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France

Contents General Information

History 8 Nature 28 People 38 Economy & Transportation

Culture 54

French Personalities

Charles De Gaulle

Napoleon Bonaparte

Louis XIV

Louis Pasteur

Blaise Pascal

René Descartes

Jean Jacques Rousseau

Victor Marie Hugo

Jeanne d’Arc

Voltaire 90

French Cuisine

Bouillabaise 94 Escargots à la bourguignonne

Ratatouille 96 Soupe à l'oignon

Moelleux au Chocolat

Beef Bourguignon

Salmon en Croute

Confit de Canard

100

Salade Lyonnaise

100

Moules marinière

102

Bordeaux Wine

102

France Travel

103

Paris 104 Marseille 120 Nice 126 Toulouse 130 Lille 132 Bordeaux 136 Montpellier 140 Monaco 144 French Guiana

148

Other places

150

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General Information Location

France (République française) is a country located in western Europe. It is bordered by Spain and Andorra to the south, Italy to southeast, Switzerland and Germany to east and Luxembourg and Belgium to northeast. France also has access to the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea and the North Sea, through the English Channel. France has the English Channel as a sea border to the north, with England. France covers an area of 643,801 km2, has a density of 116 persons/km2 and its capital is located in the city of Paris, which hosts about 10.550.000 people (without the metropolitan area). France’s national anthem is called “La Marseillaise”, which was written and composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, and the motto is “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité”, which translates to “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”. France is organized as a unitary semi-presidential constitutional republic and is divided into 18 administrative regions, including 13 metropolitan regions and 5 overseas regions (French Guyana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, Réunion). France’s total population is of about 67.000.000 people. Other important persons of French heritage living outside France can be found in Canada (12.000.000), United States of America (11.800.000), Belgium (6.200.000), Argentina (6.000.000) or Great Britain (3.000.000). The official currency in France is the Euro (EUR). The national day of France is celebrated

France flag

on 14 July every year. French citizens enjoy a high standard of living, and the country performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, civil liberties, and human development. France is a founding member of the United Nations, where it serves as one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. It is a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the World Trade Organization (WTO), and La Francophonie. France is a founding and leading member state of the European Union (EU).

Symbol

The origin of the flag dates to 1790 and the French Revolution when the “ancient French color” of white was combined with the blue and red, the traditional colours of Paris. On 15 February 1794, the Tricolor was made the official national. It’s simple and elegant design that truly reflected the humanistic values of liberty, equality, fraternity, made the French Tricolor the most influential national flags in history. Bourbon white flag was used during the Bourbon restoration from 1815 to 1830. But the July Revolution of 1830 put Louis-Philippe on the throne and restored the Tricolor. The 19th century saw the succession of royal white to the three colors inherited from the French Revolution. The white flag was used during the French Restoration: the Tricolor was replaced by the royal banner, white with lilies, used before the revolution. However, Louis Philippe of France, the “king-citizen”, restored the tricolor flag and imposed the overcoming of the Gallic cock. During the Revolution of 1848, if the flag was adopted by the interim government, the red flag was waved by the people on the barricades as a sign of

The former currency in France, before the adoption of Euro, French Francs

revolt. Under the Third Republic, there was gradually a consensus around the three colors. Starting from 1880, the tricolor flag during the celebration of 14 July was a great moment of exaltation of patriotic sentiment. If the count of Chambord, pretender to the throne of France, has never accepted the tricolor flag, the monarchists ended up reuniting during the First World War. The blue band is positioned nearest the flag-staff, the white in the middle, and the red on the outside. Blue stands for liberty, white stands for equality, while red represents fraternity.

This artistic composition was originally the work of the sculptor Jules-Clément Chaplain and was used only unofficially under the third republic by the foreign minister on 29 July 1912. It was then taken up by the artist Robert Louis in 1953 at the request of an interministerial commission that met on 3 June with the aim of responding to the request of the UN secretariat wishing to adorn the hall of the general assembly with

Coat of Arms

France doesn’t have an official coat of arms. The emblem represented here is an artistic composition that brings together various symbols deriving from the Greek-Latin tradition. It is a wide shield with a lion-head on one end and on the other one an eaglehead, bearing a monogram on which it is written RF standing for République Française (French Republic). The olive branch symbolizes peace, while the oak branch symbolizes perennity or wisdom. The fasces is a symbol associated with the exercise of justice (the bundle of rods and an axe were carried by Roman lictors). This emblem, though not official, appears on official documents, police uniforms and on many public buildings, both state and municipal, and even on passports. France coat of arms

the coats of arms of the member states. Following the difficulty of obtaining a satisfactory solution, the commission expressed the wish that the government would rule on the adoption of the official coat of arms of the Fourth Republic and established that the French republic would be represented, pending a final decision from â&#x20AC;&#x153;a composition graphics that recall the one adopted by the third republic for diplomatic and consular posts abroadâ&#x20AC;?. From 4 September 1870, France no longer has a coat of arms and no official act has ever sanctioned the attempts of various services that have tried to revive a republican heraldry.

Monaco flag

Monaco Flag

The flag of Monaco is formed of two horizontal stripes of the same size, red on the upper one and white on the lower one. The state has the same colors as the flag of Indonesia, but the latter is longer, as well as of the flag of Poland, which has the upper part white and lower part red. The flag of Monaco also looks similar to the flag of the autonomous community of Cantabria in Spain, as well as to the federal state of Hesse in Germany. Red and white are the heraldic colors of the House of Grimaldi since 1339. Monaco has used as a badge the current flag of the Government of Monaco, where there were the previous versions of the coat of arms, which have been practically used since the founding of the principality (except during the period when it was annexed to France from 1793 to 1814). The current version of the national flag was adopted on 4 April 1881 under the government of Charles III of Monaco. The flag of the Princely Government is white and the proportions of its width and length are 2:3. In the center of the flag is the shield of Monaco. This flag has few uses compared to other countries. It is mainly used in places where the influence of the Sovereign Prince can be felt 6

in an either direct or indirect way: the Police Station, the Palace, the Monegasque embassies and consulates, the Ministry of State and others. In other places like the National Council, the red and white national flag is hoisted.

Coat of Arms

The coat of arms of Monaco (Armoiries de Monaco) is the coat of arms of its princes. The shield, supported by two armed monks, is composed of silver and red rhombuses. Initially, there was only one armed monk leaning on the right side of the shield. Subsequently, there was added another armed monk. The two figures could allude to the conquest of Monaco in 1297, when Francesco Grimaldi and his soldiers managed to enter the city disguised as friars, with their swords hidden under their robes. Another explanation is that in the 15th century, the rulers attributed a Christian origin to the name of the principality to which the two monks would allude. The collar that adorns the shield is the Collar of the Order of San Carlo. The motto contained in the cartouche is Deo Juvante (meaning the help of God). The whole is wrapped in an ermine coat and surmounted by the royal crown. The House of Grimaldi has used the colors that appear in the field of the shield since the year 1339. The current version of the shield was adopted on 15 March 1858.

Monte Carlo

History Neolithic Period

Towards the 6th millennium BC in the SouthEast and between 5.700 and 5.500 BC in the East of France, there gradually appeared the culture of cereals, the domestication of the animals and the new crafting techniques such as pottery, weaving and stone polishing. The human groups that have settled down gave birth to the first villages and the first megalithic tombs (Seine-Oise-Marne culture). The many ethnic mixtures remained in France and the subsequent invasions of the Celts, Germanic and others will gradually be lost in the mass of populations already installed (such as the Ligurians and Vascons). The Bronze Age was marked, among others, by the Campaniforme culture and the Hilversum culture. The question of whether agriculture has spread through human migration or the dissemination of agricultural ideas and techniques is still debated, but since 2010 several studies of the genetic diversity of modern populations have somewhat clarified the situation.

Gaul Soldiers

The Celts

In 600 BC, Greeks from the city of Phocaea founded the city of Marseille on the edge of the Mediterranean. At the same time, some Celtic peoples entered the territory of present-day France, but this occupation was generalized to the whole of this territory only between the 2nd and 6th centuries BC. The notion of Gaul or Γαλατία in Greek then appeared and it corresponded to the Celtic settlement areas between the Rhine, the Pyrenees, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. The Hebrews called it Tzarphat. Gaul was then a prosperous country, whose southern part

Cave Painting in Lascaux

Vercingetorix throws down his arms in front of Julius Caesar

was more and more subjected to Greek and Roman influences.

Roman Gaul

Starting from 125 BC, the south of Gaul was gradually conquered by the Roman Republic, which founded the cities of Aix-en-Provence, Toulouse and Narbonne. In 121 BC, the Romans established a protectorate on the ancient Greek colony of Massalia (Marseille) and founded the new colony of Narbo Martius (Narbonne today), the center of the flourishing province of Gallia Narbonensis. Julius Caesar conquered the rest of Gaul between 58 and 51 BC. In 52 BC, Caesar defeated a revolt led by the Gallic leader Vercingetorix. The newly conquered lands were called Gallia Belgica, Gallia Lugdunensis and Aquitaine. The most important center was Lugdunum (modern Lyon). For the Romans, the main problem in the region was represented by the threat of the Germanic tribes, along the northeastern border. These tribes used to do incursions very often. The first two centuries of Roman rule, however, were generally peaceful and prosperous. The Roman power, meanwhile, seemed staggering and

an Empire of Gaul was proclaimed in 260 and escaped Roman tutelage until 274. Nevertheless, the situation improved in the first half of the 4th century, which was a period of renewal and prosperity for the citizens of Gaul. In 312, the Emperor Constantine I converted to Christianity, thus it became the new official religion. In the 3rd century AD, with the beginning of the decline of the Roman Empire, Gaul began to suffer a series of setbacks, mainly due to the unstable political and economic conditions and the increasing pressure of the Germanic tribes along the border. The economic development benefited from the centuries of Pax Romana such as the extension of vineyards in Aquitaine, in the Rhone Valley and the Saone and even in the Moselle was such that it competed with Italian wines. Italian craftsmen settled in Gaul created a prosperous Sigillo pottery industry (for example at La Graufesenque). Gallic handicrafts also produced abundant items of wood, woolen clothing and exports to the major centers of consumption in Italy on the Rhine and the Upper Danube. The exchanges were not limited to material goods. In addition, the popular cults of the numerous Gaelic Pantheon gradually spread 9

Gaulic France

Attila the Hun’s Campaign in Gaul

in cities that had other religions. Five centuries of Romanization left deep marks on Gaul in what regards the language (Occitan and French), cities, a religion (Catholicism), and even everyday habits (bread, vine and wine).

the absolute power of kings and the privilege of the noble classes. At the end of the 18th century, the French Revolution irreversibly destroyed this system, marking a deep rift in the history of not only French people, but also European and throughout the world. Inhabited since prehistoric times, the area that corresponds to today’s France was conquered by the Celts during the 1st millennium BC and then by the Romans from the 2nd century BC to the 1st century AD. Integrated in the empire as a province with the name of Gaul, it was subjected to an intense Romanization effort that gave life to a prosperous Gallo-Roman civilization. Between the 3rd and the 5th century AD, however, the increasingly massive penetration of barbarians and the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, radically changed this balance. And among the different peoples who settled in the region, especially the Visigoths, the Burgundians and the Franks, the latter were to prevail and to rebuild the unity of Gaul. It is since then, in many ways, that the history of France can be told.

Germanic Migrations

During the 4th century, small groups of Germans settled in Gaul with the consent of the Roman authorities. Although the Roman provinces of Superior and Inferior Germania were established by Domitian as early as the first century, from the middle of the 3rd century the Frankish and Alemannic Germanic peoples crossed the Rhine and plundered Gaul on several occasions. In 406, the migratory movement became a veritable invasion of Vandals, Alans and Swabians who quickly crossed Gaul, arriving in Spain. In 412, the Visigoths from Italy freely penetrated into southern Gaul and around 440 the Burgundians settled in eastern Gaul. In the northwest region, Celtic groups of people, original from Britain, who had suffered from the invasion of the Germanic tribes, took refuge in the region of Brittany, which took its name from them. In 451, the attempted invasion of the Huns of Attila was repulsed at the Battle of Chalons. The origins of France’s history can be traced back at the time when the Franks imposed their domination of Roman Gaul during the 5th century. However, it was only with the dissolution of the Carolingian Empire in the 9th century and then with the rise to power of the Capetian dynasty at the end of the 10th century that it began to take form the nucleus of the French State. Since then, through many centuries of history, France consolidated around the monarchy their own political and social structures, up to create a regime based on 10

The Merovingian Dynasty

Clovis I, King of the Franks between 481-511 and founder of the Merovingian dynasty was the main architect of this transformation. In fact, he managed to defeat the Alemanni and the Visigoths, significantly extending the boundaries of the kingdom. He also promoted the conversion of his people to Catholic Christianity, thus obtaining the support of the Church and laying the foundations for a closer integration between the Franks and the subjected populations. He was baptized in Reims on 24 December 496 by the bishop Saint Rémi. While the demographic weakness of the Kingdom of the Franks led to a decline of cities,

King Clovis I and Clotilde (by Baron Antoine-Jean Gros)

Painting of the Battle of Tours

Treaty of Verdun (843)

Pepin of Herstal, Charles Martel and Pepin the Short. And it was the latter, in 751, to depose the Merovingian dynasty and to take away the crown, beginning thus the Carolingian dynasty.

The Carolingian Dynasty

Charlemagne

Christianity was established by the foundation of rural churches and especially many monasteries. If the power of Clovis I seemed originally solid, the Merovingian dynasty had to soon face serious difficulties. His successors had the power for nearly three centuries and continued to expand the Frankish territories, but were progressively weakened by the continual dynastic crisis, the centrifugal tendencies of the nobility and thus were push harder and harder to territorial fragmentation. In this framework, in the face of a substantial depletion of the royal prerogatives, the palaceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s butlers or masters, namely the senior officials and advisers of the monarchy acquired more and more power. Among them, in the 7th to 8th century emerged 12

The most significant figure of this new dynasty was that of Charlemagne, who became king in 771 and then, with the consecration of the pope, Emperor in 800. He exercised a decisive role in the development of the Frankish power, expanding the boundaries eastward, strengthening the relationship between the crown and the papacy and making a major reorganization of the royal power and then, the imperial one. Charlemagne obtained West Frankia, which corresponded approximately to the two-thirds of Western France today and whose borders would vary little until the end of the Middle Ages. The new kingdom, however, faced three waves of different invasions in the 9th and 10th centuries led by Muslims, Vikings and Hungarians. At the same time, the powers of the ancient counts continued to increase while the royal power diminished. A feudal society was set up, characterized by its division into three orders: the clergy, the nobility and the Third State. A few years after his death in 814, the Carolingian Empire lost its unity, and with the Treaty of Verdun signed in 843, a large part of the French territory was attributed to Charles the Bald. Since then, with the brief of Charles the Fat (881-887), the fate of France was separated from that of the Empire in a context dominated by deep centrifugal tendencies and the ongoing threat of new foreign incursions.

portion of the French territory called the royal domain and some of their vassals are much more powerful than they were. In this phase, during which the feudal system developed, the monarchy worked to strengthen its prerogatives in opposition to the particularism of the great nobility and the universalistic claims of the Empire and the Church. Very energetic, in this sense, were the actions of Philip II Augustus (1180-1223), Louis IX (1226-1270) and Philip IV the Fair (1285-1314).

Crises and changes in the Middle Ages

With the ending of the Capetian dynasty direct line, it was the turn for the branch of the Valois to hold the crown of France for more than two centuries and a half, from 1328 to 1589. This crucial period of French history opened with the Hundred Yearsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; War, which between 1337 and 1453 saw France and England as arch enemies. The conflict had an extremely complex pattern on the military, economic and highly social costs for the country. Through it, however, the power of the monarchy emerged substantially strengthened and laid a foundation for the construction of the modern state, which made significant progress between the 15th Hugues Capet, King of France (942-996) (by Charles de Steuben) and the 16th centuries. In the 12th century, the royal power began to The Capetian Dynasty assert itself against the princes of the kingdom, but When, in 987, Hugues Capet was crowned had to face since the 1150â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the birth of a Plantagenet king, it originated the Capetian dynasty, which ruled in Empire grouping together territories in England and direct line in France until 1328. Nevertheless, the first the north-west of France. The Capetian Kingdom Capetian kings only had direct control over a very small reaches its first peak during the 13th century when

Philip II of France victorious at Bouvines, annexing Normandy and Anjou into his royal domains

the monarchy started regaining the power it had lost, while French art and culture asserted themselves in the European space. Philippe II of France (1180-1223) managed to conquer most of the French possessions of the Plantagenet Empire, temporarily bringing to an end the British threat and greatly enlarging the royal domain by the same occasion. Louis IX (1226-1270) behaved as arbitrator of Christendom and participated in the 7th and 8th crusades, which eventually led him to be very quickly canonized by the Catholic Church. The 14th and the first half of the 15th century saw France plunge into a serious crisis, whose expressions were multiples.

the Plantagenet family against the French monarchy since the 12th century. The Hundred Years’ War conducted against England was born out of a problem of succession to the head of the Kingdom of France and greatly ravaged the country. It was right about this time that a seventeen years old woman came along by the name of Jeanne d’Arc (Joan of Arc). In 1429, she persuaded French legitimist Charles VII that she had a divine mission from God to expel the English from France and ushered in Charles VII as King. Joan of Arc was convicted of performing witchcraft and heresy by a tribunal of French church officials and subsequently sold to the English in 1430, where she was burned at the stake. Charles VII did finally return to Paris in 1437, The Hundred Years’ War The Hundred Years’ War happened between however, it was not until 1453 that the English were 1339 and 1453 and the actors were Britain and France. ultimately driven away from French territory. In 1491, It constituted the last phase of the struggle waged by at the Château de Langeais, Charles VIII wed Anne

Images depicting the Hundred Years War

Jeanne D’arc entering in Orleans on 8 May 1429 (by Henri Scheffer)

de Bretagne, signaling the unification of France with independent Brittany. Edward III, King of England and Duke of Aquitaine, grandson of Philip IV the Fair, proclaimed its right to the French crown in 1336, assumed the title of King of France in 1337 and began the hostilities by laying siege to Cambrai in 1339. After a truce between 1343 and 1345, the British secured two important victories: in 1346 in Crecy and in Poitiers in 1356, devastating the French soil and capturing John II, King of France. It followed the Peace of Brétigny of 1360, when Edward III gave up the hereditary rights on France, but however, claimed dominion over all the Aquitaine and Calais. So it ended the first phase of the war after which it followed a revival of the French in the work of Charles V, who regained the territory occupied by the British (1368-1380). The second phase of the war arose from the internal affairs of France. With the succession to the throne of Charles VI, the country was hit by serious political unrest that culminated by 1407 in the civil war between the Burgundians and the Armagnacs. John the Fearless, son of the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Bold, allied with the British and resumed the war by 1415 together with Henry V, taking over the North-West of the Kingdom. In 1420, as the son of Charles VI of France, Henry V was recognized as his heir following the Peace of Troyes. The British occupied Paris and went so far as to the Loire and besieged Orleans (1428-1429). It was then that when the King of England was Henry VI and Charles VII, King of France, the latter started the French national liberation movement with Jeanne D’Arc, leading the French to victory, removing the siege

of Orléans and conquering Reims, where Charles VII was crowned King of France according to the tradition. The war went in favor of Charles VII, who made peace with the Duke of Burgundy (Peace of Arras in 1435). From 1436 to 1453, the French regained Paris, Rouen, Normandy, the Cotentin, the Guyenne and Bordeaux. The war ended without being signed any peace treaty. The British managed to retain only Calais, up to 1558. Before 1492, the Guyana region was inhabited by many American tribes, the most important being the Caribbean tribes. The region was discovered by Christopher Columbus in his third voyage to America in 1498, and in 1499 and 1500 the region was explored by Spaniard Vicente Yañez Pinzon. The region of Guyana wasn’t included in the Treaty of Tordesillas that defined the areas of Portuguese and Spanish influence in America and thus the area became a base for a group of French colonists in 1503.

Renaissance

However, the crisis of the 14th and 15th centuries was not only political or military, but also demographic as the Black Death from 1347 killed at least a third of the population of the kingdom. Nevertheless, the monarchy was also affected by this crisis but it came out stronger. The central power, which had moved into the Loire Valley, was endowed with new institutions and established a permanent army and tax system. In this new framework, France tried to secure a hegemonic position in Europe through a policy of expansion in the direction of the Italian peninsula, at that time deeply fragmented

Map of France in the 15th century

King Francis I

into rival state units. The Italian wars between 1494 and 1559 saw a direct confrontation between France and Spain, which ended with the substantial failure of the French and the Spanish hegemony ambitions triumph. Nevertheless, the reigns of Francis I (1515-1547) and his son, Henry II (1547-1559), were marked above all by a strengthening of royal power, which tended to become absolute. The kings were strongly influenced by a literary and artistic Renaissance movement originating from Italy. In 1539, the Ordinance of Villers-CotterĂŞts made French the administrative and judicial language of the Kingdom. However, the unity of France around the person of the king was jostled in the second half of the 16th century by the religious problem: between 1562 and 1598, eight wars of religion succeed each other between Catholics and Calvinists. Weakened by this defeat and torn inside from the effects of the Protestant Reformation and the conflict between the Catholics and the Huguenots, France went through a deep economic and especially political crisis in the second half of the 16th century, which gave rise to these religious wars. It was a real civil war, which ended at the end of the century when King Henry IV of Bourbon, after having converted from Protestantism to Catholicism, settled through the Edict of Nantes (1598) the cohabitation of the two confessions inside the French state.

The Saint Bartholomew Night Massacre (committed by the Catholics against the Huguenots)

Battle of Rocroi (1643) between France and Spain during the Thirty Years War

In the 17th century there were many attempts of colonization, more or less successful. It was the beginning of the colonial period, the new main activity being the sugar cane culture. Many African black slaves were brought to work on the plantations. There were many disputes between the French, Dutch, British and Portuguese about the sovereignty and delimitation of this French territory. Colonization attempts continued in the 18th century, but most of them failed because of the lack of colonization facilities and tropical diseases.

The Bourbons

Henry IV (1589-1610) began the dynasty of the Bourbons, which remained in power until 1830, with a small absence during the years of the French Revolution. The rise to power of the Bourbon dynasty coincided with the beginning of a major phase of strengthening of the monarchy, through the work of the same Henry IV, Louis XIII (1610-1643) and then especially of Louis XIV (1643-1715), as well as statesmen such as Richelieu and Mazarin, taking on the traits of an absolute monarchy. In these years, the crown was able to neutralize the centrifugal tendencies of the great aristocracy, to which there were left immense privileges and to concentrate in its own hands enormous amounts of power. All within the framework of the submission of the national Cardinal Richelieu

Images depicting the Seven Years War

church, a powerful economic development inspired by the principles of mercantilism and the principle of the divine right of the king. This process reached its peak at the time of Louis XIV, who again tried to play the card of militaristic expansionism, having a strong leadership position that France in fact took in Europe after the Thirty Years War (1618-1648). The wars in which he committed the country emptied the state coffers, thing which resulted into a failure of the French hegemonic ambitions and laid the foundations of the legitimacy crisis and the long agony of the absolutist system which was committed in the 18th century by Louis XV (1715-1774) and then especially by Louis XVI (1774-1792). At the same time, France led several victorious wars (including the Thirty Years’ War) and began to form a first colonial empire, 18

mainly in New France, the West Indies and on the road to India. Louis XIV affirmed more than ever the absolute character of its power by declaring himself the RoiSoleil and considering himself the “lieutenant de Dieu sur Terree”. He built the Palace of Versailles, a symbol of his 50th power. Louis XIV surrounded himself with artists and scholars and worked on the religious unity of his kingdom by resuming the persecution of Protestants and by revoking the Edict of Nantes by the Edict of Fontainebleau (1685). In spite of the critical financial situation of the monarchy, Louis XIV waged several wars against a Europe united against France while the Marquis de Vauban built a network of fortified towns on the borders of the kingdom. If these wars ended in a first time to French victories, several military defeats

King Louis IV of France, Le Roi-Soleil

and famines tarnished the end of his reign. Louis XV (1715-1774), great-grandson and successor of Louis XIV also led several wars with contrasting results. In 1763, by the Treaty of Paris, which ended the Seven Years’ War, France abandoned its possessions in North America, but acquired in the same decade Lorraine and Corsica. Meanwhile, France had a strong demographic and economic vitality. The growth of agricultural production was accompanied by proto-industrialization, particularly in the textile sector, as well as a boom in the intellectual and cultural fields. However, Louis XVI, who acceded to the throne in 1774, revealed to be unable to find a solution to the over-indebtedness of the monarchy and had to convoke the States General in 1789.

continent and the world itself. The Revolution led to the creation of a type of constitutional monarchy, then in 1792 of a republic, which then led to the dictatorship of the Jacobin Terror and finally the establishment of a moderate Republican regime. Shortly after, Napoleon Bonaparte assumed the title of Emperor in 1804. Delegates sent to the States-General, who started on 5 May 1789, quickly oversteped the powers assigned to them and set themselves up as National Constituent Assemblies. The King couldn’t then prevent the Constituent Assembly from deciding the abolition of privileges on the night of 4 August and then the adoption on 26 August of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. The motto Liberty, Equality, Fraternity appeared in the public debate, especially in 1790 in a speech by Maximilien Robespierre on the organization of the National Guard. After an essay of constitutional monarchy, the First French Republic was born on 22 September 1792 and Louis XVI was convicted for treason. He was guillotined by the National Convention on 21 January 1793. Revolutionary France then knew several years of wars and executions until the establishment of the Directory in 1795. It was on 15 February 1794 that the tricolor flag was established by the National Convention by a decree indicating that “the flag and the national flag will be formed by the three national colors arranged in three equal bands so that the blue is attached to the guard of the flag, the white in the middle and the red to the other end”. Napoleon, who established his dictatorship over the country, exercised a dual function, respecting the development of the revolution: on one hand, he was one of the main architects of settling the country in a moderate way; on the other hand, through his military campaigns, he exported outside the country some of the essential legal and social gains of the

French Revolution and Napoleonian Empire

It was the French Revolution, which began in 1789, that put an end to absolutism and the privileges of the nobility, in a word, the old regime. Together with the French Revolution, it began a new phase of history, not only of the French but also of the European The Fall of Bastille marked the beginning of the French Revolution

Napoleon Bonaparte

Maximilien Robespierre

revolution, radically redrawing the geopolitical map of the continent. On 9 November 1799, General Napoleon Bonaparte overthrew the Directory by a coup d’etat and replaced the Consulate. Five years later, he was crowned Emperor of the French Empire. Napoleon I created or reformed many institutions and his multiple military victories (Austerlitz, Jena, Borodino, Smolensk, Friedland, Ulm, Eylau, Dresden, etc.) put half of the European population under his control in the early 1810’s. The decline will nonetheless be rapid and after an ephemeral abdication and a brief return to power, the Emperor was definitively defeated at Waterloo on 18 June 1815. Napoleon was finally defeated by a broad international coalition that opened the process of restoring the monarchies, which he dispossessed. The profound changes introduced by this decisive phase of French history were not yet to be eliminated.

French Empire and the Second and Third Republic During the 19th century, the French history continued to be marked by deep political and institutional discontinuity, in the context of significant economic 20

and social modernization processes. The return of the Bourbons to the throne, wanted by the great victorious coalition which defeated Napoleon, at the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815), was to be short-lived. France then began a second experience of constitutional monarchy during which the Kings Louis XVIII (1814-1824) and especially Charles X (1824-1830) questioned some of the achievements of the Revolution. A few weeks after conquering Algiers, Charles X was overthrown in 1830 by the Three Glorious, a revolutionary movement. After the July Revolution, Louis Philippe d’Orléans remained in power until 1848 thanks to the support of the big bourgeoisie. In the same year, a new revolution which played an active part through the masses of people and emerged even into socialist guidelines, led to the abolition of the monarchy and the proclamation of the republic. The Second Republic, after the First Republic era of the Great Revolution, was in turn supplanted almost immediately, following a coup and then a plebiscite (1851-1852). The ephemeral Second Republic, which was then established, established universal male suffrage and abolished slavery in the colonies as well as the death penalty for political reasons. The Second Empire had Louis Napoleon (later Napoleon III) as its main architect. This new political construction, initially oriented in a conservative direction and then liberal, had

Napoleon III abolished the Second Republic and reinstated the French Empire

a fundamental role in the balance of European policy of the 1850â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and 1860â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s of the 19th century. Between 1870 and 1871, however, France suffered a crushing defeat in the Franco-Prussian War and went to meet its own dissolution in a crisis context which led first to the experiment of the Paris Commune and shortly after, the birth of the Third Republic. In the framework of a unified Germany in 1870 and 1871, France saw a double turning point in its history: the emperor capitulated on 2 September 1870 and the Republic was proclaimed, while Prussia annexed Alsace-Lorraine. The French defeat also provoked the dramatic episode of the Paris Commune, crushed in May 1871 by the government troops. Despite its chaotic birth, the Third Republic was the longest of the political regimes that France has known since 1789. Republicans gradually put in place their political project: the school was made free, secular and mandatory in 1881. In 1882, freedom of the press and assembly were granted and divorce and trade unions were allowed in 1884, while the churches were separated from the state in 1905. At the same time, France acquired an extensive Colonial Empire, which will become the second in the world after that of the United Kingdom. Besides the possessions in India and Algeria, France gained over the years Indochina, the protectorates of Tunisia and Morocco, the Equatorial and Western Africa and Madagascar. If several political crises followed one another: bakery crisis, scandal of decorations, scandal of Panama, Dreyfus affair, the main threat for the Republic came from the outside, where the war appeared more and more imminent. Following the French Revolution, the territory

French Empire between the 17th and the 20th centuries

became the site of deportation of prisoners and political prisoners. During the Napoleonic Wars, Guyana was occupied by the Portuguese, but was liberated when Napoleon abdicated. Following the liberation of the slaves in the middle of the 19th century, the region suffered an acute shortage of labor, so Napoleon II decided to start a policy of sending French detainees to labor camps. The region became famous for its harsh conditions of life and the very low survival rate. A penitentiary from the French Guyana was Alfred Dreyfus’s detention facility at the end of the 19th century. Another important event was the discovery of gold, which led to an influx of immigrants, especially from the Antilles and to a new dispute with the Netherlands on the border of the territory. In addition to the labor force, many workers from southern Asia or China were brought to the region. From 1870 to present day, France has remained a republican state, but has experienced profound changes in its form of government. The Third Republic had in fact successors, respectively, in 1945 and in 1958, a fourth and a fifth republic with a very different structure regarding the political and institutional level. In the course of this long history, the country has faced since the era of the Dreyfus deal to the end of the 19th century, periods of strong inner tension, but managed to maintain a basic stability of democratic institutions.

France in the World Wars

With regard to international policy, France has played a very prominent role in the imperialist conflicts that preceded 1914. It has sided with Britain and Russia in the First World War (1914-1918), ranking among the victorious powers. Again, France was an ally of Britain in World War II (1939-1945) and was almost immediately occupied by the troops of Hitler’s Germany, thing which

France was part of the Triple Entente, together with Russia and Great Britain

The Maginot Line

gave birth to the collaborationist Vichy government. The First World War, which made 1.4 million French victims and caused many destruction in the north-east of the country, ended on 11 November 1918 in favor of the Triple-Entente. In addition to the return of AlsaceLorraine, France received a portion of the German repairs provided by the Treaty of Versailles while obtaining security guarantees. Nevertheless, these were not enough to prevent a new invasion by Germany in 1940 following the reconstruction of the German army and the remilitarization of the left bank of the Rhine. After a few years of painstaking reconstruction marked by an effort of immigration and productivity to overcome the shortage of manpower in the mines, steel or automobile, France was struggling to regain its economic strength from before. It will be well affected after most of the other powers by the crisis of the 1930’s. However, if this crisis was late, it was durable and deep. To the economic difficulties there was added a political crisis in spite of the hopes aroused by the coming to power in 1936 of the Popular Front. Finally, when France declared the war on Nazi Germany on 3 September 1939, it had just emerged from the most serious crisis during the Third Republic. During the war, Germany divided France into a zone under direct German occupation (in the north and along the western coast) and a puppet state led by aging WWI hero General Petain in the spa town of Vichy, the demarcation line between the two areas ran through Château de Cheniceau in the Loire Valley. Today, visitors can get a sense of what life was like for the French in the Nazi-occupied north by visiting the WWII museum at La Coupole. The regime occupying the Vichy region was very prejudiced against the Jews. They forced the local police forces in France to assist them in rounding up French Jews for their eventual

deportation to Auschwitz and other death camps run by the Nazis. Only one Nazi concentration camp lied within French borders: Natzweiler-Strutfoh. Today, it can still be visited by people interested in WWII history. On 6 June 1944, Allied troops, most of them American, stormed the beaches at Normandy and Brittany, liberating both. Marching on, they also liberated Paris on 25 August with the help of Free French units sent in ahead of the Americans so that the French would have the honour of liberating their own country. After eight months without fighting (The Funny War), on 10 May 1940 the Wehrmacht forces invaded the Netherlands, Belgium and France, heading for the Channel coast. On 9 June, they launched an offensive across the River Somme, pushing south and entering Paris on 14 June. On 17 June, the new government, formed by Marshal Petain negotiated the armistice with Germany, according to which about two-thirds of the French territory were under German military occupation. France was granted to set up a government in the unoccupied zone. On 10 July 1940, the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies met in Vichy and approved the granting of full powers to PĂŠtain to govern the country and draft a new constitution. The Vichy government represented the conservative forces which in previous decades had opposed the republic and now supported a policy of collaboration with Germany. Marshal Petain Adolf Hitler visited Paris after conquering France in a Blietzkrieg war led a conservative, traditionalist and anti-Semitic policy and collaborated with the Third Reich. The forces that General Charles De Gaulle, gathering to London resisted the German invasion gathered instead around where he founded the French Committee of National Liberation. He appealed to all French troops to continue the war on the side of Britain and managed to set up its own armed force and a shadow government in England. The movements of the Resistance in France, with whom he made contact, accepted him as a leader of a united opposition movement against the Vichy government and the Nazis. In 1943, he moved his headquarters in Algiers. When the Allies landed in Normandy in June 1944, the contacts were made by the officials of De Gaulleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s organization in Algiers and local leaders of the Resistance. On 25 August, the Americans liberated Paris and De Gaulle entered the city, where he formed a provisional government under his strict control. He presided over the government for the following months, but resigned in January 1946, following disagreements with the newly elected Constituent Assembly, due to his conception of a strong executive.

The Vichy Government (blue) partially collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II

The 4th Republic 23

Algerian soldiers during the Algerian revolution in 1960

bipolarity and the Cold War, however, France has tried to maintain its role in international affairs, in some cases contesting American leadership and promoting, especially with General de Gaulle, one of the most significant figures in the French history of the 20th century, the project of a new Europe. Integrated in the European Union, France has rejected in a referendum held in 2005, the text of the European Constitutional Treaty.

The 5th Republic General Charles de Gaulle was seen by many French people to have been the true leader of France in WW2

The main achievements of the Fourth Republic, whose constitution went into effect at the end of 1946, took the type of social reform and economic development. In 1946, it was established a comprehensive social security system that assured medical care, disability pensions and pensions for the old people and unemployment benefits to all citizens. Agriculture was revolutionized by the merger of land ownership and the adoption of machineries and modern working methods. A national plan for the modernization of industry, supported by the Marshall Plan, produced a strong industrial development: the index of industrial production doubled in the decade between 1948 and 1958. In 1957, France formed with five other Western European countries (Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg) the European Economic Community. After World War II, France had to accept the dissolution of its colonial empire in Indochina and Algeria, the latter going through a dramatic and violent resistance. Being in the Western camp at the time of 24

In May 1958, army officers and European civilians, fearing that the government of Paris was preparing to negotiate with the rebels, revolted and took control of Algiers, supported by the army: the example of Algeria, the military coup state also seemed imminent in France. In this critical situation, General De Gaulle returned to the political scene as a savior. In June, the National Assembly granted him full powers to govern the country for six months to prepare a new constitution. Parts of the French Constitution of 1958 have been removed since 1970, namely the ones which speak of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;French communityâ&#x20AC;? as the French Empire disappeared. In May 1968, France too was touched by the studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; claims regarding the education, sexual and labor fields. However, de Gaulle succeeded in returning the situation by causing the dissolution of the National Assembly on 30 May 1968 after which the French gave him a large presidential majority. General de Gaulle resigned in 1969 following the failed referendum on the Senate reform and regionalization. However, Gaullism remained in power for five more years under the President George Pompidou. The beginning of the 20th century brought a new gold fever as over 10.000 people came to the forests

François Mitterrand and Erich Honecker at Palais de l’Élysée, Paris, France

French and US Soldiers attending a brief prior to a field training exercise in Afghanistan

Former French President, Jacques Chirac, talks with George W. Bush and Jean-Claude Juncker

of Guyana looking for the precious metal. A scandal in France on the treatment of detainees in Guyana led to the closure of the detention centers in 1953 at the end of the Second World War. During this time, French Guyana declared itself in favor of the Vichy regime, supporting the Allied forces only in 1943. In 1946, the region became a French department, and in 1963, after Algeria’s independence, it came into question the building of a new French space center to replace the one from the Algerian desert. The French Guyana was the place where the Kourou Space Center has been developed since 1965, currently the main launching platform for the European Space Program. In 1974, the post-Gaullist era opened with the arrival of a center-right personality, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing as President. As France gradually entered the crisis of the 1970’s, the first years of his mandate were marked by several laws that recognized the changes in French society, such as the Veil law, which legalized abortion (IVG). Another turning point occurred in 1981, when a socialist president, François Mitterrand, was elected. In the face of the worsening economic situation, he was initially trying to revive it while adopting symbolically strong measures such as the abolition of the death penalty. François Mitterrand was re-elected in 1988 and France knew between 1986 and 1988 and then between 1993 and 1995 two periods of 26

“cohabitation”, a hitherto unpublished situation where the president didn’t belong to the same party as his government. This situation was repeated between 1997 and 2002, but inversely, while a right-wing president, Jacques Chirac, was elected in 1995 and the 1997 legislative elections brought the Socialist Lionel Jospin to the head of the Government. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the potential threats to France were reduced. France therefore reduced its nuclear capabilities and abolished the military service in 2001. In 1990, France’s François Mitterrand participated in the Gulf War against Iraq through the Opération Daguet. Despite the end of the cold war, France faced the war of terrorism. In 1994, Air France Flight 8969 was hijacked by Islamic terrorists, who probably intended to smash it down on Paris, but thanks to the prompt intervention of the GIGN in Marseille, the plane was landed, turning the hijacking attempt into a failure. Other terrorist attacks culminated with bombs in the Paris Metro in 1995. In the 1990’s, France promoted the development of the EU. In 1992, France ratified the Maastricht Treaty and in 2002, the euro replaced the French franc. Jacques Chirac became president of the Republic on 17 May 1995.

Modern France

In 1999, the French troops were involved in the

crisis of Kosovo. In 2001, France helped to bring down the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, taking part in the war in Afghanistan since the beginning through Operation Enduring Freedom and the International Security Assistance Force mission. However, France opposed the intervention in Iraq, supporting with arguments that several years after the overthrow of Saddam Husseinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s regime, it was unknown whether the intervention was really necessary. Jacques Chirac was re-elected in 2002, defeating the FN leader Jean-Marie Le Pen. In 2005, France was hit by riots of the suburbs, following the deaths of two teenagers of African origin. In 2007, Nicolas Sarkozy, former interior minister and rival of Chirac was elected president of the republic. In 2008, France was one of the first states to recognize the independence of Kosovo. In 2012, Sarkozy ran for re-election but was defeated by

Francois Hollande, a supporter of a social development policy in contrast to the austerity policy desired by Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Emmanuel Macron, former Deputy Secretary General of the Cabinet of President Hollande and Minister of Economy, won two thirds of the votes of the second round against the far right during the 2017 elections. Elected at the age of 39, he was the youngest French president in history and the second youngest French head of state since the appointment in 1799 of Napoleon Bonaparte as First Consul (at 30 years old). Since 1945, France has been affected by several waves of terrorist attacks, in particular by Islamist terrorism since 1995, which led the same year to the creation of the Vigipirate plan, updated in 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2006, then, after a wave of particularly deadly attacks in 2015-2016, the institution of a state of emergency.

France Today is the wealthiest nation in Europe

Nature Landforms

The highest mountains of France are of tertiary origin, which strongly formed during the Quaternary glaciation: the Alps form a diaphragm into the Po Valley, with Europe's highest peaks (including French Chamonix-Mont-Blanc and Italian Courmayeur, the Mont Blanc massif with the highest point at 4.807 m); the Pyrenees form an equal aperture to the Iberian Peninsula but less higher (Mount Maladeta at 3.404 m). The French side of the Pyrenees is very steep, less than that of the western Alps. Having a little more alpine relief, but still at a high altitude, are the FrancoSwiss Jura chains. The reliefs of central and northern France are more of geological origin: they are outlined following the orogenic movements of the late Paleozoic (Hercynian corrugation) and have undergone further settling or sinking motions, so today they contain more sweet features and they are generally of modest height, divided and far between each other. Among them, the Vosges can be easily distinguished (Ballon de Guebwiller being the highest point at 1.423 m), in the east and north, there are the Ardennes; the Or Mountains are found in the Armorican Massif, forming the peninsulas of Brittany and Cotentin, and extending south of the Loire, ending up in the Vendee. Finally, more than others, the Massif Central (Puy-de-Sancy is its peak at 1.886 m), from which

descend the Loire to the north and the Garonne to the west. This massif is the most important because at the end of the Tertiary, influenced by the alpine emergence, he was raised and rejuvenated (its highest rim, the Cévennes, is in fact headed to the east, and has a very steep slope towards the valley of the Rhone, while declines in slow slope towards west), and was later affected by great volcanic phenomena, due to which the Auvergne is distinguished by the typical landscape of puys (extinct volcanoes with the original conical shape). Today’s fundamental features of the French relief were already made up, then, at the end of the Tertiary, while the Quaternary brought only superficial or marginal changes. The progress of erosion, alternating with periods of deposition along the main rivers, gave rise to the formation of terraces, especially in the basins of the Loire and the Seine. Fertile silt, sometimes real Löss, covered the intermountain plains and the lowlands surrounding Paris. To the Alps and the Pyrenees, the aggravation of the climate brought over the expansion of glaciers, which carved new landforms (hanging valleys, rising of the barrier, semicircular basins), especially to the mountainous relief (Savoy, Dauphiné, Pyrenees). The Massif Central, too, had its glaciers, which were extended on the volcanic groups of Cantal and Monts Dore, other smaller ones covered the Jura chains (on whose margins are moraine deposits) and the Vosges (cutting off several times the free flow of the Moselle). It was less extensive glaciation in the pre-Alpine limestone hills (southwestern Provence). The coastline suffered other changes. The formation of the Calais Channel seems to be no older than the early glacial periods, and so the separation

Loire Valley Chateau

Seine River passing through Paris

between the Channel Islands and the Cotentin. The southern coasts show very different features to the east and west of the Rhone delta: in the east, where the Alps are immersed in the Mediterranean with steep slopes, the coast is rocky and bumpy as peninsulas and bays, with numerous islands; in the west instead it is uniform with large lagoons behind barrier islands covered with dunes.

In the northern region the waters come together in three major river basins: the Rhine, which collects nearly all the descendants waters from the Vosges; that of the Seine (with its confluents: Marne, Oise, Eure, Aube, Yonne, Loing), where the waters of the Morvan and the Plateau de Langres are coming at a confluence; and that of the Meuse, corresponding to Lorraine, where the lack of tributaries is caused by catches (some

Gorges du Tarn Canyon in the Massif Central

Promenade Anglais in Nice

in historical times) operated to its disadvantage from the neighboring basins. Secondary fluvial lines are radiating from the reliefs of Picardy: the Scheldt and the Somme. Near the Armorican Massif, the hydrographic network is independent (Vilaine and Aulne) almost everywhere, albeit with little extended basins, except in south-east, where the Loire has attracted to itself the waters of Maine and Perche (Mayenne, Sarthe, Loir). The Loire, the longest river in France, with a total length of 1.020 km, has a catchment area of 121,000 km2, and springs from the Massif Central. South-west to the Massif Central (Dordogne, Tarn), the Aquitanian basin is partly drained by the Garonne. East of the Massif Central, in the depressed big gap between

Garonne River passing through Toulouse

Chaine des Puys in Auvergne

Mont Blanc

this landform and the Alps flows, on about 2/3 of France, the Rhone, with its plentiful tributary, the Saône and the Alpine tributaries, Isere and Durance. The southernmost area of the Alpine system is autonomous in terms of hydrographic network and descends along the very rugged valleys of Argens and Varus, as well as in the Eastern Pyrenees: Aude, the Têt and the Tech flowing separately out towards the Gulf of Lions. The climate, soil and vegetation make up a different river regime from region to region. Seine and Garonne, in particular, are characterized by a considerable extent in all seasons. The Seine is, from Paris to the sea, a natural waterway. A notable feature of the Atlantic basin rivers are the mouths of the estuaries, among which we can talk about Gironde (Bordeaux), the Loire (Nantes) and the Seine (Le Havre). A considerable amount of work was necessary to adjust these rivers, by the construction of embankments in order to connect the channels, among these: the Canal du Centre (SaôneLoire), Dijon (Saône-Seine), Rhone-Rhine, MarneRhine, the Eastern one (Saône-Moselle) and the South one (Aude-Garonne).

rainfall in the intermediate seasons and an almost total absence of rainfall during the summer. In general, in the French territory we can distinguish four different climatic zones: wet oceanic climate, with cool summers, to the west of the Bayonne-Lille line; semi-continental climate characterized by particularly cold winters and hot summers in Alsace, Lorraine, along the Rhone and in the mountainous massifs (Alps, Pyrenees, Massif Central); intermediate climate with a prevalence of cold winters and hot summers in the north, in the Paris region and in the Center and finally Mediterranean climate with mild winters and torrid summers in southern France.

Climate

Thanks to its geographical position, France generally enjoys a temperate climate, even if the presence of the Central Massif and the distance from the sea from the central-eastern regions contribute to varying its climate in a continental tendency. The climate is oceanic to the west, Mediterranean to the south and continental to the center and to the east. In particular, the Atlantic influences in the northwestern areas determine a humid, rainy and windswept climate. On the contrary, the beneficial influence of the Mediterranean in the coastal areas of the south causes an extremely pleasant climate, characterized by low France’s Köppen type of climate

France experiences one of the biggest temperature anomaly in Europe

Basic Climatic Map of France

The geographical situation of France causes a wide variety of climate types. It can be distinguished an oceanic climate zone, with weak temperature range (mild winter, late spring, relatively cool summer with average annual rainfall of 800-1.000 mm), limited to a narrow range, in south, along the Landes, which then broadens to include the northern parts of Brittany and the Cotentin peninsula and finally reaching Calais. In the east, in correspondence with the Paris basin, there is a second zone, where the temperature range is greater and the rainfall reduces to about 500-750 mm annually. A little farther in the east, between the Morvan and the Argonne, to the Rhine, it gradually changes into a continental climate type with harsh winters and frequent snowfalls. Summers are hot and disturbed by storms, the rainfall is considerable, especially in the mountains (Argonne – 1.200 mm, Morvan – 1.500 mm, Vosges – 1.700 mm), while the depressions are indicating the minimum annual rainfall across the country (Colmar 500 mm, the Limagne - 600 mm). One can also distinguish an aquitanic climate on the homonymous basin (excluding the coastal strip), characterized by hot summers, earlier springs, often raining (but in other drier seasons the annual rainfall is about 600-800 mm) and relatively cold winters. Finally, the Mediterranean climate prevails with its typical warm winters, wet springs, hot and very dry summers (Languedoc-Roussillon, Lower Provence, the Rhone valley until the surroundings of Valence). Here are the hottest French resorts, where rainfall is quite seldom (600-800 mm annually). The influence of the relief determines the existence of a real climatic region in correspondence to the Massif Central, turning the

neighboring districts into very rainy areas (average from 1.200 to 1.500 mm and even more in the mountains of Vivarais and Monts Dore) with cold in winters. The Alpine system looks like this: because of the French Alps general orientation from north to south and because the higher elevations are in the north, there is a considerable difference between the Savoy region and Provençal one. The Savoy region is much colder with often raining periods (on average 1.200 mm) and copious snow, while the Provence region does not exceed 800 mm of rainfall and is largely affected by the Mediterranean thermal advantages. The same difference is among the marginal and central areas of the Pyrenees.

GHI of France

The Iris is the national flower of France

Flora

The flora and fauna of France are as varied as their different geographical areas or how the climate can influence each of the zones of this country. The differences of the soils influence directly the flora, modifying so many of their species of plants. For example, in the Central Massif the native plant species are the chestnut and beech, while in the subalpine zone juniper and dwarf pine are abundant. From the north to the south the French landscape offers the visitor different natural landscapes: the northern plains to the north give way to the valleys of the upper Normandy,

Yellow Daisies

the wild coast of Brittany contrasts with the gentle slopes of the Loire valley, the immense forests of the Ardennes and Lorraine alternate with the snowy peaks of the mountains. About 30% of the French territory is covered by forests. In the Mediterranean belt the characteristic vegetation is that of the scrub, formed by holm oaks, cork oaks and pines and by an undergrowth of mastic and fragrant plants. In the Atlantic sector the landscape is more varied: here the cool and humid climate has favored the development of beautiful deciduous forests

Edelweiss

Lavanders in a French Village

and (especially oaks, beeches and oaks) in the most internal and cold areas, of conifers. At higher altitudes, the forests thin out, giving way to high mountain vegetation, while in the snowy areas there are mosses, lichens and rocky flora. The French legislation on environmental liability dates back to 1930 since then the government has enacted several rules aimed at guaranteeing the respect and protection of the natural habitats of the country. Currently around 14% of the territory is protected and France has a large number of natural parks and various protected areas. In France, 3% of the total land area is under protection. The flora of the country has a characteristic cross-section of the diversity of Europe. It ranges from alpine lichens and mosses to subtropical species such as olive trees and oranges. In the Mediterranean climate area, there can be found especially Aleppo pines, holm and cork oak, cypress and sycamore trees. Some forested areas on the Mediterranean coast have adapted to the dry conditions, as a result, sclerophyllous plants thrive (maquis). In the south of France there are cultivated lots of olives, almonds and wine. On the Atlantic coast, especially in the southern portion, pine forests are occupying large areas. 34

The dune areas of the country were created by intense afforestation, the largest forest being an area of 800.000 hectares of contiguous forest in France. In the Ardennes and Vosges, there are deciduous forests of beech, oak, ash, maple and birch. These are the dominant tree species. In the Alps, the height graduation of oak and beech forests extends over fir and spruce forests to alpine meadows. Brittany is, like the Aquitanian and the Paris Basin, mainly not forested. In France, the flora has

Gentian

Cevennes National Park

the typical varieties of continental Europe, ranging from their arctic-alpine species distribution area up to the formations of scrubland. Temperate forests represent the typical plants of France and they cover 28,3% of the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s area. These are composed of hardwoods such as chestnut, beech, hornbeam, oak, and, at higher altitudes, conifers. The native flora of France harbors all the characteristic variety of continental Europe, from the lichens and Alpine arctic mosses to the typical Mediterranean species such as the olive tree and the orange tree. The main forest trees are composed of chestnut, beech, oak, cork, walnut, fir and pine. France has a very varied flora and approximately 40% of the plant species of Europe exist in this country. In the northern zone the vegetation is very closely related to what people consider to be the emblem of neighboring countries, since there can be found landscapes very similar to those of other Nordic countries such as the

Weasel

case of the immense oak forests, as well as pine, the birch poplar, and the willow. Meanwhile in the south, in the areas close to the Mediterranean coasts there can be found olive trees, vines and mulberry trees as well as bay herbs.

Fauna

The fauna of France presents the richest and varied marine life in Europe: in the Mediterranean waters, there are tuna, sardines, anchovies, coral and sponges, while in the English Channel and the Atlantic, there are cod, sardines and herring. Numerous species are freshwater fishes: 46 out of 100 are European, some imported from the United States have adapted and extended to all regions, such as the bluegill and the catfish. The terrestrial fauna is relatively rich, owning more than a third of the Mammals of Europe. France only lacks fauna found in the absolutely southern European landforms, the ones typically adapted to

Fire Salamander

The Gallic Rooster is the national animal of France

northern climate and the species which can be found in the desert steppes of Eastern Europe. Despite the relatively low population density, France is heavily influenced by the shaped human landscapes, whereby the diversity of wild animals is limited. Another serious impairment of the fauna is that France mass traps birds for culinary purpose. In 1997, it was estimated that about 70 million birds were killed for this reason. In addition, two-thirds of the forest areas are developed only as coppice. In the forests of France, there is a suitable habitat for species such as hares, pheasants and partridges. In the high forests, lives red deer, roe deer, wild boar and red foxes, and at even higher altitudes in the Alps, the chamois, marmots and mountain hares can be found. The southwest of the country is inhabited by a remarkable number of predators: the genet, in the Pyrenees, also a few brown bears. The wild horses in the Camargue are feral horses. The special features of the avifauna (birds) include not only dirt vultures, but five species of eagles (sea eagle, golden eagle, Bonelliâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eagle, booted eagle, short-toed eagle) and flamingos as well, all of whom live in the Camargue. Especially in the southern 36

parts of the country there are numerous reptiles such as geckos, skinks, lizards (The 60 centimeter Ocellated), snakes (venomous snakes, vipers) living in marshes, as well as sea turtles. The most common freshwater fish is the carp. In the coastal waters of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, there lives numerous species of fish, including cod, herring, mackerel, flatfish, sardines and tuna fish. Fauna, as generally throughout Western Europe, includes small numbers of large mammals, the most common being the deer and the fox. In the Alpine regions there is the chamois, while the wolf and the wild boar are surviving in wooded areas. Among small animals, it can be included the hedgehog and the carnivores of the weasel family. Reptiles such as snakes, lizards and tortoises are living mainly in the southern regions. In the areas of the Alps and the Pyrenees there can be seen brown bears, chamois, marmots, hares and alpine, while in regions where forests predominate the most common animals are the ferret and the marten, the wild boar and deer. In northern France, the most common mammals are the deer, the roe deer, the

Alpine Ibex

fallow deer, the hare and the wild rabbit. Of the fish, in the fresh waters, carps and trout, in the Atlantic and Mediterranean waters the codfish, mackerel, sole and turbot are the most predominant. Among the birds, swallows and blackbirds are the most common. Corsica has many types of lizards, salamanders and geckos. The Bedriaga lizard and the Tiliguerta

Cricket

lizard, two Corsican-Sardinian endemic species, mingle with the Sicilian lizard anywhere on the island. There can be also found Hermannâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tortoise, a land-loving tortoise, almost extinct in the rest of France, as well as the marsh tortoise, a small tortoise, also endangered. Near the streams there lives the newt triton, a small endemic salamander that loves calm waters.

Pine Marten

People Language

French is the result of the linguistic contaminations through which Vulgar Latin underwent in Romanized Gaul, especially starting from the 5th century. Among the major languages that helped to influence the transformation of the language spoken in Gaul during the ancient period are: The Celtic language, the main pre-existing language to Latin, which had an enormous influence in settling some of the typical phonetic particularities of the French, such as the use of nasal or troubled voice, as well as The Franconian Western and other languages spoken by the Germanic Franks, representing the major languages of superstrate than the vulgar Latin of Gaul. The French language has historically developed in Europe, where it is spoken by about 73 million native speakers. The main European places that speak this language are France, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg and the Valle d’Aosta in Italy. While remaining fundamentally similar, these varieties have lexical peculiarities and very interesting phonological ones. The 17th century (Grand Siècle) is considered a golden age for the spread of the French language, literature and culture in Europe. In 1635, Cardinal Richelieu founded the Académie Française, the institution that

French Dialects

still oversees the use of language and its variations, with the goal of making French the language of international diplomacy, as well as the reference language for cultural exchanges between people of different nationalities. The Treaty of Westphalia (1648), which concluded the bloody Thirty Years War, was written in French, and marked the beginning of the political and cultural hegemony of France which was to last until 1815. During the second half of the century, the prestige of the court of Louis XIV contributed to making French the official language of the aristocratic elite and

Countries marked in blue have French as their official language

Another Map of the Francophone World

intellectuals of the entire continent. Meanwhile, the Académie regulatory activities continued, through the adoption of a spelling reform aiming to standardize certain oscillations dating back to medieval times (Roy became Roi; Françoys became français). With the publication of the “Dictionnaire de l’Académie française” (1694), finally was the model of rationality and clarity with the help of which the French language and France is still identifiable today and imposed itself permanently within the national borders. During the Age of Enlightenment, French continued to establish itself as a language of diplomacy and culture. The Encyclopedic publication also helped to strengthen its position of lingua franca for the dissemination of technical and scientific knowledge. Some of the fundamental texts of the birth of the modern theory of the State date back to this period. Among the most important ones, we can mention the “Persanes Lettres” (1721) and the “Esprit des lois” (1748) of Montesquieu, in addition to the “Dictionnaire Philosophique” of Voltaire. It was only with the help of the French Revolution when French became a truly national and popular language. If until then, in fact, most of the population had continued to express themselves using the various local dialects, the Republican Government issued a series of decrees aimed at transforming what had been for centuries a court language in the Great

Nation language. The public and free education for all enabled the state to strengthen the presence of French on its territory. The use of “patois” was discouraged and fought bitterly, as it was considered the vehicle of ignorance and moral corruption. The national language, conversely, would have to embody the Republicans and patriotic values of “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité”. During the 19th century, with the improvement of the national education system and the gradual spread of the daily press, the French language was stated definitely as a

French knowledge across Europe

Another map of the types of French Language spoken across the world

spoken language in the entire national territory. Romanticism had meanwhile introduced some elements of innovation in the use of the literary language. The polemic against the classical rules resulted in the adoption of a language open to infiltration of regional languages or the various social jargons. Among the Romantic writers, Victor Hugo was the first to conduct, within his masterpiece “Les Misérables” (1862), a broader reflection around the slang linguistic phenomenon, as well as around the jargon used since the beginning of the 19th century by the Parisian underworld. Such a linguistic experimentation, although opposed by Parnassians and the purism of famous writers such as Gustave Flaubert, continued to flourish in the 20th century, thanks to the work of Guillaume Apollinaire and the futurists. In the 1950’s, a new youth slang known as “verlan” appeared, mainly based on the inversion of the order of syllables within a word. The French language of the beginning of the 21st century is characterized by the presence of a number of linguistic semantic loans in various fields. As part of the sports and colloquial lexicon, there are particularly frequent anglicisms (challenge rather than défi to indicate the “challenge” in sports; match to indicate a game; score to indicate the “score”, job to indicate the seasonal jobs ), while, the lexicon associated to the informatics or the economy tends to be more frenchified (ordinateur in place of “the computer”; disque dur instead of “hard disk drive”; souris instead of “mouse”; pourriel instead of “spam”; courriel instead of “e-mail”; taux d’obligations for “spread”; agence de 40

notation for “rating agency”; pacte bugetaire for “fiscal compact”). As part of the youth language practiced in the banlieues, some idiomatic expressions instead are registering the presence of consolidated loans from the Arabic language. As a result of the colonial expansion of France, and to a lesser extent Belgium, during the age of imperialism, French is now spoken fluently in more than 35 states spread over five continents. Although the “standard French”, also called français international, besides being taught as a model around the world for teaching the language at school level, there are many local variations that have been enriched, over time,

France’s jurist priests within nowadays borders in 1791

Catacombs of Paris

Grand Mosque of Paris

Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral

by loan words, idioms or typical influences of cultures existing in the geographical area in which they have developed. Do not confuse these variants of the French with those who are very often mistakenly called the “dialects” spoken in France. Exactly as in the case of Italian, in fact, the latter can not be considered simple variants of the French. There are in fact autonomous languages that have undergone a progressive socio-cultural decline against the advance of the idiom of Paris, until being relegated in a heavily minority dimension. This goes for languages such as the Walloon, the Picard or the Norman one and even more for the Occitan language family, such as the Provencal, which presents an independent phylogeny. In France, scholars and linguists do not in fact speak of dialects, but of langues régionales.

Religion

France is a secular country, and freedom of religion is a constitutional right. There is a strict separation of the church and state, while public life is kept completely secular. Catholicism is the predominant religion in France for over a millennium, even if today is not practiced as actively as before. Among the 47.000 religious buildings that can be found in France, 94% are Catholic. While in 1965, 81% of the French declared themselves as Catholic, in 2009, this proportion had 42

fallen to 64%, although most of them are baptized. In addition, while 27% of the French in 1952 went to religious services at least once a week, this figure indicates that only 5% of the French people are still going to church in 2006. The same survey found that Protestants accounted for 3% of the population, with an increase in numbers compared to previous surveys, while 5% belong to other religions, with the remaining 28% who claims to be an atheist. The evangelical Protestantism seems to be the fastest growing religion in the country. To sum it up, 92% of France’s population are part of the Catholic Church. The French Revolution led to a radical change in the status of the Catholic Church because of a brutal campaign of de-Christianization. After a succession of Catholic monarchist governments and laic republican governments in the 19th century, in 1905 it was promoted the law which established the secular state and its separation from the churches. According to a survey in January 2007, only 10% of those who are Catholics said that they attend religious services. The poll also showed that 51% of the respondents identified themselves as Catholic, 31% as agnostic or atheist (another poll estimated the percentage of atheists equal to 27%), 10% belonging to other religions or having no opinion on this matter, 4% declared themselves as

Rouen Cathedral

Muslim, 3% as Protestants, 1% as Buddhist and 1% as Judaic. Another survey in December 2006 stated that only 27% of the French believed in the existence of some god, against a number of 32% agnostics and another 32% of atheists. Meanwhile, an independent estimate of 2009 by the political scientist Pierre Bréchon concluded that the percentage of Catholics had fallen to 42%, while the number of atheists and agnostics had risen to 50%. Estimates of the number of Muslims in France vary widely. In 2003, the French Interior Ministry has estimated the total number of people of Muslim origin between 5 and 6 million (10.8%). In France, there are 2.125 places of Muslim worship out of a total of more than 9.000 Islamic places of worship in Europe. According to the World Jewish Congress, the French Jewish community has about 600,000 people and is the largest in Europe. Since 1905, the French government has followed the principle of secularism, which has forbidden to

recognize any specific right to a religious community (except of the old statutes like that of military chaplains and local laws of Alsace-Moselle). Instead, it merely recognizes religious organizations, according to formal legal criteria that do not respond to religious doctrine. Conversely, religious organizations should refrain from intervening in the decision-making process. Some organisms, such as Scientology, Children of God, Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Unification Church or the Order of the Solar Temple are considered sects (“sectes “in French), and, therefore, do not have the same status as religions. In the context of the controversy and the fight against sects, which took an international scale in the early 1980’s, France has engaged in a struggle whose objective was first to “fight against sects” then “to suppress sectarian aberrations”. France is a secular country so the state must respect all religions and not recognize any of them. Spiritual movements are a priori considered permissible and only their crimes are reprehensible. In this framework, several commissions of inquiry were initiated in the National Assembly to investigate more thoroughly on the cult phenomenon. The government also has a new interdepartmental body called “Mils” when it came to “fight against sects” and “Miviludes” to “quell sectarian aberrations”. The committee No. 2468, chaired by Alain Gest in 1995 published a list of 173 movements deemed sectarian and proposed legislative changes that led to the vote of the About-Picard law in 2001. The list of controversial cults was officially abandoned by the circular of 27 May 2005 on the fight against sectarianism. France is one of the countries most involved in this fight in Europe and it is the source of controversial positions that earned the country some criticism, including from the European Parliamentary Assembly. Islam is considered the second religion in France after Christianity. A study by the Pew Research Center gives the figure of 4.7 million Muslims living in France in 2010. A study by INED and INSEE published in October 2010, showed that the numbers would include 70.000 to 110.000 people converted to islam. The Ministry of the Interior in charge of worship in 2010 indicated that between 5 and 6 million Muslims live in France, estimates obtained by counting this time all the Muslim people from a predominantly Muslim country. According to the Ministry, a third of the 5 to 6 million declared themselves believers and tend to practice the religion, which cuts the figure of the INSEE / INED investigation of October 2010. 43

In France, Muslims are at least second or third and even fourth generation. The French Council of the Muslim Faith, established in 2003, the representative body of the Muslim faith in France that brings together elected members from large organizations such as the Great Mosque of Paris, the Turkish Muslim Coordination Committee of France, the Rally of Muslims in France and the Union of Islamic Organizations of France, or other independent ones. In 2004, following the observation that of the approximately 1.200 imams in the country, 75% were foreign and one-third did not speak French, training had to be put in place. Ten years later, the lack of imams trained in France still lead the communities to leave work voluntarily or to make use of the imams from the Maghreb or Turkey. In 2013, the imams number was approximately 1.800. In 2004, a law which prohibited the wearing of conspicuous religious symbols in public schools (Act No. 2004-228 of 15 March 2004) was enacted. In June 2009, the Communist Depute, Andre Gerin said, “the burqa is not welcome in France”. He then asked for and obtained in July 2009 with the help of a bipartisan support and the backing of President Nicolas Sarkozy, the creation of a parliamentary information mission on the wearing of the niqab. The parliamentary mission was composed of 32 representatives from different political groups: 17 UMP deputies, 11 socialists and radicals, 2 from the New Centre (NC) and two from GDR (Groups of Greens and Communists). The mission met for a period of 6 months to investigate the specific facts and make a report on it. This mission came to an end on 11 October 2010 and vote a law which banned facial concealment in public spaces, without making any explicit reference to

France’s Density

religion.

World Heritage

On UNESCO’s list there can be found 37 cultural objectives, 3 natural objectives and 1 mixed objective in France: Cultural Objectives • Abbey Church of Saint-Savin sur Gartempe • Amiens Cathedral • Arles, Roman and Romanesque Monuments • Belfries of Belgium and France • Bordeaux, Port of the Moon • Bourges Cathedral • Canal du Midi • Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Former Abbey of SaintRémi and Palace of Tau, Reims • Champagne Hillsides, Houses and Cellars • Chartres Cathedral • Cistercian Abbey of Fontenay • Climats, terroirs of Burgundy • Decorated Cave of Pont d’Arc, known as Grotte Chauvet-Pont d’Arc, Ardèche • Episcopal City of Albi • Fortifications of Vauban • From the Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bains to the Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans, the Production of Open-pan Salt • Historic Centre of Avignon: Papal Palace, Episcopal Ensemble and Avignon Bridge • Historic Fortified City of Carcassonne • Historic Site of Lyons • Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion • Le Havre, the City Rebuilt by Auguste Perret • Mont-Saint-Michel and its Bay • Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin • Palace and Park of Fontainebleau • Palace and Park of Versailles • Paris, Banks of the Seine • Place Stanislas, Place de la Carrière and Place d’Alliance in Nancy • Pont du Gard (Roman Aqueduct) • Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps • Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley • Provins, Town of Medieval Fairs • Roman Theatre and its Surroundings and the “Triumphal Arch” of Orange • Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France • Strasbourg – Grande île • The Causses and the Cévennes, Mediterranean

France’s foreign population situation

agro-pastoral Cultural Landscape • The Loire Valley between Sully-sur-Loire and Chalonnes • Vézelay, Church and Hill Natural Objectives • Gulf of Porto: Calanche of Piana, Gulf of Girolata, Scandola Reserve • Lagoons of New Caledonia: Reef Diversity and Associated Ecosystems • Pitons, cirques and remparts of Reunion Island Mixed Objectives • Pyrénées - Mont Perdu

beginning of the 18th century was about 20 million inhabitants, at the 1801 census, within the country’s current boundaries there were 28.300.000 inhabitants or about 16% of the European population. Subsequently, after a period of regular growth, in 1851 the presence on French soil was of about 36,5 million individuals, however, the increase in numbers turned out very low, so much so that in 1954, the number of inhabitants amounted to 42,8 million. Therefore, in the 1801-1954 period, the French population had suffered an overall increase of 60%, a pretty modest score in comparison to other major European countries in the same period (Italy by 160%, Germany by 190%, Great Britain by 230%). The causes of the low population growth are Demographics to be found, as well as in damages, direct and indirect, France is the second most populated country caused by the two world wars, as in the progressive of the European Union. The population, which at the decline of the birth rate, which occurred in this country way ahead of the rest of Europe. Between 1801 and 1901, in fact, its coefficient had dropped from 32‰ to 22‰, while far more modest decreases had been in Germany (37‰ to 35‰), Great Britain (from 33‰ to 29‰) and Belgium (35‰ to 28‰). On long term, the reduction in the number of births was accompanied by the excessive aging of the population, which on one side caused the increased mortality rate, while on the other hand, resulted in a strict labor shortage which attracted a massive flow of migrants coming mainly from Belgium, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain. Starting from the Second World War postwar period there has been a demographic revival: the birth ratio has climbed from 16‰ in 1944 to 21‰ in Repartition of the French Population as of 2009

France’s Population change across the years

1948, then reaching levels close to 18‰, until the early 1970. Then, there was a new contraction, with a further reduction in the birth rate, which has stabilized at an annual average of about 13‰. Two thousand years, and yet France has among the highest population in Europe. An important component of the French population is represented by immigrants, to which it must be added a substantial share of foreign-born population, now naturalized French. The percentage has remained stable since the mid-1970’s, as immigrants have increased at the same rate as of the total population. However, it has changed the composition of the area by origin: it decreased the proportion of immigrants from the European Union countries, mainly from Portugal, Italy and Spain, and has increased the percentage of the Maghreb population (Algerians, Moroccans and Tunisians). Among other areas of origin, there has to be mentioned the South Saharan African countries, those in Southeast Asia and Turkey. The average density is among the lowest in Western Europe, with a distribution that has significant gaps. The most densely populated regions are the Paris Île-de-France (960 persons/km2 in 2006), followed at a great distance by the Nord-Pas-de-Calais (323 persons/ km2). The regions with the lowest density are Corsica (33 persons/km2), Limousin (43 persons/km2) and Auvergne (51 persons/km2). The substantial internal 46

migration, also have produced some redistribution of the population in favor of the western and southern regions. The “Magnet” effect of the Parisian agglomeration, however, is slowly diminishing, but it does not limit, if not to the extent marginalizes its role as a primate city and its absolute demographic, economical and functional predominance than the rest of country. The urban population amounts to about 77%. Among the metropolitan areas, others than Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Lille have over 1 million inhabitants each. The urban network is complemented by a series of regional medium-sized cities (more than 40 urban areas have more than 200,000 persons), which are performing a territorial rebalancing action and represent the fulcrums of a regional development based, since the 1960’s, on a pin for industrialization. The official language of the country is French, but there are important minorities such as Bretons, Basques, Catalans, minorities of German origin and Flemish. 76% of the population professes the Catholic religion. The Overseas Territories comprise a total population of approximately 2.210.000 people (Reunion -870.000; Guadeloupe – 405.000; Martinique – 390.000; French Guyana - 285.000; Mayotte – 260.000). France also has in its componence 5 overseas collectivities (Saint-Martin; Saint-Barthélemy; Saint-Pierre and Miquelon; French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna),

1 special collectivity (New Caledonia) and 5 French Southern and Antarctic Lands (Kerguelen Islands; Crozet Islands; Amsterdam Island and Saint Paul Island; Adélie Land and the Scattered Islands). France is divided into 18 regions as it can be seen in the following table: European France Region Alsace-ChampagneArdenne-Lorraine Aquitaine-LimousinPoitou-Charentes Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

Capital

Bourgogne-FrancheComté Bretagne

Dijon

Centre-Val de Loire

Orléans

Île-de-France

Strasbourg

Overseas Territories Region Martinique

Capital

Guadeloupe

Basse-Terre

French Guyana

Cayenne

Mayotte

Mamoudzou

Reunion

Saint-Denis

Fort-de-France

The top 20 largest cities from France can be seen in the following table:

Bordeaux

Rank City Name

Region

Population

Paris

Île-de-France

2.500.000

Marseille

870.000

Lyon

Provence-AlpesCôte d'Azur Rhône-Alpes

Paris

Toulouse

Midi-Pyrénées

450.000

Languedoc-RoussillonMidi-Pyrénées Nord-Pas-de-CalaisPicardie Normandie

Toulouse

Nice

350.000

Lille

Nantes

Provence-AlpesCôte d'Azur Pays de la Loire

Strasbourg

Alsace

275.000

Pays de la Loire

Nantes

Montpellier

260.000

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Corse

Marseille

Bordeaux

LanguedocRoussillon Aquitaine

Lille

230.000

Rennes

Nord-Pas-deCalais Brittany

Reims

185.000

ChampagneArdenne Le Havre Upper Normandy Saint-Etienne Rhône-Alpes

Toulon

165.000

Grenoble

Provence-AlpesCôte d'Azur Rhône-Alpes

Dijon

Burgundy

155.000

Angers

Pays de la Loire

150.000

Villeurbanne Rhône-Alpes

146.000

Saint-Denis

145.000

Lyon

Rennes

Rouen

Ajaccio

Regions of France

Réunion

500.000

290.000

240.000

210.000

180.000 175.000

160.000

Economy & Transportation Economy

After a long period of stagnation manifested in the years before the First World War and partly connected with the limited population growth, the French economy, even amid ups and downs in the course of the 20th century, has made a radical process of renewal and improvement in the industrial field and in the agricultural one, which led the country to rank among the most economically advanced countries of Europe. Since the 1950’s, economic development has raised from both programming and the inclusion of France in the EEC, and once with the markets expansions, it made possible a rapid increase in industrial activities. The schedule, not prescriptive but only indicative, had initially intended to organize the reconstruction of the productive apparatus compromised by the war (Monnet Plan, 1947-1953), but then it set out to create an economic development that on the one hand would take into account the new European reality and on the other one would start correcting regional and sectoral imbalances, especially trying to overcome the drawbacks linked to the excessive concentration of industry, especially in the Paris region. State intervention was manifested, as well as grants, tax benefits and subsidized loans, with the decentralization of production activities and the establishment of development poles were able to balance the force exerted by capital attraction. The schedule hasn’t neglected the traditionally agricultural regions, directing them towards the production of food which was the most in demand from the domestic

France’s Export Tree Map

France’s GDP evolution

and foreign markets or even for the tourist activities. The profound changes in the French economy have obviously given a strong labor transfer from the primary sector to the secondary and tertiary ones. Even if the percentage distribution of the active population and the GDP reserves are at very reduced rates in the primary sector, France remains the most agricultural country in Europe. The utilized agricultural area is dominated for almost two-thirds by arable land used in rotation (the only area for wheat cultivation consistently exceeds 5 million hectares); the rest is held primarily for grazing or other permanent crops, but it is significant the 4% of the land used for vineyard (almost one million hectares). The main agricultural products are primarily grains: wheat, oats, corn and barley, which have a growing production linked to farming needs. The production of potatoes or that of sugar beet hasn’t been neglected. Among the wine districts, besides those intended for mass production (Languedoc), there are also a lot of them dedicated to high quality wines: Champagne

A vineyard worker manually tills the soil near Vosne-Romanée in Burgund

Renault is one of the French leading automobile producers

(sparkling wines), the Middle and Lower Loire, the South-West (Bordeaux, Medoc), l’East (Burgundy). We should also mention the spirits produced in France, like Cognac and Armagnac. In the southern territories and Corsica, vineyards provide excellent grapes which can be eaten at any table of the day. Meadows and pastures are used to feed the cattle farms (nearly 20 million cows in 2006, most of them giving highly selected milk), the sheeps (8.9 million sheeps), the pigs (14.8 million pigs) and the poultry (almost 225 million). France is the sixth world producer of milk and butter, the fifth of meat and the third of cheese (large, traditionally and wellknown). The fruit and vegetable crops reach their maximum concentrations in Île-de-France, along the Loire, in Brittany, in the Rhône Valley and in the Mediterranean area. In the latter, fruits are very widespread, for which reason France occupies the third place in Europe, exporting lots of quantities mainly to Germany. The French Riviera is famous for the floriculture specialists. The forest covers 28,3% of the total area and provided a timber quantity of 65,64 million square meters in 2006. In Corsica, Provence, Languedoc and Gascony cork is very widespread. Fishing plays a secondary role, despite being widely practiced along the north-western coast, home to the largest fishing ports: Boulogne-sur-Mer, Dunkerque, Concarneau, Lorient, Fécamp, Saint-Malo, etc. Some of these ports are specialized in catching the “big fish” (especially cod and herring), practiced on the bank of Newfoundland (where France owns the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon) and near the coasts of Greenland and Iceland. In the vicinity of the main fishing centers there are located major canneries. The mining heritage of France is not particularly rich, but the deposits have been widely exploited, in particular

France has a quite high rank regarding labour productivity among other European nations.

in which regards coal, among the main resources of the subsoil. Today, the mining production is reduced to a modest size (the last colliery, in Moselle, was closed in 2004). France remains a good producer of cast iron and steel, as well as zinc, lead, tin foundry (around the tenth place in the world for each of these metals). There are deposits of natural gas (especially in southwestern France, near Lacq) and oil (Alsace, southwestern France and the Paris region), however, not relevant to meet the domestic demand. There is a significant exploitation of nuclear energy, which meets about 77% of the national demand, having 59 reactors in operation. In the manufacturing sector, the gap between France’s North-East and South-West is clearly seen. It is very important to be remembered, however, that some of the old industrial regions (Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Lorraine) have been subject to severe production and employment crisis, mainly due to the decline of the coal and steel sectors. The Paris region is the first industrial region of France, thanks to a highly diversified manufacturing base (automotive, electrical, electronic, aeronautical, chemical, pharmaceutical, publishing), to its strategic location and to the presence of major decision-making centers. The Lyon area is comparable to that of Paris by the degree of sector diversification and centrality in the French production space. France’s southern cities are located along the arc that goes from Bordeaux to Grenoble, via Toulouse, Montpellier and Nice. These cities are the poles of the industrial development in high technology which joins the consolidated sectors, while it is worth noting that the industrial development of almost the entire coastal region, primarily of port areas, is linked to the processing of imported hydrocarbons. The French industry has the leading role concerning the automobile production, 49

Tourism is one of France’s biggest contributors to its GDP – Capitole de Toulouse in the image above

tires and electricity, the electronic sector, the textile and clothing branches, chemical productions (France is the second largest exporter of perfumery), agribusiness, aerospace and shipbuilding. In some parts of the sector, in which it is highlighted the attractiveness of the Paris region (almost a third of the total employees, two-thirds of corporate headquarters), it is registered the growth of advanced services to companies and the related sectors to technological evolution, with particular reference to informational technology. Great emphasis has been given in France to the research and development activities, which have found their main stronghold in the many technology communities, more than 40, among which we can mention in particular Sophia Antipolis in Provence and ZIRST (Zones pour l’ innovation et les réalisations scientifiques et techniques) in Grenoble. Tourism is another significant sector with almost 79 million visitors in 2006. French Guyana is strongly dependent on subsidies

from France. The main industry is fishing (about threequarters of exports), as well as mining (mainly after gold) and forestry. There is very little industry, mainly small factories for processing agricultural or wood goods and agriculture is underdeveloped due to the lack of cultivated areas and the tropical environment that doesn’t allow certain crops, the most important being the sugar cane, rice and manioc. Tourism, especially ecotourism, has begun to develop lately. Unemployment is a big problem, being between 20% and 30%. The European Space Center at Kourou contributes to about 25% of the Gross Domestic Product and employs about 1.700 people. It is operational since 1968 and is one of the best-positioned missile launch centers, located near the Equator, at 5 ° 3 ‘north latitude and the optimal direction of launch is in the direction of the sea. The Center is the launching platform of the European Space Agency, the French space program and Arianespace. The capital city of Cayenne has a total population of approximately 60.000 people.

A6 Highway in France

A ship on the Canal Bourgogne

France’s High Speed Train (TGV)

Entrance in the EuroTunnel – French Side

There are approximately 950.000 km of roads in France. The French motorway network or autoroute system consists largely of toll roads, except for around large cities and in parts of the north. It is a network totaling of 12.000 km of motorways operated by private companies such as SANEF (Société des autoroutes du Nord et de l’Est de la France). It has the 8th largest highway network in the world, trailing only the United States, China, Russia, Japan, Canada, Spain and Germany. France currently counts 30.500 km of major trunk roads or routes nationales and state-owned motorways. By means of comparison, the routes départementales are covering a total distance of 365.000 km. The main trunk road network reflects the centralizing tradition of France: the majority of them leave from the gates of Paris. Indeed, trunk roads begin on the “parvis” of Notre-Dame of Paris at Kilometre Zero. To ensure an effective road network, new roads not serving Paris were created. France is believed to be the most car dependent country in Europe. In 2005, 937 billion kilometers were travelled in France (85% by car).

There are a total of 9.501 km of railway in France, mostly operated by SNCF, the French national railway company. The French railways are subsidised by the state, receiving 13,2 billion € in 2013. However, the railway system is a small portion of total travel, accounting for less than 10% of passenger travel. From 2013 onwards, a newly constructed set of high-speed Lignes à Grande Vitesse (LGV) lines linked France’s most populous areas with the capital, starting with Paris-Lyon. In 1994, the Channel Tunnel opened, connecting France and England (Great Britain) by rail under the English Channel. The TGV has set many world speed records, the most recent on 3 April 2007, when a new version of the TGV dubbed the V150 with larger wheels than the usual TGV, and a stronger 25.000 hp (18,600 kW) engine, broke the world speed record for conventional rail trains, reaching 574.8 km/h. Trains, unlike road traffic, drive on the left (except in Alsace-Moselle). Metro and tramway services are not thought of as trains and usually follow road traffic in driving on the right (except for the Lyon Metro). Six cities in France currently have metro service. Full metro

Transportation

The Paris Metro

Metro Map of Paris

Bus on Île-de-France

Tram in Bordeaux

systems are in operation in Paris (16 lines), Lyon (4 lines) and Marseille (2 lines). Light metro (VAL-type) systems are in use in Lille (2 lines), Toulouse (2 lines) and Rennes (1 line). The French natural and man-made waterways network is the largest in Europe extending to over 8.500 km, of which VNF (English: Navigable Waterways of France), the French navigation authority, manages the navigable sections. The assets managed by VNF comprise 6.700 km of waterways, made up of 3.800 km of canals and 2.900 km of navigable rivers, 494 dams, 1.595 locks, 74 navigable aqueducts, 65 reservoirs, 35 tunnels and a land area of 800 km2. Two significant waterways not under VNF’s control are the navigable sections of the River Somme and the Brittany Canals, which are both under local management. In spite of the closure of most of France’s tram systems in earlier years, a fast-growing number of France’s major cities have modern tram or light rail networks, including Paris, Lyon (Lyon having the biggest one), Toulouse, Montpellier, Saint-Étienne, Strasbourg and Nantes. Recently, the tram has seen a very big

revival with many experiments such as ground level power supply in Bordeaux, or trolleybuses pretending to be trams in Nancy. Tram systems are planned or under construction in Dijon, Le Havre, Tours, and Fort-de-France. The revival of tram networks in France has brought about a number of technical developments both in the traction systems and in the styling of the cars: APS Third Rail, Modern Styling and Modular Design. There are approximately 478 airports in France and by a 2005 estimate, there are three heliports. 288 of the airports have paved runways, with the remaining 199 are unpaved. The national carrier of France is Air France, a full service global airline which flies to 20 domestic destinations and 150 international destinations in 83 countries (including Overseas departments and territories of France) across all 6 major continents. Among the airspace governance authorities active in France, one is Aéroports de Paris, which has authority over the Paris region, managing 14 airports including the two busiest in France, “Charles de Gaulle Airport” and “Orly Airport”. The former, located in

Air France is the national air carrier of the country

Roissy near Paris, is the 5th busiest airport in the world with 60 million passenger transiting in 2008, and France’s primary international airport, serving over 100 airlines. France has an extensive merchant marine, including 55 ships of size Gross register tonnage 1.000 and above. The country also maintains a captive register for French-owned ships in Îles Kerguelen (French Southern and Antarctic Lands). French companies operate over 1.400 ships of which 700 are registered in France. France’s 110 shipping firms employ 12.500 personnel at sea and 15.500 on shore. Each year, 305 million tonnes of goods and 15 million passengers are transported by sea. Marine transport is responsible for 72% of France’s imports and exports. France also boasts a number of seaports and harbours, including Bayonne, Bordeaux, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Brest, Calais, CherbourgOcteville, Dunkerque, Fos-sur-Mer, La Pallice, Le Havre, Lorient, Marseille, Nantes, Nice, Paris, Port-laNouvelle, Port-Vendres, Roscoff, Rouen, Saint-Nazaire, Saint-Malo, Sète, Strasbourg and Toulon. In most, if not all, French cities, urban bus

Charles de Gaulle Airport

Port of Marseille

services are provided at a flat-rate charge for individual journeys. Many cities have bus services that operate well out into the suburbs or even the country. Fares are normally cheap, but rural services can be limited, especially on weekends. Trains have had a monopoly for a long time on inter-regional buses, but in 2015 the French government introduced reforms to allow bus operators to travel on these routes. Despite their reputation for unscrupulousness and rudeness, French taxi drivers are generally the same as any other taxi drivers. However, they have to strictly obey regulations and can refuse to pick up a person if he or she is drunk or dirty. Taxi drivers are entitled to pick up additional passengers along the route, but may not charge them extra (except for a fourth passenger). They aren’t permitted to accept fares outside their normal operating area. In many cities there are too many cabs and the situation is exacerbated by unlicensed operators. Beware of illegal and unmetered cabs operating in main cities and preying on foreign visitors. Always agree the fare with the taxi driver in advance.

Taxi Cab in Paris, France

French Holidays

Culture French Proverbs

1. He who sows the wind shall reap the tempest. (Qui sème le vent, récolte la tempête.) 2. It’s the exception that proves the rule. (C’est l’exception qui confirme la règle.) 3. The motive of the strongest is always the best. (La raison du plus fort est toujours la meilleure.) 4. One must eat to live, and not live to eat. (Il faut manger pour vivre, et non pas vivre pour manger.) 5. Let us get back to our sheep. (Revenons à nos moutons.) 6. Better to prevent than to cure. (Mieux vaut prévenir que guérir.) 7. One must not trust appearances. (Il ne faut pas se fier aux apparences.) 8. The little fish will grow big. (Petit poisson deviendra grand.) 9. Good accounts make good friends. (Les bons comptes font les bons amis.) 10. The night brings advice. (La nuit porte conseil.) 11. To win without risk is a triumph without glory. (A vaincre sans péril, on triomphe sans gloire.) 12. Chase away the natural and it returns at a gallop. (Chassez le naturel, il revient au galop.) 13. True valour is to do in secrecy what you could just have easily done before others. (La parfaite valeur est de faire sans témoin ce qu’on serait capable de faire devant tout le monde.) 14. There is truth in vine. (La vérité est dans la vin.) 15. Choose a wife rather by your ear than your eye. (Choisissez votre femme par l’oreille bien plus que par les yeux.) 16. Truth is more valuable if it takes you a few years to find it. (La vérité vaut bien qu’on passe quelques années sans la trouver.) 17. He who fears suffering is already suffering that which he fears. (Qui craint de souffrir, il souffre déjà de ce qu’il craint.) 18. It is necessary to break the shell to have the almond. (Il faut casser le noyau pour avoir l’amande.) 19. A scalded cat fears cold water. (Chat échaudé craint l’eau froide.) 20. Fear the man of one book. (Je crains l’homme de un seul livre.) 54

Period

Holiday

1 January Variable

New Year’s Day (Nouvel an / Jour de l'an / Premier de l'an) Good Friday (Vendredi saint)

Variable

Easter Monday (Lundi de Pâques)

1 May

Variable

May Day / Labour Day (Fête du Travail / Fête des Travailleurs) Victory in Europe Day (Fête de la Victoire) Ascension Day (Ascension)

Variable

Whit Monday (Lundi de Pentecôte)

14 July

Bastille Day (Fête Nationale)

15 August

Assumption of Mary to Heaven (Assomption) All Saints’ Day (Toussaint)

8 May

1 November

11 November Armistice Day (Armistice de 1918) 25 December Christmas Day (Noël) 26 December Saint Stephen’s Day (Saint-Étienne)

French Fashion in the Middle Ages

France is known as the home of romance

French lavender oil

French Cheese is appreciated worldwide

CrĂ¨me Brulee is one of the most well known French desserts

Traditional French Baguette and Wine

France has the most visited museums in the world

Girls wearing traditional French Beret

French Personalities

Charles De Gaulle Charles De Gaulle (b. 22 November 1890 in Lille, France – d. 9 November 1970 in Colombey-lesDeux-Églises, France), on his full name, Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French military general and statesman. He was the leader of Free France (1940– 1944) and the head of the Provisional Government of the French Republic (1944–1946). In 1958, he founded the 5th Republic and was elected as the 18th President of France, a position he held until his resignation in 1969. He was the dominant figure of France during the Cold War era and his memory continues to influence French politics. Born in Lille, Charles De Gaulle was the General Charles De Gaulle in Tunisia in 1943 who for almost three decades has revived the name of France in Europe, accompanying the transformation of political power. He was raised in a devoutly Catholic the country from a colonial power into an economic and and traditional family. His father, Henri de Gaulle, was a professor of history and literature at a Jesuit college who eventually founded his own school. Henri de Gaulle came from a long line of parliamentary gentry from Normandy and Burgundy. De Gaulle’s mother, Jeanne (née Maillot), descended from a family of wealthy entrepreneurs from Lille. She had French, Irish, Scottish, Flemish, and German ancestry. By the time he was ten he was reading medieval history, such as the “Froissart Chronicles” of the Hundred Years War. De Gaulle began his own writing in his early teens, and later his family paid for a composition, a one-act play in verse about a traveller, to be privately published. A voracious reader, he later favored philosophical tomes by such writers as Bergson, Péguy, and Barrès. In addition to the German philosophers Nietzsche, Kant and Goethe, he read the works of the ancient Greeks, especially Plato and the prose of the romanticist poet Chateaubriand. De Gaulle chose the military career when he was only 18 years old, and in August 1914 at the outbreak of the First World War, he already was a lieutenant. He was taken prisoner by the Germans in 1916 and he will be released thanks to the armistice of September the following year. Charles de Gaulle became a captain and in 1922 he obtained the admission to the high school of war. In 1931 he was advanced to the Secretariat-General for National Defence and Security and that’s where he got involved with the affairs of state. On 3 September 1939, when France declared war on Germany, he has 58

Charles De Gaulle

Charles De Gaulle as President on the streets of France

already reached the rank of colonel. Those were years of great tension combined with huge excitement caused by the ascension to power in Germany of Adolf Hitler, after president Hindenburg’s death. France feeled threatened by this situation and unfortunately, the country entered in the conflict having disastrous economic and social conditions. In 1936, the Popular Front of the Left won the election, but the government of Socialist Leon Blum was unable to revive the fortunes of the country, which therefore was unprepared for the war. On 1 June 1940, de Gaulle was appointed brigadier general and UnderSecretary of Defense. The situation worsened. In midJune, returning from a meeting with the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, he finds out in Bordeaux about the resignation of Prime Minister Paul Reynard, who was replaced by Marshal Philippe Petain, who immediately sought an armistice with Germany. For France it began a dark period, in which the so-called “collaboration” with the occupants was very active, thing which will bring a part of the French society,

first of all the government, who was moved to Vichy, to share the hatred towards the Nazis. De Gaulle seeks shelter in London. On 18 June, he launches a famous appeal to the French people through BBC, encouraging them to resist in front of the German occupation. A few days after the armistice was denounced, he earned himself a death sentence in his absence. From Africa, he organizes the forces of Free France and on 3 June 1944, he is appointed as interim president of the Republic by the Defence Council, an organ born in Congo in 1940. De Gaulle forms a government that in late October will be recognized by the great powers: USA, USSR and Great Britain. With the Allied forces winning the war, the Nazis were expelled from France at the beginning of 1946. De Gaulle puts his candidature for the presidency elections in the not so hidden hope that the country will appeal to him again. But the elections which take place in that autumn sought him defeated. Hence, the Fourth Republic was born, which wasn’t very different from the previous one (de Gaulle had proposed in his 59

Charles de Gaulle (far right) with Andrew McNaughton, Władysław Sikorski, and Winston Churchill

program some complex reforms and a steady hand in economy). However, De Gaulle has launched himself in politics and in April 1947 he founded the movement called “Rassemblement du peuple français”, which immediately brought a great result in the local elections. But in the 1951 policies, the positive effect deflated. For the General it began a voluntary period of political exile in his retirement house of Colombey-les-Deux-Eglise, while France was experiencing serious difficulties, partly because of the collapse of its colonial empire. Charles De Gaulle was recalled from his exile and on 1 June 1958, he was elected President of the National Assembly Council. The members of the Council granted full powers to the General and the possibility to elaborate a new Constitution. In the essence, most historians agree in defining this anomalous situation as a “white coup”, a moment of French history in which a general has full powers, like a dictator. The great statesman, however, was very attached to his country and fought for it with all his heart, a quality that has always characterized him, as a result, on 28 September 1958 he submitted to a referendum a new constitution, which got the favor of the vast majority of the French people. On 21 December 60

1958 he was elected President of the Republic. Thus, his election led to the creation of the Fifth Republic, with a powerful presidential electoral and political system which is still working even nowadays. Meanwhile, some exploding events happened in Algeria, one of the many French colonies that had claimed its autonomy for a long time. De Gaulle proposed the principle of self-determination for the colony of North Africa, and the referendum of 8 January 1961 confirmed it. Some generals disagreed with this decision and on 22 April 1961 they gave rise to a military coup in Algiers. The road of independence, however, was marked but the uprisings had no effect, other than to create a terrorist organization (the OAS), formed by soldiers which opposed the decolonization, who threatened for several times the life of the General and were for several years in the center of some dark plots across Europe. In 1962, de Gaulle has taken another step towards the total reform of the state, introducing the direct election of the President of the Republic. In 1965, he candidates again and wins in the runoff against Socialist François Mitterrand. Meanwhile, he enhances France’s nuclear policy, by establishing the “force de frappe”, rejecting the US protection and calling out of

NATO. This policy of the free hands gained the likes of most French people. In 1968, Paris was boiling because of the riots of students and workers. For France, this was another dramatic moment. On 20 May 1968, ten million workers went on strike. Nine days after De Gaulle made contact with the military, in an effort to restore the order in the country, he announces on 30 May about the dissolution of the National Assembly. This was a proof of force which brought only half of a victory: the riots ceased,

but in the elections, a strong right-wing majority won, denying the reforms that the General still wanted to introduce. At the beginning of April 1969, Charles de Gaulle promotes a referendum to give more power to the regions and to the Senate, but his tentative was defeated. At ten minutes past the midnight of 28 April, he resigned as president. This was his blatant departure from the French politics scene. Therefore he self-exiled at Colombey-les-Deux-Ă&#x2030;glises. Here, General Charles De Gaulle died on 9 November 1970.

Charles De Gaulle with Winston Churchill in 1944

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte (b. 15 August 1769 in Ajaccio, Corsica, France â&#x20AC;&#x201C; d. 5 May 1821 in Longwood, Saint Helena) was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the Revolutionary Wars. As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814, and again in 1815. Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. Napoleon Bonaparte (his surname was Frenchified from the Italian Buonaparte) was born in Ajaccio, Corsica as the second son of Carlo Buonaparte, a lawyer originally from Tuscany and Letizia Ramolino,

Napoleon Bonaparte on the Bridge at Arcole (by Antoine-Jean Gros)

a beautiful young woman who had thirteen children. It was his father who, contrary to the idea that his son will undertake the legal career, urged him to undertake the military one instead. On 15 May 1779, in fact, Napoleon transferred to the Brienne military school, a place where, at the expense of the king, the sons of noble families were prepared. Following the recommendations of Count Marbeuf, he accepted to remain there for five years. In September 1784, the 15 years old Napoleon was admitted to the military school in Paris. After only a year, he already acquired the rank of artillery lieutenant. Great political and social upheavals were awaiting to start in Europe and the young Napoleon was perhaps quite far from believing that he would have been the principal architect of a new France. It all has started as a result of the French Revolution. At its deadliest blast, the Corsican rallied to defend the old regime and Napoleon himself adhered enthusiastically to the ideas of the new popular movements. After the assault and the storming of Bastille, Napoleon tried to spread the revolutionary 62

Napoleon Bonaparte

fever on his island as well. Napoleon Bonaparte gets involved in the local political life and fights in the ranks with Pascal Paoli (the future moral and political unifier of Corsica). His merits are so important that in 1791 he was appointed Battalion Commander of the National Guard in Ajaccio. On 30 November 1789, the National Assembly proclaims Corsica part of France, putting an end to the military occupation that began in 1769. Meanwhile, France was facing an unprecedented political crisis. After the fall of Maximilien Robespierre, Napoleon found himself entrusted in 1796, shortly before his marriage to Josephine de Beauharnais, with the command of the troops for the Italian campaign during which his military strategist characteristics reveal, as well as that of a real Head of State. But the stages of his â&#x20AC;&#x153;escalationâ&#x20AC;? must be seen properly. On 21 January 1793, King Louis XVI was guillotined in Place de la Concorde and Napoleon Bonaparte, promoted as First Class Captain, took part in the repression of the Girondins and federalist insurrections of Marseille, Lyon and Toulon. In the siege of Toulon, the young captain, with a clever maneuver, obtained the surrender

of the fortress. On 2 March 1796 he was appointed Commander of the army of Italy and after defeating the Piemontese and Austrians, he imposed peace following the Treaty of Campo Formio of 1797, laying in this way the foundations for what would later become the Kingdom of Italy. After this remarkable test, he embarks in the Campaign of Egypt, apparently to strike the eastern interests of the British. In reality, he was sent by the French Directory, which considered him too dangerous at home. Once landed in Alexandria, he defeats the Mamluks and the English fleet of Admiral Horatio Nelson. Meanwhile, the situation in France deteriorates, disorder and confusion reached the supreme reign, not to mention that Austria was collecting numerous victories. Determined to return and entrusting the command of his troops to general Jean-Baptiste Kleber, he embarks for France, contrary to the orders given from Paris. On 9 October 1799 he arrives in Saint Raphael, and between 9 and 10 November (18 October of the so-called revolutionary calendar), he overthrows the Directory following a coup, taking in this way the

Napoleon as First Consul, by Jean August Dominique Ingres

Napoleon I of France (by Andrea Appiani)

Napoleon Buonaparte at Borodino

almost absolute power. On 24 December he launches the establishment of the Consulate, to which he is appointed as First Consul. Napoleon became thus Head of State and of the Army and with an incredible capacity of work, an admirable intelligence, and an extraordinary creative imagination, he reforms the administration and justice in a record time. Yet, once victorious against the Austrian coalition, he imposes a peace treaty with the English in 1801 and signs the Concordat with Pope Pius VII which puts the French Church at the service of the regime. Then, after discovering a monarchist plot and preventing it from happening, he proclaims himself Emperor of France in 1804 under the name of Napoleon the 1st and a year later, King of Italy. This situation creates around him a real “monarchy” with courts and nobility worth of an Empire while the stability of the state continues. Under his impulse, he reforms and puts under modernization the following elements: education, urbanism, economics, art, he creates the so-called “Code of Napoleon” which provides a legal basis for defending the society from the Revolution. But the Emperor is soon pressed by other 64

wars. A failed attack on England in the famous battle of Trafalgar, brings to fruition a series of campaigns against the Austro-Russians (Battle of Austerlitz, 1805), the Prussians (Jéna-Auerstedt, 1806) and builds up even more of his great Empire after the treaty of Tilsit in 1807. England, however, always remained a thorn in his side, the one single biggest obstacle threatening his European hegemony. In response to the maritime blockade enforced from London, Napoleon enacts between 1806 and 1808, the continental blockade to isolate the great European power. The blockade energizes the French industry and agriculture but annoys the European economy and it forces the Emperor to develop an expansionist policy that, from the Papal States to Portugal and Spain to a new coalition of Austria (Battle of Wagram, 1809), leaves his armies exhausted. In 1810, worried by the fact that he didn’t had a heir yet, Napoleon married Marie Louise of Austria, who gave him a son, Napoleon II. In 1812, sensing the hostility coming from Tsar Alexander 1st, the Great Army of Napoleon invaded Russia. The Russians eventually offered a battle outside Moscow on

Napoleon crossing the Alps

7 September: the Battle of Borodino, which resulted in approximately 44.000 Russian and 35.000 French dead, wounded or captured, and may have been the bloodiest day of battle in history up to that point in time. Although the French had won, the Russian army had accepted, and withstood, the major battle Napoleon had hoped would be decisive. Napoleon’s own account was: “The most terrible of all my battles was the one before Moscow. The French showed themselves to be worthy of victory, but the Russians showed themselves worthy of being invincible.” The Russian army withdrew and retreated past Moscow. Napoleon entered the city, assuming its fall would end the war and Alexander would negotiate peace. However, on orders of the city’s governor Feodor Rostopchin, rather than capitulation, Moscow was burned. After five weeks, Napoleon and his army left. In early November, Napoleon got concerned about loss of control back in France after the Malet coup of 1812. His army walked through snow up to their knees and nearly 10.000 men and horses froze to death on the night of 8 to 9 November alone. After the Battle of Berezina, Napoleon succeeded to escape but had to abandon much of the remaining artillery and baggage train. On 5 December, shortly before arriving in Vilnius, Napoleon left the army in a sledge. The French suffered greatly in the course of a ruinous retreat, including from the harshness of the Russian Winter. The Army had begun with over 400.000 frontline troops, but in the end fewer than 40.000 crossed the Berezina River in November 1812 and about 4.000 reached back to Paris. The Russians had lost 150.000 people in battle and hundreds of thousands of civilians. This was a bloody and disastrous totally bankrupt campaign for the Napoleonic forces which were brutally defeated and pushed back and as a result, above the thousands of losses of human lives, it sounded the awakening of Eastern Europe and saw Paris invaded by the enemy troops on 4 March 1814. A few days later, Napoleon was forced to abdicate in favor of his son then, on 6 April 1814, to give up all of his powers. Ousted from the throne and alone, he was forced into exile. From May 1814 to March 1815, during his enforced stay on Elba, the ghostly ruler of the island on which he will restore a pale imitation of his former courtyard, Napoleon will see the Austrians, Prussians, British and Russians divided, during the Congress of Vienna in 1815, over what was his Great Empire. Escaping from the English surveillance, however, 66

Napoleon Bonaparte as King of France and Italy

Napoleon was able to return to France in March 1815 where, supported by the Liberals, he will know a second but brief reign known as the “Kingdom of the Hundred Days”. The new and recaptured glory will not last long. Soon, his shooting illusions will be deleted by the disaster following the battle of Waterloo, again against the English. History repeats itself and Napoleon had to relinquish again his role as Emperor on 22 June 1815. By now in the hands of the British, they assign him a comatose jail on the distant island of Saint Helena, where before shutting his eyes on 5 May 1821, he often used to evoke the nostalgia of his native island, Corsica. He confided his regrets to a few people who had remained nearby. These were mainly the fact that he neglected his land, being too busy with wars and businesses. On 5 May 1821, what was undoubtedly the greatest general and leader after Caesar, died alone and abandoned in Longwood, on the island of Saint Helena, under the supervision of the British.

Napoleon crossing the Great Saint Bernard

Louis XIV Louis XIV (b. 5 September 1638 in Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France – d. 1 September 1715 in Palace of Versailles, Versailles, France) known as Louis the Great (Louis le Grand) or the Sun King (le Roi Soleil), was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any monarch of a major country in European history. In this age of absolutism in Europe, Louis XIV’s France was a leader in the growing centralization of power. Louis XIV, King of France and Navarre was just a baby of nearly 5 years old when he ascended to the throne in 1643 and he personally led the government from 1661 until his death. He was born on 5 September 1638. His parents were totally incompatible: Louis XIII was petulant, introverted and ungentle, while his mother, Anne of Austria of the Spanish line of the House

Louis XIV Equestrian Portrait

of Habsburg was beautiful, flirtatious, meticulous and well-raised. After the death of Louis XIII, when the heir was only 5 years old, the child was raised in an unusual environment, for Anne of Austria was then a regent which held the relations of power together with Cardinal Jules Mazarin, a clever and unscrupulous Italian careerist. Together they watched over the kingchild’s education and it is not without significance the fact that Mazarin became the godfather of the king. Between 1648 and 1653 France was torn apart by a series of uprisings known as the Fronde (Fronde means sling, the weapon of the Parisian kids). Louis XIV was deeply influenced by the Fronde, not questioning his belief that the order and the authority were the antidote to chaos. Louis learned from Mazarin to believe that the monarchy was ordained by God, to identify himself with France, to work hard and to take his tasks seriously. Throughout his childhood, Louis came close to death several times. At the age of 5, he nearly drowned swimming in one of the royal palace pool. He was saved in the last moment. At the age of 9 years old, on 10 November 1647, Louis was ill with smallpox. Ten days later, the doctors were hopeless, but the young Louis recovered miraculously. On 30 June 1658, the King suffered a serious food poisoning while in Bergues. On Monday, 8 July, the last rites are accorded to him and he was starting to prepare for his succession but Guénaut, Anne of Austria’s doctor gave him an emetic based on antimony and wine, but the young king was miraculously healed once again. He learned to pretend, pretending to cynicism and contempt. Louis XIV formal education has not been neglected, although it was quite small as it was. In fact, most of his education was a typical aristocratic one consisting of ancient history, a little modern history, a smattering of geography and mathematics, a thorough knowledge of Spanish and Italian. He learned to speak and write French in an excellent manner, unlike some of his predecessors. He was taught to ride, to shoot firearms and to dance, things which he did very well by instinct. He inherited from his mother her undoubted Catholic piety and hatred of heresy, though, just like her, he did not possess a deep knowledge of theological problems. Louis XIV stature had to be around 1,62 meters, only to be enhanced by high heels and by wearing big wigs to appear taller. However, the short stature of Louis was in any event the offset of his innate dignity and reliability. In addition, he had a lot of charm. He was intelligent, learned quickly and had a good memory for faces and facts. He enjoyed a remarkable self-control, thinking

women showed that he was quite selfish. His behavior of 1667 when he forced his ladies to go with him to the campaign of Flanders is a typical example. Unlike the contemporary kings of England, Louis had the opportunity to choose the policy and ministers without looking over his shoulder at the Parliament. He didn’t had to consult with his subjects, thus he can make decisions quickly. He was obliged neither to justify his actions, nor to listen to criticism. He claimed unquestioned obedience. On 10 March 1661, the day after the death of Mazarin, Louis summoned the people who ruled France under the command of former Prime Minister: Le Tellier, the man who reformed the army, Fouquet, the brilliant and dangerously ambitious superintendent of finances, Séguier, the chancellor, as well as Brienne and Lionn, which were occupied together with the foreign policy. The King, aged 22 years old has looked coldly on these mature, experienced and able politicians, who in turn were evaluating their

Louis XIV in 1673

that it was below his dignity to get angry or to exult. Louis always took off his hat to women, even to the most humble maids. If Louis XIV made anyone to suffer, it was surely the Queen, who never reconciled with her husband’s infidelity. Louis was forced to marry a wife to whom he was not attracted. Maria Theresa of Spain, the daughter of Philip IV, with whom Louis married in 1660 was not very smart, was unattractive and clumsy. His reaction was to find compensation elsewhere. Like his grandfather, Henry IV, Louis had a big sexual appetite and has enjoyed the favors of several mistresses, having many bastards. Three women were openly successively recognized as principal mistresses: the gentle Louise de La Vallière, the intelligent and intriguing Françoise-Athenais de Montespan and the authoritative, but reserved Françoise de Maintenon. Each mistress was older than its predecessor and came into the King’s favor while its predecessor was part of the entourage. After the death of Maria Theresa in 1683, Louis was married to Madame de Maintenon and under her authoritative influence, he never has had extramarital affairs. Although Louis rewarded his mistresses with material good, his relations with Louis (Ludovic) XIV in 1701

young master, wondering which of them will be chosen to follow the cardinal to the office of Prime Minister. Then, the king launched the bomb, saying that it’s time to govern himself. “I give orders not to sign anything, even a passport without my order; give reports to me personally every day and do not favour anyone”. The Chief of the clergy congregation asked the king to whom he will report in the future: “To me, sir archbishop, to me.” replied Louis. In the next 54 years, Le Roi Soleil was his own prime minister, because he claimed that “The state is me.” Very important for the exercise of the royal absolutism was the army. Louis XIV has dominated his armies through professionalism. He earned the respect of his soldiers, from the largest grades to the smallest and demonstrated his ability as a soldier. He often led his troops into battle alone. For example, during the war with the Dutch, he proved himself as a capable strategist. He won his soldiers’ gratitude as an organizer and administrator, founding the Hôtel des Invalides Hospital in Paris for the maimed and retired soldiers. He was very concerned about the welfare of his troops. He was genuinely interested in military matters, he was invariably well informed and responsive. Louis XIV enjoyed the war a lot for he was brave and quickly adapted to the life of a campaign. He was happy among

Louis XIV at the Siege of Namur (1692)

his soldiers, and they responded by welcoming him with enthusiasm. The army’s morale was improving when the soldiers were led by Louis himself. However, the most important reason for the success of Louis XIV, regarding the dominance of his armies was the authority he expressed over the body of officers. Not only the commanders with high grades were chosen by the king, but Louis claimed the right to appoint any officer up to the rank of colonel. It was a royal army, the King decreed who orders, who was promoted or who was demoted. It was a fact that the kings inherited their thrones by divine right and that they ruled by consensus of his subjects, but were chosen by God. Louis was fond of the habit of naming the King of France “The oldest son of the Church” and “ Christian King”. He also held the title that has been given to him at birth - Dieu-Donne (God’s gift). Born to parents who were at a fairly advanced age, Louis was a child prodigy, sent to save France from its spiritual disunity and did not hesitate to personally and decisively intervene in religious affairs. On 6 May 1682, the King and the Crown Court moved from the Louvre to Versailles, and thus it became the unofficial capital of France until 1715. In the time of Louis XIV, Versailles was the largest and imposing royal palace in Europe. In this era, he was served by 35.000 ministers. The wealth and luxury of the gardens, attics, and royal apartments were well known. The spectacles where Louis was an actor or a dancer were followed by feasts and fireworks, traditions that have long remained in the habit of the kings of France. His old age has been pestered by rheumatism, indigestion and gout. Three dolphins (heirs) died because of Guy-Crescent Fagon, the royal doctor in 11 months and to cover his own incompetence, Fagon encouraged the rumours that they had been poisoned. In the summer of 1715, Louis XIV was far from feeling good. He had lost his appetite and was sleeping quite a few hours per night, which was not surprising since Fagon insisted that the king should cover himself with a feather floss coverlet in order to sweat. In August, the King’s leg began to hurt and black spots appeared on his leg. Fagon has put a diagnosis of sciatica, although everyone knew it’s gangrene. Finally, Fagon prescribed an amputation but this time the king has defied his doctor. The Sun King’s death was gruesome and prolonged. His end came on 1 September 1715. He blessed the boy who was to succeed him on throne, advising him not to imitate his exaggerated passion for building and wars.

King Louis XIV

Louis Pasteur Louis Pasteur (b. 27 December 1822 in Dole, France – d. 28 September 1895 in Marnes-la-Coquette, France) was a French chemist and microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization. He is remembered for his remarkable breakthroughs in the causes and preventions of diseases, and his discoveries have saved countless lives ever since. He reduced mortality from puerperal fever, and created the first vaccines for rabies and anthrax. Louis Pasteur began his studies at the College of Arbois and here he discovered his talent for painting. He then moved to Paris, but soon returned to Arbois, because he was very disappointed of the artistic experience he had in Paris. He took his baccalaureate at Collège Royal de Besançon in 1840 and in 1842 he acquired another one in mathematical sciences from Dijon and finally in 1843 he was admitted to the “École Normale Supérieure” in Paris, finishing his studies in 1847, when he sustained two thesis, one in chemistry and the other one in physics. He did a lot of scientific research in the field of

Louis Pasteur

Pasteur in his laboratory, by A. Edelfeldt (1885)

crystallography and thus, he discovered the phenomenon of isomerism. He was appointed professor at the Faculty of Sciences in Lille, and here he has made a major discovery, showing that the yeasts are living beings which lead to the fermentation process. His works from the 1858-1864 period disapproved the spontaneous generation theory and from 1865, he began to study a disease that decimated silkworms, where he managed to identify by his studies the sick butterflies, to which he started destroying their eggs so that they wouldn’t infest the entire loft. He had, therefore, an important contribution in the field of sericulture. Following his fermentation experiments, Pasteur demonstrated that the skin of grapes was the natural source of yeasts, and that sterilized grapes and grape juice never fermented. He drew grape juice from under the skin with sterilized needles, and also covered grapes with sterilized cloth. Both experiments could not produce wine in sterilized containers. His findings and ideas were against the prevailing notion of spontaneous generation. He received a particularly stern criticism from Félix Archimède Pouchet, who was director of the Rouen Museum of Natural History. To settle the debate between the eminent scientists, the French Academy of Sciences offered the Alhumbert Prize carrying 2.500 francs to whoever could experimentally demonstrate for or against the doctrine. To prove himself correct, Pasteur exposed boiled broths to air in swan-neck flasks that contained a filter to prevent all particles from passing through to

In 1880, Louis Pasteur begins his research on bogs. The scientist discovers that the dry spinal cord of an infected animal might prevent this serious disease. After several attempts to develop a concoction with vaccine quality and after many hesitations as well, he then made his first attempt in the case of a child who was bitten by a rabid dog. Three months after starting the first series of injections, the child was saved. After this moment, the Academy of Sciences of France decided to establish an institution which addressed to the rabies treatment. This institution will become in time the famous Institut Pasteur. The feature of benefactor of mankind was unfairly not assigned to Louis Pasteur, its discoveries over time being more than useful. His studies and discoveries are serving nowadays to several branches of medicine and science such as: stereochemistry, Pasteur experimenting in his lab microbiology, bacteriology, virology, immunology and the growth medium, and even in flasks with no filter molecular biology. His work has saved millions of ill at all, with air being admitted via a long tortuous tube people, which is due to vaccines and pasteurization (a that would not allow dust particles to pass. Nothing method of preserving food, especially the liquid ones, grew in the broths unless the flasks were broken open, invented by Louis Pasteur). Pasteur was frequently stricken by strokes showing that the living organisms that grew in such beginning from 1868, and the one in 1894 severely broths came from outside, as spores on dust, rather than spontaneously generated within the broth. This was one impaired his health. Failing to fully recover, he died in of the last and most important experiments disproving 1895, near Paris. He was given a state funeral and was the theory of spontaneous generation for which Pasteur buried in the Cathedral of Notre Dame, but his remains were reinterred in a crypt in the Pasteur Institute in won the Alhumbert Prize in 1862. Pasteur’s research also showed that the growth of Paris, where the crypt is engraved with his life saving micro-organisms was responsible for spoiling beverages, works. such as: beer, wine and milk. With this established, he invented a process in which liquids such as milk were heated to a temperature between 60 and 100 °C. This killed most of the bacteria and moulds already present within them. Pasteur and Claude Bernard completed the first test on 20 April 1862. Pasteur patented the process, to fight the “diseases” of wine, in 1865. The method became known as pasteurization and was soon applied to beer and milk. During this period, in Germany, Robert Koch demonstrated experimentally that a particular type of microbe causes a certain disease (the Koch bacillus). Pasteur was attracted to this new part of biology and then managed to isolate the germ, which was then called staphylococcus. The years that followed brought up a real competition between France and Germany in the race on this branch of biology, which then acquired the name of microbiology. Together with his collaborators, Louis Pasteur developed a vaccine against cholera, which has been applied with great success in 1881. Louis Pasteur is one of the most famous chemists of all time, making vital discoveries for humanity

Blaise Pascal Blaise Pascal (b. 19 June 1623 in ClermontFerrand, Auvergne, France – d. 19 August 1662 in Paris, France) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Christian philosopher. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen. Pascal’s earliest work was in the natural and applied sciences where he made important contributions to the study of fluids, and clarified the concepts of pressure and vacuum by generalizing the work of Evangelista Torricelli. Pascal also wrote in defense of the scientific method. Blaise was born on 19 June 1623 in ClermontFerrand, in the Auvergne region of France. Pascal was the 3rd child of Etienne Pascal and his only son. Blaise’s mother died when he was only 3 years old, so little Pascal was very affected by this loss. In 1632, Etienne and his four children have left Clermont to settle in Paris. Ettiene, a mathematician with unorthodox views on education, decided that Blaise would not learn anything about mathematics until the age of 15 years old. Driven

Blaise Pascal

by this ban, at the age of 12 years old, Blaise began to learn geometry alone, discovering that “the sum of the angles of a triangle is equal to two right angles.” When the father learned about his passion, he was relented and allowed Blaise to have a copy of “Elements” of Euclid. At the age of 14 years old, Blaise Pascal started to accompany his father to Mersenne’s meetings in Paris, attended by Roberval, Auzoa, Mydorge, Desargues, the latter becoming a model for the young Pascal. At the age of 16 years old, Blaise presented at these meetings several theorems about projective geometry, including Pascal’s mystic hexagon. In December 1639, the Pascal family left Paris to live in Rouen where Etienne was appointed as a tax collector for the Upper Normandy region, while Blaise published in the February of 1640 an “Essay on Conic Sections”. After working for three years, between 1642 and 1645, Pascal invented the first mechanical calculator, the Pascaline, to help his father in his work as tax collector. In 1646, his father was wounded in the leg and had to recuperate at home in the care of two younger brothers from a religious movement that had an influence on the young Pascal who became deeply religious. Also from this period dates his first attempts to study the atmospheric pressure, and in 1647 he demonstrates that void exists, after he and Descartes were contradicted on that truth since 25 September. In 1648, Pascal observed that the atmospheric pressure decreases with height and deduced that the void exists above the atmosphere. In September 1651, Étienne Pascal died, and in a letter addressed to one of the sisters, he gives a deeply Christian meaning to death in general and his father’s death in particular, ideas which formed the basis for his philosophical work later, “Les Pensées”. Since May 1653, Pascal wrote “Récit de la grande expérience de l’équilibre des liqueurs” (Treatise on the balance of liquids) explaining the law of pressure. Following correspondence with Fermat in the summer of 1654, he laid the foundations of the probability theory. During this period, he had health problems but continued to work until October 1654. On 23 November 1654, after a religious experience, he dedicates his life to Christianity. After this event, Pascal made visits to the Jansenist monastery Port-Royal des Champs, approximately 30 km southwest of Paris, and published anonymous writings reunited in “Lettres Provinciales” in 1656. Between 1656 and 1658, he writes “Les Pensées”, Pascal’s best-known theological work. In honour of his contributions to science, the

collection of thoughts on human suffering and trust in God, a Christian apologetics ministry addressed to the new desecrated world. This work includes Pascal’s famous wager which attempts to demonstrate that God exists by using a theory of probability. Everything begun in a correspondence with Fermat in which he tried to demonstrate a problem of dicing. Pascal assumed that all cases occur “as easy” because Someone, The Supreme took care to distribute them in that specific manner. His bet was: “If God exists and I am Catholic, then I gain eternal life by abiding to the church; if not, I have nothing to lose.” Pascal’s conception was in a few words: God exists because it is the best bet, and Pascal needed the existence of God to occasionally straighten the disorder in the universe. Pascal did some theological speculations regarding the concept of infinity, while Isaac Newton, Leibniz and even himself by his studies of the epicyclic, laid the groundwork of the infinitesimal calculus, which then it shook off the aura of mysticism and the math analysis was born. Blaise Pascal died at the age of 39 years old on 19 August 1662, following the extension of a malignant stomach tumor and was buried at the Saint Étienne-du-Mont Cemetery in Paris. Pascal in his mature age

name of Pascal was given to the unit of pressure and to a programming language. Pascal was the first person that thought that by using the barometer it can be measured the altitude difference between two points and warned that a change in the length of the mercury column also depends on humidity and air temperature and it can be used to forecast the weather. No less important are the works of Pascal in hydrostatics. In his most important one, “Treatise on liquid balance” he formulated the fundamental law of hydrostatics, then called Pascal’s law. He calculated the size of the hydrostatic pressure, he described the hydrostatic paradox, the law and the principle of communicating vessels and explained the principle of the hydraulic press. He worked on conic sections and produced important theorems in projective geometry. In “The Generation of Conic Sections”, Pascal believed that cones were generated by a central projection of a circle. It was the first part of the Treaty on cones (which Pascal never finished). The work is now lost but Leibniz and Tschirnhaus made some notes from this work and through them there is an almost complete possible picture of the work. His best known work is “Les pensées”, a Portrait of Blaise Pascal

René Descartes René Descartes (b. 31 March 1596 in La Haye en Touraine, Kingdom of France – d. 11 February 1650 in Stockholm, Sweden) was a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. Dubbed the father of modern western philosophy, much of subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings, which are studied closely to this day. He spent about 20 years of his life in the Dutch Republic. René Descartes was born in the town of La Haye en Touraine in 1596 as the 3rd child of Joachim Descartes and Jeanne, a family of lesser nobility of Touraine region of France. Only one year after the birth of René, his mother dies and the young boy will be raised by a nurse

and apparently he was contaminated by a disease of the lungs that caused his death. As a child, he expressed curiosity about the natural phenomena. In 1604, at the age of 8 years old, he is entrusted to the new settlement of the Jesuits of La Flèche, a bastion of Aristotelian thinking. Here he will be studying Latin and Greek, as well as mathematics, physics, logic, morality and metaphysics. Descartes gets to know Marin Mersenne and the two will carry a vast and varied correspondence and will maintain a long relationship of intellectual friendship. At 14 years old, he began to compose works of mathematics and philosophy. In 1612, he went to Paris where, encouraged by his friend, Mersenne, in 1615 he became fully dedicated to mathematics. Between 1614 and 1617, he takes his baccalaureate degree in law from the University of Poitiers. In 1616 he graduated in Law at the University of Poitiers. In 1618 Descartes enlists in one of the “fashionable” armies by then, the one of Wilhelm II, Prince of Orange, without any special incentive for military life. Quartered in The Netherlands, Breda, Descartes will meet on 10 November 1618 with a man who will mark his destiny: Isaac Beeckman, a mathematician and physicist who stimulates Descartes taste in scientific invention. Also in 1618, Descartes writes a small treatise on music, “Compendium Musicae”, dedicated to Beeckman, and he starts to deal in an intense manner with math. In April 1619, he leaves Netherlands for Denmark and Germany. Descartes assists at the coronation of Emperor Ferdinand II in Frankfurt on 28 July. He spends the winter in Neuburg, on the Danube, engaged in the Catholic army of the Duke of Bavaria during the “30 Years War” (1618-1648). On the night of 10 to 11 November he has a famous “dream” which reveals “the foundations of an admirable science”, guiding ideas of his method later. Between 1621 and 1622 he spends his time in his native city, La Haye, in France. He sells his property to secure his peace and “material René Descartes

Portrait of René Descartes (by Sébastien Bourdon)

independence”. René has a short stay in Paris between 1623 and 1625. He travels to Switzerland, Tyrol and Italy. In 1628 he writes in Latin “Rules for the direction of the mind”, an unfinished work remained unpublished until 1701. In the fall of 1628, he establishes in the Netherlands, where he remained for 20 years. These are the years in which he publishes his most important works: “The Speech”, “Meditations”, “Principles”, “Passions”. In November 1633 he finds out about the condemnation of Galileo and thus, refrains from publishing his treatise, “The World”, which supported the Copernican system. In 1635, his daughter, Francine, is born. In June 1637, at Leyda it appears without any signature, “Le Discours de la methode” in French, followed by the essays: “Diopter”, “Meteors” and “Geometry”. Live reactions followed to these treaties, especially from Roberval and Fermat, plus Pascal’s father. Also in this period the conflict between Descartes and Fermat will trigger. In 1640, his daughter Francine dies in September, while his father dies in October. Descartes is very affected. In 1641 he published in Latin, in Paris “Meditationes metaphysicae” (Metaphysical Meditations), his major work. The French translation appears in 1647 in Paris, reviewed by Descartes himself. Descartes sends the

treaty before its publication, with the help of Mersenne, to a group of outstanding intellectuals, including Pierre Gassendi and Thomas Hobbes and to some Jesuits, including young theologian Antoine Arnauld for them to express their objections to his metaphysical positions. So it arises “Objections and responses”, which will be published together with the Treaty and firmly attached to it, with an important explanatory role. Between 1642 and 1644 it begins the first major confrontation of the Cartesianism with the philosophy of that time through a long polemic at the University of Utrecht, with Voetius, professor of theology and rector of the university, accusing Descartes of calumny and atheism. The controversy led to the conviction of the “New Philosophy” in Holland and it continued at Leiden until the death of Descartes, involving more and more characters. In 1644, “Principia philosophiae” (Principles of Philosophy), written with the intention to replace the Aristotelian textbooks contributes to enhance the reputation of Descartes and to the Cartesian philosophy dissemination. Between 1645 and 1646, at the request of the palatine Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia, René writes “Les Passions de l’âme” (Passions of the soul), which was not published until 1649. Descartes maintains a significant correspondence with Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia. Descartes accepted in 1649 an invitation from Queen Christina of Sweden to travel to the cold and distant north territory. He died on 11 February 1650 from pneumonia contracted during travels from his residence to the royal palace to teach philosophy at 5 o’clock in the morning, the only time of the day when the Queen believed that she had a “clear mind”. The remains were transported in 1667 in France at the Saint-Etienne-du-Mont Cemetery. Only in 1792 they were transferred to the Jardin Elysee. The Cartesianism remained one of the dominant currents of thought throughout the second half of the 18th century, being continued on the metaphysical plane by Leibniz and Spinoza. René Descartes’ work provided the basis for the calculus developed by Newton and Gottfried Leibniz, who applied the infinitesimal calculus to the tangent line problem, thus permitting the evolution of that branch of modern mathematics. His rule of signs is also a commonly used method to determine the number of positive and negative roots of a polynomial. Descartes discovered an early form of the law of conservation of mechanical momentum (a measure of the motion of an object), and envisioned it as pertaining to motion 77

René Descartes with Queen Christina of Sweden

in a straight line, as opposed to the perfect circular motion, as Galileo had envisioned it. He outlined his views on the universe in his “Principles of Philosophy”. Descartes also made contributions to the field of optics. He showed by using geometric construction and the law of refraction (also known as Descartes’ law or more commonly Snell’s law) that the angular radius of a rainbow is 42° (the angle subtended at the eye by the edge of the rainbow and the ray passing from the sun through the rainbow’s centre is 42°). He also independently discovered the law of reflection, and his essay on optics was the first published mention of this law. 78

Current opinion is that Descartes had the most influence of anyone on the young Newton, and this is arguably one of Descartes’ most important contributions. Newton continued Descartes’ work on cubic equations, which freed the subject from the fetters of the Greek and Macedonian perspectives. The most important concept was his very modern treatment of independent variables. Although Descartes was well known in academic circles towards the end of his life, the teaching of his works in schools was controversial. Henri de Roy, Professor of Medicine at the University of Utrecht, was condemned by the Rector of the University, Gijsbert Voet (Voetius), for teaching Descartes’ physics.

Portrait of RenĂŠ Descartes

Jean Jacques Rousseau Jean Jacques Rousseau (b. 28 June 1712 in Geneva, Republic of Geneva, now Switzerland – d. 2 July 1778 in Ermenonville, France) was a Francophone Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of the 18th century. His political philosophy influenced the Enlightenment in France and across Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolution and the overall development of modern political and educational thought. Rousseau was born in Geneva, Switzerland in a small bourgeois family. Jean-Jacques father and grandfather had been watchmakers. The family was originally from Paris. At the time of his birth he lost his mother, which led him to believe that his coming into the world was accompanied by misfortune. “I claimed the life of my mother and my birth was the first of my misfortunes.”, he said. From his father he inherited the love for reading. While he repaired watches, Jean-

Jean Jacques Rousseau

Jacques was reading to him sentimental novels and pages drawn from Plutarch. Such a reading done without judgment has left deep traces in his soul, keeping him in an atmosphere of dream, removing him from reality. Finishing the remaining library from his mother, Rousseau started to read his grandfather’s books: classic operas of ancient and modern literature: Ovid, Bossuet, La Bruyere, Moliere, Fontenelle and others. “From these interesting readings, from the conversations which they occasioned between my father and me, it formed for me a free and republican spirit, that unbridled and proud character, disobedient to yoke and servitude that tormented me during my whole life, in more or less unusual circumstances which gave me a push forward.” At the age of 16 years old, “restless and unhappy about himself ”, Jean-Jacques leaves Geneva in the evening when, returned from his daily wanderings, he found the city gates closed. For 13 years he lived a vagabond life, full of miseries, experiencing many professions. He will lead a hectic life because of his passionate temperament, but simply because of the needs. In 1728, he meets at Annecy, Mrs. Louise de Warens. She was part of a kind of “agency” of Protestants converters. Rousseau is sent to the asylum of Turin, where he converts to the Catholic religion out of opportunism, without any conviction. He stayed here for a few weeks. He then gets a job as a lackey at the Verchellis countess and the count Gouvon, whose son he teaches Italian. After a while, Rousseau leaves unexpectedly Turin to return to Annecy, to Mrs. Warens. Jean-Jacques follows some music lessons with the professor of the children from the cathedral choir. In his wanderings, he reaches Lyon, passing through Geneva, Nyon (where he meets his father), Fributg, Lausanne (where, under another name, he gives a concert), Vevey, Neuchâtel (here he continues to give music lessons and by continuously teaching it, he learns it in the end). Passing through Bern and Soleure, where he was detained by the ambassador of France, he is then sent to Paris as a child educator. Rousseau goes to Paris by foot, but he disagrees with the “student’s” father and returns, again by foot in Savoy, at Charmetters where Mrs. Warens moved. He finds a job at a cadastre and continues to give music lessons. In the house from Charmettes, near Chambery, Rousseau reads much at random what is right, but one begins to develop his culture more thoroughly. His stay here (1732-1740) represents a decisive stage in its formation as an intellectual autodidact. In 1740 after his relationship with Mrs. Warens got cold, he went to Lyon as an educator of the children of Mr. Mably, brother of

Rousseau wearing an Armenian costume

the philosopher Mably. In 1741, Rousseau returns to Charmettes. That same year, he splits from Mrs. Warens. Aged 29 years old and with the thought to make its way in life he goes abroad. Rousseau reaches Paris with 15 louis in his pocket, a small manuscript of comedies (Narcissus) and a project of musical notation. The project was presented unsuccessfully to the Academy of Sciences. In 1743, Jean-Jacques becomes secretary of the French ambassador to the Republic of Venice and 2 years later, Rousseau meets Thérèse Levasseur at a hotel in Paris, where she was working as a housekeeper. He will remain with her until his death. A year after they met, Thérèse gave birth to the first of the five children she and Rousseau had. However, all of them were put in an orphanage. Rousseau meets Diderot in 1749, with whom he befriends. He starts contributing to the “Encyclopédie”. Rousseau learns about a contest of the Academy of Dijon and decides to participate with an essay about the adverse consequences of the progress of arts and sciences on public morals and a year later he wins the award of the Dijon Academy and becomes famous. Meanwhile, he composes the opera “The village soothsayer”. In 1754, Rousseau returns to Geneva, where he reacquires his citizenship and re-enters the Calvinist community. The Academy of Dijon refuses to award him a second essay on the origin of inequality. In 1759, the “Encyclopédie” is formally prohibited. Rousseau’s relations with other encyclopedists are deteriorating.

Two years later, he publishes “Julie” or the “La Nouvelle Héloïse”, an epistolary novel, which will be of a great success. Then, two of the most important books of Rousseau appear: “The Social Contract” and “Emile”, a pedagogic novel. He then writes a draft for a constitution of Corsica. Following vehement criticism of the two books, which culminated by being banned in France and Geneva, Rousseau is forced to flee. Rousseau arrives in England in 1766 at the invitation of David Hume. Jean-Jacques begins to show signs of mental instability. Hume has the feeling that all is part of a conspiracy aimed to kill him. Only a year later, he returned to France under a false name. Officially, he was not allowed entry into the kingdom until 1770, after the intervention of some friends besides the King. Back in Paris, Rousseau begins to organize private readings of the Confessions. Outraged, Madam d’Epinay intervenes successfully to the police, as a result, the respective readings are prohibited. He then starts to write “Considérations sur le gouvernement de Pologne”. In 1777, his health is worsening, and the relationships with his friends are affected. He then starts to write obsessive texts accusing others and justifying himself: “Rousseau, Judge of Jean-Jacques” and “Muses of a Lone Wanderer”. Jean-Jacques Rousseau dies on the 2nd of July 1778 at Ermenonville, on Marquis de Giradin’s domain who invited him to sit at him. Rousseau was buried on an artificial island in the lake area. In 1794, his remains were taken to the Pantheon, where they rest today.

Victor Marie Hugo Victor Marie Hugo (b. 26 February 1802 in Besançon, France – d. 22 May 1885 in Paris, France) was a French poet, novelist, and dramatist of the Romantic movement. He is considered one of the greatest and best known French writers. In France, Hugo’s literary fame comes first from his poetry and then from his novels and his dramatic achievements. Among many volumes of poetry, Les Contemplations and La Légende des siècles stand particularly high in critical esteem. Outside France, his best known works are the novels Les Misérables, 1862, and Notre-Dame de Paris, 1831 (known in English as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame). Victor Hugo was the third and last son of Joseph Léopold Sigisbert Hugo and Sophie Trebuchet. Most of his life he lived in France, except during the 18511870 period, when he was exiled and thus, he lived in Belgium. Hugo’s childhood and youth were marked by a series of special events, including the fall and the return of the First French Republic, the appearance of the first French Empire under Napoleon Bonaparte and the return of the Bourbon monarchy.

Victor Marie Hugo

Victor Hugo’s father was a Republican atheist who served France as an officer in Napoleon’s army, to whom he carried an enormous respect. Instead, Hugo’s mother was a devout Catholic and royalist. By 1804, Victor Hugo accompanied his father in the garrisons of Corsica and Elba Island. Between 1804 and 1807 he lived in Paris, then he lived in Napoli until 1811. Then, the family moved to Spain where Victor Hugo attended the Nobles College of Madrid. Once returned in Paris, Hugo has completed his high school studies at the Louis the Great high school. His father encouraged him to study law, but his mother made him developed an interest in literature. By the age of 15, Victor Hugo took part in a poetry competition organized by the French Academy, receiving an honorable mention. In adolescence he wrote poetry and translated the works of Virgil. In 1818, he took courses in law, but all his energy was directed towards literature. Encouraged by Lamartine, Victor Hugo has decided to create a career in the literary field. During this period, Hugo made some concessions to the classical style, but he was passionate about the dispute that vibrated at that time in the literary sphere, between the partisans of the old canons and those who where supporting the romantic modernity. For the ode dedicated to the Duke of Berry in 1820, Victor Hugo has received a scholarship from King Louis XVIII. In 1821, the young writer was strongly affected by the death of his mother. Concerned about literature, Victor Hugo set up, along with his brothers, Abel and Eugène a magazine called “Literary Conservatory”, and Alfred de Vigny attended to it as well. In 1822, a book of poetry entitled “Ode and various poems” appeared, in 1823 he published the book “Hans of Iceland” and two years later he was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour. The Ode dedicated to the new king, Charles X, brought him the privilege to witness the King’s coronation at Reims and to become a Knight. Hugo printed “Odes et ballades” and published the verse drama “Cromwell”. In the preface, he launched a capital manifesto in the favor of romanticism, pleading for abandoning the old rules and for extra freedom of the dramaturgical structure. In 1830, his drama “Hermani” was premiered at the French Theatre. Victor Hugo knew well that the freedom he allowed himself to the conventional drama will attract criticism, but he was not influenced by this. On the contrary, he decided to provoke a scandal to impose the new aesthetic of Romanticism, whose initiator was meant to be. To this purpose, he called his friends to support him in the courtroom gallery. Among these,

there were: Théophile Gautier, Alfred de Vigny, Hector Berlioz and Alexandre Dumas, which were determined not to let the “academic heads” and the “old beards” to spend a quiet evening. Although disbanded by criticism, the play was a success. In 1831, it appeared “Notre Dame de Paris”, his drama in verse “The King laughs” was staged and his libretto for the opera “Esmeralda” was finally published, an opera based on the novel “Notre Dame de Paris”. Despite the wishes of his mother, Victor Hugo was secretly engaged to Adèle Foucher, his childhood sweetheart, but he has only married in 1822, after his

mother died. The couple had five children: Lèopold, who died at a very young age, Lèopoldine, Charles, FrançoisVictor and Adèle. His popularity reached its peak in the period between 1833-1843, during which some drama written in prose was published: “Lucrezia Borgia”, “Mary Tudor”, “Angelo” and “Ruy Blas”. In the same period, the first public attacks against him appeared by his former friends, Vigny and Sainte-Beuve. Three times in a row he was refused entry at the Academy. Having a choleric temperament, Victor Hugo used the rostrum of the Chamber to express his liberal ideas. Among other things, he defended Poland and has

Victor Hugo. Upon his arrival in Paris on 5 September 1870, a huge crowd waited for him in the North Station. In a war-torn country, in a capital besieged by the enemy, Hugo urged the French to unity and resistance. In his old age, Hugo became a veritable institution, the living embodiment of art and of the French national spirit. On 22 May 1885, Victor Hugo died and the French government took the decision to organize for him a national funeral. His funeral was attended by more than two million people who have admired and wanted to accompany him on his last journey. He was buried in the Pantheon in Paris. In 1902, at the centenary year of the birth of Victor Hugo, it was founded a museum bearing the writer’s name, following a significant donation made by Paul Meurice to the city of Paris. No other figure has dominated so categorical the period, the nation, literature, and has not risen to the subsequent value judgments as much as Victor Hugo. An uncontestable leader of the French Romanticism, Hugo exercised influence in all existing genres: poetry, drama, fiction, literary criticism, political essays and religious writings. More of a phenomenon and a force than a literary conventional figure, Victor Hugo, throughout his life, embodied the history and the spirit of France in most of the 19th century, although at certain times of his life and immediately after his death, there were some tendencies to underestimate his genius.

Portrait photograph of Victor Hugo

raised against the death penalty. In 1849, he was elected deputy of the Constituent Assembly in Paris, then of the Legislative Assembly. After the coup of 2 December 1851, Hugo unsuccessfully tried to organize a revolt. Threatened with arrest, Hugo left for Belgium. Victor Hugo was exiled for having the courage to appoint Napoleon III as a “traitor”, but he managed to return to France in 1870. Between 1852 and 1855 he was exiled to the island of Jersey, then he settled on the Guenesey island where he created his operas: “Contemplations” and “The Legend of the Centuries”. During his exile, Hugo published some of his most famous pamphlets against Napoleon III, entitled “Napoleon the Little” and “History of a crime.” Although they were banned in France, they had a strong influence in the neighbouring countries. During the same exile, Hugo wrote the novel “Les Miserables” and he resumed the work on it in 1862. The Franco-Prussian War and the fall of Napoleon III marked the end of the exile for 84

Victor Hugo in 1853

Jeanne d’Arc Jeanne d’Arc (b. 6 January 1412 in Domrémy, Duchy of Bar, France – d. 30 May 1431 in Rouen, Normandy) nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" (La Pucelle d'Orléans), is considered a heroine of France for her role during the Lancastrian phase of the Hundred Years' War, and was canonized as a Roman Catholic saint. Joan of Arc was born to Jacques d'Arc and Isabelle Romée, a peasant family, at Domrémy in north-east France. Joan said she received visions of the Archangel Michael, Saint Margaret, and Saint Catherine of Alexandria instructing her to support Charles VII and recover France from English domination late in the Hundred Years' War. The uncrowned King Charles VII sent Joan to the siege of Orléans as part of a relief mission. She gained prominence after the siege was

Jeanne D’Arc

lifted only nine days later. Several additional swift victories led to Charles VII’s coronation at Reims. This long awaited event boosted French morale and paved the way for the final French victory. In 1415, the French are defeated by Henry V Agincourt. After this victory, the king of England undertook a systematic conquest of France. Moreover, because of the infamous Treaty of Troyes, a consequence of the assassination of the Duke of Burgundy, John the Fearless by the people of Dauphin, the future Charles VII; Henry V manages to make himself recognized as heir to the crown of France. The son of Charles VI and Isabeau of Bavaria, he is disowned by his own mother and considered a bastard. The French throne is promised to Henry V, who was married to Catherine of Valois, daughter of Charles VI. Dauphin, the future Charles VII takes refuge at Bourges; Chinon and Bourges being his capitals. He reigns just south of the Loire and his legitimacy is becoming increasingly questioned. The rest of France, including Paris, conquered by the AngloBurgundians in 1418, belonged to the English. Enslaved, the French population finds itself in poor conditions. In February 1429, the young woman, now aged 16, starts heading to Chinon. Dauphin’s entourage tries to convince him that her approach can be a trap. His wife’s mother, Yolanda of Aragon, who had a great influence on him insists to receive her, because she heard of Jeanne’s “powers”. Charles decides to put her to test. The girl recognizes him “after a sign” and reveals four prophecies. For three weeks she is interrogated by the prelates and theologians who were trying to ascertain whether she is telling the truth or not. Jeanne is given in the hands of the midwives to confirm whether she is still virgin as she claimed but Joan shatters any doubt on it. Jeanne D’Arc receives an armor, a banner and escort. As for the sword, some say that it would have been given to her by captain Veaucouleurs, while others argue that she would have found it in the church of Sainte-Catherine-de Fierbois, as the “voices” indicated to her. The soldiers agree to obey to her. Historians have considered that it is astounding how young men who hadn’t the habit of discipline agree to listen to her. Her arrival gives confidence to Dauphin who is waiting impassively for the fall of Orleans, which had been for a long time besieged by the army commanded by Talbot. According to the legend, on 29 April the same year, Joan of Arc enters the town alongside Dunois. After five days, one of the most powerful forts which the English had built for blocking Orleans falls. On 7 May, the girl constrains the French military chiefs, more

than skeptical, to order a new assault over a fortification which denied the access to the Loire Bridge. Wounded in the shoulder by an arrow, however, she leads the assault. With the banner in her hands, Joan orders the soldiers to “break” the fortress. They obey and success is not slow to come. The next day, Talbot lifts the siege. But the historical truth recently revealed is another: Jeanne reached Orleans a week after the British had raised the siege. The Legend continues: the news of the fulfillment of her first prophecy is spread throughout France. Everyone sees in this first triumph a sign that she is a Messenger of God. The Maid of Orleans did not make the same impression on the English. They laughed especially when, before every battle, she used to send them courtesy messages, asking them to voluntarily leave home. It was for the first time in a long period when the French troops defeated the English, a success with profound psychological consequences. The victories pour continuously. On 18 June, at Patay, the English army led by Falstaff and Talbot is again defeated. Jeanne convinces Dauphin to take the advantage and accept her to lead him to Reims to be anointed king, as she was ordered by the “voices”. Despite the advice of the wise men, of the prudence and intrigued people, he obeyed to her plan. After 15 days of travel, Jeanne and Dauphin enter together into Reims. Charles VII was anointed king in her presence. The second prophecy of her is fulfilled. Archbishop Regnaud Chartres meets the solemn rituals. The anointing casts away the doubt on the legitimacy of the Dauphin and is essential for the

people to consider him the only true sovereign. Joan of Arc wanted to take advantage of the popular momentum and to continue the fight to expel the English from across the country. But the king has protracted. Yolanda of Aragon advises him this time no longer to support her. Charles VII signed an agreement with the AngloBurgundians for a momentary cessation of hostilities. For the Maid of Orleans, the failures are starting. She participates in a series of battles without glory. It is said that the “voices” had ceased to speak to her after the anointing of the king. The Duke of Burgundy besieged the city of Compiegne in 1430. Jeanne helps the city. On 24 May 1430, Jeanne is taken prisoner by a Burgundian knight, who captured her while trying

Portrait of Jeanne D’Arc

Jeanne D’Arc entering in Orleans (by Henry Scheffer)

to escape from encirclement. The heroine devises an escape, but Jean de Luxembourg sells her to the King of England, which locks her at Rouen. Charles VII did not help, although she is convinced that he will pay the ransom for her. She is accused of heresy by the University of Paris, who is asking to be judged by the tribunal of the Inquisition. On 24 May 1431, in the cemetery of Rouen, the girls signs with a cross, because she could not write, the act of apostasy. Some say that she might have been lied that the paper contained something else. The fact is that two days later, the virgin of Orleans retracts. Jeanne D’Arc is burned at the stake on 30 May in Vieux-Marche market of Rouen. She dies shouting the name of Jesus Christ, convinced that she fulfilled her mission. It is true that Charles VII did nothing to release the heroine. However, he hasn’t forgotten her altogether. 88

He is the initiator of the procedure that cancelled the judgment of 1431. He requests that the process of Jeanne to be declared unfair to result that the help he received was given to him from God. Dauphin orders to prove that the judges were unfair and that the English wanted her death. The girl’s innocence was very important for its legitimacy as a sovereign. The sentence was annulled in 1456 and Joan of Arc was rehabilitated. But her rehabilitation was limited. Nobody, neither the court nor the church were not willing at that time to declare her sanctification. Jeanne D’Arc was beatified only in 1905 in order to strengthen the Catholic Party, when the French Republic was preparing to vote for the separation of the church from the state. Jeanne is canonized in 1921, when France was led by a power of the right wing.

Joan of Arc at the coronation of Charles VII, by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1854)

Voltaire Voltaire (b. 21 November 1694 in Paris, France – d. 30 May 1778 in Paris, France) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, his attacks on the established Catholic Church, and his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and separation of church and state. François-Marie Arouet, also known as Voltaire was born in Paris in 1694, in a bourgeois family. His father was a lawyer. As a teenager, Voltaire studied at the Jesuit College Louis-le-Grand in Paris. Then, he studied law for a while, but gave up pretty quickly. In Paris he was noted early in his life as a spiritual man, able to compose satirical verses. However, during the old regime of France, his talents could have been dangerous, as it happened in fact. Voltaire was imprisoned in Bastille because of his political lyrics. He spent nearly a year in prison, during which time he wrote an epic poem “Henriade”, which has subsequently enjoyed a great success. In 1718, shortly after being released from prison, he witnessed the premiere of his opera “Oedipus”,

Voltaire

which took place in Paris and recorded a resounding success. At the age of 24 years old Voltaire was already famous, and in the next 60 years he has become a great figure of French literature. Voltaire was good in handling money as well as words, gradually managing to make a fortune. In 1726 he still had some problems. He was already considered the most skilled man in the art of conversation in his time and perhaps of all time, but he lacked modesty though, which some French aristocrats claimed to be a characteristic of a bourgeois. Consequently, a public dispute between Voltaire and one of these aristocrats, The Knight of Rohan has been triggered of which Voltaire emerged triumphant. But shortly after, the Knight has hired some thugs to beat Voltaire and then he imprisoned him in the Bastille, where he was released fairly quickly, provided the he will leave France. Forced by the circumstances, he went to England, where he will remain for about two and a half years. The period of time spent by Voltaire in England will mark a turning point in his life. He managed to learn English and was familiar with the works of famous personalities such as John Locke, Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton and William Shakespeare. He also personally knew many English thinkers of the time. Voltaire was impressed by Shakespeare, by science and the English empiricism; but most of all, he was fascinated by the political system of this country. The English democracy and the individual freedoms contrasted sharply with the political conditions of his time in France. No English lord could issue a “lettre de cachet” to throw Voltaire in prison, and if he was imprisoned unjustly, an immediate “habeas corpus” was to be issued for his release. When he returned to France, Voltaire wrote his first important philosophical opera, “Lettres philosophiques”, known as “The Letters on the English”. That book was published in 1734 and marked the true beginning of the French Enlightenment. In “Lettres philosophiques“, Voltaire presented a generally favorable description of the English political system and the ideas of John Locke and other English thinkers of the time. The publication of the book rose the anger of the French authorities, so that Voltaire was forced again to leave Paris. He spent the next 15 years in eastern France, at Cirey, where he was the lover of Ms du Châtelet, the intelligent and emancipated wife of a marquis. In 1750, a year after her death, Voltaire went to Germany at the personal invitation of Frederick the Great of Prussia. He spent 3 years at the court of Frederick at Potsdam. In the beginning he was understood by the

intelligent and intellectual Frederick, but eventually the two quarreled, and Voltaire left Germany in 1753. After he left Germany, he established in a small estate near Geneva, where he was sheltered from both the French king and from the Prussian one. But because of his liberal ideas, even Switzerland has become unsafe for him. Therefore, in 1758 he moved to Ferney, the French-Swiss border, where he had two opportunities to escape in case of a conflict with the authorities. He remained there for 20 years, during which he composed literary and philosophical correspondence with the leading intellectuals of Europe and received various visits. In all these years, Voltaire’s literary output hasn’t stagnated for a moment. His writings comprise over thirty thousand pages, including prose poems, lyrics, personal letters, pamphlets, novels, short stories, plays and books documented of history and philosophy. Voltaire has always been a proponent of religious tolerance. But when he was about 60 years, he has witnessed a terrible persecution of the Protestants in France. Outraged, Voltaire launched an intellectual crusade against religious fanaticism. He wrote a large number of political pamphlets. Since then, he was accustomed to end his personal letters with the words “Ecrasez l’ infâme”, which means “crush the infamy”. In 1778, 83 years old Voltaire returned to Paris, where he attended the premiere of his new work, “Irene”. The crowd acclaimed him as a great figure of the French Enlightenment. He was visited by hundreds of admirers, including Benjamin Franklin. But Voltaire had little time left to live. He died in Paris on 30 May 1778. Because of his outspoken anticlericalism, he has not had a Christian burial, but 13 years later, the victorious French revolutionaries have exhumed and buried him in the Pantheon in Paris. Voltaire’s writings are so numerous that even the most important works would be hard to list in one short article. But his books are even more valuable than the basic ideas that he promoted throughout his career. Voltaire believed strongly in the freedom of speech and of the press. Here is a remark often attributed to the great French enlightenment: “I disagree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” Although Voltaire never ever used those words, they certainly reflect his attitude. Another guiding principle of Voltaire was his belief in the freedom of religion. Throughout his whole career he has fiercely opposed intolerance and religious persecution. Although he believed in God, Voltaire strongly criticized the religious dogmas and argued that organized religion

is a hypocrisy. Obviously, Voltaire never imagined for a moment that the French aristocrats were smarter or better than him, considering that the so-called “divine right of kings” was a total nonsense. François-Marie Arouet was not a scientist, but had an interest in this area and strongly supported the empiricism of Francis Bacon and John Locke. He was also an able and serious historian. His essay about the manners and spirit of nations is one of the most important works. This book differs from the previous stories in the following two aspects: first, Voltaire recognized that Europe is only a small part of the world and therefore has devoted an ample space to the Asian history; and secondly, he argued that the cultural history has a much greater importance than politics. That is why the book has focused mainly on the economic conditions and the arts, being less concerned about kings and their wars. Voltaire was not a philosopher as original as many of the personalities of his time. He took a large extent from the ideas of people like John Locke and Francis Bacon, which he will implement and popularize them. However, the writings of Voltaire, more than others, have spread the ideas of democracy, religious tolerance and intellectual freedom in France and throughout Europe. Although there were other important writers such as Diderot, d’Alembert, Rousseau, Montesquieu and others within the French Enlightenment, we must admit that Voltaire was a prominent personality of the movement.

Portrait of Voltaire

Franรงois-Marie Arouet influenced the whole world through his philosophy

French Cuisine

Bouillabaise Ingredients: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

1,8 kg red mullet 1 conger cut into 4 slices 10 small crabs 1,3 kg scorpionfish 1,3 kg monkfish 1,3 kg red gurnard 1,3 kg Saint-Pierre fish 900 g tomatoes (split into 4 cups) 4 onions (sliced) 2 garlic cloves (chopped) 2 tablespoons Tomato concentrate Olive oil Bouquet of herbs: dill (2 strands); laurel (1 piece); parsley (1 strand); peeled orange Salt Pepper 2 tablespoons Saffron Rouille

Steps:

1. In a large pot or saucepan, heat the onions with olive oil and garlic, over low heat. 2. Add tomatoes and some tomato concentrate, then increase the heat to a medium level. 3. Pour 3 liters of water, the bouquet of herbs, the peeled orange the and cleaned fish (Mullet, Conger, other small fish and crabs). 4. Add salt and pepper. Cook uncovered over medium heat for 20 to 25 minutes. 5. Remove the bouquet of herbs and the peeld orange. Taste and if necessary add more salt and pepper. 6. Place the Saint-Pierre and Monkfish. Add saffron. And if needed, add even more water to completely cover the fish. 7. Boil for 10 minutes. Add Grondin and Rascasse. Allow to boil for 6 minutes. 8. Remove the big fish and put it in a serving dish. Add salt and pepper. 9. Prepare the bread slices. 10. Traditionally, Bouillabaisse is served with rouille, a kind of mayonnaise with garlic and olive oil.

Bouillabaise

Escargots à la bourguignonne

let them drain and place them on dry paper towels. 3. Peel and finely chop the shallots and garlic. Wash the parsley, dry it and chop it very finely also. 4. Start working on the butter with a wooden spoon to give it the consistency of a cream, then add the Ingredients: shallots, garlic and chopped parsley. Add salt and • 48 Burgundy snails or any others (canned most pepper and continue to stir until all is perfectly likely) homogeneous. • 400g butte 5. Preheat the oven to 240°C. • 3 shallots 6. Put some of the mixture obtained in the bottom of • 1 small garlic clove each shell, insert a snail and finish by filling it with • 1 small bunch of flat leaf parsley some butter by tamping it with a finger. Arrange the • Salt and pepper snails in individual pans or alveols. 7. When the oven reaches the desired temperature, Steps: stop it immediately and bake the escargots. 1. Cut the butter into pieces, put it in a bowl and let it 8. Let it heat for 5 to 10 minutes until the butter is soften at room temperature for about 1 hour. bubbling and foaming. 2. Rinse the snails in a colander over cold water, then

Escargots à la bourguignonne

Ratatouille

Ingredients: • • • • • • • • • •

2 zucchinis 1 eggplant 1 green pepper 1 red pepper 3 tomatoes 1 onion 2 cloves of garlic 1 bouquet of herbs (thyme, rosemary, bay leaf) Olive oil Salt and Pepper

Steps:

3. 4. 5.

pepper, then cut them into cubes of medium size. Cut the tomatoes into quarters and chop the onion. In a skillet, pour a little olive oil and fry each of the different vegetables for 5 minutes until they change their color. Start with the peppers and eggplant, then the zucchini and finally the onions and tomatoes that you will cook together. After cooking the vegetables, add them all together with the tomatoes and onions, reduce the heat and mix. Add a beautiful bouquet of thyme, rosemary and bay leaf, salt and pepper, then cover the skillet to simmer for about 40 minutes, stirring regularly. About 10 minutes before you end the cooking session, add the two beautiful cloves of crushed garlic and then cover it again. Feel free to taste and season again to taste. Enjoy it with grill or barbecue.

1. Wash the zucchini, eggplant, the green and red

Ratatouille

Moelleux au Chocolat

Soupe à l'oignon Ingredients: • • • • • • • • •

4 large onions 50g of butter 1 tablespoon oil 1 tablespoon flour 25 cl of white wine 1 liter of water Salt and Black Pepper 100 g gruyère, ½ cut into cubes and ½ grated 1 baguette

Ingredients: • • • • •

250g dark chocolate pastry 150g butter + 20g for the brushing 6 eggs 200 g icing sugar 80 g flour

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. 2. Line a cake pan with some paper parchment, leaving the edges to exceed smoothly, brush it with some butter and set aside in the refrigerator. Steps: 1. Peel and slice the onions, then fry them in a butter 3. Break the chocolate into pieces and melt it in a double boiler together with the butter and mix with and oil mixture. a spatula. 2. Sprinkle with a little bit of hot water, white wine and 4. In a bowl, beat the eggs with icing sugar until frothy, season it. then add the chocolate mixture / melted butter and 3. Cover and boil gently for 20 minutes. flour. 4. Toast the bread and place each slice in the bottom of 5. Pour into the cake pan and slide it on a grid at the 4 small individual bowls. bottom of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes of cooking. 5. Sprinkle a little grated cheese. Pour the soup over. 6. Sprinkle again with some cheese and make it broil. 6. Let the cake cool before unveiling it very gently and

Soupe à l’oignon

2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Moelleux au Chocolat

place it on a serving dish. Enjoy it very quickly 7. If you need to put it in the refrigerator, pull it out of the refrigerator at least 1 hour before serving. 8. Sprinkle the cake with icing sugar and serve with custard salted butter caramel.

Beef Bourguignon Ingredients: • • • • • • • • •

1,5 kg of beef bourguignon 200g bacon 60g butter 10 small onions 2 carrots 2 cloves of garlic 60g flour 2 large glasses of red wine – Bourgogne (50cl) 2 large glasses of meat broth (2 cubes of beef broth for 50 cl of water) • 250 g mushrooms • 1 bouquet of herbs • Salt, Pepper

fairly thick slices (2mm minimum). Peel the garlic and remove the seeds. In a pan, melt the butter. Add the whole onions and bacon. Saute, stirring constantly. When browned, remove with a slotted spoon and reserve. In the same pan, fry the pieces of meat over high heat. Add the carrots and come back in 5 minutes. When the meat is well browned, sprinkle with 60g of flour and let it brown, stirring constantly Pour the broth (prepare it meanwhile by melting 2 cubes of meat broth in 50 cl of boiling water). Scrape the juices. Put the bacon and onions in the casserole. Pour some red wine. Salt and pepper, then add the bouquet of herbs and the crushed garlic. Bring to boil. Cover and simmer gently for 3 hours. After the time passed, add the sliced mushrooms, and put the whole of it to cook for half an hour. Pour into a dish and serve with pasta (tagliatelle for example), or steamed potatoes (the sauce must not be thick).

Salmon en Croute Ingredients:

• 1 salmon (filleted by the fishmonger) or 2 salmon fillets • 500g puff pastry • 1 bunch of fresh herbs (chervil, parsley, spinach leaves, coriander or whatever you have in the garden, according to your wishes or your tastes) • Salt and pepper

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 180/200°C. Roll out the puff pastry into 2 equal rectangles slightly larger than the salmon fillets. 2. Place 1 salmon fillet covered with salt and pepper on one of the rectangles of dough and spread some chopped herbs over it. Place the second fillet on the herbs. 3. Cover with the second rectangle of dough and seal the edges. 4. Make the tail, eye and fins with the help of a knife. Steps: 1. Cut the beef into cubes of 3 to 4 cm. Peel the onions 5. Brush it with an egg yolk mixed with 2 tablespoons of milk and bake it for 30 minutes. without skinning them. Peel and cut the carrots into 98

Beef Bourguignon

Salmon en Croute

Confit de Canard Ingredients:

• 4 duck legs • 1 kg of coarse salt • 1 kg of duck fat

Steps: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

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9. Then drain them a grill rack. 10. Arrange the duck legs on plates or keep them in their cooking fat in some previously sterilized glass jars.

Salade Lyonnaise Ingredients:

• 1 curly endive Place half of the rock salt in the bottom of a shallow • 120g thin slices of salted or smoked bacon chest • 100 g of bread dish. Remove the top of the duck legs, then cover with the • 4 eggs (extra fresh) • 10g butter remaining salt. Cover the dish and store it in the refrigerator for 24 • 1 garlic clove • 1 shallot hours. • 3 tablespoons of peanut oil Preheat the oven to 160°C. Take out the dish containing the duck legs and rinse • 1 tablespoon of sherry vinegar • 1 dl of white vinegar (to poach eggs) it under cold water to remove any salt. • Salt and Pepper Pat dry thoroughly on a cloth. Trim the duck legs. Heat a frying pan and melt the duck fat. Put the duck legs in melted fat and bring to boil. Steps: Cover and bake for 2 hours. 1. Wash the endive carefuly and drain it.

Confit de Canard

2. Arrange it in a bowl. Peel the shallots, chop finely and add the endive. 3. Pour 2 liters of salted water in a large saucepan and mix it with the white vinegar. Boil the water. 4. When the mixture shuddered, gently break each egg into a ladle, then immerse it in the bottom of the pan. Turn gently the ladle to release the egg into the simmering water. 5. Then, using a spatula return the white of each egg on the yellow (to tightly wrap the yellow). Cook for 3 minutes. Meanwhile, pour very cold water in a container. 6. Remove from heat. Using a slotted spoon remove the eggs one by one and immerse them in cold water to stop the cooking container. 7. Using a knife, remove the surplus of white around the eggs to form an oval shape. Carefully place the eggs on paper towels.

8. Prepare the croutons - Cut the bread into small pieces. 9. Melt the butter in a pan and add the bread. Make them golden brown over low heat, stirring often. When the croutons are golden brown remove from heat and let them cool for two minutes. Then rub them with the a half cut clove of garlic. Add them to the salad. 10. Cut the bacon into strips and cook it well in a frying pan (without fat, the bacon is enough). Pour the bacon over the salad and keep the juices. 11. Prepare the vinaigrette - In a bowl, combine the sherry vinegar and salt. When the salt is dissolved, add the peanut oil and a bit of cooked bacon juice. Season with pepper. 12. Just before serving, sprinkle the salad with the vinaigrette and mix well. 13. Add a poached egg on each plate. Enjoy!

Salade Lyonnaise

101

Moules marinière Ingredients: • • • • • • •

1,75 – 2kg of mussels 30g butter or margarine + extra (1 teaspoon) 2 shallots 15 cl dry white wine 1 teaspoon of flour Parsley Salt and Pepper

pan, retaining the cooking juice. 4. Place them in one deep dish and keep them warm. 5. Put the juice on fire. 6. Mix with the help of a fork, 1 teaspoon of flour with the same amount of butter or margarine. Stir in all the juices from the cooking pan on the fire. 7. Let it boil for a minute. Season with salt and pepper. 8. Pour over the mussels. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.

Steps:

1. Scrape and wash well the mussels. Put them in a pan with 1 pat of butter, chopped shallots and white wine. 2. Cook them open in a covered pan, over high heat for several minutes. Mix around 2 or 3 times during cooking. 3. Once they are open, remove the mussels from the

Bordeaux Wine

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Moules marinière

France Travel

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Paris

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Arc de Triomphe at night

Eiffel Tower

Paris at noon seen from the Montparnase Tower

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Arc de Triomphe

Champs Elysees

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Sunrise in Paris at Eiffel Tower

Notre Dame du Paris Cathedral

Sainte Chapelle

Interior of the Notre Dame du Paris Cathedral

Beautiful Sainte Chapelle

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Versailles Palace

Versailles Palace Gardens

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Front View of the Versailles Palace

Place de la Concorde

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Pantheon of Paris

Eiffel Tower

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Panoramic View in the interior of the Pantheon

Place Vendome

Palais Garnier

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Basilique Sacre Coeur de Montmartre

Basilique Sacre Coeur

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Lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Olympia Bruno Coquatrix

Louvre Museum

La Conciergerie

Pont Alexandre III

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Musee dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Orsay

Disneyland Paris

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Les Invalides

Place de Vosges

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Jardins du Luxembourg

National Museum of National History

Atelier Brâncuși

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Grand Arche of La Défense

Centre Georges Pompidou

Musee Rodin

Île de la Cite

Île Saint Louis

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Musee Quai Branly

Catacombs of Paris

Ossesments

Parc de la Villette

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Pere Lachaise Cemetery

Parisâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Catacombs Bones

Place Bastille

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Marseille

Château d’If

Rue Panier

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Abbaye Saint-Victor

CathĂŠdrale de la Major

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La Vieille Charité

Musée d’Histoire de Marseille

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Vieux Port Panorama

Notre Dame de la Garde

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Lyon

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Parc la Tete Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;or

Pont du Change over Seine

Lyon Opera House

Musee de Beaux Arts

Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourviere

MusĂŠe de la Civilisation Gallo-Romaine

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Nice

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Nice Old Town

Jardin Albert I

Musee Matisse

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Promenade des Anglais

Saint Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church

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Colline du ChĂ˘teau

MonastĂ¨re Notre-Dame-de-Cimiez

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Toulouse

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Chapelle des CarmĂŠlites

Basilique Saint-Sernin

Hôtel d’Assézat

Couvent des Jacobins

Place Capitole

Canal du Midi

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Lille

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Eglise Sant Maurice

Palais de Beaux Arts

Rang du Beauregard

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Place du GĂŠnĂŠral de Gaulle (Grand Place)

Lille Flea Market

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Cathédrale Notre-Dame de la Treille

Musée d’Art Moderne, Villeneuve d’Ascq

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Bordeaux

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Grosse Cloche

Place de la Bourse

Cathédrale Saint-André

Musée d’Aquitaine

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Rue Sainte Catherine

Le Grand Théâtre

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Pont de Pierr

Esplanade des Quinconces

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Montpellier

140

Porte du Peyrou

Montpellier Antigone

Montpellier Cathedral

141

Place du Nombre Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;or

Montpellier Mural

142

Place de la Comedie

Montpellier Triangle

143

Monaco

144

Monaco Cathedral

Monte-Carlo

Opera de Monte-Carlo

145

MusĂŠe OcĂŠanographique du Monaco

146

Monaco Harbour

Palais Du Prince

Jardin Japonais

Monaco F1 Grand Prix

Jardin Exotique

Monaco Grand Casino

147

French Guiana

Kourou Space Center

148

The Prison Facility Of Camp De La Transportation

Saint Sauveur Cathedral

Kaw Marshes

Chapelle de lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Ile Royale

Rainforest in the French Guiana

Place des Palmistes

Devilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Island

149

Other places

150

Notre Dame de Reims

Val Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Isere

Metz Cathedral

151

Avignon Bridge

Cannes

Biarritz

152

Rennes

Saint Tropez

ChĂ˘teau Chantilly

Fontainebleau

153

Lake Annecy

Aix-en-Provence

Mont Blanc

154

Chateau de Chenonceau

Beautiful Chateau de Chenonceau

155

Mont Sant Michel

Colmar

156

Mont Sant Michel

Papal Palace of Avignon

Courchevel

157

Chateau de Chambord

Arena of NĂŽmes

158

Verdon Gorge

Sant Malo

Futuroscope in Chasseneuil-du-Poitou

Cote Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Azur

Place Stanislas in Nancy

159

Nantes ChĂ˘teau

Carcassone Castle

160

Dijon

French Riviera

Cote Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Azur near the town of Villefranche

Zoo Parc de Beauval

Cotentin Peninsula

161

Ajaccio

Carcassone

162

Pont du Gard

Puy du Fou in Les Epesses

Bastia

163

Nantes Place Royale

Normandy American Cemetery

164

Chartres Cathedral

Strasbourg Cathedral

Chamonix

165