The first written records of French history arose during the Iron Age. So, the majority of what is now France was popular to the Romans as Gaul. So, Greek writers honored the presence of three major groups in the area: the Gauls, the Aquitani, and the Belgae. Then, the Gauls, the biggest and best group, were Celtic people who spoke the Gaulish language.
So, all round the first period of 1000 years BC, the Greeks, Romans and Carthaginians found the MED coast and the outlying islands. So, in the late 2nd century BC, the Roman Republic acquired southern Gaul as the province of Gallia Narbonensis, and in the Gallic Wars of 58–51 BC, Roman Legions led by Julius Caesar captured the rest of Gaul. Following that, a Gallo-Roman civilization developed, and Gaul became progressively incorporated into the Roman Empire.
You cannot ignore the effect of French history while learning about French culture, architecture, and even politics! The French way of life, as well as the French government, bear certain traces of key historical events. In this article, we are talking about this topic. So, keep reading to know more about it.
Ancient France name
France is located in a beautiful country with many natural resources. Then, a land where people from many tribes and civilisations have passed and mixed. So, the Celts, who originated in central Europe, made it the center of their colonization after 1,000 B.C.
Ancient France the beginnings: Gaul
As a result, the majority of the Celtic region currently known as France was known as Gaul in ancient times. To be more precise, Transalpine Gaul, to differentiate it from northern Italy, or Cisalpine Gaul. So, the Romans gave the name Gaul to this territory. Then, also, many would say that the most renowned Gaul is Vercingétorix, the hero of an incredibly popular comic book series by Goscinny and Uderzo. Also, Gaul was far larger than current France. Belgium, Luxembourg, sections of Switzerland, Germany, and the Netherlands were all covered. Also, Gaul was occupied by various warring tribes of Celtic and Iberian race by the first century B.C., each with their own well-developed civilization.
Ancient France provence is a Roman province
The Roman presence had already established itself in the south by this time. Then, around 600 B.C, Greek colonists settled in Provence and created the famous harbor city of Massilia (Marseille). So, in 125 B.C, the city requested military assistance from the Romans against its neighbors. When the Romans arrived, they just chose to remain! The province was known as “Provincia Nostra” (Our Province). Later, the name was changed to Provence. So, the Romans set up some of France’s most spectacular ancient structures and cities.
Ancient France Veni, Vidi, Vici, Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar’s forces quickly seized the rest of the region, taking advantage of the Gallic tribes’ differences. So, in truth, he came to Gaul at the request of the Celts to fight with them against the Germans. Caesar was an ally and a liberator, but he just used the Gauls to strengthen Roman dominance. It was not without incident, however, as a Gallic chieftain staged a revolt against the Romans in 53 B.C. What is his name? Vercingétorix.
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In 52 B.C., Julius Caesar defeated him in the siege of Alesia (in modern-day Burgundy) and carried him as a prisoner to Rome, where he was dragged behind Caesar’s chariot in a triumphant procession. Oh, and to be executed at some point.
The Gallo-Romans and Gauls Romanization
The laws, language, architecture, engineering methods, and traditions of Rome were absorbed (and accepted) by the Gauls. So, the Roman occupation is responsible for France’s current status as a “Latin” country. So, the Christian church was also established in the nation during Roman times, however the early Christians were persecuted and martyred. Lyon was the Roman capital and trading center, and Roman power in Gaul lasted more than 400 years.
The Fall of the Roman Empire in Gaul
The Western Roman Empire “in fact” ended on September 4, 476, when the military first odoacer deposed Romulus augustulus and declared himself great ruler of Italy. So, in the third hundred A.D man without any true knowledge of the art of living ones making attack began to come out of in Gaul, and when Germans, visigoths, vandals, persons from Burgundy, and even asian huns came after, took the place of one another, the area was made waste.
The Franks were the ones making the attack with the least numbers. making first from an area stretching from present-day Nassau to the ruhr and apeldoorn in Holland on the right Bank of the rhine. This is on the edges of the Roman empire. Yes, it appears that France is in debt to current-day Germany. To cut a long story short, the Franks just overcame all the ones making an attack on Gaul.
The Frankish kingdom
And it so happened that the Germanic tribe of the Franks landed in Gaul in the fifth century. Clovis, one of their commanders, became king of a Frankish tribe in 481 A.D. Six years later, in 493, he made a considerably more significant step when he married the Burgundian Clotilda, Gaul’s lone Catholic princess.
Ancient France history
The first person discovered in France was Homo Erectus, who lived roughly 950,000 years ago. Humans known as Cro-Magnons lived in France during the latest ice age. So, they lived in caves and hunted animals like mammoths and reindeer. So, they had to be creative to survive in such a harsh environment, and they also created art. Then, the Cro-Magnons are famous for the cave drawings they created. So, they also sculpted ivory figures.
The hunter-gatherer lifestyle came to an end in France with the end of the ice age. Then, although the agricultural revolution began in the Middle East, cultivation began in France around 6,000 BC. However, the transition from hunting and gathering food to farming occurred on a regular basis. It took millennia. For a long time, hunting was an essential source of sustenance. Nonetheless, by 4,500 BC, stone age farmers had developed a civilized civilization. So, they erected magnificent stone graves as well as menhirs (standing stones).
The first farmers in France utilized stone implements, but metal was created in France around 2,000 BC. So, then, in 900 BC, a group known as the Celts or Gauls arrived in France. So, they brought swords and iron implements to France. Then, the nobility ruled over Celtic civilization. Farmers and artisans were placed under them. Celtic artisans were skilled in the use of iron, bronze, and gold. Furthermore, trade flourished in Gaul, and the Gauls established villages known as hill forts, which might be considered the earliest French towns.
The Greeks built Marseilles in 600 BC, and Gaul became increasingly involved with the MED world. So, the Gauls, on the other hand, were utterly divided. So, they were divided into around 60 tribes, making it easier for the Romans to overcome them.
Ancient France gaul
Gaul (Latin: Gallia) was a Western European territory initially described by the Romans. It was populated by Celtic and Aquitani tribes and included modern-day France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the majority of Switzerland, and sections of Northern Italy, the Netherlands, and Germany, mainly the Rhine Valley. It had a total area of 494,000 km2 (191,000 sq mi). Julius Caesar split Gaul into three parts: Gallia Celtica, Belgica, and Aquitania. During the 5th to 1st century BC, the Gauls were the carriers of the La Tène civilisation, which expanded across all of Gaul as well as east to Raetia, Noricum, Pannonia, and southwestern Germania. Also, gaul was conquered by the Romans in the second and first centuries BC: Gallia Cisalpina fell in 204 BC, while Gallia Narbonensis fell in 123 BC.
The Cimbri and Teutons invaded Gaul after 120 BC, but were vanquished by the Romans by 103 BC. So, in his operations from 58 to 51 BC, Julius Caesar eventually conquered the remaining areas of Gaul.
The final Roman rump state, the Domain of Soissons, fell to the Franks in AD 486, ending five centuries of Roman dominance over Gaul. While the Celtic Gauls had lost their original identities and languages during Late Antiquity, becoming absorbed into a Gallo-Roman culture, Gallia remained the territory’s conventional name throughout the Early Middle Ages, until it acquired a new identity as the Capetian Kingdom of France in the high medieval period. Gallia is still a French name in contemporary Greek and Latin.
Ancient France culture
France has played an important role in European culture for most of its history. With the rise of colonialism and global trade, France had access to a global market, and French artistic, gastronomic, and sartorial tastes affected high and popular cultures everywhere. Today, French habits, fashions, and philosophies remain an influential export as well as a source of immense national pride, even as French intellectuals worry that the advent of globalism has resulted in the “rapid erosion of our national memory,” in the words of historian Pierre Nora.
French culture is descended from an old civilisation made up of a complicated blend of Celtic, Greco-Roman, and Germanic elements. So, there are several monuments, particularly from the Roman period, such as the amphitheater at Arles, the arènes (“arenas”) near Paris, and the aqueduct at Pont du Gard. So, there are several monuments, particularly from the Roman period, such as the amphitheater at Arles, the arènes (“arenas”) near Paris, and the aqueduct at Pont du Gard.
Ancient France economy
France underwent an economic growth between 1834 and 1846 of the July Monarchy, which might be viewed, with considerable variations depending on fields of activity, as the start of the industrial revolution. So, the number of coke-fired blast furnaces increased from 41 in 1840 to 107 in 1847. Heavy industrial concentration accelerated in Schneider, Wendel, and other plants; mechanization advanced in the spinning mills of the north, Alsace, and Rouen. Chemical discoveries are increasingly finding practical uses. Then, national revenues climbed by 4% every year, double the growth rate from 1825 to 1935.
Despite this, France was only just starting the industrial period. So, the majority of textile work was still done by hand in cottage industries. Then, also, many “Catalan” charcoal furnaces still existed in 1848.
Iron metallurgy was mostly practiced in small settlements. So, the early stages of railway development were hampered by speculation and the trepidation of capital holders. So, the thousand eight hundred kilometers of railroads were distributed in separate portions by 1848, but there was no such thing as a network.
Despite the expansion of banks, credit facilities were far inadequate to meet the requirements of a new economy. So, the circulation of Bank of France notes grew from 286 million in 1831 to 311 million in 1847, albeit in a far lesser proportion than the volume of manufacture. So, the majority of French people, particularly small savers, still favored gold or land as safe assets over paper money.
Other
The agriculture industry dominated both the economy and the population. Then, agriculture largely performed its historic duty of ensuring subsistence to an increasing population using conventional ways. Structure, techniques, and implements became stagnant, allowing for only minor improvements in production. So, in the 1840s, France, “a huge factory of grain,” had only limited access to an agricultural market.
The economic crisis that preceded the 1848 revolution began as a classic agricultural crisis, similar to those that before it in 1830 and 1789: low cereals’ harvest raised the price of bread, the necessary aliment, and hence those of alternative items. Bread’s high price quickly rebounded on the immediate consumption sectors, construction, and, most notably, textiles, spreading widespread unemployment throughout cities and the countryside.
Ancient France facts
| Also Known As | French Republic • République Française |
| Head Of Government | Prime minister: Élisabeth Borne |
| Capital | Paris |
| Population | (2022 est.) 65,823,000 |
| Currency Exchange Rate | 1 USD equals 0.936 euro |
| Head Of State | President: Emmanuel Macron |
| Form Of Government | republic with two legislative houses (Parliament; Senate [348], National Assembly [577]) |
| Official Language | French |
| Official Religion | none |
| Official Name | République Française (French Republic) |
| Total Area (Sq Km) | 543,941 |
| Total Area (Sq Mi) | 210,017 |
| Monetary Unit | euro (€) |
| Population Rank | (2021) 22 |
| Population Projection 2030 | 68,379,000 |
| Density: Persons Per Sq Mi | (2022) 313.4 |
| Density: Persons Per Sq Km | (2022) 121 |
| Urban-Rural Population | Urban: (2018) 80.4% • Rural: (2018) 19.6% |
| Life Expectancy At Birth | Male: (2020) 79.1 years • Female: (2020) 85.1 years |
| Literacy: Percentage Of Population Age 15 And Over Literate | Male: (2000–2004) 99% • Female: (2000–2004) 99% |
| Gni (U.S.$ ’000,000) | (2019) 2,844,112 |
| Gni Per Capita (U.S.$) | (2019) 42,290 |
Other facts
- France was formerly part of the Celtic realm famous as Gaul. ‘France’ means ‘land of the Franks,’ referring to the DE people that invaded the area in the fifth century.
- A disagreement about English control in France sparked the Hundred Year War 1337-1453.
- The losses during the century of war were enormous, and in addition to the fighting, there was the Black Death. It is expected that the population of about 20 million people would decrease by at least 40%.
- So, the rebels had great aims, their plans rapidly went out of hand, ushering in the Reign of Terror, or La Terreur in French.
- People set up the French First Republic during the Reign of Terror. But just 12 years later, its leader proclaimed himself king of France. Fast forward around 20 years, and France is led by the House of Bourbon. Then, the French people are once again fed up with the monarchy.
- Then, agents and troops surrounded the French rulers.Cardinal Richelieu, well known outside of France as the villain in The Three Musketeers, was one of the most famous agents. He was France’s elder agent early in the 17th era, swelling the monarch’s power and saping the honor.
- The strike of the Bastille, which began the French riot (1789-94), resulted in the heads of Louis XVI and Marie being severed, as were the heads of tens of thousands of others during the riot.
- The head of one of the main persons to blame for the machine for cutting off heads, Robespierre, was eventually cut, making a division as well.
Ancient France time period
10 000 BC: Paleolithic age
5000 – 2500 BC: Neolithic age
51 BC – 486 AD: Gaule
52 BC: The Battle of Alesia
Ancient France 486-1031
First, 486 – 751: Merovingiens period
Then, 481 – 511: Clovis, the first king of the Franks
Then, 629 – 638: Dagobert I
Also, 721 – 737: Thierry IV
Then, 751 – 987: Carolingiens period
Then, 751 – 768: King Pepin le Bref
Also, 768 – 814: Charlemagne,
Then, 843 – 877: Charles II
Then, 877 – 879: Louis II
Also, 879 – 882: Louis III
Then, 898 – 923: Charles III
Then, 936 – 954: Louis IV
Also, 996 – 987: Louis V
Then, 987: Capetiens period
Then, 987 – 996: Hugues I
Also, 996 – 1031: Robert II le Pieux
Ancient France 1031-1515
Then, 1031 – 1060: Henri I
Then, 1060 – 1108: Philippe I
Also, 1096: Construction of the Basilica Vézelay
Then, 1108 – 1137: Louis VI
Then, 1130: Construction of the Abbey of Fontenay
Also, 1137 – 1180: Louis VII
Then, 1180 – 1223: Philippe II
Then, 1223 – 1226: Louis VIII
Also, 1226 – 1270: Louis IX
Then, 1270 – 1285: Philippe le Hardi III
Then, 1285 – 1314: Philippe le Bel IV
Also, 1309: The Pope moves to Avignon
Then, 1314 – 1316: Louis IX
Then, 1316: Jean I ( died after only four days )
Also, 1316 – 1322: Philippe V
Then, 1322 – 1328: Charles IV
Then, 1328: Valois Period
Also, 1346: The Battle of Crecy
Then, 1350 – 1364: Jean II le bon
Then, 1364 – 1380: Charles V
Also, 1380 – 1422: Charles VI
Then, 1422 – 1461: Charles VII
Then, 1431: Jeanne d’Arc is burnt to death in the city of Reims
Also, 1461 – 1483: Louis XI
Then, 1486: End of the Middle Ages
Then, 1483 – 1498: Charles VIII
Also, 1483 – 1595: Renaissance period
Also, 1498 – 1515: Louis XII
Ancient France 1539-1799
1539: King Francois I declares French as the official language of France
1534: Jacques Cartier begins to explore what is now Canada
1559 – 1560: Francois II, end of the war with Italy
1562 – 1598: The War of Religions, events and timeline
1589 – 1610: Henry IV (murdered by Ravaillac)
1610 – 1643: Louis XIII
1643 – 1715: Louis XIV Roi Soleil, the longest reign of a French king
1661: Louis XIV begins the construction of Versailles
1715 – 1774: Louis XV
1769: The birth of Napoléon Bonaparte August 15th at Ajaccio, Corsica
1774 – 1792: Louis XVI
1778: The American Colonies and France signed a military treaty on 6th February.
1783: The Treaty of Paris is signed to end the American Revolutionary War
1789: The French Revolution, Prise de la Bastille the 14th of July, The declaration of “Droits de l’homme” 26th August, The wealth of church is given to the nation 2nd November
1792: 1st Republic
1793: Louis XVI is guillotined 21st January
1793: Marie Antoinette executed the 16th of October
1795: France adopts the metric system
1796: Napoleon named as general of the army of Italy
1799: Creation of the Bank of France
Ancient France 1799-1899
1809: Napoleon takes Moscow
1809: Louis Braille is born on January 4th
1810: Chopin is born
1814 – 1824: Louis XVIII
1814: The Restoration, where the monarchy regains powers.
1816: Napoleon defeated at the Battle of Waterloo
1821: Death of Napoleon I on the island of Saint Helene
1822: Louis Pasteur is born December 27th in the town of Dole
1824 – 1830: Charles X
1830: Les Trois Glorieuses, 3 days of the Parisian revolution.
1830 – 1848: Louis-Philippe I, declared king of the French and King of France.
1840 – 1917: Auguste Rodin, the sculptor
1841 – 1919: Auguste Renoir born in Limoges
1844: The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
1848: The 2nd Republic
1849: Chopin dies in Paris
1852 – 1870: 2nd Empire Napoleon III ( he dies in England in 1873)
1858: The vision of Bernadette Soubirous at Lourdes
1862: Victor Hugo writes “Les Miserables”, Debussy is born near Paris
1870: The Battle of Sedan, Napoleon III surrenders to Prussian and France loses the Alsace and Lorraine regions
1871: The 3rd Republic
1880: Offenbach dies in Paris
1887 – 1894: Sadi Carnot
1894: The affair Dreyfus, accused of treason
1889: World Expo at Paris with the Eiffel Tower
1895: Louis Pasteur September 28th
1898: J’accuse by Emile Zola
1899: Renault begin to construct automobiles
Ancient France 1905-2017
1905: The law separates the state from the church
1906 – 1913: Clemenceau
1914 – 1918: World War I
1926: Death Claude Monet
1936: Holiday pay begins
1936-1945: Second World War, Petain 1940 – 1944, D-Day June 6, 1944
1938: Jean-Paul Sartre publishes La Nausée
1942: Albert Camus publishes L’Etranger
1944 – 1946: Charles De Gaulle
1944: April 21st, France finally gives women the right to vote.
1946 – 1947: Léon Blum
1947: The 4th Republic
1947-1954: Vincent Henrauriol
1954-1959: René Coty
1957: France joins the EEC
1959: The 5th Republic
1959-1969: Charles de Gaulle is president of France
1960: Albert Camus dies
1962: End of the war in Algeria
1968: May student riots
1969 – 1974: President Pompidou
1969: The first flight of the Anglo-French built supersonic aircraft “Concorde”
1970: Death of Charles De Gaulle
1972: Maurice Chevalier dies on the 1st of January
1974: Valéry Giscard d’Estaing elected President
1981: François Mitterrand elected President
1981: France abolishes the Death penalty.
1988: François Mitterrand re-elected President
1991: Edith Cresson, the first woman French Prime Minister
1992: The French singer-composer Michel Berger dies
1995: Jacques Chirac elected President
1996: François Mitterrand dies, 8th January
2002: Jacques Chirac re-elected President
2007: Nicolas Sarkozy elected as the 6th President of the 5th French Republic
2012: Francois Hollande elected as the 7th President of the 5th French Republic
2017: 7th May, Emmanuel Macron elected as the 8th President of the 5th French Republic.
Some frequently asked questions
Are Gauls French?
Although the Gauls are usually the common ancestor of native-born French people, and terminology like “Gaul” and “Gallic” are frequently connected with the French, the Gauls were not the only ones who contributed to modern-day French culture.
What did Gauls look like?
Ammianus Marcellinus, a 4th-century Roman historian, described the Gauls as tall, fair-skinned, light-haired, and light-eyed. “Almost all Gauls are tall and have fair skin, with reddish hair”. Their fierce gaze makes them do frightening things; they are ready to argue and very truculent.
Who was the first king of France?
Hugh Capet is France’s first king, yet it took him and his ancestors fighting and expanding, fighting and surviving, to begin to transform a little kingdom into big France.
Who named Paris?
The city is called after the Parisii tribe, who lived in the area beginning in the mid-third century BC. So, the Parisii traded with a variety of river cities. So, in 52 BC, the Romans conquered the Paris basin and established the city of “Lutetia Parisiorum,” or Lutetia for short.
What do the French call France?
The term derives from Francia, the empire of the Franks, one of the tribes descended from the modern-day French.
What is the real meaning of the word “France”?
France was formerly part of the Celtic realm famous as Gaul. ‘France’ means ‘land of the Franks,’ referring to the DE people that invaded the area in the fifth century.