What follows is a glib thumbnail sketch of one of the most significant and interesting countries on the planet, but this is essentially a travel site not an academic thesis.

The history of France is incredible, glorious and tragic at the same time. It is where some of Europe's best preserved prehistoric sites are located such as Lascaux Caves in the Dordogne, suggesting a very long period of human habitation. The Greeks founded Marseille and Nice around 2600 years ago as trading ports while Rome was still a collection of mud huts on the banks of the Tiber.

When the Romans eclipsed the Greeks as masters of the Mediterranean and moved into Gaul (France) in BC121, they found a well organised semi-agrarian society. Gallia Narbonensis (modern day regions of Midi-Pyrenees, Languedoc-Roussillon, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur) became Rome's most important province outside of the Italian peninsular. The Romans founded the towns of Arles, Nimes, Narbonne, Toulouse, Frejus, Apt, Orange, Carpentras, Aix-en-Provence which remain and prosper today over 2000 years on. Over the centuries the Romans pushed north and west beyond the borders of Gallia Narbonensis. They encountered significant resistance from the Celtic Gauls especially in the modern day Auvergne and Brittany regions. The famous Asterix comics were based on the era of Julius Caesar and his conquests of Gaul. These comics are cleverly written and are a great introduction to this era of Franco-Roman history whilst having a chuckle.

When the Roman Empire had waned by 400 AD and Rome itself had been sacked by the Visigoths (from modern day Spain). The Visigoths took over much of Gallia Narbonensis and made Tolosa (Toulouse) their capital. There ensued centuries of turf wars between the Visigoths, Vandals (from where the modern term vandal is derived) the Huns (from Eurasia) and other bikie gangs.

Eventually the Franks from around northern France (Champagne and Lorraine areas) under Clovis I brought much of northern and central France together. Clovis converted to Christianity, further solidifying his power then looked southward and drove the Visigoths back to Spain.

The Battle of Tours in 732 AD was a critical moment in European history as it halted and reversed the Islamic expansion into Europe brought by the Moors (modern day Morocco). Charles Martel (Charles the Hammer) led the campaign and later became King. He is still revered by many in France especially those with extreme right wing leanings.

The most influential Frankish King, Charlemagne (Charles the Great) created an empire that incorporated much of western and central Europe. In a bid to revive the glory of Rome, Charlemagne called it the Holy Roman Empire and was crowned emperor by Pope Leo III. Charlemagne is regarded today as the founding father of modern day France and Germany.

The Middle Ages roughly correspond to the death of Charlemagne in 814 and the invasion of the Vikings. The Vikings from modern day Denmark settled the area that is now Normandy and reached as far inland as Paris. They eventually became known as Normans (coming from the word Norsemen) and developed into the greatest military power of the period. The Normans under William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066 and changed the course of history. The Normans were also major players in the Crusades.

Throughout most of the middle ages France was a loose collection of dukedoms with rather fluid alliances. The 13th Century saw bitter conflicts along essential north-south lines. The Albigensian (named after the town of Albi) or Cathar movement of the south which rejected the dominant Catholic church was brutally put down by noblemen from the north such as Simon de Montfort. It is estimated that some 500,000 people in Languedoc were killed during these crusades

The Hundred Years War kicked off in 1337 between England and France and lasted until 1453. The reasons and conduct of this war (or series of wars) are too complicated and arcane to go into too much detail here, but for further reference the Battle of Agincourt and Joan of Arc (Jean d'Arc) were products of this period.

The Renaissance (French word for rebirth) really started in Italy with people like Leonardo da Vinci and Michaelangelo (and the other Ninja Turtles) and spread throughout Europe. It was a period of great intellectual and artistic expression and awakening.

Modern France much like modern Europe was hammered out through a series of conflicts between the various feudal powers until eventually nation states emerged. France evolved into a large and relatively united nation ruled by a monarchy who dominated Europe. The monarchy used the church as the glue to hold the nation together and as a result the church enjoyed great influence. The emergence of Protestantism posed a great threat to the status quo and set in train a period referred to as the French Wars of Religion which was in fact a series massacres, sieges and general nastiness that lasted for decades great massacres of the Huguenots (French protestants) ensued forcing many to flee (the great Exodus) to Britain, the Americas and southern Africa.

The French Revolution broke out in 1789. There are various opinions about the causes of the revolution, but the underlying reasons were a general dissatisfaction by most segments of French society over the Monarchy's mismanagement and neglect of the country and antipathy towards the people. General unrest turned into rioting and descended into chaos and finally on July 14, 1789 the Bastille Prison was stormed and its arsenal distributed among the rioting peasants. After several tumultuous years and the decapitation of much of the monarchy, the revolution was more or less complete. France got back in the swing of things and promptly started picking fights with their neighbours. Enter Napoleon Bonaparte.

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-was born to an aristocratic family in Corsica in 1769, a year after it was transferred from the kingdom of Genoa to France. Napoleon was sent to a military academy in France at the age of nine. He had to actually learn French before going there as Italian was his mother tongue. At the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, Napoleon was a junior artillery officer. He chose his battles well and used his contacts and rapidly rose to a senior military rank. His victories attracted the attention of political leaders and he was elevated further. Napoleon married Josephine in 1796 then promptly invaded Italy. Napoleon was a military genius who revolutionised European warfare.

After conquering much of Italy, Napoleon moved on Egypt to wrest it from the Ottoman Empire (Turks) and to disrupt England's access to India. The campaign as initially successful, but eventually lost its way and became unsustainable. Napoleon was recalled leaving his troops to flounder. In 1799 through a series of political manouevres, Napoleon was made First Consul, which was effectively the most powerful position in France. In 1804, to confirm his megalomania, Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of France with the blessing of Pope Pius VII.The British, Russians and Austrians formed a coalition in 1805 to stop Napoleon's domination of Europe. Russia and Austria were decisively defeated by Napoleon' Grande Armee at Austerlitz (located in modern day Czech Republic), but Napoleon's navy did not fare so well against the British at the Battle of Trafalgar (near Cadiz, Spain).

Napoleon then waged a costly and brutal war to subdue the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) from 1808 until 1814. The British came in on the side of Spain and under the Duke of Wellington inflicted heavy losses on the French.

In 1812 Napoleon embarked on his most ambitious project. The Invasion of Russia with a 600,000 strong Grand Armee (the largest ever assembled in European history to that point) and got to within striking distance of Moscow. However the bloody battles fought on the way, disease and the terrible Russian winter turned robbed Napoleon of victory and resulted in a disastrous retreat. Only around 10 percent of Napoleon's troops made it back to France alive. Tolstoy's 'War and Peace' was born out of this conflict as was Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture.

Napoleon regrouped and in August 1813 defeated a combined force of Russians, Prussians and Austrians in the Battle of Dresden in eastern Germany. Later that year he was soundly beaten at the Battle of Leipzig (eastern Germany) which was the largest battle in history prior World War One. It involved 500,000 troops from all sides and was sheer carnage with some 120,000 killed and wounded.

This was the end of the road for Napoleon. France surrendered in April 1814 followed shortly by Napoleon's abdication as emperor and exile to the island of Elba off Italy. His exile lasted less than a year when he escaped back to France and raised another army and regained control of government. This lasted 100 days until he met British and Prussian forces in a field near the little Belgian town of Waterloo. The Duke of Wellington once again got the better of Napoleon as he had in the Peninsular Wars. Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled to the island of Saint Helena off Africa where he died in 1821.

After Napoleon, the monarchy were restored in the form of the Bourbon dynasty which bumbled along for several decades marked by the usual political intrigue of alliances and sporadic wars including a particularly ridiculous one against far flung Mexico. The bad blood with Prussia was rekindled with the Franco-Prussian War which saw France defeated and handing over Alsace and Lorraine to the Germans.

The Third Republic was established after the Franco-Prussian War and lasted until 1940. It too was an extremely turbulent period. France entered an alliance with Britain and Russia to counter Germany's growing strength. Britain was locked into an arms race with Germany (a newly formed nation state and emerging industrial power). France wanted Alsace-Lorraine back and Russia was also feeling threatened by Germany's muscle. In June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austro-Hungarian Empire (a German ally) was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo (now Bosnia, but then part of Serbia). This caused Austria to declare war on Serbia who was allied with Russia. Russia then declared war on Austria and one by one most of the nations of Europe found themselves embroiled in World War One.

On August 3, 1914 the German Empire declared war on France and invaded neighbouring Belgium whereupon Britain sent its army across the channel to bolster France's. After some quick German victories the front line solidified along the French frontiers with Belgium and Germany (known as the Western Front). The stalemate lasted for most of the war with only small advances made by each side. Trench warfare was born and horrible carnage was wrought by new weapons of the industrial age such as machine guns, improved artillery and poison gas. Germany was eventually ground down and surrendered on 11 November 1918.

World War One almost bled France dry. It cost 1.4 million military and 500,000 civilian deaths from a population of 39 million. France regained Alsace and Lorraine and along with the other allies exacted massive financial penalties on Germany (reparations), which crippled her and created the chaotic conditions that gave rise to the Second World War.

France suffered through the Great Depression of the 1930s as most countries around the world did. They spent a fortune building massive defensive networks along the border with Germany which became known as the Maginot Line.

A new Germany, the Third Reich, arose from the ashes led by Adolf Hitler who had served on the Western Front during World War One.

Germany took over neighbouring Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938 with little reaction from an unprepared France and Britain. In September 1939 Germany over ran Poland with the help of the Soviet Union (Russia) and divided the country up. France and Britain were forced to act and declared war on Germany. Little happened (the Phony War) for several months then in May 1940 the German Blitzkrieg overwhelmed Holland and neighbouring Belgium. There aim was to enter France through its unprotected border with Belgium thereby circumnavigating the dangerous Maginot Line along the Franco-German border.

British and French forces rushed into Belgium to meet the Germans, but were no match for the advanced German air power and armour. The British pulled their mauled army out of Dunkerque and France surrendered in on 22 June 1940.

A new French puppet government was formed under World War One hero Marshall Petain with its capital in the spa town of Vichy near Lyon. This is often referred to as Vichy France.

Hitler's plan to continue on to invade Britain was dashed when the Royal Air Force essentially defeated the German Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain. Knowing a seaborne invasion of Britain without air superiority was futile, Hitler turned his attentions upon North Africa, the Balkans and one time ally Russia. After spectacular advances through 1941, the tide began to turn and from late 1942 it was mostly bad news for the Germans. The US entered the European theatre in 1943 and in June 1944 led largest invasion force in history landing on the beaches of Normandy.

General Charles de Gaulle, leader of the Free French forces in World War Two became an important political figure in post war France. He led the first postwar government briefly then became disaffected with the new proposed constitution and retired for several years to write his memoirs. In 1958 France was again in turmoil and needed a strong leader. De Gaulle was elected President and set about reviving France's fortunes. Under de Gaulle, France became an economic, cultural and military powerhouse, however he was criticized for being somewhat dictatorial. After a series of massive riots in Paris throughout the summer of 1968 de Gaulle resigned in 1969 and died in 1970 at 80 years of age.

France had some disastrous colonial wars in the 1950s and 1960s. The First Indo-China War in Vietnam and Laos was a pre-cursor to the America's involvement there and ended in a humiliating defeat. The North African colony of Algeria demanded independence from France resulting in the Algerian War of Independence. Eventually France gave in and the nation state of Algeria was formed and hundreds of thousands of French colonists or 'pied noir' (literally 'black foot') were forced to leave along with a similar number of Algerian Muslims who had served with the French Army.

This was a significant chapter in France's postwar history and has sowed the seeds of racial and religious tension in France recently exemplified by the 2005 race riots.

France (along with Germany) was the leading proponent of the European Economic Community which became the European Union. The basic philosophy was to cooperate economically with each other so closely that France and Germany's economies become inextricably linked making further warfare between the nations practically impossible. This was supported by Britain and the US as it formed the nucleus for a strong Western European alliance to counter the looming danger of the Soviet Union.

The European Union of which France is a major player now consists of 27 member states with a combined population of 494 million people. Border controls between most member states have been relaxed as a result of the Schengen Agreement and 13 member states now use the Euro as their currency.

France along with Germany opposed the US led invasion of Iraq and as a result suffered diplomatically at the hands of the US (Freedom Fries)

France continues to be an important economic (6th largest economy in the world) and political figure in world affairs although they have lost much ground to the UK in recent years economically. Their corporate sector is however very powerful with companies like Airbus, Accor, Alcatel, AXA, Bic, Danone, Dior, Hermes, L'Oreal, Michelin, Peugeot-Citroen, Renault, Sodexho, Thales, Vivendi and Yoplait. See list of French companies.

Recent race riots throughout the metropolitan areas of France reflect a growing divide between the predominantly catholic French population and the 5 million strong French Muslim population. A stagnating economy and increasing Xenophobic attitudes among the French mainstream has led to a radicalization of many French Muslims helping to spark the riots.

Interior minister and presidential hopeful, Nicolas Sarkozy branded the rioters as 'scum' which further inflamed the situation

France still maintains overseas departements and territories (referred to as the DomToms) throughout the world including those close to Australia such as New Caledonia and French Polynesia (Tahiti).