Vichy Regime Quiz: Study and Learn with Flashcards

France: A Country Overview

France is a country located primarily in Western Europe, with overseas territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.
The country has one of the largest discontiguous exclusive economic zones in the world and spans a combined area of 643,801 km2.
France has a total population of over 68 million, making it a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris.
The country has a rich history dating back to the Paleolithic era, with the territory of Metropolitan France being settled during the Iron Age by Celtic tribes known as Gauls.
France was annexed by Rome in 51 BC, leading to a distinct Gallo-Roman culture that laid the foundation of the French language.
Inadequate economic policies, inequitable taxes, and frequent wars left the kingdom in a precarious economic situation by the end of the 18th century, precipitating the French Revolution of 1789.
France reached its political and military zenith in the early 19th century under Napoleon Bonaparte, establishing the First French Empire.
The country was among the major participants of World War I, from which it emerged victorious at a great human and economic cost.
France is a developed country with the world's seventh-largest economy by nominal GDP and tenth-largest by PPP.
It remains a great power in global affairs, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and an official nuclear-weapon state.
France is a founding and leading member of the European Union and the Eurozone and a key member of the Group of Seven, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and Francophonie.
The name France comes from the Latin Francia, or "realm of the Franks," who were a Germanic tribe that adopted Romanic languages and culture.
France has a rich cultural heritage and is known as a global center of art, science, and philosophy, hosting the fifth-largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receiving over 89 million foreign visitors in 2018.A Brief History of France:
The Carolingian dynasty ruled France until 987, when Hugh Capet became King of the Franks and his descendants progressively unified the country into the Kingdom of France.
French nobility played a prominent role in most Crusades and the French language became the base of the lingua franca of the Crusader states.
From the 11th century, the House of Plantagenet established its dominion over the surrounding provinces, creating an "empire" that spanned from England to the Pyrenees and covering half of modern France.
Under Louis XIII, Cardinal Richelieu promoted the centralisation of the state and reinforced royal power by destroying castles of defiant lords and denouncing private violence.
From the 16th to the 19th century, France was responsible for 11% of the transatlantic slave trade, second only to Great Britain during the 18th century.
The monarchy reached its peak during the 17th century and the reign of Louis XIV, making France the leading European power and taking colonial control of many overseas territories.
Under Louis XV, France lost New France and most of its Indian possessions after its defeat in the Seven Years' War.
Facing financial troubles, King Louis XVI summoned the Estates-General in May 1789 to propose solutions to his government, leading to the outbreak of the French Revolution.
In August 1789, France established fundamental rights for men through the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.
The National Convention abolished the monarchy in September 1792 and proclaimed the French First Republic.
Napoleon Bonaparte seized control of the Republic in 1799, becoming Emperor of the French Empire and conquering most of continental Europe before being defeated and overthrown in 1815.
The Bourbon dynasty was overthrown by the July Revolution of 1830, which established the constitutional July Monarchy.A Brief History and Geography of France

History:

France began colonizing Algeria in 1830, establishing the first colonial presence in Africa since Napoleon's invasion of Egypt in 1798.
In 1848, the February Revolution led to the end of the July Monarchy and the re-enactment of abolition of slavery and male universal suffrage.
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was proclaimed emperor of the Second Empire in 1852. He led French interventions in Crimea, Mexico, and Italy.
The Franco-Prussian War of 1870 unseated Napoleon III, and the Third Republic replaced his regime.
France's global overseas colonial empire became the second-largest in the world behind the British Empire in the 19th and 20th centuries.
World War I left 1.4 million French soldiers dead, 4% of its population.
France was defeated by Nazi Germany in 1940, leading to the establishment of the Vichy government.
Free France, the government-in-exile led by Charles de Gaulle, was established in London.
France faced anti-colonialist conflicts in Indochina and Algeria in the mid-20th century.
The May 1968 revolt led to a split between the French people and de Gaulle, who resigned shortly after.

Geography:

Metropolitan France covers 551,500 square kilometers, the largest among European Union members.
France's total land area, with its overseas departments and territories, is 643,801 km2, 0.45% of the total land area on Earth.
France possesses the second-largest Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the world, covering 11,035,000 km2.
Metropolitan France has a wide variety of topographical sets and natural landscapes, from coastal plains in the north and west to mountain ranges of the Alps in the southeast.
France has an extensive river system consisting of the four major rivers Seine, the Loire, the Garonne, the Rhône and their tributaries.
France was one of the first countries to create an environment ministry in 1971.
France is ranked fifth in the world for environmental consciousness and has heavy investment in nuclear power, which accounts for 75% of its electricity production and results in less pollution.Overview of France
France is divided into 18 regions, 101 departments, 335 arrondissements, and 36,658 communes.
The French Republic also has five overseas collectivities, one sui generis collectivity, one overseas territory, and one island possession.
France is a unitary, semi-presidential representative democracy with a framework consisting of executive, legislative, and judicial branches.
The executive branch has two leaders: the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister.
The legislature consists of the French Parliament, which is bicameral, made up of the National Assembly and the Senate.
The French legal system is divided into private law, criminal law, and administrative law.
France has a civil legal system, where law arises primarily from written statutes.
France is a member of the United Nations and serves as one of the permanent members of the UN Security Council with veto rights.
France has close ties with Germany and is the most influential driving force of the European Union.
France is a member of NATO but excluded itself from the joint military command under President de Gaulle.
The French Armed Forces consist of the French Army, the French Navy, the French Air and Space Force, and the National Gendarmerie.
France is a recognised nuclear state and has the world's sixth-most powerful military.