France, history

The History of France covers the story from the prehistoric period to the modern day.

Early Modern Era

• Enlightenment
• Encyclopedié
• Denis Diderot
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Rural society

In the 17th century peasants had ties to the market economy, provided much of the capital investment necessary for agricultural growth, and frequently moved from village to village (or town). Geographic mobility, directly tied to the market and the need for investment capital, was the main path to social mobility. The "stable" core of French society, town guildspeople and village laboureurs, included cases of staggering social and geographic continuity, but even this core required regular renewal. Accepting the existence of these two societies, the constant tension between them, and extensive geographic and social mobility tied to a market economy holds the key to a clearer understanding of the evolution of the social structure, economy, and even political system of early modern France. Collins (1991) argues that the Annales School paradigm underestimated the role of the market economy; failed to explain the nature of capital investment in the rural economy; and grossly exaggerated social stability.

The French Revolution: 1789-1799

• French Revolution

Napoleon: 1799-1815

• Napoleon

Third Republic (1870-1939)

The Third Republic was created following the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. In the aftermath of the war it was deemed necessary to hold elections to a national assembly which could authorize a formal, legitimate peace. Although the elections returned a largely monarchist Assembly, a Republican, Jules Grévy became its first President. Adolphe Thiers, elected by twenty six departements led the government. The Treaty of Frankfurt concluded the conflict, which stated that France would cede Alsace/Lorraine (Which held the provincial capital Strasbourg) to the German Reich, and would also pay five million francs in war indemnities to the Germans, who partially occupied the country until the debt was paid. The Germans eventually left in September 1873. The emotional and psychological cost of the resolution may have hurt more than the financial. Migrants from Alsace Lorraine who refused to live under German rule kept the issue alive in the French national consciousness.

The Paris Commune

Just after the treaty was signed, France was faced with a crisis that threatened to blow into a Civil War. There are three principal reasons why Parisians revolted in 1871:

1. Paris had endured a four month siege and Parisians were humiliated at the acceptance of the National Assembly of the peace terms which included a triumphant German march through the city.
2. Thiers was hated by Parisians for his role in putting down the 1834 revolt of Paris.
3. The National Assembly, which seemed to under-represent the French in seats (Only 43 out of 768 seats) began to antagonize the Parisians. Populist newspapers were banned, all debts built up during the siege were to repaid in 48 hours and the National Guard (The Parisian defense force) were no longer to be paid one and a half francs a day. These rulings seriously affected the livelihoods of ordinary Parisians. Anger and frustration was building up rapidly within the city.

On 18th March, 1871, Thiers ordered that two hundred big guns belonging to the National Guard be recaptured from the Parisians. A fight erupted, during which two generals were killed and the mob seized all the major barracks and forts in the city. Marx wrote in his Civil War in France that if the mob had of marched on Thiers army at Versailles they might well have defeated them. Discussions ensued and the opportunity was lost. Paris was once again under siege.

The Commune was declared on 28th March, 1871 by a disorganized, disparate body of organizations - Jacobin's, First Internationalists and Anarchists all claimed to be the guiding lights of the Paris Commune. Decisive action was rare as much time was spent debating.

Nevertheless, the Communaurds did improve the conditions of the Parisian working class; the length of the working week, the position of women and improved education opportunities were all considered. Workers were allowed to take over abandoned workshops.

The Commune passed the Law of the Hostages, which stated that any execution of a communaurd was to lead to the deaths of three anti-communaurd citizens. Raoul Rigault, in charge of security ensured this policy was carried through. Amongst his victims was the Archbishop of Paris.

Meanwhile Thiers was building up his forces. He used propaganda to portray the communaurds as international conspirators against French values - he depicted them as agents of anarchy, rape and lootery. He recruited soldiers from the countryside who had no love for what they perceived as being their decadent capital, and were by and large traditional minded catholic men. After some fighting on the outskirts of the city, MacMahon and Gallifet's forces entered Paris on 21st May. The following week has been remembered in Parisian history as the 'bloody week'. Large areas of Paris were destroyed by shellfire and a scorched earth policy was followed by some revolters. Around 25,000 Parisians died and a thousand soldiers. Almost 40,000 prisoners were taken of which 25,000 or so were given terms of forced labour. As a result of this conflict, the age old and prestigious office of Mayor of Paris was abolished, and not reintroduced until 1977 when Jacques Chirac was elected mayor.

Attempted coup d'état

The President at this time was the arch conservative and monarchist Marshall MacMahon (Who had strong Irish roots) After the 1876 elections, he was faced with a chamber of overwhelmingly republican deputies, yet he chose the Orleanist Duc de Broglie as Prime Minister. The Chamber refused to ratify the choice and MacMahon dissolved the Assembly and called for new elections. The event is known by its French name, de seize mai as it marked an attempted royalist takeover.

In the subsequent election campaign, pressure was brought on government employees to vote monarchist, opposition journals were closed down and the Church urged its faithful to vote monarchist. However, a Republican chamber was still elected, despite the oppositions dirty tactics. MacMahon accepted the will of the people and picked a Republican as Premier. As monarchist influences continued to decline in this period, he resigned and was replaced by Grévy. The new Republic had survived yet another crisis.

The Boulanger Affair

Boulanger was a veteran of French wars in Algeria, Crimea, Italy and the Franco-Prussian War. As one of the few committed Republicans in the army, he was appointed Minister of War in 1886 by Clemancau.

One of his first actions in government was the retiring of royalist officers from the army. The improving living conditions and modernised training and weapons improved morale throughout the armed forces. When Otto Van Bismarck complained that he was damaging Franco-German relations this only improved his popularity in the country. He soon became a symbol of French military glory, a reflection of the rising nationalism of the time.

The government, becoming increasingly worried by his increased popularity dismissed him as Minister of War and posted him to a provincial command. Nonetheless, various groups flocked to support him. Royalists hoped they could manipulate him to roll back the reforms of the Third Republic. Workers were attracted by his promise to protect the weak and vulnerable. Popular discontent with the Republic increased with the unearthing of a fresh scandal in 1887; the son in law of President Grévy - Daniel Wilson - was found selling decorations and honours from the Elysée Palace. Such corrupt behaviour weakened the moral stance of the Republic and provided Boulangism as an attractive alternative.

Momentum was growing throughout the country in support of Boulanger. On 22nd January 1889, and despite strenous opposition of Republicans he easily won a by-election in Paris. Excited supporters wanted him to stage an immediate coup d'état. The Cabinet called an emergency meeting which exposed their position. However, Boulanger allowed the opportunity to pass, perhaps because of last minute restraint but also because of the mixed nature of his grassroots support - a sustainable policy with such a various group of supporters would have been very difficult to achieve. He fled to Belgium in 1889 when the government began legal proceedings against him for plotting to overthrow the state - his supporters quickly drifted apart. Two years later he committed suicide by the grave of his mistress. Despite ending in such a farcical manner, Boulangism had been a force in the Third Republic which threatened its very existence.

The Panama Scandal

Ferdinand de Lesseps had achieved worldwide acclaim for the construction of the Suez Canal and when he decided to build a canal through the harsh terrain of Panama many small savers eagerly invested their money. However, the real power of the company was not in the hands of the famous engineer, but in a diverse band of financers with dispirate aims and objectives. When extra finance was needed they succesfully bribed many deputies to sign the necessary parliamentary authorisation.

Despite the extra cash the project made little headway and the company soon went bankrupt. Gross mismanagement, difficulty with the terrain and tropical diseases (22,000 workers died over the space of eight years) caused the collapse of the project in 1889. Newspaper articles uncovered the names of 150 deputies who had been bribed, including the Minister for Finance and veteran Republican Georges Clemancau. This scandal continued the lack of public confidence evident by other events. Radical Republicans were discredited (As many were guilty of taking bribes) and anti-semitism became a force in politics, as Jews were made a scapegoat for the disaster and lost savings. This anti semitism was to play a role in the Dreyfus Affair.

The Dreyfus Affair

In september 1894 a list of French military documents called the bordereau was found by a French agent working in the German embassy. It became evident that a German spy had infiltrated the French officer corps. The head of the counter-intelligence agency, Major Henry, began a search for the culprit and came up with the name of captain Alfred Dreyfus. Dreyfus was a member of a wealthy Jewish family and thus was a figure of hate in the largely Catholic and Monarchial officer corps.

Henry was determined to convict Dreyfus and forged the necessary evidence for his court-martial. He was found guilty, cashiered and deported to the penal colony of Devil's Island. Here the tropical heat and fevers slowly wasted him away.

Although it had seemed like the French had got their spy, staff papers continued to disappear and investigation by the new head of counter-intelligence, Colonel Picquart, discovered that the real spy was a French officer called Esterhazy. When Picquart pointed this out to his superiors they removed him from his position and sent him to Tunisia where it was hoped he would be killed in the fighting. Dreyfus's brother, Mathieu had independantly came to the same decision and publicly denounced Esterhazy as a traitor. Esterhazy was tried on 11th January 1898 and after a farcical trial was declared innocent by the judges.

Two days later, Emile Zola published an open letter to the President in Clemencau's newspaper l'Aurore. The letter was entitled ;J'accuse' and in seperate paragraphs each beginning with 'I accuse', Zola named the generals who ordered the acquital of Esterhazy.

France had become increasingly polarized between those who supported Dreyfus and those who opposed him. Dreyfusards included among their number republicans, radicals, Zola, Jaures and Clemencau. Clemencau wrote eight hundred newspaper articles on the subject. A League for the Defence of the Rights of Man was founded, which attracted Protestants, Freemasons, anti-cleralists and Jews.

Anti-Dreyfusards included the Catholic Church, especially the Assumptionist Order, the army and most of the ordinary people, who tended to have anti-semitic positions (A reflection of the growing anti-semitism of the time) Edmund Drumonts 'La Libre Parole' was their most important publication. To them the individual of Dreyfus was unimportant but if he were released it would damage the honour of France and one of her most respected institutions; the army.

In July 1898, the new Minister of War, Cavaignac, decided to end the Dreyfus controversy once and for all. He produced what he felt was documentary proof that Dreyfus was guilty. The documents were later proved to be forgeries. Major Henry was arrested and almost immediately commited suicide. Esterhazy fled to England and the Minister of War resigned.

A new trial was ordered and Dreyfus, who had been unaware of the developments all this time, arrived back at Rennes in September 1899. This court-martial again found him guilty with 'extenuating circumstances'. It was obvious that no military court would find him innocent and admit the prior error. A Presidential pardon was issued and the original verdict was quashed in 1906.

Conflict Between Church and State

Throughout the lifetime of the Third Republic, there seemed to be a clear political schism between the Republicans, the Monarchists and the Authoritarians (Such as the Napoleonists). The French Church was closely associated with the Monarchists and many of its hierarchy were from noble families. Republicans tended to be middle class and a personification of the revolution towards Plutocracy in the Third Republic. The Republicans detested the church for its political and class affiliations; for them, the church represented the Ancien Regime, a time in French history most Republicans hoped was long behind them.

Republicans feared that since religious orders controlled the schools anti-Republicanism was been indoctrinated to children. Determined to root this out, Republicans insisted they needed control of the schools, if economic and militaristic progress was to be achieved (Republicans felt one of the primary reasons for the German victory in 1870 was because of their superior education system)

The early anti-catholic laws were largely the work of veteran republican Jules Ferry. Religious instruction in all schools was forbidden and religious orders were forbidden to teach in them. Funds were appropriated from religious schools in order to build more state schools. Later in the century other laws passed by Ferry's successors further weakened the Church's position in French society. Civil marriage became compulsory, divorce was introduced and chaplains were removed from the army.

With the accession of Leo XIII to the papacy in 1878 a period of détente occurred in Church-State relations. In 1884 he requested French bishops not to act in a hostile manner to the State. In 1892 he issued an encyclical advising french catholics to rally to the Republic and defend the Church by participating in Republican politics. This attempt at improving the relationship failed. Deep-rooted suspicions remained on both sides and were inflamed by the Dreyfus Affair. Catholics were for the most party anti-dreyfusard. The Assumptionists published anti-semitic and anti-republican articles in their journal Le Croix. This infuriated Republican politicians, who were eager to take revenge.

Emile Combes, when elected Prime Minister in 1902, was determined to thoroughly defeat Catholicism. After only a short while in office he closed down all parochial schools in France. Then he had parliament reject authorisation of all religious orders. This meant that all fifty four orders were dissolved. Up to 20,000 religious French people immediately left France as a result. In 1904 the French President, Loubet, visited the King of Italy in Rome. The Pope, who had never recognised the Italian occupation of Rome, protested at this apparant recognisation of the Italian State. Combes reacted strongly and recalled his ambassador. Then in 1905 a law was introduced abrogating Napoleon's 1801 Concordat. Church and State were finally seperated. All Church property was confiscated. The religious no longer were paid by the State. Public worship was given over to associations of Catholic lay-men.

Economy between 1870-1914

The French economy grew at a snails pace between 1970-1914 (At an average of about 1% ) This was because France lacked sufficient coal supplies necessary for prolonged and speedy economic growth. France also lost the valuable iron ore deposits in Lorraine and the textile factories of Alsace. In addition, France remained a largely peasant society and the economy centred on agricultural production and distribution.

What heavy industry existed was based largely in areas of the north, parts of the East and the Rhône Valley. Some new industries emerged in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, notably in automobile, aircraft and chemical production. Those, however, did not seriously affect the general trend of French economic life.

Culture in the Third Republic

In arts and literature, France was the foremost country in the world. France (and in particular, Paris) had been the epicentre of European culture since before the French Enlightenment. French was spoken by the educated classes all over Europe, and quickly became a symbol of sophistication. The French public lauded works of art and literature, perhaps moreso than other nations. Original and stylish works appeared in a variety of areas.

Literature

Gustave Flaubert's most famous novel was Madam Bovary which meticulously analysed both the drab lifestyle of a provincial town and the French notion of romantic love. L'Education sentimentale and Bouvard et Pecuchet also portrayed French life and society in a realistic manner. Anatole France was a very popular author. He was moved by the Dreyfus Affair to write politically committed literature. L'Ile des pingouins, for instance was a satirical picture of life in the Third Republic. Emile Zola was the most popular French author of the age and perhaps the most remembered. His series of twenty novels La Rougon-Macquart following the fortunes of a particular family achieved wide critical acclaim.

Victor Hugo, an internationally renknowned author and mastermind behind the epic Les Misérables (Written in 1862), was a passionate atheistic Republican, who escaped the turmoil of the Paris Commune in an heroic manner (In a hot air balloon) Hugo was an elected member of the Assembly and Senate, and his writings and drawings (Perhaps lesser known) helped mould the early years of the Third Republic.

Painting

The most distinguished school of nineteenth century painters were the Impressionists. This method was initiated by Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Edgar Degas, to name a few. They aimed to paint the momentary appearance of things, and especially the effects of light and atmosphere, rather than the actual form. Monet's 'Summer' is a good example of a French impressionist work.

Music

Famous French composers included Georges Bizet, whose Carmen brought him fame and popularity. Claude Debussy's Pellas et Mélisande influenced later twentieth century composers.

Science

Frances tradition of great scientists continued during the Third Republic. Henri Becquerel discovered radioactivity in uranium salts and thus ushered in the atomic age. Pierre and Marie Curie discovered Radium. Louis Pasteur made significant breakthroughs in Microbiology.

Philosophy

The most influential French philosopher of his time was Henri Bergson. He contended that instinct was of far greater importance than intellect in apprehending reality. His anti-intellectual feelings were at one with his age, and poets and writers were quick to imitate it.

Bibliography

Surveys and reference

• Goubert, Pierre. The Course of French History (1991), standard French textbook excerpt and text search; also complete text online

Third Republic

• James R. Lehning; To Be a Citizen: The Political Culture of the Early French Third Republic (2001, Cornell University Press)

Fourth and Fifth Republics (1944 to present)

• Northcutt, Wayne. Historical Dictionary of the French Fourth and Fifth Republics, 1946-1991 (1992)

See also

• Annales School