1.
Britannia
–
It is a term still used to refer to the island today. In AD43 the Roman Empire began its conquest of the island, establishing a province they called Britannia, in the 2nd century, Roman Britannia came to be personified as a goddess, armed with a trident and shield and wearing a Corinthian helmet. After centuries of declining use, the Latin form was revived during the English Renaissance as an evocation of a British national identity. A British cultural icon, she was featured on all modern British coinage series until the redesign in 2008, in 2015 a new definitive £2 coin was issued, with a new image of Britannia. She is also depicted in the Brit Awards statuette, the British Phonographic Industrys annual music awards, the first writer to use a form of the name was the Greek explorer and geographer Pytheas in the 4th century BC. Pytheas referred to Prettanike or Brettaniai, a group of islands off the coast of North-Western Europe, in the 1st century BC, Diodorus Siculus referred to Pretannia, a rendering of the indigenous name for the Pretani people whom the Greeks believed to inhabit the British Isles. Following the Greek usage, the Romans referred to the Insulae Britannicae in the plural, consisting of Albion, Hibernia, Thule, over time, Albion specifically came to be known as Britannia, and the name for the group was subsequently dropped. The Roman conquest of the began in AD43, leading to the establishment of the Roman province known in Latin as Britannia. A southern part of what is now Scotland was occupied by the Romans for about 20 years in the mid-2nd century AD, people living in the Roman province of Britannia were called Britanni, or Britons. Ireland, inhabited by the Scoti, was never invaded and was called Hibernia, Thule, an island six days sail north of Britain, and near the frozen sea, possibly Iceland, was also never invaded by the Romans. She appeared on coins issued under Hadrian, as a more regal-looking female figure, Britannia was soon personified as a goddess, looking fairly similar to the goddess Minerva. Early portraits of the goddess depict Britannia as a young woman, wearing the helmet of a centurion. She is usually seated on a rock, holding a spear. Sometimes she holds a standard and leans on the shield, on another range of coinage, she is seated on a globe above waves, Britain at the edge of the world. Similar coin types were issued under Antoninus Pius. After the Roman withdrawal, the term Britannia remained in use in Britain, Latin was ubiquitous amongst native Brythonic writers and the term continued in the Welsh tradition that developed from it. Following the migration of Brythonic Celts, The term Britannia also came to refer to the Armorican peninsula. )The modern English, French, Breton and Gallo names for the area, all derive from a literal use of Britannia meaning land of the Britons. The two Britannias gave rise to the term Grande Bretagne to distinguish the island of Britain from the continental peninsula
2.
Marianne
–
Marianne is a national symbol of the French Republic, an allegory of liberty and reason, and a portrayal of the Goddess of Liberty. Marianne is displayed in places in France and holds a place of honour in town halls. She symbolizes the Triumph of the Republic, a bronze sculpture overlooking the Place de la Nation in Paris. Her profile stands out on the official government logo of the country, is engraved on French euro coins and appears on French postage stamps, Marianne is one of the most prominent symbols of the French Republic, and is officially used on most government documents. Marianne is a significant republican symbol, opposed to monarchy, in classical times it was common to represent ideas and abstract entities by gods, goddesses and allegorical personifications. Less common during the Middle Ages, this practice resurfaced during the Renaissance, during the French Revolution of 1789, many allegorical personifications of Liberty and Reason appeared. These two figures finally merged into one, a figure, shown either sitting or standing, and accompanied by various attributes, including the tricolor cockade. This woman typically symbolised Liberty, Reason, the Nation, the Homeland, in September 1792, the National Convention decided by decree that the new seal of the state would represent a standing woman holding a spear with a Phrygian cap held aloft on top of it. A feminine allegory was also a manner to symbolise the breaking with the old monarchy headed by kings, even before the French Revolution, the Kingdom of France was embodied in masculine figures, as depicted in certain ceilings of Palace of Versailles. Furthermore, France and the Republic themselves are, in French, feminine nouns, as are the French nouns for liberty, the use of this emblem was initially unofficial and very diverse. A female allegory of Liberty and of the Republic makes an appearance in Eugène Delacroixs painting Liberty Leading the People, Marianne made her first major appearance in the French spotlight on a medal in July 1789, celebrating the storming of the Bastille and other early events of the Revolution. From this time until September 1792, the image of Marianne was overshadowed by other such as Mercury. It was not until September 1792 when the new Republic sought a new image to represent the State that her popularity began to expand. Marianne, the allegory of Liberty, was chosen to represent the new regime of the French Republic. The imagery of Marianne chosen as the seal of the First French Republic depicted her standing, young and it was symbolic of the First Republic itself, a newly created state that had much to prove. Marianne is clad in a classical gown, in her right hand, she wields the pike of revolution with the Phrygian cap resting on it, which represents the liberation of France. Marianne is shown leaning on a fasces, a symbol of authority, although the initial figure of Marianne from 1792 stood in a relatively conservative pose, the revolutionaries were quick to abandon that figure when it no longer suited them. By 1793, the figure of Marianne had been replaced by a more violent image
3.
French Third Republic
–
It came to an end on 10 July 1940. Harsh reparations exacted by the Prussians after the war resulted in the loss of the French regions of Alsace and Lorraine, social upheaval, and the establishment of the Paris Commune. The early governments of the Third Republic considered re-establishing the monarchy, but confusion as to the nature of that monarchy, thus, the Third Republic, which was originally intended as a provisional government, instead became the permanent government of France. The French Constitutional Laws of 1875 defined the composition of the Third Republic and it consisted of a Chamber of Deputies and a Senate to form the legislative branch of government and a president to serve as head of state. The period from the start of World War I to the late 1930s featured sharply polarized politics, Adolphe Thiers called republicanism in the 1870s the form of government that divides France least, however, politics under the Third Republic were sharply polarized. On the left stood Reformist France, heir to the French Revolution, on the right stood conservative France, rooted in the peasantry, the Roman Catholic Church and the army. The Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871 resulted in the defeat of France, after Napoleons capture by the Prussians at the Battle of Sedan, Parisian deputies led by Léon Gambetta established the Government of National Defence as a provisional government on 4 September 1870. The deputies then selected General Louis-Jules Trochu to serve as its president and this first government of the Third Republic ruled during the Siege of Paris. After the French surrender in January 1871, the provisional Government of National Defence disbanded, French territories occupied by Prussia at this time did not participate. The resulting conservative National Assembly elected Adolphe Thiers as head of a provisional government, due to the revolutionary and left-wing political climate that prevailed in the Parisian population, the right-wing government chose the royal palace of Versailles as its headquarters. The new government negotiated a settlement with the newly proclaimed German Empire. To prompt the Prussians to leave France, the government passed a variety of laws, such as the controversial Law of Maturities. The following repression of the communards would have consequences for the labor movement. The Orléanists supported a descendant of King Louis Philippe I, the cousin of Charles X who replaced him as the French monarch in 1830, his grandson Louis-Philippe, Comte de Paris. The Bonapartists were marginalized due to the defeat of Napoléon III and were unable to advance the candidacy of any member of his family, the Bonaparte family. Legitimists and Orléanists came to a compromise, eventually, whereby the childless Comte de Chambord would be recognised as king, consequently, in 1871 the throne was offered to the Comte de Chambord. Chambord believed the monarchy had to eliminate all traces of the Revolution in order to restore the unity between the monarchy and the nation, which the revolution had sundered apart. Compromise on this was if the nation were to be made whole again
4.
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
–
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was established as a sovereign state on 1 January 1801 by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland. The growing desire for an Irish Republic led to the Irish War of Independence, Northern Ireland remained part of the United Kingdom, and the state was consequently renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Britain financed the European coalition that defeated France in 1815 in the Napoleonic Wars, the British Empire thereby became the foremost world power for the next century. The Crimean War with Russia and the Boer wars were relatively small operations in a largely peaceful century, rapid industrialisation that began in the decades prior to the states formation continued up until the mid-19th century. A devastating famine, exacerbated by government inaction in the century, led to demographic collapse in much of Ireland. It was an era of economic modernization and growth of industry, trade and finance. Outward migration was heavy to the colonies and to the United States. Britain also built up a large British Empire in Africa and Asia, India, by far the most important possession, saw a short-lived revolt in 1857. In foreign policy Britain favoured free trade, which enabled its financiers and merchants to operate successfully in many otherwise independent countries, as in South America. Britain formed no permanent military alliances until the early 20th century, when it began to cooperate with Japan, France and Russia, and moved closer to the United States. A brief period of limited independence for Ireland came to an end following the Irish Rebellion of 1798, the British governments fear of an independent Ireland siding against them with the French resulted in the decision to unite the two countries. This was brought about by legislation in the parliaments of both kingdoms and came into effect on 1 January 1801, however, King George III was bitterly opposed to any such Emancipation and succeeded in defeating his governments attempts to introduce it. When the Treaty of Amiens ended the war, Britain agreed to return most of the territories it had seized, in May 1803, war was declared again. In 1806, Napoleon issued the series of Berlin Decrees, which brought into effect the Continental System and this policy aimed to eliminate the threat from the British by closing French-controlled territory to foreign trade. Frances population and agricultural capacity far outstripped that of the British Isles, Napoleon expected that cutting Britain off from the European mainland would end its economic hegemony. The Spanish uprising in 1808 at last permitted Britain to gain a foothold on the Continent, after Napoleons surrender and exile to the island of Elba, peace appeared to have returned. The Allies united and the armies of Wellington and Blucher defeated Napoleon once, simultaneous with the Napoleonic Wars, trade disputes, arming hostile Indians and British impressment of American sailors led to the War of 1812 with the United States. The war was little noticed in Britain, which could devote few resources to the conflict until the fall of Napoleon in 1814, American frigates inflicted a series of defeats on the Royal Navy, which was short on manpower due to the conflict in Europe
5.
French language
–
French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
6.
English language
–
English /ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ/ is a West Germanic language that was first spoken in early medieval England and is now the global lingua franca. Named after the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes that migrated to England, English is either the official language or one of the official languages in almost 60 sovereign states. It is the third most common language in the world, after Mandarin. It is the most widely learned second language and a language of the United Nations, of the European Union. It is the most widely spoken Germanic language, accounting for at least 70% of speakers of this Indo-European branch, English has developed over the course of more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the century, are called Old English. Middle English began in the late 11th century with the Norman conquest of England, Early Modern English began in the late 15th century with the introduction of the printing press to London and the King James Bible, and the start of the Great Vowel Shift. Through the worldwide influence of the British Empire, modern English spread around the world from the 17th to mid-20th centuries, English is an Indo-European language, and belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages. Most closely related to English are the Frisian languages, and English, Old Saxon and its descendent Low German languages are also closely related, and sometimes Low German, English, and Frisian are grouped together as the Ingvaeonic or North Sea Germanic languages. Modern English descends from Middle English, which in turn descends from Old English, particular dialects of Old and Middle English also developed into a number of other English languages, including Scots and the extinct Fingallian and Forth and Bargy dialects of Ireland. English is classified as a Germanic language because it shares new language features with other Germanic languages such as Dutch, German and these shared innovations show that the languages have descended from a single common ancestor, which linguists call Proto-Germanic. Through Grimms law, the word for foot begins with /f/ in Germanic languages, English is classified as an Anglo-Frisian language because Frisian and English share other features, such as the palatalisation of consonants that were velar consonants in Proto-Germanic. The earliest form of English is called Old English or Anglo-Saxon, in the fifth century, the Anglo-Saxons settled Britain and the Romans withdrew from Britain. England and English are named after the Angles, Old English was divided into four dialects, the Anglian dialects, Mercian and Northumbrian, and the Saxon dialects, Kentish and West Saxon. Through the educational reforms of King Alfred in the century and the influence of the kingdom of Wessex. The epic poem Beowulf is written in West Saxon, and the earliest English poem, Modern English developed mainly from Mercian, but the Scots language developed from Northumbrian. A few short inscriptions from the period of Old English were written using a runic script. By the sixth century, a Latin alphabet was adopted, written with half-uncial letterforms and it included the runic letters wynn ⟨ƿ⟩ and thorn ⟨þ⟩, and the modified Latin letters eth ⟨ð⟩, and ash ⟨æ⟩
7.
Foreign alliances of France
–
The foreign alliances of France have a long and complex history spanning more than a millennium. Another has been the alliance with local populations, against European colonial powers, over the centuries, France has constantly been looking for Eastern allies, as a counterbalance to Continental enemies. In particular, the desire to counter German power has been a motivating force leading France to create Eastern alliances. Even soon after the Second World War, good relations between France and the Soviet Union were again seen by Charles de Gaulle as an Alliance de revers to counter Germany, France also has a strong tradition of alliance with autochthonous populations in order to resist a powerful opponent. In the American continent, France was the first to identify that cooperation with local tribes would be strategically significant, an important Franco-Indian alliance centered on the Great Lakes and the Illinois country took place during the French and Indian War. The alliance involved French settlers on the one side, and the Abenaki, Ottawa, Menominee, Winnebago, Mississauga, Illinois, Sioux, Huron-Petun, the French easily mixed and inter-married with the Indians, which greatly facilitated exchanges and the development of such alliances. In India, the French General Dupleix was allied to Murzapha Jung in the Deccan, the French again had a success at the capture of Fort St. David in 1758 under Lally, but were finally defeated at Masulipatam and Wandewash. In 1782, Louis XVI sealed an alliance with the Peshwa Madhu Rao Narayan, as a consequence Bussy moved his troops to Isle de France and later contributed to the French effort in India in 1783. Suffren became the ally of Hyder Ali in the Second Anglo-Mysore War against British rules in India, in 1782–1783, fighting the British fleet on the coasts of India and Ceylon. Between February 1782 until June 1783, Suffren fought the English admiral Sir Edward Hughes, an army of 3,000 French soldiers collaborated with Hyder Ali to capture Cuddalore. Finally the Battle of Trincomalee took place near that port on September 3, some French alliances were purely tactical and short term, especially during the period of the Napoleonic Wars. After having failed a first time, Napoleon entered into a Franco-Ottoman alliance, in exchange, Persia was to fight Great Britain, and to allow France to cross the Persian territory to reach India
8.
Auld Alliance
–
The Auld Alliance was the alliance between the kingdoms of Scotland and France. The alliance played a significant role in the relations between Scotland, France and England from its beginning in 1295 to the 1560 Treaty of Edinburgh, the alliance was renewed by all the French and Scottish monarchs of that period except Louis XI. By the late 14th century, the renewal occurred regardless of either kingdom was involved in a conflict with England. The alliance dates from the treaty signed by John Balliol and Philip IV of France in 1295 against Edward I of England. The terms of the treaty stipulated that if either country was attacked by England, by 1295 it was clear that Edward was on a course for total subjugation of Scotland. In response the Council of Twelve who had taken over the government of Scotland temporarily, with France and England close to war following Philippe IVs declaration of Englands possession of Gascony forfeit in 1293, alliance with France was a clear course to take. In October 1295, a Scottish embassy to Philippe agreed to the Treaty of Paris, as with all subsequent renewals of what became the Auld Alliance, the treaty slightly favoured France more than Scotland. The French were required to do no more than continue their struggle against the English in Gascony, however, the cost of any outright war between Scotland and England was to be borne entirely by the Scots. Nevertheless, Scotland, as remote and impoverished as it was, was now aligned to a major European power, even if more symbolic than actual, the benefits of the alliance mattered greatly to Scotland. In the short term however, the treaty proved to have no protection against Edward, whose swift and devastating invasion of Scotland in 1296 all but eradicated its independence. Scotland, in the end, owed its survival to the military acumen and inspiration of Robert the Bruce. In 1326, Robert the Bruce renewed the alliance, with the Treaty of Corbeil, the motive for this renewal was precautionary more than anything, neither realm seemed to have much to fear from England at the time. This, however, rapidly changed after 1330 when Edward III set out to complete his conquest of Scotland, for the first time the Franco-Scottish alliance had been given a sense of emergency. In 1346, Edward overwhelmed French forces at the Battle of Crécy, two months later, David II of Scotland was captured at the Battle of Nevilles Cross, in a botched invasion of Northern England. His 11-year absence as Edwards prisoner only increased the internal turmoil, David II was forced to reach a deal with Edward III to gain his freedom. Even after his release in 1357, David spent most of his reign attempting to further English interests in Scotland. The alliance was renewed between the two kingdoms in 1371, with the embassy of the Bishop of Glasgow and the Lord of Galloway to France. The treaty was signed by Charles V at the Château de Vincennes on 30 June, the accession of pro-French Robert II led to the immediate renewal of the alliance, however, the benefits to Scotland were mixed
9.
Franco-Hungarian alliance
–
A Franco-Hungarian alliance was formed in October 1528 between Francis I of France and John Zápolya, king of Hungary. France had already been looking for allies in Central Europe and his ambassador, Antonio Rincon, was employed on several missions to Poland and Hungary between 1522 and 1525. At that time, following the 1522 Battle of Bicocca, Francis was attempting to ally with King Sigismund I the Old of Poland. In 1524, a Franco-Polish alliance was signed between Francis and Sigismund, but the agreement fell through when Francis was vanquished by Charles V at the Battle of Pavia in 1525. From 1526, Francis I again started to look for allies in Central Europe, this time turning his attention to Hungary. In 1528, John Zápolya was in a vulnerable position, since he had been defeated by Ferdinand of Austria, his rival claimant to the throne of Hungary. In addition to the French alliance, Zapolya also chose to become a vassal to the Ottoman Empire in February 1528, Rincon went to Istanbul to bring the document. That triggered the development of relations between France and the Ottoman Empire, the treaty was signed in France at Fontainebleau and Paris on 23 and 28 October 1528. It was then ratified by Zapolya at Buda on 1 September 1529, through the treaty Francis promised to help Zapolya financially and through other means. In exchange, Zapolya agree to continue the fight against Ferdinand of Austria, in the Little War in Hungary, France fought side by side with Zápolya and Suleiman the Magnificent against the Habsburg. A French artillery unit was dispatched to the war in Hungary in 1543–1544, foreign alliances of France Franco-Ottoman alliance Garnier, Edith LAlliance Impie Editions du Felin,2008, Paris ISBN 978-2-86645-678-8 Interview
10.
Franco-Ottoman alliance
–
The alliance was exceptional, and caused a scandal in the Christian world. Carl Jacob Burckhardt called it the sacrilegious union of the lily, the Habsburg Empire thus entered in direct conflict with the Ottomans. Some early contacts seem to have taken place between the Ottomans and the French, Louis XI refused to see the envoys, but a large amount of money and Christian relics were offered by the envoy so that Djem could remain in custody in France. Djem was transferred to the custody of Pope Innocent VIII in 1489, France had already been looking for allies in Central Europe. The ambassador of France Antonio Rincon was employed by Francis I on several missions to Poland, at that time, following the 1522 Battle of Bicoque, Francis I was attempting to ally with king Sigismund I the Old of Poland. Finally, in 1524, a Franco-Polish alliance was signed between Francis I and the king of Poland Sigismund I and this situation forced Francis I to find an ally against the powerful Habsburg Emperor, in the person of Suleiman the Magnificent. The alliance was an opportunity for both rulers to fight against the rule of the Habsburg, the objective for Francis I was clearly to find an ally in the struggle against the House of Habsburg, although this policy of alliance was in reversal of that of his predecessors. The pretext used by Francis I to seal an alliance with a Muslim power was the protection of the Christians in Ottoman lands, King Francis was imprisoned in Madrid when the first efforts at establishing an alliance were made. A first French mission to Suleiman seems to have been sent right after the Battle of Pavia by the mother of Francis I, Louise de Savoie, but the mission was lost on its way in Bosnia. The Ottomans were also attracted by the prestige of being in alliance with such a country as France. Meanwhile, Charles V was manoeuvring to form a Habsburg-Persian alliance with Persia, envoys were sent to Shah Tahmasp I in 1525, and again in 1529, pleading for an attack on the Ottoman Empire. In 1528 also, Francis used the pretext of the protection of Christians in the Ottoman Empire to again enter into contact with Suleiman, in his 1528 letter to Francis I Suleiman politely refused, but guaranteed the protection of Christians in his states. He also renewed the privileges of French merchants which had obtained in 1517 in Egypt. Francis I lost in his European campaigns, and had to sign the Paix des Dames in August 1529 and he was even forced to supply some galleys to Charles V in his fight against the Ottomans. However, the Ottomans would continue their campaigns in Central Europe, and besiege the Habsburg capital in the 1529 Siege of Vienna, in early July 1532, Suleiman was joined by the French ambassador Antonio Rincon in Belgrade. Antonio Rincon presented Suleiman with a magnificent four-tiered tiara, made in Venice for 115,000 ducats, Rincon also described the Ottoman camp, Astonishing order, no violence. Merchants, women even, coming and going in perfect safety, life as safe, as large and easy as in Venice. Justice so fairly administered that one is tempted to believe that the Turks are turned Christians now, Ottoman embassies were sent to France, with the Ottoman embassy to France led by Hayreddin Barbarossa, and the Ottoman embassy to France led by representatives of Suleiman
11.
Franco-Indian alliance
–
The Franco-Indian alliance was an alliance between American Indians and the French, centered on the Great Lakes and the Illinois country during the French and Indian War. The alliance involved French settlers on the one side, and the Abenaki, Ottawa, Menominee, Winnebago, Mississauga, Illinois, Sioux, Huron-Petun, Potawatomi etc. on the other. It allowed the French and the Indians to form a haven in the valley before the open conflict between the European powers erupted. France had a presence in Northern America, starting with the establishment of New France in 1534. Acculturation and conversion were promoted, especially through the activities of the Jesuit missions in North America, but unlike the other colonial powers, France, under the guidance of Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu, encouraged a peaceful coexistence in New France between Natives and Colonists. The Baron de Saint-Castin was adopted by an Abenaki tribe and married a native girl, governor Frontenac danced and sang war songs at an Indian council. While Daniel Liénard de Beaujeu fought bare-chested and covered with war paints at the battle against Braddock, Natives also adopted French habits, like chief Kondiaronk who wanted to be buried in his uniform of captain or Kateri Tekakwitha who became a Catholic Saint. French settlers and natives were allied in every conflict preceding the Seven Years War, Father Rales War, King Georges War, intermarriages were also frequent in New France, giving rise to the Métis people. In North America in the 18th century, the British outnumbered the French 20 to 1, britain had a string of successes, especially with the Battle of Fort Niagara, and the Franco-Indian alliance started to unravel. At the same time, the British were making promises of support, finally Quebec fell in September following the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. At the conclusion of the Seven Years War in 1763, New France was divided with Canada going to the British, long after the extinction of New France in 1763, Franco-Indian communities would persist, practicing the catholic faith, speaking French and using French names. From the Saint Lawrence to the Mississippi, cosmopolitan French communities accommodated Indians, in 1869 and 1885, Louis Riel led two Métis revolts against the Canadian government, known as the Red River Rebellion and the North-West Rebellion. The revolts were suppressed and Riel executed, foreign alliances of France French and Indian War Kahnawake surnames Alfred A. Cave The French and Indian War 2004 Greenwood Press ISBN 0-313-32168-X
12.
Pacte de Famille
–
The Pacte de Famille is one of three separate, but similar alliances between the Bourbon kings of France and Spain. The first of these was made on November 7,1733 by King Philip V of Spain, Philip V was the grandson of Louis XIV and had become the first Bourbon King of Spain in 1700 upon the extinction of Spanish Habsburgs. In addition, Spanish possessions in Italy were ceded to the branch of the House of Habsburg. He had married Maria Leszczyńska, the daughter of King Stanislaus I of Poland, because of this marriage alliance France became involved in the War of the Polish Succession in 1733. Philip V formed a plan to use this conflict to win back lost territory in Italy for his sons, because of his close relationship with Louis XV their alliance became known as the Family Compact. Louis failed to restore Stanislas to the Polish throne, but the Bourbons would gain the Duchy of Lorraine, the second Family Compact was made on October 25,1743 again by King Philip V of Spain and King Louis XV of France in the Treaty of Fontainebleau. This pact was signed in the middle of the War of Austrian Succession, the result was the expansion of Spanish influence in Italy when Philip Vs fourth son Philip, became in 1748 Duke of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla. The third Family Compact was made on 15 August 1761 by King Charles III of Spain, Charles III was the son of Philip V, making him Louiss first cousin. At this time France was fighting the Seven Years War against Great Britain, charless alliance reversed the policy of his predecessor, Ferdinand VI, who wished to keep Spain out of the war. The agreement involved Spains allies Naples and Tuscany, when Spain became involved, the British occupied the Philippines and Cuba. Charles III recovered these possessions in the Treaty of Paris, on April 12,1779 France and Spain signed the Treaty of Aranjuez, by which Spain joined the American Revolutionary War against Great Britain. This Pact was seen as a renewal of the third Pacte de Famille, in August 1796 Manuel Godoy negotiated and signed the Second Treaty of San Ildefonso with France which required that Spain declare war on Great Britain. This treaty can not be considered a Family Compact, since the French Bourbons at that time had killed or fled France because of the French revolution. François Velde, The Pacte de Famille of 1761, in English, includes French-language text of the Pact
13.
Franco-Austrian Alliance
–
The Alliance had its heyday during the Seven Years War when France and Austria joined forces to fight the mutual enemy of Prussia. Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries France and Austria had been enemies, during the War of the Polish Succession France and its allies had managed to severely weaken Austrian power and forced them to give up small amounts of territory. By 1754, six years after the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle which had brought the war to an end. He was committed to ending the British alliance, and looking for a new military partner, when in 1756 Britain signed a limited defensive alliance with Prussia, the Austrians and French were outraged at what they perceived as a betrayal by their respective allies. In response Austria and France signed an alliance of their own the First Treaty of Versailles. This stipulated that if either country were attacked by a third party, as the Austrians were now planning an attack on Prussia to retake Silesia, the treaty was seen as a way of preventing any other power trying to intervene on the side of the Prussians. These sudden political changes formed part of what became known as the stately quadrille and this triggered the declaration of the Seven Years War, and Austria went to war with Prussia with France as an ally. The Treaty of St Petersburg saw Sweden and Russia join the anti-Prussian alliance, Britain was Prussias only major ally, although London was at war with France only and not with Austria, Russia, Saxony or Sweden. By the autumn of 1757 it appeared that the Franco-Austrian forces would overwhelm the much smaller Prussia, two decisive Prussian victories at Rossbach and Leuthen ended this offensive. While French troops were poured into Germany, Britain attacked Frances colonies around the globe, France was ultimately forced to abandon its financial commitments to Austria because of a lack of money to pay them with. France and Austria continued fighting in Germany until late 1762 when an armistice was signed with Britain, the Treaty of Paris saw Austria forced to acknowledge continued Prussian ownership of Silesia while France had to cede a number of colonies to the British. The war was costly and left large swathes of Central Europe in ruins with little discernible continental advantage for any of the participants. Austria and France were each disappointed with the performance of the other during the war. By the 1780s the alliance had grown weaker, owing to the death of Maria Theresa. The new Emperor Joseph II was more willing to consider establishing fresh alliances - potentially with Great Britain, Britain was at the time fighting a global war against France, Spain, Mysore, the Dutch Republic and the United States, which had declared independence in 1776. This left Britain diplomatically isolated and without a major ally, Marie Antoinette was regarded by the French public as having enormous influence over her husband, and persuading him to pursue a pro-Austrian line. In reality she had control over the King who was guided instead by his ministers including the anti-Austrian Comte de Vergennes. The French Revolution destroyed the ties between the two states despite appeals by the French National Assembly for Austria to honour the Treaty of 1756
14.
Franco-Indian alliances
–
Various Franco-Indian alliances were formed between France and Indian polities between the 18th century to the ascent of Napoleon. Following the alliances of Dupleix, an alliance was formed between by Louis XVIs France during the late 18th century in an attempt to oust Great Britain from the Indian subcontinent. In the 17th century François Bernier, a French physician and traveler, in the early 18th century, France was actively involved in the powerplay in India. The French General Dupleix was allied to Murzapha Jung in the Deccan and these relationships were beneficial to the French, and French allies gifted areas such as the Alamparai Fort in return for the services provided by the French against the British. The French again had a success at the capture of Fort St. David in 1758 under Lally, French had lost preeminence in India with the Treaty of Paris, although five trading posts were being maintained there, leaving opportunities for disputes and power-play with Great Britain. France was successful in supporting the American War of Independence in 1776, in 1782, Louis XVI sealed an alliance with the Peshwa Madhav Rao Narayan. As a consequence Bussy moved his troops to Ile de France, Suffren became the ally of Hyder Ali in the Second Anglo-Mysore War against British rule in India, in 1782-1783, fighting the British fleet on the coasts of India and Ceylon. Between February 1782 until June 1783, Suffren fought the English admiral Sir Edward Hughes, an army of 3,000 French soldiers collaborated with Hyder Ali to capture Cuddalore. Finally the Battle of Trincomalee took place near that port on September 3 and he finally made peace with the British in spring 1784. In 1786, Tippu Sahib nevertheless sent an embassy to France through Constantinople, after arriving in Toulon, the ambassadors were able to meet with Louis XVI in August 1788 in Versailles. However France, which was now at peace with London, did not wish to resume hostilities, Tippu Sahib again proposed an offensive and defensive alliance to France in October 1794, and April 1796. France was hampered in its support to India by the French Revolution, Tipu again made a proposal in October 1797 through Malartic, the Governor of Ile de France. Malartic, who could not deplete his forces in Ile de France, sent a group of 150 volunteers in the frigate La Preneuse, La Preneuse arrived in Mangalore in April 1798. Bonaparte, who wished to establish a French presence in the Middle East, Napoleon assured to the Directoire that as soon as he had conquered Egypt, he will establish relations with the Indian princes and, together with them, attack the English in their possessions. The Directory, though troubled by the scope and cost of the enterprise, soon however, from 1803, Napoleon went to great lengths to try to convince the Ottoman Empire to fight against Russia in the Balkans and join his anti-Russian coalition. Napoleon sent General Horace Sebastiani as envoy extraordinary, promising to help the Ottoman Empire recover lost territories, Napoleon also formed a Franco-Persian alliance in 1807 during the Napoleonic Wars, with the continuous aim of having an eventual open way to attack British India. Napoleons interest in the Middle East and India waned when he finally vanquished Russia at the Battle of Friedland in July 1807, leading to the Treaty of Tilsit, France as an ally of Russia became a strong repellent to both the Ottoman Empire and Persia. These last events rendered the Franco-Indian alliance impossible to pursue further, there exists a French cemetery in Harohalli, where the French who came to aid Tippu Sultan are buried
15.
Franco-American alliance
–
The Franco-American alliance was the 1778 alliance between the Kingdom of France and the United States during the American Revolutionary War. Formalized in the 1778 Treaty of Alliance, it was a pact in which the French provided many supplies for the Americans. The Netherlands and Spain later joined as allies of France, Britain had no European allies, the French alliance was possible once the Americans captured a British invasion army at Saratoga in October 1777, demonstrating the viability of the American cause. The alliance became controversial after 1793 when Britain and Revolutionary France again went to war, relations between France and the United States worsened as the latter became closer to Britain in the Jay Treaty of 1795, leading to an undeclared Quasi War. The alliance was defunct by 1794 and formally ended in 1800, France had been left deeply alarmed by the British success in the Seven Years War which they feared gave the British naval superiority. From 1763 both France, and their allies Spain, began to rebuild their navies and prepare for a war in which they would construct an alliance to overwhelm. As Britains troubles with its American colonies intensified during the 1760s and eventually led to rebellion in 1775. In September 1775 the Continental Congress described foreign assistance as undoubtedly attainable and began to seek supplies, the French leadership sought the humiliation of England and began giving covert aid to the rebels. The American Declaration of Independence was advocated by some as necessary in order to secure European support against Britain, Silas Deane, an American envoy in Paris, proposed a major anti-British alliance and French invasions of Hanover and Portugal which were both British allies. The alliance was promoted in the United States by Thomas Jefferson, based on the Model Treaty of 1776, Jefferson encouraged the role of France as an economic and military partner to the United States, in order to weaken British influence. In 1776, Latouche Tréville transferred ammunition from France to the United States of America, numerous French supplies as well as guns of the de Valliere type were used in the American War of Independence, especially the smaller 4-pounder field guns. The guns were shipped from France, and the carriages provided for in the US. These guns played an important role in battles as the Battle of Saratoga. That of the French ships of war, with artillery and other stores, is most valuable. It is my intent to have all the arms that were not immediately wanted by the Eastern States, to be removed to Springfield, I shall also write Congress and press the immediate removal of the artillery, and other military stores from Portsmouth. I would also have you forward the twenty-five chests of arms lately arrived from Martinico to Springfield, on 13 June 1777, the Marquis de Lafayette reached America and joined George Washington in the Continental Army as Major General. He participated to the Battle of Brandywine where he was wounded, Lafayette would later return to France during the war in order to advocate more support for the American cause. The combined strength of the Americans and the French virtually guaranteed victory against Great Britain, naval conflict started in European waters with the First Battle of Ushant in July 1778, and continued with the attempted invasion of Britain by the Armada of 1779
16.
Franco-Persian alliance
–
A Franco-Persian alliance or Franco-Iranian alliance was formed for a short period between the French Empire of Napoleon I and Fath Ali Shah against Russia and Great Britain between 1807 and 1809. The alliance was part of a plan to gather extra aid against Russia and by Persias help, having another front on Russias southern borders, the alliance unravelled when France finally allied with Russia and turned its focus to European campaigns. Due to the friendly relations of France with the Ottoman Empire formalized by a long-standing Franco-Ottoman alliance. Attempts to resume contact were made following the French revolution, as France was in conflict with Russia, in 1796, two scientists, Jean-Guillaume Bruguières and Guillaume-Antoine Olivier, were sent to Iran by the Directoire, but were unsuccessful in obtaining an agreement. Soon however, with the advent of Napoleon I, France adopted a strongly expansionist policy in the Mediterranean and the Near East. Napoleon assured the Directoire that as soon as he had conquered Egypt, he will establish relations with the Indian princes and, together with them, attack the English in their possessions. Napoleon was initially defeated by the Ottoman Empire and Britain at the Siege of Acre in 1799, and at the Battle of Abukir in 1801, by 1802, the French were completely vanquished in the Middle East. In order to reinforce the Western border of British India, the diplomat John Malcolm was sent to Iran to sign the Anglo-Persian Treaty of 1801, Napoleon sent General Horace Sebastiani as envoy extraordinary, promising to help the Ottoman Empire recover lost territories. In his grand scheme to reach India, the step for Napoleon was now to develop an alliance with the Persian Empire. Early 1805, Napoléon sent one of his officers Amédée Jaubert on a mission to Persia and he would return to France in October 1806. General Tsitsianov occupied Georgia against rival Iranian claims, and attacked Ganja in Iran in 1804, triggering a Russo-Persian War, Britain, an ally of Russia, had been temporizing without a clear show of support. The Shah decided to respond to Napoleons offers, sending a letter carried by ambassador Mirza Mohammed Reza-Qazvini to the court of Napoleon, then in Tilsit in eastern Prussia. In his instructions to the ambassador, the Shah explained that, was equally an enemy of the kings of Persia and of France, France would attack her from that quarter, Persia from this. The Shah however denied the possibility of providing a port to the French on they way to Hindustan, in exchange, Persia was to fight Great Britain, and to allow France to cross the Persian territory to reach India. A military mission was sent under General Antoine Gardanne in order to help modernize the Persian army. Gardanne also had the missions to coordinate Ottoman and Persian efforts against Russia, gardannes mission consisted in 70 commissioned and non-commissioned officers, and started to work at modernizing the Persian army along European lines. The mission arrived on 4 December 1807, captains of infantry Lamy and Verdier trained the Nezame Jadid, which served under Prince Abbas Mirza. This modernized army successfully defeated a Russia Army attack on the city of Erevan on 29 November 1808
17.
Franco-Russian Alliance
–
The Franco-Russian Alliance, or Russo-French Rapprochement, was an alliance formed by the agreements of 1891–93, it lasted until 1917. The development of ties between the two countries created the economic prerequisites for the Russo-French Alliance. The history of the dates to the beginning of the 1870s, to the contradictions engendered by the Franco-Prussian War. The Russian government had supported France during the war scare of 1875, in 1877, during the new Franco-German war scare, Russia maintained friendly relations with France. However, after the Berlin Congress of 1878, French diplomacy, in aiming at a rapprochement with Great Britain and Germany, france’s alienation from Russia and her policy of colonial seizures lasted until 1885, when the Franco-German contradictions became heightened after the French defeat in Annan. Early in 1887, new complications arose in Franco-German relations, France appealed to the Russian government for aid. In concluding the so-called Reinsurance Treaty with Germany in 1887, Russia insisted on maintaining for France the same conditions that Germany had stipulated for its ally, at the end of the 1880s, Russo-German economic discrepancies grew stronger. The Russo-French political rapprochement contributed to the influx of French capital into Russia, at the end of the 1880s and the beginning of the 1890s, Russia received a number of large loans from France. During a visit by a French squadron to Kronstadt in July 1891, France was interested significantly more than Russia in a military alliance and endeavored to supplement the 1891 agreement with military obligations. By an exchange of letters between December 15,1893, and December 23,1893, both announced their ratification of the military convention. This formalized the Russo-French military-political alliance and it was a response to the formation of an aggressive military bloc headed by Germany. In Europe, two opposing hostile imperialist blocs had formed, relying on Russian support, France intensified its colonial policy. After the Fashoda Incident of 1898 with Great Britain, it endeavored even more to strengthen the alliance with Russia, the alliance with France also facilitated the tsarist government’s expansion into Manchuria in the 1890s. During the preparatory period and the first years of the existence of the Russo-French Alliance, the role was played by Russia. By constantly receiving new loans from France, Russian tsarism gradually fell into dependence on French imperialism. Prior to World War I, the cooperation of the staffs of both countries assumed closer forms. In 1912 a Russo-French naval convention was signed, Russia and France entered the war united by the treaty of alliance. This had a significant effect on the course and outcome of the war and this led to the defeat at the battle of the Marne, to the collapse of the Schlieffen Plan, and finally to the defeat of Germany
18.
Franco-Italian Alliance
–
The agreement took its name from the town of Stresa, situated on the banks of Lake Maggiore in Italy, where the conference was held. Its aim was to reaffirm the Locarno Treaties and to declare that the independence of Austria would continue to inspire their common policy, the signatories also agreed to resist any future attempt by the Germans to change the Treaty of Versailles. The Stresa Front began to break down after Britain signed the Anglo-German Naval Agreement in June 1935 and it collapsed completely in the aftermath of Italys invasion of Abyssinia in October 1935. After Adolf Hitler came into power with a horse, threatening Italian interests in Austria, Mussolini for a period of time continued strictly opposing any German attempt to obtain Anschluss and promoted the ephemeral Stresa Front against Germany in 1935. The assassination of Dollfuss was accompanied by Nazi uprisings in many regions in Austria, in Carinthia, a large contingent of northern German Nazis tried to seize power but were subdued by the Italian units nearby. The Stresa Front was triggered by Nazi Germanys declaration of its intention to build up an air force, to increase the size of its army to 36 divisions and to introduce conscription, in March 1935. However British politicians did not want to attack or occupy Germany, additionally, an anti-war sentiment was very strong among the British public. Furthermore, Mussolini believed that the signing of the Stresa Front would mean Britain, even though the increasingly belligerent Germany dominated discussions within the conference room, Mussolini was at his cleverest when outside. He discussed with Britain plans to pursue his aim of making Italy great, respected and feared through the invasion and conquest of Abyssinia and ultimately create an all-powerful empire. Mussolini made sure not to discuss his expansionist plans within the confines of the conference due to the possible risk of the Western democracies issuing a veto over it. Furthermore, Mussolini could not risk the conference being sidetracked from its aim of reaffirming Locarno. With this said, Mussolini got his way with his plans for invading Abyssinia not being brought up, the Duce therefore regarded Britains and Frances silence as acquiescence to his colonial war and launched his invasion of Abyssinia in October 1935. In April 1935 the UK, Italy and France re-affirmed the Treaty of Locarno and agreed to form the Stresa Front to combat and contain Nazi Germany. Benito Mussolini was furious when he heard the news and, unfortunately for Italy, convinced himself that Hitler couldn’t be stopped anymore and that, therefore, he had to ride the tiger. – John Simon However, the Stresa Front could be seen to have failed because its aims were vague and it omitted any explicit reference to Germany because Britain was adopting a Dual Policy and did not want to antagonize Hitler. Whereas Mussolini preferred to be firm and uncompromising towards Germany, Britain preferred to allow for negotiations with Germany in order to obtain agreements. Hitler had used tactics that made Britain and France guess at what his next move would be, However, because of the Stresa agreements vague terms, Hitler was kept guessing at what Britain would do. Britain didnt realize the advantage that it had over Germany, another reason for its failure was that Britain, France and Italy did not want to invade Germany
19.
NATO
–
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party, three NATO members are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and are officially nuclear-weapon states. NATOs headquarters are located in Haren, Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons. NATO is an Alliance that consists of 28 independent member countries across North America and Europe, an additional 22 countries participate in NATOs Partnership for Peace program, with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programmes. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the global total, Members defence spending is supposed to amount to 2% of GDP. The course of the Cold War led to a rivalry with nations of the Warsaw Pact, politically, the organization sought better relations with former Warsaw Pact countries, several of which joined the alliance in 1999 and 2004. N. The Treaty of Brussels, signed on 17 March 1948 by Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, the treaty and the Soviet Berlin Blockade led to the creation of the Western European Unions Defence Organization in September 1948. However, participation of the United States was thought necessary both to counter the power of the USSR and to prevent the revival of nationalist militarism. He got a hearing, especially considering American anxiety over Italy. In 1948 European leaders met with U. S. defense, military and diplomatic officials at the Pentagon, marshalls orders, exploring a framework for a new and unprecedented association. Talks for a new military alliance resulted in the North Atlantic Treaty and it included the five Treaty of Brussels states plus the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. The first NATO Secretary General, Lord Ismay, stated in 1949 that the goal was to keep the Russians out, the Americans in. Popular support for the Treaty was not unanimous, and some Icelanders participated in a pro-neutrality, the creation of NATO can be seen as the primary institutional consequence of a school of thought called Atlanticism which stressed the importance of trans-Atlantic cooperation. The members agreed that an attack against any one of them in Europe or North America would be considered an attack against them all. The treaty does not require members to respond with military action against an aggressor, although obliged to respond, they maintain the freedom to choose the method by which they do so. This differs from Article IV of the Treaty of Brussels, which states that the response will be military in nature. It is nonetheless assumed that NATO members will aid the attacked member militarily, the treaty was later clarified to include both the members territory and their vessels, forces or aircraft above the Tropic of Cancer, including some Overseas departments of France. The creation of NATO brought about some standardization of allied military terminology, procedures, and technology, the roughly 1300 Standardization Agreements codified many of the common practices that NATO has achieved
20.
Western European Union
–
The WEU was established by seven European nations allied with the United States during the Cold War. The states party to the Modified Treaty of Brussels consequently decided to terminate that treaty on 31 March 2010, on 30 June 2011, the WEU was officially declared defunct. The Treaty of Brussels was signed by the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and it was a mutual intergovernmental self-defence treaty which also promoted economic, cultural and social collaboration. As a result of the failure of the European Defence Community on 23 October 1954 the WEU was established by the Paris Agreements with the incorporation of Italy, on this occasion it was renamed the Western European Union. The defence efforts resulting from the Brussels Treaty took form as the Western Union Defence Organisation, the Brussels Pact had cultural and social clauses, concepts for the setting up of a Consultative Council. The basis for this was that a cooperation between Western nations would help stop the spread of Communism, notably, the role given to the WEU in the Amsterdam Treaty, was removed by the Nice Treaty. The Treaty of Lisbon has provisions for cooperation between the EU and both NATO and the WEU, however the defence commitment, of Article 4 of the Brussels Treaty, has not been subsumed. Article 42 of the Treaty of the European Union, as amended by the Treaty of Lisbon and his being head of both organisations permits him to oversee the ongoing transfer of functions from the WEU to the EU. With the transfer of responsibilities, the WEUs Parliamentary assembly was urged to dissolve itself, as it had a mandate to supervise WEU politics, not the EUs CSDP politics. But the Assembly saw itself as playing an important role, particularly with greater right of scrutiny, membership, experience, therefore, it renamed itself the Interim European Security and Defence Assembly and urged the European Convention to include it as a second chamber within the EUs institutional framework. Hence it argued it could effectively scrutinise the CSDP, help improve EU-NATO relations and be more suited, being composed of national parliamentarians, in 2009, the Treaty of Lisbon took over the WEUs mutual defence clause. There was much discussion about what to do with the WEU following the introduction of Lisbon, on 30 March 2010 in a Written Ministerial Statement UKs Foreign Office Minister Chris Bryant gave notice that the UK intended to withdraw from the Western European Union within a year. On 31 March 2010 the German Foreign Affairs Ministry announced Germanys intention to withdraw from the Modified Brussels Treaty, on 30 June 2011 the WEU officially ceased to exist. The WEU was headquartered in Brussels, with a staff of 65 and it was composed of the Council of the WEU and the Assembly of the WEU. The WEU was led by a Council of Ministers, assisted by a Permanent Representatives Council on the ambassadorial level, social and cultural aspects of the Brussels Treaty were handed to the Council of Europe to avoid duplication of responsibilities within Europe. SD help A Parliamentary Assembly supervised the work of the Council, the Assembly of WEU was a consultative institution. The Independent European Program Group was established as a forum for cooperation in 1976 with the aim of creating a European Armaments Agency. Since 1993 the WEU armaments cooperation forum has been known as Western European Armaments Group, the body closed on 23 May 2005
21.
Foreign relations of France
–
Foreign relations France includes the governments external relations with other countries and international organizations since the end of the Middle Ages. France played the single most important role in European diplomacy and warfare before 1815, in the 19th century it built a colonial empire second only to the British Empire, but was humiliated in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, which marked the rise of Germany to dominance in Europe. France was on the side of the First World War. Since 1945 France has been a member of the United Nations, of NATO. Its main ally since 1945 has been Germany, as a charter member of the United Nations, France holds one of the permanent seats in the Security Council and is a member of most of its specialized and related agencies. France is also a member of the Union for the Mediterranean. Under the long reigns of kings Louis XIV and Louis XV, France was second in size to Russia but first in terms of economic and it fought numerous expensive wars, usually to protect its voice in the selection of monarchs in neighboring countries. A high priority was blocking the growth of power of the Habsburg rivals who controlled Austria, warfare defined the foreign policies of Louis XIV, and his personality shaped his approach. Impelled by a mix of commerce, revenge, and pique, in peacetime he concentrated on preparing for the next war. He taught his diplomats their job was to create tactical and strategic advantages for the French military, while his battlefield generals were not especially good, Louis XIV had excellent support staff. His chief engineer Vauban perfected the arts of fortifying French towns, the finance minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert dramatically improved the financial system so that it could support an army of 250,000 men. The system deteriorated under Louis XV so that wars drained the increasingly inefficient financial system, Louis XIV made France prouder in psychology but poorer in wealth, military glory and cultural splendor were exalted above economic growth. Under Louis XIV, France fought three wars, the Franco-Dutch War, the War of the League of Augsburg. There were also two lesser conflicts, the War of Devolution and the War of the Reunions, Louis XV did merge Lorraine and Corsica into France. However France was badly defeated in the Seven Years War and forced to give up its holdings in North America and it ceded New France to Great Britain and Louisiana to Spain, and was left with a bitter grudge that sought revenge in 1778 by helping the Americans win independence. Norman Davies characterized Louis XVs reign as one of debilitating stagnation, characterized by lost wars, a few scholars defend Louis, arguing that his highly negative reputation was based on propaganda meant to justify the French Revolution. Jerome Blum described him as a perpetual adolescent called to do a mans job, France played a key role helping the American Patriots win their War of Independence against Britain 1775–1783. Motivated by a rivalry with Britain and by revenge for its territorial losses during Seven Years War
22.
World War I
–
World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
23.
Triple Alliance (1882)
–
The Triple Alliance, also known as the Triplice, was a secret agreement between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy formed on 20 May 1882 and renewed periodically until World War I. Germany and Austria-Hungary had been allied since 1879. Italy sought support against France shortly after it lost North African ambitions to the French, each member promised mutual support in the event of an attack by any other great power. The treaty provided that Germany and Austria-Hungary were to assist Italy if it was attacked by France without provocation, in turn, Italy would assist Germany if attacked by France. In the event of a war between Austria-Hungary and Russia, Italy promised to remain neutral, when the treaty was renewed in February 1887, Italy gained an empty promise of German support of Italian colonial ambitions in North Africa in return for Italys continued friendship. Italy and Austria-Hungary did not overcome their basic conflict of interest in that region despite the treaty, in 1891 attempts were made to join Britain to the Triplice, which, though unsuccessful, were widely believed to have succeeded in Russian diplomatic circles. Shortly after renewing the Alliance in June 1902, Italy secretly extended a similar guarantee to France, by a particular agreement, neither Austria-Hungary nor Italy would change the status quo in the Balkans without previous consultation. On 1 November 1902, five months after the Triple Alliance was renewed, following parallel negotiation with both Triple Alliance, aimed to keep Italy neutral, and the Triple Entente, aimed to make Italy enter the conflict, Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary. Carol I of Romania, through his Prime Minister Ion I. C, brătianu, had also secretly pledged to support the Triple Alliance, but he remained neutral since Austria-Hungary started the war. The man chiefly responsible for the Triple Alliance was Otto von Bismarck, Bismarck wanted to prevent a war on two fronts, which is why he targeted these two countries specifically. By the late 1870s, Austrian territorial ambitions in both the Italian peninsula and Central Europe had been thwarted by the rise of Italy and Germany as new national powers. With the decline and failed reforms of the Ottoman Empire, Slavic discontent in the occupied Balkans grew, the occupation of Bosnia-Herzegovina was a step taken in response to Russian advances into Bessarabia. Unable to mediate between Turkey and Russia over the control of Serbia, Austria–Hungary declared neutrality when the conflict between the two powers escalated into the Russo-Turkish War. To counter Russian and French interests in Europe, an alliance was concluded with Germany in October 1879, World War I started in 1914. The Kingdom of Italy, like some of the other European powers, wanted to set up colonies, in the years before World War I, many distinguished military analysts predicted that Italy would attack its supposed ally in the event of a large scale conflict. Italys adherence to the Triple Alliance was doubted and from 1903 plans for a war against Rome were again maintained by the Austrian general staff. Mutual suspicions led to reinforcement of the frontier and speculation in the press about a war between the two countries into the first decade of the twentieth century. As late as 1911 Count Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, chief of the Austrian general staff, was advocating a preemptive strike against Austrias supposed Italian ally
24.
Anglo-German naval arms race
–
The Anglo-German naval arms race of the early 20th century preceded and was one of the several intertwined causes for World War I. There were also other naval buildups in several countries which were emerging as great powers, such as the United States and Japan. The German aim was to build a fleet that would be 2/3 the size of the British navy, from 1905 on, the British navy developed plans for such a blockade that was a central part of British strategy. In reaction to challenge to their naval supremacy, from 1902 to 1910. This competition came to focus on the new ships based on HMS Dreadnought. By 1913, there was intense debate about new ships due to the growing influence of John Fishers ideas. The naval race between Britain and Germany generated massive public support on each side, in the midst of the race, the British public coined the slogan We want eight and we wont wait. Referring to the number of dreadnoughts they wanted the government to build, with the surge of public support, the government did commission more shipbuilding. British defense policy was to ensure that the British navy was at least the size of the two largest navies as outlined in the Two Power Standard. This was not the case as the war approached, due to financial and logistical constraints, and the speed of expansion of the German navy, Britain did, however, boast the largest and mightiest navy when war broke out in 1914. Britain managed to build HMS Dreadnought in just 14 months and by the start of the First World War Britain had 49 battleships, although the naval race continued it was economically impossible for the Germans to close the gap before the war broke out. In 1912, the German chancellor Bethmann Hollweg ended the arms race. His aim was to secure an understanding with the British to end the increasingly isolated position of Germany, russian military expansion compelled the Germans to prioritise spending on their army and therefore less on the navy. Causes of World War I Imperial German Navy Germany–United Kingdom relations International relations of the Great Powers Brandenburg, from Bismarck to the World War, A History of German Foreign Policy 1870-1914 pp 266-99, 394-417. Kelly, Patrick J. Tirpitz and the Imperial German Navy excerpt and text search Kennedy, the Rise of the Anglo-German Antagonism, 1860-1914 Kennedy, Paul M. The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers excerpt and text search Lambert, sir John Fishers Naval Revolution excerpt and text search Massie, Robert K. Dreadnought, Britain, Germany and the coming of the Great War, Steinberg, Johnathan. The Tirpitz Plan, Historical Journal 16#1 pp 196–204 in JSTOR
25.
Russo-Japanese War
–
The Russo-Japanese War was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and Korea. The major theatres of operations were the Liaodong Peninsula and Mukden in Southern Manchuria and the seas around Korea, Japan, Russia sought a warm-water port on the Pacific Ocean for their navy and for maritime trade. Vladivostok was operational only during the summer, whereas Port Arthur, since the end of the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895, Japan feared Russian encroachment on its sphere of influence. Russia had demonstrated an expansionist policy in the Siberian Far East from the reign of Ivan the Terrible in the 16th century, through threat of Russian expansion, Japan offered to recognize Russian dominance in Manchuria in exchange for recognition of Korea as being within the Japanese sphere of influence. Russia refused and demanded Korea north of the 39th parallel to be a buffer zone between Russia and Japan. The Japanese government perceived a Russian threat to its strategic interests, after negotiations broke down in 1904, the Japanese Navy opened hostilities by attacking the Russian Eastern Fleet at Port Arthur, China, in a surprise attack. The war concluded with the Treaty of Portsmouth, mediated by US President Theodore Roosevelt, the complete victory of the Japanese military surprised world observers. The consequences transformed the balance of power in East Asia, resulting in a reassessment of Japans recent entry onto the world stage and it was the first major military victory in the modern era of an Asian power over a European one. Scholars continue to debate the historical significance of the war, after the Meiji Restoration in 1868, the Meiji government endeavored to assimilate Western ideas, technological advances and ways of warfare. By the late 19th century, Japan had transformed itself into an industrial state. The Japanese wanted to be recognized as equal with the Western powers, the Meiji restoration had always been intended to make Japan a modernized state, not a Westernized one, and Japan was always an imperialist power, looking towards overseas expansionism. By the 1890s it had extended its realm across Central Asia to Afghanistan, the Russian Empire stretched from Poland in the west to the Kamchatka Peninsula in the east. With its construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway to the port of Vladivostok, in the Tsushima incident of 1861 Russia had directly assaulted Japanese territory. Between the Meiji Restoration and its participation in World War I, the first war Japan fought was the First Sino-Japanese War, fought in 1894 and 1895. The war revolved around the issue of control and influence over Korea under the rule of the Joseon dynasty, from the 1880s onward, there had been vigorous competition for influence in Korea between China and Japan. The Korean court was prone to factionalism, and was divided by a reformist faction that was pro-Japanese. In 1884, a coup attempt was put down by Chinese troops. A peasant rebellion led by the Tonghak religious movement led to a request by the Korean government for the Qing dynasty to send in troops to stabilize the country
26.
First Moroccan Crisis
–
The First Moroccan Crisis was an international crisis between March 1905 and May 1906 over the status of Morocco. The crisis worsened German relations with both France and the United Kingdom, and helped enhance the new Anglo-French Entente, on March 31,1905, Kaiser William II of Germany landed at Tangier, Morocco and conferred with representatives of Sultan Abdelaziz of Morocco. The Kaiser proceeded to tour the city on the back of a white horse, the Kaiser declared he had come to support the sovereignty of the Sultan—a statement which amounted to a provocative challenge to French influence in Morocco. The Sultan subsequently rejected a set of French-proposed governmental reforms and issued invitations to major powers to a conference which would advise him on necessary reforms. Germany sought a conference where the French could be called to account before other European powers. The French foreign minister, Théophile Delcassé, took a defiant line, count Bernhard von Bülow, the German Chancellor, threatened war over the issue. The French cancelled all leave and Germany threatened to sign a defensive alliance with the Sultan. French Premier Maurice Rouvier refused to risk war with Germany over the issue, Delcassé resigned, as the French government would no longer support his policy. On July 1, France agreed to attend the conference, the crisis continued to the eve of the conference at Algeciras, with Germany calling up reserve units and France moving troops to the German border. The Algeciras Conference was called to settle the dispute, lasting from January 16 to April 7,1906, of the 13 nations present, the German representatives found that their only supporter was Austria-Hungary. A German attempt at compromise was rejected by all but Austria-Hungary, France had firm support from Britain, Russia, Italy, Spain, and the United States. The Germans decided to accept a compromise agreement on March 31,1906 that was signed on May 31,1906. France agreed to control of the Moroccan police, but otherwise retained effective control of Moroccan political and financial affairs. The First Moroccan Crisis also showed that the Entente Cordiale was strong, the crisis can be seen as a reason for the Anglo-Russian Entente and the Anglo-Franco-Spanish Pact of Cartagena being signed the following year. Kaiser Wilhelm II was angry at being humiliated and was determined not to back down again, esthus, Raymond A. Theodore Roosevelt and the International Rivalries pp 66–111. Gifford, Prosser, and Alison Smith, eds, Britain and Germany in Africa, imperial rivalry and colonial rule ch 7 Perdicaris incident
27.
Anglo-Russian Entente
–
The Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 is the common name used for the Convention between the United Kingdom and Russia relating to Persia, Afghanistan, and Tibet. It delineated spheres of influence in Persia, stipulated that neither country would interfere in Tibet’s internal affairs, the agreement led to the formation of the Triple Entente. The conflicting interests centered on Afghanistan, Iran, and Tibet, on May 20,1882, Germany entered into the Triple Alliance with Italy and Austria-Hungary, complementing its industrial and socio-political climb in the world arena. Furthermore, Germany dramatically increased its output from the early 1900s up to the outbreak of World War I. Under a new empire, the German government worked to increase the nations wealth. Thus, military and territorial expansion was Germanys key to making itself a major player in the arena of power. Germanys Middle East took a position, one subordinate to Germanys primary policy toward Europe and America, throughout the late 19th. While of secondary importance, it was a tool that was used to manipulate the Middle Eastern attempt to play off the Western powers against each other, berlin peacefully penetrated the Ottoman Empire and had few colonial aspirations in the region. In 1905, revolutionary activity spread throughout Tehran, forcing the shah to accept a constitution, allow the formation of a majles, major figures in the revolution had secular goals, which then created rifts in the clergy to the advantage of the monarchy. To facilitate the situation in Iran, Britain and Russia discussed splitting Iran “into three zones, the division of Iran reinforced Great Power control over these respective territorial and economic interests in the country as well as allowed for contrived interference in Irans political system. With foreign influence, revolution was outflanked by a combination of European, as a result, Iranians learned that however predatory the two neighbors were, they were even more dangerous when they put aside their rivalries. Consequently, in 1907, Britain and Russia signed an agreement to regulate their economic, with respect to Iran, the Anglo–Russian Agreement recognized the countrys strict independence and integrity, but then divided it into three separate zones. The agreement designated all of northern Iran, which bordered Russias possessions in Transcaucasia and Central Asia, a smaller zone in southeastern Iran, which bordered Britain India, was recognized as an exclusive sphere for Britain. The British zone extended west as far as Kerman in the north, for Britain and Russia, the agreement was important in establishing a diplomatic alignment that endured until World War I. The government of Iran, however, had not been consulted about the agreement, Iranian nationalists, in particular, felt betrayed by Britain, a country they had idealized as a democratic beacon during the Constitutional Revolution. Thus, an important legacy of the agreement was the growth of anti-British sentiment specifically, the agreement lapsed in 1918 after it was renounced by a new revolutionary government in Russia. The Anglo-Russian Convention and the Problem of Central Asia, 1907-1914, Journal of British Studies 11#1 pp. 126–147 in JSTOR Palace, the British Empire and Tibet, Siegel, Jennifer, Endgame, Britain, Russia and the Final Struggle for Central Asia Tomaszewski, Fiona K. A Great Russia, Russia and the Triple Entente Brigham Young University library website
28.
Bosnian crisis
–
In April 1909 the Treaty of Berlin was amended to reflect the fait accompli and bring the crisis to an end. The crisis permanently damaged relations between Austria-Hungary on one hand and Serbia, Italy and the Russian Empire on the other, the Italian historian Luigi Albertini regarded it as laying the grounds for World War I. Although the crisis ended with what appeared to be a total Austro-Hungarian diplomatic victory, Russia became determined not to back down again, the mid-1870s witnessed a series of violent rebellions against Ottoman rule in the Balkans, and equally violent and repressive responses from the Turks. The Russian Tsar, Alexander II, wanting to intervene against the Ottomans, sought, as compensation for this support, Russia agreed to Austria-Hungarys annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Shortly thereafter, the Russians declared war, and, after a few setbacks and this had the effect of bottling up the Russian fleet in the Black Sea, but would be worthless if Russian troops gained control of the straits by land. The treaty of San Stefano was overturned by the 1878 Treaty of Berlin, under article 29, Austria-Hungary received special rights in the Ottoman Empires provinces of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Sanjak of Novi Pazar. The Sanjak of Novi Pazar separated Montenegro from Serbia and prevented the geographic, the Bosnian population was already religiously divided among Muslims, Catholics and Orthodox Christians. Austria-Hungary exercised its rights, taking control of Bosnia-Herzegovina and jointly occupying the Sanjak of Novi Pazar together with the Ottoman Empire. The Treaty of Berlin allowed for sole Austrian occupation of Bosnia-Herzegovina and this omission was addressed in the Three Emperors League treaty of 1881, where both Germany and Russia endorsed Austrias right to annex Bosnia-Herzegovina. However, by 1897, under the new Tsar, Nicholas II, the Russian Foreign Minister, Count Michael Muraviev, stated that an Austrian annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina would raise an extensive question requiring special scrutiny. In 1903 a coup in Serbia brought in a new pro-Russian Karađorđević dynasty and these Serbs wanted to take over the Sanjak of Novi Pazar and Bosnia-Herzegovina from the Austro-Hungarians. Relations between Serbia and Austria-Hungary gradually deteriorated, however, Russias ability to support Serbia was greatly reduced following military humiliation in the 1905 Russo-Japanese War and the ensuing internal unrest. By 1907, Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister Alois Aehrenthal began formulating a plan to solidify Austria-Hungarys position towards Serbia through annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina and his opportunity came in the form of a letter from Russian Foreign Minister Alexander Izvolsky and a subsequent meeting at Buchlau castle in Moravia, Austria-Hungary. On 14 July Aehrenthal responded with guarded acceptance of the proposed discussions, the letter then went on to offer to discuss, as a separate matter, the Straits question, on a friendly basis. On 16 September, Izvolsky and Aehrenthal met face-to-face at Buchlovice Castle, no minutes were taken during these private meetings which lasted a total of six hours. Izvolsky accepted the responsibility to write up the conclusions of the meeting, on 21 September, Aehrenthal wrote to Izvolsky asking for this document to which Izvolsky replied two days later that the document had been sent to the Czar for approval. This document, if it existed, has never been produced. By Aehrenthals account given by Albertini, Izvolsky agreed that Russia would maintain a friendly, reciprocally, should Russia move to open the Straits to single ships of war, Austria-Hungary would maintain a benevolent attitude
29.
Agadir Crisis
–
The Agadir Crisis or Second Moroccan Crisis was an international crisis sparked by the deployment of a substantial force of French troops in the interior of Morocco in April 1911. Germany reacted by sending the gunboat SMS Panther to the Moroccan port of Agadir on 1 July 1911, frances pre-eminence in Morocco had been upheld by the 1906 Algeciras Conference, following the First Moroccan Crisis of 1905–06. Anglo-German tensions were high at this time, partly due to a race between Imperial Germany and Great Britain, including German efforts to build a fleet two thirds the size of Britains. Germanys move was aimed at testing the relationship between Britain and France, and possibly intimidating Britain into an alliance with Germany, Germany was also enforcing compensation claims, for acceptance of effective French control of Morocco. In 1911, a rebellion broke out in Morocco against the Sultan, by early April, the Sultan was besieged in his palace in Fez. The French prepared to send troops to put down the rebellion, under the pretext of protecting European lives and property. On 8 June, the Spanish army occupied Larache, and three days later Ksar-el-Kebir, on 1 July, the German gunboat SMS Panther arrived at the port of Agadir, under the pretext of protecting German trade interests. The larger Bremen-class cruiser SMS Berlin arrived days later, replacing the gunboat, a German civilian, Hermann Wilberg, seventy miles to the north, journeyed south to be rescued only to arrive three days after the Panther. There was a reaction from the French and the British. The British government attempted to restrain France from adopting hasty measures and to dissuade her from sending troops to Fez, in April, British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey wrote what the French contemplate doing is not wise, but we cannot under our agreement interfere. He felt that his hands were tied and that he had to support France, the British became worried by Panthers arrival in Morocco. The Royal Navy had a base in Gibraltar, in the south of Spain. They believed the Germans meant to turn Agadir into a base on the Atlantic. Britain sent battleships to Morocco, in case war broke out, as in the First Moroccan Crisis, British support of France showed the strength of the Entente Cordiale. In the midst of crisis, Germany was hit by financial turmoil. The stock market plunged by 30 percent in a single day, the Reichsbank lost a fifth of its gold reserves in one month. It was rumored this crisis had been orchestrated by the French finance minister, faced with the possibility of being driven off the gold standard, the Kaiser backed down and let the French take over most of Morocco. The speech was interpreted by Germany as a warning that she could not impose a settlement on France
30.
Italo-Turkish War
–
The Italo-Turkish or Turco-Italian War was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire from September 29,1911, to October 18,1912. As a result of conflict, Italy captured the Ottoman Tripolitania Vilayet, of which the main sub-provinces were Fezzan, Cyrenaica. These territories together formed what became known as Italian Libya, during the conflict, Italian forces also occupied the Dodecanese islands in the Aegean Sea. Although minor, the war was a significant precursor of the First World War as it sparked nationalism in the Balkan states, seeing how easily the Italians had defeated the weakened Ottomans, the members of the Balkan League attacked the Ottoman Empire before the war with Italy had ended. The Italo-Turkish War saw numerous changes, notably the airplane. The Turks, lacking anti-aircraft weapons, were the first to shoot down an aeroplane by rifle fire, when Italian diplomats hinted about possible opposition by their government, the French replied that Tripoli would have been a counterpart for Italy. In 1902, Italy and France had signed a treaty which accorded freedom of intervention in Tripolitania. However, the Italian government did little to realize the opportunity and knowledge of Libyan territory, the Italian press began a large-scale lobbying campaign in favour of an invasion of Libya at the end of March 1911. It was fancifully depicted as rich in minerals, well-watered, also, the population was described as hostile to the Ottoman Empire and friendly to the Italians, the future invasion was going to be little more than a military walk, according to them. The Socialist party had strong influence over public opinion, however, it was in opposition and also divided on the issue. It acted ineffectively against a military intervention, the future fascist leader Benito Mussolini – at this time still a left-wing Socialist – took a prominent anti-war position. A similar opposition was expressed in Parliament by Gaetano Salvemini and Leone Caetani, an ultimatum was presented to the Ottoman government led by the Committee of Union and Progress party on the night of 26–27 September. Through Austrian intermediation, the Ottomans replied with the proposal of transferring control of Libya without war and this suggestion was comparable to the situation in Egypt, which was under formal Ottoman suzerainty, but was actually controlled by the United Kingdom. Giolitti refused, and war was declared on September 29,1911, despite the time it had had to prepare the invasion, the Italian Royal Army was largely unprepared when the war broke out. The Italian fleet appeared off Tripoli in the evening of September 28, the city was conquered by 1,500 sailors, much to the enthusiasm of the interventionist minority in Italy. Another proposal for a settlement was rejected by the Italians. The Turks did not have an army in Trablusgarp. Many of the Ottoman officers had to travel there by their own means, often secretly, through Egypt, the Ottoman navy was too weak to transport troops by sea
31.
Balkan Wars
–
The Balkan Wars consisted of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan Peninsula in south-eastern Europe in 1912 and 1913. Four Balkan states defeated the Ottoman Empire in the first war, one of the four, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire lost the bulk of its territory in Europe. Austria-Hungary, although not a combatant, became relatively weaker as a much enlarged Serbia pushed for union of the South Slavic peoples, the war set the stage for the Balkan crisis of 1914 and thus served as a prelude to the First World War. By the early 20th century, Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro and Serbia had achieved independence from the Ottoman Empire, in 1912 these countries formed the Balkan League. The First Balkan War had three main causes, The Ottoman Empire was unable to reform itself, govern satisfactorily, or deal with the rising nationalism of its diverse peoples. The Great Powers quarreled amongst themselves and failed to ensure that the Ottomans would carry out the needed reforms and this led the Balkan states to impose their own solution. Most importantly, the Balkan League had been formed, and its members were confident that it could defeat the Turks. The Ottoman Empire lost all its European territories to the west of the River Maritsa as a result of the two Balkan Wars, which thus delineated present-day Turkeys western border, a large influx of Turks started to flee into the Ottoman heartland from the lost lands. By 1914, the core region of the Ottoman Empire had experienced a population increase of around 2.5 million because of the flood of immigration from the Balkans. Citizens of Turkey regard the Balkan Wars as a disaster in the nations history. Nazım Pasha, Chief of Staff of the Ottoman Army, was responsible for the failure and was assassinated on 23 January 1913 during the 1913 Ottoman coup détat carried out by the Young Turks. The First Balkan War began when the League member states attacked the Ottoman Empire on 8 October 1912, the Second Balkan War was begun on 16 June 1913. Seeing the treaty as trampled, Bulgaria was dissatisfied over the division of the spoils in Macedonia, the more numerous combined Serbian and Greek armies repelled the Bulgarian offensive and counter-attacked into Bulgaria. Romania, who having taken no part in the conflict, had intact armies to strike with, the Ottoman Empire also attacked Bulgaria and advanced in Thrace regaining Adrianople. The background to the lies in the incomplete emergence of nation-states on the European territory of the Ottoman Empire during the second half of the 19th century. Serbia had gained territory during the Russo-Turkish War, 1877–1878, while Greece acquired Thessaly in 1881. All three countries, as well as Montenegro, sought additional territories within the large Ottoman-ruled region known as Rumelia, comprising Eastern Rumelia, Albania, Macedonia, throughout the 19th century, the Great Powers shared different aims over the Eastern Question and the integrity of the Ottoman Empire. Russia wanted access to the waters of the Mediterranean from the Black Sea, it pursued a pan-Slavic foreign policy
32.
July Crisis
–
The July Crisis was a diplomatic crisis among the major powers of Europe in the summer of 1914 that led to World War I. The assassination had been carried out by those wishing to unite all of the territories with majority South Slavic population not already ruled by the Kingdom of Serbia or Kingdom of Montenegro. This was intended to be achieved either through diplomacy or by a war if the ultimatum were rejected. A month after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia and this local conflict ultimately expanded into World War I as more powers became involved. Austria-Hungary had annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908, oskar Potiorek was the military commander and governor of the province. After the exercises, on 28 June 1914, Franz Ferdinand toured Sarajevo with his wife, Sophie, nedeljko Čabrinović bombed Franz Ferdinands motorcade as it approached the Čumuria bridge. Twenty people were wounded, but Franz Ferdinand was unhurt, the bomb thrower had been instructed in Belgrade by Serbian Major Voja Tankosić to take potassium cyanide to prevent his capture. Čabrinović swallowed the cyanide, but it only sickened him, the Sarajevo police arrested Čabrinović and brought him to the police first aid post. Investigator Judge Leo Pfeffer was at the station and was immediately assigned to investigate. Before the investigation got far, news arrived that Gavrilo Princip had shot and killed Franz Ferdinand, Princip took his cyanide, but the cyanide had the same effect on Princip as it had on Čabrinović. The police arrested Princip, and he too was brought to the first aid post, within 45 minutes of the shooting, Princip began telling his story to Pfeffer. A police dragnet quickly caught most of the conspirators, twenty-five people went to trial, but nine were acquitted. Serbia soon thereafter denied making warnings and denied knowledge of the plot, Prime Minister Nikola Pašić himself made these denials to Az Est on 7 July 1914, and to the Paris Edition of the New York Herald on 20 July 1914. By 30 June, Austro-Hungarian and German diplomats began making requests for investigation to their Serbian and Russian counterparts, German Undersecretary of State Arthur Zimmermann addressed these requests to ambassadors to Germany. The Austrian Ambassador to Serbia made a similar request to the Secretary General of the Serbian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, on 5 July, based on further interrogations of the accused assassins, Governor Potiorek telegraphed Vienna that Serbian Major Voja Tankosić had given the assassins instructions. One last avenue of diplomacy and investigation lay open, the lone legal adult amongst the armed assassins was Muhamed Mehmedbašić. Following the assassination, Mehmedbašić fled to Montenegro where he was arrested by the police, in Montenegrin custody, Mehmedbašić confessed to a wider conspiracy including an irredentist Serb terrorist planning meeting in Toulouse, France. Learning of the arrest but not of the confession, Austria-Hungary asked Montenegro to honor their mutual extradition treaty, after Montenegro shared Mehmedbašić’s confession with the French Ambassador, Mehmedbašić escaped to Serbia, possibly with the assistance of the Montenegrin authorities
33.
Napoleonic Wars
–
The wars resulted from the unresolved disputes associated with the French Revolution and the Revolutionary Wars, which had raged on for years before concluding with the Treaty of Amiens in 1802. Napoleon became the First Consul of France in 1799, then Emperor five years later, inheriting the political and military struggles of the Revolution, he created a state with stable finances, a strong central bureaucracy, and a well-trained army. The British frequently financed the European coalitions intended to thwart French ambitions, by 1805, they had managed to convince the Austrians and the Russians to wage another war against France. At sea, the Royal Navy destroyed a combined Franco-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar in October 1805, Prussian worries about increasing French power led to the formation of the Fourth Coalition in 1806. France then forced the defeated nations of the Fourth Coalition to sign the Treaties of Tilsit in July, although Tilsit signified the high watermark of the French Empire, it did not bring a lasting peace for Europe. Hoping to extend the Continental System and choke off British trade with the European mainland, Napoleon invaded Iberia, the Spanish and the Portuguese revolted with British support. The Peninsular War lasted six years, featured extensive guerrilla warfare, the Continental System caused recurring diplomatic conflicts between France and its client states, especially Russia. Unwilling to bear the consequences of reduced trade, the Russians routinely violated the Continental System. The French launched an invasion of Russia in the summer of 1812. The resulting campaign witnessed the collapse and retreat of the Grand Army along with the destruction of Russian lands. In 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russian forces in a Sixth Coalition against France, a lengthy military campaign culminated in a large Allied army defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813. The Allies then invaded France and captured Paris in the spring of 1814 and he was exiled to the island of Elba near Rome and the Bourbons were restored to power. However, Napoleon escaped from Elba in February 1815 and took control of France once again, the Allies responded by forming a Seventh Coalition, which defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in June. The Congress of Vienna, which started in 1814 and concluded in 1815, established the new borders of Europe and laid out the terms, Napoleon seized power in 1799, creating a de facto military dictatorship. The Napoleonic Wars began with the War of the Third Coalition, Kagan argues that Britain was irritated in particular by Napoleons assertion of control over Switzerland. Furthermore, Britons felt insulted when Napoleon stated that their country deserved no voice in European affairs, for its part, Russia decided that the intervention in Switzerland indicated that Napoleon was not looking toward a peaceful resolution of his differences with the other European powers. The British quickly enforced a blockade of France to starve it of resources. Napoleon responded with economic embargoes against Britain, and sought to eliminate Britains Continental allies to break the coalitions arrayed against him, the so-called Continental System formed a league of armed neutrality to disrupt the blockade and enforce free trade with France
34.
Paul Cambon
–
Pierre Paul Cambon was a French diplomat and brother to Jules Cambon. He was called to the Parisian bar, and became secretary to Jules Ferry in the préfecture of the Seine. In 1886 Cambon became French ambassador to Madrid, was transferred to Constantinople in 1890, and in 1898 to London, upon the outbreak of the First World War, Cambon helped secure British intervention on the French side. He was decorated with the Grand Cross of the Légion dhonneur and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Cambon, Pierre Paul. Media related to Paul Cambon at Wikimedia Commons
35.
Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne
–
In 1917, during the First World War, he wrote to the press vainly advocating a compromise peace. He has the distinction of having held positions in both Liberal Party and Conservative Party governments. He held the courtesy title Viscount Clanmaurice from birth until 1863, upon his mothers death in 1895, he succeeded her as the 9th Lord Nairne in the Peerage of Scotland. After studying at Eton and Oxford, he succeeded his father as 5th Marquess of Lansdowne and he was heir to a vast estate, including Bowood House, an Irish estate of over 121,000 acres, and also great wealth. At one of his properties, Derreen House, Lord Lansdowne started to create a great garden from 1871 onwards. For most of the rest of his life, he spent three months every year at Derreen, Lord Lansdowne entered the House of Lords as a member of the Liberal Party in 1866. He served in William Gladstones government as a Lord of the Treasury from 1869 to 1872 and he was appointed Under-Secretary of State for India in 1880, and, having gained experience in overseas administration, was appointed Governor General of Canada in 1883. The present-day town of Lansdowne, Garhwal in Uttarakhand, India, was established in 1887, Lord Lansdowne was Governor General during turbulent times in Canada. His Irish connections made him unpopular with the Catholic Irish element, Sir John A. Macdonalds government was in its second term and facing allegations of scandal over the building of the railway, and the economy was once again sliding into recession. The North-West Rebellion of 1885 and the controversy caused by its leader, Louis Riel, to calm the situation he travelled extensively throughout western Canada in 1885, meeting many of Canadas Indian peoples. His experiences in western Canada gave Lansdowne a great love of the Canadian outdoors and he was an avid fisherman, and was also intensely interested in winter sports. His love of the wilderness and Canadian countryside led him to purchase a second residence on the Cascapédia River in Quebec, Lansdowne proved himself an adept statesman in helping to negotiate a settlement of a potentially serious dispute between Canada and the United States in 1886-87 over fishing rights. He was also a supporter of development, presiding over the inaugural session of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1884. Lord Lansdowne departed Canada, with its clear skies, its exhilarating sports and he gave his wife a great deal of the credit for his success in Canada. One of her happiest and most successful endeavours while at Rideau Hall was a party she threw for 400 Sunday school children, lady Lansdowne was decorated with the Order of Victoria and Albert and the Imperial Order of the Crown of India. Lord Lansdownes military secretary, Lord Melgund, later became Lord Minto, Lord Lansdowne was appointed Viceroy of India in the same year he left Canada. The viceroyalty, which he held from 1888 to 1894, was offered to him by the Conservative prime minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury and he worked to reform the army, police, local government and the mint. There was a local rebellion in 1890, which was quickly suppressed
36.
History of Egypt under the British
–
The first period of British rule is often called the veiled protectorate. During this time the Khedivate of Egypt remained a province of the Ottoman Empire. This state of affairs lasted until the Ottoman Empire joined the First World War on the side of the Central Powers in November 1914, the ruling khedive was deposed and his successor, Hussein Kamel, compelled to declare himself Sultan of Egypt independent of the Ottomans in December 1914. The formal protectorate over Egypt did not long outlast the war and it was brought to an end by the unilateral declaration of Egyptian independence on 28 February 1922. Shortly afterwards, Sultan Fuad I declared himself King of Egypt, the situation was normalised in the Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936, which granted Britain the right to station troops in Egypt for the defence of the Suez Canal, its link with the Indian Empire. Britain also continued to control the training of the Egyptian Army, during the Second World War, Egypt came under attack from Italian Libya on account of the British presence there, although Egypt itself remained neutral until late in the war. After the war Egypt sought to modify the treaty, but it was abrogated in its entirety by a government in October 1951. After the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, the British agreed to withdraw their troops, Britain went to war against Egypt over the Suez Canal in late 1956, but with insufficient international support was forced to back down. Throughout the 19th century, the dynasty of Egypt had spent vast sums of money on infrastructural development of Egypt. However, in keeping with its own military and foreign origin, consequently, despite vast sums of European and other foreign capital, actual economic production and resulting revenues was insufficient toward repaying the loans. Consequently, the country teetered toward economic dissolution and implosion, in turn, European and foreign finances took control of the treasury of Egypt, forgave debt in return for taking control of the Suez Canal, and reoriented economic development toward capital gain. A large military demonstration in September 1881 forced the Khedive Tewfiq to dismiss his Prime Minister, many of the Europeans retreated to specially designed quarters suited for defence or heavily European settled cities such as Alexandria. Consequently, in April 1882 France and Great Britain sent warships to Alexandria to bolster the Khedive amidst a turbulent climate and protect European lives, in turn, Egyptian nationalists spread fear of invasion throughout the country to bolster Islamic and Arabian revolutionary action. Tawfiq moved to Alexandria for fear of his own safety as army officers led by Ahmed Urabi began to control of the government. By June, Egypt was in the hands of nationalists opposed to European domination of the country, anti-European violence broke out in Alexandria, prompting a British naval bombardment of the city. Simultaneously, French forces landed in Alexandria and the end of the canal. Both joined together and manoeuvred to meet the Egyptian army, the combined Anglo-French-Indian army easily defeated the Egyptian Army at Tel El Kebir in September and took control of the country putting Tawfiq back in control. Cromer took the view that political stability needed financial stability, and embarked on a programme of long term investment in Egypts agricultural revenue sources, largest of which, in 1906 the Denshawai Incident provoked a questioning of British rule in Egypt
37.
French Morocco
–
The French Protectorate in Morocco, Arabic, حماية فرنسا في المغرب Ḥimāyat Faransā fi-l-Maḡrib) was established by the Treaty of Fez. It existed from 1912, when a protectorate was established, until independence. However, in the part of the 19th century Morocco’s weakness and instability invited European intervention to protect threatened investments. The first years of the 20th century witnessed a rush of diplomatic maneuvering through which the European powers, French activity in Morocco began during the end of the 19th century. France and Spain secretly partitioned the territory of the sultanate, with Spain receiving concessions in the far north and south of the country. The First Moroccan Crisis grew out of the rivalries of the great powers, in this case. Germany took immediate action to block the new accord from going into effect. Although the Algeciras Conference temporarily solved the First Moroccan Crisis it only worsened international tensions between the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente, in 1911, a rebellion broke out in Morocco against the Sultan, Abdelhafid. By early April 1911, the Sultan was besieged in his palace in Fez, the French dispatched a flying column at the end of April 1911 and Germany gave approval for the occupation of the city. Moroccan forces besieged the French-occupied city, approximately one month later, French forces brought the siege to an end. On 5 June 1911 the Spanish occupied Larache and Ksar-el-Kebir, on 1 July 1911 the German gunboat Panther arrived at the port of Agadir. There was a reaction from the French, supported by the British. France officially established a protectorate over Morocco with the Treaty of Fez, from a strictly legal point of view, the treaty did not deprive Morocco of its status as a sovereign state. The Sultan reigned but did not rule, Sultan Abdelhafid abdicated in favor of his brother Yusef after signing the treaty. On April 17,1912, Moroccan infantrymen mutinied in the French garrison in Fez, in late May 1912, Moroccan forces again unsuccessfully attacked the enhanced French garrison at Fez. First, the protectorate was established two years before the outbreak of World War I, which brought with it a new attitude toward colonial rule. Second, Morocco had a tradition of independence, though it had been strongly influenced by the civilization of Muslim Iberia. These circumstances and the proximity of Morocco to Spain created a relationship between the two countries
38.
Colonial Nigeria
–
Colonial Nigeria was the area of West Africa that became the modern day Nigeria, during the time of British rule in the 19th and 20th centuries. British influence in the region began with the prohibition of trade to British subjects in 1807. Britain annexed Lagos in 1861 and established the Oil River Protectorate in 1884, British influence in the Niger area increased gradually over the 19th century, but Britain did not effectively occupy the area until 1885. Other European powers acknowledged Britains power over the area in the 1885 Berlin Conference, from 1886 to 1899, much of the country was ruled by Royal Niger Company, authorized by charter, and governed by George Taubman Goldie. In 1900, the Southern Nigeria Protectorate and Northern Nigeria Protectorate passed from hands to the Crown. Progressive constitutions after World War II provided for increasing representation and electoral government by Nigerians, the colonial period proper in Nigeria lasted from 1900 to 1960, after which Nigeria gained its independence. Administration and military control of the territory was primarily by white Britons. Following military conquest, the British imposed a system designed to profit from African labour. The essential basis of system was a money economy—specifically the British pound sterling—which could be demanded through taxation, paid to cooperative natives. The amalgamation of different ethnic and religious groups into one federation created internal tension which persists in Nigeria to the present day. In the 1700s, the British Empire and other European powers had settlements and forts in West Africa but had not yet established the plantation colonies which existed in Americas. Adam Smith wrote in 1776 that the African societies were established and more populous than those of the Americas. Local leaders, cognizant of the situation in the West Indies, India, and elsewhere, recognized the risks of British expansion. A chief of Bonny in 1860 explained that he refused a British treaty due to the tendency to induce the Chiefs to sign a treaty whose meaning they did not understand, and then seize upon the country. European slave trading from West Africa began before 1650, with people taken at a rate of about 3,000 per year and this rate rose to 20,000 per year in the last quarter of the century. The slave trade was heaviest in the period 1700–1850, with an average of 76,000 people taken from Africa each year between 1783 and 1792, at first, the trade centered around West Central Africa, now the Congo. But in the 1700s, the Bight of Benin became the next most important hub, ouidah and Lagos were the major ports in Biafra. From 1790–1807, predominantly British slave traders purchased 1000–2000 slaves each year in Lagos alone, the trade subsequently continued under the Portuguese
39.
Gambia Colony and Protectorate
–
The Gambia Colony and Protectorate was part of the British Empire in the New Imperialism era. The colony was the area surrounding Bathurst, and the protectorate the inland territory situated around the Gambia River. The foundation of the colony was Fort James and Bathurst, where British presence was established in 1815 and 1816, respectively. For various periods in its existence it was subordinate to the Sierra Leone colony, the boundaries of the territory were an issue of contention between the British and French authorities due to the proximity to French Senegal. Additionally, on occasions the British government had attempted to exchange it with France for other territories. France and Britain agreed in 1889 in principle to set the boundary at six miles north and south of the river and east to Yarbutenda and this should have been followed by the dispatchment of a joint Anglo-French Boundary Commission to map the actual border. Yet, at its arrival on place in 1891, the commission was met with resistance by local leaders whose territories they were coming to divide. ”The colony ended in 1965 when Gambia became an independent state within the Commonwealth of Nations. The economy of the Gambia, like other African countries at the time, was very orientated towards agriculture. Reliance on the groundnut became so strong that it made up almost the entirety of exports, groundnuts were the only commodity subject to export duties, these export duties resulted in the illegal smuggling of the product to French Senegal. The conditions in the Gambia proved unfavourable and typhoid killed much of the chicken stock, the River Gambia was the principal route of navigation and transport inland, with a port at Bathurst. The road network was concentrated around Bathurst, with the remaining areas largely connected by dirt roads. The only airport was at Yundum, built in World War II, post war it was used for passenger flights. Both British South American Airways and the British Overseas Airways Corporation had services, the former moving its service to Dakar, the airport was rebuilt in 1963 and the building is still in use today. In anticipation of independence, efforts were made to create internal self-government, the 1960 Constitution created a partly elected House of Representatives, with 19 elected members and 8 chosen by the chiefs. This constitution proved flawed in the 1960 elections when the two parties tied with 8 seats each. With the support of the chiefs, Pierra Sarr NJie of the United Party was appointed Chief Minister. Dawda Jawara of the Peoples Progressive Party resigned as Minister of Education, the Constitutional Conference paved the way for a new constitution that granted a greater degree of self-government and a House of Representatives with more elected members. Elections were held in 1962, with Jawaras Progressive Party securing a majority of the elected seats, under the new constitutional arrangements, Jawara was appointed Prime Minister, a position he held until it was abolished in 1970
40.
Newfoundland
–
Newfoundland and Labrador is the most easterly province of Canada. Situated in the countrys Atlantic region, it comprises the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador to the northwest, in 2013, the provinces population was estimated at 526,702. About 92% of the population lives on the island of Newfoundland. The province is Canadas most linguistically homogeneous, with 97. 6% of residents reporting English as their mother tongue in the 2006 census, historically, Newfoundland was also home to unique varieties of French and Irish, as well as the extinct Beothuk language. In Labrador, local dialects of Innu-aimun and Inuktitut are also spoken, Newfoundland and Labradors capital and largest city, St. Johns, is Canadas 20th-largest census metropolitan area and is home to almost 40 percent of the provinces population. St. Johns is the seat of government, home to the House of Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador and to the highest court in the jurisdiction and it became the tenth province to enter the Canadian Confederation on March 31,1949, as Newfoundland. On December 6,2001, an amendment was made to the Constitution of Canada to change the official name to Newfoundland. The name Newfoundland is a translation of the Portuguese Terra Nova, the influence of early Portuguese exploration is also reflected in the name of Labrador, which derives from the surname of the Portuguese navigator João Fernandes Lavrador. Newfoundland and Labrador is the most easterly province in Canada, and is located at the corner of North America. The Strait of Belle Isle separates the province into two divisions, Labrador, which is a large area of mainland Canada, and Newfoundland. The province also includes over 7,000 tiny islands, each side is about 400 km long, and its area is 108,860 km2. Newfoundland and its small islands have a total area of 111,390 km2. Newfoundland extends between latitudes 46°36′N and 51°38′N, Labrador is an irregular shape, the western part of its border with Quebec is the drainage divide of the Labrador Peninsula. Lands drained by rivers that flow into the Atlantic Ocean are part of Labrador, most of Labradors southern boundary with Quebec follows the 52nd parallel of latitude. Labradors extreme northern tip, at 60°22′N, shares a border with Nunavut. Together, Newfoundland and Labrador make up 4. 06% of Canadas area, Labrador is the easternmost part of the Canadian Shield, a vast area of ancient metamorphic rock comprising much of northeastern North America. Colliding tectonic plates have shaped much of the geology of Newfoundland, gros Morne National Park has a reputation as an outstanding example of tectonics at work, and as such has been designated a World Heritage Site. The Long Range Mountains on Newfoundlands west coast are the northeasternmost extension of the Appalachian Mountains, the north-south extent of the province, prevalent westerly winds, cold ocean currents and local factors such as mountains and coastline combine to create the various climates of the province
41.
Siam
–
Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand, formerly known as Siam, is a country at the centre of the Indochinese peninsula in Southeast Asia. With a total area of approximately 513,000 km2, Thailand is the worlds 51st-largest country and it is the 20th-most-populous country in the world, with around 66 million people. The capital and largest city is Bangkok, Thailand is a constitutional monarchy and has switched between parliamentary democracy and military junta for decades, the latest coup being in May 2014 by the National Council for Peace and Order. Its capital and most populous city is Bangkok and its maritime boundaries include Vietnam in the Gulf of Thailand to the southeast, and Indonesia and India on the Andaman Sea to the southwest. The Thai economy is the worlds 20th largest by GDP at PPP and it became a newly industrialised country and a major exporter in the 1990s. Manufacturing, agriculture, and tourism are leading sectors of the economy and it is considered a middle power in the region and around the world. The country has always been called Mueang Thai by its citizens, by outsiders prior to 1949, it was usually known by the exonym Siam. The word Siam has been identified with the Sanskrit Śyāma, the names Shan and A-hom seem to be variants of the same word. The word Śyâma is possibly not its origin, but a learned, another theory is the name derives from Chinese, Ayutthaya emerged as a dominant centre in the late fourteenth century. The Chinese called this region Xian, which the Portuguese converted into Siam, the signature of King Mongkut reads SPPM Mongkut King of the Siamese, giving the name Siam official status until 24 June 1939 when it was changed to Thailand. Thailand was renamed Siam from 1945 to 11 May 1949, after which it reverted to Thailand. According to George Cœdès, the word Thai means free man in the Thai language, ratcha Anachak Thai means kingdom of Thailand or kingdom of Thai. Etymologically, its components are, ratcha, -ana- -chak, the Thai National Anthem, written by Luang Saranupraphan during the extremely patriotic 1930s, refers to the Thai nation as, prathet Thai. The first line of the anthem is, prathet thai ruam lueat nuea chat chuea thai, Thailand is the unity of Thai flesh. There is evidence of habitation in Thailand that has been dated at 40,000 years before the present. Similar to other regions in Southeast Asia, Thailand was heavily influenced by the culture and religions of India, Thailand in its earliest days was under the rule of the Khmer Empire, which had strong Hindu roots, and the influence among Thais remains even today. Voretzsch believes that Buddhism must have been flowing into Siam from India in the time of the Indian Emperor Ashoka of the Maurya Empire, later Thailand was influenced by the south Indian Pallava dynasty and north Indian Gupta Empire. The Menam Basin was originally populated by the Mons, and the location of Dvaravati in the 7th century, the History of the Yuan mentions an embassy from the kingdom of Sukhothai in 1282
France
United Kingdom
