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73)
France
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languages (via Skype): Rainer: + 36 20 549 52 97 or + 36 20 334 79 74
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France
One could start with the
Cro-Magnon, but from a historical point of view that doesn't matter much to
France.
While Greeks, Phoenicians and
Romans fought for the rule of the Mediterranean, the Celts settled the inland
regions of Spain, France, Germany, the Carpathian Basin and Asia Minor.
Sometimes they flexed their muscles and pillaged Rome and Delphi.
On the coast of France to the Mediterranean very early,
there were Greek colonies. The Romans came later. They not only
stayed on the coast, but also sought to bring the whole country under their
control and make it economically viable. Roads were built and markets were
set up. Initially there was great resistance from the Celts, but after a while,
they saw the benefits.
The migration of peoples began in
the 5th century and one of the first to move through the country and
devastating almost everything in their way were the Alemannic, which is also reflected in
the French language, Germany is called "Allemagne".
Different princedoms took their
turns for almost 3 centuries before Charlemagne created the Franconian
Empire. After it had broken down into 3 parts, the imperial crown went to
Germany and France. The country consisted of many smaller principalities.
Only the military success against
the English in the 100 Years' War brought a unit that made France a major European
power. What would have become of Europe in the Thirty Years' War without
France? The main goal here was to break the hegemony of the Habsburgs. The
good cooperation between Louis XIII and Richelieu (Alexander Dumas is a liar when he tells us the contrary in his books) made the breakthrough of
Protestantism in Germany and Holland and thus the modernization of Europe
possible.
In a Europe of kings and princes,
the French king best managed to concentrate power in his hand. Some sayings
by Louis XIV or the Sun King are indicative of that situation: "L’état
c’est moi!" (I am the state.) He founded various academies, such as that
of the arts. There for example, it was determined what should be considered
beautiful in painting. A historian once wrote about him that he was wise
enough to realize that it was better to put government affairs in reasonable
hands (Cardinal Jules Mazarin) to limit himself to representative tasks.
His grandson Louis XVI, on the
other hand, is said to have been a weak link in the chain and made it easy
for the emerging and educated, richer middle class to remove him. As if this
hard plug, the kingship, needed greater strength in the bottle to be squeezed
out, which then led to the French Revolution, whereas in England, for
example, Cromwell had previously weakened the king's power. This bourgeoisie,
which was pushing upwards, already had the skills to run a country, as they
had made close contacts with Great Britain and the U.S.A. However, they
lacked the courage to take the final, decisive, irreversible step to advance
France into the future: the execution of the king. The nation had struggled
for years before overcoming the symbol of royal inviolability. This
hesitation, the pressure from outside, the indifference of the liberated
United States and the immaturity of the large masses in France, where should
they have learned it, led to the next dictatorship: Napoleon.
He slept in the stable where his
soldiers slept, knowing how they would respect him and how to address them.
The fact that he was able to conquer almost all of Europe was not only due to
his statesmanlike, organizational skills or direct manners towards ordinary
people. The emerging middle class across Europe had enviously looked at
France during the French Revolution. The military success of Napoleon happened
also thanks to them. They were fed up with the aristocrats of their own
countries and he promised them a transformation of society and power
structures. He created a code of law for the French, which is still largely valid
today. However, he was just megalomaniac. For example, Beethoven had been one
of his admirers at first, and even named a symphony after him, but when
Napoleon crowned himself emperor, the disillusioned Beethoven preferred to
give his piece of music the name of "Eroica". He was smart enough
to conquer, but not smart enough to keep it.
Afterwards France was occupied by
England, Prussia, Russia and Austria. Knowing that they could not keep a
hostile France under control, so they were smarter than Napoleon, they reinstated
a king who was well-suited to them. However, the spirit of the republic could
no longer be squeezed back into the bottle and the Bourbon king had to flee
again.
Napoleon III was first greeted
warmly by the French as a symbol of the republic, only he behaved no better
than a king and the French finally learned to think for themselves. It took
almost a century before democracy worked. Today the country is one of the
examples of a multinational, democratic society.
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Dienstag, 4. August 2020
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