User:OnBeyondZebrax/sandbox/France history

Charlemagne reunited the Frankish kingdoms and built a vast empire in the 700s. England and France went to war from 1337 to 1453 in what would become known as the Hundred Years' War. The French Renaissance saw a long set of wars, known as the Italian Wars, between the Kingdom of France and the powerful Holy Roman Empire. The monarchy reached its peak during the 17th century and the reign of Louis XIV. After the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789, the absolute monarchy was abolished and France became a constitutional monarchy. Through the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, France established fundamental rights for French citizens (who could only be male). Napoleon Bonaparte seized control of the Republic in 1799 becoming First Consul and later Emperor of the French Empire (1804–1814/1815). France's global overseas colonial empire extended greatly in the 19th and 20th century and became the second largest in the world behind the British Empire. World War I left 1.4 million French soldiers dead. In 1940 France was invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany. France attempted to regain control of French Indochina but was defeated by the Viet Minh in 1954. Only months later, France faced another anti-colonialist conflict in Algeria. In 1958, the weak and unstable Fourth Republic gave way to the Fifth Republic.