France in WW2

WWI occurred as a result of secret alliances. Once the first declaration of war was made, the dominoes began to fall. Germany's Schlaffen Plan called for a rapid envelopment through Holland and Belgium, hoping to catch France off guard before it could fully mobilize its forces. France was still looking for an opportunity to redeem itself after losing the two Franco-Prussian Wars.

At least fifteen, not all of which were put into force.

This high number is partly due to the political turmoil in France in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and partly due to the fact that a French constitution would usually be entirely re-written rather than amended gradually.

As an absolute monarchy, France had no constitutional document; it relied on tradition and precedent to determine how the kingdom worked.

During the French Revolution (beginning in 1789) there were a number of attempts to write a French constitution. The first was written in 1791 and made France a constitutional monarchy, like Great Britain. A second, republican constitution was written in 1793 but never implemented. There were two more republican constitutions in 1795 (establishing the Directory) and 1799 (establishing the Consulate).

A new constitution revised the earlier one in 1801, creating the position of First Consul for Napoleon Bonaparte. Two years later another constitution created the French Empire, with Napoleon as Emperor.

After Napoleon was deposed, in 1814 the House of Bourbon was restored under King Louis XVIII. This time, Louis ruled as a constitutional monarch under the Charter of 1814. But this Charter was overthrown in less than a year when Napoleon escaped his exile in Elba and returned to France.

Napoleon created a new constitution for the Empire, but this also lasted only a short time, because he was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo and sent back into exile (the so-called "Hundred Days" of 1815).

After this, the House of Bourbon ruled under a new monarchial constitution, the Charter of 1815, the basic principles of which were to remain France's constitution until 1848.

In 1830, King Charles X was deposed in favour of King Louis-Philippe (the "Citizen King") and the Charter was amended. This probably counts as a new constitution, although the governmental structure was not that different compared to previous revolutions.

Another revolution in 1848 deposed Louis and re-created France as a republic, with yet another republican constitution.

This constitution lasted until 1852, when the President (Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte) crowned himself Emperor Napoleon III and created a new constitution, ruling as a constitutional monarch.

Napoleon III ruled until 1871, when France was defeated in the Fraco-Prussian war. France was declared a republic again (the Third Republic), and it stayed that way until the French defeat in World War II in 1940.

The French government surrendered to the Germans, and Marchal Phillipe Petain (a World War I hero) declared himself ruler of France and led a military dictatorship in the town of Vichy. This pro-Nazi government was not accepted by the Free French movement.

The Vichy government was overthrown when the Allies liberated France in 1944. A temporary government under President Charles de Galle was established, with a temporary constitution. In 1946, a permanent republican constitution was adopted (the "Fourth Republic").

The Fourth Republic lasted until 1958, when the government collapsed. A new constitution was written and Charles de Galle returned as President. This is the "Fifth Republic" and this constitution, with amendments, governs France today.

In WW2 the Germans got as far as Stalingrad in the south, and the Caucasus mountains, just north of Grozny. Leningrad was besieged in the north, & Moscow was not reached. Essentially Stalingrad was as far as the Germans got, at the end of 1942.

Alsace and Lorraine

Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy-(later changed sides) Ottoman Empire

Russia, United States, Great Britain, France, Italy-(after changed sides)

As a result of WWII, France was left fragmented culturally, ideologically, politically and left militarily weak until joining NATO. As we already know, France fought a civil war as Vichy against Free French forces. After the German invasion of USSR in 1941, France cuddled to the Soviet Union. After the war, socialism was still strong in France. Part of it was because of undoubtful influence of the Red Army, even if indirect. Part of it was the fear that in case the government is hostile to the Soviet Union, they might just overrun France (Germans are stronger than French, Russians are stronger than Germans therefore Russians are stronger than French). Charles de Gaul even wanted the Americans out of Europe--no doubtful that one of the reasons was the fear of the conflict with USSR. On the other hand, joining NATO and EC meant that France would try to pay a lip service to democracies. France tried to be the middle ground between the East and West in the Cold War because of its weak showing in WWII--they couldn't even defend themselves, how would they face one of the 2 opposing blocks in full force?! My argument goes further--just as French were militarily weaker than their British and German counterparts, so is France economically weaker than these 2 countries in present day. It seems as if France never really recovered.

yes he went through a lot, including the hole of the but.

yes they believed it caused instant death

'la plage' means the beach in French.

parc des princes,steven james,jackson foley,rc narbonne.

Recently got independence on 8/07/2011 is south sudan

The ability to acquire food on a regular basis was an important discovery for the human race. It meant that they could give up their nomadic lifestyle and begin to settle down.

Love You is English , and when you would say that it wouldn't make much sence to the french person considering it's English.

If you wanted to say I Love You in french you would say :" Je T'aime".

1,4 million were killed or missing representing 10 % of the male active polpulation.

les means the and deux means two so les deux means the two

There is a big difference in value between the France Franc and the Belgium Franc, so please specify.

Bayeux is a commune in the Calvados department in Normandy in northwestern France. Bayeux is the home of the Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England.

France was a kingdom at the time ruled by kings (in that century, mostly Louis XV and Louis XVI) with near-absolute power. The day-to-day management of the Government was delegated by the King to Ministers, but these were answerable to the King only. There was a fairly independent judicial system, but mostly because the King hardly ever interfered in the judicial process.

There was no national Parliament, only a number of local Parliaments in the big cities (that of Paris being the most prominent) but they had little power and met only sporadically. The three Estates that met in 1789 were rarely convened by the King, traditionally only if the King needed approval for new taxes; when they met in 1789, they hadn't been called together for over 100 years.

300 in french would be Trois cents

but dont pronounce it as "Cents" as in pennies, pronounce it as "Sans" (french)

Belgium, Luxemburg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Andorra, and Spain

Immigration changed the labor force in the mid-1800s by filling the need for cheap land in towns and cities while also expanding to the Midwest for farmland. Also, a great deal of native born Americans were losing their jobs to immigrants.