Personal Area of Interest II - French History

French History

Like British history I developed an interest in the French variety from a young age. A great deal of my early passionwas motivated by the reality that much of French history is entangled with her rival across the Channel. This is especially true of the Middle Ages with both the early Norman and Plantagenet dynasties overlapping with Gallic ambitions on the continent.

Areas of Primary focus: The French Revolution, Napoleon, the post Bonaparte Era, the French Empire and the Third Republic

Areas of Secondary Focus:  Charlemagne and the Carolingians and the Reign of Louis XIV.

What I feel I need to know more about: The Valois Kings, France between the World Wars

These are the Eleven Period that I divide French history into:

1.       The Gaulish struggles versus Rome

2.       The Frank Invasion and the Merovingians

3.       Charlemagne and the Carolingians

4.       The Capetian dynasty and the Crusades

5.        The Hundred Years War and the Rise of the House of Valois

6.       Religious struggles in France

7.       The Rise of the House of Bourbon – Louis XIV

8.       The French Revolution and the Bonaparte Era

9.       Turbulence in the 19^th century. The Second Empire and the Third Republic.

10.   France and the World Wars.

11.   The Decline of France and the challenges of the 5^th Republic in the post-Colonial era