and eventually the German Protestants and the Muslim Turks. The Habsburg threat

would remain the focus of French foreign policy for the next 200 years.

The tide of the Italian wars at first turned against Francis, who in 1525 was captured at the battle of

Pavia. Francis was ransomed the following year, after he renounced lands claimed by Charles V. Once

set free, Francis rescinded his renunciation, and during the rest of his reign, he gained the advantage.

Under Henry II, who ruled from 1547 to 1559, the tide turned once again. The Italian wars ended with

the definitive Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis of 1559. Under the treaty, France acquired Calais and three

bishoprics in Lorraine—Toul, Metz, and Verdun. But in return, Henry renounced claim to all his Italian

possessions, including parts of Savoy and Tuscany that had been effectively united with other Valois

territories. Thus ended 60 years of costly and politically fruitless Italian intervention.

Culturally, the Italian intervention was far less sterile. The Renaissance had been flowering in Italy for

some time before the Italian wars. Humanism, a Renaissance movement that focused on the study of

ancient texts, had already appeared in southern France during the early 15th century. But the Italian

wars exposed many more French people to Renaissance styles of art, architecture, literature, and

scholarship.

Francis I became one of Europe’s leading patrons of the arts. He supported the humanistic endeavors

of major classicists, such as Guillaume Budé. Under the influence of his sister, Margaret of Navarre, he

protected scholars, such as Lefèvre d’Étaples, who were attacked because their work was associated

with new currents of Protestant religious reform. Francis also brought to France artists such as

Leonardo da Vinci and Benvenuto Cellini. The result was a fusion of Renaissance and late French

Gothic styles, as exemplified in the jewel-like royal residences Francis built along the Loire.

Francis and Henry II also patronized the group of French poets called the Pléiade, whose members

used and defended French as a literary language (see Pleiad). The crown cared little about the

linguistic practices of most French subjects. However, it did not want European elites to view French

regard for Italian classicism as a sign that France was culturally or politically inferior. Partly for this

reason, the crown stipulated in 1539 that henceforth French was the sole legal language of the state

and kingdom. By this time, high culture had clearly become the business of the state.

Also notable in this period was the growing use of the printing press. The effects of the print revolution

were slow to reach the nonliterate classes. However, printing did contribute to the outbreak of the

Reformation, a religious revolution that challenged the supremacy of the pope and resulted in the

creation of Protestant churches.

D4c The French Renaissance

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In 1517 Martin Luther, a German theologian and religious reformer, began a campaign to reform what

he perceived to be widespread abuses in the church. He was quickly excommunicated. In succeeding

years, he developed a new Protestant theology and church, which inspired other reformers to do

likewise. The Protestant Reformation had a gradual, but growing, influence in France. On October 18,

1534, in what is known as the affair of the placards, reformers posted broadsides attacking the

sacraments of the church all over Paris and other northern cities. By this time, Protestantism had

spread well beyond humanist intellectual circles.

In France, Protestantism existed in many forms, some of them Lutheran in inspiration. But it was most

heavily influenced by the work of John Calvin, a French lawyer and humanist who had formulated a

systematic Protestant theology. Calvin had gone to Geneva, Switzerland, where he built a model

Protestant society. From there, itinerant ministers carried his message back into France. Many

Protestant congregations began to form, which gave organization to the growing Protestant

community. For reasons that are unclear, the members of these congregations became known by the

1560s as Huguenots.

Protestantism in France grew among many different classes, including peasants and nobles, varying in

D4d The Reformation in France

Martin Luther

German theologian and religious reformer Martin Luther precipitated the Protestant Reformation with his publication in 1517 of his Ninety-Five Theses, which detailed the indulgences and excesses of the Roman Catholic church. Luther felt that the essence of Christianity lay not in an elaborate organization headed by the pope, but in each person’s direct communication with God. Luther’s protest set off a flood of departures from the Roman Catholic church and set the stage for further Protestant movements, including Calvinism and Presbyterianism.

THE BETTMANN ARCHIVE

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its appeal depending on local conditions. It was especially strong among literate people of the middle

classes who lived in a wide southern arc stretching through Guyenne, Languedoc, Provence, and

Dauphiné. While Protestantism was clearly advancing during the 16th century, it remained a minority

movement among all classes. At its height, only about 10 percent of the total population were

Huguenots.

The attitude of the French state toward Protestantism was schizophrenic. Francis I was originally

inclined to protect intellectuals suspected of Protestant leanings. But he gradually became more

hostile as the new religion’s disruptive effects became more evident after the affair of the placards. In

the 1540s, persecution turned violent. Following heresy trials, thousands were executed or

condemned to row the galleys (large vessels with as many as 150 rowers). Overall, however, the

enforcement of orthodoxy remained spotty and did little to change religious practice.

The church’s attempts to suppress Protestantism in France were met with resistance. Since the 14th

century, the French state had promoted the notion of a Gallican Church that followed Rome only on

John Calvin

A major leader in the 16th-century Reformation of the Catholic Church, John Calvin established a new religion with strict codes of belief and behavior. Calvin taught the virtues of faith above good works and advanced the theory of universal priesthood, in which all Christians could practice their religion without the daily guidance of priests. Calvin also established the idea of the “Elect,” a preordained group of people whom God chooses for Salvation. Many Europeans embraced Calvinism; as his ideas spread, they sparked other Protestant religions.

Corbis/Archivo Iconografico, S.A.

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doctrinal matters, a notion that had provided a convenient justification for the crown’s growing control

over the bishops. Gallicanism, which would play a major political role in coming centuries, was

particularly strong among the members of the parlements, who considered oversight of the French

church to be their responsibility. Hence, the measures taken by the Council of Trent to reimpose

orthodox doctrine through the enhanced authority of the pope had less impact in France than

elsewhere. The Jesuits, the new monastic order devoted to reconquering Europe for the Catholic

Church, at first gained only limited entry into France.

At the same time, the Counter Reformation did have its impact in France. It inspired efforts to reform

the clergy and to launch new spiritual movements within the French church. Over the long term, the

monarchy supported the Counter Reformation’s goal of reuniting the nation in a single Catholic faith.

Under Henry II, persecution of Protestants intensified but was no more effective than before.

Protestant churches and organizations continued to mushroom across the kingdom during the 1550s.

Religious divisions were reinforced by political ones, as aristocratic factions, acting on both religious

and secular motives, sought to expand their power and their access to state patronage. The major

factions included the Guises, strong pro-Catholics with claims to the French throne; the Montmorency,

with ties to both Catholics and Protestants; and the Bourbons, who gradually assumed leadership of

the Protestants.

The growing crisis was aggravated in 1559 with the sudden death of Henry II in a jousting accident.

Henry left behind his widow, Catherine de Médicis, and four young sons as chief custodians of an

increasingly besieged monarchy. Upon his father’s death, the eldest son, Francis II, became king.

Morally and physically weak, the 15-year-old king fell under the influence of the Guises. In 1560

Protestant leaders organized what is known as the conspiracy of Amboise in order to kidnap the king

and free him of Guise control. The Guises thwarted the conspiracy and executed hundreds of its

members.

When Francis died the same year, his mother, Catherine, became regent, acting in the name of the

Catherine de Médicis

As the wife of France’s King Henry II, Catherine de Médicis was the queen of France and the mother of three future French kings. Catherine sought control of France through the rule of her sons. She was responsible for causing the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, in which 50,000 people died.

Hulton Getty Picture Collection

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new minor king, Charles IX. Catherine sought to reconcile the various factions, but concessions to the

Protestants only further inflamed the Guises. The next ten years saw three civil wars punctuated by

fragile truces. The period was marked by civil violence committed by ordinary citizens on both sides.

In 1572 Catherine gave her daughter Margaret of Valois (better known as Margot) in marriage to a

leading Protestant Bourbon, Henry of Navarre (see Henry IV). The marriage exacerbated Catholic

fears of a Protestant coup d’état. On August 24, 1572, dozens of Protestant leaders were butchered in

the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew’s Day, apparently on orders of Charles IX. During the succeeding

months, thousands more Protestants were murdered across France in an uncoordinated effort to purify

the realm of heretics. Although devastating to the Protestants and their leadership, the massacres did

not end their cause but only drove them to adopt more extreme positions. They began to claim a right

to resist royal tyranny, a right rooted in an imagined Frankish constitution.

When Henry III, the third son of Henry II and Catherine de Medici, was crowned in 1574, the conflict

was immediately renewed and became progressively more embedded in a Europe-wide struggle.

England and the Netherlands favored the Protestants, while Spain supported the Guises. In 1584 the

Guises signed an alliance with Spain, in which the two partners promised to enforce the decrees of the

Council of Trent in exchange for material support. This alliance was sparked by a looming succession

crisis. When the duc d’Anjou, the last remaining brother of the childless Henry III, died, Henry of

Navarre, a Protestant who was a very distant relation to the Valois, became the next heir to the

French throne. In response, a group of Catholic nobles formed an alliance known as the Holy League.

Its goal was to reunite France in a unitary Catholic faith and prevent Henry of Navarre from becoming

king. While the league established itself in provincial France, a group of officials and clerics formed the

Sixteen, a committee dedicated to advancing the league’s goals in Paris.

The Sixteen threatened royal authority. It made a show of force during the Day of Barricades on May

12, 1588, when Henri I de Lorraine, 3rd duc de Guise, led a revolt against the king. Henry III was

obliged to sneak out of Paris, leaving the city and state in the grip of the widely supported Sixteen.

Henry IV of France

Henry IV, the first Bourbon king of France, became Catholic in 1593 in order to restore peace within the country. In 1598 Henry issued the Edict of Nantes, which granted extended rights to the French Protestants, or Huguenots, who had been persecuted by the dominant Catholics. His reign, marked also by policies that strengthened finance, agriculture, and commerce, ended in 1610 when he was assassinated.

Hulton Deutsch

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Henry III acceded to many league demands. But when the league forced him to call a meeting of the

Estates-General, he struck back by assassinating the duc de Guise and another Guise leader during

the meeting. The league then seized control of many cities. Meanwhile, league pamphleteers openly

argued that the monarchy depended directly on the will of the people and that the people had the

right to kill monarchs who violated divine laws. After allying with Henry of Navarre in 1589 to

counterbalance the power of the Guises, Henry III was assassinated on August 1 by Jacques Clément,

a monk associated with the league.

Like the assassination of the Guises, the death of Henry III resolved nothing. The appalling civil war

and its violence dragged on for years, abetted by the intervention of Spanish troops on behalf of the

league and intensified by peasant revolts against the state and the lords. Henry of Navarre was

recognized as king by his supporters but not, for the moment, by many others. Acknowledging that as

a Protestant he could never vindicate his claim to the throne, Henry converted to Catholicism on July

25, 1593. On February 27, 1594, he was crowned king at Chartres.

The league denounced Henry’s conversion as insincere and hence invalid, but most French people

accepted it, and thereafter opposition to Henry died out. League leaders were concerned that popular

violence might get out of hand. Thus, they were willing to put down their arms in exchange for

handsome state grants of money and offices. The French government was able to achieve a relatively

Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre

Political rivalry between Roman Catholics and French Protestants (known as Huguenots) led to the Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Day in 1572, depicted here in a 16th-century engraving. King Charles IX of France and his mother, Catherine de Médicis, feared the growing power of the Huguenots. In late August they arranged to have a number of Huguenot leaders murdered. The massacre began on August 24 in Paris—where many Huguenots had gathered for the wedding of their leader, Henry of Navarre, to Catherine’s daughter Margaret of Valois. It then spread to the French provinces.


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cost-free settlement with Spain in the Treaty of Vervins in 1598.

To settle the Protestant issue, Henry issued the Edict of Nantes on April 13, 1598. The edict granted

Protestants a limited right to practice their faith, and it temporarily gave them the right to maintain

control of certain fortified cities. The edict was so contested that it was not registered in the

parlements for many months.

The edict has been widely misunderstood. It was not intended as a step towards religious toleration or

pluralism, neither of which had much support. Rather, it was a concession made to end violence in the

short run with the purpose of imposing religious unity in the future. Far from being a step toward

secular politics, the edict was grounded in the concept of a unified Gallican Church as God’s

instrument. It was surrounded with fresh assertions of the divine source of royal authority. These

assertions were intended to counteract claims—made by both Protestants and Catholics at various

times—that the power of the monarchy derived from the people.

Leaguers had reason to be dissatisfied with the outcome. The league lived on in the form of political

factions and in movements to enforce the decrees of the Church during the Counter Reformation. But

Protestants had better reasons to be fearful of the future, and their fears proved to be well founded.

The Catholic-Protestant struggle continued, though at a lower level of conflict.

The late 16th century was an age of economic stagnation, characterized by a declining standard of

living, social anarchy, and grotesque violence. It earned a reputation as one of the most wrenching

periods in French history. Yet apart from exacerbating religious divisions, the Wars of Religion had no

major long-lasting economic or social effects on the nation, which survived intact and without

significant territorial losses. The Wars of Religion had their greatest impact on the state. Henceforth,

the new Bourbon dynasty could point to the chaos of the religious wars as evidence that only a

powerful, indeed absolute, monarchy, deriving its authority from God, could contain the virulent

antisocial tendencies of private individuals. The additional threat of encirclement posed by the

Habsburgs encouraged the Bourbons to build a state so large that, for certain periods during the next

two centuries, France loomed as the dominant nation in Europe.

To understand this period, it is critical to recognize that even defenders of absolute monarchy sharply

distinguished between absolute regimes and arbitrary regimes. In absolute regimes princes did not

share power with institutions such as representative assemblies. But an absolute king could not

legitimately violate the laws of God or nature or the fundamental laws that governed succession to the

throne and ensured the integrity of the realm. By contrast, in arbitrary regimes—what became known

around 1700 as despotisms—the state was subject to no law.

Absolutists argued that in exercising sovereignty, an absolute king could make and impose new

statute law on his subjects for their own good. Absolutists held that people had most to fear from each

other and that only if the monarchy wielded unchecked power could they enjoy true freedom—that is,

security in their lives and property.

E The Bourbon Monarchy and the Ascent of France

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In fact, absolute monarchy was never close to being perfectly realized in France. The crown always

had to make compromises and cut deals with local institutions and elites, much as Henry IV had to

come to terms with the Holy League. Although the nobility might have occasionally resented royal

policies, they found much to gain from the absolute state. They looked to the state to find the means

to support their own, sometimes extensive, networks of dependents.

Henry IV’s most obvious task after 1598 was to pursue the process of pacification in a still bitterly

divided France. This process began at home. To ensure his succession, Henry had his childless

marriage to Margaret annulled in 1599 and then married Marie de Médicis, an Italian princess. Marie,

who was sympathetic to the Holy League, bore him three sons and three daughters in the next ten

years.

To bring order to the state, Henry imposed his will on the parlements and other state agencies.

Through the efforts of his superintendent of finance, Maximilien de Béthune, duc de Sully, he restored

France’s fiscal health. He made tax collection more efficient, established the paulette—a tax that

allowed venal (purchased) offices to be inherited—and reduced the interest rate on state loans. He

also improved the state’s credit rating by resuming state payments on the debt, which had lapsed for

more than a decade. By avoiding major military conflicts, Henry kept financial demands on the state

at a minimum. As a result, he was able to lower general taxes.

Tax reductions and the restoration of peace helped generate a mild economic boom, which contrasted

sharply with conditions in previous years, when hunger, wolves, and freebooting military bands

stalked the countryside. France’s recovery and Henry’s buoyant personality made him popular with his

contemporaries, and despite his many mistresses and nine bastard children, Henry was held up as a

model king for centuries. The ugly aftershocks of the Wars of Religion were far from spent, however.

On May 14, 1610, Henry was assassinated by François Ravaillac, a Catholic zealot who had been

E1 France Under the Early Bourbons

E1a Henry IV

Marie de Medicis

Marie de Medicis was the second wife of Henry IV of France. After he was assassinated in 1605, she ruled France as regent until her oldest son, Louis XIII, reached his majority in 1617. This portrait is in the Portraitgalerie Schloss Ambras in Innsbruck, Austria.


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inspired by the Holy League.

Henry’s death left the state in the unsteady hands of Marie de Médicis. She was appointed regent for

her eldest son, Louis XIII, who was nine years old. Marie leaned in the direction of the parti dévot

(devout party), a loose regrouping of league elements plus the Jesuits and other monastic orders.

Benefiting from a widespread resurgence of Catholic devotion in Europe, the dévots favored renewed

efforts to eradicate Protestantism. They thus supported an alliance with the Habsburgs, champions of

the Counter Reformation who had also been partners with the Holy League.

After relying upon more moderate ministers, Marie turned to dévot Concino Concini as her chief

adviser. The result was Louis’s marriage to Anne of Austria, daughter of the Spanish king, and his

sister’s marriage to Anne’s brother. Concini’s rise irritated many nobles, some of whom began courting

the Protestants. A meeting of the Estates-General in 1614 failed to resolve outstanding issues. This

failure is one reason why the Estates-General did not meet again until 1789.

In 1617 Louis seized control of the state. He had Concini imprisoned and later killed, exiled his mother

to Blois, and recalled many of Henry IV’s advisers. But these measures hardly helped the Protestants,

for Louis now took the initiative against them. Between 1620 and 1622, he personally led several

military campaigns against Protestants, with the result that by 1625 all Protestant strongholds, except

La Rochelle, had collapsed.

In 1624 Armand Jean du Plessis, duc de Richelieu, was appointed to the royal council. Acting much

like a prime minister, he immediately became a commanding figure and soon formed a lasting

partnership with Louis. Strongly influenced by the Holy League, Richelieu was a protégé of Marie de

Médici and supported further measures against the Protestants. In 1628 La Rochelle, a Protestant

stronghold fortified by the English, was successfully assaulted. This success paved the way for the

long-sought unification of the kingdom and imposition of the Catholic faith. After 1629 Richelieu left

the Protestants alone, and during succeeding decades they were victimized far less than they had

E1b Louis XIII and Richelieu

Armand Jean du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu

Armand Jean du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu, succeeded in breaking the political power of the great families of France—making the king an absolute ruler—and in establishing France as the first military power of Europe.

Hulton Deutsch

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been during the previous century. But their situation again deteriorated in the 1660s under pressure

from the monarchy.

Richelieu’s restraint against the Protestants infuriated the dévots, and so did his foreign policy.

Because the Habsburgs threatened France’s eastern and southwestern borders, Richelieu concluded

that France had to support the Protestant German princes, who since 1618 had been battling the

Catholic Habsburg alliance in the Thirty Years’ War. Richelieu resorted to force abroad only gradually.

In the 1620s he fought for French interests in Savoy against the Spaniards, but France did not openly

declare war on Spain and the Habsburg Holy Roman emperor until 1635.

The war went badly at first. In 1636 Spanish forces invaded eastern France—the second Spanish

intervention in France in 50 years. But Spain was eventually driven out, and the French went on the

offensive in the late 1630s. By Richelieu’s death in 1642, France had conquered Alsace in the east and

Roussillon in the south. Under Richelieu’s successor, Jules Cardinal Mazarin, France made peace with

the Holy Roman Empire in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 and with Spain in the Treaty of the

Pyrenees in 1659. These treaties recognized French acquisitions in Alsace, Artois, Picardy, Lorraine,

and Roussillon. They also established the legal basis for continued French interference in the empire.

Henceforth, France had the authority to thwart any Habsburg effort to expand imperial control of

Germany. Of all the major participants, France clearly lost the least and gained the most from the

Thirty Years’ War. From 1659 to 1713 France dominated Europe in much the same way that Spain had

a century earlier.

Religious conflict and foreign war provided the occasion and the excuse to build the French state.

Following no preconceived, coherent plan, Richelieu extended many well-established practices, but he

also promoted bureaucratic procedures that were more modern. Thus, he created a large clientele of

officials immediately loyal to him. He increased the number of venal officeholders, who in some years

provided as much as 40 percent of all royal revenues. At the same time, he made important

innovations. For example, he regularized the use and extended the responsibilities of nonvenal

administrators called intendants, who oversaw the monarchy’s operations within provincial districts

known as généralités.

Richelieu was very much aware of the cultural dimensions of building the state. He established the

Académie Française (see French Academy), an organization of 40 literary scholars responsible for

standardizing the French language. The Académie produced the official French dictionary. Richelieu

was also a master propagandist who employed a stable of writers to justify French policies at home

and abroad.

Richelieu’s achievements and his policies won him important enemies, particularly among the dévots,

of whom he had once been a member. In 1630 a group of dévots—including Marie de Médicis; the

king’s brother Gaston, duc d’Orléans; and the minister Michel de Marillac and his brother, Louis de

Marillac—lobbied Louis to dismiss Richelieu. After wavering temporarily, Louis instead turned on the

dévots during the Day of Dupes in November 1630. Michel de Marillac was imprisoned and his brother

was beheaded. Gaston went into temporary exile, while Marie left France forever. Gaston was involved

in two more coups directed against Richelieu—one in 1632 and one in 1642—but neither was any

more successful than the first. Richelieu died in 1642, master of France, and his patron and partner,

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Louis XIII, died a year later.

Richelieu and Louis left behind a monarchy more imposing than it had ever been. But they also left

behind a heavy burden, particularly since the new king, Louis XIV, who reigned from 1643 to 1715,

was only four years old at his accession, and France once again fell under a regency.

E2 Louis XIV

Louis XIV

French king Louis XIV ruled from 1643 to 1715. Louis was convinced that the power of the monarchy came by divine right, and he exercised absolute control over France and the French people. Determined to make France into a strong, culturally advanced nation, he built up the French military and actively supported French artists and writers. Louis’s reign was the longest in the history of Europe, and became the model for other absolute monarchies in 18th-century Europe.

E2a The Regency

Archivo Fotografico Oronoz

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Regency government almost always meant weak royal authority. This regency also suffered from the

fact that it was headed by two foreigners—the king’s Spanish mother, Anne of Austria, and Jules

Cardinal Mazarin, an Italian-born protégé of Richelieu. Although Mazarin was a wily strategist, he and

Anne faced awesome tasks. They had to prosecute the as-yet-unconcluded wars with the Holy Roman

Empire and Spain. They also had to deal with spreading resistance to rising taxes imposed to pay for

war. During Richelieu’s administration, direct taxes had nearly tripled. Refusal to pay taxes and

peasant revolts directed against the state’s fiscal policies had become commonplace by the 1630s.

Despite rising revenues, Mazarin and Anne had to cope with an impending state bankruptcy. At the

same time, they had to handle a growing conflict between venal officeholders and the intendants.

Finally, they had to deal with the legacy of Richelieu’s heavy-handed policies and uneven distribution

of state patronage, which had alienated powerful members of the nobility. The nobility now sought to

cash in on the government’s apparent weakness.

Jules Mazarin

French cardinal and statesman Jules Mazarin served as tutor to the young King Louis XIV of France and chief minister to Anne of Austria who served as regent after the death of King Louis XIII in 1643. Through these roles, Mazarin effectively controlled French government while Louis XIV was a minor.

E2b The Fronde

CORBIS-BETTMANN/S. A. Archivo Icongrafico

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At virtually the same time that France was concluding its involvement in the Thirty Years’ War, the

revolt known as the Fronde erupted in Paris. The crisis began when the monarchy ordered the

Parlement of Paris to register a package of fiscal measures, including tax hikes. If the parlement failed

to register the package, the monarchy threatened to suppress payments on the parlement’s venal

offices and revoke the paulette, the tax that allowed venal offices to be inherited. The parlement not

only protested against the package, it also demanded the reduction of the intendants’ powers and the

approval of the parlements to new taxes. When the monarchy arrested one leading member of

parlement, mass demonstrations broke out in Paris, forcing Anne and her family to leave the city. A

compromise that favored the parlement was reached in March 1649.

But disorders that had festered for years in the countryside now exploded, as the return of plague and

hunger revived memories of the not-so-distant Wars of Religion. Leading nobles, including Gaston,

Louis de Bourbon prince de Condé, and Armand de Bourbon prince de Conti, joined the conflict and

struggled for position. In the chaos, thousands of pamphlets, the Mazarinades, were circulated in

Paris, attacking the cardinal and foreigners in general. Mazarin withdrew to Cologne in 1651, from

where he continued to direct Anne until he returned the next year. Condé assumed leadership of anti-

Mazarin forces and made an alliance with Spain.

The Fronde

The Fronde was a series of revolts by the French nobility against the monarchy between 1648 and 1653. The nobles had some success, especially after Louis II, prince de Condé, assumed leadership of their forces in 1651. Despite this, the Fronde gradually collapsed in 1652 and 1653, and the nobility never again seriously challenged the authority of the French monarchy. Shown here, Condé rallies his troops in a battle in July 1652.

Roger-Viollet

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At this point, the parlement withdrew to a more moderate position, and Paris turned against Condé.

Condé’s internally divided faction failed to develop a coherent alternative to royal absolutism and lost

ground on the battlefield. The Fronde slowly collapsed in 1652, allowing Louis XIV to return to Paris.

Louis had celebrated his 13th birthday a year earlier and could thereby legally assume responsibility

for the state. Although the Fronde petered out, resistance continued for some years. This resistance

took the form of tax strikes and religious opposition to Mazarin. This opposition was based in Paris and

led by Jean Francois Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz, and a dissident Catholic movement, the

Jansenists (see Jansenism). Despite his travails, Mazarin, who died in 1661, had proved a worthy

successor to his patron, Richelieu.

The Fronde clearly illuminated fault lines in the structure of the French monarchy that made it more

brittle than it sometimes seemed. Yet it had little permanent effect on the state. If anything, the

Fronde, like the far more devastating religious wars, gave further impetus to the growth of state

power by demonstrating the need for a strong monarchy to maintain order.

Louis XIV was fortunate to come of age just as the armed insurrection of the Fronde was crumbling

and France’s principal foreign enemies since the early 16th century—Spain and the Holy Roman

Empire—were in sharp decline. Historians debate whether Louis took full advantage of these

opportunities. But it is clear that during his long reign, France assumed a leading position in Europe,

both politically and culturally.

After Mazarin died and the king assumed personal responsibility for running the state, Louis’s foreign

policy led France into four wars: the War of the Devolution (1667-1668); the Dutch War (1672-1678);

the War of the League of Augsburg (1689-1697), also called the Nine Years’ War; and the War of the

Spanish Succession (1701-1714). These wars were increasingly long and costly and generated anti-

French propaganda. They earned Louis a reputation for reckless, overweening ambition and cruel

tyranny that he has never entirely lost. Most modern historians now take a more balanced view. Louis

did bully and threaten weaker powers, such as the Dutch, and occasionally terrorized an area, as in

1688 and 1689 when he devastated the Palatinate, the area west of the Rhine River in Germany. But

he was also capable of moderation. It now appears that—aside from achieving personal glory—his

primary goal was not, as opponents alleged, to conquer Europe, but rather to secure France’s

vulnerable borders.

The main such area was the long-contested, ragged eastern border with Germany and the

Netherlands. Here, Louis made possibly his most critical blunder when he abandoned the old Dutch

alliance against the Spanish and unnecessarily threatened and then attacked the Netherlands in 1672.

The Dutch responded by striking new alliances at various times with Sweden, Spain, the Holy Roman

Empire, and England. In 1689 England joined dynastically with the Netherlands under William of

Orange. These alliances eventually wore down French forces and contained French ambitions.

The succession in Spain became a critical issue in 1700, when the Habsburg king of Spain, Charles II,

died without a direct heir. Before he died, he deeded the Spanish throne to Louis’s grandson, Philip,

duc d’Anjou. Louis could hardly refuse the chance to break the old Habsburg vise around France. He

E2c Foreign Policy

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accepted Charles’s will, although he thereby aroused great fears in England and the Netherlands that

France and Spain would eventually merge into one superpower. War might have been averted, but

Louis precipitated it by reasserting Philip’s rights to the French throne before Philip assumed the

Spanish throne and by moving aggressively in the Spanish Netherlands (roughly present-day

Belgium).

The result was the War of Spanish Succession, in which France suffered a string of humiliating defeats.

Only at the end of the war did France manage to restore some military balance. The Treaty of Utrecht,

signed in 1713, and subsequent treaties gave international recognition to Philip’s accession to the

Spanish throne (Philip V (of Spain)). But Spain relinquished its rights to the Spanish Netherlands and

its Italian possessions, which went to Austria. To win international recognition, Philip had to renounce

his rights to the French throne, although he soon renounced this renunciation. France had acquired

the eastern province of Franche-Comté earlier, and the Treaty of Utrecht confirmed France’s

acquisition of Alsace and Strasbourg.

Although hardly overwhelming in scale, Louis’s territorial acquisitions were important and prepared the

way for further rounding out France’s eastern frontier. The transfer of the Spanish throne from

Habsburg to Bourbon hands was arguably even more significant. It removed a base of hostile

operations on France’s southern border that had long caused trouble. It also led to the formation of an

advantageous diplomatic and military alliance with Spain during the 18th century. Thus, France did

benefit from Louis’s foreign and military policies, even if these wars cost heavily in terms of lives,

money, and ultimately European public opinion.

Louis XIV’s domestic policies are harder to evaluate. The pursuit of war put heavy financial demands

on the state. In response, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, who managed the state’s finances until he died in

1683, pushed through a series of financial reforms. However, he was not able to correct the

fundamental weaknesses of the state’s fiscal system. He streamlined the process of tax collection by

creating the unified General Tax Farm, an organization composed of collectors of indirect taxes, and

by making the intendants responsible for gathering direct taxes, which he tried to make more

equitable. Colbert was a mercantilist—that is, someone who believed that the wealth of the world was

more or less fixed and that to increase its revenues the government should actively work to expand

production, enhance exports, and limit imports. Among his reforms, he lowered internal tolls, raised

tariff barriers to imported goods, and established and granted state monopolies to commercial and

manufacturing enterprises (see Mercantilism). Although most of these state companies failed, Colbert

did bring a temporary order to state finances. This order was disrupted after Colbert’s death, when

Louis’s wars also became longer and more expensive.

By the end of Louis XIV’s reign, the monarchy was so financially squeezed that it adopted one

desperate, old, and dubious fiscal measure after the other in attempts to cover expenses. These

included contracting massive loans, selling venal offices merely to raise revenue, and tampering with

the currency. But the crown also experimented with new, more promising initiatives. These initiatives

included the capitation—the first nearly universal tax levied according to status and income—and the

Council of Commerce, an advisory board on trade policy that included merchants.

E2d Domestic Policies

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By the late 17th century, a French colonial empire began to take shape. Although some French traders

and fishermen had ventured overseas earlier, the French colonial empire effectively began under

Francis I. He supported French voyages of exploration along the Atlantic coast of North America and in

the Canadian interior. Sponsored by trading companies enjoying state monopolies, the first permanent

French settlements were made in the Americas under Henry IV. The explorations of Samuel de

Champlain led to the founding of Québec City in 1608 as a fur-trading post. Competition with England

arose immediately, and in 1613 the English attacked a French encampment in present-day Maine.

Both powers allied with opposing factions among the Native American tribes, thereby amplifying the

conflict (see New France).

Under Louis XIII, the first French colonies in the Caribbean were established in Martinique and

Guadeloupe. At first these colonies relied on indentured white servants for labor in the sugarcane

fields, but gradually they shifted to African slaves. Colbert sought to breathe new life into colonial

trade and settlement by amalgamating established trading companies and by forcing the pace of

migration to the colonies. Neither the unified trading companies, including the French East India

Company (see East India Company) based in India, nor the settlement policies were noticeably

successful. Although French explorers continued to widen French claims in North America, the French

population of Canada in the 1680s stood at only about 10,000. Partly for this reason and partly

because the French navy was weak, England was able to seize Nova Scotia and the asiento—the right

to sell slaves in the Spanish colonies—from France by the early 18th century.

E2e French Colonial Empire

Samuel de Champlain

Samuel de Champlain was a French explorer who, in 1608, founded the Canadian city of Québec as a fur-trading post. Champlain befriended the Algonquin and Hurons in the area. With a party of indigenous peoples and two French companions, Champlain led a raid on the lroquois, who were defeated largely because the Europeans had firearms.

E2f Louis’s Absolutism

Hulton Deutsch

France


The authoritarian quality of Louis’s rule has often been exaggerated. Louis certainly did enhance the

cult of royal authority. He did this most conspicuously through his belligerent foreign policy and the

grandiose court he built at Versailles, which he located away from the people and political pressures of

Paris. Versailles and its lifestyle elevated the private person of the Sun King, as Louis was called.

Thousands of courtiers focused attention on his every activity from morning to night. The nation’s best

and brightest intellectuals and artists were enlisted to enhance Louis’s glory in historical writing,

music, poetry, art, and architecture, all of which flourished under his reign. So brilliantly did Versailles

shine that knowledge of French culture and language became common among elites across Europe.

Louis also increased surveillance of and control over his subjects by building up the military, creating a

Parisian police force, and tightening the system of book censorship.

At the same time, Louis normally sought to rule by way of negotiation and compromise, not by

intimidation and command. Although the Parlement of Paris lost its right to protest before registering

royal edicts in 1672, Louis often consulted the parlement when advancing his initiatives. Similarly, in

dealing with local matters, Louis’s government did not undermine the wealth and status of traditional

French elites. Rather, it enhanced these elites to the point of sharing tax revenues. Versailles itself,

although a showcase for the crown, also served the interests of the courtiers. They came there not

only to watch Louis dress, but also to earn pensions, win government appointments, and gain public

confirmation of their privileged status. Moreover, the Versailles court was only one pillar of aristocratic

social life. Another was Paris, where aristocrats mixed more freely with middle-class intellectuals and

socialites in informal, private gatherings called salons, which prominent women held in their homes.

Hall of Mirrors, Versailles

King Louis XIV of France charged French architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart with the expansion of the Palace of Versailles. Hardouin-Mansart designed the Hall of Mirrors, which was added to the palace in 1684.

The Stock Market/Joe Bator

France


After the late 1680s, Louis’s reign became increasingly troubled. The burdens of war and increasing

debt weighed more and more heavily. At the very end of his reign, a wave of deaths in the royal

house left a single, sickly five-year-old great-grandson as Louis’s sole direct and legitimate heir.

Religious problems also resurfaced. Early in his personal reign, Louis had put pressure on the already

declining Protestant community by restricting Protestants’ worship and access to jobs. In 1681 he

forced Protestant families to lodge troops called dragonnades in their homes. Finally, in 1685 he

issued the Edict of Fontainebleau, repealing the remaining provisions of the Edict of Nantes. The

dévots were now getting closer to realizing their dream of a nation united in faith. Most Protestants

either converted, while sometimes secretly practicing Protestant rituals, or left France.

Although it was generally well regarded in France at the time, the harsh anti-Protestant campaign was

costly. France lost productive merchants and artisans, but more important, the campaign gave

propaganda opportunities to France’s enemies. Bitter French Protestant exiles joined with writers

subsidized by England, the Netherlands, and Germany to assault Louis’s character and regime as

tyrannical and despotic for violating French liberty and the rights of other nations. These charges

would be repeated endlessly against the monarchy until the French Revolution.

E2g Final Years of Louis XIV’s Reign

Cornelis Jansen

Cornelis Jansen was an important 17th-century Flemish theologian. He founded the Roman Catholic reform movement known as Jansenism, which held that all people are destined by God from birth for salvation or damnation. Although not supported by the Roman Catholic Church, Jansenism was popular in the 17th and 18th centuries, especially in France.

Roger-Viollet

France


Louis also reignited problems with the Jansenists. During the 1650s, the Jansenists had been

implicated in the Fronde. Louis’s government regarded them with suspicion, especially after two

Jansenist bishops favored the pope’s position in a major dispute with Louis in the early 1680s. When

Louis sided with the upper clergy against the local priests in the 1690s, the Jansenists began to build

what proved to be a critical alliance with the parlements, which claimed jurisdiction over the Gallican

(French Roman Catholic) Church. Like the Jansenists, the members of the parlements resented the

authority of the high clergy.

In one of the major blunders of his reign, Louis sought to crush Jansenism. In 1713 he arranged for

the pope to issue a papal bull, Unigenitus, which condemned ideas allegedly contained in a work by a

prominent Jansenist theologian. Unigenitus enraged many members of the parlements and others as

well because it suggested that the pope was once again interfering in the affairs of the Gallican

Church.

A highly dangerous lineup of opponents was about to cause major damage to the monarchy, which

had already suffered at the hands of Protestant pamphleteers. When Louis died in 1715, his once

glorious regime had already begun to tarnish.

Louis XIV’s death allowed the French to breathe somewhat more freely, but the regime of the new

king, Louis XV, who ruled from 1715 to 1774, confronted serious problems. Louis XV was only five

years old when he succeeded Louis XIV, and France once again faced a regency government. To gain

approval from the Parlement of Paris for full authority as regent, Philippe II, duc d’Orléans restored

the parlement’s right to protest royal edicts before registering them. Although this right was soon

restricted, the parlements would continue to oppose many royal edicts, especially those dealing with

Jansenism and taxes.

The most critical and urgent issue facing the new regime was the impending bankruptcy of the state.

After trying more modest expedients to add revenue, the duc d’Orléans backed the riskier proposals of

a Scottish financial wizard, John Law. With royal permission, Law founded a private bank, the Banque

Générale, in 1716. Two years later, it was transformed into a state institution, the Banque Royale. Law

also established a speculative commercial company to invest in French colonies. This company, the

Compagnie de l’Occident, was later joined with the bank and other royal concessions, which together

became known as the System. Law expanded the money supply by issuing ever-increasing amounts of

paper money through the bank. This measure, he hoped, would reduce the cost of government

borrowing and stimulate the economy. But the bank issued too many new bank notes in an effort to

sustain share prices in the Company with cheap credit, and confidence in the profitability of the

Company declined. The System collapsed in 1720.

This failure made it more difficult to establish another state bank later on, which the French

government badly needed to obtain cheap credit. It also gave critics grounds for charging that the

regime was becoming a despotism, because Law had used many high-handed, coercive measures to

F From Glory to Revolution

F1 Louis XV

France


promote his bank. In fact, however, Law’s System probably gave the economy a much-needed jolt by

freeing investors of debt and prompting new commercial investment, but these benefits were not

recognized at the time. In the aftermath of Law’s failure, the regime dealt with its fiscal problems

through partial bankruptcy, whereby the government renounced part of what it owed to its creditors.

Louis came of age in 1723, officially ending the regency. But he was only 13 and continued to rely on

the duc d’Orléans, who died a few months after Louis’s 13th birthday. Orléans was followed by the duc

de Bourbon, who was dismissed in 1726 and succeeded by Louis’s old tutor, André Hercule de Fleury,

a cardinal who served as virtual prime minister until 1743.

Fleury tried to restore the nation’s strength by avoiding wars abroad and pacifying domestic disputes,

such as those over Jansenism. After Louis XIV’s death, the regency had scaled back the military to

reduce costs. Fleury wanted to maintain this policy, at least until the state was fiscally stronger. Under

his regime, France, which for a time was uncharacteristically allied with England, took the lead in

calming international tensions. But during the mid-1730s, France became engaged in the War of the

Polish Succession and thereby acquired rights to the provinces of Bar and Lorraine, which passed into

the French royal domain in 1766.

Despite Fleury’s efforts to stay on good terms with England and Austria, an anti-Austrian party in the

government pushed France into participating in the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748) as an

ally of Prussia against Austria, the Netherlands, and Britain. Initially the war did not go well. Austrian

troops ravaged eastern France, and Charles Edward Stuart, a claimant to the British throne who had

the unsteady support of France, failed to topple the Hanoverians, the British royal house. But France

eventually succeeded on the battlefield, capturing a number of cities in the Netherlands. Partly

because of fiscal pressures, partly because Fleury had trained Louis XV not to act the conqueror like

Louis XIV, France settled for much less than it might have gotten in the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle,

which ended the war in 1748. France returned its conquests in the Netherlands and agreed to exile the

highly regarded Charles Edward. The treaty precipitated an outbreak of public protest, and the

monarchy’s popularity declined.

In addition to rising costs due to war, the state faced growing expenditures for domestic programs.

These programs included building roads, reconstructing public buildings, and keeping tighter

surveillance over urban populations, especially the poor. Despite these initiatives, the government was

able for a time to roughly balance the budget. After the Law debacle, the monarchy experimented with

a variety of new taxes to tap the wealth of a broader segment of the population, although political

pressures prevented full implementation. The state also required peasants and day laborers to work a

shift each year on state road crews.

After the War of the Austrian Succession broke out in 1740, however, the government was forced to

borrow increasingly large sums, and by 1748 it had already added 200 million livres to its debt. (The

F1a Foreign Policy

F1b State Finances and the Economy

France


livre was worth about 7.25 grams of silver in 1700 and declined to about 4.5 grams by 1785.) This

debt would have certainly been higher had the economy not begun to improve and the tax base

widened.

Economic expansion resulted in part from the growth of population, which had stagnated around 1560

and grew little if at all for the next century and a half. In 1715 the population stood at about 23

million; in 1745 it was about 25 million; by 1789 it reached around 28 million. These moderate

increases can be explained in part by a decline in the death rate, which was in turn due to a reduction

in plague and war-related deaths. Modest improvements in food production and better transportation

of grain to areas hard-hit by famine also contributed to population growth. Famine, which occurred

often during the 17th century, was less severe and frequent between 1710 and 1789. Manufactures

grew, and by 1789 their value roughly equaled the value of all agricultural products. Moreover,

between 1716 and 1789 foreign trade tripled, enriching in particular major port cities, such as

Marseille, Bordeaux, and Nantes.

The fastest growing sector of the economy was colonial trade, which increased tenfold during the 18th

century. The major source of colonial wealth was the French Caribbean possessions, including Saint-

Domingue (present-day Haiti), which had nearly half a million slaves by 1789. Although France lost

most of its possessions in North America, including Canada, to Britain in 1763, it kept its valuable

colonies in the West Indies for several more decades.

The benefits of this economic growth were not spread evenly. Poorer peasants and communities far

from major trade routes gained little. Inflation, which caused prices to double between 1720 and

1789, ate up the wage increases of many workers. But urban populations, especially the middle class,

flourished. The middle class benefited from new ways to earn a living (in trade and the professions)

and spent more on a growing variety of products that made life more comfortable and interesting.

These ranged from medical devices and services to books and newspapers.

F1c The Enlightenment

Voltaire

The French writer and philosopher Voltaire is considered one of the central figures of the Age of Enlightenment of the 1700s, a period which emphasized the power of human reason, science, and respect for humanity. Voltaire believed that literature should serve as a vehicle for social change. His biting


France


During the 18th century, literacy grew throughout France—faster among peasants than among

urbanites. By 1789 roughly a third of the French nation was literate enough to sign their names, and

demand grew for inexpensive editions of classics and new works. Publishers struggled to meet

demand by using cheaper paper, smaller print, and flimsier bindings. Best-selling works that had been

censored for religious, political, or moral reasons were often printed abroad and smuggled across the

border.

The increase in literacy helps explain the emergence of the intellectual movement called the

Enlightenment. At the core of the Enlightenment was the philosophes, a group of professional writers

and scientists who advocated reform. They frequented salons and often worked under the auspices of

the royal academies in Paris, which was gradually replacing Versailles as the cultural center of France.

The philosophes wrote works both for the growing public and for state-sponsored publications and

agencies. Their influential critiques of traditional knowledge and society were most fully developed in

the multivolumed, multiauthored Encyclopédie, which became an international best-seller.

The politics of the philosophes were diverse, reflecting divergent interests and attempts to persuade

different audiences. Their core political value was liberty, but they disagreed on how to best promote

it. Some philosophes, like Charles Louis de Montesquieu, believed liberty would be best protected by

maintaining the traditional rights of individuals and corporate groups and by expanding the role of the

parlements. Others, like Voltaire, believed a strong monarchy was liberty’s best defense. On the

margins of the movement were more radical thinkers, such as Jean Jacques Rousseau, who widened

the political imagination by proposing models of democracy.

satires and philosophical writings demonstrated his aversion to Christianity, intolerance, and tyranny. The expression captured in this portrait of Voltaire in 1718 hints at the sharp sense of humor with which he won the favor of 18th-century French society.

Jean Jacques Rousseau

The philosopher and writer Jean Jacques Rousseau believed that individuals in a state of nature were morally superior to those living in modern, civilized society. His belief in natural innocence pervaded his ideas about education and society as well as his fiction. In his yearning for what he saw as an uncorrupted past, his concern with the exploration of conflicts between moral and sensual values, and his belief in the natural goodness of man, Rousseau was a major influence on 19th-century romanticism, both literary and political.

Hulton Deutsch

France


As reformers, not revolutionaries, most philosophes tried to strengthen the state by modernizing and

liberalizing it. But their vigorous assaults on religious and political orthodoxy offended conservatives.

Their books were frequently censored, and occasionally a philosophe served a prison term. Without

intending it, the philosophes inadvertently fostered the French Revolution by discrediting old

authorities and pushing the pace of reform.

By the 1750s the Enlightenment had reached high gear. At the same time, the monarchy was

becoming increasingly entangled in controversy. A gradually escalating crisis in the state made the

French people open to new possibilities. This crisis had many sources. First, the battle over the anti-

Jansenist papal bull Unigenitus was fought repeatedly during the early and mid-18th century, despite

Fleury’s efforts to quell the conflict with moderate anti-Jansenist policies. The Jansenists published an

underground newspaper and hundreds of pamphlets, and made multiple parlementary protests in an

effort to mobilize public opinion against the crown. Jansenist publications represented the crown as

despotic because it had repressed those appealing to the Paris parlement against the hated papal bull.

Although the controversy around Unigenitus had diminished by the 1760s, many Jansenists continued

to agitate against the monarchy in later crises.

Second, French foreign policy raised profound questions about the monarchy’s competence. In

agreeing to the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, the monarchy threw away its hard-won conquests in

the War of the Austrian Succession. Then in 1756 the crown reversed France’s historic diplomatic

position by allying with Habsburg Austria. In the ensuing Seven Years’ War, France was humiliated by

F1d Growing Crisis

Marquise de Pompadour

The Marquise de Pompadour became the mistress of Louis XV, king of France, in 1745. François Boucher painted this portrait, which hangs in the Louvre museum in Paris, France.


France


its archenemy Britain and Britain’s new ally, Prussia, leading many to think that France had lost its

“natural” position as Europe’s leading power. Louis XV did not help matters when he instituted a policy

regarding succession to the Polish crown that he kept secret from most officials, including his own

foreign minister.

Third, the state’s finances were beginning to crumble again. The Seven Years’ War cost France an

immense 1.5 billion livres, of which one-third was paid from new taxes but two-thirds was paid

through borrowing. Creditors became increasingly unsure the state could repay them and, for this

reason, charged higher interest rates. Taxpayers grumbled over their rising tax bills.

Fourth, Louis’s personal conduct made it all too easy to attribute the state’s mounting problems to the

onset of a true despotism, in which decisions were made by sinister figures behind the throne. Louis

took up with a series of mistresses, most notably the marquise de Pompadour, to whom he appeared

more devoted than he was to the nation. Although the extent of Pompadour’s personal power is

unclear, she did provide a rallying point for some of the king’s ministers. The dévot faction at court

opposed Pompadour and tried to get Louis to dismiss her by carrying out a publicity campaign blaming

her for causing many of France’s problems. Pompadour kept her position until her death in 1764, but

the publicity campaign made Louis appear weak and vacillating. This impression was confirmed by his

tendency to change ministers abruptly, and it helped discredit the monarchy.

Louis’s reputation as a despot peaked during the last years of his long reign. In 1770 Chancellor René

Nicolas de Maupeou abolished the parlements. Their objections to royal policies had elicited

uncharacteristically strong restatements by the crown of its absolute authority. The result was an

outpouring of pamphlets that condemned not only Maupeou but also the king. Louis was caught in the

crossfire between members of the parlements, who sought more limits to royal power, and the dévot

faction, who wanted to maintain absolutism in its traditional form. By the end of his reign, he had

managed to turn his sobriquet, the Well-Beloved, into a satire.

F2 Louis XVI

France


The public hoped for more from the reign of his grandson, Louis XVI, who became king in 1774. Not

wanting to appear a despot, he quickly reinstated the parlements, to much public rejoicing. But Louis

was an unimpressive emblem of the monarchy in an age when public opinion carried increasing

political weight. Awkward and seemingly slow-witted, he became an object of derision for his

incapacity to consummate his marriage to Marie-Antoinette for seven years. More important, the king

was thought to be dominated by his Austrian-born wife, whose conspicuous spending was increasingly

resented.

Louis XVI

Louis XVI of France was the grandson of King Louis XV and was married to Marie-Antoinette. Louis was considered a well-intentioned but weak king. A heavy tax burden and court extravagances led eventually to a popular revolt against him and paved the way for the French Revolution. Louis was guillotined by the revolutionary regime in 1793.

Marie-Antoinette

Marie-Antoinette was the queen of France who died on the guillotine in 1793

ARTEPHOT/Nimatallah

Hulton Deutsch

France


Under Louis XVI, France had only one major success in foreign affairs, the American Revolution, which

France supported with men and money to weaken Britain. But in eastern Europe, France lacked the

means to effectively prop up its old allies, Poland and the Ottoman Empire, against rising threats from

Russia. Austria, France’s supposed ally, frequently sided with Russia, causing the French to become

increasingly hostile to the 1756 alliance and to Marie-Antoinette. Her Austrian origins and connections

aroused doubts about her loyalty to France. Meanwhile, Prussia humiliated France by snuffing out a

French-supported revolt in the Netherlands.

But the monarchy’s main problem lay closer to home, namely its finances. The American Revolution

added another 1.5 billion to 2.0 billion livres to the exploding national debt. By 1789 the government

was spending half its budget on debt servicing. Louis’s finance ministers sought to stop the coming

tide of bankruptcy, while other ministers sought reforms in the administration. From 1774 to 1776,

Finance Minister Anne Robert Jacques Turgot tried to increase revenues by expanding the economy.

To do so, he removed state controls on the grain trade and encouraged new manufacturing by

suppressing the guilds.

His successor, Jacques Necker, streamlined the tax-collection system and reorganized the treasury.

But like Turgot, Necker was forced to borrow additional money at increasingly ruinous interest rates.

In 1781 Necker published the Compte rendu, a doctored account of state finances, to reassure the

state’s creditors about the regime’s financial health.

These numbers were soon challenged by Necker’s rival, Charles Alexandre de Calonne, who succeeded

him in 1783. Calonne sought to expand tax revenues by stimulating the economy through additional

state expenditures. Whatever its economic effects, Calonne’s spending spree worsened the debt crisis,

and he had to consider additional taxes, among other measures. By this time, however, the French

public viewed such initiatives as signs of impending despotism. To overcome resistance in the Paris

parlement, Calonne sought to win prior approval of his plans by an Assembly of Notables, composed of

nobles and high church officials hand-picked for the occasion. Meeting in early 1787, the notables

approved parts of his general plan, but not the tax increases.

Calonne left office and was replaced by Loménie de Brienne, whose own reform plan did no better with

the notables. The notables were dismissed in May 1787, and Brienne tried to deal directly with the

Paris parlement. But negotiations eventually broke down. To resolve the impasse, the monarchy

stripped the parlements of their political powers in May 1788. The only result was an outpouring of

support for the parlements and rising demand for a meeting of the Estates-General to consider the

disintegrating condition of the state. In August, Brienne was fired, Necker recalled, and the Estates-

General summoned to meet in Versailles. The calling of the Estates-General raised a second issue

alongside that of royal despotism: How was the nation to be represented?

during the French Revolution. Her lavish life-style made her unpopular, but she paid no attention to her country’s financial crisis, refusing to make any concessions to hungry mobs who marched on the palace in Versailles. Instead, she called out troops. Violence followed, and she and her husband, King Louis XVI, were imprisoned by revolutionaries and later executed.

F2a Financial Problems

France


Elections were held in late 1788 and early 1789, and lists of grievances were drawn up to guide the

delegates in their deliberations. The compiling of these lists contributed to the politicization of the

nation. In September 1788 the Paris parlement decided that voting in the forthcoming meeting of the

Estates-General would proceed by estate, not by head. (The Estates-General was divided into three

estates, or legally defined social classes: the clergy, who made up the first estate; the nobility, who

made up the second estate; and the rest of the people, who made up the third and largest estate.)

The decision was probably made to prevent the king from tampering with the procedures of the

Estates-General. But members of the third estate considered the decision a sellout because it gave

disproportionate power to the clergy and nobles. The issue of voting dominated the Estates-General

when it met in May 1789, leaving the financial crisis unresolved.

After weeks of bickering, the third estate acted on its own. It established itself as the National

Assembly in June and invited the clergy and nobility to join it and vote by head. The king at first

opposed the new arrangement, then reluctantly accepted it. But already a major break with past

practice had occurred, and the king appeared to want to reverse a process over which he had lost

control.

F2b The Estates-General

Fall of the Bastille

On July 14, 1789 an angry mob, tired of the oppressive brutality of the French monarchy, captured the Bastille, the royal prison in Paris.


France


Further deepening the crisis was the first major famine in France since 1709. Bread prices

skyrocketed, and vagrancy increased as the poor searched for food. Many saw these vagrants as paid

agents of the nobility intent on attacking the peasantry, resulting in new waves of panic. When Louis

called for military reinforcements in and around the capital and dismissed Necker, the hungry people

of Paris rose in revolt. On July 14, 1789, they stormed the Bastille, an old fortress-prison that many

critics of justice in the Old Regime had made the symbol of despotism. Revolt had turned into

revolution.

The crumbling of the monarchy in 1789 opened the way to more sweeping changes in France’s

political structure than occurred in any other period of French history. In the course of the French

Revolution, the state was massively reorganized, while a tradition of revolution became part of

France’s political culture. As a result, political stability, which the revolutionaries themselves sought

after a time, proved elusive. The French Revolution caused a breach in French politics that would not

be healed for a century and a half. Again and again, conservative, counterrevolutionary parties that

defined the nation in terms of its prerevolutionary past clashed with parties that saw 1789 as a critical

moment of national rebirth. Since the revolution, France has lived through five republics, two empires,

and a variety of other regimes.

The Estates-General, 1789

First established in 1302, the Estates-General was a French legislative body comprising members of the three groups, or estates, of French society: nobility, clergy, and commoners. Powerful in the 14th and 15th centuries, the body’s importance declined, and it did not meet at all between 1614 and 1789. In that year, called by King Louis XVI in a desperate attempt to stave off civil unrest, the Estates-General voted to make itself a permanent National Assembly. Louis’s efforts to repress the new assembly caused widespread rioting and ushered in the French Revolution.

G The Reshaping of France


France


During the 19th century, France’s society and economy experienced other less dramatic but equally

important changes. The French Revolution destroyed the structure of traditional privilege, turning

subjects unequal before the law into citizens with roughly equal rights. The Industrial Revolution,

which took place more gradually in France than in other European nations, offered new means of

making a living and greatly raised living standards. Indeed, one of the major issues in modern French

politics has been how to assure a fair distribution of the benefits provided by the industrial economy.

In 1789 the French nation embarked on reconstructing itself. In August the National Assembly

proclaimed the end of the feudal regime—meaning primarily the end of the dues peasants owed their

landlords. The assembly also enacted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, intended

as the preface to a constitution to be written later. Brief and vague, the Declaration both affirmed the

sovereign authority of the nation and limited that authority by recognizing individual rights to life,

property, and security. Work on the constitution began immediately. Finished in 1791, the constitution

maintained the monarchy. But in an effort to prevent further despotism, the constitution sharply

limited the king’s powers and invested greater authority in a single-bodied legislature, to be elected by

wealthy males.

Between 1789 and 1791, the National Assembly also reorganized the nation into 83 districts, called

departments, and gave them considerable power to run their own affairs. The assembly eliminated the

nobility as a legally defined class, abolished venality of office, and made the French Catholic Church an

agency of the state. The lands of the church were seized and gradually sold off to repay the

monarchy’s debts and to reimburse venal officeholders. Full citizenship was extended to Jews and

other religious minorities. These radical changes were resisted by some people, especially the nobility

and the clergy, who began to leave France as early as the summer of 1789. Called the émigrés, these

exiles lobbied other nations to crush the French Revolution.

In October 1789 an angry mob forced the king and his family to leave Versailles for Paris. The king

then reluctantly and belatedly accepted revolutionary reforms. In June 1791 the royal family

attempted to escape from Paris and possibly from France, only to be stopped near the French border.

The king and his family were essentially prisoners when the new constitutional monarchy took effect in

October 1791. Differences soon surfaced over measures to be taken against the émigrés and those

members of the clergy who refused to swear the required oath of allegiance to the new regime. Using

the issue as a means to gather support, a group of deputies called the Brissotins gained power in the

legislature (Brissot, Jacques Pierre). In April 1792 they pushed the legislature into declaring war on

Austria, which was later joined by Prussia, England, Spain, and the Netherlands. The French army was

unprepared for war and was soon put on the defensive. The whole revolution now seemed in acute

danger. In August angry mobs attacked the Palace of the Tuileries, where the royal family lived.

Shortly thereafter, the assembly voted to disband the new government in favor of a new constitution

to be written by the National Convention, a new body of elected deputies.

G1 Revolution and Empire

G1a The Moderate Revolution

France


The National Convention met in September 1792 and voted to abolish the monarchy immediately and

establish a republic. It proceeded to try Louis for treason, convicted him, and executed him on

January 21, 1793. During this time, counterrevolutionary revolts broke out in rural areas such as the

Vendée, and the military situation continued to deteriorate.

The convention was dominated by conflict between two factions—the more moderate Girondins (the

former Brissotins) and the more radical Jacobins—although many deputies were unaffiliated. The

Jacobins formed an alliance with the Paris mob, which for a time exercised considerable power, and

purged the convention of the Girondin leadership. In the late summer and fall of 1793, the Jacobins,

under the leadership of Maximilien Robespierre, established the machinery of the Reign of Terror. The

Terror was intended to coerce citizens into contributing to the war effort and to help save the republic.

The Jacobins won notable successes on the battlefield and crushed the Vendée revolt. They thereby

saved the revolution, but they also arrested a quarter-million French people. Of these, they executed

about 30,000, often on questionable grounds, for working against the republic. They terrorized other

deputies and eventually alienated the Paris crowd. By July 1794 they had so narrowed their political

base that Robespierre and his closest associates were arrested and guillotined. The Terror was over,

and the French Revolution drifted toward the right for the first time since 1789.

G1b The Radical Revolution

Maximilien Robespierre

Maximilien Robespierre was one of the most controversial figures in the French Revolution. In the cause of fostering democracy, Robespierre helped bring about the Reign of Terror in which thousands were executed by the guillotine. He eventually met the same fate.

G1c The End of the Revolution

Hulton Deutsch

France


As the instruments of the Reign of Terror were dismantled, the convention worked on a new

constitution. The goals of this new constitution were to preserve the achievements of the French

Revolution while ending the process of revolution itself. To prevent a renewal of the Terror by a single

branch of government, the constitution that was enacted in 1795 distributed power between a two-

chambered legislature and a five-man executive, known as the Directory.

Although it lasted longer than the other revolutionary regimes before it, this government also failed to

stabilize the political system. Its leaders fundamentally distrusted democratic procedures and went so

far as to cancel elections that brought undesired results. The government refused to abide by its own

constitution. It shifted back and forth between alliances with the left and the right, turning

increasingly to a policy of repression imposed by the military.

Meanwhile, the armies of the republic extended the French sphere of influence into Belgium, the

Netherlands, Switzerland, and Italy. Military victory contributed to the growing power of a Corsican-

born general with great political ambitions, Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1799 serious military setbacks

weakened the Directory’s political grip, and fears grew that the radical left was about to take over.

Politician and theorist Emmanuel Sieyès then joined forces with Bonaparte to scuttle the government.

On November 9, 1799, Bonaparte’s troops forced members of the legislature to vest state power in a

new provisional government, soon to be called the Consulate. It was composed of Sieyès, Bonaparte,

and French statesman Pierre Roger Ducos. The Directory was finished and so was the revolutionary

Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte was the greatest military genius of the 19th century. He conquered most of Western Europe and Egypt for France, while instituting reforms in these new territories aimed at guaranteeing civil liberties and improving the quality of life. He crowned himself emperor of France in 1804 and galvanized the country, introducing reforms intended to unify the revolution-fractured nation. Many of Napoleon’s reforms are still in effect today, including some guarantees regarding civil liberty.

Photo Researchers, Inc./G. Tomsich

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process that had brought it into existence.

The only real star in the new government, Bonaparte was designated as first consul and given a term

of ten years. He quickly assumed nearly total power, despite the existence of a puppet legislature. In

1802 he signed a treaty with France’s enemies, which allowed France to keep control of northern Italy

and the regions around the Rhine. It brought France the first real peace it had known in ten years. On

a wave of popular acclaim, Bonaparte was appointed first consul for life. He successfully built up a

wide constituency, drawing from both supporters and opponents of previous revolutionary regimes. To

further that end, he pardoned most of the émigrés in 1802.

Even more important were Bonaparte’s institutional reforms, most dating from this early period of his

rule. In 1801 he settled the outstanding issues related to the French Catholic Church in a concordat

agreed to by the pope. The concordat affirmed Roman Catholicism as “the religion of the great

majority of citizens,” limited papal interference in the affairs of the French church, provided state

salaries for the clergy, and recognized the Revolution’s confiscation of church lands as permanent.

Bonaparte reorganized the civil administration, instituting a system of prefects, subprefects, and

mayors charged with executing his orders in the provinces. To strengthen state finance, Bonaparte

stabilized the value of the franc, the common name for the livre after 1789, and established the Bank

of France (Banque de France), which facilitated government borrowing. To reform education, he

instituted a series of secondary schools run according to a code of military discipline. These schools

were later incorporated into the Imperial University, a state agency to oversee and coordinate

education. Bonaparte also completed another project that would help define the modern French

nation—France’s first systematic law code (see Code Napoléon).

Having reformed France’s government, Bonaparte reformed his own status. In 1804 he crowned

himself emperor as Napoleon I, thereby initiating the First Empire. The revolutionary dreams of liberty

were now forgotten in favor of a benevolent despotism, whose citizens were kept under close

surveillance by Napoleon’s police chief Joseph Fouché, duc d’Otrante.

G1d First Empire

Louis XVIII

Louis XVIII twice took the throne as king of France: once in 1814 when Emperor Napoleon abdicated, and once in 1815 when Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo. This painting by Robert LeFevre is at the Musée de la Ville de Paris, Musée Carnavale in Paris, France.


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Many of Napoleon’s individual domestic reforms—the system of prefects, the Bank of France, the law

code—proved enduring, but the fate of the First Empire as a whole was determined on the battlefield.

Indeed, the First Empire was, more than anything else, a machine of war. In 1803 France renewed

conflict with England, and soon thereafter with other powers. Over the next few years, Napoleon won

a string of brilliant military victories. His special target was Britain, the keystone of the opposing

alliance. Napoleon sought to cripple the British economy and stimulate French production with the

Continental System, a blockade to prevent British goods from reaching most European nations. The

Continental System failed, but by 1810 Napoleon had established an empire of satellite kingdoms—

many ruled by his relatives. Napoleon’s empire extended from Spain to Poland and included an

alliance with Russia as well as the subordination of Prussia and Austria.

This empire proved unstable and was short-lived. Spain erupted in guerrilla activity, supported by

Britain; Russia pulled out of both the Continental System and its French alliance; and Napoleon failed

to turn around Russian opposition through his ill-fated invasion of Russia in 1812. By 1813 the empire

was crumbling and reeling from defeat. The following year allied armies entered France. Napoleon

abdicated and was sent to the Italian island of Elba while the Bourbons returned to power under Louis

XVIII.

In 1815 Napoleon attempted a comeback. He arrived in France and rallied the people to his side under

Battle of Waterloo

On June 18, 1815, French emperor Napoleon I and his armies met a force of primarily Austrian, Prussian, and British troops near the town of Waterloo, in modern Belgium. The Battle of Waterloo was one of the bloodiest in modern history, and it ended in Napoleon’s crushing defeat. Shown here, Prussian troops storm the village of Plancenoit, southeast of Waterloo, during the battle.


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the promise of a new, more liberal regime. But this brief interlude, known as the Hundred Days, ended

with Napoleon’s final crushing defeat in the Battle of Waterloo and the second Bourbon restoration.

The career that began in military glory ended because of military and diplomatic miscalculation.

Napoleon was exiled to the Atlantic island of Saint Helena, where he died in 1821.

Few individuals have had such a lasting impact on French history as Napoleon. Yet the nature of his

legacy remains disputed. He ended the turbulence of the revolutionary decade while completing some

of the revolution’s unfinished business. His way of healing the cleavage between revolutionaries and

counterrevolutionaries was to personalize politics through a cult of his own glory, to embark on

ultimately fruitless campaigns of military conquest that cost the lives of about 3 million people, and to

unify the nation through the centralization of power. This was one possible answer to the instability

resulting from the revolution, and those who were moved by Napoleon’s myth in later years found it

as compelling as had so many of his contemporaries.

Yet, whether such a system could have endured much longer is questionable, given the losses of

manpower and wealth. Although Napoleon attempted to stimulate French economic production, he

was unable to prevent a net decline in trade and a reduction in the agricultural and industrial growth

rate, due to the disruptions of war. Moreover, it is arguable that the Napoleonic system of command

was not suited for a nation that still had aspirations for liberty, had practiced a primitive form of

democracy during the revolution, and was about to enter a new industrial age. Napoleon opened

careers to men of talent but modest background, so long as they accepted the kind of state-imposed

tutelage from which the early revolution had sought to release them. It remained to be seen what the

French would do under less coercive regimes.

G2 19th-Century French Economy and Society

G2a Industrialization in France

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The term Industrial Revolution, invented over a century ago to describe the rapid economic

transformation of Britain, is not entirely appropriate to describe the change of manufacturing methods

in modern France. To be sure, the two economies appear remarkably similar now, but France’s

transition to an industrial economy was much more gradual. French industrial production lagged

behind that of Britain and Germany for many decades.

This pace was in large part the result of the slow expansion of the French population relative to

population growth in virtually all other countries of Europe. During the 19th century, the British

population increased by about 350 percent, the German population increased by about 250 percent,

and the overall European population more than doubled. But the French population increased by only

40 percent, to about 39 million. French mortality rates did decline—from 25.3 per 1,000 between 1816

and 1820 to 18.3 per 1,000 during the period from 1911 to 1913. However, the birthrate declined

more—from 32.9 per 1,000 from 1816 to 1820 to 18.8 per 1,000 from 1911 to 1913, which was

unusually low for Europe in this period.

Part of the explanation for France’s low birthrate lies in the persistence of the peasantry, which grew

in absolute size, although it declined as a fraction of the total population. Peasants were typically

Industrialization in France

As the Industrial Revolution swept through France in the early and mid-1800s, factories and other manufacturing facilities began to appear throughout the country. By 1850 iron production was the dominant heavy industry in France, and foundries like the one shown here were increasingly common.

Bridgeman Art Library, London/New York/Musee d'Orsay, Paris, France/Reunion des Musees Nationaux

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forced to limit family size because they earned only very modest incomes from cultivating small plots

and working at a variety of low-paying jobs. Some peasants migrated to the cities in search of work,

but France’s urban growth was modest relative to Britain’s. Only 14 percent of the French population

inhabited cities of over 10,000 by 1851, compared to 39 percent of the British population. Slower

rates of population and urban growth meant smaller domestic demand for industrial goods. The

foreign market did little to increase this demand because France exported only 8 percent of its

manufactured products until the 1840s. High protective tariffs until the 1860s reduced foreign

competition that might have stimulated innovation.

As in Britain, industrialization in France began in the textile industry. It then spread to heavy industry,

especially iron, which became the dominant industrial sector by the mid-19th century. Not all sectors

of manufacturing were immediately affected by the Industrial Revolution. Until the 1880s, for

example, glassware continued to be produced by small family firms of skilled workers employing

traditional, manual glassblowing techniques.

Beginning in the 1840s, railroad construction powerfully transformed all sectors of the French

economy, spearheading an economic boom that lasted until the 1860s. Earlier in the 19th century,

canal and road building had begun to create a truly national market, but the railroads allowed goods

to reach virtually all areas of France by World War I (1914-1918). Railroad construction also

stimulated demand for metal to produce rails and rolling stock.

Railroads did not, however, prevent the onset of a serious economic recession beginning in the 1860s.

The recession was caused primarily by the inability of French agricultural and industrial producers to

meet the growing worldwide competition for markets to which a reduction in tariffs in 1860 had

exposed them. The recession slowed but did not halt French industrial growth until the strong

recovery of the 1890s. Between the 1890s and World War I, French economic growth accelerated to

twice the rate of the previous three decades.

The impact of industrialization on French society was strong, but not so dramatic as in Britain and

Germany, where faster rates of economic change altered the landscape within a few decades. Paris

suffered critical problems related to health and traffic congestion because it was so large and grew

relatively rapidly. In the 1850s the government undertook a massive program of urban reconstruction

under the leadership of the George Eugène, baron d’Haussmann, who was prefect of the Seine.

Haussmann demolished many buildings, widened streets, and constructed a massive network of

waterworks and sewers. Haussmann’s projects, which were accompanied by a great deal of private

rebuilding, transformed Paris from a medieval city into a modern city and provided a model of urban

renewal followed in other French cities.

Industrialization also led to the formation of a French working class. The industrial labor force

expanded from 1.9 million in the period between 1803 and 1812 to 6.7 million in 1913. However, as

late as 1906, only about a quarter of these people worked in establishments of more than 50 workers,

while the remainder worked in smaller businesses. Many people worked under dangerous conditions,

lived in overcrowded housing, and had little employment security. The living standards of most

workers did not begin to rise substantially until the boom of the 1850s. This improvement was

followed by further uneven rises until World War I.

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Peasants, too, improved their standard of living during the 19th century, as comforts once known to

only a few became more common. Some peasants had maintained commercial relations with urban

areas for centuries. However, the coming of railroads and the opening of state-supported schools,

especially during the Third Republic, broke down the commercial and cultural isolation of others.

Standardized French gradually replaced old dialects.

Living primarily in cities and larger villages, the middle class blended imperceptibly at its upper end

with the aristocracy. This group of so-called notables reaped most of the benefits of industrialization

and dominated politics until the Third Republic in the 1870s. At its lower end, the middle class fused

with the upper reaches of the working class. Between these extremes emerged a large class of white-

collar workers with modest incomes derived from small businesses, retail shops, and clerical and

professional jobs. This class formed the backbone of the republican constituency in the late 19th

century.

In families of the middle class, women were not expected to work in salaried positions outside the

home. This was particularly true for women who were married and had children. But primarily because

of economic necessity, 68 percent of all women over age 16 and 56 percent of all married women held

salaried jobs in 1906; these numbers were, however, much lower in nonagricultural areas.

Despite their critical contributions to the economy, women had far fewer rights than men. Indeed,

they constituted the largest disadvantaged group in a nation that had proclaimed the equality of rights

in 1789. Under the Code Napoléon, husbands had full control over family property, including dowries

brought by wives into their marriages. Divorce was illegal from 1816 until 1884, and the legal and

social consequences of adultery were much more severe for women than for men. Secondary

education was unavailable to most females until the 1880s. The right to vote was extended to women

only in 1945 after a half-century of agitation. Even today women hold only a small, although

increasing, number of top positions in the French government.

The collapse of the First Empire led to a quick succession of regimes and revolutions until 1875. This

instability was rooted in the deep political divisions left by the French Revolution, divisions relating to

the structure of government, the role of the church, and the distribution of wealth generated by the

Industrial Revolution.

The First Empire was followed by the Bourbon Restoration under Louis XVIII. It is often said that the

leaders of the Restoration tried to “turn the clock back to 1789,” but they were well aware that that

was impossible. Too many institutions of the Old Regime had been destroyed, and too many new ones

had survived Napoleon’s passing. Not only was a new system of law and administration in place, but a

double-chambered legislature henceforth provided at least some balance to executive authority.

G2b Emergence of the Middle Class

G3 Politics from Napoleon to World War I

G3a The Bourbon Restoration

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Instead, the leaders of the Restoration sought to reinstitute the power and authority of the nobility

and the elite clergy, groups that had suffered grievous losses during the previous quarter of a century.

They also wanted to make the new institutions work to their advantage.

Louis realized that he had to make some concessions to those who had supported the French

Revolution. Thus in 1814 he proclaimed—not as a matter of natural right but as the concession of a

divine-right king—a charter with weak guarantees of basic civil liberties. But after the Hundred Days,

the brief period in 1815 when Napoleon returned to office, extreme ultraroyalists convinced Louis to

purge the administration of its revolutionary personnel. At the same time, conservatives unleashed a

wave of terror against political undesirables in the countryside. Ultraroyalists decisively won the first

round of elections, but their hold was broken in the elections that Louis called in 1816.

These elections were won by a loose coalition of liberals, who supported the moderate reforms of the

revolution but not popular democracy. They continued to increase their influence until 1820, when the

king’s nephew was assassinated. Then the ultraroyalists, who blamed the assassination on the liberals,

returned to power, where they remained for most of the Restoration. Their position was enhanced

when a supporter of their agenda, Charles X, became king in 1824 upon Louis’s death.

Charles’s coronation at Reims in 1825 with most of the medieval trimmings was followed by other

gestures that recalled the Old Regime, including legislation (never enforced) to punish sacrilegious

acts. A relatively modest law was passed compensating émigrés for property confiscated during the

revolution. But disputes over leadership and the role of the papacy in the French Catholic Church split

the ultraroyalists, allowing moderate royalists and liberals to gain seats in the elections of 1827.

Charles made temporary concessions to the moderates, but in 1829 he installed an ultraroyalist

ministry under the hated chief minister, Jules de Polignac. Polignac offended both the center and the

left, leading to a fight in the Chamber of Deputies, the lower legislative house, in 1830. When the king

called for new elections, the ministry was decisively repudiated at the polls. Charles responded by

signing the July Ordinances, which dismissed the new Chamber of Deputies even before it met,

restricted the right to vote, and limited freedom of the press. Despite a military victory in Algeria that

led to its annexation by France, Charles’ government was doomed. The July Ordinances touched off a

revolution in Paris that drove Charles from the throne. The Restoration was over.

G3b The July Monarchy


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The Revolution of 1830 led to a new regime, known as the July Monarchy because of the month of its

birth. It was headed by Louis Philippe of the house of Orléans, who ruled from 1830 to 1848. His

supporters in the Orléanist Party were largely drawn from the notable class of wealthy landowners and

businessmen. The Orléanists were prepared to endorse the political heritage of 1789 to the extent that

they broke with the idea of divine-right monarchy and waved the three-color flag created in the early

1790s. But they did not endorse popular democracy.

The Orléanist regime was challenged on the left by radical republicans and on the right by former

ultraroyalists, but it was devoted to maintaining political and social stability. It did so with brute force,

as when it put down revolts of the Lyonnais weavers in 1831 and 1834. Although not marked by great

new initiatives, the July Monarchy did pass a law in 1833 laying the foundation for a national system

of primary schools. The sponsor of this measure, François Guizot, a Protestant, became chief minister

in 1840, lending a slight anticlerical cast to the regime.

Under the July Monarchy, the social problems arising out of the Industrial Revolution became matters

of increasing debate. The regime itself, however, tended to a laissez-faire, or hands-off, policy and did

little to solve social problems. Félicité de Lamennais, a philosopher who later became a priest, led an

ultimately unsuccessful campaign to interest the pope in the cause of social reform. The left developed

a number of sweeping plans of reform to save humanity from the perils of modern industrial society.

Among the more grandiose were the plans of Charles Fourier and those of the followers of Saint-

Simon. Fourier wanted to replace modern cities with utopian communities, and the Saint-Simonians

advocated directing the economy by manipulating credit. Although few of these programs had much

support, they did expand the political and social imagination of their contemporaries, including a

German-born exile in Paris named Karl Marx.

They also increased dissatisfaction with the bland policies of the July Monarchy, and in 1848 the

regime was overthrown. An economic recession in 1846 and 1847 had already spread discontent in

the population. Then in February 1848 opponents of the regime provoked it into ordering a crackdown

on dissent. The government failed to master the situation, and crowds in Paris drove out the king.

Louis Philippe abdicated on February 24. A new republic was declared, a provisional government was

organized, and the call went out for fresh elections. France was once again in revolution.

The Second Republic lasted only four years, due chiefly to the inability of the regime to reconcile

widely divergent political agendas. The provisional government responded to the crisis of

unemployment by establishing national workshops to provide jobs in Paris. But the workshops were

quickly dismantled after a relatively conservative government was elected in April 1848. This election

was the first held in France on the basis of true universal male suffrage, and France was still

overwhelmingly a country of relatively conservative peasants.

Louis Philippe

This 1839 portrait of Louis Philippe, king of France, was painted by Franz Winterhalter. It is in the Palace of Versailles near Paris, France.

G3c The Second Republic

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Parisian workers rose in revolt, barricading themselves in the streets. The government responded by

sending in troops, who bloodily repressed the revolt in what is known as the June Days of 1848. This

repression marked a major breakdown in the loose alliance of workers and bourgeois that had

underpinned revolutionary movements since 1789. A new republican constitution was enacted in

November, but it left unclear the respective powers of the unicameral assembly and the executive

president. In the presidential elections of December 1848, the overwhelming winner was a nephew of

the great Napoleon, Louis Napoleon, who had previously tried to overthrow the July Monarchy and had

served time in jail for it.

Louis Napoleon’s appeal lay not only in his prestigious dynastic background but also in his fuzzy

political platform, which allowed people of different parties to see in him a fellow spirit. In May 1849 a

new legislature was elected. The big winners were right-wing monarchists and, to a lesser extent, left-

wing radicals; moderate republicans went down to defeat. Exploiting ambiguities in the constitution

regarding the limits of his power, Louis Napoleon at first favored the right. He agreed reluctantly to a

restriction of the suffrage and to a law that increased church influence in education. But by 1851, the

president fell out with the assembly over his demands for funds to pay his debts and for a

constitutional revision that would allow him to serve a second term.

On December 2, Louis Napoleon had assembly leaders arrested and then altered the constitution so

that he could have a ten-year term. This change was approved overwhelmingly by the voters, and a

year later he followed in his famous uncle’s footsteps by making himself emperor as Napoleon III. This

move was also approved by a wide margin, demonstrating what many liberals, such as the historian

Alexis de Tocqueville, feared—namely that democracy in France would lead to the end of liberty. The

republic had given way to the Second Empire.

Napoleon III enjoyed the political benefits of ruling during a period of rising prosperity, but his success

G3d The Second Empire

Napoleon III

Napoleon III ruled as emperor of France from 1852 until 1870. The nephew of French emperor Napoleon I, he ruled with an authoritarian hand until 1860, when he began a series of liberal reforms. France’s economy and infrastructure flourished and grew during his reign, but the country suffered major military setbacks.

Woodfin Camp and Associates, Inc./Hulton-Deutsch Collection Limited

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was due equally to his considerable political talents. He built a well-oiled political machine that made

him master of France, and he had sufficient insight to see that his success depended on distributing

patronage widely. Moreover, he had the unusual foresight to anticipate and forestall opposition before

it became a real threat.

Recognizing that the authoritarianism of his early reign would eventually be challenged, he gradually

liberalized his regime, relaxing controls on the press, allowing workers to organize, and widening the

power of the legislature. Although the opposition exploited these concessions and grew stronger,

Napoleon III continued on his liberalizing course. In 1870 he proposed a new constitution that further

increased the power of the legislature. It was heartily endorsed by the electorate, thereby lending

fresh authority to the regime. Had Napoleon III shown as much wisdom in foreign affairs, France

might well have evolved fairly smoothly into a regime resembling the Third Republic, with the emperor

assuming a supervisory role above party politics.

As it happened, Napoleon III’s regime, like that of his uncle, died of battle injuries. Since 1815 France

had pursued a cautious foreign policy, surprising the rest of Europe, which had expected France to

continue being a disruptive force in international affairs. Although allied loosely with Britain, France

remained isolated under the July Monarchy. Napoleon III conceived of a grander French role in Europe

and elsewhere. Between 1854 and 1856 he joined forces with England to fight Russia in the Crimean

War. Imagining himself the godparent to Italian and German nationalism, he supported the efforts of

Piedmont to form a northern Italian league, and in 1866 he helped arrange an Italian-Prussian

alliance. In the 1860s he also backed an ill-fated effort to put a Habsburg prince, Maximilian, on the

throne of Mexico. This venture ended in 1867 with the withdrawal of French troops, the execution of

Maximilian, and the insanity of Maximilian’s wife.

But his fatal blunder was to engage militarily the growing power of Prussia under the able leadership

of Otto von Bismarck. Napoleon III allowed a dispute with Prussia over the Spanish succession to

become a matter of national prestige. Bismarck used the issue to elicit from France a declaration of

war (see Franco-Prussian War). Vastly underestimating Prussian military strength and overestimating

his own, Napoleon III saw his army beaten soundly at the Battle of Sedan in September 1870, and he

became a prisoner of war. Sedan set off political demonstrations in Paris that ended the Second

Empire. On September 4, 1870, a new provisional government was declared.

As minister of interior in the new government, the republican leader Léon Gambetta worked vigorously

to mount patriotic opposition to the advancing Prussian troops, which laid siege to Paris. He escaped

from besieged Paris in a balloon in order to organize provincial defenses. But French resistance

crumbled. During the winter of 1870 to 1871, starving Parisians were reduced to eating zoo animals.

In January, some members of the provisional government split with Gambetta and sued for peace.

A hastily called election in February 1871 produced a legislature that was overwhelmingly monarchist,

largely because the right favored a quick end to the war, as did most French people. The left, on the

other hand, called upon a weary nation to keep on fighting. The new assembly chose Adolphe Thiers,

a seasoned Orléanist politician, to be executive of the provisional government. Thiers negotiated the

peace terms for ending the Franco-Prussian War. France was required to pay 5 billion francs, allow

Prussian forces to temporarily occupy eastern France, and cede to Prussia all of Alsace and part of

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Lorraine. Although the assembly reluctantly approved the terms, the republicans disavowed them.

In March 1871 Paris rose in the revolt of the Commune, which turned a foreign war into a civil one

(see Commune of Paris, 1871). Lasting 72 days, the revolt was largely motivated by opposition to the

peace terms and to the monarchist assembly. But to the radical left, it became a symbol of proletarian

insurgency against the ruling classes. In May Thiers unleashed troops against the Commune and

crushed it. The result was 20,000 people dead and 50,000 sent to trial. Such repression had not been

seen since the Reign of Terror, and bitter memories of the atrocities committed by both sides endured.

The right appeared strong enough to rebuild a monarchy on the ruins of the Commune, but instead

France unexpectedly established the Third Republic. The monarchists’ failure can best be explained by

several factors: rival claims to the throne by the Bourbons and the Orléanists, delays that allowed

opponents to gain strength, and the receding of the war issue on which the right had won at the polls

in 1871.

Meanwhile, Thiers consolidated his power. He rebuilt the army and paid off reparations owed to

Germany as a result of the Franco-Prussian War, after which Prussia was incorporated into the unified

state of Germany. Most importantly, he inspired confidence among people in the political center. His

brutal repression of the Commune convinced them that a republic would not sell out to the radical left.

However, opposition to Thiers led to his resignation in 1873. He was replaced by Marshal MacMahon,

an ally of the monarchists.

Two years later a new constitution was enacted that formally established the Third Republic with a

two-chambered legislature, a president, and a cabinet responsible to the legislature. Few were truly

satisfied with this arrangement, and a party of republican radicals initially rejected it. But the

constitution gained enough support to pass because so-called republican Opportunists such as

Gambetta imagined it could be altered later to create a more unified state. At the same time,

moderate monarchists thought the president would eventually be replaced by a king. As it turned out,

G3e The Third Republic

Georges Boulanger

French general and politician Georges Boulanger rallied supporters against the French Third Republic in the 1880s. In 1889 he was charged with conspiracy. He fled to Belgium and two years later killed himself.

Library of Congress

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both groups were wrong. The Third Republic lasted longer than any other French regime since 1789—

a remarkable result, given that all other major European states at the time were monarchies of one

sort or another.

Republicans decisively won the elections of 1876, which eventually put them at loggerheads with

MacMahon. The next year MacMahon called for new elections to the Chamber of Deputies, which led

only to another, if lesser, republican victory. MacMahon was forced to resign, and his defeat had long-

lasting consequences. Henceforth, the president became a relatively weak figure that would never

again dissolve the Deputies, thereby making the legislature the chief center of power. This outcome

was disappointing to both republicans and monarchists. It also increased the difficulties of forming

ministries with activist agendas, because the large number of parties made forming coalitions

necessary to gain the support of the legislature. If any party in a governing coalition objected to a

proposed policy, this party could easily bring down the coalition by withdrawing from it. Conservative,

agrarian interests dominated in the senate and were thereby able to block reform; as a result, women

and labor unions benefited little from the Third Republic.

Yet the common image of the Third Republic as a stalemate regime with many brakes and a weak

motor needs some correction. In the 1880s the government was strong enough to initiate a vast

program to build and staff secular primary and secondary schools, which instilled patriotic republican

values as a counterweight to those of the church. In the same decade, it expanded France’s colonial

empire, which became the second largest European overseas empire. In the early 20th century, the

Third Republic disestablished the church and led the nation through the severe trials of World War I.

Perhaps most significant, it made republican democracy—still a widely distrusted form of government

in 1870—acceptable to the vast majority of the French. This was achieved partly by developing

nationalistic symbols with wide appeal. In 1879 the revolutionary hymn La Marseillaise was made the

national anthem, and in 1880, Bastille Day, July 14, was declared a national holiday.

Georges Clemenceau

At the age of 76 French journalist and statesman Georges Clemenceau became the premier of France for the second time. During his second tenure as premier he formed a new government that boosted waning national morale and helped lead France to victory over German armies in World War I (1914-1918). Believing that harsh restrictions would inhibit future German war efforts, Clemenceau held fast to this position and influenced the drafting of the postwar Treaty of Versailles. Throughout his life Clemenceau also


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Except during the World War II years from 1940 to 1945, France has remained a republican

democracy. To be sure, the Third Republic was brought down in 1940 by depression and defeat. But

no other post-Napoleonic regime had survived disasters of equal gravity, and most had collapsed

under considerably less stress.

The first serious test of the Third Republic’s resiliency was the Boulanger affair, which followed a series

of financial scandals that discredited the government. In the late 1880s a rising career soldier, General

Georges Boulanger, launched a political career on the basis of his popularity as military reformer. In a

highly nationalistic age, his campaign drew wide support, and radicals such as Georges Clemenceau

initially thought he might serve as a charismatic figure on behalf of the left.

Increasingly however, Boulanger flirted with the right, calling for drastic revisions to the constitution.

He rallied elements of the French population who were dissatisfied with the Third Republic and was

elected to the Chamber of Deputies. As his movement gained strength, the government threatened to

arrest him. In 1889 Boulanger fled to Belgium, where two years later he committed suicide on the

grave of his mistress. Although the Boulanger affair now appears something of a farce, it seriously

threatened the Third Republic, and its resolution proved a political windfall to the center.

Still more serious was the Dreyfus affair in the 1890s. Alfred Dreyfus was a Jewish career army

captain working in military intelligence. In 1894 he was arrested, court-martialed, convicted, and sent

to Devil’s Island for espionage on behalf of Germany. Convinced of his innocence, his family tried

unsuccessfully to reopen the apparently closed case. However, military secrets continued to pass to

the Germans, and a military investigator, Colonel Georges Picquart, found evidence showing that

Major Marie Charles Esterhazy was guilty instead. The army called Picquart off the case, but

information about it began to seep out to the public.

founded newspapers and worked as an editor, writer, and public speaker.

France


Center-left newspapers gradually adopted Dreyfus’s cause as their own, and Esterhazy was brought to

trial. He was acquitted in 1898, but by then it was becoming clear that the army had framed Dreyfus.

In perhaps the most famous newspaper editorial ever published, “J’accuse” (“I Accuse”), the great

novelist and Dreyfus supporter Émile Zola denounced the army for its deceptions.

Controversy gripped the nation and the world as Dreyfus became a symbol of the secular Third

Republic itself. Ordinary citizens chose sides according to their politics. In defending Dreyfus’s

innocence, the center-left saw itself refighting the battles of the French Revolution in favor of liberty

and against the aristocracy and the church. Led by many anti-Semitic monarchists in the church and

the army, the right argued that Dreyfus had to be regarded as guilty, or the army, and by extension

the nation, would fall into disgrace or worse. In 1899 a new military court met and convicted Dreyfus,

now an emaciated walking skeleton, for a second time.

To resolve the controversy, the president of the republic offered Dreyfus a pardon. Dreyfus accepted it

only with reluctance, because it implied a guilt that he had always denied. In 1906 an appeals court

cleared Dreyfus officially of all charges. The army refused to admit it had framed Dreyfus, but he was

nonetheless reinstated. The right continued to believe in Dreyfus’s guilt long after the great affair was

over.

The Dreyfus case inflated the political sails of the Radicals, who pressed on with their campaign

against the church and in 1905 disestablished it altogether. The church vigorously resisted

disestablishment, and as a result, its income declined seriously, as did entries into the priesthood and

attendance at church schools. Disestablishment also freed the church from many compromising

political entanglements. Ultimately it may have improved the quality of the clergy because only the

more dedicated were willing to accept lower salaries. In any case, the church henceforth became a

much less important source of political controversy.

Zola’s “J’accuse”

In 1898 French novelist Émile Zola wrote an open letter to the president of France entitled “J’accuse” (“I accuse”). In the letter, Zola denounced French army officials for lying in their effort to convict Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jew, of treason. The letter was published in the newspaper L’aurore.

Alfred Dreyfus

Liaison Agency/Roger-Viollet


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Another effect of the Dreyfus affair was to galvanize and reorient the right, which had begun to

change even earlier. This “new right” mixed its pleas on behalf of monarchy and the church with a

new, shrill nationalism, opposition to parliamentary government, and anti-Semitism. It used these

tenets effectively in its campaign against Dreyfus. The new right learned how to mobilize public

opinion through journalism and how to organize political campaigns, two abilities that prepared the

way for the fascist leagues of the post-World War I era.

The appearance of the new right was accompanied by the emergence of a larger, more effectively

organized left, in the form of labor unions and the Socialist Party, formally called the Section Française

de l’International Ouvrière (SFIO). The largest labor association was the General Labor Confederation

(CGT), founded in 1895, which claimed nearly a million members by World War I. Its leaders were

suspicious of political parties and leaned toward a strategy of revolutionary anarchism that called for

strikes, sabotage, and boycotts to improve the lot of workers.

This program competed fiercely with the strategy proposed by the Socialist Party, which called for

putting political pressure on the state to raise wages and improve working conditions. The Socialist

Party was formed when a workers’ association led by Jules Guesde joined a political faction led by

socialist scholar, journalist, and politician Jean Jaurès. The Socialist Party, which adopted Marxist

revolutionary language, was winning more than a million votes at the polls and had elected 100

deputies to the legislature (close to 20%) by 1914. Although workers saw their real wages double

between 1894 and 1914, they gained little from state initiatives. The industrial working class remained

a minority of the population, and democracy continued to forestall socialism, even in a regime whose

heart was on the left.

During the early years of the Third Republic, France’s colonial empire grew. Algeria had already

become a French colony in 1830, and by the end of the century Algeria had a European population—

only half of it French—of 665,000 people. Under Louis-Philippe, Tahiti and the Comoro Islands were

added to the French Empire. Under Napoleon III, the French acquired Cochin China (part of present-

day Vietnam) and protectorates over Cambodia and Senegal.

Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the French army, was wrongly convicted of treason in 1894. The Dreyfus case exposed anti-Semitism in the army and generated extraordinary political and social controversy, polarizing liberal, intellectual, and progressive elements in government against the Roman Catholic church, the army, and the conservative political establishment. The case influenced the election of a more liberal-oriented French government in 1899, and helped bring about the decline of the French military’s power and prestige and the separation of church and state. In 1906 Dreyfus was pardoned and reinstated to the rank of major and decorated with the Legion of Honor.

France


In the 1880s, a fresh round of imperialist expansion occurred as France gained colonies in Tunisia, the

Congo, Indochina, and Madagascar. Over the following two decades, France expanded its empire in

China and throughout West Africa, nearly coming to blows with Britain in 1898 over conflicting claims

in the Sudan. The crisis was settled amicably, and the resulting improved relations paved the way for

French military alignment with Britain in Europe. By contrast, colonial expansion only inflamed

relations with Germany, which sought unsuccessfully to frustrate French expansion into Morocco,

where France established a protectorate in 1912.

Economically, French colonialism was problematic. Exports to the colonies represented only about 13

percent of all French exports before World War I. At the same time, the costs of maintaining the

empire increased fivefold from 1875 to 1914, suggesting that empire-building had stronger political

than economic causes.

French colonies were governed centrally from Paris through agents who did not answer to any local

French Indochina

The French colonial territory known as the Indochinese Union (commonly called French Indochina) existed from 1887 to 1945. At its largest, the union comprised the present-day countries of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. Shown here, French soldiers pose with local residents at a military post in French Indochina in the early 1900s.

Liaison Agency/Roger Viollet

France


parliament. In the majority of its territories, France denied full citizenship to most indigenous peoples.

Full citizenship was given only to those who could pass a battery of stringent legal, linguistic,

educational, and religious tests. Thus in French West Africa, only 0.5 percent of the population

qualified as citizens.

The growth of France’s world empire occurred during a period when international tensions were rising

closer to home. The key developments occurred in Germany, which had been unified in 1871 and had

industrialized rapidly. Having soundly defeated France in the Franco-Prussian War, Germany became

Europe’s strongest continental power, while France was diplomatically isolated until the early 1890s.

Then Germany blundered by allowing its secret defense agreement with Russia to lapse. In 1894

Russia joined France in a defensive military pact, which was gradually strengthened. In 1902 France

negotiated an agreement with Italy that ensured Italian neutrality in case of a French war with

Germany. Most important, though far less formalized, was the growing solidarity between France and

Britain. Having already begun to reduce colonial tensions in 1898, France and Britain slowly drifted

together in reaction to Germany’s increasingly erratic and aggressive foreign policies after 1900. In

1904 the two nations reached the Entente Cordiale, an agreement that further clarified colonial

spheres of influence and initiated coordinated military planning.

On July 28, 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, thereby initiating a chain reaction of war

declarations that opened World War I. Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary. Germany declared war

on Russia and then two days later on France; the next day Germany invaded Belgium, a neutral

nation. This invasion caused Britain to enter the war, transforming the Anglo-French entente into a

more formal alliance. France became more closely allied with other nations than ever before, and the

Third Republic faced its most severe crisis to date.

Historians often date the end of the real, as opposed to the chronological, 19th century at 1914, the

year Europe exploded into World War I. This was the first total war, in which governments mobilized

the full resources of the state and society to achieve victory. World War I led to the success of

Bolshevism in Russia and indirectly to the rise of fascism. In France, however, these developments

had less immediate impact. To be sure, France suffered from the heavy economic and human costs of

the war, which left deep scars on the participants and introduced a level of violence that would have

repercussions later.

Even so, the continuities in France between 1914 and 1930 were more striking than the changes.

After a period of adjustment, the economy rebounded, and the government gradually solved its fiscal

problems. Although the war lowered birthrates, these rates had been falling before the war.

Diplomatically, France regained territory it had controlled before 1871, but otherwise the war settled

little. In the 1920s French diplomats contended with more or less the same nationalist rivalries that

had fueled World War I. Politically, the parliamentary system of the Third Republic endured without

much striking change, while the French world empire also continued to grow.

The 1930s and 1940s were the real turning point in France. The onset of the Depression coupled with

H France in Turmoil: World War I Through World War II

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the aggressive expansion of Nazi Germany put heavy strains on the Third Republic, and it collapsed

after Germany defeated and then occupied France at the beginning of World War II (1939-1945).

Under German occupation, the French replaced the Third Republic with a right-wing regime, known as

the Vichy government, which effectively abandoned France’s republican traditions.

German authorities limited the Vichy government’s margin of maneuver, but Vichy still enjoyed broad

support in the population until the tide of war turned against Germany. Yet already in 1940 there was

an alternative to collaboration with the Germans. Local grassroots resistance movements took shape

almost immediately, while General Charles de Gaulle, who was in exile in London, announced that

Vichy would not be France’s future. Events proved him right.

World War I in France began in 1914, when Germany marched through Belgium, hoping to capture

Paris and encircle the French army, most of which was poised on the German border to retake Alsace-

Lorraine. The Germans moved faster than the French did and were well on their way to completing

H1 World War I

Troop Inspection, 1916

French troops line up in 1916 for an inspection in a trench strung with barbed wire. Armies in World War I (1914-1918) made extensive use of field fortifications composed of large numbers of parallel and intersecting trenches. This so-called trench warfare was used on both sides throughout the conflict.

Liaison Agency/Hulton Getty

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their plan when the French recognized the danger. They pulled troops back from the German border

and redeployed them to block the German advance on Paris. The Germans were stopped in the first

Battle of the Marne in September 1914. If the German plan had succeeded, it would have ended the

war in weeks. Instead, a standoff resulted, which defined the nature of fighting for the rest of the war.

In that stalemate, Anglo-French and German armies opposed one another for four years in rain-

soaked, rat-infested, barbed-wire trenches running for hundreds of kilometers through northeastern

France. Both sides tried vainly to puncture the lines of the other and win a decisive victory. They used

the full range of new weaponry—poison gas, tanks, machine guns, airplanes—only to be thrown back.

Meanwhile, casualties mounted in appalling numbers. The Battle of Verdun resulted in more than

700,000 casualties and lasted most of 1916 but resolved essentially nothing.

Such pointless slaughter eroded morale. In 1917 mutinies broke out in the French army, reflecting the

defeatism common among those on the left, who had shown pacifist tendencies before 1914. The

mutinies were put down by the Radical prime minister, Georges Clemenceau, through a combination

of repression and patriotic appeals. In the spring of 1918, the Anglo-French military—now backed by

fresh American troops—finally went on the offensive and forced Germany to an armistice on November

11, 1918. The war that had lasted more than four years was effectively won in six months.

Signing the Armistice

On November 11, 1918, representatives of France, Germany, and Britain met in a train car outside the French town of Rethondes and signed the armistice that ended World War I. Germany’s unconditional surrender ended one of the bloodiest wars in history. The same train car was the site, 22 years later, of the French surrender to Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany during World War II.

Corbis

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World War I did not transform France, but its effects were surely considerable. In a country already

stricken by depopulation, 1.4 million men—10 percent of the nation’s active males—were killed and

twice that number wounded. This loss led to further declines in France’s very low birthrate. So deep

were the scars that monuments to the war dead were erected in virtually every village and town in

France. Material losses were also enormous, especially since the area of the country occupied by

Germany during the war produced about half the country’s coal and steel. Fiscally, too, the war was

costly. The government, which had not anticipated massive expenditures, met expenses by printing

great amounts of paper money and by borrowing. These measures tripled prices, quintupled the

national debt, and weakened the franc. The government’s only real innovation in dealing with these

problems was the introduction of a modest income tax.

The war also had social effects other than the demographic ones. Hundreds of thousands of

immigrants entered the country to fill the jobs vacated by soldiers. Together with native-born workers,

they swelled the ranks of labor unions by an estimated 1 million members. During the war, 450,000

women worked in factories and earned incomes that had formerly been restricted to men, but after

the war two-thirds of these women were let go to create jobs for veterans.

H2 Aftermath of the War

Working Women in World War I

During World War I (1914-1918) in France a labor shortage developed as many French men were called to serve in the military. To fill the gap, many women began doing industrial work that previously had been done only by men. Shown here, French women work in an ammunition factory during the war.

Roger-Viollet

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The difficulties of winning the war were followed by the frustrations of winning the peace. The peace

terms were worked out at an international conference held in Versailles during 1919 (see Versailles,

Treaty of). The French succeeded in regaining Alsace-Lorraine and in foisting exclusive blame for the

war on Germany. On that basis, reparations were imposed on Germany, just as France had been

forced to pay reparations after the Battle of Waterloo and the Franco-Prussian War. The exact amount

was to be computed by a commission later, but initial estimates were astronomical. France’s chief

goal, ensuring its security, proved far more elusive. In the end, France had to renounce hopes for

permanent control of the Rhine Valley. Germany agreed to demilitarize the Rhineland, and France won

the right to occupy the area until 1935. Britain and the United States guaranteed their aid to France in

case of attack.

However, many of the peace terms did not turn out as expected. Britain and the United States soon

retracted their assurances. France was left to rely on a set of alliances with central and eastern

European powers—alliances that paradoxically wound up dragging France back into war in 1939.

France withdrew its troops from the Rhineland five years earlier than planned, and German leader

Adolf Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland in 1936. German reparations, which France needed to pay off

H2a Treaty of Versailles

Paris Peace Conference

After defeating Germany in World War I, the victorious parties found it difficult to agree on the price Germany should pay in war reparations. Leaders from the United States, Britain, France, and Italy met at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 and drafted the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty mandated a number of restrictive and compensatory measures for Germany, including massive demilitarization and financial reparations. Representatives at the conference included, left to right, British prime minister Lloyd George, Italian foreign minister Giorgio Sonnino, French premier Georges Clemenceau, and U.S. president Woodrow Wilson.

THE BETTMANN ARCHIVE/UPI

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debts owed to the United States, amounted to considerably less than first imagined, even though by

1931 Germany had paid 10 billion francs. Under such circumstances, it was not surprising that in the

1930s France built the Maginot Line, a heavily fortified string of defenses running along the frontier

from Switzerland to Belgium. The French trusted the Maginot Line to withstand a German assault.

Like other nations, France made an effort to forestall war. It joined the League of Nations and signed

agreements such as the Locarno Pact of 1925, which reaffirmed the Franco-German border, and the

Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928, which renounced war as an instrument of foreign policy. But a strong

sense of vulnerability continued to lie behind French foreign and military policy in Europe throughout

the period between World War I and World War II. This vulnerability laid the basis for the

appeasement policies and military strategies of the 1930s.

A sense of vulnerability was much less apparent in French overseas imperialism in this period. The

French colonial empire reached its peak, expanding into the African and Middle Eastern regions

formerly controlled by Germany and the Ottoman Empire. The French empire now extended to 11.7

million sq km (4.5 million sq mi)—20 times the size of France—and included a population of roughly

80 million people—about twice that of France. Yet commercial relations with the colonies continued to

be marginal—amounting to only 15 percent of France’s foreign trade in 1929.

At home, the shape of politics changed relatively little in the aftermath of World War I, as France was

governed by a variety of center-left and center-right coalitions. The most important change was the

division of the SFIO into separate communist and socialist parties, which occurred in 1920. The

Communist Party continued to profess Marxist revolutionary doctrines and warmly embraced the

Soviet regime that had come to power in Russia in 1917. The Socialist Party, under Jaurès’s protégé

Léon Blum, adopted a less confrontational position with regard to the Third Republic and refused to

endorse the Soviet government in Moscow.

H2b Politics Between the Wars

Léon Blum

Léon Blum served as premier of France three times in the 1930s and 1940s, the first Socialist and the first Jew to hold that position.

FPG International, LLC

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Although the Socialist Party initially had fewer members, they were far more successful than the

Communist Party at the polls. In the 1932 election, they won 131 seats in the legislature—more than

any other party—while the Communist Party won only 10 seats. However, neither party had much

impact on French government social policy until the Great Depression, especially because the

Socialists refused to participate officially in any coalition they could not dominate.

The major domestic political concerns of the 1920s were fiscal. Although the economy expanded in the

mid-1920s, state finances remained shaky. Accumulated war debt and deficit spending caused the

Raymond Poincaré

During his lengthy political career, which lasted from 1887 to 1929, nationalist French statesman Raymond Poincaré served as president and prime minister of France.

Paris Breadline

The Great Depression hit France in 1931 and 1932, causing widespread unemployment and poverty. People wait in line for food in Paris in late 1931.

CORBIS-BETTMANN/Hulton-Deutsch Collection

Roger-Viollet

France


franc to decline; it was only one-tenth of its prewar value by 1926. In that year, a centrist

government under Raymond Poincaré restored the franc by raising taxes and cutting spending. These

measures increased confidence in the economy, and capital investment grew. By 1929 manufacturing

and trade had climbed to roughly 50 percent above prewar levels. In the agricultural sector, efficiency

improved, but the sector was still much less prosperous than were manufacturing and trade.

The coming of the Great Depression changed fiscal concerns into economic ones. France escaped the

depression until late 1931, many months after it had begun elsewhere. But when the depression did

reach France, it lasted longer. Whereas in 1937 British industrial production was 24 percent greater

than in 1929 and German industrial production 16 percent greater, French industrial production in

1937 was 28 percent lower than it had been in 1929. The response of the French government, like

that of many other nations, only aggravated the problem. Having fought so hard to support the franc

in the 1920s, the French government resisted devaluation, although the franc declined anyway. To

protect home markets, the French government, like others, raised tariff barriers, thereby worsening

the prospects for a general European recovery. What made France’s situation bearable was the fact

that unemployment was less serious than elsewhere, partly because many foreign workers were sent

home and many unemployed workers returned to family farms. Nonetheless, the standard of living

declined.

The center-right coalitions failed to stop the economic slide, and in 1932 they gave way to

governments run by the Radicals and supported by the Socialist Party. But these governments could

not agree on a coherent economic program. Paralysis in the center-left encouraged the growth of a

Workers on Strike

In June 1936, striking workers picketed in front of the Renault-Billancourt automobile factory. French politics at the time were dominated by the Front Populaire, a reformist coalition that instituted the 40-hour work week. Socialists controlled the national government.

Woodfin Camp and Associates, Inc./Erl/Sipa Icono

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variety of new political organizations on the right. These ranged from blatant imitations of Benito

Mussolini’s and Hitler’s fascist movements, such as Jacques Doriot’s French Popular Party (PPF), to

more tradition-minded groups, such as the Cross of Fire. Both groups had memberships in the

hundreds of thousands.

When the operations of a shady financier, Serge Stavisky, were made public and linked to the Radical

Party in 1934, the right staged a massive demonstration in Paris, joined by members of the

Communist Party. The demonstration threatened to overthrow the Third Republic, although its goal

was apparently only to force a change of cabinet. During the demonstration, 17 people were killed and

thousands were wounded. The cabinet was changed, but the new government offered no effective

cure for the Depression. Equally ineffective was the next government led by Pierre Laval, who would

later be a key member of the Vichy government.

In 1935 the Communist Party, acting on Soviet leader Joseph Stalin’s orders, offered to ally with the

Socialists and the Radicals to stem the tide of fascism sweeping Europe. This coalition would be called

the Popular Front. Stung by previous communist attacks on them as social fascists, the Socialist Party

was reluctant to join, but did so. To solidify the alliance with the Radicals, both Communists and

Socialists dropped earlier plans to socialize the economy, but even the coalition’s mild calls for

government intervention to improve the lot of workers scandalized the right.

The bitterly fought 1936 elections witnessed the beginning of the end of the broad centrist consensus

that had supported the Third Republic. The center’s failure to solve the Depression drove voters to

extremes on both right and left at the expense of the center, and the Communist Party increased its

seats from 10 to 72. This gave Léon Blum the support he needed to form the Popular Front, the first

French government led by a Socialist.

The record of the Popular Front was mixed. Blum settled a wave of strikes by arranging for wage

increases, collective bargaining, a 40-hour workweek, and paid vacations. He also attempted to

support farm prices. But Blum’s government lacked an adequate theory to explain the Depression and

had no better idea than earlier ones for how to cure it. When the Popular Front was toppled by the

Radicals in 1937, the economy was no stronger than before.

Except for a very brief period in 1938, Radicals dominated the government from 1937 until 1940.

During this time, they managed to nudge production up, through tax cuts and concessions to business

at the expense of labor. Even so, by the summer of 1939, economic activity had returned only to the

level of 1928.

The failure of the Third Republic to deal effectively with the Depression was accompanied by the

collapse of its foreign and military policy. Until 1936 the rise of Nazi Germany caused little controversy

in France. The government responded to growing Nazi power by attempting to strengthen ties with

H2c The Popular Front

H3 World War II

France


France’s central and eastern European allies, establish new agreements with Italy and the Union of

Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), and renew the old entente with Britain. But after the Popular Front

government came to power, the right, which portrayed the Popular Front as the prelude to a

communist takeover, began to see Hitler as less of a menace than Blum. The left, torn between its old

pacifism and its fears of creeping European fascism, was divided on whether to confront or negotiate

with Germany.

Clearly, the majority of the French people wanted to avoid war at almost all costs, and British pressure

to do so inclined France toward a policy of appeasement. In 1936 France merely protested Hitler’s

remilitarization of the Rhineland, despite the fact that this move violated the treaties of Versailles and

Locarno. While the Popular Front was in power, Blum declined to aid the Spanish Republic, which was

fighting a brutal civil war against anti-Republican forces led by Franco and supported by Nazi Germany

and Fascist Italy. Since the right favored Franco, Blum feared a civil war in France if he intervened in

the Spanish conflict. In March 1938 France acceded to Germany’s annexation of Austria. At the Munich

Conference (see Munich Pact) in September 1938, France violated its own defense treaty with

Czechoslovakia by agreeing to German occupation of the Czech Sudetenland. The next March, France

stood by while Germany occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia.

Only on September 3, 1939, after Germany invaded Poland, did France and Britain reluctantly declare

war. Even then France took little offensive action beyond participating in a naval blockade of Germany,

still hoping that something might be worked out. Such paralysis, far from thwarting Nazi aggression

against France, only invited it. The German attack on France in May 1940 was no repetition of the

attack of September 1914, which had stalled out very quickly. Hitler directed his massed tank

divisions north of the Maginot Line through the supposedly impenetrable Ardennes forest. France and

the rest of the Allied Powers did not lack men and material, but they were unprepared strategically. In

six weeks Hitler won the decisive victory that had eluded the Germans in World War I. Seventy years

after the Battle of Sedan, France was once again an occupied nation.

H3a The Vichy Government

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While millions took to the roads to escape the German advance, the French government left Paris for

Bordeaux. On June 17 the government asked Germany for an armistice, after which aging Marshal

Henri Pétain, the hero of World War I, was appointed prime minister. On June 22 France signed an

armistice agreement in the same railroad car in which the Germans had signed the armistice of 1918.

French armed forces were to be demobilized, the southern third of France would continue to be

governed by the French, and the northern two-thirds was to be occupied and administered by the

Germans with funds provided by French taxpayers. Reassuring the French people with a soothing,

paternal radio voice, Pétain called upon France to lay down its arms and accept the armistice. Most

French people, in shock over the quick defeat, followed his advice.

In the south, the government moved from Bordeaux to Vichy, where on July 10 it voted

overwhelmingly to authorize Pétain to draft a new constitution. Under this constitution, Pétain became

head of state and the final arbiter in all decisions, while a variety of ministers responsible to him

carried out government functions. Pétain’s deputy, Pierre Laval, pushed the plan through the Chamber

of Deputies.

The professed goal of the new regime was a national revolution, which would regenerate a decadent

France by rerooting the nation in its traditions of religion, family, and the land. The squabbling and

corruption of parliamentary democracy was now supposed to give way to the authoritarian efficiency

of one-man rule. Legally and spiritually, the Third Republic, which was blamed for involving France in

a war it could not win, was now dead.

Vichy France

During World War II (1939-1945), Nazi Germany defeated France in 1940 and occupied the northern part of the country. At this time a pro-German government headed by Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain was established at Vichy in south central France, which was still under French control. In 1942 German troops occupied the south of France.


France


In fact, Vichy was a hodgepodge of competing factions and interests. The principal division lay

between the traditionalists and the modernizers. A majority of Vichyites were traditionalists who

sought to contain capitalist competition, organize society into partially self-governing associations, and

restore the influence of the Catholic Church. The modernists, who were closely associated with big

business, wanted to push France forward through more active government intervention in the

economy. Although they were in the minority, the modernists gradually gained influence, in large part

because their program called for measures that were more practical. If Vichy had a positive legacy, it

lay in its efforts at government economic planning, which were continued after the war and helped

remove obstacles to growth. One of the ironies of the Vichy regime was that in some ways it promoted

modernization more effectively than the Third Republic had.

Yet Vichy also meant an active collaboration with Nazi Germany. Although Vichy leaders protested

after the war that they had resisted German demands as much as they had dared, they were in fact

convinced in 1940 that the future belonged to fascism. They actively cooperated in building the Nazi-

dominated European empire, doing even more than Germany expected or demanded.

Germany did not, in the end, reward France for this cooperation. France was required to supply

Germany with hundreds of thousands of forced laborers and more material aid than any other German

satellite. Despite their vast agricultural resources, the French ate more poorly and suffered more

inflation during the war than any other western European people except the Italians. Alsace-Lorraine

was again annexed by Germany, and in November 1942, the Germans occupied the southern third of

the nation, thereby removing most of Vichy’s independence.

However, the most shameful acts committed by the Vichy government resulted more from its own

hatreds than from German demands. Not only did Vichy hunt down and execute resistors to German

rule, but it also initiated its own campaign of anti-Semitic persecution. Jews were fired from positions

in the civil service, judiciary, army, public schools, and cultural institutions (publishing houses,

newspapers, radio, and entertainment), and only a limited number were permitted to practice

Henri Philippe Pétain

Henri Pétain was a French military hero in World War I (1914-1918). During World War II in 1940 Pétain became chief of state at Vichy, the French territory under control of the occupying Germans. He ruled as a dictator with the consent of the Nazi regime, suspending the constitution and deporting Jews to German concentration camps.

Culver Pictures

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medicine and law. Vichy seized Jewish property, while Jews who had recently immigrated to escape

persecution elsewhere were interned in concentration camps.

Still worse was Vichy’s collaboration in the Holocaust. Vichy was not inclined to commit genocide itself

and was anxious to keep French-born Jews under its control, all the better to strip them of their

property. However, Vichy employed its own police and militia to round up Jewish men, women, and

children, most of them foreign-born. They were then shipped in appalling conditions to German-

occupied Poland and gassed in Nazi death camps. The death toll of Jews transported from France was

about 75,000.

Most French people initially supported Pétain’s regime, but resistance to German rule and opposition

to Vichy began almost immediately after France was defeated. Charles de Gaulle, a career general and

undersecretary of war who had bitterly criticized French strategy in the 1930s, escaped to London in

June 1940 and established a government in exile. Lacking any formal authority, de Gaulle attracted

few followers at first, but he received vital recognition and material assistance from British prime

minister Winston Churchill.

In France, small groups of resisters formed and committed isolated acts of protest and sabotage.

These groups were better organized in the southern unoccupied zone and attracted support from

H3b The Resistance

De Gaulle’s June 18, 1940 Radio Address

When France fell to Germany during World War II, French military leader and future president Charles de Gaulle escaped to London where he organized the French National Committee in Exile. On June 18, 1940, one day after Henri Philippe Pétain (the future leader of Vichy France) asked for an armistice with Germany, de Gaulle went on the radio to urge France to resist the Germans.

CORBIS-BETTMANN

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various parties, especially the Communist Party. Contacts between de Gaulle’s government in London

and the Resistance in France increased, and gradually de Gaulle was able to impose control from

abroad on the expanding Resistance in France.

In 1943 de Gaulle moved his headquarters to Algiers, after clashing with Churchill and U.S. president

Franklin Roosevelt over strategy. De Gaulle’s relations with the Resistance in France were also

sometimes difficult. Resistance leaders feared de Gaulle’s ambitions, but sufficient harmony was

maintained to prevent a breakdown in relations. As the tide of war turned against the Germans and

the Germans demanded more forced labor from the French, the ranks of the Resistance swelled. By

1944 most people could demonstrate they had done something to resist the Germans, so they could

later claim to have been members of the Resistance.

Following the successful landing of Allied troops in Normandy on June 6, 1944, France was gradually

liberated. The communists made some attempt at seizing power, most notably through an uprising

against the Germans in Paris in August 1944. But in the end de Gaulle was able to establish his

authority throughout France without much difficulty. A new provisional government under de Gaulle’s

Charles de Gaulle

French statesman, patriot, and general Charles de Gaulle led the French Resistance against Germany during World War II (1939-1945) and helped preside over France’s postwar restoration. After France surrendered to Germany in 1940, de Gaulle escaped to London and organized Resistance forces in Britain, the French colonies, and within occupied France. De Gaulle gave this inspired speech when the Allies finally liberated France from German forces in 1944: “Paris, outraged Paris; Paris, broken Paris; martyred Paris, but liberated Paris, liberated by the men, liberated by its people, with the participation of the French army, with the support and participation of all of France, that is to say, of France in its entirety, of only one France, that is to say, the true France, the eternal France!”

Archive Photos/AFP/Courtesy the Gordon Skene Sound Collection. All rights reserved.

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leadership assumed power. The harshness of the occupation led to rough justice against former

collaborators, often without formal trials. About 10,000 people were executed and 40,000 sent to

prison. Laval was tried and executed. Pétain was also tried and sentenced to death, but his sentence

was commuted to life imprisonment.

France emerged from World War II profoundly weakened economically, but it had once again learned

to appreciate its republican traditions. Indeed, one effect of Vichy’s collapse was to discredit the

traditional right, which had never really accepted the values of 1789 as its own. The nearly universal

acceptance of republican values after 1945 facilitated the building of a more stable political system.

The Fourth Republic, which was established after World War II, lasted only 12 years, but the long-

term prospects for the Fifth Republic, which has endured its share of shocks and strains, are good,

indeed. The real question now is not whether the Fifth Republic will be overthrown as were earlier

regimes but how much of it will have to be dismantled as France merges into the European Union

(EU).

The year 1945 was also a turning point demographically and economically, after which France

acquired an energy not seen for half a century. Striking new population growth and a rising standard

of living increased demand for consumer goods and for more education and other services from the

state. Women, enfranchised in 1944 by a wartime decree, exercised their newly acquired right to vote

and gradually improved their economic status.

Having dealt with some of the collaborators, the new government sought to build on the patriotic spirit

of the Resistance, hoping to synthesize unity out of the myth that nearly everyone had been a

resistor. The government enacted fresh reforms, extending the vote to women. But political

differences soon resurfaced, and parties quickly formed. The political right, which had been discredited

by its association with Vichy, was in disarray. A new centrist party, the Christian Democratic

Mouvement Republicain Populaire, or MRP, emerged and won about 25 percent of the votes in the fall

1945 legislative election, as did the older socialist and communist parties.

The National Assembly drew up a new constitution amid protracted controversy. It soon became clear

that the constitution would mandate another parliamentary regime, not the presidential system that

de Gaulle favored. De Gaulle resigned in January 1946 and spent the next 12 years in virtual political

exile. The assembly approved a proposed constitution calling for a state dominated by a single-

chambered legislature, but the voters rejected it, fearing it would facilitate a communist takeover of

the whole government. In October 1946 the voters approved a second draft, which proposed a two-

chambered legislature, but included mechanisms to make it easier to pass legislation than under the

Third Republic. The Fourth Republic was born.

During the 12 years of its existence, the Fourth Republic witnessed a string of relatively short-lived

governments that over time tracked more and more to the right. None was particularly distinguished,

I From the Fourth Republic to the European Community

I1 The Fourth Republic

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except for that of the Radical Pierre Mendès-France, who sought to breathe life into the republic

through a series of reforms inspired by British economist John Maynard Keynes. Two major items

dominated the political agenda: the economy and decolonization.

At the end of World War II, the French economy suffered from low production and an excess of

money, which led to rapid inflation. The Vichy experiments at planning and the postwar nationalization

of key industries—coal, gas, electricity, and some banks and insurance companies—prepared the way

for bold efforts to energize the economy. Beginning in 1946, Jean Monnet, head of the state planning

commission, administered a program to break through traditional economic bottlenecks by stimulating

investment and thereby production. Part of the investment capital was provided by the United States

under the Marshall Plan.

In addition, France and other European nations recognized how economic isolationism had undermined

all their economies during the 1930s. They began to form international associations to promote more

broadly based economic growth and to lay the basis for possible long-term political integration. An

additional incentive to form such associations was the fear that an economically weak and politically

divided western Europe would invite further expansion by the Soviet Union, which after World War II

had established a broad band of satellite countries in eastern and central Europe.

In 1951 France joined with West Germany and other European nations in the European Coal and Steel

Community (ECSC), the brainchild of the French statesman Robert Schuman. The ECSC led to the

formation in 1957 of the European Economic Community, known as the Common Market, a trade

association that included Germany, Italy, and the Benelux countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, and

Luxembourg). Although generally successful, reduction of tariff barriers tended to benefit large

producers at the expense of smaller ones. In the 1950s many small producers backed a short-lived,

right-wing protest movement for tax relief, led by the shopkeeper Pierre Poujade. The movement

failed, but it expressed resentment against modernization that would show itself more forcefully later.

Overall the Fourth Republic dealt successfully with economic issues, but it was less successful in

resolving colonial ones. Decolonization eventually brought down the regime, much as the Franco-

Prussian War had terminated the Second Empire and World War II the Third Republic. The sprawling

French Empire, like those of other European nations, faced widespread revolts after World War II.

In Indochina, resistance movements had been organized to oppose the Japanese, who had occupied

the area during World War II. After the war, these movements were redirected against French

imperialism. From 1946 to 1954 the French army attempted to suppress the resistance movements in

Indochina, but it was dealt a humiliating defeat at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954 (see First

Indochina War). Prime Minister Mendès-France arranged for as graceful a diplomatic and military

withdrawal from Indochina as was possible under the circumstances, and he preempted trouble in

Morocco and Tunisia by conceding independence.

I1a Economic Issues

I1b Decolonization

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The prime minister faced a much more difficult situation in Algeria, where the vast majority of Arab

Algerians wanted independence but the 1 million European settlers there demanded the continued

protection of French rule. A violent independence movement began in 1954, and increasingly large

numbers of French troops were sent to Algeria to put it down. The movement escalated into a virtual

civil war involving the use of terror and torture. Extremists in the French army and their sympathizers

who feared a French pullout from Algeria plotted to bring down the French government. By 1958 it

was clear that the Fourth Republic could not resolve the crisis (see Algerian War of Independence).

Supporters of Charles de Gaulle, who had bided his time in retirement, plotted to use the turmoil to

put him in power under a new constitution, and eventually a smooth transition was arranged. De

Gaulle became the last prime minister of the Fourth Republic. In May 1958 the National Assembly

vested him with full power for six months and the authority to draft a new constitution, to be

approved by the voters. Then in June the Assembly dissolved itself. The Fourth Republic was dead.

A new constitution for France’s Fifth Republic was drafted by a committee headed by Gaullist Michel

Debré. The new constitution was a hybrid of the presidential and parliamentary systems. It pruned

back the powers of the two-chambered legislature and granted the president considerably more power

than the presidents of previous regimes. But it also maintained a prime minister, who was chosen by

the president yet needed the support of the legislature.

Perhaps because the first president was likely to be the charismatic de Gaulle, the constitution did not

spell out the distribution of power between the president and prime minister. This ambiguity would

create uncertainties later, but it also allowed for flexibility in situations in which the presidency and the

legislature were controlled by different parties.

The constitution was approved by 80 percent of the voters in September 1958. The elections that

followed gave a new Gaullist party a near majority in the legislature, while the left, which had opposed

the new constitution, lost badly. Following procedures stipulated by the new constitution, which gave

the right to choose the president to a college of local officials, de Gaulle, not surprisingly, was made

president. De Gaulle chose Debré as his first prime minister.

I2 The Fifth Republic

I2a The De Gaulle Years

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De Gaulle attempted to keep the French colonial empire together by granting more autonomy to the

remaining colonies within a new French Community. But in the end he had to agree to their

overwhelming demands for independence. The Algerian crisis, which had brought him back to power,

was the toughest problem on his agenda. De Gaulle had led the differing parties to believe he was

sympathetic to their opposite positions. He had misleadingly assured the French Algerians that “I have

understood you.” But he gradually recognized the hopelessness of continued repression in Algeria, and

in 1962 he reached agreement with the insurgents in meetings at Evian, France.

The Evian Accords, which 90 percent of French voters also approved, provided for an Algerian

referendum on independence. A majority of Algerians voted for independence. Even before the

accords were reached, however, a group of military officers and colonials organized the Secret Army

Organization (OAS), which conspired to overthrow the government. De Gaulle put down this rebellion

in 1962, ending the Algerian crisis. French Algerians remained bitter over what they saw as de

Gaulle’s sellout. Most of them also had to endure the insult of living in a France governed by their

nemesis, de Gaulle, after having suffered the injury of leaving Algeria forever.

De Gaulle envisioned a greater role for France in world affairs than it had played under the Fourth

President de Gaulle

Charles de Gaulle served as president of France from 1959 to 1969. During his time in office, he negotiated France’s entry into the European Economic Community (now the European Union), presided over the development of the French nuclear weapons program, and worked to improve relations with the countries of Eastern Europe. Shown here, de Gaulle signs autographs in Warsaw, Poland, in 1967.

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Republic. With the Algerian crisis settled and Soviet expansionism into Europe more or less contained,

de Gaulle set out to create and lead a group of nations distinct from the American and Soviet

superpowers. To give this group teeth and to gain independence from the United States, he initiated a

successful, if expensive, program to develop nuclear weapons. Then in 1967 he pulled France out of

the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a defense alliance led by the United States that France

had joined earlier to provide a common front against the USSR.

De Gaulle maintained cordial relations with former French colonies and even intervened in Canadian

internal affairs by declaring solidarity with Canadian Francophones who were demanding independence

for the province of Québec. He also prevented Britain from joining the Common Market on the grounds

that it was too closely tied to the United States. At the same time, he forged stronger ties with West

Germany. In the end, de Gaulle did make the French feel that they continued to be an important

presence in international affairs, even after their once extensive empire had crumbled.

Paris Students’ Revolt

In May 1968 students at the University of Paris, in France, went on strike and occupied university buildings. Their example set off protests throughout the country, culminating in a general strike that virtually paralyzed the nation. Shown here, barricades of overturned cars block Rue Gay-Lussac in Paris after a night of rioting during which students fought police for 12 hours; nearly 1,500 people were hurt in the rioting, many of them seriously.

Corbis/Bettmann

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At home de Gaulle worked to strengthen the franc, which in the late 1950s was again in trouble,

instituting devaluations and government austerity measures. Whatever the effect of these measures,

the economy experienced another growth spurt in the 1960s, which added credibility to the Fifth

Republic. To enhance his authority, de Gaulle had the constitution altered in 1962 to provide for the

direct election of the president, beginning with the next election, in 1965. De Gaulle was elected to a

second term as president in 1965, but he had a harder time winning than expected. He failed to get a

majority of votes in the first round of the election. Even in the second round, his margin of victory was

only 10 percent over that of his challenger, François Mitterrand.

Georges Pompidou

Georges Pompidou served as premier of France from 1962 to 1968 and succeeded Charles de Gaulle as president in 1969. He served until his death in 1974.

Valéry Giscard d’Estaing

Valéry Giscard d’Estaing was elected president of France in 1974. His

Woodfin Camp and Associates, Inc./Dalmas/Sipa Press

Documentation Francaise/Jacques Henri Lartigue

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However, de Gaulle still seemed unremovable and irreplaceable in 1968, when he faced his worst

crisis. That May, a student protest movement escalated into a massive national strike, paralyzing the

country. These developments drew on multiple resentments that had been building against the Fifth

Republic for years, particularly among the young and the working class. De Gaulle wisely retired from

the scene, waiting for the country to grow tired of the chaos. He then boldly reentered, presenting

himself as the only alternative to anarchy and promising university reforms for the students and wage

increases for the workers.

In the legislative elections of June 1968, de Gaulle’s party won a crushing victory. But de Gaulle’s

prestige had declined greatly, and he ruled with less mastery than before. Aging, tired, and apparently

looking for an exit, in 1969 he pledged to leave office if the voters rejected his proposal to restructure

the Senate. It was rejected and de Gaulle resigned. The most prominent French leader of the 20th

century made perhaps the strangest departure from politics in all French history.

With de Gaulle gone, Gaullism became an affair of more ordinary politicians. The Fifth Republic, which

de Gaulle had previously seemed to embody, became more depersonalized and institutionalized. De

Gaulle was succeeded as president by the much less commanding Georges Pompidou, who was closely

tied to big business. Pompidou was less committed to French intervention in world politics than de

Gaulle had been, and he permitted Britain to enter the Common Market. In economic matters, he

leaned more toward a laissez-faire position than had de Gaulle, and his administration undertook

relatively few new initiatives.

When Pompidou died in 1974, he was succeeded by Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, who was not a Gaullist

but the leader of the center-right Independent Republicans. A technocrat by training, Giscard had a

progressive agenda. He proposed to protect the environment, legalize contraception and abortion,

lower the voting age, and redistribute taxes. He was successful in most of these initiatives. However,

his popularity was undercut by the first major economic downturn since World War II, which caused

unemployment and inflation to grow. He was defeated in 1981 by François Mitterrand, whose Socialist

Party also won a majority in legislative elections.

attempts to reform the French economy could not overcome a global recession, and he was defeated in the presidential elections of 1981.

I2b The Socialist Era

THE BETTMANN ARCHIVE/UPI

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An able political strategist, Mitterrand had rebuilt the Socialist Party during the 1970s, working first

with the Communist Party and then apart from it. His decisive victory in 1981 marked the first major

swing to the left since the Popular Front in the 1930s. Even more significantly, it was the first time

power had been passed to an opposing party without a major change to the constitution. It seemed

that the Fifth Republic was a regime that both left and right had learned to live within.

After Mitterrand’s election, struggle among the major political parties centered not on which one

offered the most popular, distinctive vision of the future, but on which one appeared best able to

achieve commonly desired goals of economic growth and political stability. Ideological differences

between left and right mattered less than before; voters were now looking for competent leadership.

One indication that voters were abandoning traditional ideological causes was a major drop in support

François Mitterrand

François Mitterrand ran for president of France four times, first winning an election to the post in 1981. Once president, he established a reputation for pragmatic, consensual leadership, often sharing power with members of other political camps, including both the Communist party and members of conservative parties. Seriously ill with prostate cancer, Mitterrand retired at the end of his second term in 1995.

François Mitterrand and Helmut Kohl

In 1984 French president François Mitterrand and German chancellor Helmut Kohl took part in a commemorative ceremony at the ossuary (repository for bones of the dead) of Douaumont, near the French town of Verdun. Verdun was the site of one of the most hard-fought battles in World War I (1914-1918) between French and German forces. The battle resulted in more than 700,000 casualties. Shown here, the two statesmen join hands at the ceremony in a spontaneous symbol of reconciliation between the French and German peoples.

Sygma/T. Orban

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for the once powerful French Communist Party in the elections of 1981. The French Communists were

unable or unwilling to follow the example of the more successful Italian Communist Party, which broke

with Soviet Marxist orthodoxy. The French Communist Party’s refusal to innovate structurally or

ideologically led to the loss of the support of many intellectuals and workers. The Communist Party

henceforth exerted only marginal political power, although its decline was temporarily masked by the

appointment of four Communist Party members to the cabinet of Mitterrand’s first prime minister,

Pierre Mauroy.

Mitterrand decentralized power by allowing localities more self-government. He enacted a string of

new reform measures that gave workers new rights to bargain collectively, raised the minimum wage,

and increased family subsidies and old-age pensions. The death penalty was abolished, and new

prisons were built to alleviate overcrowding. The government nationalized the nation’s major banks,

as well as a number of large industries. By 1983 the government controlled 13 of France’s 20 largest

companies. In the end, however, these reforms did not add up to a successful economic or fiscal

strategy. Deficits escalated and the economy failed to expand under the government’s stimulation,

leading to greater unemployment, inflation, and trade deficits. After two years of left-wing euphoria,

the Mitterrand regime was losing its popular support, while the right regained strength.

When the Socialists tried to impose controls on state-subsidized, private Catholic schools, they

provoked one of the largest popular demonstrations in French history. A new extreme right-wing

movement, the National Front, emerged, led by a former paratrooper, Jean-Marie Le Pen. The National

Front drew its support chiefly for its anti-immigrant proposals, which proved especially popular among

unemployed older males. It won over 10 percent of the vote in some elections. Although the National

Jacques Chirac

Jacques Chirac was elected president of France in 1995 and reelected in 2002. Chirac also served as mayor of Paris for almost 20 years and as prime minister of France on two separate occasions.

Liaison Agency/A. Duclos-R. Gaillarde

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Front divided the right, the government could not afford politically or economically to continue on its

earlier course and began dropping its socialist agenda. Budgets for social programs were slashed, and

private industry was favored with tax cuts. The economy improved somewhat, although

unemployment continued to rise.

Mitterrand hoped to divide the right-wing opposition by introducing proportional representation in

elections to national and regional assemblies. The new system, which awarded seats to parties

according to their share of the vote, was intended to favor small splinter parties and make it more

difficult for stable majority coalitions to form. Mitterrand’s reform allowed the National Front to claim

more than 6 percent of seats in the National Assembly in the legislative elections of 1986. But the left

lost anyway. For the first time in the Fifth Republic, the president came from a different part of the

political spectrum than did the prime minister and the majority in the legislature. In fact, cohabitation,

as it was called, worked more smoothly than some observers had predicted. Mitterrand dealt primarily

with foreign affairs, and the new Gaullist prime minister, Jacques Chirac, focused on domestic matters.

This arrangement lasted only until 1988, when the Socialists won a slim margin in the legislature after

Mitterrand defeated Chirac in the presidential elections. Cohabitation was tried again without much

friction in 1993, when the Socialists again lost control of the legislature and Edouard Balladur, a

Gaullist, became prime minister.

In 1995 Chirac succeeded Mitterrand as president, but he, too, had to contend with cohabitation after

just two years in power. The center right lost control of the legislature in 1997, and Chirac was obliged

to appoint a Socialist prime minister, Lionel Jospin. Cohabitation sharply constrained Chirac’s political

influence. He was unable to prevent the left-wing majority from instituting major reforms, including

1998 legislation to shorten the work week from 39 to 35 hours (which took effect in 2000) in an effort

to increase employment opportunities.

In 2000 the term of the French president was reduced from seven years to five years by a popularly

approved amendment to the constitution. The main argument in favor of this change was that it would

discourage further rounds of cohabitation, which had become associated with deadlocked government.

Lionel Jospin

Lionel Jospin was prime minister of France from 1997 to 2002. A member of the Socialist Party, Jospin replaced conservative Alain Juppé. Jospin announced his retirement from politics after he finished third in the 2002 presidential election, behind the far-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Sygma/J.M. Turpin

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Under the amendment, future legislative and presidential elections are more likely to occur in the

same year and hence to register similar outcomes. The shortened presidential term took effect in

2002.

Jacques Chirac was overwhelmingly reelected in May 2002. In a surprise showing the previous month,

National Front candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen had finished slightly ahead of Socialist candidate Lionel

Jospin during the first round of presidential balloting. Appalled by the success of Le Pen, over 1 million

people took to the streets in protest before the second round of balloting. Chirac swept the election,

winning the second round of balloting with more than 80 percent of the popular vote. The outcome

was a stunning defeat for the Socialist Party and for Jospin, who resigned his post and retired from

politics.

In the June 2002 legislative elections a coalition of center-right parties backing Chirac, called the

Union for the Presidential Majority, captured an absolute majority in the National Assembly, thereby

completing the rout of the left. (The coalition was later renamed the Union for a Popular Movement, or

UMP). The elections ended five years of cohabitation between Chirac and the Socialist-led National

I2c The Return of the Center Right

Jean-Pierre Raffarin

Jean-Pierre Raffarin became prime minister of France in 2002.

Getty Images/Pascal Le Segretain

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Assembly and gave Chirac significant new power over the direction of the French government. Chirac

appointed Jean-Pierre Raffarin as prime minister of the new government. Raffarin, a member of the

small, pro-free market Liberal Democracy party, had led an interim government since May, following

Jospin’s resignation. Raffarin pledged to support Chirac’s conservative reform agenda, including a

major crackdown on crime, tax cuts, and the easing of labor regulations.

Despite the lopsided conservative victories, the record of Chirac and the new government, particularly

its economic policies, would be watched closely by voters. Of special concern were tax cuts introduced

by the government in hopes of spurring economic growth and boosting future government tax

revenues. In the short term, the cuts threatened to expand France’s budget deficit beyond 3 percent

of gross domestic product (GDP), a limit imposed by the European Union (EU) as a requirement for

adopting the EU’s common currency. With little room to maneuver, the government was forced to

reduce planned tax cuts in the 2003 budget, provoking sharp protests from the right. Nevertheless,

France’s budget deficit exceeded the 3 percent limit two years running, in 2002 and 2003, leading the

EU to issue a formal warning to France to restrain government spending. At the same time, the

persistence of high annual unemployment rates in France drew strong criticism from the left. These

objections, in a difficult economic climate, raised questions about the right’s ability to maintain its

electoral mandate.

The establishment of the European Union in 1993, a successor of the European Community, had

profound consequences for France and other European nation states. Power over a wide range of

policies, once exercised solely by European national governments, gradually shifted toward the EU.

The creation of the EU marked the evolution of the European Community from a largely economic

organization into a political one, which now includes a European Parliament. The Maastricht Treaty

(1991) that established the EU provided a new impetus toward further European integration; among

its provisions was the call for a single European currency. This common currency—the euro—came into

use on January 1, 1999, much to the surprise of many observers. They had been skeptical because

the EU had not always been able to agree on a common economic policy.

France has strongly supported European integration under the auspices of the EU, and this support

has perhaps been France’s most significant contribution to world affairs since it dissolved its overseas

empire. French governments of both the center left and center right have consistently supported

European integration. A Frenchman, Jacques Delors, provided strong leadership as president of the

European Commission, an agency of the EU, from 1984 to 1994.

France has favored European integration for several reasons. First, as Charles de Gaulle had

recognized in the 1960s, France without an empire was too small a nation to play a major role in

international affairs. France’s influence abroad promised to be enhanced if it joined with other nations

of Europe to pursue a common foreign policy. Second, trans-European institutions, such as those of

the EU, could help restrain Germany, whose great industrial and financial power was bound, in the

absence of such institutions, to dominate Europe economically. Membership in the EU would allow

France and other nations to have greater economic influence in Europe through common policies on

trade and interest rates. Third, at a time when growing international competition meant that France

I2d France and the European Union

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had to compete more intensively to sell its goods abroad, participation in the EU ensured that France

would have greater access to the markets of its neighbors.

After punishing thousands of people who collaborated with the German-backed Vichy regime in World

War II, the French in the 1950s and 1960s sought to forget about the Vichy past. Although many

people guilty of heinous crimes remained at large, the trials of Vichyite collaborators were routinely

halted under pressure from powerful state officials with compromising pasts of their own. Prior to the

1990s, no French president had officially acknowledged the role played by the French state in the

commission of crimes against humanity during the war. Rather, to foster a badly needed sense of

national unity, most French parties, especially the Gaullists, cultivated the myth that nearly everyone

had belonged to the French Resistance.

As time passed and the Fifth Republic acquired stability, France became more willing to reexamine

critically the Vichy legacy. Path-breaking research beginning in the 1970s exploded the myth of near

universal participation in the Resistance and proved beyond doubt the willingness of Vichy leaders to

collaborate with Nazi Germany. The French soon began revisiting the Vichy years in a growing flow of

books, documentaries, and films, most of which confirmed the new research. In 1995 President

Jacques Chirac publicly acknowledged the role of the French people and government in abetting

crimes under German occupation. Two years later French Catholic bishops apologized for the church’s

failure to resist the deportation and murder of Jews more vigorously, and the leaders of the French

police union apologized for police participation in the roundup of Jews. Also in 1997, the government

initiated procedures to return artworks and other property stolen from French Jews during World War

II by the Vichy authorities.

The most controversial aspect of this wrenching reassessment of the Vichy years was a new round of

trials directed against collaborators who had yet to be tried and punished. Painful memories were

already stirred in 1987 during the trial of Klaus Barbie, a notorious German Gestapo (secret state

police) officer. Barbie was convicted of crimes against humanity committed in Vichy France and

sentenced to life imprisonment.

Other trials followed. In 1991, René Bousquet, an important French police official in the Vichy

government, was indicted for crimes against humanity. Bousquet had previously escaped trial with the

help of powerful friends, but he was assassinated before the trial began. In 1994, Paul Touvier, a

French member of the Vichy militia who worked under Barbie, was convicted of crimes against

humanity and sentenced to life imprisonment. Touvier had been sentenced to death for treason

shortly after France’s liberation, but he had escaped his sentence with the help of influential allies,

including conservatives within the Catholic Church. In 1998, Maurice Papon, an administrator in the

Vichy regime and later a Gaullist minister, was convicted of complicity in crimes against humanity and

sentenced to ten years in prison. After escaping to Switzerland, Papon was extradited to France in

1999, where he served three years in prison and was released in 2002 on grounds of ill health.

Papon’s trial was likely to be the last of its kind, leaving the French public divided over whether such

trials had even begun to rectify the atrocities committed by the defendants.

I3 Ghosts of the Vichy Past

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Despite dramatic ups and downs resulting from World War I and the worldwide depression of the

1930s, France changed relatively little economically and socially between the two world wars. By 1924

the French had again reached their 1914 levels of industrial production. Although industrial production

grew another 40 percent by 1929, three-quarters of this increase was lost during the global

depression. Agriculture was relatively stagnant during the same period. Production of some crops,

notably wheat, became more efficient, but overall, French agriculture lagged increasingly behind that

of other nations. It was, for example, only one-third as efficient (measured in output per farmer) as

agriculture in the United States.

Partly as a result of the large number of Frenchmen killed in World War I, population growth between

the wars was sluggish. The most striking demographic trend was the continued immigration of

foreigners. By the 1930s 2.5 million immigrants lived in France, making it Europe’s foremost melting

pot. However, some of these newcomers returned home when the employment situation deteriorated

during the depression.

During the interwar period, the standard of living rose only slightly. Workers and small farmers, in

particular, saw barely any improvements in their quality of life. Demographic and income stagnation

meant little growth in consumer demand, delaying the onset of a consumer society. Modern lifestyles

and an artistic avant-garde could be found in Paris and a few other areas, but most regions, especially

in the center and south, showed few signs of change. On the eve of World War II, a full half of the

population still lived in agricultural communities.

Feminism in this period was relatively inactive, and the legal and economic condition of women

improved very little. Partly because the population was growing so slowly, females were constantly

reminded of their “natural” duty to become mothers, while contraceptives and abortion were banned.

The frozen condition of the French economy and society undoubtedly underlay often-heard charges

that France had become so “decadent” that it could not meet the challenges of modern international

economic and political competition.

I4 Economy and Society Since World War I

I4a Stagnation Between the Wars

I4b Post-World War II Growth

France


The end of World War II marked a decisive economic and social turning point. The war cost France

about 600,000 dead, but this was less than half the death toll of World War I. The French population

surged significantly in the late 1940s, reversing decades of little growth. By 1962 the population had

reached 46.5 million, by 1975, 52.7 million, and by 1995, 58.1 million. Some of this increase was due

to more births among native-born French women, particularly during the 1950s and 1960s. By the

1990s, with the spread of birth control and the aging of the French population, population increases

came largely from immigration, mostly from southern Europe and northern Africa.

By 1975 about 4 million immigrants lived in France, making it more racially and ethnically diverse than

at any time since the barbarian invasions of the early Middle Ages. Immigrants provided much needed

labor in boom periods, but when unemployment rose in the 1980s and 1990s, their presence was

resented. This resentment prompted support for the anti-immigrant policies of the National Front.

Prejudice against immigrant workers was also fueled by their comparatively low standard of living.

Immigrant Children in Marseille, France

Marseille, like many major cities in France, has a large immigrant population. Shown here, African immigrant children play in front of a high-rise tenement in the city.

Aurora/Joanna Pinneo

France


Increasing population, government planning, funds from the Marshall Plan, and greater European

integration sparked a boom in industrial production, which rose 80 percent between 1950 and 1958.

Agriculture was transformed by additional mechanization, as the number of tractors increased sixfold

between 1945 and 1980. As productivity rose, the number of farmers declined steeply, from 35

percent of the population in 1945 to 6 percent in 1990, nearly severing the nation from its peasant

roots. The economy grew at an average annual rate of 4.5 percent between 1949 and 1959, and 5.8

percent between 1959 and 1970. Altogether, the gross national product increased fivefold between

1946 and 1977. Since then, economic growth has been more sluggish, due partly to oil price increases

in the 1970s and increasing competition from abroad.

The benefits of this growth trickled down to ordinary citizens in the form of increases in real wages,

especially after 1960. A large variety of consumer goods became widely available and affordable,

raising the standard of living. Higher standards of living led to growth in the service sector of the

economy, which by the 1990s absorbed more than half the national work force.

Jean-Marie Le Pen

French politician Jean-Marie Le Pen heads the right-wing National Front party.

Corbis/Peter Turnley

France


The state became an increasingly important employer as the range of government services and

pensions expanded. The government established a system of state-sponsored medical care, which

paid the major costs of treatment for most citizens. Slowly the state also expanded its educational and

research institutions. Between 1950 and 1984, the number of baccalaureate students rose from

32,000 to 249,500, reflecting the increasing importance of education and the declining importance of

land as the basis for a successful career.

These changes were accompanied by a slow change in the status of women. Women were granted the

vote in 1944, and they improved their levels of education. Contraception and abortion were legalized

in the 1970s, giving women more control over their reproductive lives. By 2000 women provided 45

percent of the national work force.

Although women made many gains since World War II, they did not achieve political representation in

proportion to their numbers. Thus, for example, in 1993 women held barely 6 percent of the seats in

the Chamber of Deputies. During the 1990s, feminists and their sympathizers lobbied for a “law of

parity” that was intended to force the nomination of more female candidates. Enacted in 2000, this

Paris Shopping

Paris, France, is well known for its many upscale shops and trendy boutiques. Stores and galleries like the one shown here cater to visitors and affluent local residents alike.

Woodfin Camp and Associates, Inc./Bernard Boutrit

France


law required that at least half of all candidates chosen by parties to run for municipal office be women.

It also reduced state subsidies to parties that declined to meet this requirement. Most French voters

supported the law as a means to rectify the gender imbalance. The law had some success in reducing

gender inequality, but it did not produce gender-balanced political representation. Some parties

evaded the law by accepting lower government subsidies, with the result that in 2002 women still held

only about 12 percent of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies.

France today still faces significant social and economic problems, some of them a product of France’s

growth since World War II. Despite the proliferation of government social welfare programs, wealth in

France remains more unevenly distributed by social class than in any other northern European

country, and regional variations are significant as well. Economic development has produced major

environmental problems that need to be resolved. Among them is the escalating problem of air

pollution, in large part the result of the increasing number of automobiles in Paris and other cities.

Contraception and abortion have led to a declining birthrate since the 1970s, which in turn has led to

the aging of the French population. Budgets for social services have escalated beyond taxpayers’

willingness to support them, requiring cutbacks in free services and possibly putting the whole French

welfare state in jeopardy.

During the 1990s the unemployment rate climbed to more than 12 percent, thereby replacing inflation

as France’s most critical economic problem. In 2002 the unemployment rate stood at 8.9 percent, and

the French economic outlook remained cloudy. Growing international competition and the downturn in

the U.S. economy since the late 1990s reduced demand for goods produced in Europe, with the result

that in 2002 the French economy grew at its lowest rate in years.

No doubt the French economic situation would have been worse had the European Union (EU) not

acted to promote growth. Agreements between the EU and several eastern European countries during

the 1990s made markets in those countries more accessible, and successful implementation of the

EU’s single currency, the euro, facilitated commerce across national borders. However, the extent to

which greater European integration will be, on balance, a boon to the French economy and society is

controversial and uncertain. New opportunities for reaching foreign markets must take into account

the difficulty of maintaining domestic wage rates that are much higher than wage rates abroad.

Greater European integration also threatens to increase the influence of large multinational

corporations on national policies while limiting the ability of countries such as France to address

important domestic concerns, such as environmental pollution. As they become integrated into wider

and deeper economic and political networks, France and the other EU members may well be compelled

to develop a broader definition of the nation than they have ever known before.

The history section of this article was contributed by Thomas E. Kaiser.

Contributed By: William James Adams Terry G. Jordan–Bychkov

I4c Recent Developments

France


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