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| Official name: La République Française (The
French Republic) Head of State: President Jacques Chirac (RPR) (re-elected 5 May 2002) Head of government: Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin (appointed by the President 31 May 2005) Ruling party: Coalition government from 17 Jun 2002: Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP) (Union for a People's Movement), comprising the Rassemblement pour la République (RPR) (Rally for the Republic) and Démocratie Libérale (DL) (Liberal Democracy); Union pour la Démocratie Française (UDF) (Union for French Democracy) and allies. Area: 543,965 square km Population: 60.30 million (2004) Capital: Paris Official language: French Currency: Euro (eur) = 100 cents (from 1 Jan 2002; previous currency French franc, locked at Ff6.56 per euro) Exchange rate: eur0.77 per US$ (Nov 2004) GDP per capita: US$29,106 (2003) GDP real growth: 0.10% (2003) Labour force: 26.97 million (2003) Unemployment: 9.60% (2003) Inflation: 2.00% (2003) Balance of trade: -US$3.71 billion (2003) |
Historical profile
After the collapse of the Visigothic Merovingian kingdom, Gaul, in the eighth
and ninth centuries, became the heart of an empire ruled by the Germanic Charlemagne
(Charles the Great) and encompassing parts of Western Europe. After Charlemagne's
death in 814, parts of the West Frankish kingdom (most of modern-day France)
were invaded by the Vikings and the Magyars before becoming a feudal lordship
by the 10th century. The West Frankish kingdom eventually became the Royaume
de France (Kingdom of France) and the lords appointed Hugues Capet as the first
French King in 987.
1337–1453 The Hundred Years' War took place between the English and the French. The English were defeated in 1453 and driven out of Aquitaine in southern France.
1789 The lack of representation for the increasingly powerful middle class, opposition to France's absolute monarchy and economic problems led to the French Revolution and the overthrow of Louis XVI.
1792 The First Republic was declared.
1804 Napoléon Bonaparte declared himself emperor and launched a military campaign in Europe.
1815 Napoléon's defeat at Waterloo by the British, Belgians, Dutch and Prussians saw the end of his reign. Louis XVIII became King of France.
1848 An uprising led by students and workers, although quickly crushed, again led to the overthrow of the monarchy. Louis Napoléon (nephew of the first Napoléon) was elected president.
1852 Louis Napoléon declared himself emperor.
1871 France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War resulted in the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine by the Germans.
1914 France was invaded by Germany.
1918 Following the end of the First World War and Germany's defeat, France regained Alsace-Lorraine.
1939 After Germany's invasion of Poland, France and the UK entered the Second World War by declaring war on Germany.
1940 France signed an armistice after Germany had invaded the country. The Germans installed a puppet government, the Vichy, led by Henri-Philippe Pétain. A Free French resistance movement was established in the UK under the leadership of General Charles de Gaulle.
1944 Following the liberation of France by the Allied powers, a provisional government took office under General de Gaulle.
1945 After the war in Europe ended in May, General de Gaulle retired from public office. The Fourth Republic was created with a constitution giving ultimate power to the Assemblé Nationale (National Assembly).
Between 1946 and 1958 France had 26 different governments, many including large communist elements.
1958 The Fifth Republic was created after the introduction of a new constitution, which allowed for the creation of a powerful presidency. In December, de Gaulle was elected president. France became a founder member of the forerunner of the EU, the European Economic Community (EEC), along with Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany.
1968 Discontent with low wages, lack of social reform and poor education policies led to a revolt by students and workers. The general strike was settled by the granting of generous wage rises and the student revolt collapsed, although de Gaulle's political position was fatally weakened.
1969 De Gaulle resigned from the presidency after losing a referendum on his programme for strengthening the regional government. He was succeeded by Georges Pompidou (1969–74) who was followed by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (1974–81).
1981 François Mitterrand became the first socialist president since 1958 following Giscard d'Estaing's electoral defeat, governing with the first left-wing cabinet for 23 years.
1995 Jacques Chirac succeeded François Mitterrand as president.
2002 President Chirac defeated Le Pen in elections. Prime Minister Lionel Jospin resigned and Chirac appointed Jean-Pierre Raffarin of the Démocratie Libérale (DL) (Liberal Democracy) in his place. After legislative elections, a coalition government was formed, led by the UPM, UDF and allies.
2003 France was crippled by a series of public sector strikes over pension reform.
2004 Voting in the March regional elections showed national discontent with the government, resulting in the left-wing opposition carrying 21 out of the country's 22 mainland regions. Prime Minister Raffarin resigned, but was immediately re-installed by President Chirac, who instigated a major reshuffle of his government to carry it through the remaining three years of his term.
2005 France held a referendum on the European Constitution on 30 May in which
almost 55 per cent voted `Non', with 45 per cent in favour; turnout was about
70 per cent. Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin resigned the next day; Dominique
de Villepin was appointed prime minister.
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