Historical
Dates
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.