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1870–1940: Third Republic: 1871: 10 May: The end of the Franco-Prussian War: France's loss marked the downfall of Napoleon III and led to the end of the Second French Empire. The Third Republic was subsequently declared and Napoleon III went into exile in the United Kingdom until his death. 26 March
2 septembre : capitulation de Sedan. 4 septembre : Gambetta proclamant la République à l' Hôtel de ville de Paris. Eugénie fuyant le palais des Tuileries, le 4 septembre 1870, André Castaigne. Le Neptune, le premier ballon utilisé pour transporter le courrier pendant le siège de Paris, 23 septembre 1870.
- Origins
- Nineteenth Century
- "Three Year Law" of 1913
- World War I
- Interwar Period
- World War II
- Post-War Period and The End of Conscription
- Journée Défense et Citoyenneté
- Service National Universel
The French Royal Army of the 17th and 18th centuries had consisted primarily of long-service regulars together with a number of regiments recruited from Swiss, German, Irish and other foreign mercenaries. Limited conscription for local militiaunits was widely resented and only enforced in times of emergency. Universal conscription in the modern sen...
Following France's defeat in the Napoleonic Wars, the restored Bourbon monarchy returned to its traditional reliance on long service volunteers plus some Swiss and German mercenary regiments. Numbers were filled out through limited conscription by lot, the burden of which spared the middle and upper classes who could afford to purchase exemption th...
In 1913, France introduced a "Three Year Law" to extend the term of French military service to match the size of the Imperial German Army. France's population lagged significantly behind Germany in 1913; the population of mainland France was 40 million as opposed to Germany's 60 million. In contrast to Germany and Russia, who were able to offer exe...
With war imminent, 2.9 million men were mobilized in August 1914. These comprised conscripts undertaking their three years of obligatory service, reservists of ages 24 to 30 who had completed their period of full-time service, and territorials drawn from older men up to the age of 45. While reservists had been required to undertake periodic re-trai...
France had retained conscription between the two world wars, though the country relied upon the French regulars of the Colonial Army, native regiments and the Foreign Legion to garrison its overseas empire. However, the birth rate dropped,primarily due to the fact that over a million young Frenchmen had been killed in the First World War and many m...
French morale in 1940 had declined for a variety of political, social and military reasons, and the French High Command largely consisted of aging commanders who had held senior positions in the First World War. On the outbreak of war, the French Army Commander-in-Chief General Maurice Gamelin was already past retirement age. In sending his best tr...
Following liberation in 1944, France returned to a universal military service system. However, conscripts were not required to serve in the Indo-China War of 1947–54, which was fought by French, North African and colonial volunteers plus the Foreign Legion and locally recruited forces. This meant an increased reliance on voluntary enlistment and by...
In 1998 the Journée Défense et Citoyenneté (JDC), the "Defence and Citizenship Day" was established by President Jacques Chirac. It is mandatory for males of French nationality and optional for females. At the conclusion of the program, an individual certificate is issued to each participant. This certificate is needed to take the baccalaureate exa...
In 2019, President Emmanuel Macron introduced Service national universel (SNU), a national service currently on a voluntary basis, for a period of 4 weeks. It will become a compulsory service in the future. Conscripts will spend two weeks in training and two weeks performing community service. The system has been described as "more scout campthan m...
1–2 September - Battle of Sedan: decisive Prussian victory. Napoleon III surrenders himself and the entire Army of Châlons and declares the Second Empire dissolved. 3 September - Siege of Metz begins with French forces besieged. 4 September - Third Republic declared in Paris. Government of National Defense established.
Democracy in France: The Third Republic (1952) online; Weber, Eugen. Peasants into Frenchmen: The Modernization of Rural France, 1870-1914 (1976) excerpt and text search; Wolf, John B. France: 1815 to the Present (1940) online free pp 349–501. World War I. Brown, Frederick The Embrace of Unreason: France, 1914-1940 (2014) Greenhalgh, Elizabeth.
The Second French Empire [a], officially the French Empire, [b] was an Imperial Bonapartist regime, ruled by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (Napoleon III) from 14 January 1852 to 27 October 1870, between the Second and the Third French Republics. The period was one of significant achievements in infrastructure and economy, while France reasserted ...
In 1532, Brittany was incorporated into the Kingdom of France. France engaged in the long Italian Wars (1494–1559), which marked the beginning of early modern France. Francis I faced powerful foes, and he was captured at Pavia. The French monarchy then sought for allies and found one in the Ottoman Empire.
