Franks moved here in the 5th century.

About 10 century, the Frankish Empire (Charlemagne Empire) split; According to treaty of verdun in 843, the eastern part formed the present German, the central part was Burgundy, and the western part gradually became the present French. After a hundred years' war with Britain 1 16, at the end of 15, France gradually formed a centralized autocratic monarchy.

1789 The French Revolution overthrew the feudal system and the imperial system, and began to gradually establish a republic and advance towards democracy. French national motto "freedom, equality and fraternity" (French: Liberté,? Galité, Fraternité) These three words come from the French Revolution. The first Republic of France was founded in 1792; It was not until 1804 that Napoleon became the French emperor and established the first French Empire (or Napoleon Empire), ending the short Republic years.

Subsequently, in 1848, France established the second French Republic with Charles Louis Napolé on Bonaparte as its president under the background of another revolution in the National Assembly and the overthrow of the monarchy, until 1852, when the second French Empire was established and the monarchy was restored.

1870 After the Franco-Prussian War, France resumed the republic (established the third republic) and once established the first proletarian dictatorship in the world history: 187 1 Paris Commune until May 28th, but it was overthrown immediately. Then, after the withdrawal of the Prussian army, the French people once again restored the Third Republic. After World War I and World War II, the Third Republic was finally destroyed by Nazi Germany (the Third Reich) in 1940. In World War II, General Charles de Gaulle established an exiled government in Britain, called "Free France", to compete with Vicky France, a vassal of Nazi Germany. During the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression period, it was renamed "Tactics".

After the war, General Charles de Gaulle founded the Fourth Republic of France. France is a victorious country in two world wars and suffered heavy losses in these two wars. 1958 When the Algerian war broke out, General Charles de Gaulle announced the end of the "old constitution" (the Constitution of the Fourth Republic of France) and implemented the "new constitution" (the Constitution of the Fifth Republic of France (the current French Constitution). After the end of the Fourth Republic, the Fifth French Republic was established, which is now the French Republic.

It is worth mentioning that when the Fifth Republic of France was founded, it learned the lessons of the failure of the previous parliamentary system, so it established and used a semi-presidential system and a semi-parliamentary democracy (double-headed system), and it has not changed since then. In recent years, the close cooperation between France and Germany has become an indispensable driving force for European economic integration, such as the circulation of the euro in 1999. Today, France stands in Europe and seeks the forefront of closer cooperation in more fields.

economy

The French economy combines modern capitalist economy with government intervention. The government still has an important influence in the main departments of various industries; In railway, electric power, aviation and telecommunications enterprises, the government also has the main control right. From 65438 to the early 1990s, the French government has been gradually relaxing its control over these sectors, and is gradually liberalizing its controlling interests in France Telecom, Air France, insurance, finance and national defense enterprises. In addition, fertile land, advanced technology and government subsidies make France a leading agricultural producer in Western Europe.

As one of the eight industrialized countries, France ranks sixth or seventh in nominal GDP. France and the other eleven member States of the European Union began to use the euro from June 5438+099965438+ 10/,and it was not until 2002 that they completely replaced the French franc (? )。

According to the statistics of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, in 2004, France was the fifth largest exporter and the fourth largest importer of manufactured goods in the world. In 2003, France was the second largest recipient of foreign direct investment in OECD, with a total investment of about 47 billion euros. In the same year, the total overseas investment of French enterprises reached 57.3 billion euros, second only to the US's 65.438+0738 billion euros, surpassing the UK's 55.3 billion euros, ranking second in the OECD.

According to OECD data in 2005, among the eight industrialized countries, France has the highest productivity (= GDP/ working hours). In 2004, the hourly GDP of France was US$ 47.7 and US$ 46.3, that of Germany was US$ 42./kloc-0, that of Britain was US$ 39.6 and that of Japan was US$ 32.5.

politics

The Constitution of the Fifth Republic was adopted by the French people in a referendum on September 28th, 1958. 1958101the constitution promulgated on October 4th determined the national government mode of the Fifth Republic. Since then, the Constitution has undergone many revisions, which greatly strengthened the relationship between the executive authorities and the Parliament.

President of the Republic: the head of state is directly elected by universal suffrage, with a term of five years (the term of office of the president was shortened from seven years to five years after the French referendum on September 24, 2000). The president presides over cabinet meetings and promulgates laws; The president is also the commander-in-chief of the three armed forces. In addition, according to article 16 of the Constitution, in the face of major crises, the President has the right to take extraordinary measures, such as declaring a state of emergency or launching a national mobilization order.

Nicolas Sarkozy is the sixth president of the French Republic. On May 6, 2007, he officially took office.

Premier: A coalition government is formed by more than half of the parties or alliances in the National Assembly, and one person is elected as the Prime Minister, who is appointed by the President. He is the head of government. According to Article 8 of the French Constitution, the Prime Minister appoints other members of the government. According to Articles 20 and 2 1 of the Constitution, under the leadership of the Prime Minister, the government decides and is in charge of national policies; To lead the operation of the government and ensure the implementation of the law; The government is accountable to parliament.

Francois fillon was appointed as the current French Prime Minister by Nicolas Sarkozy on May 7th, 2007.

The National Assembly (French: assemble nationale) is the highest legislative body in the country, with 577 members, each representing a constituency. Members are directly elected by the people for a term of five years. The French President has the right to dissolve the National Assembly.

The Senate (French: Sénat) has a total of 346 senators (20 10, the number of seats increased from 32 1 0 to 346), and the senators are elected by the electoral institutions for a term of six years (after September 2004, the term of office of senators was reduced from nine years to six years); And replace one-third of senators every two years; In addition, the legislative function of the Senate is restricted; When the two parliaments disagree, the National Assembly has the final decision. The government has great influence on the agenda of parliament.

culture

French culture is rich and diverse, and France has been one of the world's cultural centers since13rd century. French culture strongly blends Gothic and Catholic styles. Modern French culture experienced many setbacks, such as the Hundred Years' War between Britain and France, the centralized dictatorship of the French dynasty, the French Revolution, the Franco-Prussian War, the Paris Commune, and the two world wars. All these have seriously affected and trampled on French culture, but in this process, new cultures have emerged and produced, creating today's French culture; However, this is naturally different from the ancient classical Frankish culture.

history of culture

From a historical perspective, France has always blended the classical cultural atmosphere of ancient Rome with the cultural characteristics of Franks, Goths and Gauls, who were previously considered "barbarians". In fact, in recent three or four hundred years, French culture has been an important part of European culture.

This was even more obvious in the 3rd and 4th centuries when the Roman Empire was on the verge of extinction: barbarians in the Frankish region crossed the border into ancient Rome and invaded in the fields of military politics and cultural customs in France today. Christianity gained legal status in the Roman Empire (3 1 1 promulgated the Milan Decree of the Roman Emperor) and even gained the status of the state religion (the Roman Catholic Church or the Vatican Church was established in 392) Various reasons have provided objective, favorable and universal conditions for this mixed-color culture to further promote the provinces in the Frankish region of the Roman Empire and produce a brand-new "French culture".

Cultural blending can be seen not only from the life of towns and villages in Frankish province of Roman Empire in the 4th century, but also from the rise of Romanesque architecture and Christian church with emerging barbarian flavor, and the lifestyle of barbarians who entered the Roman system. Even the official military management form of the Roman Empire was objectively "invaded" by Frankish culture-a large number of immigrants from Franks, Slavs and Germans changed the management and training form of Roman legions in military camps.

Taken together, various objective historical indications show that the cultural blending between Frank and ancient Rome produced a brand-new medieval culture, and French culture played an indispensable role in the mainstream culture of the Middle Ages, while ancient Roman culture and French culture were equal and complementary: France was glorified by ancient Roman culture and evolved into cultural assimilation or progress, while ancient Rome learned from Frank's massive immigrants the way barbarians trained troops and managed people and even their cultural characteristics, thus consolidating the Roman Empire's rule over the people.