France Before 1945: A Brief Overview

Professor Oscherwitz

Pre-history and Antiquity France has been inhabited

by humans for at least 1.8 million years

Stationary, organized (agrarian) society was evident in France from about 4000 BC

Invaded first by Ionian Greeks, then by Gallic Celts

Gaul was organized in about 500 BC

Traces of the Early Inhabitants

Cave Paintings in Lascaux (circa 18000 BC)

The “Menhirs” at Carnac (circa 4500 BC)

Conquest of Rome and Roman Conquest

The Pont du Gard (circa 100 AD)

In 390 BC, the Gauls crossed the Alps, defeated the Romans and sacked Rome

In 125 BC, the Romans began their conquest of Gaul, completed in 52 BC when Julius Ceaser defeated Vercingetorix

The Romans controlled France until approximately 450 AD

Traces of Rome

The “Maison carre” in Nimes (circa 16 BC)

The Amphitheatre in Orange (circa 40 BC)

The Middle Ages

Baptism of Clovis

After the Fall of Rome, Northern and Central France was controlled by the Franks (organized in 498 AD under Clovis)

Southern France was controlled by the Visigoths and then the Andalusian Moors until the Franks gained control under Charles Martel in 798 AD

France and Catholicism In the late 7th Century, Charlemagne,

grandson of Charles Martel, took control of France and much of Western Europe (Holy Roman Empire)

After a period of weakening due to Viking invasions (9th and 10th Century) Hugh Capet reseized control of France and established the monarch that would rule until the French Revolution (Valois and Bourbon)

From the 10th to 12th Centuries the monarch and church consolidated power through series of crusades, some internal to and others external to France

Although the monarch ruled from the 10th to the 18th centuries, there were periods of stability and instability as different factions vied for control, including the 100 Years War (14th Century), the Wars of Religion (16th Century), and La Fronde (17th Century)

These occurred in between and in tandem with various wars against France’s neighbors

From the 15th Century onward, the monarchy centralized the French state, creating a series of offices and structures designed to filter power up to the King, culminating in the idea of King = State, as articulated by Louis XIV in the 17th Century

From Monarchy to the Ancien Regime

The Great Upheavals

Depiction of the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre (1572)

Depiction of a battle between Frondeurs and the Court during La Fronde

The Period known as the Revolution began in 1787 when the king convened the “notables” to ask for new taxes to avert bankruptcy (brought on by years of war, bad harvests, speculation in risky investments)

Public anger and resentment toward the King led to the convening of the Estates General and the restricting of the power of the King through the creation of a constitutional monarchy (1791)

Distrust built, however, and the kind was ultimately charged with treason and executed (1792), leading to governance by the “Directoire” (1795-1799) and ultimately the period known as “the Terror”

“The” French Revolution

Images of Revolution

David’s depiction of the Tennis Court Oath (1789)

Portrait of Maximilien Robespierre, one of the leaders of the Directoire

A Century of Revolution

Images from the Paris Commune (1871)

The 19th Century was punctuated by revolutions and reversals:

First Empire 1804 Restoration 1814

July Revolution and July Monarchy 1830

Revolution of 1848 Second Empire 1852 Third Republic 1870

The longest period of stability in the 19th Century was the Third Republic, during which democracy and the modern idea of the nation state were consolidated through a linkage with French cultural heritage. Part of this also involved the rapid and aggressive expanse of the French Colonial Empire, including the conquest of Algeria

Prior to World War II, France was a pre-eminent global power, economically, militarily, and culturally

The devastation of World War I (1914) left France weakened on all fronts and with little taste for further conflict. This contributed to France’s crushing defeat and surrender to the Germans in 1940, during World War II.

As part of the negotiated surrender, the Third Republic was ended, and Vichy was created, under the leadership of Marechal Philippe Petain

France was officially divided into an occupied zone and a free zone, but the free zone was ultimately taken over and occupied as well (1942)

From Republic to Occupation

Vichy France (1940-1945)

Propoganda Poster of Petain

Map Showing Occupied vs. Free France