History of France
The History of France has been divided into a series of separate historical articles navigable through the list to the right. The chronological era articles (highlighted in blue) address broad French historical, cultural and sociological developments. The dynasty and regime articles deal with the specific political and governmental regimes in France. The history of other cultural topics such as French art and literature can be found on their own pages. For information on today's France, see France. For other information, go to .
Historical overview
Prehistory
The Neanderthals, a member of the homo genus, began to occupy Europe from about 200,000 BCE, but seem to have died out by about 30,000 years ago, presumably out-competed by the modern humans during a period of cold weather. The earliest modern humans — Homo sapiens — entered Europe (including France) around 50,000 years ago (the Upper Palaeolithic).
From the Neolithic to the Bronze Age, Indo-European and Proto-Celtic peoples spread across Western Europe. During the final stages of the Iron Age the La Tène culture gradually transformed into the explicitly Celtic culture of early historical times.
Gaul
Covering large parts of modern day France, Belgium, and northwest Germany, Gaul was inhabited by many Celtic tribes whom the Romans referred to as Gauls and who spoke the Gaulish language. On the lower Garonne the people spoke an archaic language related to Basque, the Aquitanian language. The Celts founded cities such as Lutetia Parisiorum (Paris) and Burdigala (Bordeaux) while the Aquitanians founded Tolosa (Toulouse).
Long before any Roman settlements, Greek navigators settled in what would become Provence. The Phoceans founded important cities such as Massalia (Marseilles) and Nicaea (Nice), bringing them in to conflict with the neighboring Celts and Ligurians. The Phoceans were great navigators such as Pytheas who was born in Marseilles. The Celts themselves often fought with Aquitanians and Germans, and a Gaulish war band led by Brennus invaded Rome circa 390 or 387 BC following the Battle of the Allia. However Gaulish tactics would not evolve and the Romans would learn to counter them, the Gauls would from then be defeated in battles such as Sentinum and Telamon.
When he fought the Romans, Hannibal Barca recruited several Gaulish mercenaries which fought on his side at Cannae. It was this Gaulish participation that caused Provence to be annexed in 121 BC by the Roman Republic. Later, the Consul of Gaul - Julius Caesar - conquered all of Gaul. Despite Gaulish opposition led by Vercingetorix, the Overking of the Warriors, Gauls succumbed to the Roman onslaught; the Gauls had some success at first at Gergovia, but were ultimately defeated at Alesia. The Romans founded cities such as Lugdunum (Lyon) and Narbonensis (Narbonne).
Roman Gaul
Gaul was divided into several different provinces. The Romans displaced populations in order to prevent local identities to become a threat to the Roman control. Thus, many Celts were displaced in Aquitania or were enslaved and moved out of Gaul. There was a strong cultural evolution in Gaul under the Roman Empire, the most obvious one being the replacement of the Gaulish language by Vulgar Latin. It has been argued the similarities between the Gaulish and Latin languages favoured the transition. Gaul remained under Roman control for centuries and the Celtic culture was then replaced by the Gallo-Roman culture.
Gauls became better integrated with the Empire with the passage of time. In the decade following Valerian’s capture by the Persians in 260 Postumus established a short-lived Gallic Empire, which included the Iberian Peninsula and Britannia in addition to Gaul itself. Germanic tribes, the Franks and the Alamanni, entered Gaul at this time. The Gallic Empire ended with Emperor Aurelian's victory at Chalons in 274.
A migration of Celts appeared in the 4th century in Armorica. They were led by the legendary king Conan Meriadoc and came from Britain. They spoke the now extinct British language which evolved into the Breton, Cornish, and Welsh languages.
In 418 the Aquitanian province was given to the Goths in exchange for their support against the Vandals. Those Goths had previously sacked Rome in 410 and established a capital in Toulouse. The Roman Empire had difficulty responding to all the barbarian raids, and Flavius Aëtius had to use these tribes against each other in order to maintain some Roman control. He first used Huns against Burgundians and these mercenaries destroyed Worms, killed king Gunther, and pushed the Burgundians westward. The Burgundians were resettled by Aëtius near Lugdunum in 443. The Huns, united by Attila became a greater threat, and Aëtius used the Visigoths against the Huns. The conflict climaxed in 451 at the Battle of Chalons, in which the Romans and Goths defeated Attila.
The Roman Empire was on the verge of collapsing. Aquitania was definitely abandoned to the Visigoths, who would soon conquer a significant part of southern Gaul as well as most of the Iberian Peninsula. The Burgundians claimed their own kingdom, and northern Gaul was practically abandoned to the Franks. Aside of the Germanic peoples the Vascones entered Wasconia from the Pyrenees and the Bretons formed three kingdoms in Armorica: Domnonia, Cornouaille and Broërec.
Frankish kingdoms (486-987)
In 486,Clovis I, leader of the Salian Franks, defeated Syagrius at Soissons and subsequently united most of northern and central Gaul under his rule. Clovis then recorded a succession of victories against other Germanic tribes such as the Alamanni at Tolbiac. In 496, he adopted Roman Catholicism. This gave him greater legitimacy and power over his Christian subjects and granted him clerical support against the Visigoths. He defeated Alaric II at Vouillé in 507 and annexed Aquitaine, and thus Toulouse, into his Frankish kingdom. The Goths retired to Toledo in what would become Spain. Clovis made Paris his capital but his kingdom would not survive his death. The Franks treated land purely as a private possession and divided it among heirs, so four kingdoms emerged: Paris, Orleans, Soissons, and Rheims. The Merovingian dynasty eventually lost effective power to their successive mayors of the palace, the founders of what was to become the Carolingian dynasty. Muslims invaders had conquered Hispania and were threatening the Frankish kingdoms. Duke Odo the Great defeated a major invading force at Toulouse in 721 but failed to repel a raiding party in 732. The mayor of the palace, Charles Martel, defeated that raiding party at the Battle of Tours (actually the Battle of Poitiers) and earned respect and power within the Frankish Kingdom. The assumption of the crown in 751 by Pippin the Short (son of Charles Martel) established the Carolingian dynasty.
The new rulers' power reached its fullest extent under Pippin's son Charlemagne, who in 771 reunited the Frankish domains after a further period of division, subsequently conquering the Lombards under Desiderius in what is now northern Italy (774), incorporating Bavaria (788) into his realm, defeating the Avars of the Danubian plain (796), advancing the frontier with Islamic Spain as far south as Barcelona (801), and subjugating Lower Saxony (804) after prolonged campaigning.
In recognition of his successes and his political support for the Papacy, Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of the Romans, or Roman Emperor in the West, by Pope Leo III in 800. Charlemagne's son Louis I (emperor 814-840) kept the empire united however this Carolingian Empire would not survive Louis I's death. Two of his sons -Charles the Bald and Louis the German- swore allegiance to each other against their brother -Lothair I- in the Oath of Strasbourg, and the empire was divided among Louis's three sons (Treaty of Verdun, 843). After a last brief reunification (884-887), the imperial title ceased to be held in the western realm which was to form the basis of the future French kingdom. The eastern realm, which would become Germany, elected the Saxon dynasty of Henry the Fowler.
Under the Carolingians, the kingdom was ravaged by Viking raiders. In this struggle some important figures such as Count Odo of Paris and his brother King Robert rose to fame and became kings. This emerging dynasty, called the Robertines, was the predecessor of the Capetian Dynasty, who were descended from the Robertines. Led by Rollo, the Vikings had settled in Normandy and were granted the land first as counts and then as dukes by King Charles the Simple. The people that emerged from the interactions between Vikings and the mix of Franks and Gallo-Romans became known as the Normans.
See also:
- List of Frankish Kings
- Merovingians
- Carolingians
- Carolingian Empire
- Carolingian Renaissance
- Early Middle Ages
France in the Middle-Ages (987-1453)
Hugh Capet was elected by an assembly summoned in Reims on 1 June 987. Capet was previously "Duke of the Franks" and then became "King of the Franks" (Rex Francorum). He was recorded to be recognised king by the Gauls, Bretons, Danes, Aquitanians, Goths, Spanish and Gascons.[1] The Danes here are certainly the Normans (of Normandy), and the Spanish entry probably refers to the Carolingian Spanish marches. Hugh Capet's reign was marked by the loss of the Spanish marches as they grew more and more independent, Count Borell of Barcelona called for Hugh's help against Islamic raids. If Hugh intended to help Borell he was occupied fighting Charles of Lorraine. Spanish principalities then followed their way. His son -Robert the Pious- met the Emperor in 1023 on the borderline. They agreed to end all claims over each other's realm, setting a new stage of Capetian and Ottonian relationships.
The French kingdom was a very decentralised kingdom. If the king ventured outside of his own small personal possessions, he
risked being captured by his own vassals. This is especially true for the early Capetians, but from Louis VI onward, royal authority became more accepted. Even more powerful vassals such as
Henry Plantagenet paid homage to the French kings.[2] Louis VII was well served by a
competent advisor, Abbot Suger, who helped him gain the respect of the nobles. Sugar's
vision of construction became known as the Gothic Architecture during the later
renaissance. This style became standard for most French cathedrals built in the late
middle-age. Some of the king's vassals would grow so powerful that they would be among the strongest rulers of western Europe.
The Normans, the Plantagenets, the
Lusignans, the Hautevilles, the
Ramnulfids, and the House of Toulouse
successfully carved lands outside of France for themselves. The most important of these conquests for the French history was the
Norman Conquest of England following the Battle of Hastings by William the Conqueror because it
linked England to France through Normandy. Although the Normans were now both vassals of the French kings and their equals as
King of England their zone of political activity remained centred in France.[3] These Norman nobles then commissioned the Bayeux Tapestry.
An important part of the French aristocracy involved itself in the crusades. French knights founded and ruled the
Most remarkable was the Angevin Empire which was probably the greatest threat to the King of France, resulting from both the Norman Conquest of England and The Anarchy. The Battle of Bouvines was probably the most important event in the collapse of this so-called empire. In addition to defeating John of England, Philip Augustus founded the Sorbonne and made Paris a city of scholars. Prince Louis (the future Louis VIII) was involved in the subsequent English civil war as French and English (or rather Anglo-Norman) aristocracy were once one and were now split between allegiances. Saint Louis (Louis IX) inflicted further defeats on the Angevins during the Saintonge War and also supported new forms of art such as Gothic architecture; his Sainte-Chapelle became a very famous gothic building, and he is also credited for the Morgan Bible. While the French kings were struggling against the Plantagenets the Church called for the Albigensian Crusade. Southern France was then largely absorbed in the royal domains.
It can be said that France became a truly centralised kingdom under Saint Louis, who initiated several administrative reforms. More administrative reforms were made by Philip the Fair. This king was responsible for the end of the Templars, signed the Auld Alliance, and established the Parlement of Paris. Philip IV was so powerful that he could name popes and emperors, unlike the early Capetians. The papacy was moved to Avignon and all the contemporary popes were French such as Philip IV's puppet: Bertrand de Goth.
The tensions between the Houses of Anjou and Capet climaxed during the so-called Hundred Years' War (actually several distinct wars) when the English descendants of the former claimed the throne of France from the Valois. This was also the time of the Black Death as well as several civil wars. The French population suffered very much from these wars. It has been argued that the difficult conditions the French population suffered during the Hundred Years' War awakened French nationalism, a nationalism represented by Joan of Arc. Although this is debatable, the Hundred Years War is remembered more as a Franco-English war than as a succession of feudal struggles. During this war, France evolved politically and militarily. Although a Franco-Scottish army was successful at Baugé, the humiliating defeats of Poitiers and Agincourt forced the French nobility to realise they could not stand just as armoured knights without an organised army. Charles VII established the first French standing army, the Compagnies d'ordonnance, and defeated the English once at Patay and again, using canons, at Formigny. The Battle of Châtillon was regarded as the last engagement of this "war", yet Calais and the Channel Islands remained under ruled by the English crown.
See also:
- Capetian dynasty
- House of Capet
- House of Valois
- Angevin Empire
- Albigensian Crusade
- Saintonge War
- Auld Alliance
- Knights Templar
- Hundred Years' War
French Kings:
English interlude (between Charles VI and VII)
Important figures:
Early Modern France (1453-1789)
France evolved from a feudal country to an increasingly centralized state (albeit with many regional differences) organized around a powerful absolute monarchy that relied on the doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings and the explicit support of the established Church. France engaged in the long Italian Wars (1494-1559), which marked the beginning of early modern France. Francis I faced powerful foes, and he was captured at Pavia. The French monarchy then sought for allies and found one in the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Admiral Barbarossa captured Nice on 5 August 1543 and handed it down to Francis I. These times also gave birth to the Protestant Reformation, and John Calvin and his reformed doctrine challenged the power of the Catholic Church in France. During the 16th century, the Spanish and Austrian Habsburgs were the dominant power in Europe. In addition to Spain and Austria, they controlled a number of kingdoms and duchies across Europe. Charles Quint, as Count of Burgundy, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Aragon, Castile and Germany (among many other titles) encircled France. The Spanish Tercio was used with great success against French knights and remained undefeated for a long time. Finally on January 7, 1558 the Duke of Guise seized Calais from the English.
Despite the challenge to French power posed by the Habsburgs, French became the preferred language of Europe's aristocracy. Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (born in 1500) said this about languages:
| “ | I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men, and German to my horse. | ” |
Because of its international status, there was a desire to regulate the French language. Several reforms of the French
language worked to uniformise it. The Renaissance writer François Rabelais (probably
born in 1494) helped to shape the French language as a literary language, Rabelais'
French is characterised by the re-introduction of Latin and Greek words. Jacques
Peletier du Mans (born 1517) was one of the scholars that reformed the French language. He improved Nicolas Chuquet's long scale system by adding names for
intermediate numbers (milliards instead of thousand million, etc...). During the 16th century the French kingdom also
established colonies began to claim North American territories.
Jacques Cartier was one of the great explorers who ventured deep into American
territories during the 16th century. The largest group of French colonies became known as New
France, and several cities such as Quebec City,
Religious conflicts
Renewed Catholic reaction headed by the powerful duke of Guise, led to a massacre of Huguenots at Vassy in 1562, starting the first of the French Wars of Religion, during which English, German, and Spanish forces intervened on the side of rival Protestant and Catholic forces. In the most notorious incident, thousands of Huguenots were murdered in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of 1572. The Wars of Religion culminated in the War of the Three Henrys in which Henry III assassinated Henry de Guise, leader of the Spanish-backed Catholic league, and the king was murdered in return. Following this war Henry III of Navarre became king of France as Henry IV and enforced the Edict of Nantes (1598). Religious conflicts resumed under Louis XIII when Cardinal de Richelieu forced the Protestants to disarm their army and fortresses. This conflict ended in the Siege of La Rochelle (1627-1628), in which Protestants and their English supporters were defeated. The following Peace of Alais confirmed religious freedom yet dismantled the Protestant defences. This was also a time of philosophy. René Descartes sought answers to philosophical questions through the use of logic and reason and formulated what would be called Cartesian Dualism in 1641.
The religious conflicts that plagued France also ravaged the Habsburg-led Holy Roman Empire. The Thirty Years War eroded the power of the Catholic Habsburgs. Although Cardinal Richelieu, the powerful chief minister of France, had previously mauled the Protestants, he joined this war on their side in 1636 because it was the raison d'état. Imperial Habsburg forces invaded France, ravaged Champagne, and nearly threatened Paris. Richelieu died in 1642 and was replaced by Mazarin, while Louis XIII died one year later and was succeeded by Louis XIV. France was served by some very efficient commanders such as Louis II de Bourbon (Condé) and Henry de la Tour d'Auvergne (Turenne). The French forces won a decisive victory at Rocroi (1643), and the Spanish army was decimated; the Tercio was broken. The Truce of Ulm (1647) and the Peace of Westphalia (1648) brought an end to the war. But some challenges remained. France was hit by civil unrest known as the Fronde which in turn evolved into the Franco-Spanish War in 1653. Louis II de Bourbon joined the Spanish army this time, but was inflicted a severe defeat at Dunkirk (1658) by Henry de la Tour d'Auvergne. The terms for the peace inflicted upon the Spanish kingdoms in the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659) were harsh, as France annexed Northern Catalonia.
Louis XIV
The Sun King wanted to be remembered as a patron of the arts, like his ancestor Louis IX. He invited Jean-Baptiste Lully to establish the French opera. A tumultuous friendship was established between Lully and Molière. Jules Hardouin Mansart became France's most important architect of the time. Louis XIV's long reign saw France involved in many wars that drained its treasury. His reign began during the Thirty Years' War and during the Franco-Spanish war. His military architect, Vauban, became famous for his pentagonal fortresses, and Jean-Baptiste Colbert supported the royal spending as much as possible. France fought the War of Devolution against Spain in 1667. France's defeat Spain and invasion of the Spanish Netherlands alarmed England and Sweden. With the Dutch Republic they formed the Triple Alliance to check Louis XIV's expansion. Louis II de Bourbon had captured Franche-Comté, but in face of an indefensible position, Louis XIV agreed to a peace at Aachen. Under its terms, Louis XIV did not annex Franche-Comté but did gain Lille.
Peace was fragile, and war broke out again between France and the Dutch Republic in the Franco-Dutch War (1672-1678). Louis XIV asked for the Dutch Republic to resume war against the Spanish Netherlands, but the republic refused. France attacked the Dutch Republic and was joined by England in this conflict. Through targeted inundations of polders by breaking dykes, the French invasion of the Dutch Republic was brought to a halt. The Dutch Admiral Michiel de Ruyter inflicted a few strategic defeats on the Anglo-French naval alliance and forced England to retire from the war in 1674. Because the Netherlands could not resist eternally, it agreed to peace in the Treaties of Nijmegen, according to which France would annex France-Comté and acquired further concessions in the Spanish Netherlands. On 6 May 1682, the royal court moved to the Palace of Versailles, which Louis XIV had greatly expanded. Peace, once again, did not last, and war between France and Spain resumed once again. The War of the Reunions broke out (1683-1684), and once again Spain, with its ally the Holy Roman Empire, was easily defeated. Meanwhile, in October 1685 Louis signed the Edict of Fontainebleau ordering the destruction of all Protestant churches and schools in France. Its immediate consequence was a large Protestant exodus from France.
France would soon be involved into another war, the War of the Grand Alliance. This time the theatre was not only in Europe but also in North America. Although the war was long and difficult (it was also called the Nine Years War), its results were inconclusive. The Treaty of Ryswick in 1697 confirmed French sovereignty over Alsace, yet rejected its claims to Luxembourg. Louis also had to evacuate Catalonia and the Palatinate. This peace was considered a truce by all sides, thus war was to start again. In 1701 the War of the Spanish Succession began. The Bourbon Philip of Anjou was designated heir to the throne of Spain. The Habsburg Emperor Leopold opposed a Bourbon succession, because of the power that such a succession would bring to the Bourbon rulers of France, and claimed the Spanish thrones for himself. England and the Dutch Republic joined Leopold against Louis XIV and Philip of Anjou. The allied forces were led by John Churchill and by Prince Eugene of Savoy. They inflicted a few resounding defeats to the French army; the Battle of Blenheim in 1704 was the first major land battle lost by France since its victory at Rocroi in 1643. Yet, after the extremely bloody battles of Ramillies and Malplaquet, Pyrrhic victories for the allies, they had lost too many men to continue the war. Led by Villars, the French forces recovered much of the lost ground in battles such as Denain. Finally, a compromise was achieved with the Ultrecht in 1713. Philip of Anjou was confirmed as Philip V, king of Spain, and Emperor Leopold did not get the throne, but Philip V was barred from inheriting France.
Colonial struggles and the dawn of the revolution
Louis XIV died in 1714 of gangrene. In 1718 France was, once again, at war as Philip II of Orleans's regency joined the War of the Quadruple Alliance against Spain. King Philip V of Spain had to withdraw from the conflict confronted with the reality that Spain was no longer a great power of Europe. Under Fleury's administration, peace was maintained as much as possible. However, in 1733 another war broke in central Europe, this time about the Polish succession, and France joined the war against the Austrian Empire. This time there was no invasion of the Netherlands, and Britain remained neutral. As a consequence, Austria was left alone against a Franco-Spanish alliance and faced a military disaster. Peace was setted in the Treaty of Vienna (1738), according to which France would annex, through inheritance, the Duchy of Lorraine. Two years later war broke out over the Austrian succession, and France seized the opportunity to join the conflict. The war played out in North America and India as well as Europe, and inconclusive terms were agreed to in the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748). Once again, no one regarded this as a peace but rather as a mere truce. Prussia was then becoming a new threat as it had gained substantial territory from Austria. This led to the Diplomatic Revolution of 1756, in which the alliances seen during the previous war were mostly inverted. France was now allied to Austria and Russia while Britain was now allied to Prussia. In the North American theatre, France was allied with various Indian peoples during the Seven Years' War and, despite a temporary success at the battles of the Great Meadows and Monongahela, French forces were defeated at the disastrous Battle of the Plains of Abraham in Quebec. In Europe, Russia was on the verge of crushing Prussia, and the Anglo-Prussian alliance was saved by The miracle of the House of Brandenburg, while the French suffered naval defeats against British fleets at Lagos and Quiberon Bay. Finally peace was concluded in the Treaty of Paris (1763), and France lost most of its North American empire. In 1768 the French Kingdom bought Corsica from Genoa.
Having lost its colonial empire, France saw a good opportunity for revenge against Britain during the American Revolutionary War. Spain, allied to France by the Family Compact, and the Netherlands also joined the war on the American side. Admiral de Grasse defeated a British fleet at Chesapeake Bay while Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau and Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette joined American forces in defeating the British at Yorktown. The war was concluded by the Treaty of Paris (1783), under which Britain lost its former American colonies.
While the state expanded, new ideas broke on the role of the king and the powers of the state. Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu described the separation of powers. Many French other philosophers and intellectuals gained influence, such as: Voltaire, Denis Diderot and, most importantly, Jean-Jacques Rousseau with his The Social Contract, Or Principles of Political Right. Science, mathematics and technology also flourished. French scientists such as Antoine Lavoisier worked to replace the archaic units of weights and measures by a coherent scientific system, commissioned by king Louis XVI. Lavoisier also formulated the law of Conservation of mass and discovered Oxygen and Hydrogen.
The Early Modern period in French history spans the following reigns:
- House of Valois
- House of Bourbon
- Henry IV the Great
- the Regency of Marie de Medici
- Louis XIII the Just and his minister Cardinal Richelieu
- the Regency of Anne of Austria and her minister Cardinal Mazarin
- Louis XIV the Sun-King and his minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert
- the Régence of Philip II of Orleans
- Louis XV the Beloved and his minister Cardinal Fleury
- Louis XVI
See also:
- French Renaissance
- French colonization of the Americas
- French Opera
- Separation of powers
- Wars of Religion
- Ancien Régime in France
- Age of Enlightenment
France in modern times I (1789–1914)
From the Revolution to World War I.
The Revolution
On May 28, 1789, the Abbot Sieyès moved that the
Third Estate proceed with verification of its own powers and invite the other two
estates to take part, but not to wait for them. They proceeded to do so, and then voted a measure far more radical, declaring
themselves the National Assembly. Tensions finally caused the Third Estate to
pronounce the Tennis Court Oath on June 20,
1789 after finding the door to their chamber locked and guarded. They were joined by some members
of the second and first estates in the conflict against the king. On July 14, 1789, after four hours of combat, the insurgents seized the Bastille
prison, killing the governor and several of his guards. Gilbert
du Motier, hero of the American independence, took command of the national guard and the king was forced to recognise the
Tricolour Cockade. Although peace was found several nobles did not regard the new order as
acceptable and migrated to push neighbouring kingdoms to war against the new rule. Because of this new period of unstability the
state was struck by the Great Fear, the two classes were scared of each other. The
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
tried to give everyone equal rights and France's administrative map was totally changed, moving from provinces to départements. Rising conflicts between two factions
brought even more unstability to the already weak regime as some wanted a constitutional monarchy and some wanted a republic.
During riots Gilbert du Motier ordered the National Guard to open fire on the protesting crowd. Republican publications were
censored afterward. In the Declaration of Pillnitz outsiders such as:
Emperor Leopold II, Count Charles
of Artois and King William II of Prussia made Louis XVI's cause
theirs. These noblemen also required the assembly to be dissolved through threats of war but instead of cowing the French
institutions this infuriated them. The borderlines were militarised as a consequence. Under the Constitution of 1791 the solution of a constitutional monarchy was adopted and the king
supported a war against Austria in order to increase his popularity starting the long French Revolutionary Wars. On the night of the 10th of August the Jacobins, who had mainly
opposed the war, suspended the monarchy. With the Prussian army entering France more doubts raised against the aristocracy, these
tensions climaxed during the September Massacres. After the first great victory of
the French revolutionary troops at the battle of Valmy on 1792 September 20 the French First Republic was proclaimed the
day after on 1792 September 21. The French
Republican Calendar was enforced. The Brunswick Manifesto threatened
once more the French population from Austrian (Imperial) and Prussian attacks if royalist advance in France was still opposed,
following this threat Louis XVI was suspected of treason and was guillotined on 21 January
1793. Spain, Naples, Great-Britain and The Netherlands joined Austria and Prussia in their
war against France. The Republican government was radicalised after a diplomatic coup
from the Jacobins and said it would be the Guerre Totale and called for a Levée en masse, this was called the Reign of Terror. Royalist
invading forces were defeated at Toulon in 1793, leaving the French republican forces in
an offensive position and granting a young officer, Napoleon Bonaparte, a certain fame. Following their victory at
Fleurus the Republicans occupied Belgium and the Rhineland. An invasion of the
Netherlands established the puppet Batavian Republic. Finally a peace agreement was
found between France, Spain and Prussia in 1795 at Basel, while France withdrew its
forces from occupied parts of the eastern Rhine and Northern Spain it remained in control of all the western bank of the Rhine.
Sardinia, Austria and Britain were still at war against France and General Napoleon
Bonaparte was highly successful against them as he captured Milan and defeated several
Austrian armies sent to relieve Mantua from a siege he led. Finally Mantua fell and Napoleon invaded Tyrol while General Hoche was invading
Germany, Austria was compelled to sign the Treaty of Campo Formio in 1797 losing
Belgium to France. The republican government also enforced the Système
International d'Unités, commissioned by Louis XVI, and which became known as the Metric System.
The Napoleonic Era
During the War of the First Coalition the Directoire had replaced the National Convention. Five directors then ruled France. As Great-Britain was still at war with France a plan was made to take Egypt from the Ottoman Empire, allied to Great-Britain. This was Napoleon's idea and the Directoire agreed to the plan in order to send the popular general away from the mainland. Napoleon captured Malta from the Knights of Saint John on the way to Egypt. The French army met Ottoman forces during the Battle of the Pyramids and defeated them. While the land campaign was so far a success, the British fleet, led by Admiral Nelson, destroyed the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile. Hearing of the destruction of the French fleet, the Ottoman Empire gathered armies to attack Napoleon in Egypt, and Napoleon adopted a policy of attack again. An invasion of Syria was planned but failed during the Siege of Acre. Napoleon had to come back to the mainland leaving a significant part of his army behind. These men were supposed to be given honourable term by the British forces yet Admiral Keith decided to attack them anyway with a Mameluk force, although this f