France thus lies most decidedly in the cross-roads of world events. It is better to study her annals than those of any other one country in Europe, if the reader would get a general view of universal history. France has been a participant in, or interested spectator of, nearly every great war or diplomatic contest for over a thousand years; and a very great proportion of all the religious, intellectual, social, and economic movements which have affected the world either began in France or were speedily caught up and acted upon by Frenchmen soon after they had commenced their working elsewhere.
Chapter 1: THE LAND OF THE GAULS AND THE FRENCH
Chapter 2: THE ROMAN PROVINCE AND THE FRANKISH KINGDOM
Chapter 3: FROM FRANKS TO FRENCHMEN
Chapter 4: THE GOLDEN AGE OF FEUDALISM: 996-1270
Chapter 5: LIFE IN THE FEUDAL AGES
Chapter 6: THE DAWN OF THE MODERN ERA: 1270-1483. THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR
Chapter 7: THE TURBULENT SIXTEENTH CENTURY: 1483-1610
Chapter 8: THE GREAT CARDINAL AND HIS SUCCESSOR
Chapter 9: LOUIS XIV, THE SUN KING – HIS WORK IN FRANCE
Chapter 10: LOUIS XIV DOMINATOR OF EUROPE
Chapter 11: THE WANE OF THE OLD MONARCHY
Chapter 12: FRANCE THE HOMELAND OF NEW IDEAS
Chapter 13: OLD FRANCE ON THE EVE OF THE REVOLUTION
Chapter 14: THE FIERY COMING OF THE NEW RÉGIME: 1789-92
Chapter 15: THE YEARS OF BLOOD AND WRATH: 1792-95
Chapter 16: NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, AS MASTER OF EUROPE
Chapter 17: THE NAPOLEONIC RÉGIME IN FRANCE THE CONSULATE AND THE EMPIRE
Chapter 18: 'GLORY AND MADNESS' – MOSCOW, LEIPZIG, AND WATERLOO
Chapter 19: THE RESTORED BOURBONS AND THEIR EXIT
Chapter 20: THE 'CITIZEN-KING' AND THE RULE OF THE BOURGEOIS
Chapter 21: RADICAL OUTBREAKS AND THE REACTION TO CÆSARISM THE SECOND REPUBLIC: 1848-51
Chapter 22: NAPOLEON THE LITTLE: HIS PROSPERITY AND DECADENCE
Chapter 23: THE CRUCIFIXION BY PRUSSIA: 1870-71
Chapter 24: THE PAINFUL BIRTH OF THE THIRD REPUBLIC
Chapter 25: THE YEARS OF PEACE: 1879-1914
Chapter 26: FRANCE HERSELF AGAIN