History of France

The first written records for the history of France appeared in the Iron Age. What is
now France made up the bulk of the region known to the Romans as Gaul. Roman writers noted the
presence of three main ethno-linguistic groups in the area: the Gauls, the Aquitani, and the Belgae.
The Gauls, the largest and best attested group, were Celtic people speaking what is known as
the Gaulish language.
Over the course of the 1st millennium BC the Greeks, Romans and Carthaginians established
colonies on the Mediterranean coast and the offshore islands. The Roman Republic annexed
southern Gaul as the province of Gallia Narbonensis in the late 2nd century BC, and Roman forces
under Julius Caesar conquered the rest of Gaul in the Gallic Wars of 58–51 BC. Afterwards a Gallo-
Roman cultureemerged and Gaul was increasingly integrated into the Roman Empire.
In the later stages of the Roman Empire, Gaul was subject to barbarian raids and migration, most
importantly by the Germanic Franks. The Frankish king Clovis I united most of Gaul under his rule in
the late 5th century, setting the stage for Frankish dominance in the region for hundreds of years.
Frankish power reached its fullest extent under Charlemagne. The medieval Kingdom of
France emerged from the western part of Charlemagne's Carolingian Empire, known as West
Francia, and achieved increasing prominence under the rule of the House of Capet, founded
by Hugh Capet in 987.
A succession crisis following the death of the last direct Capetian monarch in 1328 led to the series
of conflicts known as the Hundred Years' War between the House of Valois and the House of
Plantagenet. The war formally began in 1337 following Philip VI's attempt to seize the Duchy of
Aquitaine from its hereditary holder, Edward III of England, the Plantagenet claimant to the French
throne. Despite early Plantagenet victories, including the capture and ransom of John II of France,
fortunes turned in favor of the Valois later in the war. Among the notable figures of the war was Joan
of Arc, a French peasant girl who led French forces against the English, establishing herself as a
national heroine. The war ended with a Valois victory in 1453.
Victory in the Hundred Years' War had the effect of strengthening French nationalism and vastly
increasing the power and reach of the French monarchy. During the period known as the Ancien
Régime, France transformed into a centralized absolute monarchy. During the next centuries,
France experienced the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation. At the height of the French
Wars of Religion, France became embroiled in another succession crisis, as the last Valois
king, Henry III, fought against rival factions the House of Bourbonand the House of Guise. Henry,
King of Navarre, scion of the Bourbon family, would be victorious in the conflict and establish the
French Bourbon dynasty. A burgeoning worldwide colonial empire was established in the 16th
century. French political power reached a zenith under the rule of Louis XIV, "The Sun King", builder
of Versailles Palace.
In the late 18th century the monarchy and associated institutions were overthrown in the French
Revolution. The country was governed for a period as a Republic, until the French Empire was
declared by Napoleon Bonaparte. Following Napoleon's defeat in the Napoleonic Wars, France went
through several further regime changes, being ruled as a monarchy, then briefly as a Second
Republic, and then as a Second Empire, until a more lasting French Third Republic was established
in 1870.
France was one of the Triple Entente powers in World War I, fighting alongside the United Kingdom,
Russia, Italy, Japan, the United States and smaller allies against Germany and the Central Powers.
France was one of the Allied Powers in World War II, but was conquered by Nazi Germany in 1940.
The Third Republic was dismantled, and most of the country was controlled directly by Germany
while the south was controlled until 1942 by the collaborationist Vichy government. Living conditions
were harsh as Germany drained away food and manpower, and many Jews were killed. Charles de
Gaulle led the Free France movement that one-by-one took over the colonial empire, and
coordinated the wartime Resistance. Following liberation in summer 1944, a Fourth Republic was
established. France slowly recovered economically, and enjoyed a baby boom that reversed its very
low fertility rate. Long wars in Indochina and Algeria drained French resources and ended in political
defeat. In the wake of the Algerian Crisis of 1958, Charles de Gaulle set up the French Fifth
Republic. Into the 1960s decolonization saw most of the French colonial empire become
independent, while smaller parts were incorporated into the French state as overseas
departments and collectivities. Since World War II France has been a permanent member in the UN
Security Council and NATO. It played a central role in the unification process after 1945 that led to
the European Union. Despite slow economic growth in recent years and issues with Muslim
minorities, it remains a strong economic, cultural, military and political factor in the 21st century.

Prehistory

Cave painting in Lascaux

Stone tools discovered at Chilhac (1968) and Lézignan-la-Cèbe in 2009 indicate that pre-human
ancestors may have been present in France at least 1.6 million years ago.[1]
Neanderthals were present in Europe from about 400,000 BC,[2] but died out about 30,000 years
ago, possibly out-competed by the modern humans during a period of cold weather. The earliest
modern humans – Homo sapiens – entered Europe by 43,000 years ago (the Upper
Palaeolithic).[3] The cave paintings of Lascaux and Gargas (Gargas in the Hautes-Pyrénées) as well
as the Carnac stones are remains of the local prehistoric activity. The first written records for the
history of France appear in the Iron Age. What is now France made up the bulk of the region known
to the Romans as Gaul. Roman writers noted the presence of three main ethno-linguistic groups in
the area: the Gauls, the Aquitani, and the Belgae. The Gauls, the largest and best attested group,
were Celtic people speaking what is known as the Gaulish language.
Over the course of the 1st millennium BC the Greeks, Romans, and Carthaginians established
colonies on the Mediterranean coast and the offshore islands. The Roman Republic annexed
southern Gaul as the province of Gallia Narbonensis in the late 2nd century BC, and Roman forces
under Julius Caesar conquered the rest of Gaul in the Gallic Wars of 58–51 BC. Afterwards a Gallo-
Roman culture emerged and Gaul was increasingly integrated into the Roman empire.
Ancient history
Greek colonies

Massalia (modern Marseille) silver coin with Greek legend, a testimony to Greeks in pre-Roman Gaul, 5th–1st
century BC

In 600 BC Ionian Greeks from Phocaea founded the colony of Massalia (present-day Marseille) on
the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, making it the oldest city of France.[4][5] At the same time, some
Celtic tribes penetrated the eastern parts (Germania superior) of the current territory of France, but
this occupation spread in the rest of France only between the 5th and 3rd century BC.[6]
Gaul
Covering large parts of modern-day France, Belgium, northwest Germany and northern Italy, Gaul
was inhabited by many Celtic and Belgae tribes whom the Romans referred to as Gauls and who
spoke the Gaulish language roughly between the Oise and the Garonne (Gallia Celtica), according
to Julius Caesar.[citation needed] On the lower Garonne the people spoke Aquitanian, a Pre-Indo-European
language related to (or a direct ancestor of) Basque whereas a Belgian language was spoken north
of Lutecia but north of the Loire according to other authors like Strabo. The Celts founded cities such
as Lutetia Parisiorum (Paris) and Burdigala(Bordeaux) while the Aquitanians
founded Tolosa (Toulouse).[citation needed]
Long before any Roman settlements, Greek navigators settled in what would
become Provence.[7] The Phoceans founded important cities such as Massalia (Marseille)
and Nikaia(Nice), bringing them into conflict with the neighboring Celts and Ligurians. Some
Phocean great navigators, such as Pytheas, were born in Marseille. The Celts themselves often
fought with Aquitanians and Germans, and a Gaulish war band led by Brennus invaded Rome c. 393
or 388 BC following the Battle of the Allia.[citation needed]
However, the tribal society of the Gauls did not change fast enough for the centralized Roman state,
who would learn to counter them. The Gaulish tribal confederacies were then defeated by the
Romans in battles such as Sentinum and Telamon during the 3rd century BC.[citation needed] In the early
3rd century BC, some Belgae (Germani cisrhenani) conquered the surrounding territories of
the Somme in northern Gaul after battles supposedly against the Armoricani (Gauls) near Ribemont-
sur-Ancre and Gournay-sur-Aronde, where sanctuaries were found.[citation needed]
When Carthaginian commander Hannibal Barca fought the Romans, he recruited several Gaulish
mercenaries who fought on his side at Cannae. It was this Gaulish participation that caused
Provence to be annexed in 122 BC by the Roman Republic.[citation needed] Later, the Consul of Gaul —
Julius Caesar — conquered all of Gaul. Despite Gaulish opposition led by Vercingetorix, the Gauls
succumbed to the Roman onslaught. The Gauls had some success at first at Gergovia, but were
ultimately defeated at Alesia in 52 BC. The Romans founded cities such
as Lugdunum (Lyon), Narbonensis (Narbonne) and allow in a correspondence between Lucius
Munatius Plancus and Cicero to formalize the existence of Cularo(Grenoble).[8]
Roman Gaul

Vercingetorix throws down his arms at the feet of Julius Caesar after the Battle of Alesia. Painting by Lionel-
Noël Royer, 1899.

Gaul was divided into several different provinces. The Romans displaced populations to prevent
local identities from becoming a threat to 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
languageby 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
Celtic culture was then gradually replaced by Gallo-Roman culture.
The Gauls became better integrated with the Empire with the passage of time. For instance,
generals Marcus Antonius Primusand Gnaeus Julius Agricola were both born in Gaul, as were
emperors Claudius and Caracalla. Emperor Antoninus Pius also came from a Gaulish family. 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 Franksand the Alamanni, entered Gaul at this time. The Gallic Empire ended
with Emperor Aurelian's victory at Châlons 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 same Goths had sacked Rome in 410 and established a capital in Toulouse.

Gaulish soldiers

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
the Huns against the 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 Châlons, 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 from the Germanic peoples, the Vascones entered Wasconia from
the Pyrenees and the Bretons formed three kingdoms in
Armorica: Domnonia, Cornouaille and Broërec.[9]

Frankish kingdoms (486–987)

Victory over the Muslims at the Battle of Tours (732) marked the furthest Muslim advance and enabled
Frankish domination of Europe for the next century.

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, pagan Clovis
adopted Catholicism. This gave him greater legitimacy and power over his Christian subjects and
granted him clerical support against the Arian Visigoths. He defeated Alaric II at Vouillé in 507 and
annexed Aquitaine, and thus Toulouse, into his Frankish kingdom.[10]
The Goths retired to Toledo in what would become Spain. Clovis made Paris his capital and
established the Merovingian Dynasty but his kingdom would not survive his death in 511. Under
Frankish inheritance traditions, all sons inherit part of the land, so four kingdoms emerged: centered
on Paris, Orléans, Soissons, and Rheims. Over time, the borders and numbers of Frankish
kingdoms were fluid and changed frequently. Also during this time, the Mayors of the Palace,
originally the chief advisor to the kings, would become the real power in the Frankish lands; the
Merovingian kings themselves would be reduced to little more than figureheads.[10]
By this time Muslim 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 and earned respect and power within the Frankish Kingdom. The assumption of the crown in
751 by Pepin the Short (son of Charles Martel) established the Carolingian dynasty as the Kings of
the Franks.
The coronation of Charlemagne

Carolingian power reached its fullest extent under Pepin's son, Charlemagne. In 771, Charlemagne
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 after a prolonged campaign
(804).
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 the Pious (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 Oaths 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.[11]
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, whose members were called the Robertines, were the predecessors of
the Capetian Dynasty. Led by Rollo, some Vikings had settled in Normandy and were granted the
land, first as counts and then as dukes, by King Charles the Simple, in order to protect the land from
other raiders. The people that emerged from the interactions between the new Viking aristocracy
and the already mixed Franks and Gallo-Romans became known as the Normans.[12]
Since 1914[edit]
Main article: France in the 20th century

Population trends[edit]
Main article: Demographics of France

The population held steady from 40.7 million in 1911, to 41.5 million in 1936. The sense that the
population was too small, especially in regard to the rapid growth of more powerful Germany, was a
common theme in the early twentieth century.[183] Natalist policies were proposed in the 1930s, and
implemented in the 1940s.[184][185]
France experienced a baby boom after 1945; it reversed a long-term record of low birth rates.[186] In
addition, there was a steady immigration, especially from former French colonies in North Africa. The
population grew from 41 million in 1946, to 50 million in 1966, and 60 million by 1990. The farm
population decline sharply, from 35% of the workforce in 1945 to under 5% by 2000. By 2004,
France had the second highest birthrate in Europe, behind only Ireland.[187][188]

World War I[edit]

See also: French entry into World War I, French Army in World War I, and Home front during World
War I § France

A French bayonet charge in World War I

The 114th infantry in Paris, 14 July 1917.

Preoccupied with internal problems, France paid little attention to foreign policy in the 1911–14
period, although it did extend military service to three years from two over strong Socialist objections
in 1913. The rapidly escalating Balkan crisis of 1914 caught France unaware, and it played only a
small role in the coming of World War I.[189] The Serbian crisis triggered a complex set of military
alliances between European states, causing most of the continent, including France, to be drawn
into war within a few short weeks. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia in late July, triggering
Russian mobilization. On 1 August both Germany and France ordered mobilization. Germany was
much better prepared militarily than any of the other countries involved, including France. The
German Empire, as an ally of Austria, declared war on Russia. France was allied with Russia and so
was ready to commit to war against the German Empire. On 3 August Germany declared war on
France, and sent its armies through neutral Belgium. Britain entered the war on 4 August, and
started sending in troops on 7 August. Italy, although tied to Germany, remained neutral and then
joined the Allies in 1915.
Germany's "Schlieffen Plan" was to quickly defeat the French. They captured Brussels, Belgium by
20 August and soon had captured a large portion of northern France. The original plan was to
continue southwest and attack Paris from the west. By early September they were within 65
kilometres (40 mi) of Paris, and the French government had relocated to Bordeaux. The Allies finally
stopped the advance northeast of Paris at the Marne River (5–12 September 1914).[190]
The war now became a stalemate — the famous "Western Front" was fought largely in France and
was characterized by very little movement despite extremely large and violent battles, often with new
and more destructive military technology. On the Western Front the small improvised trenches of the
first few months rapidly grew deeper and more complex, gradually becoming vast areas of
interlocking defensive works. The land war quickly became dominated by the muddy, bloody
stalemate of Trench warfare, a form of war in which both opposing armies had static lines of
defense. The war of movement quickly turned into a war of position. Neither side advanced much,
but both sides suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties. German and Allied armies produced
essentially a matched pair of trench lines from the Swiss border in the south to the North Sea coast
of Belgium. Meanwhile, large swaths of northeastern France came under the brutal control of
German occupiers.[191]
Trench warfare prevailed on the Western Front from September 1914 until March 1918. Famous
battles in France include Battle of Verdun (spanning 10 months from 21 February to 18 December
1916), Battle of the Somme (1 July to 18 November 1916), and five separate conflicts called
the Battle of Ypres (from 1914 to 1918).
After Socialist leader Jean Jaurès. a pacifist, was assassinated at the start of the war, the French
socialist movement abandoned its antimilitarist positions and joined the national war effort. Prime
Minister Rene Viviani called for unity—for a "Union sacrée" ("Sacred Union")--Which was a wartime
truce between the right and left factions that had been fighting bitterly. France had few dissenters.
However, war-weariness was a major factor by 1917, even reaching the army. The soldiers were
reluctant to attack; Mutiny was a factor as soldiers said it was best to wait for the arrival of millions of
Americans. The soldiers were protesting not just the futility of frontal assaults in the face of German
machine guns but also degraded conditions at the front lines and at home, especially infrequent
leaves, poor food, the use of African and Asian colonials on the home front, and concerns about the
welfare of their wives and children.[192]
After defeating Russia in 1917, Germany now could concentrate on the Western Front, and planned
an all-out assault in the spring of 1918, but had to do it before the very rapidly growing American
army played a role. In March 1918 Germany launched its offensive and by May had reached the
Marne and was again close to Paris. However, in the Second Battle of the Marne (15 July to 6
August 1918), the Allied line held. The Allies then shifted to the offensive.[193] The Germans, out of
reinforcements, were overwhelmed day after day and the high command saw it was hopeless.
Austria and Turkey collapsed, and the Kaiser's government fell. Germany signed "The Armistice"
that ended the fighting effective 11 November 1918, "the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the
eleventh month."[194]
World War II

German soldiers on parade marching past the Arc de Triomphe

Germany's invasion of Poland in 1939 finally caused France and Britain to declare war against
Germany. But the Allies did not launch massive assaults and instead kept a defensive stance: this
was called the Phoney War in Britain or Drôle de guerre – the funny sort of war – in France. It did not
prevent the German army from conquering Poland in a matter of weeks with its
innovative Blitzkrieg tactics, also helped by the Soviet Union's attack on Poland.
When Germany had its hands free for an attack in the west, the Battle of France began in May 1940,
and the same Blitzkrieg tactics proved just as devastating there. The Wehrmacht bypassed
the Maginot Line by marching through the Ardennes forest. A second German force was sent into
Belgium and the Netherlands to act as a diversion to this main thrust. In six weeks of savage fighting
the French lost 90,000 men.[213][214]
Many civilians sought refuge by taking to the roads of France: some 2 million refugees from Belgium
and the Netherlands were joined by between 8 and 10 million French civilians, representing a
quarter of the French population, all heading south and west. This movement may well have been
the largest single movement of civilians in history prior to 1947.
Paris fell to the Germans on 14 June 1940, but not before the British Expeditionary Force was
evacuated from Dunkirk, along with many French soldiers.
Vichy France was established on 10 July 1940 to govern the unoccupied part of France and its
colonies. It was led by Philippe Pétain, the aging war hero of the First World War. Petain's
representatives signed a harsh Armistice on 22 June 1940 whereby Germany kept most of the
French army in camps in Germany, and France had to pay out large sums in gold and food supplies.
Germany occupied three-fifths of France's territory, leaving the rest in the southeast to the
new Vichy government. However, in practice, most local government was handled by the traditional
French officialdom. In November 1942 all of Vichy France was finally occupied by German forces.
Vichy continued in existence but it was closely supervised by the Germans.[215][216]
Vichy police escorting French Jewish citizens for deportation in Marseilles, January 1943

The Vichy regime sought to collaborate with Germany, keeping peace in France to avoid further
occupation although at the expense of personal freedom and individual safety. Some 76,000 Jews
were deported during the German occupation, often with the help of the Vichy authorities, and
murdered in the Nazis' extermination camps.[217]
Resistance
General Charles de Gaulle in London declared himself on BBC radio to be the head of a rival
government in exile, and gathered the Free French Forces around him, finding support in some
French colonies and recognition from Britain but not the United States. After the Attack on Mers-el-
Kébir in 1940, where the British fleet destroyed a large part of the French navy, still under command
of Vichy France, that killed about 1,100 sailors, there was nationwide indignation and a feeling of
distrust in the French forces, leading to the events of the Battle of Dakar. Eventually, several
important French ships joined the Free French Forces.[218] The United States maintained diplomatic
relations with Vichy and avoided recognition of de Gaulle's claim to be the one and only government
of France. Churchill, caught between the U.S. and de Gaulle, tried to find a compromise.[219][220]
Within France proper, the organized underground grew as the Vichy regime resorted to more
strident policies in order to fulfill the enormous demands of the Nazis and the eventual decline of
Nazi Germany became more obvious. They formed the Resistance.[221] The most famous figure of
the French resistance was Jean Moulin, sent in France by de Gaulle in order to link all resistance
movements; he was captured and tortured by Klaus Barbie (the "butcher of Lyon"). Increasing
repression culminated in the complete destruction and extermination of the village of Oradour-sur-
Glane at the height of the Battle of Normandy. At 2.15 p.m. on the afternoon of 10th June 1944, a
company of the 2nd SS Panzer Division, ‘Das Reich’, entered Oradour-sur-Glane. They herded most
of its population into barns, garages and the church, and then massacred 642 men, women and
children, all of whom were civilians.
In 1953, 21 men went on trial in Bordeaux for the Oradour killings. Fourteen of the accused proved
to be French citizens of Alsace. Following convictions, all but one were pardoned by the French
government.
A Resistance fighter during street fighting in 1944

On 6 June 1944 the Allies landed in Normandy (without a French component); on 15 August Allied
forces landing in Provence, this time they included 260,000 men of the French First Army. The
German lines finally broke, and they fled back to Germany while keeping control of the major ports.
Allied forces liberated France and the Free French were given the honor of liberating Paris in late
August 1944. The French army recruited French Forces of the Interior (de Gaulle's formal name for
resistance fighters) to continue the war until the final defeat of Germany; this army numbered
300,000 men by September 1944 and 370,000 by spring 1945.[222]
The Vichy regime disintegrated. An interim Provisional Government of the French Republic was
quickly put into place by de Gaulle. The gouvernement provisoire de la République française, or
GPRF, operated under a tripartisme alliance of communists, socialists, and democratic republicans.
The GPRF governed France from 1944 to 1946, when it was replaced by the French Fourth
Republic. Tens of thousands of collaborators were executed without trial. The new government
declared the Vichy laws unconstitutional and illegal, and elected new local governments. Women
gained the right to vote.

Late twentieth century]

After the fall of the USSR and the end of the Cold War potential menaces to mainland France
appeared considerably reduced. France began reducing its nuclear capacities and conscription
was abolished in 2001. In 1990 France, led by François Mitterrand, joined the short
successful Gulf War against Iraq; the French participation to this war was called the Opération
Daguet.[252]
Terrorism grew worse. In 1994 Air France Flight 8969 was hijacked by Islamic terrorists; they
were captured.
Conservative Jacques Chirac assumed office as president on 17 May 1995, after a campaign
focused on the need to combat France's stubbornly high unemployment rate. While France
continues to revere its rich history and independence, French leaders increasingly tie the future
of France to the continued development of the European Union. In 1992 France ratified
the Maastricht Treaty establishing the European Union. In 1999, the Euro was introduced to
replace the French franc. Beyond membership in the European Union, France is also involved in
many joint European projects such as Airbus, the Galileo positioning system and the Eurocorps.
The French have stood among the strongest supporters of NATO and EU policy in the Balkans
to prevent genocide in Yugoslavia. French troops joined the 1999 NATO bombing of the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia. France has also been actively involved against international terrorism.
In 2002 Alliance Base, an international Counterterrorist Intelligence Center, was secretly
established in Paris. The same year France contributed to the toppling of the Taliban regime in
Afghanistan, but it strongly rejected the 2003 invasion of Iraq, even threatening to veto in central
coners in the US proposed resolution.

Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Angela Merkel in 2017

Jacques Chirac was reelected in 2002, mainly because his socialist rival Lionel Jospin was
removed from the runoff by the right wing candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen. Conservative Nicolas
Sarkozy was elected and took office on 16 May 2007. The problem of high unemployment has
yet to be resolved. In 2008, France was one of the first states to recognise Kosovo as an
independent nation.
In 2012, Sarkozy ran for re-election but was defeated by Socialist François Hollande who
advocated a growth policy in contrast to the austerity policy advocated by Germany's Angela
Merkel as a way of tackling the European sovereign debt crisis. In 2014 Hollande stood with
Merkel and US President Obama in imposing sanctions on Russia for its actions against
Ukraine.

Muslim tensions

At the close of the Algerian war, hundreds of thousands of Muslims, including some who had
supported France (Harkis), settled permanently to France, especially to the larger cities where
they lived in subsidized public housing, and suffered very high unemployment rates.[253] In
October 2005, the predominantly Arab-immigrant suburbs of Paris, Lyons, Lille, and other
French cities erupted in riots by socially alienated teenagers, many of them second- or third-
generation immigrants.[254][255]
Schneider says:
For the next three convulsive weeks, riots spread from suburb to suburb, affecting more than
three hundred towns....Nine thousand vehicles were torched, hundreds of public and commercial
buildings destroyed, four thousand rioters arrested, and 125 police officers wounded.[256]
Traditional interpretations say these race riots were spurred by radical Muslims or unemployed
youth. Another view states that the riots reflected broader problem of racism and police violence
in France.[256]
On 11 January 2015, over 1 million demonstrators, plus dozens of foreign leaders, gather at the Place de
la Republique to pledge solidarity to liberal French values, after the Charlie Hebdo shooting

In March 2012, a Muslim radical named Mohammed Merah shot three French soldiers and four
Jewish citizens, including children in Toulouse and Montauban.
In January 2015, the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo that had ridiculed the Islamic prophet,
Muhammad, and a neighborhood Jewish grocery store came under attack from radicalized
Muslims who had been born and raised in the Paris region. World leaders rally to Paris to show
their support for free speech. Analysts agree that the episode had a profound impact on
France. The New York Times summarized the ongoing debate:
So as France grieves, it is also faced with profound questions about its future: How large is the
radicalized part of the country's Muslim population, the largest in Europe? How deep is the rift
between France's values of secularism, of individual, sexual and religious freedom, of freedom
of the press and the freedom to shock, and a growing Muslim conservatism that rejects many of
these values in the name of religion?[257]
 Eiffel Tower Louvre Museum

Notre-Dame de Paris French Riviera