The History of: France

[MagPiesRUs]

The Roman Conquest of Gaul, 51BC

Having been appointed governor of Gallia Narbonensis in what is now South-East France, Julius Caesar began to conquer the people of Gaul in what was known as the Gallic Wars. The Gallic people were all seperate tribes, who has long fought with one another, and Caesar was able to take advantage of this. However, in 52BC, the Averni chief Vercingetorix rose up and united the Gallic tribes and started a revolt against Roman rule. Vercingetorix adopted more modern battle tactics to try to match those of the Romans. Initially, Vercingetorix had great success against Caesar and the Romans. His most famous victory was at the battle of Gergovia, where he killed around 700 legionaries and forced Caesar to halt his advance.

However, Caesar then besieged Vercengetorix and his people at Alesia. There he built two layers of walls around the fort, expecting a large Gallic relief force of around 100,000. Due to the construction of this wall, the Romans were able to hold off against this large relieving army, eventually routing them with his cavalry. With this victory, the Romans were able to starve the people of Alesia out. Eventually the Gauls surrendered. According to legend, Vercengetorix rode to Caesar's camp, where he threw down his arms at Caesar's feet and kneeled down before him.

Charlemagne, 800AD

Charlemagne became King of the Franks in 768. He was constantly involved in conquests, the first major one being his war agains the Lombards in Italy, where the pope demanded the Lombards return some of their cities. When the Lombards refused, Charlemagne besieged their city of Pavia, which they eventually surrendered. Charlemagne, now with the title 'patrician', turned his attention to the Saracens, who had a strong influence over the Mediterranean. He conquered their holdings in Corsica and Sardinia, before fighting with the Moors who controlled most of Spain. Eventually he captured Barcelona, the greatest city in the Iberian peninsula. Charlemagne also waged war against the Saxons, the Bavarians and the Avars to the East. All in all, Charlemagne was involved in around 50 campaigns during his reign. Having formed the Frankish Empire, he made reforms which got rid of cruel and corrupt governors, increased industry and commerce, improved farming techniques and put more emphasis on art, culture and religion. Charlemagne's rule formed France and the Holy Roman Empire and defined what became of Western Europe for the next 500 years.

Joan of Arc and the Siege of Orléans, 1429

By 1428, the Hundred Years War had been going for 91 years, and the French had suffered greatly. After Henry V's decisive victory at Agincourt, the English had advanced right into the very heart of France. In 1428, the English besieged the French city of Orléans. There had been prophecies around that France would be saved by an armed maid. Thus, when Joan of Arc arrived at King Charles VII's court and stated that she had visions telling her to lead France to victory, the French morale grew. Joan of Arc arrived at Orléans with a relief force in 1429. Her force skirmished with the English around the English fort of Les Tourelles, weakening the English garrison there. While the other French generals met in secret agreeing not to attack until reinforcements arrive, Joan of Arc readied the soldiers to attack in the morning. Joan led the men against Tourelles, wielding the French standard. After a couple of inconclusive attacks, the French managed to break into the fort and Tourelles was taken. The next day, the remaining English retreated and lifted the siege.

Joan led the French to a few more victories, but she was eventually captured by the Burgundians, who sold her to the English. The English accused her of witchcraft and burnt her at the stake. Joan had given the French hope however, and in 1453, the French won the Hundred Years war, and had regained all of their territory.

The French Revolution and the Republics, 1789-1870

Most people in 18th Century France belonged to one of three estates - the First Estate (the priests), the Second Estate (the nobles) and the Third Estate (the peasants and lower class). Only the third estate was taxed. King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette lived in luxury, while the peasants were poorer than ever. Louis had recently sent forces to help the Americans against the British in the American War of Independence. News came back to the people of France about these ideas of democracy and revolution, who now wanted more than ever freedom. On 14 July 1789, the Sans-Culottes stormed the Bastille prison and slaughtered those guarding it. Louis and his family fled, but were caught. Outraged, the some French wished to execute them as traitors. On 21 January 1793, Louis was executed using a new machine called the guillotine. A revolutionary Jacobin named Robespierre took power, executing anyone he believed to threaten the Revolution. This period was called the Reign of Terror. Some Jacobins were so afraid of being killed themselves that they executed Robespierre first. The Reign of Terror was over.

Now, 'the Directory' took over, though now foreign powers, afraid of their own people revolting, moved in to crush the Revolution. Fortunately for the Directory, a young general named Napoleon Bonaparte defeated the invading armies, and began to conquer the rest of Europe in reply. The Napoleonic Wars began. Eventually Napoelon was defeated and a new Monarch was installed in France, though it wasn't over yet. After French soldiers accidently fired on a peaceful crowd, a new revolution started, and Napoleon's nephew, Louis Napoleon III was crowned emperor. However, having lost the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, he was unseated, and a Third Republic was set up.

France and the First World War, 1914-1918

In 1914, Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, and Austria and Germany went to war with Serbia. Serbia's ally Russia declared war on Germany in exchange. Russia was allied with France, so France joined the war on their side. The French, still bitter about their loss to the Germans in the Franco-Prussian War, wanted revenge, and this seemed the perfect chance. The First World War began, and Germany began to advance into Belgium and France. Trenches were built along the Western Front, which gradually became deeper and more complex through the course of the war. Soon, the war on the Western Front had become a muddy and bloody stalemate.

The war carried on for 3 more years with no side having any real advantage, until the US joined the the war on the side of the Allies. The Germans, fatigued from the years of battle were pushed back to the German border. Eventually the Germans asked for an armistice. On November 11th 1918, peace terms were agreed upon in the Treaty of Versailles.

The French were involved in many of the decisive battles on the Western Front, their most notable perhaps being the battle of Verdun, where the French bravely fought against the Germans, and eventually drove them out of Verdun and back to their original lines.

All 5 vignettes:

Phew! Next time I think I'll just provide links to wikipedia...

Enjoy! Feedback appreciated!

[Francis Marion]

Excellent work yet again, TinyPiesRUs!

I looked at your first series of vingettes regarding the history of England (I loved those too) and would finally like to comment on your French ones. Personally, I like the guillotine scene the most, and am strongly considering "borrowing" that design in the future. Also, I particularly like the use of what appears to be barbed wire in the "Roman Conquest" and "World War I" MOCs, and am wondering, what piece is it?

I look forward to the next installment and wonder what it could be...

[Huntleyfx]

Nice work, please continue the series. I especially enjoyed the guillotine (and the fact the yellows were beheading fleshies!) I look forward to seeing what comes next.

[dragonboy79]

Nice work, please continue the series. I especially enjoyed the guillotine (and the fact the yellows were beheading fleshies!) I look forward to seeing what comes next.

The decapitated minifig has yellow hands. I assume the fleshy heads are necrotic? :skull:

[Majek]

Very nice! The First World War vignette is my favourite.

How about The History of: Poland ? Does anyone know anything

about history of my country ?

[Sandy]

Another great entry of a hopefully epic series!

Again, you choose the points of history well. The only minor tidbit I would've changed in the vignettes is Jeanne D'Arc's hair - she cut it to blend into the army, so maybe Irina Spalko's hair would've suited her minifig better?

[MagPiesRUs]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

Excellent work yet again, TinyPiesRUs!

I looked at your first series of vingettes regarding the history of England (I loved those too) and would finally like to comment on your French ones. Personally, I like the guillotine scene the most, and am strongly considering "borrowing" that design in the future. Also, I particularly like the use of what appears to be barbed wire in the "Roman Conquest" and "World War I" MOCs, and am wondering, what piece is it?

I look forward to the next installment and wonder what it could be...

Thanks, I'm glad you like them. The piece is a barbed wire coil, which appeared in a few of the Agents sets last year.

The decapitated minifig has yellow hands. I assume the fleshy heads are necrotic? :skull:

Yes, you're right. And because the Dovchenko head looks yuck.

Very nice! The First World War vignette is my favourite.

How about The History of: Poland ? Does anyone know anything

about history of my country ?

Thanks. I'll be considering doing Poland later on, it certainly has a very interesting history.

Another great entry of a hopefully epic series!

Again, you choose the points of history well. The only minor tidbit I would've changed in the vignettes is Jeanne D'Arc's hair - she cut it to blend into the army, so maybe Irina Spalko's hair would've suited her minifig better?

Thank you. I was considering using a Mutt hairpiece, though with the male head (as unfortunately all of the female heads have some form of lipstick) I used, it looked as if she was a man. Thus to make her look more like a woman, I gave her the princess hair. The Spalko hair certainly is a good suggestion though, I'll have to try that.

Thanks again everyone.

Edited February 6, 2009 by TinyPiesRUs

[BlueBard]

Amazing vigs, really! I'm half french and a french history freak so I really appreciate your work

I specially like the one about Caesar and Vercingetorix. Bravo!

[Captain Blackmoor]

I'm very interested in French history and this is really cool. Every aspect of history is in it!

I love the revolution and WW 1 vignettes the most.

Great work!

500 posts! Yay!

[L-space]

Again great work

My favorite is the WW I; you took great opportunity to depict the early years of the war when most armies were still in there "old" uniforms. In The Great War every army eventually transformed to wearing some sort of camouflage.

BTW when in Belgium visit Ypres, an opportunity the see the history of this war.

[Skinny Boy]

Hmmm, great job with these Tinypies! Looking forward to the next country.

[Huntleyfx]

Would you consider doing the United States, or is the country too young to show the timelines and still have it fit in with the rest of the series?

[Asuka]

A fine and interesting work, all of your little dioramas look nifty and nicely detailed and your MF characters look pretty fitting.

[MagPiesRUs]

Again great work

My favorite is the WW I; you took great opportunity to depict the early years of the war when most armies were still in there "old" uniforms. In The Great War every army eventually transformed to wearing some sort of camouflage.

BTW when in Belgium visit Ypres, an opportunity the see the history of this war.

Thank you. I should be going on a tour of World War battlefields next year, and Ypres will be one of the places we'll visit. The Battles of Ypres were very important in the history of the New Zealand Army too.

Would you consider doing the United States, or is the country too young to show the timelines and still have it fit in with the rest of the series?

I would consider the United States. There are definitely at least 5 important parts of history that could be done.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

[Derek]

Very cool! I especially like the guillotine one! Cool idea...

[TLV]

More beautiful vingettes! I really like the WWI and orleans ones! keep it coming!

[Mr Spielbrick]

Ahhh, Vercingetorix! Abraracourcix would be proud of you, sir.

Nice little vignettes. Liked your history of Britain as well. Sounds like it could be an endless series, hehe. I'm curious to see which countries you'll be diving in next.

Edited February 8, 2009 by Mr Spielbrick

[popkids]

These little scenes are so clever! My favourite is probably the Blitz scene in the British history one, I like the way the cone piece has been used for two completely different things in the same picture.

How about doing the history of Russia and the Soviet Union next? Plenty of interesting scenes to build there!

[CommanderCody77]

Very good MOC'S

[Holy Diver]

Cute and historical. A round of applause is necessary.