The Country history
The history of France is complicated, with frontiers that continually changed, invasions and wars with the neighbors and migrations of populations to and from various countries.
In the first half of the twentieth century it was engulfed by two major wars: World War I (1914-18) and World War II (1939-45). During both wars the French were on the side of the Allies against German aggression although in 1940 German forces occupied France. France paid a high price in both economic and human terms during the two world wars. Nevertheless, today it is one of the most modern countries in the world and is a leader among European nations.
Since 1958, it has constructed a presidential democracy resistant to the instabilities experienced in earlier parliamentary democracies. |
