1.
President of France
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The President of the French Republic, is the executive head of state of the French Fifth Republic. The powers, functions and duties of prior presidential offices, and their relation with the prime minister, the current President of France is François Hollande, who took office on 15 May 2012. Hollande has announced that he stand down in the upcoming 2017 French presidential election. President Chirac was first elected in 1995 and again in 2002, at that time, there was no limit on the number of terms, so Chirac could have run again, but chose not to. He was succeeded by Nicolas Sarkozy on 16 May 2007, following a further change, the Constitutional law on the Modernisation of the Institutions of the Fifth Republic,2008, a president cannot serve more than two consecutive terms. François Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac are the only Presidents to date who have served a two terms. In order to be admitted as a candidate, potential candidates must receive signed nominations from more than 500 elected officials. These officials must be from at least 30 départements or overseas collectivities, furthermore, each official may nominate only one candidate. There are exactly 45,543 elected officials, including 33,872 mayors, spending and financing of campaigns and political parties are highly regulated. There is a cap on spending, at approximately 20 million euros, if the candidate receives less than 5% of the vote, the government funds €8,000,000 to the party. Advertising on TV is forbidden but official time is given to candidates on public TV, an independent agency regulates election and party financing. After the president is elected, he or she goes through an investiture ceremony called a passation des pouvoirs. The French Fifth Republic is a semi-presidential system, unlike many other European presidents, the French President is quite powerful. The president holds the nations most senior office, and outranks all other politicians, the presidents greatest power is his/her ability to choose the prime minister. When the majority of the Assembly has opposite political views to that of the president, when the majority of the Assembly sides with them, the President can take a more active role and may, in effect, direct government policy. The prime minister is then the choice of the President. This device has been used in recent years by François Mitterrand, Jacques Chirac, since 2002, the mandate of the president and the Assembly are both 5 years and the two elections are close to each other. Therefore, the likelihood of a cohabitation is lower, among the powers of the government, The president promulgates laws
2.
Pierre Laval
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Pierre Laval was a French politician. During the time of the Third Republic, he served as Prime Minister of France from 27 January 1931 to 20 February 1932, Laval began his career as a socialist, but over time drifted far to the right. Following Frances surrender and armistice with Germany in 1940, he served in the Vichy Regime, after the liberation of France in 1944, Laval was arrested by the French government under General Charles de Gaulle. In what some consider a flawed trial, Laval was found guilty of high treason. His manifold political activities have left a complicated and controversial legacy, Laval was born 28 June 1883 at Châteldon, Puy-de-Dôme, in the northern part of Auvergne. His father worked in the village as a proprietor, butcher and postman, he also owned a vineyard. Laval was educated at the school in Châteldon. At age 15, he was sent to a Paris lycée to study for his baccalauréat, returning south to Lyon, he spent the next year reading for a degree in zoology. Laval joined the Socialists in 1903, when he was living in Saint-Étienne,62 km southwest of Lyon, I was never a very orthodox socialist, he said in 1945, by which I mean that I was never much of a Marxist. My socialism was much more a socialism of the heart than a doctrinal socialism, I was much more interested in men, their jobs, their misfortunes and their conflicts than in the digressions of the great German pontiff. Laval returned to Paris in 1907 at the age of 24 and he was called up for military service and, after serving in the ranks, was discharged for varicose veins. In April 1913 he said, Barrack-based armies are incapable of the slightest effort, because they are badly-trained and, above all and he favoured abolition of the army and replacement by a citizens militia. During this period, Laval became familiar with the doctrines of Georges Sorel. In 1909, he turned to the law, shortly after becoming a member of the Paris bar, he married the daughter of a Dr Joseph Claussat and set up a home in Paris with his new wife. Their only child, a daughter called Josée Laval, was born in 1911, Josée married René de Chambrun, whose uncle, Nicholas Longworth III, married Alice Roosevelt, daughter of United States President Theodore Roosevelt. Although Lavals wife came from a family, she never participated in politics. Laval was generally considered to be devoted to his family, the years before the First World War were characterised by labour unrest, and Laval defended strikers, trade unionists, and left-wing agitators against government attempts to prosecute them. At a trade conference, Laval said, I am a comrade among comrades
3.
Gaston Doumergue
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Pierre-Paul-Henri-Gaston Doumergue was a French politician of the Third Republic. Doumergue came from a Protestant family and was a freemason, beginning as a Radical, he turned more towards the political right in his old age. He served as Prime Minister from 9 December 1913 to 2 June 1914 and he was elected the thirteenth President of France on 13 June 1924, the only Protestant to hold that office. He served until 13 June 1931, and again was Prime Minister in a national unity government. This government lasted from 6 February to 8 November 1934 and he was widely regarded as one of the most popular French Presidents, particularly after highly controversial Alexandre Millerand, who was his predecessor. Doumergue was single when elected, and became the first President of France to marry in office, louis Malvy succeeds Renoult as Minister of the Interior. Raoul Péret succeeds Malvy as Minister of Commerce, Industry, Posts,20 March 1914 – Armand Gauthier de lAude succeeds Monis as Minister of Marine. Paul Marchandeau succeeds Sarraut as Minister of the Interior, louis Rollin succeeds Laval as Minister of Colonies. 15 October 1934 – Henri Lémery succeeds Chéron as Minister of Justice
4.
Aurillac
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Aurillac is a French commune, capital of the Cantal department, in the Auvergne region of south-central France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as Aurillacois or Aurillacoises, the commune has been awarded three flowers by the National Council of Towns and Villages in Bloom in the Competition of cities and villages in Bloom. Aurillac is at 600 metres above sea level and located at the foot of the Cantal mountains in a small Sedimentary basin, the city is built on the banks of the Jordanne, a tributary of the Cère. It is 558 km south of Paris and 223 km north of Toulouse, Aurillac was part of a former Auvergne province called Haute-Auvergne and is only 20 km away from the heart of the Auvergne Volcano Park. The Figeac-Arvant railway passes through the commune with a station in the centre of town, about 50% of the commune is urbanised with farmland to the east and west of the urban area. Aurillac – Tronquières Airport is located in the south of the commune with its runway extending beyond the commune boundary and it is connected to Paris by two daily flights by the Air France subsidiary HOP. The Jordanne river flows through the heart of the commune north to south where it joins the Cère just south of the commune. Boudieu on the N122, which is called the Route de Sansac-de-Marmiesse or de Toulouse, is a farm with a house from the 1900s. Boudieu-Bas on the N122 is a set of houses built in the 1960s with some buildings used commercially or for crafts, gueret on the N122 is a farm with two houses and two agricultural buildings. This hamlet is traversed by an old road from a place formerly called Julien from which name for the SNCF Julien Bridge comes. The former Julien is towards the Chateau of Tronquières in the area on Avenue Charles de Gaulle opposite the Medico-Surgical Centre. This farm with its house and barn were absorbed by the city on the creation of a district in the 1970s until the mid 1980s, the agricultural buildings were demolished to make room for a shop. La Sablère on the RN122 is a set of dwellings mostly from the 1980s and this place spreads over two communes, Aurillac and Arpajon-sur-Cere with the majority of the buildings in Arpajon-sur-Cere. Le Barra near the avenue Aristide Briand, also called the Ancienne route de Vic or the old N120 and this is a farm and houses. Les Quatre Chemins at the intersection of the D120 and the D922 on the borders of Aurillac, Naucelles and it is a complex of commercial buildings and residences on the crossroads of the two former National highways. Originally it was a farm with a chateau but the chateau, today it is a grouping of housing units specializing in housing assistance for the integration of disabled people and the airport. It is the area for travellers to the city and a former landfill. Before the construction of the airport the meadows were areas for grazing for nearby farms such as the Boudieu farm
5.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
6.
Paris
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Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
7.
Radical Party (France)
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The Radical Party is a liberal and social-liberal political party in France. Following the legislative elections of 2012, the Radicals have six seats in the National Assembly, founded in 1901 as Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party, it is the oldest active political party in France. Coming from the Radical Republican tradition, the Radical Party upholds the principles of private property, the Radicals were originally a left-wing group, but with the emergence of the French Section of the Workers International in 1905, the Radicals shifted towards the political centre. In 1972 the left wing of the party split off to form the centre-left Radical Party of the Left, since then, the Radical Party has affiliated with the centre-right, becoming one of the founder parties of the Union for French Democracy in 1978. In 2002 the party split from the UDF and affiliated with the UMP, during the 7th term of the European Parliament, along with the UMP, three Radical MEPs sat with the European Peoples Party Group. During the 8th European Parliament, the single Radical MEP Dominique Riquet sits with the Alliance of Liberals, after the collapse of Napoleon Is empire in 1815, a reactionary Bourbon Restoration took place. The Republicans constituted the left-wing opposition, but they were also named Radicals and it was systematically used during the July Monarchy because the law forbade parties to define themselves as Republican. The conservative turn of the July Monarchy reinforced the audience of the radical opposition, some politicians such as Alexandre Ledru-Rollin and Louis Blanc formulated a Radical doctrine. They advocated democratic reforms as a vehicle of social progress and they defended the small private property against the socialist projects and the great landowners. The Radicals took a part in the 1848 Revolution and the foundation of the Second Republic. For a few months, Alexandre Ledru-Rollin was Interior Minister in the provisional government, however, the conservatives won the 1848 legislative election, the first election by universal suffrage. The repression of the June 1848 workers demonstrations disappointed the left-wing supporters of the new regime, Alexandre Ledru-Rollin obtained only 5% of votes at the December 1848 presidential election, which was won by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, who established the Second Empire after the 1851 coup. From opposition, Radicals criticized personal power and the attacks on freedoms, after the collapse of the Second Empire following the 1870 Franco-Prussian War, the Third Republic was proclaimed in September 1870. The Orléanist and Legitimist monarchists together won the first elections in February 1871, eventually the Republicans won the 1876 elections, leading to the firm establishment of the Republic. The Radicals defined the uncompromising part of the Republican Left, in this, Radicals formed the far-left opposition to the moderate Republican governments. In the 1890s, Léon Bourgeois renewed the Radical doctrine, including social reforms such as the income tax. After the Dreyfus Affair, Radicals joined forces with other Republicans, the first congress of the Radical Party was held in June 1901. Delegates represented 476 election committees,215 editorial boards of Radical newspapers,155 Masonic lodges, the existence of a national party immediately changed the political scene
8.
Alma mater
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Alma mater is an allegorical Latin phrase for a university or college. In modern usage, it is a school or university which an individual has attended, the phrase is variously translated as nourishing mother, nursing mother, or fostering mother, suggesting that a school provides intellectual nourishment to its students. Before its modern usage, Alma mater was a title in Latin for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele. The source of its current use is the motto, Alma Mater Studiorum, of the oldest university in continuous operation in the Western world and it is related to the term alumnus, denoting a university graduate, which literally means a nursling or one who is nourished. The phrase can also denote a song or hymn associated with a school, although alma was a common epithet for Ceres, Cybele, Venus, and other mother goddesses, it was not frequently used in conjunction with mater in classical Latin. Alma Redemptoris Mater is a well-known 11th century antiphon devoted to Mary, the earliest documented English use of the term to refer to a university is in 1600, when University of Cambridge printer John Legate began using an emblem for the universitys press. In English etymological reference works, the first university-related usage is often cited in 1710, many historic European universities have adopted Alma Mater as part of the Latin translation of their official name. The University of Bologna Latin name, Alma Mater Studiorum, refers to its status as the oldest continuously operating university in the world. At least one, the Alma Mater Europaea in Salzburg, Austria, the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, has been called the Alma Mater of the Nation because of its ties to the founding of the United States. At Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, the ancient Roman world had many statues of the Alma Mater, some still extant. Modern sculptures are found in prominent locations on several American university campuses, outside the United States, there is an Alma Mater sculpture on the steps of the monumental entrance to the Universidad de La Habana, in Havana, Cuba. Media related to Alma mater at Wikimedia Commons The dictionary definition of alma mater at Wiktionary Alma Mater Europaea website
9.
University of Paris
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The University of Paris, metonymically known as the Sorbonne, was a university in Paris, France. Emerging around 1150 as an associated with the cathedral school of Notre Dame de Paris. Vast numbers of popes, royalties, scientists and intellectuals were educated at the University of Paris, following the turbulence of the French Revolution, education was suspended in 1793 whereafter its faculties were partly reorganised by Napoleon as the University of France. In 1896, it was renamed again to the University of Paris, in 1970, following the May 1968 events, the university was divided into 13 autonomous universities. Others, like Panthéon-Sorbonne University, chose to be multidisciplinary, in 1150, the future University of Paris was a student-teacher corporation operating as an annex of the Notre-Dame cathedral school. The university had four faculties, Arts, Medicine, Law, the Faculty of Arts was the lowest in rank, but also the largest, as students had to graduate there in order to be admitted to one of the higher faculties. The students were divided into four nationes according to language or regional origin, France, Normandy, Picardy, the last came to be known as the Alemannian nation. Recruitment to each nation was wider than the names might imply, the faculty and nation system of the University of Paris became the model for all later medieval universities. Under the governance of the Church, students wore robes and shaved the tops of their heads in tonsure, students followed the rules and laws of the Church and were not subject to the kings laws or courts. This presented problems for the city of Paris, as students ran wild, students were often very young, entering the school at age 13 or 14 and staying for 6 to 12 years. Three schools were especially famous in Paris, the palatine or palace school, the school of Notre-Dame, the decline of royalty brought about the decline of the first. The other two were ancient but did not have much visibility in the early centuries, the glory of the palatine school doubtless eclipsed theirs, until it completely gave way to them. These two centres were much frequented and many of their masters were esteemed for their learning, the first renowned professor at the school of Ste-Geneviève was Hubold, who lived in the tenth century. Not content with the courses at Liège, he continued his studies at Paris, entered or allied himself with the chapter of Ste-Geneviève, and attracted many pupils via his teaching. Distinguished professors from the school of Notre-Dame in the century include Lambert, disciple of Fulbert of Chartres, Drogo of Paris, Manegold of Germany. Three other men who added prestige to the schools of Notre-Dame and Ste-Geneviève were William of Champeaux, Abélard, humanistic instruction comprised grammar, rhetoric, dialectics, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. To the higher instruction belonged dogmatic and moral theology, whose source was the Scriptures and it was completed by the study of Canon law. The School of Saint-Victor arose to rival those of Notre-Dame and Ste-Geneviève and it was founded by William of Champeaux when he withdrew to the Abbey of Saint-Victor
10.
Cantal
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Cantal is a department in south-central France, with its capital at Aurillac. Its residents are known as Cantalians and its principal towns are Aurillac, Saint-Flour, and Mauriac. Cantal is part of the current region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and borders the departments of Puy-de-Dôme, Haute-Loire, Aveyron, Lot, Lozère, the department is named for the Plomb du Cantal, the central peak of the bare and rugged Monts du Cantal mountain chain which traverses the area. Cantal lies in the middle of Frances central plateau, the Cantal range is a group of extinct and eroded volcanic peaks. Its highest point is the Plomb du Cantal, which reaches an elevation of 1,858 meters and its neighbors are Puy Mary and Puy Chavaroche. To their north lie the Cézallier and Dore ranges and the arid Artense Plateau, immediately to their east is the fertile Planèze Plateau, bound on its east by the Monts de la Margeride. The principal rivers are the Alagnon, which is tributary to the Allier, the Celle and Truyère, tributary to the Lot, at an elevation of 250 meters above sea level, the low point of the province lies in the Lot valley. The Truyère valley skirts the Planèze on the south and divides it from the Monts dAubrac, the western area of the department consists of grassy plateaus and beautiful river valleys. At first, Cantal was divided into four arrondissements—Aurillac, Mauriac, Murat, Murat was later merged into the others. The climate of the department varies considerably, prevailing winds and mountain ranges divide Cantal into four climatic zones, The west is subject to oceanic winds which bring rains. The mountains of the Cantal and the Cézallier create a shadow, it rains. The Planèze of Saint-Flour and the region of Massiac receive less precipitation, the plateaux of the Margeride and the Aubrac have harsh winters and pleasant summers. Generally, the weather is mild and dry in the plain between Murat and St-Fleur and around Aurillac, while summer storms and winters can be long and severe in the northern. The west—nearer precipitation coming in from the Atlantic—is well watered, there is abundant snowfall which can remain up to six months on the mountaintops. Winter temperatures can fall to below −15 °C, whereas in summer 25 °C is often reached, the southern part of the department, on its borders with Aveyron and Lot, is the hottest region. Aurillac averaged 2080 hours of sunlight per year over the period from 1991 to 2000, fog is rare and disappears quickly. Wind is usually not very strong, but the lightning flashes in this department are among the most spectacular in France, televised French weather forecasts often note Aurillac as the coldest city in France in the mornings. This status should be understood in light of their derivation from temperature readings by Météo France, of the 30 cities included on its maps, Aurillac is by far the one with the highest altitude, at 640 m above sea level
11.
First World War
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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
12.
Remiremont
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Remiremont is a town and commune in the Vosges department of northeastern France, situated in southern Grand Est. Inhabitants of the town are known as Romarimontains Remiremont is located on the river Moselle, close to its confluence with the Moselotte, the town is 25 km southeast of the departmental capital of Épinal, and 27 km west of the ski resorts of Gérardmer and La Bresse. Remiremont is surrounded by low, undulating, forest-clad mountains, the abbey contains an eleventh-century crypt in which the tombs of some of the former abbesses can be found. The church was consecrated in 1051, but as a whole the building belongs more to the thirteenth century. The abbatial residence has been rebuilt in modern times, but the original plan and style have been preserved, the imposing front, the vestibule. Some of the houses of the canonesses dating from the 17th and 18th centuries also remain, Remiremont contains the Statue of the Volunteer of 1792, created by the sculptor Paul-François Choppin in 1899. The statue commemorates the civic virtue of those who volunteered to defend France during the Revolutionary Wars and it is the only remaining of the two originals produced, the other, located on square Parmentier in Paris, was melted down by the German occupiers in 1942. The towns principal shopping street is rue Charles de Gaulle and this street is lined by 18th-century arcades, providing a sheltered walkway for visiting the local boutiques and cafés. It is at the westernmost end of street that the aforementioned statue can be found. Remiremont derives its name from Saint Romaric, one of the companions of Saint Columban of Luxeuil, the first was Remiremont Abbey, in the valley, which housed the monks. The second was a convent located above the town on the now known as Saint-Mont. Over time, the nuns moved from the site down into Remiremont itself. By the end of the 13th century, however, the nuns had abandoned their Benedictine lifestyle and their members were extracted solely from those who could prove at least 200 years of noble descent. Thanks to the patronage of the Dukes of Lorraine, the Kings of France, and Holy Roman Emperors, the abbess of Remiremont Abbey was raised to the status of Imperial Princess and consecrated by the Pope. In 1635, during the Thirty Years War the town, where five-hundred Frenchmen were lodged, was stormed and plundered by Imperialist forces, the town was attacked by the French in 1638. However, under the guidance of the canonesses, the managed to repel the siege. The town was ruined by the earthquake of 1682. Along with the rest of Lorraine, it was joined to France in 1766, the church properties in the town were suppressed during the French Revolution
13.
Freemasonry
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The degrees of freemasonry retain the three grades of medieval craft guilds, those of Apprentice, Journeyman or fellow, and Master Mason. These are the degrees offered by Craft Freemasonry, members of these organisations are known as Freemasons or Masons. There are additional degrees, which vary with locality and jurisdiction, the basic, local organisational unit of Freemasonry is the Lodge. The Lodges are usually supervised and governed at the level by a Grand Lodge or Grand Orient. There is no international, worldwide Grand Lodge that supervises all of Freemasonry, each Grand Lodge is independent, modern Freemasonry broadly consists of two main recognition groups. Continental Freemasonry is now the term for the liberal jurisdictions who have removed some, or all. The Masonic Lodge is the organisational unit of Freemasonry. The Lodge meets regularly to conduct the formal business of any small organisation. In addition to business, the meeting may perform a ceremony to confer a Masonic degree or receive a lecture, at the conclusion of the meeting, the Lodge might adjourn for a formal dinner, or festive board, sometimes involving toasting and song. The bulk of Masonic ritual consists of degree ceremonies, candidates for Freemasonry are progressively initiated into Freemasonry, first in the degree of Entered Apprentice. Some time later, in a ceremony, they will be passed to the degree of Fellowcraft. In all of ceremonies, the candidate is entrusted with passwords, signs. Another ceremony is the installation of the Master and officers of the Lodge. In some jurisdictions Installed Master is valued as a separate rank, in other jurisdictions, the grade is not recognised, and no inner ceremony conveys new secrets during the installation of a new Master of the Lodge. Most Lodges have some sort of calendar, allowing Masons. Often coupled with events is the obligation placed on every Mason to contribute to charity. This occurs at both Lodge and Grand Lodge level, Masonic charities contribute to many fields from education to disaster relief. These private local Lodges form the backbone of Freemasonry, and a Freemason will necessarily have been initiated into one of these, there also exist specialist Lodges where Masons meet to celebrate anything from sport to Masonic research
14.
Grand Orient de France
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The Grand Orient de France is the largest of several Masonic organizations in France and the oldest in Continental Europe. It was formed out of the older Grand Lodge of France in 1773 and it is generally considered to be the mother lodge of traditional Liberal, or Continental Freemasonry. In 1777, the Grand Orient de France recognised the antiquity of the Lodge of Perfect Equality, said to have been formed in 1688. This, if it existed at that time, was a military lodge attached to the Royal Irish Regiment, formed by Charles II of England in Saint-Germain in 1661. The regiment remained loyal to the Stuarts, and did not return to France until after the fall of Limerick in 1689 and they returned to barracks in Saint-Germain in 1698, surviving to become the 92nd Infantry Regiment after the revolution. With these dates in mind, modern scholars regard the 1688 lodge as a folk tale. An English Lodge is also said to have founded at Dunkirk in 1721. Another first Lodge was organised by exiled Jacobites under the Earl of Derwentwater in Paris about 1725, a lodge was documented at the Louis dArgent in the Rue des Boucheries, Paris, in 1732. These were English-speaking lodges that happened to be in France, there was also a French lodge listed in the 1723 minutes of the Premier Grand Lodge of England. Meeting at Solomons Temple, in Hemmings Row the Master was Jean Theophile Desaguliers, then Deputy Grand Master, in a list of members, mostly having French names, James Anderson, who compiled the first printed constitutions, is listed as Jaques Anderson maitre et arts. It was in 1743 that the English Grand Lodge of France became a French phenomenon, shortly after his death, a schism occurred, with the larger party becoming the Grand Orient de France in 1773. The ritual of the new Grand Lodge followed that of the Premier Grand Lodge of England, by the time of the French Revolution, there were some 1250 Masonic Lodges in the country. Benjamin Franklin was a member of this Lodge when he was serving as liaison in Paris, some notable French revolutionaries were Freemasons, including Voltaire, Marquis de Lafayette, Marquis de Condorcet, Mirabeau, Georges Danton, the Duke of Orléans, and Hébert. Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, a leader of the Liberal Aristocracy, was the Grand Master of the Grand Orient at the time of the French Revolution. However, the New Catholic Encyclopedia of 1967 says that modern historians see Freemasonrys role in the French Revolution as exaggerated, in 1804 it merged with the rival Grand Lodge, the Rite Ecossais. In 1877, at the instigation of the Protestant pastor Frédéric Desmons, the United Grand Lodge of England and related Lodges regarded belief in the Supreme Being as a Masonic Landmark. It was this decision that has been the cause of the schism between the Grand Orient, and the rest of Freemasonry. It is a schism in Freemasonry which continues to this day, the decision was not universally approved in France
15.
Charles Floquet
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Charles Thomas Floquet was a French statesman. He studied law in Paris, and was called to the bar in 1851, the coup détat of that year aroused the strenuous opposition of Floquet, who had, while yet a student, given proof of his republican sympathies by taking part in the fighting of 1848. He made his name by his brilliant and fearless attacks on the government in a series of political trials, when the tsar Alexander II visited the Palais de Justice in 1867, Floquet was said to have confronted him with the cry Vive la Pologne, monsieur. In 1871 he was elected to the National Assembly by the département of the Seine, during the Commune he formed the Ligue d’union républicaine des droits de Paris to attempt a reconciliation with the government of Versailles. When his efforts failed, he left Paris, and was imprisoned by order of Thiers and he became editor of the Republique Française, was chosen president of the municipal council, and in 1876 was elected deputy for the eleventh arrondissement. He took a prominent place among the radicals, and became president of the group of the Union républicaine. In 1882 he held for a time the post of prefect of the Seine. In 1885 he succeeded Henri Brisson as president of the chamber and this difficult position he filled with such tact and impartiality that he was re-elected the two following years. Heated debates in the chamber culminated on 13 July in a duel between Floquet and Boulanger in which the latter was wounded, in the following February the government fell on the question of revision, and in the new chamber of November Floquet was re-elected to the presidential chair. See Discours et opinions de M. Charles Floquet, edited by Albert Faivre and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Floquet, Charles Thomas. Media related to Charles Floquet at Wikimedia Commons
16.
Aisne
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Aisne is a French department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. It is named after the river Aisne, the department of Aisne is surrounded by the French departments of Nord, Somme, Oise, Ardennes, and Seine-et-Marne and borders Belgium to the northeast. The Aisne River crosses the area from east to west, where it joins the Oise River, the Marne forms part of the southern boundary of the department with the department of Seine-et-Marne. The southern part of the department is the region known as la Brie poilleuse. According to the 2003 census, the area of the department was 123,392 hectares. The landscape is dominated by masses of rock which often have steep flanks and these rocks appear all over the region, but the most impressive examples are at Laon and the Chemin des Dames ridge. The principal cities in Aisne are, Laon, pop,15,000 Condren Chauny Hirson Villers-Cotterêts La Fère Vervins Guise See also, List of the communes of the Aisne department and Brie. The Scheldt, the Aisne, the Marne, the Ourcq, the Vesle, the Somme, the Oise, in the south of the department, there is the Surmelin, the Verdonnelle, and the Dhuys. The department is crossed by numerous canals. In 1873, the department of Aisne had 10 railway companies with a length of 382 km. There is an average of 500 to 750 mm precipitation annually, weather Data for Saint Quentin - Roupy Aisne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the provinces of Île-de-France, Picardy. Most of the old growth forests in the area were destroyed during battles in World War I, the French offensive against the Chemin des Dames in spring 1917 is sometimes referred to as the Second Battle of the Aisne. Agriculture dominates the economy, especially cereal crops, beet sugar is one of the most important industrial crops of the area. Silk, cotton, and wool weaving flourish in Saint-Quentin and other towns, saint-Gobain is known for its production of mirrors, which started in the 17th century. Guise is the centre of the northern area of Aisne. The department is a mixture of rural areas and working-class towns, the smaller cities of the northern department such as Guise, Hirson, Vervins and the railway city of Tergnier are sources of support for left-wing parties. The President of the General Council is the Socialist Yves Daudigny, Aisne is divided into five arrondissements and 21 cantons
17.
Auxerre
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Auxerre is the capital of the Yonne department and the fourth-largest city in Burgundy. Auxerres population today is about 39,000, the area comprises roughly 92,000 inhabitants. Residents of Auxerre are referred to as Auxerrois, Auxerre is a commercial and industrial centre, with industries including food production, woodworking and batteries. It is also noted for its production of Burgundy wine, including world-famous Chablis, in 1995 Auxerre was named Town of Art and History. Auxerre was a flourishing Gallo-Roman centre, then called Autissiodorum, through which passed one of the roads of the area. In the third century it became the seat of a bishop, in the 5th century it received a Cathedral. In the late 11th-early 12th century the existing communities were included inside a new line of walls built by the counts of Auxerre. Bourgeois activities accompanied the land and wine cultivations starting from the twelfth century. The Burgundian city, which part of France under King Louis XI, suffered during the Hundred Years War. In 1567 it was captured by the Huguenots, and many of the Catholic edifices were damaged, the medieval ramparts were demolished in the 18th century. In the 19th century numerous heavy infrastructures were built, including a station, a psychiatric hospital and the courts. Up until recently, Auxerre was one of the most prosperous cities in the country, in Gothic style, it is renowned for its three doorways with remarkable bas-reliefs. The stained glass windows in the choir and the chapel are among the finest in France. The 11th century crypt houses the remains of the former Romanesque cathedral, abbey of Saint-Germain, existing from the ninth century. The crypt has some of the most ancient mural paintings in France, also interesting are the chapter room, the cellar and the cloister. The Clock tower, located in the Old Town The church of St. Pierre en Vallée, in the style of late Gothic architecture, it has a tower similar to that of the cathedral. Portions of the decorations and inner chapels were financed by local winegrowers, church of St. Eusèbe, founded in the 7th century. The nave was rebuilt in the 13th century, while the tower is in Romanesque style, Saint Helladius, bishop of Auxerre Saint Patrick, Apostle to the Irish, visited Bishop Germanus of Auxerre here
18.
Minister of Finance of France
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The exact name of the ministry has changed over time, and has included the terms economy, industry, finances, or employment through history. By delegation of the Prime Minister, he also the Public Services. He is responsible with their colleagues for Health, Youth and Sport and for Labour, Labour Relations, see, http, //www. minefi. gouv. fr/directions_services/sircom/ministere/organigramme_mbcpfp. htm The Ministry of Finance is situated in Bercy, in the 12th arrondissement of Paris. The building extends to the Seine River, where there is an embarcadero with fast river boats for faster liaisons to other government agencies and that is why the French media often refer to it as simply Bercy. The sentence the Bercy Fortress refers to the Ministry as a department with obtuse civil servants. That is emphasized by the look of the building. For evident practical reasons, the two share the building and some common services that were under the former ministry of Economy, Finances
19.
United States Air Force
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The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a branch of the military on 18 September 1947 under the National Security Act of 1947. It is the most recent branch of the U. S. military to be formed, the U. S. Air Force is a military service organized within the Department of the Air Force, one of the three military departments of the Department of Defense. The Air Force is headed by the civilian Secretary of the Air Force, who reports to the Secretary of Defense, the U. S. Air Force provides air support for surface forces and aids in the recovery of troops in the field. As of 2015, the service more than 5,137 military aircraft,406 ICBMs and 63 military satellites. It has a $161 billion budget with 313,242 active duty personnel,141,197 civilian employees,69,200 Air Force Reserve personnel, and 105,500 Air National Guard personnel. According to the National Security Act of 1947, which created the USAF and it shall be organized, trained, and equipped primarily for prompt and sustained offensive and defensive air operations. The stated mission of the USAF today is to fly, fight, and win in air, space and we will provide compelling air, space, and cyber capabilities for use by the combatant commanders. We will excel as stewards of all Air Force resources in service to the American people, while providing precise and reliable Global Vigilance, Reach and it should be emphasized that the core functions, by themselves, are not doctrinal constructs. The purpose of Nuclear Deterrence Operations is to operate, maintain, in the event deterrence fails, the US should be able to appropriately respond with nuclear options. Dissuading others from acquiring or proliferating WMD, and the means to deliver them, moreover, different deterrence strategies are required to deter various adversaries, whether they are a nation state, or non-state/transnational actor. Nuclear strike is the ability of forces to rapidly and accurately strike targets which the enemy holds dear in a devastating manner. Should deterrence fail, the President may authorize a precise, tailored response to terminate the conflict at the lowest possible level, post-conflict, regeneration of a credible nuclear deterrent capability will deter further aggression. Finally, the Air Force regularly exercises and evaluates all aspects of operations to ensure high levels of performance. Nuclear surety ensures the safety, security and effectiveness of nuclear operations, the Air Force, in conjunction with other entities within the Departments of Defense or Energy, achieves a high standard of protection through a stringent nuclear surety program. The Air Force continues to pursue safe, secure and effective nuclear weapons consistent with operational requirements, adversaries, allies, and the American people must be highly confident of the Air Forces ability to secure nuclear weapons from accidents, theft, loss, and accidental or unauthorized use. This day-to-day commitment to precise and reliable nuclear operations is the cornerstone of the credibility of the NDO mission, positive nuclear command, control, communications, effective nuclear weapons security, and robust combat support are essential to the overall NDO function. OCA is the method of countering air and missile threats, since it attempts to defeat the enemy closer to its source
20.
Vietnam War
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It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam and the government of South Vietnam. The war is considered a Cold War-era proxy war. As the war continued, the actions of the Viet Cong decreased as the role. U. S. and South Vietnamese forces relied on air superiority and overwhelming firepower to conduct search and destroy operations, involving ground forces, artillery, in the course of the war, the U. S. conducted a large-scale strategic bombing campaign against North Vietnam. The North Vietnamese government and the Viet Cong were fighting to reunify Vietnam and they viewed the conflict as a colonial war and a continuation of the First Indochina War against forces from France and later on the United States. The U. S. government viewed its involvement in the war as a way to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam and this was part the domino theory of a wider containment policy, with the stated aim of stopping the spread of communism. Beginning in 1950, American military advisors arrived in what was then French Indochina, U. S. involvement escalated in the early 1960s, with troop levels tripling in 1961 and again in 1962. Regular U. S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965, despite the Paris Peace Accord, which was signed by all parties in January 1973, the fighting continued. In the U. S. and the Western world, a large anti-Vietnam War movement developed as part of a larger counterculture, the war changed the dynamics between the Eastern and Western Blocs, and altered North–South relations. Direct U. S. military involvement ended on 15 August 1973, the capture of Saigon by the North Vietnamese Army in April 1975 marked the end of the war, and North and South Vietnam were reunified the following year. The war exacted a huge human cost in terms of fatalities, estimates of the number of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians killed vary from 966,000 to 3.8 million. Some 240, 000–300,000 Cambodians,20, 000–62,000 Laotians, and 58,220 U. S. service members died in the conflict. Various names have applied to the conflict. Vietnam War is the most commonly used name in English and it has also been called the Second Indochina War and the Vietnam Conflict. As there have been several conflicts in Indochina, this conflict is known by the names of its primary protagonists to distinguish it from others. In Vietnamese, the war is known as Kháng chiến chống Mỹ. It is also called Chiến tranh Việt Nam, France began its conquest of Indochina in the late 1850s, and completed pacification by 1893. The 1884 Treaty of Huế formed the basis for French colonial rule in Vietnam for the seven decades
21.
Laon
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Laon is the capital city of the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France, northern France. As of 2012 its population was of 25,317, the holy district of Laon, which rises a hundred metres above the otherwise flat Picardy plain, has always held strategic importance. In the time of Julius Caesar there was a Gallic village named Bibrax where the Remis had to meet the onset of the confederated Belgae. Whatever may have been the locality of that battlefield, Laon was fortified by the Romans. At that time it was known as Alaudanum or Lugdunum Clavatum, archbishop Remigius of Reims, who baptised Clovis, was born in the Laonnais, and it was he who, at the end of the fifth century, instituted the bishopric of Laon. Thenceforward Laon was one of the towns of the kingdom of the Franks. Charles the Bald had enriched its church with the gift of very numerous domains, in about 847 the Irish philosopher John Scotus Eriugena appeared at the court of Charles the Bald, and was appointed head of the palace school. Eriugena spent the rest of his days in France, probably at Paris, early in the twelfth century the communes of France set about emancipating themselves, and the history of the commune of Laon is one of the richest and most varied. Anselm of Laons school for theology and exegesis rapidly became the most famous in Europe, the consequence was a revolt, in which the episcopal palace was burnt and the bishop and several of his partisans were put to death on 25 April 1112. The fire spread to the cathedral, and reduced it to ashes, uneasy at the result of their victory, the rioters went into hiding outside the town, which was anew pillaged by the people of the neighbourhood, eager to avenge the death of their bishop. The king alternately intervened in favour of the bishop and of the inhabitants till 1239, after that date the liberties of Laon were no more contested till 1331, when the commune was abolished. During the Hundred Years War it was attacked and taken by the Burgundians, under the League, Laon took the part of the Leaguers, and was taken by Henry IV. At the Revolution Laon permanently lost its rank as a bishopric, during the campaign of 1814, Napoleon tried in vain to dislodge Blücher and Bülow from it in the Battle of Laon. In 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War, an engineer blew up the magazine of the citadel at the moment when the German troops were entering the town. Many lives were lost, and the cathedral and the old palace were damaged. It surrendered to a German force on 9 September 1870, in the fall of 1914, during World War I, German forces captured the town and held it until the Allied offensive in the summer of 1918. It is 55 km from Reims,131 km from Amiens, the city contains numerous medieval buildings, including the cathedral Notre-Dame of Laon, dating mostly from the 12th and 13th centuries. The chapter-house and the cloister contain specimens of early 13th century architecture, the old episcopal palace, contiguous to the cathedral, is now used as a court-house
22.
Speaker (politics)
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The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer. The title was first used in 1399 in England, the speakers official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the powers to members who break the procedures of the chamber or house. The speaker often also represents the body in person, as the voice of the body in ceremonial, the title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerford in the Parliament of England. By convention, speakers are normally addressed in Parliament as Mister Speaker, if a man, or Madam Speaker, in other cultures other styles are used, mainly being equivalents of English chairman or president. Many bodies also have a pro tempore, designated to fill in when the speaker is not available. The Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives is the officer of the Australian House of Representatives. The President of the Australian Senate is the officer of the Australian Senate. Now constitutional community highlights changes also in this role, in Canada, the Speaker of the House of Commons is the individual elected to preside over the House of Commons, the elected lower house. The speaker is a Member of Parliament and is elected at the beginning of new parliament by fellow MPs. The Speakers role in presiding over Canadas House of Commons is similar to that of speakers elsewhere in countries that use the Westminster system. The Speaker does not vote except in the case of a tie, by convention, if required to vote, the Speaker will vote in favour of continuing debate on a matter, but will not ultimately vote for a measure to be approved. The Speaker of the Senate of Canada is the officer of the Senate of Canada. The Speaker represents the Senate at official functions, rules on questions of procedure and parliamentary privilege. The Speaker of the Senate is appointed by the Governor General of Canada from amongst sitting senators upon the advice of the Prime Minister, the Speaker has a vote on all matters. In the event of a tie, the matter fails, at the provincial level, the presiding officer of the provincial legislatures is called the Speaker in all provinces except Quebec, where the term President is used. The presiding officer fulfills the role as the Speaker of the House of Commons. In the United Kingdom, the Speaker of the House of Commons is the elected to preside over the elected House of Commons
23.
Louis Loucheur
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Louis Loucheur was a French politician in the Third Republic, at first a member of the conservative Republican Federation, then of the Democratic Republican Alliance and of the Independent Radicals. Coming from a background in the industry, Loucheur became Minister of Armaments in September 1917. He replaced Albert Thomas and served as minister until November 26,1918 when he became Minister of Industrial Re-construction where he remained until January 20,1920. He was the economic advisor for Georges Clemenceau at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference. The product of this conference was the controversial Treaty of Versailles and he was Minister of Liberated Regions from 16 January 1921 to 15 January 1922 in the 7th cabinet of Aristide Briand. Loucheur was briefly Minister of Commerce, Industry, Posts, and he also served as Minister of Finance in Aristide Briands seventh Government during 1925 and 1926. In Édouard Herriots Second Ministry Loucheur served as Minister of Commerce and Industry and he succeeded Maurice Bokanowski, who had died in an air accident. He then served again under Poincaré as Minister of Labour, Hygiene, Welfare Work, louis Loucheur and the Shaping of Modern France 1916-1931
24.
President of the French Senate
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The French Senate is the Upper House of the French Parliament. It is presided over by a President, although there had been Senates in both the First and Second Empires, these had not technically been legislative bodies, but rather advisory bodies on the model of the Roman Senate. Frances first experience with a house was under the Directory from 1795 to 1799. With the Restoration in 1814, a new Chamber of Peers was created, at first it contained hereditary peers, but following the July Revolution of 1830, it became a body to which one was appointed for life. The Second Republic returned to a system after 1848, but soon after the establishment of the Second French Empire in 1852. In the Fourth Republic, the Senate was renamed the Council of the Republic, with the new constitution of the Fifth Republic in 1959, the older name of Senate was restored. Alain Poher, the President of the French Senate, served as Acting President of France from 28 April until 20 June 1969, Political Party, MRP Rad-Soc Political Party, Rad-Soc CD, CDS, FD RPR, UMP, LR PS
25.
Aristide Briand
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Aristide Briand was a French statesman who served eleven terms as Prime Minister of France during the French Third Republic and was a co-laureate of the 1926 Nobel Peace Prize. He was born in Nantes, Loire-Atlantique of a bourgeois family. He attended the Nantes Lycée, where, in 1877, he developed a friendship with Jules Verne. He studied law, and soon went into politics, associating himself with the most advanced movements, writing articles for the Syndicalist journal Le Peuple, from this he passed to the Petite République, leaving it to found LHumanité, in collaboration with Jean Jaurès. From that time, Briand was one of the leaders of the French Socialist Party, in 1902, after several unsuccessful attempts, he was elected deputy. He declared himself a partisan of the union of the Left in what was known as the Bloc. From the beginning of his career in the Chamber of Deputies, Briand was occupied with the question of the separation of church and state. He was appointed reporter of the charged with the preparation of the 1905 law on separation. He succeeded in carrying his project through with but slight modifications and he was the principal author of the law of separation, but, not content with preparing it, he wished to apply it as well. The ministry of Maurice Rouvier was allowing disturbances during the taking of inventories of church property, consequently, he accepted the portfolio of Public Instruction and Worship in the Sarrien ministry. So far as the Chamber was concerned, his success was complete, but the acceptance of a position in a bourgeois ministry led to his exclusion from the Unified Socialist Party. As opposed to Jaurès, he contended that the Socialists should co-operate actively with the Radicals in all matters of reform and he became a freemason in the lodge Le Trait dUnion in July 1887 while the lodge didnt record his name in spite of his repeated requests. The lodge declared unworthy to him on 6 September 1889, in 1895 he joined the lodge Les Chevaliers du Travail that was established in 1893. Briand served as Minister of Justice under Clemenceau in 1908-9, before succeeding Clemenceau as Prime Minister on 24 July 1909, in social policy, Briand’s first ministry was notable for the passage of a bill in April 1910 for workers and farmers pensions. That same year, compulsory sickness and old-age insurance was introduced for 8 million rural, however, a law court decision in 1912 that questioned the legality of compulsion “enabled a large proportion of employers and workers to evade the law. At the end of August 1914, following the outbreak of the First World War and he got on well with Lloyd George, who was also, contrary to military advice, keen for operations in the Balkans, and had a long talk with him on 4 February 1915. Briand was the main mover in persuading Maurice Sarrail to accept the Salonika command in August 1915, in October 1915 following an unsuccessful French offensive and the entry of Bulgaria, Briand again became Prime Minister, succeeding René Viviani. He also became Foreign Minister for the first time, a post held by Théophile Delcassé until the final weeks of the previous government
26.
Paul Gorguloff
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Paul Gorguloff, originally Pavel Timofeyevich Gorgulov was a Russian émigré who assassinated French President Paul Doumer at a book fair at the Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild in Paris on May 6,1932. Gorguloff was born in Labinskaya in the Kuban region of Russia and he studied medicine before serving in the First World War, in which he was badly wounded in the head. During the Russian Revolution of 1917, he served with the White Russian Army against the Bolsheviks, before emigrating to Prague in Czechoslovakia and he was later expelled from Czechoslovakia for practising abortion, which was illegal at the time. He moved to Paris and then to Nice, where in 1931 he was found to be committing illegal medical acts and was threatened with expulsion. He applied for a permit to live in Monaco, which was accepted, on May 6,1932, a book fair was being held at the Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild in Paris, and the President of France, Paul Doumer, was present. Gorguloff arrived at the hotel concealing a Browning FN Model 1910 gun and he then approached the President from behind, pulled out his gun and fired three shots. Two of them hit the President, one in the back of the head, the President fell to the floor. He was rushed to the Beaujon Hospital in Paris but died the next day, one of the authors at the exhibition, Claude Farrère, managed to wrestle with Gorguloff until the police arrived. Gorguloffs motive for the murder was that he believed that France had failed to support the White Movement in Russia against Bolshevism, Gorguloff was arrested and brought to trial at the Assize Court on 25 July 1932. Two days later, after rejecting the idea that he was insane, on 20 August, the Court of Cassation, Frances final appeal court, rejected a defence of insanity. On 14 September, Gorguloff was executed at La Santé prison in Paris by guillotine and his last words were Россия, моя страна. The gun used in the assassination is now in the Musée des Collections Historiques de la Préfecture de Police in Paris
27.
Insanity
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Insanity, craziness, or madness is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. In modern usage, insanity is most commonly encountered as an unscientific term denoting mental instability. In the medical profession the term is now avoided in favor of diagnoses of specific psychiatric diseases, when discussing psychiatric illness in general terms, psychopathology is considered a preferred descriptor. In English, the word derives from the Latin adjective sanus meaning healthy. Juvenals phrase mens sana in corpore sano is often translated to mean a healthy mind in a healthy body. From this perspective, insanity can be considered as poor health of the mind, not necessarily of the brain as an organ, another Latin phrase related to our current concept of sanity is compos mentis, and a euphemistic term for insanity is non compos mentis. In law, mens rea means having had criminal intent, or a guilty mind, a more informal use of the term insanity is to denote something considered highly unique, passionate or extreme, including in a positive sense. The term may also be used as an attempt to discredit or criticise particular ideas, beliefs, principles, desires, personal feelings, attitudes, or their proponents, such as in politics and religion. Madness, the word for insanity, has been recognized throughout history in every known society. Primitive cultures turned to doctors or shamans to apply magic, herbal mixtures. Archaeologists have unearthed skulls that have round holes bored in them using flint tools. It has been conjectured that the subject may have thought to have been possessed by devils which the holes would allow to escape. However, more recent research on the practice of trepanning supports the hypothesis that this procedure was medical in nature. The Greeks replaced concepts of the supernatural with a secular view and they saw mental and physical illness as a result of natural causes and an imbalance in bodily humors. Hippocrates frequently wrote that an excess of black bile resulted in irrational thinking, Romans made further contributions to psychiatry, in particular the precursor to contemporary practice. They put forth the idea that emotions could lead to bodily ailments. The Middle Ages, however, witnessed the end of the ideas of the Greeks. Europes oldest asylum is the Bethlem Royal Hospital of London, also known as Bedlam, the first American asylum was built in Williamsburg, Virginia, circa 1773
28.
Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians
29.
Politics of France
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The politics of France take place with the framework of a semi-presidential system determined by the French Constitution of the French Fifth Republic. The nation declares itself to be an indivisible, secular, democratic, the constitution provides for a separation of powers and proclaims Frances attachment to the Rights of Man and the principles of national sovereignty as defined by the Declaration of 1789. The political system of France consists of a branch, a legislative branch. Executive power is exercised by the President of the Republic and the Government, the Government consists of the Prime Minister and ministers. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President, and is responsible to Parliament, Parliament comprises the National Assembly and the Senate. It passes statutes and votes on the budget, it controls the action of the executive through formal questioning on the floor of the houses of Parliament, former presidents of the Republic also are members of the Council. The independent judiciary is based upon civil law system which evolved from the Napoleonic codes, the French government includes various bodies that check abuses of power and independent agencies. However, its administrative subdivisions—regions, departments and communes—have various legal functions, France was a founding member of the European Coal and Steel Community, later the European Union. As such, France has transferred part of its sovereignty to European institutions, the French government therefore has to abide by European treaties, directives and regulations. A popular referendum approved the constitution of the French Fifth Republic in 1958, greatly strengthening the authority of the presidency, France has a semi-presidential system of government. As a consequence, the President is the pre-eminent figure in French politics and he appoints the Prime Minister, though he may not de jure dismiss him, if the Prime Minister is from the same political side, he can, in practice, have him resign on demand. He appoints the ministers, ministers-delegate and secretaries, when parties from opposite ends of the political spectrum control parliament and the presidency, the power-sharing arrangement is known as cohabitation. Before 2002, Cohabitation was more common, because the term of the President was seven years, now that the term of the President has been shortened to five years, and that the elections are separated by only a few months, this is less likely to happen. Nicolas Sarkozy became President on 16 May 2007, succeeding Jacques Chirac, francois Hollande became President in 2012, succeeding Nicolas Sarkozy. The government is led by the Prime Minister, and is made up of junior and senior ministers and it has at its disposal the civil service, government agencies, and the armed forces. The government is responsible to Parliament, and the National Assembly may pass a motion of censure and this, in practice, forces the government to be from the same political party or coalition as the majority in the Assembly. Ministers have to answer questions from members of Parliament, both written and oral, this is known as the questions au gouvernement, in addition, ministers attend meetings of the houses of Parliament when laws pertaining to their areas of responsibility are being discussed. Ministers, however, can propose legislation to Parliament, since the Assembly is usually politically allied to the ministers, such legislation is, in general, the Prime Minister can engage the responsibility of his government on a law, under article 49-3 of the Constitution
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Public domain
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The term public domain has two senses of meaning. Anything published is out in the domain in the sense that it is available to the public. Once published, news and information in books is in the public domain, in the sense of intellectual property, works in the public domain are those whose exclusive intellectual property rights have expired, have been forfeited, or are inapplicable. Examples for works not covered by copyright which are therefore in the domain, are the formulae of Newtonian physics, cooking recipes. Examples for works actively dedicated into public domain by their authors are reference implementations of algorithms, NIHs ImageJ. The term is not normally applied to situations where the creator of a work retains residual rights, as rights are country-based and vary, a work may be subject to rights in one country and be in the public domain in another. Some rights depend on registrations on a basis, and the absence of registration in a particular country, if required. Although the term public domain did not come into use until the mid-18th century, the Romans had a large proprietary rights system where they defined many things that cannot be privately owned as res nullius, res communes, res publicae and res universitatis. The term res nullius was defined as not yet appropriated. The term res communes was defined as things that could be enjoyed by mankind, such as air, sunlight. The term res publicae referred to things that were shared by all citizens, when the first early copyright law was first established in Britain with the Statute of Anne in 1710, public domain did not appear. However, similar concepts were developed by British and French jurists in the eighteenth century, instead of public domain they used terms such as publici juris or propriété publique to describe works that were not covered by copyright law. The phrase fall in the domain can be traced to mid-nineteenth century France to describe the end of copyright term. In this historical context Paul Torremans describes copyright as a coral reef of private right jutting up from the ocean of the public domain. Because copyright law is different from country to country, Pamela Samuelson has described the public domain as being different sizes at different times in different countries. According to James Boyle this definition underlines common usage of the public domain and equates the public domain to public property. However, the usage of the public domain can be more granular. Such a definition regards work in copyright as private property subject to fair use rights, the materials that compose our cultural heritage must be free for all living to use no less than matter necessary for biological survival
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United Press
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At its peak, it had more than 6,000 media subscribers. It was headed by Hugh Baillie from 1935 to 1955, at the time of his retirement, UP had 2,900 clients in the United States, and 1,500 abroad. In 1958 it became United Press International after absorbing the International News Service, at its peak, UPI had more than 2,000 full-time employees, and 200 news bureaus in 92 countries, it had more than 6,000 media subscribers. With the rising popularity of news, the business of UPI began to decline as the circulation of afternoon newspapers, its chief client category. Its decline accelerated after the 1982 sale of UPI by the Scripps company, the E. W. Scripps Company controlled United Press until its absorption of William Randolph Hearsts smaller competing agency, INS, in 1958 to form UPI. With the Hearst Corporation as a minority partner, UPI continued under Scripps management until 1982, since its sale in 1982, UPI has changed ownership several times and was twice in Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. With each change in ownership came deeper service and staff cutbacks and changes of focus, since the 1999 sale of its broadcast client list to its one-time major rival, the AP, UPI has concentrated on smaller information market niches. It no longer services media organizations in a major way, in 2000, UPI was purchased by News World Communications, an international news media company founded in 1976 by Unification Church leader Sun Myung Moon. It now maintains a website and photo service and electronically publishes several information product packages. It also sells a premium service, which has deeper coverage and analysis of emerging threats, the security industry, UPIs content is presented in text, video and photo formats, in the English, Spanish and Arabic languages. UPIs main office is in the Miami metropolitan area and it maintains office locations in five countries and uses freelance journalists in other major cities. Beginning with the Cleveland Press, publisher E. W. Scripps created the first chain of newspapers in the United States, Scripps also hoped to make a profit from selling that news to papers owned by others. At that time and until World War II, most newspapers relied on news agencies for stories outside their geographic areas. Despite strong newspaper industry opposition, UP started to sell news to the new and competitive radio medium in 1935, years before competitor AP, controlled by the newspaper industry, Scripps United Press was considered a scrappy alternative news source to the AP. UP reporters were called Unipressers and were noted for their aggressive and competitive streak. UP became a training ground for generations of journalists. Walter Cronkite, who started with United Press in Kansas City, gained fame for his coverage of World War II in Europe and that was part of the spirit. But we knew we could do a good job despite that
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List of Presidents of the French Republic
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This is a list of Presidents of France. The first President of France is considered to be Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, the current President is Francois Hollande, from 15 May 2012. He was elected in the 2012 election, the National Convention was led by a President, the Presidency rotated fortnightly. From 1793 the National Convention was dominated by its sub-committee, Committee of Public Safety, in which the figures were Georges Danton. The Directory was officially led by a president, as stipulated by Article 141 of the Constitution of the Year III, an entirely ceremonial post, the first president was Rewbell who was chosen by lot on 2 November 1795. The directors conducted their elections privately, with the presidency rotating every three months, the leading figure of the Directory was Paul Barras, the only Director to serve throughout the Directory. The French monarchy was restored 1814–1815 and 1815–1830, and 1830–1848
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Albert Lebrun
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Albert François Lebrun was a French politician, President of France from 1932 to 1940. He was the last president of the Third Republic and he was a member of the center-right Democratic Republican Alliance. Born to a family in Mercy-le-Haut, Meurthe-et-Moselle, he attended the École polytechnique. He then became an engineer in Vesoul and Nancy. Joining the Democratic Alliance, he was elected to the French senate from Meurthe-et-Moselle in 1920 and he was president of that body from 1931–1932. Lebrun was elected president of France following the assassination of president Paul Doumer by Pavel Gurgulov on 6 May 1932, re-elected in 1939, largely because of his record of accommodating all political sides, he exercised little power as president. On 10 July 1940, Lebrun enacted/promulgated the Constitutional Law of 10 July 1940 allowing Prime Minister Philippe Pétain to promulgate a new constitution, on 11 July, Lebrun was replaced by Pétain as head of state. He then fled to Vizille on 15 July, but was captured on 27 August 1943 when the Germans moved into the region and was sent into captivity at the Itter Castle in Tyrol. On 10 October 1943 he was allowed to return to Vizille due to poor health, after the war, Lebrun lived in retirement. He died of pneumonia in Paris on 6 March 1950 after a protracted illness, works by or about Albert François Lebrun at Internet Archive
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List of Presidents of France
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This is a list of Presidents of France. The first President of France is considered to be Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, the current President is Francois Hollande, from 15 May 2012. He was elected in the 2012 election, the National Convention was led by a President, the Presidency rotated fortnightly. From 1793 the National Convention was dominated by its sub-committee, Committee of Public Safety, in which the figures were Georges Danton. The Directory was officially led by a president, as stipulated by Article 141 of the Constitution of the Year III, an entirely ceremonial post, the first president was Rewbell who was chosen by lot on 2 November 1795. The directors conducted their elections privately, with the presidency rotating every three months, the leading figure of the Directory was Paul Barras, the only Director to serve throughout the Directory. The French monarchy was restored 1814–1815 and 1815–1830, and 1830–1848
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French First Republic
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In the history of France, the First Republic, officially the French Republic, was founded on 21 September 1792 during the French Revolution. The First Republic lasted until the declaration of the First Empire in 1804 under Napoleon, under the Legislative Assembly, which was in power before the proclamation of the First Republic, France was engaged in war with Prussia and Austria. The foreign threat exacerbated Frances political turmoil amid the French Revolution and deepened the passion, in the violence of 10 August 1792, citizens stormed the Tuileries Palace, killing six hundred of the Kings Swiss guards and insisting on the removal of the king. A renewed fear of action prompted further violence, and in the first week of September 1792, mobs of Parisians broke into the citys prisons. This included nobles, clergymen, and political prisoners, but also numerous common criminals, such as prostitutes and petty thieves, many murdered in their cells—raped, stabbed and this became known as the September Massacres. The resulting Convention was founded with the purpose of abolishing the monarchy. The Conventions first act, on 10 August 1792, was to establish the French First Republic, the King, by then a private citizen bearing his family name of Capet, was subsequently put on trial for crimes of high treason starting in December 1792. On 16 January 1793 he was convicted, and on 21 January, throughout the winter of 1792 and spring of 1793, Paris was plagued by food riots and mass hunger. The new Convention did little to remedy the problem until late spring of 1793, despite growing discontent with the National Convention as a ruling body, in June the Convention drafted the Constitution of 1793, which was ratified by popular vote in early August. The Committees laws and policies took the revolution to unprecedented heights, after the arrest and execution of Robespierre in July 1794, the Jacobin club was closed, and the surviving Girondins were reinstated. A year later, the National Convention adopted the Constitution of the Year III and they reestablished freedom of worship, began releasing large numbers of prisoners, and most importantly, initiated elections for a new legislative body. On 3 November 1795, the Directory was established, the period known as the French Consulate began with the coup of 18 Brumaire in 1799. Members of the Directory itself planned the coup, indicating clearly the failing power of the Directory, Napoleon Bonaparte was a co-conspirator in the coup, and became head of the government as the First Consul. He would later proclaim himself Emperor of the French, ending the First French Republic and ushering in the French First Empire
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National Convention
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The National Convention was the third government of the French Revolution, following the two-year National Constituent Assembly and the one-year Legislative Assembly. Created after the insurrection of 10 August 1792, it was the first French government organized as a republic. The Convention sat as an assembly from 20 September 1792 to 26 October 1795. The National Convention was therefore the first French assembly elected by a suffrage without distinctions of class, although the Convention lasted until 1795, power was effectively stripped from the elected deputies and concentrated in the small Committee of Public Safety from April 1793. After the fall of Robespierre, the Convention lasted for year until a new constitution was written. The election took place from 2 to 6 September 1792 after the election of the colleges by primary assemblies on 26 August. Therefore, the increased suffrage had very little impact, the electorate returned the same sort of men that the active citizens had chosen in 1791. In the whole of France, only eleven primary assemblies wanted to retain the monarchy, of the electoral assemblies, all tacitly voted for a republic – though only Paris used the word. None of the deputies stood as a royalist for elections, out of the five million Frenchmen able to vote, only a million showed up at the polls. The Salle des Machines had galleries for the public who often influenced the debates with interruptions or applause, the members of the Convention came from all classes of society, but the most numerous were lawyers. 75 members had sat in the National Constituent Assembly,183 in the Legislative Assembly, the full number of deputies was 749, not counting 33 from the French colonies, of whom only some arrived in Paris in time. Besides these, however, the newly formed départements annexed to France from 1792 to 1795 were allowed to send deputations, according to its own ruling, the Convention elected its President every fortnight, and the outgoing President was eligible for re-election after the lapse of a fortnight. Ordinarily the sessions were held in the morning, but evening sessions also occurred frequently, sometimes in exceptional circumstances the Convention declared itself in permanent session and sat for several days without interruption. For both legislative and administrative the Convention used committees, with more or less widely extended and regulated by successive laws. The most famous of these included the Committee of Public Safety. The Convention held legislative and executive powers during the first years of the French First Republic and had three periods, Girondin, Montagnard or Jacobin, and Thermidorian. The abolition of the royalty is a matter you cannot put off till tomorrow, the first session was held on 20 September 1792. The following day, amidst profound silence, the proposition was put to the assembly, on the 22nd came the news of the Battle of Valmy
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French Directory
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It gave its name to the final four years of the French Revolution. The Directory was continually at war with foreign coalitions which at different times included Britain, Austria, Prussia, the Kingdom of Naples, Russia and it annexed Belgium and the left bank of the Rhine, while Bonaparte conquered a large part of Italy. The Directory established six short-lived sister republics modelled after France, in Italy, Switzerland, the conquered cities and states were required to send to France huge amounts of money, as well as art treasures, which were used to fill the new Louvre museum in Paris. An army led by Bonaparte conquered Egypt and marched as far as Saint-Jean-dAcre in Syria, the French economy was in continual crisis during the Directory. At the beginning, the treasury was empty, the money, the Assignat, had fallen to a fraction of its value. The Directory stopped printing assignats and restored the value of the money, but this caused a new crisis, prices and wages fell, and economic activity slowed to a standstill. The Jacobin political club was closed and the government crushed an uprising planned by the Jacobins. The Jacobins took two seats in the Directory, hopelessly dividing it. In 1799, after several defeats, French victories in the Netherlands and Switzerland restored the French military position, Bonaparte returned from Egypt in October, and was engaged by the Abbé Sieyès and other moderates to carry out a parliamentary coup détat on 8–9 November 1799. The coup abolished the Directory, put the French Consulate led by Bonaparte in its place, Robespierre and his leading followers were declared outside the law, and on 28 July were arrested, and guillotined the same day. The Terror quickly came to a halt, the Revolutionary Tribunal, which had sent thousands to the guillotine, ceased meeting and its head, Fouquier-Tinville, was arrested and imprisoned, and after trial was himself guillotined. More than five hundred suspected counter-revolutionaries awaiting trial and execution were immediately released, in the wake of these events, the members of the Convention began planning an entirely new form of government. They wished to continue the Revolution, but without its excesses and this executive will have a force concentrated enough that it will be swift and firm, but divided enough to make it impossible for any member to even consider becoming a tyrant. A single chief would be dangerous, each member will preside for three months, he will have during this time the signature and seal of the head of state. By the slow and gradual replacement of members of the Directory, you will preserve the advantages of order and continuity and will have the advantages of unity without the inconveniences. To assure that the Directors would have some independence, each would be elected by one portion of the legislature, the members of this legislature had a term of three years, with one-third of the members renewed every year. The Ancients could not initiate new laws, but could veto those proposed by the Council of Five Hundred, the new Constitution required the Council of 500 to prepare, by secret ballot, a list of candidates for the Directory. The Council of the Ancients then chose, again by secret ballot, the Constitution required that Directors be at least forty years old
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French Consulate
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The Consulate was the government of France from the fall of the Directory in the coup of Brumaire in 1799 until the start of the Napoleonic Empire in 1804. By extension, the term The Consulate also refers to period of French history. Due to the institutions established during these years, Robert B. Holtman has called the Consulate one of the most important periods of all French history, Napoleon brought authoritarian personal rule which has been viewed as military dictatorship. French military disasters in 1798 and 1799 had shaken the Directory, an irregularity emerged in the election of Jean Baptiste Treilhard, who retired in favor of Louis Jérôme Gohier. Within days, Philippe-Antoine Merlin and Louis-Marie de La Revellière were driven to resign, Baron Jean-François-Auguste Moulin, the three new directors were generally seen as non-entities. A few more military disasters, royalist insurrections in the south, Chouan disturbances in a dozen departments of the part of France, Orléanist intrigues. In order to soothe the populace and protect the frontier, more than the French Revolutions usual terrorist measures was necessary, the new Directory government, led by Sieyès, decided that the necessary revision of the constitution would require a head and a sword. Jean Victor Moreau being unattainable as his sword, Sieyès favoured Barthélemy Catherine Joubert, but, success was reserved for Bonaparte, suddenly landing at Fréjus with the prestige of his victories in the East, and now, after Hoches death, appearing as sole master of the armies. In the coup of 18 Brumaire Year VIII, Napoleon seized French parliamentary and military power in a two-fold coup détat, the initial 18 Brumaire coup seemed to be a victory for Sieyès, rather than for Bonaparte. Sieyès was a proponent of a new system of government for the Republic, Bonapartes cleverness lay in counterposing Pierre Claude François Daunous plan to that of Sieyès, and in retaining only those portions of both which could serve his ambition. Ultimate executive authority was vested in three consuls, who were elected for ten years, popular suffrage was retained, though mutilated by the lists of notables. Napoleon vetoed Sieyès original idea of having a single Grand Elector as supreme executive, Sieyès had intended to reserve this important position for himself, and by denying him the job Napoleon helped reinforce the authority of the consuls, an office which he would assume. Nor was Napoleon content simply to be part of an equal triumvirate, by consolidating power, Bonaparte was able to transform the aristocratic constitution of Sieyès into an unavowed dictatorship. On 7 February 1800, a referendum confirmed the new constitution. It vested all of the power in the hands of the First Consul. A full 99. 9% of voters approved the motion, according to the released results and he gave everyone a feeling that France was governed once more by a real statesman, and that a competent government was finally in charge. Bonaparte had now to rid himself of Sieyès and of those republicans who had no desire to hand over the republic to one man, particularly of Moreau and Masséna, his military rivals
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First French Empire
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The First French Empire, Note 1 was the empire of Napoleon Bonaparte of France and the dominant power in much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. Its name was a misnomer, as France already had colonies overseas and was short lived compared to the Colonial Empire, a series of wars, known collectively as the Napoleonic Wars, extended French influence over much of Western Europe and into Poland. The plot included Bonapartes brother Lucien, then serving as speaker of the Council of Five Hundred, Roger Ducos, another Director, on 9 November 1799 and the following day, troops led by Bonaparte seized control. They dispersed the legislative councils, leaving a rump legislature to name Bonaparte, Sieyès, although Sieyès expected to dominate the new regime, the Consulate, he was outmaneuvered by Bonaparte, who drafted the Constitution of the Year VIII and secured his own election as First Consul. He thus became the most powerful person in France, a power that was increased by the Constitution of the Year X, the Battle of Marengo inaugurated the political idea that was to continue its development until Napoleons Moscow campaign. Napoleon planned only to keep the Duchy of Milan for France, setting aside Austria, the Peace of Amiens, which cost him control of Egypt, was a temporary truce. He gradually extended his authority in Italy by annexing the Piedmont and by acquiring Genoa, Parma, Tuscany and Naples, then he laid siege to the Roman state and initiated the Concordat of 1801 to control the material claims of the pope. Napoleon would have ruling elites from a fusion of the new bourgeoisie, on 12 May 1802, the French Tribunat voted unanimously, with exception of Carnot, in favour of the Life Consulship for the leader of France. This action was confirmed by the Corps Législatif, a general plebiscite followed thereafter resulting in 3,653,600 votes aye and 8,272 votes nay. On 2 August 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed Consul for life, pro-revolutionary sentiment swept through Germany aided by the Recess of 1803, which brought Bavaria, Württemberg and Baden to Frances side. The memories of imperial Rome were for a time, after Julius Caesar and Charlemagne. The Treaty of Pressburg, signed on 26 December 1805, did little other than create a more unified Germany to threaten France. On the other hand, Napoleons creation of the Kingdom of Italy, the occupation of Ancona, to create satellite states, Napoleon installed his relatives as rulers of many European states. The Bonapartes began to marry into old European monarchies, gaining sovereignty over many nations, in addition to the vassal titles, Napoleons closest relatives were also granted the title of French Prince and formed the Imperial House of France. Met with opposition, Napoleon would not tolerate any neutral power, Prussia had been offered the territory of Hanover to stay out of the Third Coalition. With the diplomatic situation changing, Napoleon offered Great Britain the province as part of a peace proposal and this, combined with growing tensions in Germany over French hegemony, Prussia responded by forming an alliance with Russia and sending troops into Bavaria on 1 October 1806. In this War of the Fourth Coalition, Napoleon destroyed the armies of Frederick William at Jena-Auerstedt, the Eylau and the Friedland against the Russians finally ruined Frederick the Greats formerly mighty kingdom, obliging Russia and Prussia to make peace with France at Tilsit. The Treaties of Tilsit ended the war between Russia and the French Empire and began an alliance between the two empires that held power of much of the rest of Europe, the two empires secretly agreed to aid each other in disputes
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Napoleon
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Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars. As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814, Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, one of the greatest commanders in history, his wars and campaigns are studied at military schools worldwide. Napoleons political and cultural legacy has ensured his status as one of the most celebrated and he was born Napoleone di Buonaparte in Corsica to a relatively modest family from the minor nobility. When the Revolution broke out in 1789, Napoleon was serving as an officer in the French army. Seizing the new opportunities presented by the Revolution, he rose through the ranks of the military. The Directory eventually gave him command of the Army of Italy after he suppressed a revolt against the government from royalist insurgents, in 1798, he led a military expedition to Egypt that served as a springboard to political power. He engineered a coup in November 1799 and became First Consul of the Republic and his ambition and public approval inspired him to go further, and in 1804 he became the first Emperor of the French. Intractable differences with the British meant that the French were facing a Third Coalition by 1805, in 1806, the Fourth Coalition took up arms against him because Prussia became worried about growing French influence on the continent. Napoleon quickly defeated Prussia at the battles of Jena and Auerstedt, then marched the Grand Army deep into Eastern Europe, France then forced the defeated nations of the Fourth Coalition to sign the Treaties of Tilsit in July 1807, bringing an uneasy peace to the continent. Tilsit signified the high watermark of the French Empire, hoping to extend the Continental System and choke off British trade with the European mainland, Napoleon invaded Iberia and declared his brother Joseph the King of Spain in 1808. The Spanish and the Portuguese revolted with British support, the Peninsular War lasted six years, featured extensive guerrilla warfare, and ended in victory for the Allies. The Continental System caused recurring diplomatic conflicts between France and its client states, especially Russia, unwilling to bear the economic consequences of reduced trade, the Russians routinely violated the Continental System and enticed Napoleon into another war. The French launched an invasion of Russia in the summer of 1812. The resulting campaign witnessed the collapse of the Grand Army, the destruction of Russian cities, 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, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April. 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 British exiled him to the remote island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died six years later at the age of 51
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Bourbon Restoration
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The Bourbon Restoration was the period of French history following the fall of Napoleon in 1814 until the July Revolution of 1830. The brothers of executed Louis XVI of France reigned in highly conservative fashion, and they were nonetheless unable to reverse most of the changes made by the French Revolution and Napoleon. At the Congress of Vienna they were treated respectfully, but had to give up all the gains made since 1789. King Louis XVI of the House of Bourbon had been overthrown and executed during the French Revolution, a coalition of European powers defeated Napoleon in the War of the Sixth Coalition, ended the First Empire in 1814, and restored the monarchy to the brothers of Louis XVI. The Bourbon Restoration lasted from 6 April 1814 until the uprisings of the July Revolution of 1830. There was an interlude in spring 1815—the Hundred Days—when the return of Napoleon forced the Bourbons to flee France, when Napoleon was again defeated by the Seventh Coalition they returned to power in July. During the Restoration, the new Bourbon regime was a monarchy, unlike the absolutist Ancien Régime. The period was characterized by a conservative reaction, and consequent minor but consistent occurrences of civil unrest. It also saw the reestablishment of the Catholic Church as a power in French politics. The eras of the French Revolution and Napoleon brought a series of changes to France which the Bourbon Restoration did not reverse. First of all, France became highly centralized, with all decisions made in Paris, the political geography was completely reorganized and made uniform. France was divided more than 80 departments, which have endured into the 21st century. Each department had an administrative structure, and was tightly controlled by a prefect appointed by Paris. The Catholic Church lost all its lands and buildings during the Revolution, the bishop still ruled his diocese, and communicated with the pope through the government in Paris. Bishops, priests, nuns and other people were paid salaries by the state. All the old rites and ceremonies were retained, and the government maintained the religious buildings. The Church was allowed to operate its own seminaries and to some extent local schools as well, bishops were much less powerful than before, and had no political voice. However, the Catholic Church reinvented itself and put a new emphasis on personal religiosity that gave it a hold on the psychology of the faithful, education was centralized, with the Grand Master of the University of France controlling every element of the entire educational system from Paris
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Louis XVIII of France
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Louis XVIII, known as The Desired, was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France from 1814 to 1824 except for a period in 1815 known as the Hundred Days. Until his accession to the throne of France, Louis held the title of Count of Provence as brother of King Louis XVI, on 21 September 1792, the National Convention abolished the monarchy and deposed King Louis XVI, who was later executed by guillotine. When the young Louis XVII, Louis XVIs son, died in prison in June 1795, during the French Revolution and Napoleonic era, Louis XVIII lived in exile in Prussia, the United Kingdom and Russia. When the Sixth Coalition finally defeated Napoleon in 1814, Louis was placed in what he, Napoleon escaped from his exile in Elba, however, and restored his French Empire. Louis XVIII fled and a Seventh Coalition declared war on the French Empire, defeated Napoleon, Louis XVIII ruled as king for slightly less than a decade. The Bourbon Restoration regime was a constitutional monarchy, as a constitutional monarch, Louis XVIIIs royal prerogative was reduced substantially by the Charter of 1814, Frances new constitution. Louis had no children, therefore, upon his death, the passed to his brother, Charles. Louis XVIII was the last French monarch to die while reigning, as his successor Charles X abdicated and both Louis Philippe I and Napoléon III were deposed. Louis Stanislas Xavier, styled Count of Provence from birth, was born on 17 November 1755 in the Palace of Versailles, the son of Louis, Dauphin of France and he was the grandson of the reigning King Louis XV. As a son of the Dauphin he was a Fils de France, Louis Stanislas was christened Louis Stanislas Xavier six months after his birth in accordance with Bourbon family tradition, being nameless before his baptism. By this act, he also a Knight of the Order of the Holy Spirit. The former died in 1761, leaving Louis Auguste as heir to their father until the Dauphins own premature death in 1765, the two deaths elevated Louis Stanislas to second in the line of succession, while Louis Auguste acquired the title Dauphin. Louis Stanislas found comfort in his governess, Madame de Marsan, Governess of the Children of France, as he was her favourite among his siblings. Louis Stanislas was taken away from his governess when he turned seven, Antoine de Quélen de Stuer de Caussade, Duke of La Vauguyon, a friend of his father, was named his governor. Louis Stanislas was an intelligent boy, excelling in classics and his education was of the same quality and consistency as that of his older brother, Louis Auguste, despite the fact that Louis Auguste was heir and Louis Stanislas was not. Louis Stanislas education was religious in nature, several of his teachers were men of the cloth. La Vauguyon drilled into young Louis Stanislas and his brothers the way he thought princes should know how to withdraw themselves, to like to work, and to know how to reason correctly. In the same month his household was founded, Louis was granted titles by his grandfather, Louis XV, Duke of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Perche
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Charles X of France
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Charles X was King of France from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. For most of his life he was known as the Count of Artois, an uncle of the uncrowned King Louis XVII, and younger brother to reigning Kings Louis XVI and Louis XVIII, he supported the latter in exile and eventually succeeded him. His rule of almost six years ended in the July Revolution of 1830, which resulted in his abdication, exiled once again, Charles died in 1836 in Gorizia, then part of the Austrian Empire. He was the last of the French rulers from the branch of the House of Bourbon. Charles Philippe of France was born in 1757, the youngest son of the Dauphin Louis and his wife, Charles was created Count of Artois at birth by his grandfather, the reigning King Louis XV. As the youngest male in the family, Charles seemed unlikely ever to become king and his eldest brother, Louis, Duke of Burgundy, died unexpectedly in 1761, which moved Charles up one place in the line of succession. He was raised in childhood by Madame de Marsan, the Governess of the Children of France. At the death of his father in 1765, Charless oldest surviving brother, Louis Auguste and their mother Marie Josèphe, who never recovered from the loss of her husband, died in March 1767 from tuberculosis. This left Charles an orphan at the age of nine, along with his siblings Louis Auguste, Louis Stanislas, Count of Provence, Clotilde, Louis XV fell ill on 27 April 1774 and died on 10 May of smallpox at the age of 64. His grandson Louis-Auguste succeeded him as King Louis XVI of France, in November 1773, Charles married Marie Thérèse of Savoy. The marriage, unlike that of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, was consummated almost immediately, in 1775, Marie Thérèse gave birth to a boy, Louis Antoine, who was created Duke of Angoulême by Louis XVI. Three years later, in 1778, Charles second son, Charles Ferdinand, was born, in the same year Queen Marie Antoinette gave birth to her first child, Marie Thérèse, quelling all rumours that she could not bear children. Charles was thought of as the most attractive member of his family and his wife was considered quite ugly by most contemporaries, and he looked for company in numerous extramarital affairs. According to the Count of Hézecques, few beauties were cruel to him, later, he embarked upon a lifelong love affair with the beautiful Louise de Polastron, the sister-in-law of Marie Antoinettes closest companion, the Duchess of Polignac. Charles also struck up a friendship with Marie Antoinette herself. The closeness of the relationship was such that he was accused by Parisian rumour mongers of having seduced her. As part of Marie Antoinettes social set, Charles often appeared opposite her in the theatre of her favourite royal retreat. They were both said to be very talented amateur actors, Marie Antoinette played milkmaids, shepherdesses, and country ladies, whereas Charles played lovers, valets, and farmers
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July Monarchy
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The July Monarchy, was a liberal constitutional monarchy in France under Louis Philippe I, starting with the July Revolution of 1830 and ending with the Revolution of 1848. It began with the overthrow of the government of Charles X. The king promised to follow the juste milieu, or the middle-of-the-road, avoiding the extremes of the supporters of Charles X. The July Monarchy was dominated by wealthy bourgeoisie and numerous former Napoleonic officials and it followed conservative policies, especially under the influence of François Guizot. The king promoted friendship with Great Britain and sponsored colonial expansion, by 1848, a year in which many European states had a revolution, the kings popularity had collapsed and he was overthrown. Louis Phillipe was pushed to the throne by an alliance between the people of Paris, the republicans, who had set up barricades in the capital, and the liberal bourgeoisie. However, at the end of his reign the so-called Citizen King was overthrown by similar barricades during the February Revolution of 1848, the Legitimists withdrew from the political stage to their castles, leaving the stage opened for the struggle between the Orleanists and the Republicans. Louis-Philippe was crowned King of the French, instead of King of France, Louis-Philippe, who had flirted with liberalism in his youth, rejected much of the pomp and circumstance of the Bourbons and surrounded himself with merchants and bankers. The July Monarchy, however, remained a time of turmoil, a large group of Legitimists on the right demanded the restoration of the Bourbons to the throne. On the left, Republicanism and, later Socialism, remained a powerful force, late in his reign Louis-Philippe became increasingly rigid and dogmatic and his President of the Council, François Guizot, had become deeply unpopular, but Louis-Philippe refused to remove him. The situation gradually escalated until the Revolutions of 1848 saw the fall of the monarchy, however, during the first several years of his regime, Louis-Philippe appeared to move his government toward legitimate, broad-based reform. And indeed, Louis-Phillipe and his ministers adhered to policies that seemed to promote the central tenets of the constitution, thus, though the July Monarchy seemed to move toward reform, this movement was largely illusory. During the years of the July Monarchy, enfranchisement roughly doubled, however, this still represented only roughly one percent of population, and as the requirements for voting were tax-based, only the wealthiest gained the privilege. By implication, the enlarged enfranchisement tended to favor the wealthy merchant bourgeoisie more than any other group, beyond simply increasing their presence within the Chamber of Deputies, this electoral enlargement provided the bourgeoisie the means by which to challenge the nobility in legislative matters. Thus, while appearing to honor his pledge to increase suffrage, Louis-Philippe acted primarily to empower his supporters, the inclusion of only the wealthiest also tended to undermine any possibility of the growth of a radical faction in Parliament, effectively serving socially conservative ends. The reformed Charter of 1830 limited the power of the King—stripping him of his ability to propose and decree legislation, one of the first acts of Louis-Philippe in constructing his cabinet was to appoint the rather conservative Casimir Perier as the premier of that body. Perier, a banker, was instrumental in shutting down many of the Republican secret societies, in addition, he oversaw the dismemberment of the National Guard after it proved too supportive of radical ideologies. He performed all of actions, of course, with royal approval
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Doumer, Paul". Encyclopædia Britannica. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 450.
