Great History People
Famous French Person
The Reign of Terror came to an end in 1799 when a brilliant young general named Napoleon arrived in
Paris determined to restore order. A great politician and
popular leader, Napoleon quickly rose to power. In 1804,
Napoleon crowned himself Emperor Napoleon I.
Napoleon set up a strong central government and a strict new code of law. Napoleon created
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the Bank of France and the
entire French administrative system. Eager for military glory, Napoleon waged wars and, for a while, succeeded in
conquering most of Europe. However, two major defeats led to the end of Napoleon empire and his downfall. In 1812,
Napoleon's troops were defeated in Russia, and in 1815, Napoleon surrendered to the English during the
Battle of Waterloo.
Afterward, Bonaparte was exiled from France and spent the rest of his days on the tiny Atlantic
island of St. Helena.
The Nineteenth Century
Napoleon was replaced by the heir to the French royal family Louis XVIII. Louis XVIII created a moderate
constitutional monarchy but was over thrown by Charles X, who installed a more absolute style of monarchy.
Not surprisingly, this return to a pre revolutionary form of monarchy didn't please the French citizens.
The Revolution of 1830 forced Charles X to step down as king. He was replaced in 1831 by Louis
Philippe (Duke of Orleans). Elected to power by the French people themselves, he became known as the Citizen King.
During his reign, the North African territory of Algeria became a French colony. However, in the 1840s,
economic crises and the government's refusal to give the vote to the middle class led to the Revolution of 1848.
The result of this revolution was the creation of what was called the Second Republic. Shortly after,
Napoleon's nephew, Louis Napoleon, was voted into power as France's first president. In 1852, he was
crowned Emperor Napoleon 3. Napoleon III did much to modernize France. He hired Baron Haussmann to redesign
Paris into a modern city of grand avenues. He spurred on France's industrial revolution. He also supported social
reforms such as laws that gave all male citizens the right to vote and all workers the right to strike.
However, trouble occurred when Napoleon Three led France into the Franco Prussian War of 1870 against Germany.
When France lost the war to Germany, along with the provinces of Alsace and a part of Lorraine, Napoleon Three was
sent into exile. Never again would France have a king. The year 1870 marked the beginning of the Third Republic
and a series of governments led by democratically elected presidents.
World War I and the Popular Front
In 1914, World War I broke out in Europe. Shortly after, Germany invaded France. Many battles took place in
trenches on French soil. By the time the war ended in 1918, it had devastated the country. More than 25 percent
of the 8 million French soldiers who fought in the war were killed or injured. Many factories and farms were
destroyed.
The Depression of the 1930s hit France hard. Unemployed and struggling workers demanded more rights from
the government. Two political parties from the Left-the Socialists and the Communists joined forces to form
the Front Populaire (Popular Front). In 1936, its leader, Leon Blum, became president. His government gave
more rights to workers, including increased wages, a forty-hour workweek, and paid vacations.
World War II
In 1939, World War II broke out, and the following year, Adolf Hitler's German forces invaded France.
The German Nazis occupied Paris and northern and western France. A French military officer, Marshall Petain,
formed the pro Nazi government that controlled southern France. Many French, including a large group of
Communists, joined the Resistance movement that opposed the Germans and sought to free France.
General de Gaulle led the Resistance movement from London. Representing the free French government,
General de Gaulle joined forces with English prime minister Winston Churchill and U.S. president Franklin Delano Roosevelt
to defeat the Nazis. In 1944, de Gaulle's French troops accompanied British and American forces in the D day
military operation that led to the liberation of France from the Germans.
France emerged from the war bankrupt and devastated by heavy bombing. A new constitution was written,
and the Fourth Republic was declared. Women were given the right to vote, and the beginning of France's
generous welfare program was put into place. Despite its war wounds, France prospered in the 1950s as a
result of mass industrialization. It went from being a largely agricultural nation to a modern, industrial one.
General de Gaulle, Colonial Wars and Social Change
In 1958, France entered the Fifth Republic. General de Gaulle was elected prime minister and, later,
president. Although de Gaulle tried to maintain France's traditional image of grandeur and glory, social problems in
the 1960s made it difficult for de Gaulle to govern.
During the late 1950s and early 1960s, France had to deal with its colonies in Asia and Africa that were
seeking independence. The French fought wars in Vietnam and in Algeria, where locals rebelled against
French forces and colonists who opposed their desire for independence. During these wars, many colonists of
French origin sought refuge in France. These immigrants particularly those from Algeria and other
African (particularly Muslim) countries were sometimes victims of racist attitudes.
Immigrants and
workers, women, and students became increasingly dissatisfied with de Gaulle's conservative government.
In 1968, students took to the streets of Paris in violent protests against an out of date education system.
Workers, women, and many other professionals joined in nationwide protests and strikes. Their actions
shut down the country but signaled the beginning of a change in values and institutions ranging from schools
to government agencies. The following year, de Gaulle resigned.
Contemporary France
In the 1970s, France became more liberal and modernized. This change of attitude resulted in the
Socialist Party's return to power for the first time since Leon Blum. In 1981, President Francois Mitterrand
headed a government that promised to tax the rich, create more welfare for the poor, give more power to local
governments, and give more rights, including French citizenship, to immigrants.
Meanwhile, a big drop in the French birth rate and an increase in Arab and African immigrants from former
French colonies led some French people to worry that the country was being overrun by foreigners. Racist
attitudes were stirred up by the Far Right National Front (NF) Party, whose leader, Jean Marie Le Pen,
gained popularity by taking a strong anti -immigrant position.
Mitterrand also supported a joined union of European nations that would be bound together politically and
economically. In 1992, French citizens voted whether they wanted to join the European Union (EU) of fifteen
other nations. (The EU is discussed in more detail at the end of chapter 11.) In a vote that split the country
in half, 49 percent of the population voted "no," while 51 percent voted "yes."
In the 1990s, the government was spending great amounts of money on public projects. Meanwhile, unemployment rose,
poverty and crime increased, and homeless people were living in city streets. These major economic problems
resulted in the Socialists losing power in 1995.
The new president was Jacques Chirac, the former mayor of Paris and a founder of the right wing Rally for the
Republic party (Rassemblement
Pour La Republique; RPR). Shortly after Chirac's election, bombings by Islamist terrorists in Paris and Lyon
increased racial conflicts. New laws were passed that made it more difficult for foreigners to enter the
country and become French citizens. Meanwhile, other new laws were created that made it easier for immigrants
both legal and illegal to be deported from France.
In 2002, the French franc, France's national currency, was removed from circu-lation. Along with eleven
other EU nations, France had a new currency: the Euro. Today the French borders are open to citizens of
other EU nations. While fiercely proud of its past and its many regional traditions, France increasingly
embraces the different peoples and cultures that are slowly changing its population.
Extract from “Primary Source of World Cultures FRANCE”, Written by Michael A. Sommers
Amazon eBay: Napoleon and
group go through the ordered drill of loading and firing a
musket. Their targets are painted figures of soldiers.
EXT. FIELD - DAY
The edge of a wood near Valence. A windy, spring day.
Napoleon and nine other young officers are gathered around
a leathery-looking Captain with steel spectacles, who is
instructing them in the art of map reading. The map,
about four feet wide, is flapping noisily in the heavy
gusts of wind, despite the four pairs of knees and hands
struggling to hold it flat against the ground.
INT. ROOM - NIGHT
Napoleon's room at Valence. It is filled with books,
mostly of military subjects, but well-stocked with poetry,
history and philosophy. He is reading by candlelight.
Outside we hear the sounds of revelry produced by less
conscientious officers.
NARRATOR
His moods at this time were complex
and varied.
NAPOLEON (V.O.)
Life is a burden for me. Nothing
gives me any pleasure; I find only
sadness in everything around me. It
is very difficult because the ways
of those with whom I live, and
probably always shall live, are as
different from mine as moonlight is
from sunlight.
INT. INN - NIGHT
Napoleon, 17, the youngest of a group of a dozen officers
who are seated around a table in the local inn, drinking
and singing songs.
EXT. FOREST - DAWN
It is a hazy, summer dawn. Napoleon, 17, and Caroline
Columbier, a lovely young girl of 15, walk together in a
forest. They occasionally stop to pick cherries. It is a
scene of pre-Raphaelite innocence and beauty -- the young
officer, smartly uniformed, the innocent girl in a flowing
white dress.
NARRATOR
He made friends with a family called
Columbier, and would later write of
his first flirtation with their
daughter, Caroline.
NAPOLEON (V.O.)
It will scarcely be considered
credible, perhaps, but our whole
business consisted in eating
cherries together.
EXT. LYON STREET - NIGHT
It is a witheringly cold winter night, in Lyon. People,
bundled up to the eyes, hurry along the almost deserted
street, past empty cafes which are still open.
Napoleon, hands deep in his pockets, shoulders hunched
against the cold, passes a charming, young street-walker,
about his own age. He stops and looks at her,
uncertainly. A large snowflake lands on her nose which
makes him smile.
GIRL
Good evening, sir.
NAPOLEON
Good evening, Mademoiselle.
She is sweet.
GIRL
The weather is terrible, isn't it,
sir?
NAPOLEON
Yes, it is. It must be one of the
worst nights we have had this
winter.
GIRL
Yes, it must be.
Napoleon is at a loss for conversation.
NAPOLEON
You must be chilled to the bone,
standing out of doors like this.
GIRL
Yes, I am, sir.
NAPOLEON
Then what brings you out on such a
night?
GIRL
Well, one must do something to live,
you know -- and I have an elderly
mother who depends on me.
NAPOLEON
Oh, I see... That must be a great
burden.
GIRL
One must take life as it comes -- do
you live in Lyon, sir?
NAPOLEON
No, I'm only here on leave. My
regiment is at Valence.
GIRL
Are you staying with a friend, sir?
NAPOLEON
No... I have a... room... at the
Hotel de Perrin.
GIRL
Is it a nice warm room, sir?
NAPOLEON
Well, it must be a good deal warmer
than it is here on the street.
GIRL
Would you like to take me there, so
that we can get warm, sir?
NAPOLEON
Uh-hh... yes, of course -- if you
would like to go... there... but...
I have very little money.
GIRL
Do you have three francs, sir?
INT. HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT
Napoleon's cheap hotel room is only slightly warmer than
the street. A candle flickers in the draft, and the
driving snow forms a lovely vignettes on the window panes.
Napoleon sits fully dressed, still wrapped in his coat,
scarf, gloves and hat, watching the girl hurriedly
undressing, shivering, teeth chattering, and diving into
the ice-cold bed.
GIRL
Br-rrr, these sheets are like ice.
NAPOLEON
Oh, I'm sorry about that.
The girl shivers and waits for him to follow her into bed.
He doesn't move.
NAPOLEON
What's your name?
GIRL
Lisette.
NAPOLEON
Only Lisette?
GIRL
Lisette La Croix.
NAPOLEON
That's a very nice name. Where are
you from?
GIRL
Please, sir, come into bed or I
shall die of a chill.
NAPOLEON
Oh, yes... of course.
He stands and blows out the candle.
TITLE: 1789 - REVOLUTION
EXT. TOWN SQUARE - DAY
It is jammed with 300 peasants and town workers. Many are
women, Monsieur Varlac, the revolutionary leader, stands
on a cart flanked by a small Revolutionary Committee. He
is muscular, bald man in his forties, wearing glasses.
Behind him, we see six severed heads, stuck on pikes.
VARLAC
Citizens, word has come from Paris
that the foul prison of the Bastille
has been captured.
(cheers)
That its Governor's head is up on a
pike.
(cheers)
All Paris is now in the hands of its
people.
(cheers)
Soon all France will be in the hands
of its people.
(cheers)
As the cheers die down, we hear the sounds of a solitary
drum and marching men. All eyes turn to the appearance of
a column of 25 French troops, led by Napoleon on a horse
and a single drummer, marching into the town square in a
column of threes.
Napoleon halts them just inside the square, and rides
forward, alone, into the huge crowd, who gives way for his
horse. He stops about 10 feet from Varlac's cart. The
man of the people stands, hands on hips, glaring at
Napoleon, who is now completely surrounded by the crowd.
Varlac and his committee converse in whispers.
VARLAC
Good day to our brothers-in-arms.
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