Part 121

Louis XI. (1461-1483), the son and successor of Charles VII., annexed Burgundy and Picardy, and acquired Anjou, Maine, Provence, and the counties of Rousillon and Cerdagne; and France thus became one of the great powers on the Mediterranean. On the northwest, by the marriage of Charles VIII. with Anne of Brittany, she gained possession of that large province. Charles VIII. invaded Italy in 1494, and this was the first of a long series of Italian wars in which France was engaged for more than half a century. With Charles VIII., who died in 1498, the direct line of Valois ended, and Louis, duke of Orleans, grandson to a brother of Charles VI., became king under the title of Louis XII. He met at first with some success in Italy, but was at last driven out.

=Wars of Francis I. and Charles V. of Germany.=--Francis I. (1515-1547), his successor, being opposed by the emperor Charles V., of Germany, suffered a disastrous defeat at Pavia in 1525, and was carried a prisoner to Madrid, where in 1526 he agreed to a treaty by which he forfeited Burgundy, and all claims to Naples, Milan, Tournay, and Arras. No sooner was he set at liberty than he secured from the pope a release from his oaths, and renewed the struggle, but again with unfavorable results, and was compelled to make another disastrous peace at Cambrai (1529).

The Reformation had now begun, and Charles V. was obliged to turn his attention to Germany. Francis encouraged the Protestant princes in their opposition to the emperor, and in 1536 the war again broke out. It was ended in 1544 by the peace of Crespy, when the emperor was threatening Paris.

Francis I. died in 1546, and was succeeded by his son, Henry II., and the struggle soon began again. Henry recovered Calais for France. Under Francis II. (1559-1560) the Roman Catholic House of Guise obtained possession of the effective power in the state. Their adversaries, the House of Bourbon, headed the movement of the reformers. Under the weak kings Charles IX. (1560-1574) and Henry III. (1574-1589), who were under the influence of their mother, Catherine de’ Medici, this division in the French nobility resulted in the war of the League and wars of religion. The massacre of the Protestants on the night of St. Bartholomew (1572) raised to such a pitch the pride of the House of Guise that Henry III. fled to the camp of the Bourbon leader, where he was murdered by a fanatical monk. The name of Charles IX. remains associated with the horrors of the St. Bartholomew’s night, which witnesses the striking of a blow at the very heart of the nation.

=The Bourbon Line.=--The accession of the Bourbon prince, Henry IV. of Navarre (1589-1610), allayed the fury of religious wars, but his recantation of Protestantism in favor of Catholicism disappointed his own party, to which, however, he granted the free exercise of their religion by the edict of Nantes (1598).

Henry, however, meditated the humiliation of the house of Austria, and was on the eve of his departure for the army when he was assassinated by Ravaillac, May 14, 1610.

Under the regency of his widow, Maria de’ Medici, mother of Louis XIII., the kingdom was distracted by war between the queen mother and the young king. Cardinal Richelieu, who took the reins of government in 1624, consolidated the power of the monarch at home, and, while annihilating the power of the French Protestants, energetically supported the German Protestants against the house of Austria.

His successor, Cardinal Mazarin, pursued the same policy; and the treaty of Westphalia (1648) asserted the triumph of religious and political liberty in Germany, and the victory of France, which added to her territory the province of Alsace.

The troubles of the Fronde, a faint image of the old civil wars, detracted nothing from the influence gained abroad by the French government, and Mazarin concluded with Spain, in 1659, the treaty of the Pyrenees, which secured two other provinces to France--Artois and Roussillon.

=Age of Louis XIV.=--Under the personal rule of Louis XIV. France rose to the height of glory, while he himself was placed above all control. From the day of Mazarin’s death (1661) he assumed the direction of public affairs. In the first years of his administration the national wealth, promoted by the admirable efforts of Colbert, increased with unusual rapidity. Intellectual progress kept pace with material, and everything conspired to create a literary period of great magnificence.

The king’s military successes, too, achieved through Condé, Turenne, Luxembourg, and others, were brilliant; and he added to his kingdom Flanders, Franche-Comté, the imperial city of Strasburg, and several other important territories.

But the revocation of the edict of Nantes in 1685 drove from the kingdom a large number of its best citizens, and crippled many branches of industry. The war of 1689-1697 against the league of Augsburg greatly exhausted the country, and that of the Spanish succession nearly reduced it to extremities; but after a contest of twelve years Louis succeeded, and by the treaties of Utrecht and Rastadt (1713 and 1714) the house of Bourbon, in the person of Louis’s grandson, Philip V., inherited the best part of the Castilian monarchy.

Louis XIV. died in 1715, after an unparalleled reign of seventy-two years. The burden which he had borne was far too heavy for his weak successors; and toward the end of Louis XV.’s reign France could scarcely be ranked among the great European powers. The four wars in which she then participated, against Spain (1717-1719), during the regency of Philip of Orleans, for the succession of Poland (1733-1735), for the succession of Austria (1740-1748), and finally the seven years’ war (1756-1763), were productive only of disgrace and disaster, including the loss of Canada.

=Prelude to the Revolution.=--Louis XV. died in 1774, and his grandson Louis XVI. ascended the throne at a period which was perhaps the most inglorious of French history. The kingdom was on the verge of financial as well as political ruin, and it seemed evident that a disastrous crisis was approaching.

An attempt to conciliate the people was made by the restoration of the parliament of Paris; but instead of promoting reform, this body proved a hindrance to it. Turgot and Malesherbes, associated with Maurepas in the ministry, acted with considerable efficiency in the endeavor to improve the state of affairs, but were deposed through the influence of the court party. Necker, who became minister of finance in 1777, at first seemed to improve matters slightly; but the opposition of the nobles and clergy to any scheme of general taxation, with other causes, led to his deposition.

His successor, Calonne, recklessly plunged the finances into a more hopeless condition than ever, and in 1786 the king was induced to call together the States-General, the really popular assembly of representatives, which had not met since 1614, and then in vain. Thenceforward there was a succession of barriers thrown down; madness set in upon the long-oppressed people, who wreaked the vengeance of a thousand years. Frightful mobs rose upon all whom they connected with their past misery. Nobles and clergy fell; the king was dethroned, and in 1793 was executed. A reign of terror set in, during which Robespierre and other fanatics, who thought they must destroy in order to build up, sent to the beheading machine, the guillotine, thousands of victims, and hoped to have swept away even the Christian religion, together with all the old abuses of power.

=The Advent of Napoleon and the Directory.=--When they fell in 1794, less sanguinary counsels prevailed, and, after sundry attempts at forms of government, Napoleon Bonaparte, of Corsican birth, climbed to supreme power. His course had been through victories. Belgium had been overrun, the Austrians forced back across the Rhine, the allied armies of England and Holland gradually pushed back, and Prussia and Spain forced to conclude peace. The new government began on October 28, the convention having been dissolved on the 26th. England, Russia, and Austria, in a new coalition, now began to carry on a more vigorous warfare; but Carnot’s strategic direction soon baffled it. Bonaparte was put in command of the army which was not to advance against the Austrians from Italy, and in 1796 and 1797 completely changed the condition of affairs. At the truce of Leoben (April 18, 1797) France controlled all Italy; Austria surrendered all rights in Belgium and recognized those republics which France established; and the history of France became almost wholly identified for nearly eighteen years with that of a single man, Napoleon Bonaparte.

=The Consulate.=--Bonaparte was chosen first consul for ten years, December 13, 1799; consul for life, August 2, 1802; then hereditary emperor, May 18, 1804. He reformed and reorganized legislation at home by the formation of the civil code, the organization of public instruction, and the improvements he introduced in all the branches of public service; while he added to his military and political glory by a new succession of triumphs, resulting in the treaties of peace signed at Presburg (1805), Tilsit (1807), and Vienna (1809).

He had now reached the height of his glory; he had placed his brothers on the thrones of Holland, Westphalia, and Spain, and his brother-in-law on that of Naples; but his power was shaken by the resistance which he met with in the Spanish peninsula (1808-1813); and his prestige was ruined by his expedition to Russia in 1812. The European nations united against him, and inflicted upon him at Leipsic, October 16-19, 1813, a blow from which he never recovered.

=The Restoration.=--Napoleon was dethroned in April, 1814, exiled to the island of Elba, and the brother of Louis XVI. received from the conquerors the sceptre of France, now restricted to her old limits. The sudden return of Napoleon from Elba, however, overthrew this new power; and for one hundred days, from March 20 to June 28, 1815, he was again the sovereign of France; but the battle of Waterloo (June 18, 1815) destroyed his power forever, and the Bourbons once more ruled the kingdom.

Louis XVIII. granted a charter to his subjects, and died in 1824 in undisturbed possession of his throne. His brother and successor, Charles X., sought popularity by supporting the Greek insurrection against Turkey and conquering Algiers; but having attempted to suspend some of the most important guarantees secured by the charter, a formidable insurrection broke out, July 27, 1830, and he was obliged to abdicate.

=House of Orleans.=--After a few days’ interval the head of the younger branch of the house of Bourbon, Louis Philippe, duke of Orleans, was appointed “king of the French” (August 9) by the chamber of deputies. The choice, being acceptable to the middle classes or _bourgeoisie_, was maintained; and notwithstanding some occasional outbursts of republicanism among the people, the July monarchy, as it was called, lasted for nearly eighteen years.

=Revolution of 1848.=--A political manifestation in favor of parliamentary reform brought on another revolution, February 24, 1848, and France became a republic, with a provisional government in which Lamartine played the most conspicuous part; but within a few months the majority of the constituent assembly, frightened by socialistic movements and a terrible civil struggle in the capital (June 23-26), became hostile to the new form of government. On December 10, 1848, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, nephew of Napoleon I., was elected president, for a term of four years. On December 2, 1851, the president dissolved the assembly, assumed dictatorial powers, and appealed to the people to sanction his act by their votes. He was reëlected president for a term of ten years; a new constitution was promulgated; and finally, on November 7, 1852, the senate proposed the reëstablishment of the empire.

=Second Empire.=--The empire was proclaimed, December 2, 1852, and Louis Napoleon ascended the throne with the title of Napoleon III. The chief event of the early portion of this reign was the Crimean war, which largely increased the military prestige of the nation, as well as the popularity and strength of Napoleon’s rule. The war with Austria (1859) left France in a position of even greater authority than before in European politics. In 1860 Savoy and Nice were ceded to France by Italy. The emperor’s schemes for establishing the Hapsburg prince Maximilian on the throne of Mexico proved so ignominious a failure as to do much toward undermining the opinion of his power that had been held in Europe.

The course which Napoleon pursued during the Prusso-Austrian war in 1866 did not tend to restore confidence in him. In 1867 he aided in defending the power of the pope against the Garibaldians. In 1868 the growth of public opinion against the emperor was conspicuous; in 1869 much excitement was caused by the exposure of the confusion in financial affairs; and in 1870 popular disturbances, fomented by Rochefort, broke out on the acquittal of Pierre Bonaparte for the shooting of Victor Noir.

The demand for reforms was answered by a new constitution, which was finally confirmed by a _plebiscite_ on May 8.

=Franco-Prussian War.=--In the spring of 1870 there were unmistakable manifestations of a hostile spirit on the part of the government against Prussia. The declaration of the candidature of the Hohenzollern prince Leopold for the throne of Spain furnished an immediate cause of war. The voluntary withdrawal of Prince Leopold followed the remonstrances of France, but the latter demanded also of the king of Prussia an explicit promise that no prince of Hohenzollern should ever be a candidate for the Spanish crown. This demand was refused, and war was declared by France, July 19.

On the 28th Napoleon went to Metz, where he personally took command of his forces; and on August 2 the king of Prussia, accompanied by Bismarck and Moltke, joined his army. On the latter day the French bombarded and took Saarbruck. On August 4 the German advance, under the crown prince, defeated the French at Weissenburg, and on the 6th totally defeated MacMahon at Worth.

On the 11th the three German armies under Steinmetz, Prince Frederick Charles, and the crown prince effected a junction on French territory, with headquarters at Saarbruck. By the 14th Steinmetz had advanced to near Metz, where the French army was concentrated under Bazaine, and on the afternoon of the same day won a victory at Courcelles; on the 16th Frederick Charles won a second battle at Mars-la-Tour; and on the 18th the combined forces under King William again defeated the French at Gravelotte.

Bazaine now drew within the fortifications, and the Germans, leaving a portion of their forces to invest the city, marched against MacMahon at Chalons. News reaching them of the advance of MacMahon to relieve Bazaine, they turned northward to intercept him. On the 30th they surprised a corps of General Failly near Beaumont, and fought a battle which resulted in the retreat of the French beyond the Meuse and their final withdrawal to Sedan.

The battle of Sedan was begun by the Germans September 1. After severe fighting they drove the French from all sides to that fortress, where, almost surrounded and without provisions or defenses, they were compelled to capitulate. The emperor surrendered to King William in person, September 2, and was carried a prisoner to Wilhelmshohe. In dead, wounded, and prisoners, the French thus lost in the last few days an army of nearly one hundred and fifty thousand men.

=The Third Republic.=--The news of Sedan created intense excitement at Paris, and the popular indignation against Napoleon and his party was without bounds. Gambetta proclaimed the republic; and a provisional government of national defense was at once formed, with General Trochu for president and Jules Favre for vice-president. The empress took refuge in England.

The German army entered Rheims on the 5th, and on the 15th they had closely approached Paris. A sortie by General Ducrot on the 19th was repulsed, and a few days later the actual investment of the city was begun. The German headquarters were established at Versailles. A portion of the French government of national defense remained in the capital; another portion, in order to be in communication with the provinces, was established at Tours. Toul surrendered on the 23rd. Strasburg capitulated in the night of September 27-28. Soissons and Schlettstadt capitulated respectively on October 16 and 24, and on the 27th Metz also yielded, Bazaine surrendering one hundred and seventy-three thousand men.

In the meantime the situation of Paris had become hopeless; and on January 28 arrangements for its capitulation had been concluded and provision made for a general armistice. On February 17, 1871, Thiers was chosen chief executive of the republic. On the 26th the preliminary treaty of peace was signed at Versailles, by which France ceded to Germany the greater part of Alsace and Lorraine, and agreed to pay as war indemnity five milliards of francs. The definitive treaty with Germany had been signed at Frankfort on the 10th of May.

In 1873 the Thiers administration was overthrown and replaced by one under Marshal MacMahon. In 1875 a Parliamentary Republic was established, and still remains under the guarantees of the constitution. In 1877 MacMahon was succeeded by Grevy. By this time the republic was fairly firmly established and withstood many attacks. A policy of colonial expansion was adopted, particularly in Egypt, but in spite of the dual control France and England established in 1879, France, in 1882, refused to help England in Egypt, and lost any control she had there.

The Triple Alliance of 1883 isolated France, but in 1890 she confronted the Triple Alliance with the Dual Alliance--between France and Russia--and made great attempts to establish colonial power.

The outstanding events of 1914, 1915 and 1916 were those connected with France’s participation in the European war as the leading military power of the Entente Allies. (See further under Great Wars of History.)

=Books of Reference.=--The chief histories are those of Henri Martin, Michelet, Dareste, Lavalee, Sismondi, Kitchin Lavisse, and Durny. These works cover the general history of France. See, in addition, Tocqueville’s _The Ancient Regime_; Taine’s _French Revolution_; Carlyle’s _History of the French Revolution_; Fyffe’s _History of Europe_; Hazlitt’s _Life of Napoleon Bonaparte_.

COLONIES AND DEPENDENCIES

The colonies and dependencies of France (including Algeria and Tunis) have an area roughly estimated at about 4,000,000 square miles with a population of about 41,600,000. Algeria, however, is not regarded as a colony but as a part of France, and Tunis is attached to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The area and population of the colonial domain of France at the beginning of the European war was as follows:

================================+==========+========== COLONIES AND YEAR OF ACQUISITION| AREA IN |POPULATION | SQ. MI. | --------------------------------+----------+---------- =In Asia=: | | India (1679) | 196| 277,000 Annam (1884) |} | Cambodia (1862) |} | Cochin-China (1861) |} 309,980|16,317,000 Tonking (1884) |} | Laos (1892) |} | +----------+---------- Total Asia | 310,176|16,594,000 +----------+---------- =In Africa=: | | Algeria (1830-1902) | 343,500| 5,231,850 Sahara (----) | 1,544,000| 800,000 Tunis (1881) | 45,779| 1,500,000 Senegal (1637-1880) |} |{ 915,000 Upper Senegal & Niger (1893) |} |{4,415,000 Guinea (1843) |} |{1,498,000 Ivory Coast (1843) |}1,585,810|{ 890,000 Dahomey (1893) |} |{ 749,000 Mauritania (1893) |} |{ 400,000 Congo (1884) | 669,280| 5,000,000 Reunion (1649) | 970| 201,000 Madagascar (1643-1896) | 226,015| 2,701,000 Mayotte (1843) | 840| 96,000 Somali Coast (1864) | 5,790| 180,000 +----------+---------- Total Africa | 4,421,934|24,576,850 +----------+---------- =In America=: | | St. Pierre and Miquelon (1635)| 96| 6,000 Guadeloupe (1634) | 688| 182,000 Martinique (1635) | 378| 182,000 Guiana (1626) | 34,000| 27,000 +----------+---------- Total America | 35,222| 397,000 +----------+---------- =In Oceania=: | | New Caledonia (1854-1887) | 7,200| 55,800 Tahiti, etc. (1841-1881) | 1,544| 30,000 +----------+---------- Total Oceania | 8,744| 85,000 +----------+---------- Grand Total | 4,776,126|41,653,650 --------------------------------+----------+----------

SOVEREIGNS AND PRESIDENTS OF FRANCE

Giving, in order, the Royal Houses to which the French sovereigns belonged; Period of Rule in Chronological order; names of kings, emperors, regents and presidents; dates of birth and death of each; their genealogy or lineage; and other important personal facts.

THE MEROVINGIANS

=420-428.=--Pharamond (?-?); life obscure.

=428-448.=--Clodion (?-?); son of Pharamond; king of the Salic Franks.

=448-457.=--Merovaeus (411?-457); founder of the Merovingian Dynasty.

=458-481.=--Childeric (?-481); son of Merovaeus, king of the Franks.

=481-511.=--Clovis I. (465-511); son of Childeric; real founder of the Frankish monarchy. At his death his four sons divided the empire.

Childebert; Paris. Clodomir; Orleans. Thierry; Metz; and Clotaire; Soissons.

=558-561.=--Clotaire I.; sole ruler (497-561); fourth son of Clovis. Upon his death the kingdom was divided between four sons: viz.

Charibert, ruled at Paris. Gontram, in Orleans and Burgundy. Sigebert, at Metz and Chilperic, at Soissons; both assassinated by Fredegonde.

=575-596.=--Childebert II. (570-596); son of Sigebert and Princess Brunehaut; ruled under the regency of his mother; poisoned.

=613-628.=--Clotaire II. (584-628); son of Chilperic I.

=628-638.=--Dagobert I., the Great (602-638); son of Clotaire II.; divided the kingdom between his two sons:

Clovis II., Burgundy and Neustria. Sigebert II., Austrasia.

=670-673.=--Childeric II. (649-673); son of Clovis II.; assassinated, with his queen and his son Dagobert, in the forest of Livri.

=687-714.=--Pepin II., of Heristal (?-714); ruled the whole kingdom of the Franks during the reigns of Dagobert II., Clovis III., Childebert III., and Dagobert III.

=715-720.=--Chilperic II. (?-720); deposed by Charles Martel, mayor of the palace in 717, restored in 720, but soon dies at Noyon.

=720-737.=--Thierry IV. (712-737); son of Dagobert III.; reigned under the influence of Charles Martel who took the title “duke of the Franks.”

=737-741.=--Interregnum, till death of Charles Martel, 741.

=742-752.=--Childeric III. (?-755); son of Childeric II.; last of the Merovingians; made king by Pepin, 742; deposed by him, 752.

THE CARLOVINGIANS