HISTORY OF FRANCE

SCHOOL OF LAW, NARSEE MONJEE

INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES,
BANGALORE

PROJECT FOR FRENCH (LEVEL-I)

Submitted by: Ekjot Kaur

81021219014
BBA LLB (Hons.)
Semester III

Submitted to: Prf. Vandana Devatwal

French (Level I)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS.......................................................................................................2

ABSTRACT...........................................................................................................................2

INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................2

HISTORY...............................................................................................................................3

BUILDING OF KINGDOM OF FRANCE...........................................................................3

REVOLUTIONARY FRANCE.............................................................................................3

FRENCH REVOLUTIONAL................................................................................................3

NAPOLEONIC FRANCE......................................................................................................6

KEY PEOPLE FROM HISTORY OF FRANCE...................................................................7

LEGAL HISTORY...............................................................................................................10

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ABSTRACT

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INTRODUCTION

France is known to be one of the largest countries in Europe. There are six countries which
share borders with France. These countries are namely:

 Northeast: German, Belgium, Luxembourg

 Southeast: Italy, Switzerland
 Southwest: Spain

France shares border with United Kingdom via English Channel.

The country shares rich culture and is famous for its rich history and heritage amongst the
tourists. The natural beauty, the climate, the museums and the most important, famous
historic monuments such as Eiffel Tower, are the main attraction of the city.

France is well- knows for a lot of things and given its turbulent past, the country is well-
known and well managed. France leads in a lot of things including fine arts, fashion industry,
intellectual trends, cuisines etc.

HISTORY

France is an unbiased kingdom in Western Europe and consequently the middle of an

oversized remote places administration. it is the third-biggest European kingdom (after
Russia and Ukraine). In records France changed into part of the Celtic territory called Gaul or
Gallia. Its gift call comes from the Latin Francia, meaning "USA of the Franks," a Germanic
human being that conquered the world in the course of the fifth century, on the time of the
fall of the Western empire. It has become a separate USA in the ninth century. Since the
seventeenth century, France has performed a critical function in European and international
events. in the twentieth century, it is skilled several crises, inclusive of the devastation of
international wars, political and social upheavals, and consequently the lack of an outsized
empire in Indochina, Algeria, and West and Equatorial Africa. It has, however, survived and
emerged from the ruins of struggle II to emerge as a totally crucial international dealer of
agricultural and business merchandise and a large accomplice in the Common Market (EC, or
Common Market). Today, the time period metropolitan France refers back to the mainland

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departments and CORSICA, an outsized island placed in the Mediterranean off the coast of
Italy that has been an aspect of France due to the fact that 1768. France has six remote places
departments: French Guiana in South America; Guadeloupe and Martinique in the West
Indies; Mayotte, an island previously part of the Comoros, placed in the Indian Ocean;
Reunion, an island in the Indian Ocean; and Saint Pierre and Miquelon, islands off the
geographical vicinity of Canada. additionally, France has several small possessions known as
remote places territories. These consist of a group of extensively scattered islands in the
Pacific Ocean, that are administered from Tahiti and are regarded together as French
Polynesia; French Southern and Antarctic Territories; New Caledonia and Wallis And Futuna
Islands; and plenty of small islands in the southern oceans, inclusive of the Kerguelen and
Crozet archipelagos and additionally the islands of St. Paul and Amsterdam (Indian Ocean).
The remote places departments and territories are represented in the French National
Assembly.

REVOLUTIONARY FRANCE

When King of France died in 1774, he left his grandson, Louis XVI, "A heavy legacy, with
ruined finances, sad subjects, and a defective and incompetent government." Regardless, "the
people, meanwhile, nonetheless had self-assurance in royalty, and additionally the accession
of King of France became welcomed with enthusiasm." A decade later, current wars, in
particular the Seven Years' War (1756–63) and for that reason the American Revolutionary
War (1775–83), had correctly bankrupted the state. The taxation machine became
surprisingly inefficient. Several years of horrific harvests and an insufficient transportation
had precipitated growing meals prices, hunger, and malnutrition; the united states of America
became similarly destabilized through the decrease classes' elevated feeling that the royal
courtroom docket became remoted from, and detached to, their hardships. In February 1787,
the king's government director, Charles Alexandre de Calonne, convened an Assembly of
Notables, a group of nobles, clergy, bourgeoisie, and bureaucrats decided on so on skip the
nearby parliaments. This organization became requested to approve a sparkling capital levy
that may, for the primary time, encompass a tax at the assets of nobles and clergy. The
meeting failed to approve the tax, and as a substitute demanded that King of France name the
Estates-General.

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FRENCH REVOLUTIONAL

 Feudalism and Unfair Taxation-

No one aspect become directly in control of the French Revolution. Years of feudal
oppression and financial mismanagement contributed to a French society that become ripe for
revolt. Noting a downward monetary spiral withinside the overdue 1700s, King of France
added in a number of economic advisors to test the weakened French treasury. Each
consultant reached the identical conclusion—that France wanted an intensive extrude
withinside the style it taxed the public—and every consultant become, in turn, kicked out.
Finally, the king discovered that this Taxation hassle absolutely did want to be addressed, so
he appointed an innovative controller fashionable of finance, Charles De Calonne, in 1783.
Calonne recommended that, amongst various things, France start taxing the formerly exempt
Nobility. The Aristocracy refused, even after Calonne pleaded with them at some point of the
Assembly of Notables in 1787. Financial spoil consequently regarded imminent.

 The Estates-General-

In a concluding act of desperation, King of France determined in 1789 to convene the

Estates-General, an historic meeting like 3 distinctive Estates that each represented part of the
French population. If the Estates-General should agree on a tax answer, it might be
implemented. However, seeing that of the three estates, the Clergy and also the Nobility, have
been tax-exempt, the attainment of this type of answer become unlikely. Moreover, the old
regulations of order for the Estates - General gave every property an unmarried vote,
regardless of the reality that the Third Estate, such because the overall French public, become
often large than both of the first . Feuds quick broke out over this disparity and will show to
be irreconcilable. Realizing that its numbers gave it an automatic advantage, the commonalty
declared itself the sovereign National Assembly. Within days of the announcement, many
participants of the alternative estates had switched allegiances over to the current modern
new meeting.

 The Great fear and The Bastille-

Shortly after the National Assembly formed, its participants took the court Oath, swearing
that they may now not relent of their efforts till a novel charter were prescribed. The National
Assembly’s modern spirit galvanized France, manifesting in a number of distinctive ways. In

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Paris, residents stormed the city’s biggest prison, the Bastille, in pursuit of arms. within the
countryside, peasants and farmers revolted towards their feudal contracts with the help of
using attacking the manors and estates in their landlords. Dubbed the “Great Fear,” those
rural assaults persisted till the first August issuing of the August Decrees, which freed those
peasants from their oppressive contracts. Shortly thereafter, the meeting launched the
Declaration of The Rights of Man and of The Citizen, which mounted a right judicial code
and also the autonomy of the French personalities.

 Rifts in the Assembly-

Though the National Assembly did reach drafting a Constitution, the relative peace of the
moment become short-lived. A rift slowly grew among the novel and mild meeting
participants, when the not unusual place people and employees started off to experience
overlooked. When Louis XVI become stuck in a very foiled depart plot, the meeting became
specifically divided. The mild Girondins took a stance in want of preserving the
constitutional monarchy, while the novel Jacobins desired the king absolutely out of the
image. Outside of France, some neighbouring international locations feared that France’s
modern spirit could unfold past French land. In response, they issued the Declaration of Pill
Nitz, which insisted that the French return King of France to the throne. French leaders
interpreted the assertion as hostile, therefore the Girondin-led meeting declared conflict on
Austria and Prussia.

 The Reign of Terror-

The first acts of the newly named National Convention are the abolition of the monarchy and
also the assertion of France as a Republic. In January 1793, the conference attempted and
Executed King of France at the grounds of treason. Despite the introduction of the Committee
of Public Safety, the conflict with Austria and Prussia went poorly for France, and overseas
forces pressed on into French territory. Enraged residents overthrew the Girondin-led
National Convention, and also the Jacobins, led with the help of using Maximilien
Robespierre, took control. Backed with the help of using the newly approved Constitution Of
1793, Robespierre and therefore the Committee of Public Safety started off conscripting
French squaddies and enforcing legal guidelines to stabilize the financial set-up. For a time, it
regarded that France’s fortunes is maybe changing. But Robespierre, developing an
increasing number of paranoids approximately counterrevolutionary influences, embarked
upon a Reign of Terror in overdue 1793–1794, at some point of which he had extra than

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15,000 mortals distributed on the guillotine. When the French military efficiently eliminated
overseas invaders and therefore the national economy eventually stabilized, however,
Robespierre not had any justification for his intense actions, and he himself become arrested
in July 1794 and executed.

NAPOLEONIC FRANCE

As Napoleon increased the French Empire, he took over many nations and led them to
discover an overwhelming feel of nationalism. Nationalism is a political ideology that entails
a sturdy identity of a collection of people with a nation. When his armies marched via
different nations, it made them need to be sturdy with every different and guide their united
states and maintain different nations out. The nations installation more potent border controls
to maintain different humans out and that afflicted relationships with different nations. As
time went on, the nations started out to dislike every different and anxiety in Europe turned
into excessive, and excessive anxiety ends in wars. These excessive tensions might result in
the most important wars withinside the world. Along with nationalism spreading in the course
of Europe, nations began out to virtually consciousness on what a citizen virtually turned
into, and this induced many controversies later. European nations began out to position up
limitations round their nations and that they failed to permit sure humans inside and outside
of them. For example, Germany kicked out all Jewish humans and all Gypsies due to their
strict nationalism legal guidelines. Germany did now no longer permit sure humans of their
united states due to the formidable border that they positioned up. Along with Germany,
Switzerland, Austria, and Netherlands additionally positioned up strict legal guidelines. In the
World History textbook, Beck indicates how unbiased international locations have become,
whilst he said "Switzerland turned into identified as an unbiased nation" (672). With new
nations growing their personal concept of what a citizen turned into and what nationalism
turned into, battle started out to interrupt out. The Council of Vienna helped put in force this
concept due to the fact nations began out to emerge as greater unbiased. It additionally
separated many nations and bumped off many legal guidelines that have been mounted at
some stage in nineteenth century France. The thoughts of a super citizen completed in the
course of time and ended up having predominant consequences on now no longer simply
Europe, however the complete world. The durable consequences that nationalism added have

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been extreme. Essentially, the World Wars have been induced due to the concept of
nationalism and the concept of what a real citizen turned into. Like I said earlier, Germany
created strict citizenship legal guidelines and people legal guidelines have been a key motive
to the World Wars. Along with the citizenship legal guidelines, the various treaties that
Napoleon tried to create induced later consequences. The treaty among France and Austria
signed at some stage in Napoleon's reign later affected the Treaty of Versailles. Overall, each
World Wars have been basically resulting from Napoleon's reign and the occasions that
happened after he died. The occasions that happened at some stage in 20th century Europe
have been the most important consequences of Napoleon's reign. After he were given taken
out of power, and the nations he had taken over were given their freedom back, the ones
nations failed to need to permit different humans into their nations. Tensions started out to
build, and Europe have become a gunpowder barrel, simply expecting a person to mild a fit.
The fit turned into lit whilst the Duke of Austria, Franz Ferdinand, turned into assassinated
through a Serbian rebel, inflicting World War One. The nationalism that Napoleon induced
may be visible withinside the Nazis upward thrust to power. They manipulated the German
humans into wondering that they have been the finest humans, and multiplied the feel of
nationalism withinside the united states. These occasions made the sector as it's far now, and
without Napoleon, none of this stuff might had been set into motion.

KEY PEOPLE FROM HISTORY OF FRANCE

I. King Louis XIV (1638- 1715):

Louis XVI was the last Bourbon king of France who was dead in 1793 for treason. In 1770 he
married Austrian archduchess Marie Antoinette, the feminine offspring of Maria Teresa and
Holy Emperor Francis I. when a slew of governing missteps, King of France brought the
revolution blinking down upon himself. Prize-fighter was guillotined, followed by queen 9
months later.

Louis XVI was born on August 23, 1754, within the Palace of Versailles. Named Louis
Auguste DE France, he was given the title Duc de Berry signifying his subordinateness
within the French Court. Louis XVI was the third son of Louis, Dauphin of France and
grandson of King of France of France. His mother, Marie-Josephe of Saxony, was the

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daughter of Frederick Augustus II of Saxony, also the King of Poland. Louis XVI’s great-
great-great grandfather was Sun King of France (also referred to as the “Sun King”).

Louis XVI grew up strong and healthy, though very shy. He was tutored by French noblemen
and studied religion, morality and humanities. He excelled in Latin, history, geography and
astronomy and achieved fluency in Italian and English. together with his physiological
condition, Louis enjoyed physical activities including hunting and wrestling. From an early
age, he enjoyed locksmithing, which became a lifelong hobby. Louis' parents paid little
attention to him, instead that specialize in his older brother, the heritor, Louis duc de
Bourgogne, who died at age nine in 1761. Then, on December 20, 1765, his father died of
tuberculosis, and Louis Auguste became Dauphin at age 11. His mother never recovered from
the family tragedies and also succumbed to tuberculosis on March 13, 1767.

Louis Auguste was ill-prepared for the throne he was soon to inherit. Following the death of
his parents, Louis' tutors provided him with poor interpersonal skills. They exacerbated his
shyness by teaching him that austerity was an indication of a powerful character in monarchs.
As a result, he given himself as being terribly indecisive.

II. Napoleon Bonaparte (1769- 1821):

Napoleon Bonaparte was born on a French Island on August 15’1769, in Ajaccio. Napoleon
went to Military College of Brienne and then to Military Academy in Paris after 5 years of
education.

After rift of fashion with Robespierre, Napoleon returned into the most effective graces of the
Directory in 1795 after he stored the authorities from counter-modern forces. For his efforts,
Napoleon become quickly named commander of the military of the inside. additionally, he
become a relied on marketing consultant to the Directory on army matters. In 1796, Napoleon
took the helm of the military of Italy, a put up he'd been coveting. The military, simply
30,000 strong, disgruntled and underfed, become quickly became round through the younger
army commander.

Under his direction, the reinvigorated military received several vital victories towards the
Austrians, significantly elevated the French empire and squashed an inner danger through the
royalists, who needed to travel back France to a monarchy. All of these successes helped
make Napoleon the army's brightest star.

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Napoleon revolutionised how wars were conducted. Although he didn't introduce

revolutionary tactics or weapons, how he fought battles made-up the way for total wars
within the following century. As a personality, Napoleon is arguably the first individual. In
previous eras, who you were and what you were was mostly supported your position,
religion, and place of origin. Who might ever imagine the second son of an impoverished,
minor Corsican noble and functionary would become the foremost military mind of his day,
who at his height dominated an Empire that stretched from country to Moscow? Napoleon
magnificently topped himself, separating himself from kings of recent who were crowned by
God or by the nobility. Napoleon was master of himself. He continues to fascinate u. s. of
America today, and is assumed to be either a monster or a saviour. Few folks are as
polarising as Napoleon.

Napoleon was maybe the first person since Charles the great to visualise a unified Europe,
not simply a much bigger France. The EU has its origins not solely within the liberal
experiments exported by Napoleon, however additionally within the unity provided by him.
we tend to are still living in his world.

III. Charles de Gaulle (1890- 1970):

De Gaulle was the second son of a Roman Catholic, patriotic, and nationalist middle-class
family. The family had made historians and writers, and his father tutored philosophy and
literature; but, as a boy, full general already showed an avid interest in military matters. He
attended the academy of Saint-Cyr, and in 1913, as a young second lieutenant, he joined a
foot regiment commanded by Colonel Philippe Petain.

De Gaulle was an intelligent, hardworking, and zealous young soldier and, in his military
career, a person of original mind, nice self-assurance, and outstanding courage. In World War
I he fought at Verdun, was thrice wounded and three times mentioned in dispatches, and
spent 2 years and eight months as a prisoner of war (during which period he created 5
unsuccessful makes an attempt to escape). Once a short visit to Polska as a member of a
military mission, a year’s teaching at Saint-Cyr, and a biennial course of special coaching in
strategy and ways at the École Supérieure de Guerre (War College), he was promoted by
Marshal Pétain in 1925 to the employees of the Supreme War Council. From 1927 to 1929
full general served as a serious within the army occupying the Rhineland and may see for
himself each the potential danger of German aggression conjointly the inadequacy of the
French defense. He also spent 2 years in the Middle East and then, having been promoted to

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lieutenant colonel, spent four years as a member of the secretariat of the National Defense
Council.

De Gaulle's image outside France was known to the Frenchmen but few attached importance
to it. They shared the mockery of what they perceived as a futile search for the prestige of
France. Few understood the interest of the anti-Atlantist position of the general that they
analyzed as a remnant of resentment against Churchill and Eisenhower. In 1960, in this logic
of anti Atlantism and to protect the national territory, De Gaulle brought France into the
military nuclear era and left, in 1966, the integrated command of NATO. A necessity not to
be dependent on a nuclear deterrence directed over the Atlantic associate degreed a US
military command underneath that the complete of Western Europe is subject. However, this
independence gain shouldn't be an act of hostility. France should maintain the alliance with
the us: “They ought to perceive that the simplest ally of the us isn't the one that flattens ahead
of them, it's the one who is aware of a way to say no to them”.

LEGAL HISTORY
1. REVOLUNTIONARY LAW

"The private law of the French Revolution is to-day not considered an intermediary law.”

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was adopted on the 26 August. the
idea for the declaration comes from Nicolas Bergasse within the "Report on the Organization
of Judicial Power" proposed on 17 August 1789, Adrien Duport within the "Fundamental
Principles of Policing and Justice, submitted on Behalf of the Committee on the Constitution"
written 22 December 1789, and Jacques Guillaume Thouret within the "Address on the
Reorganization of the Judicial Power" written 24 March 1790. Many others have speculated
that ideals like innocence until proven guilty, equality between all classes and genders when
addressing law, punishment for opposition to the govt, and non-secular freedom come from
the Bill of Rights written in 1789. Also, like royal charter, the Declaration of the Rights of
Man and of the Citizen restrict the facility of the govt when handling taxes but also require
higher taxes from poorer subjects. This attributed to the growing proletariat class that will
eventually arise and revolt again leading into the Reign of Terror during the revolution.

2. NAPOLEONIC LAW

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The judicature of post-Napoleonic France was an intricate system of relations between the
govt and therefore the police/judicial force. Together they helped to attenuate crime while
successfully fulfilling the guarantees made within the Declaration of the Rights of Man and
of the Citizen written in 1789. Crime in post-Napoleonic France was seen as an act of lese
majesty, which explains the tough punishment. In Victor Hugo's 1862 novel Les Misérables,
Jean Valjean receives a sentence of 5 years diligence within the galleys for the little crime of
stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister's children. This points out the injustice of the system.
While providing a deterrent for crime, hardship cases like Jean Valjean's and Fantine's fail the
cracks of society once they deserved special attention due to the situations that caused the
crime.

3. OLD FRENCH LAW

Old French law, stated in French as l'Ancien Droit, was the law of the dominion of France
until the French Revolution. within the north of France were the Pays de coutumes
('customary countries'), where customary laws were in effect, while at the south were the
Pays de droit écrit ('countries of written law'), where Justinian code had remained paramount.
Roughly speaking, the road separating the 2 areas was the river Loire, from Geneva to the
mouth of the Charente, although this wasn't a firm border between the 2 categories of law. As
worded by George Mousourakis, "in both zones, the law operative also included elements
derived from royal, feudal, and canonical sources."

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. https://en.wikipedia.org
2. France (1814-1914) by Robert Tombs; www.books.google.co.in
3. www.scholar.google.co.in
4. www.researchgate.net
5. Brief summary of French History; www.thoughtco.com
6. The French Revolution (1789-1799)
7. French Revolution: Timeline, Causes & Summary; www.history.com
8. French - Introduction, Location, Language, Folklore, Religion, Major holidays, Rites
of passage; www.everyculture.com
9. Napoleon: A Political Life (2004)
10. Jones, Colin. "The Cambridge Illustrated History of France." Cambridge UK:
Cambridge University Press, 1994
11. Harold, J. Christopher. The Age of Napoleon (1963) popular history stressing empire
and diplomacy
12. Nicholls, David. Napoleon: A Biographical Companion (1999)
13. Anderson, F.M. (1904). The constitutions and other select documents illustrative of
the history of France, 1789–1901. The H. W. Wilson company (1904)

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