History o Fraunce

The furst written records fur the history o Fraunce appeared in the Airn Age. Whit is nou Fraunce mak up the bulk o the region kent tae the Romans as Gaul. Greek writers notit the presence o three main ethno-lingueestic groups in the area: the Gauls, Aquitani an Belgae. Ower the furst millennium BC the Greeks, Romans an Carthaginians established colonies on the Mediterranean coast an affshore isles. The Roman Republic annexed soothren Gaul in the late 2nd century BC, an legions unner Julius Caesar conquered the rest o Gaul in the Gallic Wars o 58–51 BC. A Gallo-Roman cultur emergit, an Gaul wis increasingly integratit intae the Roman Empire. In the later stages o the empire, Gaul wis subjeck tae barbarian raids an migration. The Frankish keeng Clovis I unitit maist o Gaul in the late 5t century. Frankish pouer reached its fullest extent unner Charlemagne. The medieval Kinrick o Fraunce emergit frae the wastren pairt o Charlemagne's Carolingian Empire, kent as Wast Francia, an achieved increasin prominence unner the rule o the Hoose o Capet, foondit in 987.

A succession crisis in 1328 led tae the Hunder Years' War atween the Hoose o Valois an the Hoose o Plantagenet. The war begound in 1337 follaein Philip VI's attempt tae seize the Duchy o Aquitaine frae its hereditary haulder Edward III o Ingland, the Plantagenet claimant tae the French throne. A kenspeckle feegur o the war wis Joan o Arc, a French peasant lass wha led forces against the Inglis, establishin hersel as a naitional heroine. The war ended wi a Valois victory in 1453, strenthenin French naitionalism an increasin the pouer an reach o the French monarchy. Durin the Ancien Régime ower the nixt yeirhunners, Fraunce transformit intae a centralised absolute monarchy throu the Renaissance an Reformation. At the heicht o the French Wars o Releegion, Fraunce becam embroiled in anither succession crisis, as the last Valois keeng, Henry III, foucht against factions o the Hoose o Bourbon an Hoose o Guise. Henry, the Bourbon Keeng o Navarre, wan an established the Bourbon dynasty. A burgeonin warldwide colonial empire wis established in the 16t century.

In the late 18t century the monarchy an associatit institutions wur owerthrown in the French Revolution. The Revolutionary Tribunal executit poleetical opponents bi guillotine, instituting the Reign o Terror (1793–94). The kintra wis govrened as a Republic, intil Napoleon's French Empire wis declared in 1804. Follaein his defeat in the Napoleonic Wars, Fraunce wint throu regime chynges, bein ruled as a monarchy, then Seicont Republic, then Seicont Empire, intil a mair lastin French Thrid Republic wis established in 1870.

Fraunce in Warld War I wis ane o the Triple Entente pouers against the Central Pouers. Fraunce durin Warld War II wis ane o the Allied Pouers but wis conquered bi Nazi Germany in 1940. The Thrid Republic wis dismantled, an maist o the kintra wis controlled directly bi Germany, whiles the sooth wis controlled intil 1942 bi the collaborationist Vichy govrenment. Follaein leeberation in 1944, the Fowert Republic wis established. Fraunce slawly rekivered an enjoyed a baby buim that reversed its low fertility rate. Lang wars in Indocheena an Algerie drained French resoorces an ended in poleetical defeat. In the wake o the 1958 Algerian crisis, Charles de Gaulle set up the French Fift Republic. Intae the 1960s maist o the French colonial empire becam independent, whiles smawer pairts wur incorporatit intae the French state as owerseas depairtments an collectivities. Syne Warld War II Fraunce haes been a permanent memmer in the UN Security Cooncil an NATO. It pleyed a central role in the unification process efter 1945 that led tae the European Union. It remains a strang economic, cultural, militar an poleetical factor in the 21st century.

Prehistory

Cove pentin in Lascaux, 15,000 BC

Gavrinis megalithic tomb, Brittany, 4200-4000 BC

Stane tuils diskivered at Chilhac an Lézignan-la-Cèbe indicate that pre-bodie auncestors mey hae been present in Fraunce at least 1.6 million yeir ago. Neanderthals wur present in Europe frae aboot 400,000 BC but deed oot aboot 40,000 yeirs ago, possibly oot-competit bi modren bodies durin a period o cauld wather. The earliest modren bodies entered Europe bi 43,000 yeirs ago (the Upper Palaeolithic).

Vix palace, Hallstatt cultur, central Fraunce, 6t century BC

In the Chalcolithic an early Bronze Age the territory wis lairgely dominatit bi the Bell Beaker cultur, follaed bi the Armorican Tumulus cultur, Rhône cultur, Tumulus cultur, Urnfield cultur an Atlantic Bronze Age cultur, amang ithers. The Hallstatt cultur an La Tène cultur developit durin the Airn Age, durin whilk the furst written records fur the history o Fraunce appear.