Towards the end of the third century BC, Paris was founded by a tribe of Celtic Gauls known as the Parisii. In 52 BC centuries of conflict between the Gauls and the Romans ended when the land was conquered by the Roman General, Julius Caesar. Gaul – or the area which we now call France – was to remain part of the Roman Empire for over 500 years.

The 2nd century AD saw the introduction of Christianity. In the fifth century AD the Romans were conquered by the Franks. Gaul was united as a kingdom by the Frankish king Clovis I, and Paris was named as its capital. Throughout the Middle Ages the Frankish dynasties fought with one another. Charlemagne won many wars to extend the boundaries of his kingdom, and even became the Holy Roman Emperor in 800AD.

France was heavily involved in the Crusades, which were holy wars started by the Christian church against non-Christians. All through the late Middle Ages France fought with England. This led to the Hundred Years War which lasted from 1337 to 1453. In 1429 a 17-year-old woman known as Joan of Arc rallied the French soldiers to defeat the English at the Battle of Orleans. She was later captured and burnt at the stake by the English, who were finally expelled from all parts of France in 1453. In the middle of the sixteenth century France was plunged into a civil war of religion between Protestants and Catholics, which was to last thirty years.

France continued to prosper under its kings, but the wars it was constantly fighting with neighbouring countries were expensive, and the French people grew angry with the monarchy. In 1789 the French Revolution took place. King Louis XVI was executed, and France became a republic.

In the early 1800s the Emperor Napoleon took over, and led France to invade several other countries, though these lands were lost again when the French army suffered defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

France suffered heavily during the First World War: over a million troops were killed, industrial production dropped, and large areas of the country were devastated. During the Second World War France was occupied by Germany until it was liberated by Allied Forces in 1944. Every town and village in France has a monument to the people who lived there, and who were killed fighting for their country.