User:Jayron32/French state timeline

This is a timeline of the French state from ancient to modern times. For the purposes of this timeline, it covers those states which governed the land roughly equivalent to most of Modern France, allowing for the various boundary changes that have occurred throughout history. For a more complete timeline of French history, see Timeline of French history.


 * 1st millennium BC: The Gauls, a stateless culture that was mostly organized on the tribal level, coalesced in the area of Gaul, roughly equivalent to modern France
 * 121 BC - AD 486: Roman Gaul, a period of rule of Gaul (modern France) by the Ancient Rome. Gaul was conquered in phases during the 1st century BC, and ruled as a collection of Roman provinces, with the exception of:
 * AD 260 - 274: Gallic Empire, a short-lived state in the region ruled by a series of Roman military leaders before being conquered and re-incorporated into the Roman Empire.
 * AD 457 - 486: Direct Roman administration of Gaul ceased, and a series of small petty states were set up under various Roman military leaders, the most significant of which was the Kingdom of Soissons.
 * 486 - 843: Francia, named after the Franks, a Germanic people who moved into the area formerly known as Gaul and began to push the Romans out of the area throughout the middle of the 5th century, the foundation of the Frankish state is traditionally dated to 486, the date when Clovis I defeated Syagrius at the Battle of Soissons. The Franks would eventually rule an empire that included most of modern France, Germany, and the Low Countries.
 * 843 - 987: West Francia, the western third of the Frankish Empire, which was divided by the Treaty of Verdun. West Francia evolved into the later Kingdom of France.  There is not a sharp dividing line between the Kings of West Francia and the Kings of France; for convenience many historians chose the ascension of Hugh Capet in 987 and the founding of the Capetian Dynasty that would produce all future Kings of France as a convenient point, but other dates such as 1190, when Philip II began using the appellation "King of France" rather the prior "King of the Franks", is sometimes also used.
 * 987 - 1792: Kingdom of France, also sometimes called the Ancien Régime (French for "old regime), though paradoxically this term is sometimes reserved for the later part of the history of the Kingdom. During the time period, the Kingdom of France was ruled by various branches of the House of Capet, including:
 * 987 - 1328: Direct Capetians: oldest, male line descendents of Hugh Capet
 * 1328 - 1589: House of Valois, a cadet branch of the Capetian family with descent from Charles, Count of Valois, a younger son of Philip III of France who had himself never ruled. Includes its own cadet branches:
 * 1498 - 1515: Valois-Orléans
 * 1515 - 1589: Valois-Angoulême
 * 1589 - 1792: House of Bourbon, another cadet branch of the Capetian family, that claims descent from Louis I, Duke of Bourbon, a grandson of Louis IX of France.
 * 1792 - 1804: French First Republic, established during the French Revolution of 1789 - 1799 after a brief period of constitutional monarchy. The First Republic period failed to produce a cohesive French state for any significant period of time, and is subdivided into various states, including:
 * 1792 - 1795: National Convention, the first French republican government, coincided with the period known as the Reign of Terror.
 * 1795 - 1799: Directory, the second French republican government, established in the wake of the Thermidorian Reaction which overthrew the National Convention, and was itself replaced by the:
 * 1799 - 1804: Consulate, the third French republican government, established when Napoleon Bonaparte during the Coup of 18 Brumaire. Napoleon himself would later establish:
 * 1804 - 1814: First French Empire, under Napoleon Bonaparte
 * 1814 - 1815: First Bourbon Restoration, a re-establishment of the absolutist Ancien Régime under the House of Bourbon.
 * 1815: Hundred Days, a re-establishment of the First Empire by Napoleon
 * 1815 - 1830: Second Bourbon Restoration
 * 1830 - 1848: July Monarchy: A liberal constitutional monarchy that overthrew the absolutist Bourbons and established the House of Orléans.
 * 1848 - 1852: French Second Republic: Established by the Revolution of 1848, it was established by Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, nephew of the prior emperor, who himself would lead a coup to establish:
 * 1852 - 1870: Second French Empire: under Napoleon III, it collapsed during the waning days of the Franco-Prussian War, following the capture of the Emperor in the Battle of Sedan, a short period of anarchy followed by the establishment of the:
 * 1870 - 1940: French Third Republic which lasted until World War II and the defeat by the Nazis.
 * 1940 - 1945: Occupied France was the part of France under direct German military administration during World War II. It corresponded to the northern half of the country, while the southern half was set up as a puppet state known as:
 * 1940 - 1944: Vichy France, a puppet state under the administration of Philippe Pétain who collaborated with the Nazi; progressively from 1942 - 1944 the Nazis began to take greater and greater control, and by 1944 Pétain was removed and the entire of France was under direct Nazi control.
 * 1940 - 1945: Free France, a government-in-exile based in London, it claimed to be the sole legitimate government for the French People, and throughout 1944 - 1945 began to slowly recapture the country following the Normandy Invasion.
 * 1945 - 1946: Provisional Government of the French Republic which controlled the country in the wake of the defeat of the Nazis long enough to establish a new constitution as the:
 * 1946 - 1958: French Fourth Republic, it fell apart during the Algerian Crisis and was replaced by the:
 * 1958 - today: French Fifth Republic, the modern French state.