Canon Update
From 1077 to 1968. This is still a work in progress and is not finished by any means will do.
Updated Background:
In the next few centuries follow 1077, France grew significantly and became more unified as a country. Eventually, France becomes a man as he discovers that Hungary was right and it does, in fact, grow in. He also began to get in the habit of going on religious crusades, upon the requests of the Pope. Then, in 1337, he entered the period that is now known as the 100 Years War, though at the time it was just a series of different wars with England. The main issue behind the warfare was one of inheritance, the French throne had become vacant upon the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings. The House of Valois claimed the title of King of France, while the Plantagenets from England claimed to be Kings of France and England. Their goal was to unite the two thrones, while the French obviously wanted their own rulers to remain in control. However, there were also inheritance issues among the French, with different houses fighting to gain control of the country, some even allying with England out of desperation. The conflicts lasted until 1453, until France finally managed to push an English invasion out of the majority of French territory, partly with the help of a young girl named Jeanne D'Arc, who helped inspire and drive the resistance. The war had a huge effect on France, both negatively and positively. It awakened French nationalism, for one, The Hundred Years' War accelerated the process of transforming France from a feudal monarchy to a centralised state. It also set a standard for Anglo-French relations, one mostly founded on complete hatred for each other.
From 1562-98, there was a period of civil infighting within France, between the Protestant Huguenots and the French Catholics. Prior to the Wars of Religion (which is what the period is called) King Francis I initially tolerated the growth of Protestantism in France, but then eventually deemed it heresy and many protestants in France were massacred and forced to worship in private, until Calvinism began to spread even to the noble classes. During the Wars of Religion, there were various major wars between the two factions, both struggling for influence over France and the French king. There was a brief period of “Armed Peace” between the first and second war, during which the crown (and France) looked to re-unite the two factions in its efforts to re-capture Le Havre which had been occupied by the English as part of the Treaty of Hampton Court between the Huguenot leaders and Elizabeth I. The second war was brief, ending the Peace of Longjumeau, which granted significant religious freedoms and privileges to Protestants.
However, despite this, Catholic confraternities and leagues sprang up across the country in defiance of the law throughout the summer of the same year. Huguenot leaders fled court in fear of their lives, many of their followers were murdered, and in September the Edict of Saint-Maur revoked the Huguenots' freedom to worship. In November, an army was lead into France in order to support the Protestants by William of Orange, but then he accepted the crown’s offer of money and free passage to leave the country, as his army was too poorly paid. The protestants were still able to form an army, with help from German protestants and even some loans from England. The Catholics were commanded by the Duke d'Anjou (later King Henry III) and assisted by troops from Spain, the Papal States and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. The Huguenots were eventually defeated, but King Charles IX wished for a peaceful solution and there was a huge royal debt at the time, so France ended up giving the Huguenots some concessions. Despite this shaky truce, massacres of Huguenots at the hands of Catholic mobs continued, and matters at Court were further complicated as King Charles IX openly allied himself with the Huguenot leaders. Eventually, after even more drama involving a wedding between a Catholic princess and a protestant, there was a full-scale massacre of Calvinist men, women and children, and the looting of their houses, which was neither approved of nor predicted by the king, that lasted for five days. The massacre spread across France, with thousands dying, and is known as the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. There were four more wars following this until The War of the Three Henries (1584-1589) and The Wars of the League (1589-1598), during which Henri IV became France's king. 1598 saw the publication of the Edict of Nantes, which granted Huguenots freedom of worship and civil rights for nearly a century.
Moving on, during the 17th Century, France grew even more and was one of the dominant powers of Europe. There was concern in Paris about the language of France, however. Across French territory, everyone spoke different dialects of old French. In some places closer to the borders with German nations and Spain, the people spoke dialects of German, Catalan and Basque. Standard French was invented and was used as a language of diplomacy in Europe, but it wasn't until after 1650 that the nobles began to favour Standard French over the dialects of the people in the areas they lived in and ruled over. The local languages were called “patois”, implying that they were animal-like, and the divide between rich and poor became drastically huge. Written works and high forms of art began to reflect only the lives of the elite classes, as opposed to earlier when they had been a bit more relatable for all French people.
In 1635, France became directly involved in the Thirty Years War in Europe, after having put down English backed Huguenot rebellions against the French crown. Though France was Catholic, he hadn't been getting along well with Spain and the Holy Roman Empire at the time, and so he allied with Protestant Sweden. The war resulted in the rise of the Bourban Dynasty in France but was also the start of the Franco-Spanish war. Warfare between the two continued until 1659, when the Treaty of the Pyrenees was signed. he treaty stated that France gained the territory of Roussillon and territories along his border with the Spanish Netherlands. In return, France agreed to end his support for Portugal's independence.
The 17th century was also the real start of France's overseas empire. In 1608 he founded Quebec and found the child Canada. Since Canada's European population was tiny, France actually did his best to get along with the native people, particularly in comparison to England and Spain. He did try to convert them to Catholicism, but otherwise they were fairly friendly. By the end of the century, France had gained territory in North America all the way down to Louisiana. He also raised Haiti for some time. Many French colonial possessions, however, were in the Indian Ocean and were gained throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. During the Seven Years War (1756-1763), France lost Canada to England, something he only truly regretted later, as at the time he was more concerned with problems at home and had never had the same passion for colonialism that England and Spain did, however much he liked the kids.
Though the Thirty Years War was said to be the last major religious war in Europe, religion still had a huge effect within France, into the 18th century. In the countryside, where most of the French population was located, the parish was sometimes the only connection the community had with the outside world. The Church also owned 6% of France directly and had a large influence within France. The expression “outside the church, no salvation” didn't just have spiritual meaning for France, but applied to most areas of life. However, it was also a time of “Enlightenment” in France, with a rise of faith in science and reason, as opposed to accepting the Church's word as law. Conflict did spawn from these two sides, one example is a young man named François-Jean de la Barre, who was brutally executed for mutilating a cross.
In any case, the late 18th Century was one of great social conflict in France, with a growing divide between the elite nobles and the common peasantry. France was also facing some economic problems and King Louis XVI brought in a number of financial advisors to review the weakened French treasury. Each advisor said that France needed to change the way the people were taxed, and they were each ignored by the king. Finally, the king realised that this taxation problem really did need to be dealt with, so he appointed a new controller general of finance, Charles de Calonne, in 1783. Calonne suggested that, among other things, France begin taxing the previously exempt nobility. The nobility refused, even after Calonne pleaded with them during the Assembly of Notables in 1787. In a final act of desperation, Louis XVI decided in 1789 to convene the Estates-General, an ancient assembly consisting of three different estates that each represented a portion of the French population. If the Estates-General could agree on a tax solution, it would be implemented. However, since two of the three estates-the clergy and the nobility-were tax-exempt, meaning they were unlikely to make any real changed. Also, the rules of order for the Estates-General gave each estate a single vote, despite the fact that the Third Estate-consisting of the general French public-was much larger than either of the first two. Arguments quickly broke out over this and, realising that its numbers gave it an automatic advantage, the Third Estate declared itself the sovereign National Assembly. Many members of the clergy and nobility switched allegiances over to this revolutionary new assembly.
Shortly after the National Assembly formed, its members took the Tennis Court Oath, swearing that they would not relent in their efforts until a new constitution had been agreed upon. The National Assembly’s revolutionary spirit inspired France, in a number of different ways. In Paris, citizens (and probably France himself, to be honest) stormed the city’s largest prison, the Bastille. In the countryside, peasants and farmers revolted against their feudal contracts by attacking the manors and estates of their landlords. Dubbed the “Great Fear,” these rural attacks continued until the early August issuing of the August Decrees, which freed those peasants from their oppressive contracts. Shortly thereafter, the assembly released the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which established a proper judicial code and the autonomy of the French people.
A rift slowly grew between the radical and moderate assembly members, while the common labourers and workers began to feel overlooked. There were two major sides in the argument, the moderate Girondins took a stance in favour of retaining the constitutional monarchy, while the radical Jacobins wanted the king gone altogether. Outside of France, some neighbouring countries feared that France’s revolutionary spirit would spread beyond French land. In response, they issued the Declaration of Pillnitz, which insisted that France cut the shit and return Louis XVI to the throne. This ticked him off a little, so France declared war on Austria and Prussia.
The first acts of the newly named National Convention were the abolition of the monarchy and the declaration of France as a republic. In January 1793, the convention tried and executed Louis XVI on the grounds of treason. The war with Austria and Prussia didn't go well for France, and the other countries pressed on into French territory. Enraged citizens overthrew the Girondin-led National Convention, and the Jacobins, led by Maximilien Robespierre, took control. Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety began conscripting French soldiers and implementing laws to stabilise the economy. However, Robespierre, growing increasingly paranoid about counterrevolutionary influences, began an aptly named Reign of Terror in late 1793-1794, during which he had more than 15,000 people executed at the guillotine. When the France finally drove the invaders off and the economy finally stabilised, however, Robespierre no longer had any justification for the executions, and he himself was arrested in July 1794 and executed.
After this, a period of governmental restructuring began, leading to the new Constitution of 1795 and a significantly more conservative National Convention. To control executive responsibilities and appointments, a group known as the Directory was formed. Meanwhile, the Committee of Public Safety’s war effort was a huge success. French armies were making progress in nearly every direction, especially those led by a name that might be familiar: Napoleon Bonaparte. After his defeat in Egypt, Napoleon returned to Paris and he arrived in time to lead a coup against the Directory in 1799, eventually stepping up and naming himself “first consul”-effectively, the leader of France. With Napoleon at the helm, the Revolution ended, and France entered a fifteen-year period of military rule. Under Napoleon, France became a nationalist power, expanding his territory into Italy and exerting his influence over other powers. Napoleon consolidated his rule by suppressing rebellions in France, and streamlining the French law system in the Napoleonic Code. By 1804, Napoleon was so powerful that he declared himself Emperor. Moving swiftly along...
Defeating the various military coalitions the other powers of Europe threw against them, Napoleon and France built a vast empire of dependant states, forced Russia to ally with France in the 1807 Treaty of Tilsit, and controlled most of Europe. Everywhere Napoleon went he spread the reforms and influence of the French Revolution to a remarkable extent. Just about the only upset in the process during the first decade of the 19th century was a hideous naval loss to England at the Battle of Trafalgar. After that, seeking to undermine England's power at sea, Napoleon issued the Berlin Decree in 1806, imposing the Continental System on Europe, which was meant to stop European countries from trading with Britain. Instead of hurting England, the Continental System hurt Napoleon and France. Upset by Napoleonic rule, Germanic nationalism got its start and, in Spain, the attempt to impose the Continental System led to the Peninsular War, which diverted French forces from the rest of Europe. At the end of 1810, Alexander I withdrew Russia from the Continental System. In 1812, Napoleon moved his Grand Army into Russia. We all know what happens here, Russia is a very cold place. Napoleon rushed home to raise a new army, but was defeated in October 1813 by an international coalition of armies at the Battle of Leipzig.
In 1814, Napoleon was exiled to the island of Elba and Louis XVIII took the throne of France, returning a Bourbon to the throne. So back to monarchy for France, but Louis kept some of the major reforms Napoleon had made (such as the Code), as he was smart enough to realise going back to the 18th Century model of monarchy would be suicide. As the powers were just starting to negotiate a settlement, Napoleon escaped from Elba and returned to France, raising an army during the period known as the Hundred Days. France's new army was defeated by England and Prussia at Waterloo in June 1815. Napoleon was then exiled to Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died. The chaotic Europe left behind by all this stuff was reorganized by the Congress of Vienna. Here the major powers (Austria, England, Russia, Prussia and yes, even France) set up to make Europe a more even playing field again. France was able to keep his pre-revolution territory, getting off pretty lightly considering Europe's usual way of dealing with losers.
Okay, so Louis XVIII ruled for a while and wasn't totally terrible! The Bourbon Restoration was a constitutional monarchy (unlike the Ancien Régime, which was absolute). As a constitutional monarch, Louis XVIII's royal privilege was reduced a lot by the Charter of 1814, France's new constitution which gave men the right to vote and be elected to the Chair of Deputies (with some conditions), freedom of religion and freedom of press, among other things. After Louis died, he was succeeded by his younger brother, Charles X. Charles was much more conservative than Louis, and was an ultra-royalist, often disapproving of his brother's liberal ministries. He also gave power back to the noble class, and was in general not a popular leader with France. In 1830, France invaded Algeria and eventually conquered it, making it French Algeria. This did little to distract from the domestic problems going on though, and in July there was another revolution (called the July Revolution, wow this is an awkward sentence) from the people of Paris. When the protests became violent, Charles X and most of his family were forced to flee Paris and Charles was forced to abdicate in favour of his son. However, since they were not in Paris at the time, instead Louis Philippe of the House of Orléans was placed on the throne, and he agreed to rule as a constitutional monarch. This period became known as the July Monarchy. Nicknamed the "Bourgeois Monarch", Louis Philippe sat at the head of a moderately liberal state controlled mainly by educated elites. Supported by the Orleanists, he was opposed on his right by the Legitimists (former ultra-royalists) and on his left by the Republicans and Socialists. When a wave of revolutions hit Europe in 1848, France was no exception and by the end of it the Second Republic of France was declared. Two major goals of this republic were universal suffrage and unemployment relief. Universal male suffrage was enacted on March 2, giving France nine million new voters. However, the new republic lacked order and there was a lot of conflict between the people of the cities and those of the countryside, when more socialist measures were attempted to be put in place. Louis Napoleon came to power during the December elections in 1851- with huge support because apparently France likes a nice dictator better than a disorganised democracy- after which he dissolved the National Assembly and became the sole ruler of France. Louis Napoleon took the title Emperor Napoleon III, and the Second Empire began.
Under Napoleon III, France had gained some territory in Vietnam, Cochinchina (which included much of the Southern part of Vietnam, including Saigon), and had already gained colonies elsewhere, such as Algeria. However, it was only during the Third Republic that the French colonial empire really took off. In Southeast Asia, France made the colony of Indochina by 1893, containing Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Tunisia and Morocco became protectorates. France's vast African empire now included French Equatorial Africa, French West Africa, French Somaliland , and the islands of Madagascar and the Comoros. One of France's main driving forces within his empire was mission civilisatrice, the urge to implant Roman Catholicism and French culture. However, where there prevailed long traditions of organised political life and a common culture, France tended to rule indirectly through existing local authorities, as in Tunisia and Morocco. In less structured societies like those of West Africa, France imposed direct rule and attempted to assimilate the populace. Still, he did tend to mix more with the indigenous populations than other colonial empires were in the habit of doing, even if he didn't have the goal of eventually giving them autonomy.
Anyway, back in Europe, France was whoring himself out to stop a repeat of Germany and Prussia kicking his ass. In 1892, France and Russia became allies, France not being happy about Germany in general and Russia wanting to make friends or something. The alliance ended the diplomatic isolation of France and undermined the supremacy of the German Empire in Europe. Then, in 1904, France and England finally put an end to their differences (kinda) with the Entente Cordial. Though it was basically just them agreeing to respect each others spheres of influence and dividing colonies between them, it did give them an excuse to not get involved in the war between their allies (Russia and Japan). They had to respect other alliances, after all! Ahaha... These alliances eventually lead to the Triple Entente once Russia and England allied together, balancing Europe between the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy) and the Triple Entente. Basically, Europe started sizing each other up and picking sides (Italy made a secret alliance with France, because that's how he rolls). Then Serbia shot some dude and all hell broke loose. Russia runs to defend the Slavs! Germany runs to back Austria and Hungary up! France sides with Russia! Germany invades France via Belgium because why not? England rushes to defend a lady like the gentleman he is! Russia mobilises with surprising speed! America gets sick of everyone sinking his boats and joins in too! Germany loses.
Now, by this point, France is pretty sick of being beat up by Germany and the Great War involved him getting really beat up, even if he won. And so when the time comes to decide what is going to happen to the losers, France basically wants to burn Germany to the ground and throw his ashes out to sea. England and America thought that was a little harsh. In the end, the three of them work out the Versailles Treaty, merely crippling Germany to the edge of collapse, rather than pushing him off it. Germany was required to pay huge reparations to France and his allies, more than he could probably afford in his post-war state. When he was slow to pay up, France and Belgium occupied the Ruhr, attempting to take resources to pay the reparations by force.
Anyway, in short, France hated Germany. A lot. But he desperately wanted to keep England and America as allies, in case Germany tried to attack him again, and they were much bigger on giving Germany at least a fighting chance. Eventually Germany recovered, partly due to help from his new boss, Adolf Hitler. France ended up going along with the policy of Appeasement, basically giving Germany a lot of what he wanted in order to avoid going to war. After the terrors of the Great War, neither England nor France were in any particular rush to start another. However, they did ally with Poland and promised him protection. Germany didn't think they'd follow through on it! But when he invaded in 1939, England and France declared war.
... And then didn't do much about it at first. Eventually Germany invaded France (again. Through Belgium.), though France had thought the Ardennes region would be impenetrable for armoured vehicles. By going through the Ardennes, Germany was able to avoid most of France's defences in the Maginot Line. British troops were forced to evacuate the continent at Dunkirk, and on 10 June, Italy invaded France, declaring war on both France and the United Kingdom; twelve days later France surrendered and was soon divided into German and Italian occupation zones, and an unoccupied rump state under the Vichy Regime. France was also forced to hand a lot of his colonies over to the Axis, with Vietnam coming under Japanese occupation. On 3 July, England attacked the French fleet in Algeria to prevent its possible seizure by Germany. France's new Vichy government tried to play up the attack in order to turn France against the country he was at the time still counting on coming to rescue him, but it didn't work much. Apparently traditional Anglophobia is not something to be counted on when you need it.
Initially there wasn't much internal resistance to the Vichy Regime and Germany within France. As time went on, however, the collaboration with the Germans became more clear (as opposed to dealing with the Germans as a way to keep peace while France went through a "spiritual revolution") and by the end of the year, real resistance groups were being formed. Meanwhile, in Britain and overseas, General de Gaulle became the recognised leader of the "Free French". It took France himself a while to accept de Gaulle as leader of the resistance, however, and in the beginning he mostly worked within the Vichy government, trying to make the most of a bad situation and deal with the problem of Germany from that position. Eventually this changed and he basically ended up sneaking out to help with the internal resistance groups and even overseas with de Gaulle in protecting the French colonies.
Then there was D-Day and the Liberation of Paris and various resistance groups taking France back... And then WW2 was over! France barely managed to avoid being treated like territory gained through war, managing to push himself back up to a position where he could pretend to be a major power for long enough to make himself a real one again. In 1946 he formed the Fourth Republic, which had a bit of a hectic government, going through twenty-one prime ministers in eleven years. France was still a colonial power at this point, though it was now working within the French Union (basically France's attempt at a system similar to the Commonwealth of Nations). There was a lot of unrest going on though, particularly in Indo-China and Algeria. When things in Algeria got out of hand, a war started that was both separatist and nearly a civil war. The army sided with the Algérie française and demanded that de Gaulle be made head of the Republic. When Charles de Gaulle came into power, he created a new constitution and formed the Fifth Republic because who is even counting anymore. France granted independence to Algeria in 1962.
De Gaulle put in place tough economic measures to revitalise France, including the issuing of a new franc (worth 100 old francs). Internationally, he rebuffed both the United States and the Soviet Union, pushing for an independent France with its own nuclear weapons, and strongly encouraged a "Free Europe", believing that a confederation of all European nations would restore the past glories of the great European empires. "Yes, it is Europe, from the Atlantic to the Urals, it is the whole of Europe, that will decide the destiny of the world." Some people have interpreted this to be deliberately excluding England and the rest of the British Isles. Rest assured, it was far more likely aimed just at Britain. He set about building Franco-German cooperation as the cornerstone of the European Economic Community (EEC), paying the first state visit to Germany by a French head of state since Napoleon. In January 1963, Germany and France signed a treaty of friendship, the Élysée Treaty. France also continually vetoed England's attempts to join the EEC. In February 1966, France withdrew from the common NATO military command, but remained within the organisation. De Gaulle, haunted by the memories of 1940, wanted France to remain the master of the decisions affecting him, unlike in the 1930s, when France had to basically just go along with whatever England said. He also declared that all foreign military forces had to leave French territory and gave them one year to redeploy. In the same year, he expressed disapproval of US involvement in Vietnam, despite the fact that France was still somewhat responsible for the whole mess.
De Gaulle was facing quite a lot of unpopularity within France, due to the heavy-handed nature of his politics (I won't go into every example) and what many felt to be a biased national media.In May 1968 a general insurrection broke out across France, beginning with student strikes that broke out at a number of universities and high schools in Paris, following confrontations with university administrators and the police. The de Gaulle administration's attempts to quash those strikes by further police action only inflamed the situation further, leading to street battles with the police in the Latin Quarter, followed by a general strike by students and strikes throughout France by ten million French workers, roughly two-thirds of the French workforce. The protests reached the point that de Gaulle created a military operations headquarters to deal with the unrest, dissolved the National Assembly and called for new parliamentary elections for 23 June 1968. When the elections were finally held, however, the Gaullist party emerged even stronger than before. De Gaulle himself was still fairly unpopular though, the polls revealed. It seemed most of France was happy enough with Gaullism, but they were starting to get tired of Charles de Gaulle himself.
It is from the end of June, 1968, that I will be playing France from.
Updated Personality:
France has matured a lot since he was a child- no, really, he has- but he is still a rather selfish person and can occasionally be kind of superficial and he has his immature moments. It seems that he's one of the more aware and intelligent countries, but that really doesn't mean much. He's still quite clever though and is good at reading people. Being as old as he is, France does have it in him to be mature and occasionally manages to give off an “older but wiser” aura in certain situations. As of late, he's become much less likely to accept faults in his bosses or the structure of his society, becoming frustrated with them easily and quickly letting them know when this occurs.
At heart, France is not a bad person and likes to see himself as everyone's mature big brother figure, intentionally acting how he imagines such a figure should act and trying to look like one. He enjoys taking opportunities to take care of people, so long as they're appropriately grateful, and he's actually quite paternal when he's in the right mood. He tends to spoil his “younger siblings” and loves to shower people with affection. He's easily irritated, but tends to sigh and put that aside when they need big brother's advice or assistance.
That said, as stated earlier, he's also still incredibly selfish, superficial and, when someone pushes the right buttons, he's quite childish. He won't hesitate to take advantage of others and likes opportunities to show how much better than everyone else he is. Now he's older, he's also an unredeemable pervert and becomes infatuated with people, particularly other nations, easily. He molests the other nations at any opportunity, flirts with any attractive person he meets and likes to strip fellow nations down whenever he has an excuse (he is surprisingly good at this, all things considered). Brief glimpses at his interactions with humans seem to imply that he's much more restrained with them and also that they're much more susceptible to his charms, possibly because the other countries simply know him too well.
At this point in time, France is currently trying to shake off the embarrassment of the German occupation and subsequent rescue during World War Two. Having come so close to just being another bit of Europe to be divided into the other Allies spheres of influence, he's very into proving himself and acting independently to all of them. He's currently doing this by trying to shove England out into the Atlantic and play peacemaker between Russia and America (how useful he is here is heavily debatable). However, even he's starting to get sick of de Gaulle's anti-American stance by now.
Updated Background:
In the next few centuries follow 1077, France grew significantly and became more unified as a country. Eventually, France becomes a man as he discovers that Hungary was right and it does, in fact, grow in. He also began to get in the habit of going on religious crusades, upon the requests of the Pope. Then, in 1337, he entered the period that is now known as the 100 Years War, though at the time it was just a series of different wars with England. The main issue behind the warfare was one of inheritance, the French throne had become vacant upon the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings. The House of Valois claimed the title of King of France, while the Plantagenets from England claimed to be Kings of France and England. Their goal was to unite the two thrones, while the French obviously wanted their own rulers to remain in control. However, there were also inheritance issues among the French, with different houses fighting to gain control of the country, some even allying with England out of desperation. The conflicts lasted until 1453, until France finally managed to push an English invasion out of the majority of French territory, partly with the help of a young girl named Jeanne D'Arc, who helped inspire and drive the resistance. The war had a huge effect on France, both negatively and positively. It awakened French nationalism, for one, The Hundred Years' War accelerated the process of transforming France from a feudal monarchy to a centralised state. It also set a standard for Anglo-French relations, one mostly founded on complete hatred for each other.
From 1562-98, there was a period of civil infighting within France, between the Protestant Huguenots and the French Catholics. Prior to the Wars of Religion (which is what the period is called) King Francis I initially tolerated the growth of Protestantism in France, but then eventually deemed it heresy and many protestants in France were massacred and forced to worship in private, until Calvinism began to spread even to the noble classes. During the Wars of Religion, there were various major wars between the two factions, both struggling for influence over France and the French king. There was a brief period of “Armed Peace” between the first and second war, during which the crown (and France) looked to re-unite the two factions in its efforts to re-capture Le Havre which had been occupied by the English as part of the Treaty of Hampton Court between the Huguenot leaders and Elizabeth I. The second war was brief, ending the Peace of Longjumeau, which granted significant religious freedoms and privileges to Protestants.
However, despite this, Catholic confraternities and leagues sprang up across the country in defiance of the law throughout the summer of the same year. Huguenot leaders fled court in fear of their lives, many of their followers were murdered, and in September the Edict of Saint-Maur revoked the Huguenots' freedom to worship. In November, an army was lead into France in order to support the Protestants by William of Orange, but then he accepted the crown’s offer of money and free passage to leave the country, as his army was too poorly paid. The protestants were still able to form an army, with help from German protestants and even some loans from England. The Catholics were commanded by the Duke d'Anjou (later King Henry III) and assisted by troops from Spain, the Papal States and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. The Huguenots were eventually defeated, but King Charles IX wished for a peaceful solution and there was a huge royal debt at the time, so France ended up giving the Huguenots some concessions. Despite this shaky truce, massacres of Huguenots at the hands of Catholic mobs continued, and matters at Court were further complicated as King Charles IX openly allied himself with the Huguenot leaders. Eventually, after even more drama involving a wedding between a Catholic princess and a protestant, there was a full-scale massacre of Calvinist men, women and children, and the looting of their houses, which was neither approved of nor predicted by the king, that lasted for five days. The massacre spread across France, with thousands dying, and is known as the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. There were four more wars following this until The War of the Three Henries (1584-1589) and The Wars of the League (1589-1598), during which Henri IV became France's king. 1598 saw the publication of the Edict of Nantes, which granted Huguenots freedom of worship and civil rights for nearly a century.
Moving on, during the 17th Century, France grew even more and was one of the dominant powers of Europe. There was concern in Paris about the language of France, however. Across French territory, everyone spoke different dialects of old French. In some places closer to the borders with German nations and Spain, the people spoke dialects of German, Catalan and Basque. Standard French was invented and was used as a language of diplomacy in Europe, but it wasn't until after 1650 that the nobles began to favour Standard French over the dialects of the people in the areas they lived in and ruled over. The local languages were called “patois”, implying that they were animal-like, and the divide between rich and poor became drastically huge. Written works and high forms of art began to reflect only the lives of the elite classes, as opposed to earlier when they had been a bit more relatable for all French people.
In 1635, France became directly involved in the Thirty Years War in Europe, after having put down English backed Huguenot rebellions against the French crown. Though France was Catholic, he hadn't been getting along well with Spain and the Holy Roman Empire at the time, and so he allied with Protestant Sweden. The war resulted in the rise of the Bourban Dynasty in France but was also the start of the Franco-Spanish war. Warfare between the two continued until 1659, when the Treaty of the Pyrenees was signed. he treaty stated that France gained the territory of Roussillon and territories along his border with the Spanish Netherlands. In return, France agreed to end his support for Portugal's independence.
The 17th century was also the real start of France's overseas empire. In 1608 he founded Quebec and found the child Canada. Since Canada's European population was tiny, France actually did his best to get along with the native people, particularly in comparison to England and Spain. He did try to convert them to Catholicism, but otherwise they were fairly friendly. By the end of the century, France had gained territory in North America all the way down to Louisiana. He also raised Haiti for some time. Many French colonial possessions, however, were in the Indian Ocean and were gained throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. During the Seven Years War (1756-1763), France lost Canada to England, something he only truly regretted later, as at the time he was more concerned with problems at home and had never had the same passion for colonialism that England and Spain did, however much he liked the kids.
Though the Thirty Years War was said to be the last major religious war in Europe, religion still had a huge effect within France, into the 18th century. In the countryside, where most of the French population was located, the parish was sometimes the only connection the community had with the outside world. The Church also owned 6% of France directly and had a large influence within France. The expression “outside the church, no salvation” didn't just have spiritual meaning for France, but applied to most areas of life. However, it was also a time of “Enlightenment” in France, with a rise of faith in science and reason, as opposed to accepting the Church's word as law. Conflict did spawn from these two sides, one example is a young man named François-Jean de la Barre, who was brutally executed for mutilating a cross.
In any case, the late 18th Century was one of great social conflict in France, with a growing divide between the elite nobles and the common peasantry. France was also facing some economic problems and King Louis XVI brought in a number of financial advisors to review the weakened French treasury. Each advisor said that France needed to change the way the people were taxed, and they were each ignored by the king. Finally, the king realised that this taxation problem really did need to be dealt with, so he appointed a new controller general of finance, Charles de Calonne, in 1783. Calonne suggested that, among other things, France begin taxing the previously exempt nobility. The nobility refused, even after Calonne pleaded with them during the Assembly of Notables in 1787. In a final act of desperation, Louis XVI decided in 1789 to convene the Estates-General, an ancient assembly consisting of three different estates that each represented a portion of the French population. If the Estates-General could agree on a tax solution, it would be implemented. However, since two of the three estates-the clergy and the nobility-were tax-exempt, meaning they were unlikely to make any real changed. Also, the rules of order for the Estates-General gave each estate a single vote, despite the fact that the Third Estate-consisting of the general French public-was much larger than either of the first two. Arguments quickly broke out over this and, realising that its numbers gave it an automatic advantage, the Third Estate declared itself the sovereign National Assembly. Many members of the clergy and nobility switched allegiances over to this revolutionary new assembly.
Shortly after the National Assembly formed, its members took the Tennis Court Oath, swearing that they would not relent in their efforts until a new constitution had been agreed upon. The National Assembly’s revolutionary spirit inspired France, in a number of different ways. In Paris, citizens (and probably France himself, to be honest) stormed the city’s largest prison, the Bastille. In the countryside, peasants and farmers revolted against their feudal contracts by attacking the manors and estates of their landlords. Dubbed the “Great Fear,” these rural attacks continued until the early August issuing of the August Decrees, which freed those peasants from their oppressive contracts. Shortly thereafter, the assembly released the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which established a proper judicial code and the autonomy of the French people.
A rift slowly grew between the radical and moderate assembly members, while the common labourers and workers began to feel overlooked. There were two major sides in the argument, the moderate Girondins took a stance in favour of retaining the constitutional monarchy, while the radical Jacobins wanted the king gone altogether. Outside of France, some neighbouring countries feared that France’s revolutionary spirit would spread beyond French land. In response, they issued the Declaration of Pillnitz, which insisted that France cut the shit and return Louis XVI to the throne. This ticked him off a little, so France declared war on Austria and Prussia.
The first acts of the newly named National Convention were the abolition of the monarchy and the declaration of France as a republic. In January 1793, the convention tried and executed Louis XVI on the grounds of treason. The war with Austria and Prussia didn't go well for France, and the other countries pressed on into French territory. Enraged citizens overthrew the Girondin-led National Convention, and the Jacobins, led by Maximilien Robespierre, took control. Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety began conscripting French soldiers and implementing laws to stabilise the economy. However, Robespierre, growing increasingly paranoid about counterrevolutionary influences, began an aptly named Reign of Terror in late 1793-1794, during which he had more than 15,000 people executed at the guillotine. When the France finally drove the invaders off and the economy finally stabilised, however, Robespierre no longer had any justification for the executions, and he himself was arrested in July 1794 and executed.
After this, a period of governmental restructuring began, leading to the new Constitution of 1795 and a significantly more conservative National Convention. To control executive responsibilities and appointments, a group known as the Directory was formed. Meanwhile, the Committee of Public Safety’s war effort was a huge success. French armies were making progress in nearly every direction, especially those led by a name that might be familiar: Napoleon Bonaparte. After his defeat in Egypt, Napoleon returned to Paris and he arrived in time to lead a coup against the Directory in 1799, eventually stepping up and naming himself “first consul”-effectively, the leader of France. With Napoleon at the helm, the Revolution ended, and France entered a fifteen-year period of military rule. Under Napoleon, France became a nationalist power, expanding his territory into Italy and exerting his influence over other powers. Napoleon consolidated his rule by suppressing rebellions in France, and streamlining the French law system in the Napoleonic Code. By 1804, Napoleon was so powerful that he declared himself Emperor. Moving swiftly along...
Defeating the various military coalitions the other powers of Europe threw against them, Napoleon and France built a vast empire of dependant states, forced Russia to ally with France in the 1807 Treaty of Tilsit, and controlled most of Europe. Everywhere Napoleon went he spread the reforms and influence of the French Revolution to a remarkable extent. Just about the only upset in the process during the first decade of the 19th century was a hideous naval loss to England at the Battle of Trafalgar. After that, seeking to undermine England's power at sea, Napoleon issued the Berlin Decree in 1806, imposing the Continental System on Europe, which was meant to stop European countries from trading with Britain. Instead of hurting England, the Continental System hurt Napoleon and France. Upset by Napoleonic rule, Germanic nationalism got its start and, in Spain, the attempt to impose the Continental System led to the Peninsular War, which diverted French forces from the rest of Europe. At the end of 1810, Alexander I withdrew Russia from the Continental System. In 1812, Napoleon moved his Grand Army into Russia. We all know what happens here, Russia is a very cold place. Napoleon rushed home to raise a new army, but was defeated in October 1813 by an international coalition of armies at the Battle of Leipzig.
In 1814, Napoleon was exiled to the island of Elba and Louis XVIII took the throne of France, returning a Bourbon to the throne. So back to monarchy for France, but Louis kept some of the major reforms Napoleon had made (such as the Code), as he was smart enough to realise going back to the 18th Century model of monarchy would be suicide. As the powers were just starting to negotiate a settlement, Napoleon escaped from Elba and returned to France, raising an army during the period known as the Hundred Days. France's new army was defeated by England and Prussia at Waterloo in June 1815. Napoleon was then exiled to Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died. The chaotic Europe left behind by all this stuff was reorganized by the Congress of Vienna. Here the major powers (Austria, England, Russia, Prussia and yes, even France) set up to make Europe a more even playing field again. France was able to keep his pre-revolution territory, getting off pretty lightly considering Europe's usual way of dealing with losers.
Okay, so Louis XVIII ruled for a while and wasn't totally terrible! The Bourbon Restoration was a constitutional monarchy (unlike the Ancien Régime, which was absolute). As a constitutional monarch, Louis XVIII's royal privilege was reduced a lot by the Charter of 1814, France's new constitution which gave men the right to vote and be elected to the Chair of Deputies (with some conditions), freedom of religion and freedom of press, among other things. After Louis died, he was succeeded by his younger brother, Charles X. Charles was much more conservative than Louis, and was an ultra-royalist, often disapproving of his brother's liberal ministries. He also gave power back to the noble class, and was in general not a popular leader with France. In 1830, France invaded Algeria and eventually conquered it, making it French Algeria. This did little to distract from the domestic problems going on though, and in July there was another revolution (called the July Revolution, wow this is an awkward sentence) from the people of Paris. When the protests became violent, Charles X and most of his family were forced to flee Paris and Charles was forced to abdicate in favour of his son. However, since they were not in Paris at the time, instead Louis Philippe of the House of Orléans was placed on the throne, and he agreed to rule as a constitutional monarch. This period became known as the July Monarchy. Nicknamed the "Bourgeois Monarch", Louis Philippe sat at the head of a moderately liberal state controlled mainly by educated elites. Supported by the Orleanists, he was opposed on his right by the Legitimists (former ultra-royalists) and on his left by the Republicans and Socialists. When a wave of revolutions hit Europe in 1848, France was no exception and by the end of it the Second Republic of France was declared. Two major goals of this republic were universal suffrage and unemployment relief. Universal male suffrage was enacted on March 2, giving France nine million new voters. However, the new republic lacked order and there was a lot of conflict between the people of the cities and those of the countryside, when more socialist measures were attempted to be put in place. Louis Napoleon came to power during the December elections in 1851- with huge support because apparently France likes a nice dictator better than a disorganised democracy- after which he dissolved the National Assembly and became the sole ruler of France. Louis Napoleon took the title Emperor Napoleon III, and the Second Empire began.
Under Napoleon III, France had gained some territory in Vietnam, Cochinchina (which included much of the Southern part of Vietnam, including Saigon), and had already gained colonies elsewhere, such as Algeria. However, it was only during the Third Republic that the French colonial empire really took off. In Southeast Asia, France made the colony of Indochina by 1893, containing Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Tunisia and Morocco became protectorates. France's vast African empire now included French Equatorial Africa, French West Africa, French Somaliland , and the islands of Madagascar and the Comoros. One of France's main driving forces within his empire was mission civilisatrice, the urge to implant Roman Catholicism and French culture. However, where there prevailed long traditions of organised political life and a common culture, France tended to rule indirectly through existing local authorities, as in Tunisia and Morocco. In less structured societies like those of West Africa, France imposed direct rule and attempted to assimilate the populace. Still, he did tend to mix more with the indigenous populations than other colonial empires were in the habit of doing, even if he didn't have the goal of eventually giving them autonomy.
Anyway, back in Europe, France was whoring himself out to stop a repeat of Germany and Prussia kicking his ass. In 1892, France and Russia became allies, France not being happy about Germany in general and Russia wanting to make friends or something. The alliance ended the diplomatic isolation of France and undermined the supremacy of the German Empire in Europe. Then, in 1904, France and England finally put an end to their differences (kinda) with the Entente Cordial. Though it was basically just them agreeing to respect each others spheres of influence and dividing colonies between them, it did give them an excuse to not get involved in the war between their allies (Russia and Japan). They had to respect other alliances, after all! Ahaha... These alliances eventually lead to the Triple Entente once Russia and England allied together, balancing Europe between the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy) and the Triple Entente. Basically, Europe started sizing each other up and picking sides (Italy made a secret alliance with France, because that's how he rolls). Then Serbia shot some dude and all hell broke loose. Russia runs to defend the Slavs! Germany runs to back Austria and Hungary up! France sides with Russia! Germany invades France via Belgium because why not? England rushes to defend a lady like the gentleman he is! Russia mobilises with surprising speed! America gets sick of everyone sinking his boats and joins in too! Germany loses.
Now, by this point, France is pretty sick of being beat up by Germany and the Great War involved him getting really beat up, even if he won. And so when the time comes to decide what is going to happen to the losers, France basically wants to burn Germany to the ground and throw his ashes out to sea. England and America thought that was a little harsh. In the end, the three of them work out the Versailles Treaty, merely crippling Germany to the edge of collapse, rather than pushing him off it. Germany was required to pay huge reparations to France and his allies, more than he could probably afford in his post-war state. When he was slow to pay up, France and Belgium occupied the Ruhr, attempting to take resources to pay the reparations by force.
Anyway, in short, France hated Germany. A lot. But he desperately wanted to keep England and America as allies, in case Germany tried to attack him again, and they were much bigger on giving Germany at least a fighting chance. Eventually Germany recovered, partly due to help from his new boss, Adolf Hitler. France ended up going along with the policy of Appeasement, basically giving Germany a lot of what he wanted in order to avoid going to war. After the terrors of the Great War, neither England nor France were in any particular rush to start another. However, they did ally with Poland and promised him protection. Germany didn't think they'd follow through on it! But when he invaded in 1939, England and France declared war.
... And then didn't do much about it at first. Eventually Germany invaded France (again. Through Belgium.), though France had thought the Ardennes region would be impenetrable for armoured vehicles. By going through the Ardennes, Germany was able to avoid most of France's defences in the Maginot Line. British troops were forced to evacuate the continent at Dunkirk, and on 10 June, Italy invaded France, declaring war on both France and the United Kingdom; twelve days later France surrendered and was soon divided into German and Italian occupation zones, and an unoccupied rump state under the Vichy Regime. France was also forced to hand a lot of his colonies over to the Axis, with Vietnam coming under Japanese occupation. On 3 July, England attacked the French fleet in Algeria to prevent its possible seizure by Germany. France's new Vichy government tried to play up the attack in order to turn France against the country he was at the time still counting on coming to rescue him, but it didn't work much. Apparently traditional Anglophobia is not something to be counted on when you need it.
Initially there wasn't much internal resistance to the Vichy Regime and Germany within France. As time went on, however, the collaboration with the Germans became more clear (as opposed to dealing with the Germans as a way to keep peace while France went through a "spiritual revolution") and by the end of the year, real resistance groups were being formed. Meanwhile, in Britain and overseas, General de Gaulle became the recognised leader of the "Free French". It took France himself a while to accept de Gaulle as leader of the resistance, however, and in the beginning he mostly worked within the Vichy government, trying to make the most of a bad situation and deal with the problem of Germany from that position. Eventually this changed and he basically ended up sneaking out to help with the internal resistance groups and even overseas with de Gaulle in protecting the French colonies.
Then there was D-Day and the Liberation of Paris and various resistance groups taking France back... And then WW2 was over! France barely managed to avoid being treated like territory gained through war, managing to push himself back up to a position where he could pretend to be a major power for long enough to make himself a real one again. In 1946 he formed the Fourth Republic, which had a bit of a hectic government, going through twenty-one prime ministers in eleven years. France was still a colonial power at this point, though it was now working within the French Union (basically France's attempt at a system similar to the Commonwealth of Nations). There was a lot of unrest going on though, particularly in Indo-China and Algeria. When things in Algeria got out of hand, a war started that was both separatist and nearly a civil war. The army sided with the Algérie française and demanded that de Gaulle be made head of the Republic. When Charles de Gaulle came into power, he created a new constitution and formed the Fifth Republic because who is even counting anymore. France granted independence to Algeria in 1962.
De Gaulle put in place tough economic measures to revitalise France, including the issuing of a new franc (worth 100 old francs). Internationally, he rebuffed both the United States and the Soviet Union, pushing for an independent France with its own nuclear weapons, and strongly encouraged a "Free Europe", believing that a confederation of all European nations would restore the past glories of the great European empires. "Yes, it is Europe, from the Atlantic to the Urals, it is the whole of Europe, that will decide the destiny of the world." Some people have interpreted this to be deliberately excluding England and the rest of the British Isles. Rest assured, it was far more likely aimed just at Britain. He set about building Franco-German cooperation as the cornerstone of the European Economic Community (EEC), paying the first state visit to Germany by a French head of state since Napoleon. In January 1963, Germany and France signed a treaty of friendship, the Élysée Treaty. France also continually vetoed England's attempts to join the EEC. In February 1966, France withdrew from the common NATO military command, but remained within the organisation. De Gaulle, haunted by the memories of 1940, wanted France to remain the master of the decisions affecting him, unlike in the 1930s, when France had to basically just go along with whatever England said. He also declared that all foreign military forces had to leave French territory and gave them one year to redeploy. In the same year, he expressed disapproval of US involvement in Vietnam, despite the fact that France was still somewhat responsible for the whole mess.
De Gaulle was facing quite a lot of unpopularity within France, due to the heavy-handed nature of his politics (I won't go into every example) and what many felt to be a biased national media.In May 1968 a general insurrection broke out across France, beginning with student strikes that broke out at a number of universities and high schools in Paris, following confrontations with university administrators and the police. The de Gaulle administration's attempts to quash those strikes by further police action only inflamed the situation further, leading to street battles with the police in the Latin Quarter, followed by a general strike by students and strikes throughout France by ten million French workers, roughly two-thirds of the French workforce. The protests reached the point that de Gaulle created a military operations headquarters to deal with the unrest, dissolved the National Assembly and called for new parliamentary elections for 23 June 1968. When the elections were finally held, however, the Gaullist party emerged even stronger than before. De Gaulle himself was still fairly unpopular though, the polls revealed. It seemed most of France was happy enough with Gaullism, but they were starting to get tired of Charles de Gaulle himself.
It is from the end of June, 1968, that I will be playing France from.
Updated Personality:
France has matured a lot since he was a child- no, really, he has- but he is still a rather selfish person and can occasionally be kind of superficial and he has his immature moments. It seems that he's one of the more aware and intelligent countries, but that really doesn't mean much. He's still quite clever though and is good at reading people. Being as old as he is, France does have it in him to be mature and occasionally manages to give off an “older but wiser” aura in certain situations. As of late, he's become much less likely to accept faults in his bosses or the structure of his society, becoming frustrated with them easily and quickly letting them know when this occurs.
At heart, France is not a bad person and likes to see himself as everyone's mature big brother figure, intentionally acting how he imagines such a figure should act and trying to look like one. He enjoys taking opportunities to take care of people, so long as they're appropriately grateful, and he's actually quite paternal when he's in the right mood. He tends to spoil his “younger siblings” and loves to shower people with affection. He's easily irritated, but tends to sigh and put that aside when they need big brother's advice or assistance.
That said, as stated earlier, he's also still incredibly selfish, superficial and, when someone pushes the right buttons, he's quite childish. He won't hesitate to take advantage of others and likes opportunities to show how much better than everyone else he is. Now he's older, he's also an unredeemable pervert and becomes infatuated with people, particularly other nations, easily. He molests the other nations at any opportunity, flirts with any attractive person he meets and likes to strip fellow nations down whenever he has an excuse (he is surprisingly good at this, all things considered). Brief glimpses at his interactions with humans seem to imply that he's much more restrained with them and also that they're much more susceptible to his charms, possibly because the other countries simply know him too well.
At this point in time, France is currently trying to shake off the embarrassment of the German occupation and subsequent rescue during World War Two. Having come so close to just being another bit of Europe to be divided into the other Allies spheres of influence, he's very into proving himself and acting independently to all of them. He's currently doing this by trying to shove England out into the Atlantic and play peacemaker between Russia and America (how useful he is here is heavily debatable). However, even he's starting to get sick of de Gaulle's anti-American stance by now.