A flippant expose of the country and people hosting this year’s Paris Olympics. Senior Correspondent Mike Osborne gets out his sword and sandals to march through the region that became France.
The Paris Olympics are drawing to a close and France is bathing in the glory of one of the greatest Games in history. And what a history the French have.
Stone age cave paintings found in southern France near the Spanish border are proof of human civilisation some 25,000 years ago.
But it wasn’t until after the endless parade of conquerors marched across what is now the country’s terroir that France developed its famed “je ne sais quoi”.
Those cave paintings from the Palaeolithic era, called the Grottes de Gargas, in France’s southern Pyrenees area now attract swarms of tourists.
But visitor numbers to the caves pale compared to the hordes of invaders who have occupied the greater French region over the course of more than 25 centuries, including the Greeks, Celts, Gauls, Romans, Carthaginians, Franks, Vikings and Normans.
During the first millennium BC, the Greeks, Romans, and Carthaginians established bases on the Mediterranean coast and the offshore islands of modern France.
As a result Marseille and Nice are among France’s oldest cities thanks to the Greeks who founded colonies called Massalia (now Marseille) and Nikaia (Nice) on the shores of the Mediterranean.
Then came Augustus Caesar, founder of the Roman Empire, who brutally conquered the Gauls, specifically 45 Alpine tribes, in what is now southern France.
To celebrate this historic victory a giant 50-metre high monument was erected at the Gaul- Italy frontier, atop a mountain that rises above what is now Monaco that has expansive views across the Mediterranean.
It was a giant propaganda shrine designed to glorify the power of Caesar, elevate him as a god, proclaim the absolute domination of the Roman Empire and warn the known world that challenging Rome would only lead to the loss of life, land and freedom. The ruins are now a tourist attraction in the southern French village of La Turbie.
Gaul remained part of Rome until the Empire fell in the 5th century AD when the area was conquered by a Germanic tribe known as the Franks.
By the late 5th century the region of the Franks became known as Francia under King Clovis and was the largest post-Roman barbarian kingdom in western Europe.
The pagan King Clovis became a Catholic to confirm his legitimacy under the Church and he made Paris his capital. But on his death Francia was partitioned into three regions under his three sons Lothair, Louis and Charles.
Louis took the eastern region which included Saxony and Bavaria that later became Germany. Lothair got the central area extending down into northern Italy and his sons later ruled Burgundy and Provence.
Number three son Charles meanwhile inherited the lands west of the Rhône River which would eventually become the Kingdom of France.
The most powerful Frankish ruler was Charlemagne who reunited the three domains some 300 years later by conquering Bavaria, the Danube area, Lower Saxony and land as far south as Barcelona. In the year 800 Pope Leo III declared Charlemagne Roman Emperor of the West.
Then came the Viking raiders who conquered the north-west region and the whirlpool prodigy of the Vikings, Franks and Gauls produced the Normans.
This fierce Norman tribe was welcomed by other Frankish regions as they halted raiders from the north and across the Channel.
France grew into a powerful but decentralised feudal kingdom for the next few centuries with regions including Normandy, Flanders, Burgundy and Languedoc exercising local authority.
France became a more centralised kingdom under King Louis IX, also known as Saint Louis, who expanded his territory by annexing several provinces, including Provence.
Admired throughout Europe, Louis reformed the legal system by incorporating the presumption of innocence and creating a mechanism to appeal judgements to the monarch. A pious Catholic, he died in 1270 from dysentery while leading his second crusade in North Africa and is the only French monarch to be canonised.
The rule of Louis IX’s grandson Philip IV was marked by the expulsion of the Jews from France, ending the Knights Templar and challenging the power of the Pope. His three sons then died without heirs, plunging France into a series of succession battles, which included some English monarchs with claims to the crown. This ultimately led to the Hundred Years war against England from 1337-1453.
This long war proved critical to the formation of the French identity. Social dissent, the spirit of Joan of Arc, growing military strength, and the rise of the powerful independent Dukes of Burgundy all contributed to the country’s evolution.
Early defeats at the hands of the English, notably to Henry V at Agincourt, forced the French nobility to accept they needed more than just armoured knights. King Charles VII established the first French standing army which ultimately won the war.
Charles VII’s rule was strengthened by the end of the English-Burgundy alliance and following the martyrdom of Joan of Arc, who was burned at the stake after being betrayed to the English by Philip III, the Duke of Burgundy.
Around this time an official language emerged in Paris to replace the local dialects spoken by peasants throughout France. This lingua Franca became the preferred language for diplomacy by Europe’s aristocracy. Spanish King Charles V, also the Holy Roman Emperor, famously quipped: “I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men and German to my horse.”
After the Hundred Year War there was more room for peace and prosperity and the French Renaissance where culture, art, creativity and fashion flourished. This golden age bloomed against a background of religious wars between Catholics and Protestant Huguenots.
A series of weak kings then led to the rise of the powerful Italian Catherine de’Medici, widow of King Henry II and the period of enlightenment was later typified by the long 70-year rule of the Sun King, Louis XIV.
Although he lived in the Palace of Versailles, Louis XIV centralised government in Paris, eliminated feudalism and weakened the aristocracy to create an absolute monarchy that reigned until the French Revolution.
The storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789 and overthrow of the monarchy helped create the modern French mantra of “liberty, equality and fraternity”.
The rise of Napoleon Bonaparte as Emperor after the French Revolution created a beloved national hero who strengthened the country’s position in Europe before losing the battle of Waterloo to the English.
After his defeat France was led by his nephew Napoleon III as President, after which followed a series of 15 presidents through to World War II.
After the war when Germany controlled the country via the Vichy French regime, the hero General Charles de Gaulle became President for a decade as modern France evolved into the vibrant country we know today.
NOTE – This is the latest in a series of “Frivolous facts about France for Olympic bon vivants”. You can read other Frivolous Facts stories by clicking on these topics: French Art, French Architecture, French Sportscars, The French Language, French Wine, French hatred of the British, French Heroes, French Bread, French Inventions, French Olympic History, Famous French Athletes, The French Pacific, French Cafe Society, French Cuisine, French Romance.
Michael Osborne has been a journalist for more than four decades including 35 years with the national news agency Australian Associated Press, rising from junior reporter to Editor.
He was AAP Editor for 11 years and served four years as Head of Sport and Racing. He was also posted to London and Beijing as AAP’s Bureau Chief and Foreign Correspondent.
He has worked at six Olympics and five Commonwealth Games, covered tennis grand slams, golf majors, international cricket, rugby world cups and numerous sporting world championships. He also co-ordinated and managed AAP’s teams and coverage at three Olympic Games in Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012.
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