The name France first appears in history about the ninth century.
Prior to that time the country which constitutes the greater part of
modern France was occupied successively by Celts, Gauls and Franks.
=Under the Romans.=--When first known this country was called Gallia,
and was the center whence swarms of plunderers poured over the mountains
into Italy; but the Phœnicians and Greeks had a few trading cities on
the Mediterranean coast--especially Marseilles--where in the seaport
towns traces of descent from the Greeks are said still to be found.
In 125 B. C. the Romans formed in the east of the Rhone a settlement
ever since called Provincia or “the Province,” whose capital was Aquae
Sextiae (now Aix), and where corrupted Latin has never ceased to be the
dialect, and their power and influence gradually spread. Between 58 and
51 B. C. Julius Caesar subdued the whole of Gaul, except the granite
peninsula of the northwest. Later, refugees from Britain caused it to be
called Brittany; and there to the present day the Celtic tongue has
prevailed, and the habits have been peculiar. The Iberian or Basque
tribes of the Pyrenees have likewise preserved their entirely different
tongue, which is not even Aryan.
=The Impress of Roman Rule.=--Roman habits, civilization and speech were
adopted all over the country, and Christianity became nearly universal.
Many cities were founded as centers of government from the conquered
population, and most of the great cities such as Arles and Lyons and
many others date from this time. Nimes and Vienne show splendid
monuments of Roman architecture. The Romans also made magnificent roads,
and are said to have introduced the olive and the vine, to both of which
the climate is eminently suitable.
=Under Teutonic Invaders.=--Continual warfare on the open frontier soon
began between the Roman legions and the advancing Teutonic nations, of
whom the Belgians, a mixed race, were the van. The city of Lutetia
Parisiorum, now known by its tribal name, Paris, was the headquarters of
Emperor Julian before his accession in A.D. 361, while he was struggling
with these invaders. After his death, Gaul became a prey to the Teutons.
They did not destroy the old population, but quartered themselves as
guests on the proprietors of land; while the Roman cities kept up their
self-government, and paid ransoms to escape pillage. Chief of these
Teutonic tribes were the Goths, Burgundians and Franks.
=Merovingians.=--The Franks, whose dominion swallowed up those of both
the foregoing tribes, had been long settled in the north; and Pharamond,
their chief in 420, is considered the founder of the French monarchy, as
he was of the first or Merovingian race of Frankish kings. In 485 Clovis
defeated Syagrius, the Roman general, at Soissons, and finally
extinguished the Roman power in the west, and in 507, by his victory
over the Visigoths, he rendered himself master of the country between
the Loire and Garonne, but was checked at Arles by Theodoric, king of
the Ostrogoths. He then settled in Paris, where he died. His chief aim
was a united Frankish kingdom.
[Illustration: =AMIENS CATHEDRAL=
The most perfect specimen of Gothic architecture in France, dating from
the thirteenth century. This splendid structure is embellished with a
wealth of magnificent mediæval sculpture. Viollet-le-Duc happily calls
this cathedral “the Parthenon of Gothic architecture.”]
Clovis in 493 married Clotilda, a Christian Burgundian princess, and in
496 embraced her faith.
Though nominally Christians, the Franks brought their old hereditary
Teuton customs of inheritance and chieftainship, which, as they had last
come from the banks of the Yssel, were known as Salic laws--_i.e._ of
the Salian Franks. Their German dominions were called Austreich (the
eastern kingdom); their Gaulish Neaustreich (not Eastern) or Neustria;
and both were Frankland. Their dynasty soon exhausted itself, and
latterly their kings were called _Fainéants_ or “Do-nothing” kings while
the mayors of the palace really governed.
=Carlovingians.=--One of the mayors, a Teuton wholly in blood, Charles
Martel, in 721 checked the tide of Saracen invasion, and saved Gaul by
the great battle of Soissons. His son, Pepin, in 753 was elected king,
and thence descended the line known as Carlovingians. Under Pepin and
Charles the Great, called by the French “Charlemagne,” the country was
relatively peaceful and prosperous; but after the latter’s death things
returned to their original state of confusion.
Charlemagne was one of the really great monarchs of the world. His
dominions reached from the Ebro to the Channel, from the Elbe, to the
Atlantic, and included North Italy, and in 800 he was crowned by the
Pope Emperor of the West. His power was too vast for a single hand of
less power, and fell to pieces after his son’s death. The Western Franks
fell to Charles the Bald, and it was then (about 870) that France became
a recognized term for the country between the Channel and the Pyrenees.
The king had, however, very little power; his lands were cut up into
divisions under dukes, marquises, and counts, who simply paid him a
nominal homage, and were bound to follow him in war, but who ruled quite
independently. Moreover, the Northmen or Normans were horribly ravaging
the whole country; Paris was fortified against them under Robert the
Strong, but, in 911, Charles the Simple found himself obliged to make to
Rolla, the chief of the Northmen invaders, a grant of the Neustrian
lands, which took the name of Normandy. The Carlovingians finally were
deposed in 987, and their last sovereign, Louis V., retired to
Lotharingia or Lorraine as duke.
=Capetians.=--The grandson of Robert the Strong, Hugh, became king. He
was called Capet, apparently from the hood which marked him as guardian
of the Abbey of St. Denis; and the name is used for his dynasty, which
reigned for eight hundred years.
The German influences had passed away, though the king and nobility were
of Frankish blood. The whole realm was parcelled out into feudal
holdings, the great chiefs of which hardly owned the royal power, and
the only place where the king really ruled directly was the county of
Paris. There was much confusion and private warfare, and after the
conquest of England in 1066, the Dukes of Normandy overshadowed the
French kings.
Louis IV. (“the Fat”), in 1108, was the first king of any ability. He
judicially overcame a robber count, and in his time (though not on any
fixed principles) cities began to be allowed to purchase their power of
self-government, such as the southern one had preserved from Roman
times. This was called the right of _commune_. Except in these cities,
the lot of the people of Gallo-Roman blood was wretched. They were
called villeins, and, except that they were attached to the soil, were
almost slaves, cruelly oppressed and downtrodden by their irresponsible
lords, mostly Franks, who covered the land with fortified castles. There
was, however, much religious zeal, which found its outlet in the
Crusades, first proclaimed at Clermont, in Auvergne, in 1095, and in the
religious orders, whose beautiful monasteries and splendid cathedrals
still exist.
France was at its weakest under Louis VII., when Henry II. of England,
by inheritance Duke of Normandy and Count of Anjou, had married the
heiress of the great Duchy of Aquitaine, and obtained the heiress of
Brittany for his son. Philip II., called Augustus, spent his life in
undermining the power of the English kings, and when King John murdered
his nephew Arthur of Brittany, Philip held a court of justice, cited him
thither, and, on his non-appearance, adjudged him to have forfeited
Normandy and Anjou, which easily were conquered, leaving only Aquitaine
as the possession of John’s mother, and these lands, being held direct
of the crown, much added to the royal power.
=Under Louis IX.=--The king, Louis IX., was the best and most blameless
of French sovereigns. It was he who, in 1258, established the Parliament
of Paris. In every Teuton nation the king was supposed to take counsel
and do justice among the other nobles and freemen; but to attend courts
of law in a large territory was a great vexation to the nobles, who
would not come, and yet resented decisions made in their absence. Louis
arranged that though every immediate vassal of the crown had a right to
sit in it, yet in its working state it should only consist of men
trained in the law, with just nobles enough to give authority. In this
parliament the wills and edicts of the king, and the taxes he imposed,
were registered. The provinces, likewise, had parliaments to serve as
courts of law. Louis’s devotion led him to attempt two unfortunate
crusades, and he died in the second, in 1270.
His grandson Philip IV. (“the Fair”), had a desperate quarrel with the
Papacy, and by underhand means succeeded in forcing Pope Clement V. to
reside in his dominions. The Popes fixed their residence at Avignon, in
Provence, a province belonging to the Empire, and held at the time by
Philip’s uncle, Charles, Count of Anjou, but near enough for French
influence. Here the Papal court continued for seventy years. Philip V.
was a violent and unscrupulous man, and the three sons who reigned in
succession after him had not his force of character.
Philip was succeeded in turn by Louis X., Philip V., and Charles IV. The
rivalry between France and England, consequent upon the accession of
Duke William of Normandy to the throne of the latter, came to a decisive
crisis during the first half of the fourteenth century.
=House of Valois and the “Hundred Years’ War.”=--On the death of Charles
IV. (1328) Philip of Valois succeeded to the throne, beginning the
Valois dynasty; but Edward III. of England, by virtue of hereditary
right derived from his mother’s side, claimed not only such provinces as
had been taken from his ancestors, but the whole kingdom. In this way
began the protracted conflict which French historians call the “hundred
years’ war” (1337-1453), a period covering the reigns of John II.
(1350-1364), Charles V. (1364-1380), Charles VI. (1380-1422), and the
greater part of the reign of Charles VII. (1422-1461). In 1340 an
English fleet destroyed the naval force of France at Sluis, on the coast
of Flanders; in 1346, at Crécy, the English archers overcame the flower
of French chivalry; and at Poitiers (1356) the Black Prince defeated
King John and made him prisoner.
The States-General were also the scene of a deadly struggle between the
regent and the third estate, and the peasantry of several districts
broke out into a fearful insurrection, which was named the _Jacquerie_,
and marked by all the horrors of a servile war. Charles V., with the
help of his great constable, Du Guesclin, regained in a few campaigns
almost all the English acquisitions in France. On his death, in 1380,
his son Charles VI., surnamed the _Well-Beloved_, ascended the throne.
The reign of this sovereign was signally unfortunate. He fell into a
state of insanity, which rendered him incapable of attending to the
administration of the government, and in consequence regents were
appointed, whose misconduct threw the kingdom into a civil war. During
these calamities which afflicted France, Henry V. of England invaded the
country, and gained the memorable battle of Agincourt. The consequence
of this victory, and other advantages gained by Henry, enabled him to
conclude a treaty by which his succession to the throne of France was
acknowledged on the death of Charles. Henry and Charles both died
shortly after this event, A. D. 1422.
=Charles VII. and Joan of Arc.=--Charles VII., surnamed the
_Victorious_, asserted his right to the throne of his father, while at
the same time the infant Henry VI. of England was proclaimed King of
France under the regency of his uncle, the Duke of Bedford. The English
laid siege to Orleans, a place of the greatest importance, and so
successful were they in their operations against this and other places
that the affairs of France began to wear a most gloomy aspect. The tide
of misfortune, however, was successfully turned by one of the most
extraordinary events recorded in history.
When the hope of saving Orleans was almost abandoned, a young girl named
Joan of Arc, about seventeen years of age, who had lived an humble life
in a village on the borders of Lorraine, presented herself to the
Governor of Vaucouleur, and maintained with much earnestness that she
had been sent by Divine commission to raise the siege of that city, and
procure the coronation of Charles in the city of Rheims.
After undergoing a most rigid examination before a committee of persons
appointed for that purpose, and also before the court and the king
himself, she was intrusted with the liberation of Orleans. As she
approached the city her presence inspired the inhabitants with
confidence, while it spread dismay and consternation among the English,
who hastily raised the siege and retired with precipitation, but being
pursued by the heroine at the head of the French army, they were
entirely defeated at Patay, with a loss of nearly five thousand men,
while the French lost only one of their number. From this event Joan was
called the Maid of Orleans.
The second part of her mission, which yet remained to be accomplished,
was equally arduous and dangerous. The city of Rheims and the
intermediate country being in possession of the English or their allies,
presented apparently insurmountable difficulties. Charles, however,
placing full confidence in her guidance, commenced his march, and as he
advanced every obstacle disappeared; the citizens of Rheims, having
expelled the garrison, received him with every demonstration of joy.
After the coronation was performed, Joan threw herself at the feet of
Charles, declaring that her commission was accomplished, and solicited
leave to return to her former humble station; but the king, unwilling to
part with her services so soon, requested her to remain for some time
with the army, with which at length she complied. She afterwards
attempted to raise the siege of the city of Campiegne; but her good
fortune seemed to have deserted her; she fell into the hands of the
English, who, to gratify their revenge for the many losses they
sustained through her valour, condemned her, under a charge of various
pretended crimes, and caused her to be burned in the public square at
Rouen.
By this cruel measure the English hoped to check the success that had
attended the operations of Charles. In this they were disappointed; such
was the impulse which the heroine had given to the affairs of France,
that the English in a few years were expelled from all their possession
in the country, with the exception of Calais.
Charles passed the remainder of his reign in improving the internal
condition of his kingdom. The close of his life was embittered by the
unnatural conduct of his son, who attempted to poison his father. He
died in 1464, a prince of acknowledged virtue, justice and discretion.
Louis XI. (1461-1483), the son and successor of Charles VII., annexed
Burgundy and Picardy, and acquired Anjou, Maine, Provence, and the
counties of Rousillon and Cerdagne; and France thus became one of the
great powers on the Mediterranean. On the northwest, by the marriage of
Charles VIII. with Anne of Brittany, she gained possession of that large
province. Charles VIII. invaded Italy in 1494, and this was the first of
a long series of Italian wars in which France was engaged for more than
half a century. With Charles VIII., who died in 1498, the direct line of
Valois ended, and Louis, duke of Orleans, grandson to a brother of
Charles VI., became king under the title of Louis XII. He met at first
with some success in Italy, but was at last driven out.
=Wars of Francis I. and Charles V. of Germany.=--Francis I. (1515-1547),
his successor, being opposed by the emperor Charles V., of Germany,
suffered a disastrous defeat at Pavia in 1525, and was carried a
prisoner to Madrid, where in 1526 he agreed to a treaty by which he
forfeited Burgundy, and all claims to Naples, Milan, Tournay, and Arras.
No sooner was he set at liberty than he secured from the pope a release
from his oaths, and renewed the struggle, but again with unfavorable
results, and was compelled to make another disastrous peace at Cambrai
(1529).
The Reformation had now begun, and Charles V. was obliged to turn his
attention to Germany. Francis encouraged the Protestant princes in their
opposition to the emperor, and in 1536 the war again broke out. It was
ended in 1544 by the peace of Crespy, when the emperor was threatening
Paris.
Francis I. died in 1546, and was succeeded by his son, Henry II., and
the struggle soon began again. Henry recovered Calais for France. Under
Francis II. (1559-1560) the Roman Catholic House of Guise obtained
possession of the effective power in the state. Their adversaries, the
House of Bourbon, headed the movement of the reformers. Under the weak
kings Charles IX. (1560-1574) and Henry III. (1574-1589), who were under
the influence of their mother, Catherine de’ Medici, this division in
the French nobility resulted in the war of the League and wars of
religion. The massacre of the Protestants on the night of St.
Bartholomew (1572) raised to such a pitch the pride of the House of
Guise that Henry III. fled to the camp of the Bourbon leader, where he
was murdered by a fanatical monk. The name of Charles IX. remains
associated with the horrors of the St. Bartholomew’s night, which
witnesses the striking of a blow at the very heart of the nation.
=The Bourbon Line.=--The accession of the Bourbon prince, Henry IV. of
Navarre (1589-1610), allayed the fury of religious wars, but his
recantation of Protestantism in favor of Catholicism disappointed his
own party, to which, however, he granted the free exercise of their
religion by the edict of Nantes (1598).
Henry, however, meditated the humiliation of the house of Austria, and
was on the eve of his departure for the army when he was assassinated by
Ravaillac, May 14, 1610.
Under the regency of his widow, Maria de’ Medici, mother of Louis XIII.,
the kingdom was distracted by war between the queen mother and the young
king. Cardinal Richelieu, who took the reins of government in 1624,
consolidated the power of the monarch at home, and, while annihilating
the power of the French Protestants, energetically supported the German
Protestants against the house of Austria.
His successor, Cardinal Mazarin, pursued the same policy; and the treaty
of Westphalia (1648) asserted the triumph of religious and political
liberty in Germany, and the victory of France, which added to her
territory the province of Alsace.
The troubles of the Fronde, a faint image of the old civil wars,
detracted nothing from the influence gained abroad by the French
government, and Mazarin concluded with Spain, in 1659, the treaty of the
Pyrenees, which secured two other provinces to France--Artois and
Roussillon.
=Age of Louis XIV.=--Under the personal rule of Louis XIV. France rose
to the height of glory, while he himself was placed above all control.
From the day of Mazarin’s death (1661) he assumed the direction of
public affairs. In the first years of his administration the national
wealth, promoted by the admirable efforts of Colbert, increased with
unusual rapidity. Intellectual progress kept pace with material, and
everything conspired to create a literary period of great magnificence.
The king’s military successes, too, achieved through Condé, Turenne,
Luxembourg, and others, were brilliant; and he added to his kingdom
Flanders, Franche-Comté, the imperial city of Strasburg, and several
other important territories.
But the revocation of the edict of Nantes in 1685 drove from the kingdom
a large number of its best citizens, and crippled many branches of
industry. The war of 1689-1697 against the league of Augsburg greatly
exhausted the country, and that of the Spanish succession nearly reduced
it to extremities; but after a contest of twelve years Louis succeeded,
and by the treaties of Utrecht and Rastadt (1713 and 1714) the house of
Bourbon, in the person of Louis’s grandson, Philip V., inherited the
best part of the Castilian monarchy.
Louis XIV. died in 1715, after an unparalleled reign of seventy-two
years. The burden which he had borne was far too heavy for his weak
successors; and toward the end of Louis XV.’s reign France could
scarcely be ranked among the great European powers. The four wars in
which she then participated, against Spain (1717-1719), during the
regency of Philip of Orleans, for the succession of Poland (1733-1735),
for the succession of Austria (1740-1748), and finally the seven years’
war (1756-1763), were productive only of disgrace and disaster,
including the loss of Canada.
=Prelude to the Revolution.=--Louis XV. died in 1774, and his grandson
Louis XVI. ascended the throne at a period which was perhaps the most
inglorious of French history. The kingdom was on the verge of financial
as well as political ruin, and it seemed evident that a disastrous
crisis was approaching.
An attempt to conciliate the people was made by the restoration of the
parliament of Paris; but instead of promoting reform, this body proved a
hindrance to it. Turgot and Malesherbes, associated with Maurepas in the
ministry, acted with considerable efficiency in the endeavor to improve
the state of affairs, but were deposed through the influence of the
court party. Necker, who became minister of finance in 1777, at first
seemed to improve matters slightly; but the opposition of the nobles
and clergy to any scheme of general taxation, with other causes, led to
his deposition.
His successor, Calonne, recklessly plunged the finances into a more
hopeless condition than ever, and in 1786 the king was induced to call
together the States-General, the really popular assembly of
representatives, which had not met since 1614, and then in vain.
Thenceforward there was a succession of barriers thrown down; madness
set in upon the long-oppressed people, who wreaked the vengeance of a
thousand years. Frightful mobs rose upon all whom they connected with
their past misery. Nobles and clergy fell; the king was dethroned, and
in 1793 was executed. A reign of terror set in, during which Robespierre
and other fanatics, who thought they must destroy in order to build up,
sent to the beheading machine, the guillotine, thousands of victims, and
hoped to have swept away even the Christian religion, together with all
the old abuses of power.
=The Advent of Napoleon and the Directory.=--When they fell in 1794,
less sanguinary counsels prevailed, and, after sundry attempts at forms
of government, Napoleon Bonaparte, of Corsican birth, climbed to supreme
power. His course had been through victories. Belgium had been overrun,
the Austrians forced back across the Rhine, the allied armies of England
and Holland gradually pushed back, and Prussia and Spain forced to
conclude peace. The new government began on October 28, the convention
having been dissolved on the 26th. England, Russia, and Austria, in a
new coalition, now began to carry on a more vigorous warfare; but
Carnot’s strategic direction soon baffled it. Bonaparte was put in
command of the army which was not to advance against the Austrians from
Italy, and in 1796 and 1797 completely changed the condition of affairs.
At the truce of Leoben (April 18, 1797) France controlled all Italy;
Austria surrendered all rights in Belgium and recognized those republics
which France established; and the history of France became almost wholly
identified for nearly eighteen years with that of a single man, Napoleon
Bonaparte.
=The Consulate.=--Bonaparte was chosen first consul for ten years,
December 13, 1799; consul for life, August 2, 1802; then hereditary
emperor, May 18, 1804. He reformed and reorganized legislation at home
by the formation of the civil code, the organization of public
instruction, and the improvements he introduced in all the branches of
public service; while he added to his military and political glory by a
new succession of triumphs, resulting in the treaties of peace signed at
Presburg (1805), Tilsit (1807), and Vienna (1809).
He had now reached the height of his glory; he had placed his brothers
on the thrones of Holland, Westphalia, and Spain, and his brother-in-law
on that of Naples; but his power was shaken by the resistance which he
met with in the Spanish peninsula (1808-1813); and his prestige was
ruined by his expedition to Russia in 1812. The European nations united
against him, and inflicted upon him at Leipsic, October 16-19, 1813, a
blow from which he never recovered.
=The Restoration.=--Napoleon was dethroned in April, 1814, exiled to the
island of Elba, and the brother of Louis XVI. received from the
conquerors the sceptre of France, now restricted to her old limits. The
sudden return of Napoleon from Elba, however, overthrew this new power;
and for one hundred days, from March 20 to June 28, 1815, he was again
the sovereign of France; but the battle of Waterloo (June 18, 1815)
destroyed his power forever, and the Bourbons once more ruled the
kingdom.
Louis XVIII. granted a charter to his subjects, and died in 1824 in
undisturbed possession of his throne. His brother and successor, Charles
X., sought popularity by supporting the Greek insurrection against
Turkey and conquering Algiers; but having attempted to suspend some of
the most important guarantees secured by the charter, a formidable
insurrection broke out, July 27, 1830, and he was obliged to abdicate.
=House of Orleans.=--After a few days’ interval the head of the younger
branch of the house of Bourbon, Louis Philippe, duke of Orleans, was
appointed “king of the French” (August 9) by the chamber of deputies.
The choice, being acceptable to the middle classes or _bourgeoisie_, was
maintained; and notwithstanding some occasional outbursts of
republicanism among the people, the July monarchy, as it was called,
lasted for nearly eighteen years.
=Revolution of 1848.=--A political manifestation in favor of
parliamentary reform brought on another revolution, February 24, 1848,
and France became a republic, with a provisional government in which
Lamartine played the most conspicuous part; but within a few months the
majority of the constituent assembly, frightened by socialistic
movements and a terrible civil struggle in the capital (June 23-26),
became hostile to the new form of government. On December 10, 1848,
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, nephew of Napoleon I., was elected president,
for a term of four years. On December 2, 1851, the president dissolved
the assembly, assumed dictatorial powers, and appealed to the people to
sanction his act by their votes. He was reëlected president for a term
of ten years; a new constitution was promulgated; and finally, on
November 7, 1852, the senate proposed the reëstablishment of the empire.
=Second Empire.=--The empire was proclaimed, December 2, 1852, and Louis
Napoleon ascended the throne with the title of Napoleon III. The chief
event of the early portion of this reign was the Crimean war, which
largely increased the military prestige of the nation, as well as the
popularity and strength of Napoleon’s rule. The war with Austria (1859)
left France in a position of even greater authority than before in
European politics. In 1860 Savoy and Nice were ceded to France by Italy.
The emperor’s schemes for establishing the Hapsburg prince Maximilian on
the throne of Mexico proved so ignominious a failure as to do much
toward undermining the opinion of his power that had been held in
Europe.
The course which Napoleon pursued during the Prusso-Austrian war in 1866
did not tend to restore confidence in him. In 1867 he aided in defending
the power of the pope against the Garibaldians. In 1868 the growth of
public opinion against the emperor was conspicuous; in 1869 much
excitement was caused by the exposure of the confusion in financial
affairs; and in 1870 popular disturbances, fomented by Rochefort, broke
out on the acquittal of Pierre Bonaparte for the shooting of Victor
Noir.
The demand for reforms was answered by a new constitution, which was
finally confirmed by a _plebiscite_ on May 8.
=Franco-Prussian War.=--In the spring of 1870 there were unmistakable
manifestations of a hostile spirit on the part of the government against
Prussia. The declaration of the candidature of the Hohenzollern prince
Leopold for the throne of Spain furnished an immediate cause of war. The
voluntary withdrawal of Prince Leopold followed the remonstrances of
France, but the latter demanded also of the king of Prussia an explicit
promise that no prince of Hohenzollern should ever be a candidate for
the Spanish crown. This demand was refused, and war was declared by
France, July 19.
On the 28th Napoleon went to Metz, where he personally took command of
his forces; and on August 2 the king of Prussia, accompanied by Bismarck
and Moltke, joined his army. On the latter day the French bombarded and
took Saarbruck. On August 4 the German advance, under the crown prince,
defeated the French at Weissenburg, and on the 6th totally defeated
MacMahon at Worth.
On the 11th the three German armies under Steinmetz, Prince Frederick
Charles, and the crown prince effected a junction on French territory,
with headquarters at Saarbruck. By the 14th Steinmetz had advanced to
near Metz, where the French army was concentrated under Bazaine, and on
the afternoon of the same day won a victory at Courcelles; on the 16th
Frederick Charles won a second battle at Mars-la-Tour; and on the 18th
the combined forces under King William again defeated the French at
Gravelotte.
Bazaine now drew within the fortifications, and the Germans, leaving a
portion of their forces to invest the city, marched against MacMahon at
Chalons. News reaching them of the advance of MacMahon to relieve
Bazaine, they turned northward to intercept him. On the 30th they
surprised a corps of General Failly near Beaumont, and fought a battle
which resulted in the retreat of the French beyond the Meuse and their
final withdrawal to Sedan.
The battle of Sedan was begun by the Germans September 1. After severe
fighting they drove the French from all sides to that fortress, where,
almost surrounded and without provisions or defenses, they were
compelled to capitulate. The emperor surrendered to King William in
person, September 2, and was carried a prisoner to Wilhelmshohe. In
dead, wounded, and prisoners, the French thus lost in the last few days
an army of nearly one hundred and fifty thousand men.
=The Third Republic.=--The news of Sedan created intense excitement at
Paris, and the popular indignation against Napoleon and his party was
without bounds. Gambetta proclaimed the republic; and a provisional
government of national defense was at once formed, with General Trochu
for president and Jules Favre for vice-president. The empress took
refuge in England.
The German army entered Rheims on the 5th, and on the 15th they had
closely approached Paris. A sortie by General Ducrot on the 19th was
repulsed, and a few days later the actual investment of the city was
begun. The German headquarters were established at Versailles. A portion
of the French government of national defense remained in the capital;
another portion, in order to be in communication with the provinces, was
established at Tours. Toul surrendered on the 23rd. Strasburg
capitulated in the night of September 27-28. Soissons and Schlettstadt
capitulated respectively on October 16 and 24, and on the 27th Metz also
yielded, Bazaine surrendering one hundred and seventy-three thousand
men.
In the meantime the situation of Paris had become hopeless; and on
January 28 arrangements for its capitulation had been concluded and
provision made for a general armistice. On February 17, 1871, Thiers was
chosen chief executive of the republic. On the 26th the preliminary
treaty of peace was signed at Versailles, by which France ceded to
Germany the greater part of Alsace and Lorraine, and agreed to pay as
war indemnity five milliards of francs. The definitive treaty with
Germany had been signed at Frankfort on the 10th of May.
In 1873 the Thiers administration was overthrown and replaced by one
under Marshal MacMahon. In 1875 a Parliamentary Republic was
established, and still remains under the guarantees of the constitution.
In 1877 MacMahon was succeeded by Grevy. By this time the republic was
fairly firmly established and withstood many attacks. A policy of
colonial expansion was adopted, particularly in Egypt, but in spite of
the dual control France and England established in 1879, France, in
1882, refused to help England in Egypt, and lost any control she had
there.
The Triple Alliance of 1883 isolated France, but in 1890 she confronted
the Triple Alliance with the Dual Alliance--between France and
Russia--and made great attempts to establish colonial power.
The outstanding events of 1914, 1915 and 1916 were those connected with
France’s participation in the European war as the leading military power
of the Entente Allies. (See further under Great Wars of History.)
=Books of Reference.=--The chief histories are those of Henri
Martin, Michelet, Dareste, Lavalee, Sismondi, Kitchin Lavisse, and
Durny. These works cover the general history of France. See, in
addition, Tocqueville’s _The Ancient Regime_; Taine’s _French
Revolution_; Carlyle’s _History of the French Revolution_; Fyffe’s
_History of Europe_; Hazlitt’s _Life of Napoleon Bonaparte_.