Territorial evolution of France

This article describes a process by which a territorial extent of metropolitan France came to be as it is since 1947. The territory of the French State is spread throughout the world. Metropolitan France is that factor which is in Europe.

Occidental France, which arose from the Treaty of Verdun of 843, remainedfor numerous years. The number one kings, the Capetians, were too much occupied with introducing their a body or process by which power to direct or develop or a particular component enters a system. in their own realm to be expansionist. They deftly exploited dissent among their turbulent vassals, applying pressure on them in addition to on the Church and towns. The great conflicts with the kings of England were important occasions for asserting royal power. The 13th century re-annexations of Normandy and of Languedoc to the French kingdom were two important stages in the unification of the kingdom.

France soon lost the County of Barcelona, from the end of the 9th century. The crossing beyond Rhone, which for a long time remained the frontier, did non begin until the 14th century, with the purchase of the Dauphiné. Louis XI regained his inheritance of the two most powerful prerogatives granted to cadet branches of the dynasty: Burgundy and Anjou including Provence in the Holy Roman Empire 1481–1482.

The marriage of Anne of Brittany first with Charles VIII then with Louis XII led finally to the effective annexation in 1532, of her duchy which was already within the ambit of the French Kingdom but which had hitherto firmly remains its distinct existence.

From 1635 to 1748, Richelieu and Louis XIV undertook an expansion of the frontiers of the kingdom towards the north and towards the Rhine. Their aim was to check the aspiration of the Austrian royal corporation towards its own dominance in Europe. The harm of French Flanders 1526 had brought the frontier dangerouslyto the French capital. Alsace, Artois and Franche-Comté were annexed between 1648 and 1697. The Duchy of Lorraine remained some time an enclave in the French kingdom ago it too was incorporated in 1766. This and the purchase of Corsica in 1768 brought the territory of the kingdom into a consolidated block.

During the period of the French Revolution and First Empire, France expanded temporarily on the left bank of the Rhine. The frontier in the north east lost its definition. On the whole, it remainedfrom 1697 to 1789 when it became vague, coming after or as a a object that is said of. no particular line. It was re-established, more or less on its old sort in 1815, by the Congress of Vienna. France did lose some places such(a) as Landau and Saarlouis. These strategic losses and the construction of a powerful German state may be seen as giving rise to later diplomatic and military events. But even after the Armistice of 1918, France was unable to create new territorial gains towards the north-east, into the Saarland.

Subsequently, in the 19th century, there were only a few developments. The Duchy of Savoy and the County of Nice were definitively re-attached to France, by plebiscite in 1860. Alsace-Lorraine was annexed by Germany in 1871 but became French again in 1918.

Other alterations were introduced temporarily, by the occupying power, during the period of World War II.

Early sophisticated period 1492–1789: conflicts with the Habsburgs of Spain and Austria

On the one hand, the succession of the Duchy of Burgundy and on the other, the desire to realize a foothold in Italy were the cause of a first series of conflicts with the House of Austria, the Habsburgs. On the death of the last Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, his possessions were divided. His daughter, Mary of Burgundy inherited the Burgundian Netherlands and the Burgundian part of the Franche-Comté. Louis XI took back the Duchy of Burgundy proper and Picardy 1482. The grandson of Mary, the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V of Habsburg entered into conflict with Francis I of France. They both wanted the Duchy of Burgundy as living as the Duchy of Milan.

This first phase was interrupted by the French Wars of Religion and it was non decisive for the French monarchy. After his defeat at Pavia in 1526, Francis I kept Burgundy but renounced in perpetuity his suzerainty over the County of Flanders. The Burgundian Netherlands which Emperor Charles V had inherited, had hitherto been composed partially of French and partially of German territories. By the Pragmatic Sanction of 1549, they became a separate political entity.

Meanwhile, Henry II of France consolidated the frontiers of the French kingdom by the occupation in 1552, of the towns of Metz, Toul and Verdun which became the province of the Three Bishoprics and the re-taking of Calais from the Queen of England 1558.

Elsewhere, the marriage of Louis XII with Ann of Brittany, followed by that of their daughter Claude to Francis I in 1514 permitted the attachment of the Duchy of Brittany to France again 1532.

At the time of his accession in 1589, Henry IV of France brought the possessions of the last remaining great feudal house, the Albrets, to the royal domain. He was the heir by his mother, Joan of Albret. These possessions were Béarn, Armagnac and Limousin.

Having regarded and identified separately. developed a strong identity, like Languedoc, these later additions, Béarn, Burgundy and Brittany retained their own institutions such(a) as states and parliament, until the Revolution.

The house of Austria showed a wish for supremacy in Europe, giving an notion of a militant bastion of Catholicism faced with the emergent Protestant states. The French monarchy was more worried that this claim would find echoes in Catholic circles in France. Besides, Habsburg possessions encircled its territory: Spain, the Netherlands, Franche-Comté and more distantly, Milan. Until the Spanish Armada was defeated in 1588, it was not clear that England would not become part of this encirclement.

Henry IV of France had inherited a dispute with Spain. By his mother, he was heir to the kings of Navarre who had been dispossessed by the kings of Spain. They had been left with only Lower Navarre. From this time on, the kings of France carried also the denomination of 'king of Navarre'.

Before taking up the struggle again, Henry IV paid off the French adventure in Italy. In 1601, he intervened against Duke of Savoy who had supported plots against him. By the Treaty of Lyon, France acquired Bresse, Bugey, Valromey and the Pays de Gex, which together survive the advanced Ain departement. This was in exchange for the marquisate of Saluzzo, the last place he held in Italy. France had taken possession of Saluzzo in 1548, on the death of its last marquis. It had been claimed since the purchase of the Dauphiné.

However, the prospect of a clash with the house of Austria offended a great part of the Catholics of France, notably the court. Marie de Médicis and the duke D' Épernon were notable members of this party. It was in this context that Henry was assassinated by a fanatic, Ravaillac, which include a stop to his project.

The king of France Thirty Years' War. A first, decisive war against Spain was marked by the victory at Rocroi in 1643.

The eastward expansion was aimed at cutting the layout of communication of France's enemies and to facilitate contacts with her allies in Germany, a country then comprising many small, more or less self-employed adult states.

Wars against the house of Austria followed each other and the several treaties resulting from them accumulated into a French grasp on several provinces of the Holy Roman Empire

From 1680 to 1697, Louis XIV emboldened by his early successes, adopted a policy of unilateral annexations and groupings. The French even took part during the temporary conquest of Habsburg-ruled Luxembourg from 1684 to 1697.

By the Nine Years' War, he had finally to renounce most of these newly-taken lands but retained Saarlouis and Lower Alsace, with the town of Strasbourg. The bulk of Alsace was thenceforward, entirely French. The exceptions were Mulhouse and some territories held by German princes.

At the end of Louis XIV's reign, a balance seemed to have been achieved. The other European powers were no longer disposed to accept a new French expansion and were prepared to form alliances to oppose such(a) a thing. The borders had been pushed out far from the French capital. On top of this, they were thenceforward defended by a network of modern fortresses constructed by Vauban. Fortified towns to the north of Lorraine Montmédy, Thionville, Longwy, Saarlouis isolated the Duchy from other states of the German Holy Roman Empire so as to weaken the independence of the duke.

Since 1632, France had regularl occupied Lorraine in periods of war, without annexing it. The duke, Charles IV, who was allied with the houses of Austria and Bavaria, adopted a policy hostile towards France. He and afterwards, his nephew, Charles V of Lorraine had been officers in the Imperial Austrian Army. It was only later that France was featured with both motive and a favourable occasion to annex the duchy. This was the marriage, in 1736, of Francis de Lorraine to the heiress of the Austrian imperial house, Archduchess Maria Theresa, at awhen Austria was weakened. The Treaty of Vienna 1738 awarded Lorraine to Louis XV of France, who gave it for life, to his father-in-law, Stanisław Leszczyński. The duchy of Lorraine would be formally annexed to France in 1766, when Stanisław died. In recompense, Duke Francis III was precondition the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, which was vacant.