Gallic Origins

  • 200 B.C. The Parisii, a Gallic tribe, make the Ile de la Cite their fortified capital.
  • 250 A.D. St. Denis introduces Christianity.


    Changing Dynasties

  • 508 King Clovis of the Frankish Merovingian line makes Paris his capital.
  • 751 A new dynasty, the Carolingians, is created when Pepin the Short, father of Charlemagne, deposes the king.
  • 887 Norman pirates, invaders for decades, are defeated by Count Eudes. He is subsequently proclaimed King of France.
  • 987 Capetian dynasty begins with Hugues Capet, and continues for 350 years.
  • 1180-1223 King Philippe August erects the fortress of the Louvre, and the University of Paris is founded.
  • 1328 Death of King Charles IV ends the Capetian dynasty.
  • 1337 Hundred Years' War begins with the English dispute of the Valois claim to the French throne.
  • 1420 Paris captured by the English.
  • 1453 England withdraws from all of France except Calais.
  • 1500 Italian renaissance influences French culture.
  • 1589 Bourbons emerge as the new dynastic line.
  • 1598 Edict of Nantes, granting freedom of worship for Protestants, is issued by King Henry IV.


    Grand Siecle

  • 1600 Paris grows as a city of the arts; period known as the grand siecle.
  • 1661 Louis XIV becomes king. France reaches its height of power.
  • 1685 Edict of Nantes is revoked by Louis XIV; thousands of Protestants flee.


    Revolution

  • 1700 Ineffectual and unpopular leadership by Louis XV and Louis XVI.
  • 1789 Storming of the Bastille and the beginning of the revolution.
  • 1792 Execution of King Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. Robespierre creates the two-year Reign of Terror.
  • 1799 Revolution ends when Napoleon Bonaparte appoints himself First Consul, or dictator of France.
  • 1804 Napoleon has himself crowned Emperor in Notre-Dame.
  • 1814 Paris falls to the Allied forces.


    Restoration

  • 1815 The Bourbon line is restored and Louis XVIII is crowned King.
  • 1848 Louis-Philippe is ousted and a Second Republic is declared.
  • 1852 Republic falters; Napoleon III is proclaimed Emperor.

    Third Republic


  • 1870 Third Republic declared.
  • 1871 Franco-Prussian War begins.
  • 1889 Building of the Eiffel Tower.
  • 1944 General de Gaulle leads the new provisional
  • government after liberation from the Germans.


    Today

  • 1946 Inauguration of the Fourth Republic and a new constitution.
  • 1958 Fourth Republic falters and de Gaulle forms Fifth Republic.
  • 1959 European Economic Community (Common Market) is founded.
  • 1962 Algeria granted independence.
  • 1977 Election of Jacques Chirac as the first mayor of Paris since 1871.