France Tourism: Dateline

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Dateline

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121 B.C. The Romans establish the province of Gallia Narbonensis to guard overland routes between Spain and Italy; its borders correspond roughly to today's Provence.
58-51 B.C. Julius Caesar conquers Gaul (north-central France).
52 B.C. The Romans build Lutetia, later Paris, on an island in the Seine.
2nd century A.D. Christianity arrives in Gaul.
485-511 Under Clovis I, the Franks defeat the Roman armies and establish the Merovingian dynasty.
768 Charlemagne (768-814) becomes the Frankish king and establishes the Carolingian dynasty; from Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen), he rules from northern Italy to Bavaria to Paris.
800 Charlemagne is crowned Holy Roman Emperor in Rome.
814 Charlemagne dies; his empire breaks up.
1066 William of Normandy (the Conqueror) invades England; his conquest is completed by 1087.
1140 St-Denis Cathedral, the first example of Gothic architecture, is completed.
1270 Louis IX (St. Louis) dies, along with most of his army, in Tunis on the Eighth Crusade.
1309 The papal schism: Philip the Fair establishes the Avignon papacy, which lasts nearly 70 years; two popes struggle for domination.
1347-51 The bubonic plague (Black Death) kills 33% of the population.
1431 The English burn Joan of Arc at the stake in Rouen for resisting their occupation of France.
1453 The French drive the English out of all of France except Calais; the Hundred Years' War ends.
1515-47 France captures Calais after centuries of English rule.
1562-98 The Wars of Religion: Catholics fight Protestants; Henri IV converts to Catholicism and issues the Edict of Nantes, granting limited rights to Protestants.
1643-1715 The reign of Louis XIV, the Sun King; France develops Europe's most powerful army, but wars in Flanders and court extravagance sow seeds of decline.
1763 The Treaty of Paris effectively ends French power in North America.
1789-94 The French Revolution: The Bastille is stormed on July 14, 1789; the Reign of Terror follows.
1793 Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette are guillotined.
1794 Robespierre and the leaders of the Reign of Terror are guillotined.
1799 Napoléon enters Paris and unites diverse factions; his victories in Italy solidify his power in Paris.
1804 Napoléon crowns himself emperor in Notre-Dame de Paris.
1805-11 Napoléon and his armies successfully invade most of Europe.
1814-15 Napoléon abdicates after the failure of his Russian campaign; exiled to Elba, he returns. On June 18, 1815, defeated at Waterloo, he's exiled to St. Helena. He dies in 1821.
1830-48 The reign of Louis-Philippe.
1848 A revolution topples Louis-Philippe; Napoléon III (nephew of Napoléon I) is elected president.
1851-71 President Napoléon names himself Emperor Napoléon III.
1863 An exhibition of paintings marks the birth of Impressionism.
1870-71 The Franco-Prussian War: Paris falls; France cedes Alsace-Lorraine but aggressively colonizes North Africa and Southeast Asia.
1873 France loses Suez to the British; financial scandal wrecks an attempt to dredge the canal.
1889 The Eiffel Tower is built for Paris's Universal Exhibition and the Revolution's centennial; architectural critics howl with contempt.
1914-18 World War I. French casualties exceed five million.
1923 France occupies the Ruhr, Germany's industrial zone, collecting enormous war reparations.
1929 France retreats from the Ruhr and the Rhineland and constructs the "impregnable" Maginot Line.
1934 The Great Depression; clashes of left and right spur a political crisis.
1936 Germans march into the demilitarized Rhineland; France takes no action.
1939 France and Britain guarantee Poland, Romania, and Greece protection from aggressors; Germany invades Poland; France declares war.
1940 Paris falls to Germany on June 14; Marshal Pétain's Vichy government collaborates with the Nazis; General de Gaulle forms a government in exile in London to direct French resistance fighters.
1944 On June 6, the Allies invade the Normandy beaches; other Allied troops invade from the south; Paris is liberated in August.
1946-54 War in Indochina; French withdraw from Southeast Asia; North and South Vietnam are created.
1954-58 The Algerian revolution and subsequent independence from France; refugees flood France; the Fourth Republic collapses.
1958 De Gaulle initiates the Fifth Republic, calling for a France independent from the United States and Europe.
1960 France tests an atomic bomb.
1968 Students riot in Paris; de Gaulle resigns.
1981 François Mitterrand becomes the first Socialist president since World War II.
1989 Bicentennial of the French Revolution; centennial of the Eiffel Tower.
1993 Conservatives topple the Socialists as Edouard Balladur becomes premier.
1994 The Channel Tunnel opens to link France with England.
1995 Jacques Chirac wins the French presidency and declares a war on unemployment; his popularity wanes and much unrest follows; terrorists bomb Paris several times.
1997 Strict immigration laws are enforced, causing strife for many African and Arab immigrants and dividing the country. French voters elect Socialist Lionel Jospin prime minister.
1998 France hosts and wins the World Cup.
2000 The euro is officially introduced. France gives legal status to unmarried couples.
2002 France switches to the euro, the equivalent of a European dollar.
2004 New 782€-million (over $1-billion) terminal collapses at Charles de Gaulle airport outside Paris, killing four.

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