*Napoleon (The 3rd) becomes the first president of France, who then proceeds to make himself emperor and start a war* French people: Ah shit, here we go again
The famous sentence of Karl Marx (1818 - 1883) was directed to this fact: All things are happening two times in history, the first time as a tragedy and the second time as a farce (= a bad joke).
"As a result, for the next seven decades France had a different Prime Minister almost every single year. This is considered one of the most stable periods of French Government." - France in a nutshell
The weird thing about the President of France is that they are actually elected royalty, just not for France. The President of France and The Spanish Bishop of Urgell are co-princes of Andorra, a small country between France and Spain. So Emmanuel Macron is a Prince! At least until he is elected out or resigns as President of France. Micro-states are so fascinating!
Yes. And since bishops are appointed by the Pope, you actually have the head of one micro-nation (Vatican City) appointing the co-head of another. But Andorra is a LOT bigger than Vatican City.
Claire E so in a very short summary, Andorra used to be ruled jointly by the Bishop of Urgell and the Count of Foix, and this power-sharing arrangement arose because Spain and France couldn’t decide who actually owns that piece of land. After the Counts of Foix‘s line died out in the 1500s, the title reverted back to the king of France (back in those days if a noble family dies out without any heirs the title returns to the king) and so Andorra is ruled by both the king of France and a Spanish bishop. After the French Revolution, it was decided that since the Republic inherited the country from the kingdom of France, whoever is the head of state of France shall also inherit the title of Prince of Andorra. This brings us to today, where we have this strange situation where a democratically elected president is also a Prince, and with Andorra also one of the only countries (aside from the Vatican) in Europe to be ruled by a religious leader.
No. The President of France is not 'elected royalty'. Royalty is the extended family of a King, or in French a Roi. Hence the root of the word. All is true is to say the French President is also a monarch. But being a monarch does not automatically make one royal, especially when that monarch is a bishop or an ex officio public official with no dynastic ties to rule.
Louis XVI was quite a talented self-taught locksmith. When Mr. Guillotin came to present his invention, the "guillotine", the King advised him to replace the round blade with a triangular one to make the mechanism more efficient.
You know, the Franks parted into West Francia, which largely became France, and East Francia, which largely became Germany. So us Germans also claim Charlemagne as our King, which makes it weird to always see him framed as a Frenchman internationally... but we call him Karl, since his name in Latin was Carolus. 😂
The Franks originally were germanic tribes, they were however fairly romacized and sooner or later they assimilated into the gaulish people in modern day France. Only in the border regions of Germany and France today was where their germanic influence on the region really showed.
@@Copyright_Infringement no, the Carolingians were from Austrasia, this is why they displaced the capital city from Paris to Aachen, in their traditional homeland.
Every leader of the island of Ireland would be really interesting no one outside of Ireland knows our history in fact not many people in Ireland understand it
Seann Borba Ireland is home to a tomb believed to be over 5,000 years Old, It also was believed Ireland had no contact with the outside world up until Catholicism but recently Roman coins and the remains of a Barbary ape have been found on the hill of Tara formally the seat of the High king of Ireland there is also claims of colonies in Britain and a native American tribe with similarities to the native Irish
Lettuce I’m aware of that. I was contributing to the joke. You just don’t get it because you don’t know anything about Brezhnev like most people. My joke is that Brezhnev, who was leader so long and they even kept him in charge after he became senile, that he should be on the list too.
And apparently, the Russians call that war the "Patriotic War of 1812" (as opposed to the plain "War of 1812" which took place the same year in North America).
@@seneca983 Though both wars are connected. Since the American reason for declaring war on Britain was the British naval blockade of France and pressganging American sailors trying to smuggle support to Napoleon.
I was very confused about the Capet part until I remembered that the Valois and Bourbons were technically branches of the Capet family, and that's really where their legitimacy came from.
@@evanoscherwitz1461 The Valois branch and the Bourbons branch are all descendants of Hugue Capet First king of the Capet dynasty and they were all Kings of Upper Navarre,
@@evanoscherwitz1434 As tu déjà entendu parler des Rois Maudits écrit par Maurice Druon ? Fait aussi des recherches sur la Guerre des cent ans entre la France et L'Angleterre.
I've been wanting to read about French history and it's leaders but never got around to it so I'm happy you made this video to give me a jump start. I had no idea how unstable France was for pretty much it entire history Oh and Russia has a pretty complicated history I would love for you to cover
Each country has its own degree of political volatility. France is actually among the more stable ones, as counter intuitive as it may sound. Pick a country at random, and start looking at the details. You'll see endless streams of manipulation, blackmail, backstabbing, power grab, succession feuds, coups, riots, revolts, insurrections and even, revolutions. The world is basically Game of Thrones on steroids, non stop 🙃.
It's worth noting that the Merovingian Kings never had much power to begin with. The real power was with the Mayor of the Palace (Majordomo), which is what the Carolingians began as.
I almost revolted last weekend when I went to the beach and realized I wouldn't be able to watch last week's video upon its release. But I'm glad I didn't go this weekend and "miss" this video: never knew how crazy French politics actually was before now.
Except no one cares about Andorra. But it would be nice of someone got elected to be President of France, and they tell their daughter that they are a Princess now.
I can't complain that you not finishing your leader of every country in the world series when all the videos you make are this good anyway! (that's how I'm sneaking my complaint into this compliment)
I’d love to see a video about Russia! I think that you can discuss how the authoritarian mindset is being created by analyzing our history. Btw, this one was very educational! I finally understood the whole picture of the french history! Thank you
_"after the fall of the Roman Empire, the Franks organised themselves" ..._ O U C H Don't do this to me! I am sensitive about history! I hate thunder blunders about as much as scratching a blackboard with something sharper than chalk! 1) The Roman Empire did not fall over night. Nor even over just a few years. One can argue it took from AD 410 when Roman Legions left England to 1918 in the aftermath of the First World War matching a Western Emperor Francis Joseph and his successor Karl against an Eastern Emperor Nicolas II. 2) Roman power deteriorated over Gaul before the Franks arrived. Visigoths, Burgundians, Bretons coming from Cornwall to Brittany all took chunks and had more or less easy or uneasy relations with an actual Roman official, Syagrius, based around Central France. Together they fought off Attila. The Franks came as conquerors, and had established themselves outside the limes, North and North-East of Gaul and of the province Germania. They took the chunk of Syagrius after 20 years protracted battle. 3) Once they were in power, which cost Clovis I a Catholic baptism and involved him conquering Burgundian and Visigothic entities North of Pyrenees as new protector of Romans, they extended both in and outside modern France, notably in most if not all of Belgium, Luxemburg and Netherlands, as well as Western parts of Germany, where they were expanding East. 4) After Clovis, the division in Neustria, Austrasia and other entities was not an organisation but a disorganisation, treating royal power as a personal property and therefore as a heirloom to be potentially divided among heirs. 5) Francia was not Neustria, but all of the kingdom or budding Empire (heir of West Rome in 800 AD). Francia was all of it, including whatever of Germany was involved up to Charlemagne, that including Bavarian Duchy from which he separated an Ostmark now known as Austria. Yes, I think that basically sums up the faults in that comment as well as in the map.
2:36 Plus, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were not decadent. Previous king, Louis XV had been so and even more the regent while Louis XV was a minor (his father and grandfather having died before Louis XIV, he was very young when succeeding him and had a recency).
Point in case, Louis XV was so decadent that he allowed his mistress Madame Pompadour to bully him into expelling the Jesuits and into asking the Popes or pressuring the Popes for dissolution of the order. Other point in case, Regency and Louis XV was arguably, as most Pagan period (prior to Revolution), the _worst_ one for black slaves in Louisiana and certain island colonies (Québec never had legal or as far as I known any other slavery, any more than France itself).
greece is a great country for such a video because it as well has gone through a complicated past (i would suggest starting from byzantium rather than the modern state of greece as it's very young in the context of states such as england, france and spain, also it would make the video longer and more interesting)
Great breakdown! I never could get my head around the French Revolution and all the republics. Thank you for this, I'm sure it must have taken a lot of research.
Great video! Awesome detail on post revolution France. I would definitely be interested in something with a focus on Capet dynasty and their cadet branches Valois, and Bourbon. Thanks!
8:11 _"after leading France into a disastrous war with neighbouring Prussia"_ Who led two nations into that war is disputed. Some would say that Bismarck truncating the Ems telegram was responsible for the Franco-Prussian war. Anyway, Napoleon III lost it.
wait,@@mitonaarea5856 , as I recall it, Bismarck arranged a faking of a telegram from Napoleon III, one which made the King of Prussia declare war against France.
I'd just bring a little precision here, the capet family didn't actually run the country until the revolution; at first, they ran out of male heir that weren't english kings, so they put a cousin at the head of the country, which was Philippe the 6th from the house of Valois. So after the Capet dynasty, there was the Valois dynasty, which was once again replaced by a cousin later with Henry the 4th and th Bourbon dynasty. So the late kings of france (Louis the 16th, Louis the 18th) that you talk about are refered as Bourbon, not as Capet
oh my goodness, there's so much that is just wrong about this video and the first of it is the concept regnal chronology BS. Presenting it this way seems to say no king had any constraints. NO social, economical, religious, political concern come from the population the origin of it all comes from the king. Obviously that is just stupid. Then we move on to the inexactitude of the information presented. 1:17 The Merovingian Dynasty officially starts with Merovee not Claudion who's likely to be more legendary than anything else. But regardless Clovis was the first king so you should start with him if you want to talk about regnal Sh*t, regnal meaning kingly. That might seems petty but it shows how little work has been made to do this video. 1:05 you change Neustria name to Francia wink wink that is France. Well no it isn't, not even close. Clovis was king alright but king of the Franks, the Franks being the warrior/ ruling class. Heck, the concept of country or nation didn't exist at the time. Land was seen the way we see money on a bank account today. It was divided between the heirs, it was simply a propriety. the concept of France/ Francia came in the XIII century 700 years after Clovis. 1:39 the Carolingian where mayors of the palace a position so important that they were de facto king of the franks for several generations, the pope intervention came after the fact to legitimate the action not enact it. well I am two minutes in and no one is going to bother reading it so I'll stop with all the oversimplification borderline falsehood of the video. However just in case someone bother I'll have to mention the worst part of the video 3:08 until 3:17 he describe the first republic accurately with a sarcastic tone. Consensus based decision isn't it democracy? The first republic was the first effective western democracy nothing to be sarcastic about. Now let's talk about the reign of terror failing to mention that France is on the brink to civil war while being invaded by a coalition of the rest of Europe. 17 000 people have been guillotine but all of them had a trial, notice I didn't say fair, nevertheless the rule of law was applied and it wasn't totally arbitrary. To quote Robespierre himself "The government in a revolution is the despotism of liberty against tyranny."
one correction, it was after Napoleon lost at the Battle of Leipzig was when he was asked to step down and then sent to Elba then he came back and France had the 100 days, he lost waterloo and then was exiled to Helena
J.J. your videos are always incredibly informative. Whenever your videos appear in my subscriptions I become ecstatic. Thank you for doing what you do and creating these fun, educational videos for us to learn and become just a little bit more informed.
I love this video! Post Reign of Terror and pre-WWII France was a real blind spot for me. I would love to learn more about other important blind spots like this! I wonder who led the United States during the Articles of Confederation days?
Great video! While you are correct that there was no one single leader fo France during the Revolution, I would say that many historians accept the following people as the most influential figures (and hence de-facto leaders) in their respective years: 1791-1793: Jacques Pierre Brissot, de-facto leader of the Girondins in the Legislative Assembly and later National Convent. 1793-1793 (from about May to August): Georges Danton, most influential leader of the Jacobins in the National Convent (and also Committee for Public Safety). Somewhat sidelined as the Jacobin leader by August 1793. 1793-1794: Maximilien Robespierre, de-facto leader of the Committee of Public Safety and also the Jacobins in general, responsible for executing his predecessors Louis XVI, Brissot, and Danton. Eventually arrested and executed himself in 1794. 1794-1795: Jean-Lambert Tallien, most prominent leader of the Thermidorian Reaction, whose largely shared whatever power he had with his anti-Robespierre co-conspirators. 1795-1799: Paul Barras, a co-conspirator of Tallien, who became the most influential member of the newly established Directory regime. His rule was nowhere near as absolute as that of Robespierre and he had to share power with other Directory Members. 1799-1814: Napoleon Bonaparte, initially Provisional Consul of France, then First Consul, and finally Emperor (as Napoleon I) overthrew the “decadent” Directory in alliance with Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes, who was hoping to take power himself but was ultimately sidelined by Bonaparte, who quickly concentrated power in his own hands owing in part to his popularity as a victorious general.
This was fantastic. I really appreciate the work you put into this. Would love to see another regnal chronology of another European country... Sweden? Italy? Belgium? Any would be good!
I think it's also necessary to point out that during Charles de Gaulle's trip to Canada in 1967 he made a public statement in Montreal that showed favourable attitude towards the Quebec Sovereignty movement, which was a big diplomatic and political problem because that was when a paramilitary group (or terrorist group) called the Front de Libération du Québec was still kicking and since then de Gaulle wasn't very much well liked in the rest of Canada.
This video was really great. It would be awesome if you could do such a video about Germany since the German history had many overlaps with the French history and is really interesting. History is just way more interesting when the story is told in your style.
I'm a proud american, and I admire the French people and their history of holding their leaders feet to the fire. There is a somewhat popular notion that they are weak or "pussies" or whatever but they are clearly one of the most active and powerful populous in the 1st world. I wish my fellow citizens had as strong a grasp of our governments "short and curlies " as the people of France.
Incredibly accurate and concise summary! Agree the chaotic many changes of government in France tells a lot about our country... I remember learning about these rulers at school, but forgot much of the details since. This is one of the most helpful and dynamic educational videos about France! Great job JJ, (almost) making it up for our differences over Quebec 😅😍 A French subscriber from Paris!
Wow, that painting of Napoleon at 5:08 sure is flattering! Guess a lot of artistic liberties were taken by that particular artist, since we don’t exactly remember Napoleon for his dashing good looks today.
being a french student and a francophile I cringe every time you anglicize their word pronunciation but it’s OKAY it’s fine i’m fine everything is fine
Being a french guy, I wish anglos would at least try to pronounce french words instead of reading them as if they were english 😔 Giscard d'Estaing is the major victim in this video
The problem with Parliaments is not that people just want to do whatever they want, a lot of these "strongmen" are willing to compromise, but the problem that partisan parliaments devolve quickly into shouting matches where the "opposition" is more interested in coming up with things to accuse the ruling party of than actually working with the ruling party to achieve better outcomes for people. That's why time and again every time a parliamentary system is implemented it becomes inefficient, corrupt and ultimately falls at the hands of a populist uprising sooner or later. We need a better system where those who win and those who didn't win are all expected to work together
Great job... but you literally reviewed 1000 years of French history in about 10 seconds - The capetians dynasty provided with some of the greatests leader & gave birth to the houses of Valois, the Orleans, the Bourbons etc. each one with very differents reigning systems and political regimes, from feodal, to modern monarchy and to absolutism.
1. That list would be rather short compared to the video here. Ireland relatively recently is an independent country. 2. Irish presidents really aren't that powerful, or meaningful
An Irish history video might be a good idea. For centuries Ireland's geographical position has made it of strategic interest to many European powers at one point or another, even though she herself has not been a powerful country. You'd need to start before the English ever set foot in Ireland and cover a lot of history shared with the British, before you could meaningfully get to Irish prime ministers and presidents though! :-)
Some French king: *screws France up*
French people: *Revolution time.*
l o u i s
@@evansaccount1548 *f a t i l l - b r e d b o y*
*Pier fetch the guillotine!*
(Best if red in a french accent)
@@Josep_Hernandez_Lujan Patience...
Yes
*Napoleon (The 3rd) becomes the first president of France, who then proceeds to make himself emperor and start a war*
French people: Ah shit, here we go again
The famous sentence of Karl Marx (1818 - 1883) was directed to this fact: All things are happening two times in history, the first time as a tragedy and the second time as a farce (= a bad joke).
@@Josep_Hernandez_Lujan Canada : Aw shit here we go again
Revolver Ocelot no
Kolateak I mean it’s the people who wanted that war not napoleon
French people: Yes, here we go again
"As a result, for the next seven decades France had a different Prime Minister almost every single year. This is considered one of the most stable periods of French Government." - France in a nutshell
Worked for Switzerland.
@@JK-gu3tlthey are small and insignificant
The weird thing about the President of France is that they are actually elected royalty, just not for France. The President of France and The Spanish Bishop of Urgell are co-princes of Andorra, a small country between France and Spain. So Emmanuel Macron is a Prince! At least until he is elected out or resigns as President of France. Micro-states are so fascinating!
Yes. And since bishops are appointed by the Pope, you actually have the head of one micro-nation (Vatican City) appointing the co-head of another. But Andorra is a LOT bigger than Vatican City.
How? What? Why?
Claire E so in a very short summary, Andorra used to be ruled jointly by the Bishop of Urgell and the Count of Foix, and this power-sharing arrangement arose because Spain and France couldn’t decide who actually owns that piece of land.
After the Counts of Foix‘s line died out in the 1500s, the title reverted back to the king of France (back in those days if a noble family dies out without any heirs the title returns to the king) and so Andorra is ruled by both the king of France and a Spanish bishop.
After the French Revolution, it was decided that since the Republic inherited the country from the kingdom of France, whoever is the head of state of France shall also inherit the title of Prince of Andorra. This brings us to today, where we have this strange situation where a democratically elected president is also a Prince, and with Andorra also one of the only countries (aside from the Vatican) in Europe to be ruled by a religious leader.
@@jasonnung2645 Extraordinary! :) Thanks. So the President of Andorra must be a Catholic Biship?
No. The President of France is not 'elected royalty'. Royalty is the extended family of a King, or in French a Roi. Hence the root of the word. All is true is to say the French President is also a monarch. But being a monarch does not automatically make one royal, especially when that monarch is a bishop or an ex officio public official with no dynastic ties to rule.
King: *sees guillotine*
"Is this some kind of a peasant joke that I am too rich to understand?"
Louis XVI was quite a talented self-taught locksmith. When Mr. Guillotin came to present his invention, the "guillotine", the King advised him to replace the round blade with a triangular one to make the mechanism more efficient.
@@whytortureiswrong lucky for him, he got to try it out himself. I wonder if he thought of the irony in his last days?
Hunter Kauffman it wasn’t efficient enough in his ( the king ) case . It took two trials for his fat neck to give way
@@quabenathalamus this hurts to read
whytortureiswrong he also couldn’t fuck his wife because of a curable illness so they said the locksmith can’t find the key
You know, the Franks parted into West Francia, which largely became France, and East Francia, which largely became Germany. So us Germans also claim Charlemagne as our King, which makes it weird to always see him framed as a Frenchman internationally... but we call him Karl, since his name in Latin was Carolus. 😂
The Franks originally were germanic tribes, they were however fairly romacized and sooner or later they assimilated into the gaulish people in modern day France. Only in the border regions of Germany and France today was where their germanic influence on the region really showed.
@@Copyright_Infringement no, the Carolingians were from Austrasia, this is why they displaced the capital city from Paris to Aachen, in their traditional homeland.
And Frankish was a Germanic language, not a Romance one like French.
@@seneca983 right but many Franks started to speak Vulgar Latin instead of Frankish.
"Roman" francian
Oh my God this is a really educational video. I loved it
Every leader of the island of Ireland would be really interesting no one outside of Ireland knows our history in fact not many people in Ireland understand it
@@newsannouncement226 I am intruiged already
Seann Borba Ireland is home to a tomb believed to be over 5,000 years Old,
It also was believed Ireland had no contact with the outside world up until Catholicism but recently Roman coins and the remains of a Barbary ape have been found on the hill of Tara formally the seat of the High king of Ireland there is also claims of colonies in Britain and a native American tribe with similarities to the native Irish
News Announcement De Valera, that is my knowledge
Benoît Horeau and he skipped over the two most famous dynasties
As a French person, I must say good job! This is no easy topic and you managed to make it fun to watch 🇫🇷👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Video about every leader of Russia would be great!
@John Osowski mmmmm yes
John Osowski you forgot Brezhnev
@@カスカディア国人 its a joke
Lettuce I’m aware of that. I was contributing to the joke. You just don’t get it because you don’t know anything about Brezhnev like most people. My joke is that Brezhnev, who was leader so long and they even kept him in charge after he became senile, that he should be on the list too.
Jonny Joney that wouldn’t be interesting
You should've mentioned that time de Gaulle said "Vive le Québec libre!" in Montréal.
The most misinterpreted statement ever uttered in Canada
@@lajya01 no he wanted Québec to become a country back then
@@MC-mn6bj De Gaulle saw France occupied by foreign fascism. He was just glad Qc never had to experience that during the last 2 WW.
@@lajya01 probably the most annoying statement ever uttered in Canada (to Anglophone Canadians) I would hazard.
Correction: Invasion of Russia happened in 1812 not in 1814.
Correct - that's why it's the "1812 Overture", not the 1814 overture
And apparently, the Russians call that war the "Patriotic War of 1812" (as opposed to the plain "War of 1812" which took place the same year in North America).
only one correction?
1814 was opposite of France invading.
1814 was the same year the Army of Bohemia and the Army of Silesia crossed the Rhine into France
@@seneca983 Though both wars are connected. Since the American reason for declaring war on Britain was the British naval blockade of France and pressganging American sailors trying to smuggle support to Napoleon.
>Mfw I realize CGP Grey's video on the English royal family/history counts as Regnal Chronology video.
James
James
James
James
*MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS*
James
Meanwhile, in Singapore:
Literally 3 people
Wait what?
I was very confused about the Capet part until I remembered that the Valois and Bourbons were technically branches of the Capet family, and that's really where their legitimacy came from.
Nah the bourbons are descended from Henri IV who was king of navarre.
@@evanoscherwitz1461 and valois, henry y was the little nephew of François 1er.
@@evanoscherwitz1461 The Valois branch and the Bourbons branch are all descendants of Hugue Capet First king of the Capet dynasty and they were all Kings of Upper Navarre,
@@linefrenette9116 bah alors c’est clair que j’écoutais pas en cours d’histoire mdr
@@evanoscherwitz1434 As tu déjà entendu parler des Rois Maudits écrit par Maurice Druon ? Fait aussi des recherches sur la Guerre des cent ans entre la France et L'Angleterre.
I've been wanting to read about French history and it's leaders but never got around to it so I'm happy you made this video to give me a jump start. I had no idea how unstable France was for pretty much it entire history
Oh and Russia has a pretty complicated history I would love for you to cover
France is one of the most stable country in all History. During 1000 years, there were only one dynasty.
@@samsara450 Even geographically France kept almost the exact same borders for so long.
Each country has its own degree of political volatility. France is actually among the more stable ones, as counter intuitive as it may sound. Pick a country at random, and start looking at the details. You'll see endless streams of manipulation, blackmail, backstabbing, power grab, succession feuds, coups, riots, revolts, insurrections and even, revolutions. The world is basically Game of Thrones on steroids, non stop 🙃.
@@samsara450 it’s modern history is more chaotic tho
I know this is an old comment but check out the documentary on France on the Channel Fire of Learning.
It's worth noting that the Merovingian Kings never had much power to begin with. The real power was with the Mayor of the Palace (Majordomo), which is what the Carolingians began as.
Yes and no, the mayor of palace didnt exist in the beginning of merovingian dynasti.
Well, this is gonna get Quebec talking.
@@3bydacreekside lol they would be drinking Pepsi not beer 😂
@@the_wandering_one I prefer weed. Ignorant serf.
@@justwannabehappy6735 lol
not giving Louis XIV a shout out is tragic imo, so much impact even until today
I spotted a Breton flag in the background :D That's awsome
real fans know this vid was originally called “french rulers”
You people are the greatest heroes of them all.
I almost revolted last weekend when I went to the beach and realized I wouldn't be able to watch last week's video upon its release. But I'm glad I didn't go this weekend and "miss" this video: never knew how crazy French politics actually was before now.
Except no one cares about Andorra.
But it would be nice of someone got elected to be President of France, and they tell their daughter that they are a Princess now.
they are still crazy
I can't complain that you not finishing your leader of every country in the world series when all the videos you make are this good anyway! (that's how I'm sneaking my complaint into this compliment)
First , oversimplified then the infografhics show and now you . The French Revolution spirit is now in everyone
J.J, please continue with the leaders of the world in alphabetical order, they were really good episodes
When I hear Charles de Gaulle, I think the airport LOL
Marie Antoinette: let them eat cake
The French people: I’m about to end this whole woman’s career
The French people love their Queen. It was only the revolutionary (who were all member of the bourgeoisie) who killed the royal family.
legend !
@@samsara450 . They love her at the begining only!
@@emiriebois2428 I hope your not French to say some mistakes like that.
@@samsara450 . Talk about the most important thing about. You lie! Do you need to be french to know french history
Thanks for your work...this is quite a complex subject...your format and explanation gives it a good amount of clarity.
12:43 "and of course today, Emmanuel Macron"
*French People grab yellow vests*
"Wouldn't be France without a sprinkle of insurrection"🤣
I’d love to see a video about Russia! I think that you can discuss how the authoritarian mindset is being created by analyzing our history.
Btw, this one was very educational! I finally understood the whole picture of the french history! Thank you
Ok, so in my notifications, this video was titled, "French Rulers", And I actually thought he had made a video on French measuring sticks.
_"after the fall of the Roman Empire, the Franks organised themselves" ..._
O U C H
Don't do this to me! I am sensitive about history!
I hate thunder blunders about as much as scratching a blackboard with something sharper than chalk!
1) The Roman Empire did not fall over night. Nor even over just a few years. One can argue it took from AD 410 when Roman Legions left England to 1918 in the aftermath of the First World War matching a Western Emperor Francis Joseph and his successor Karl against an Eastern Emperor Nicolas II.
2) Roman power deteriorated over Gaul before the Franks arrived.
Visigoths, Burgundians, Bretons coming from Cornwall to Brittany all took chunks and had more or less easy or uneasy relations with an actual Roman official, Syagrius, based around Central France.
Together they fought off Attila.
The Franks came as conquerors, and had established themselves outside the limes, North and North-East of Gaul and of the province Germania. They took the chunk of Syagrius after 20 years protracted battle.
3) Once they were in power, which cost Clovis I a Catholic baptism and involved him conquering Burgundian and Visigothic entities North of Pyrenees as new protector of Romans, they extended both in and outside modern France, notably in most if not all of Belgium, Luxemburg and Netherlands, as well as Western parts of Germany, where they were expanding East.
4) After Clovis, the division in Neustria, Austrasia and other entities was not an organisation but a disorganisation, treating royal power as a personal property and therefore as a heirloom to be potentially divided among heirs.
5) Francia was not Neustria, but all of the kingdom or budding Empire (heir of West Rome in 800 AD). Francia was all of it, including whatever of Germany was involved up to Charlemagne, that including Bavarian Duchy from which he separated an Ostmark now known as Austria.
Yes, I think that basically sums up the faults in that comment as well as in the map.
2:36 Plus, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were not decadent.
Previous king, Louis XV had been so and even more the regent while Louis XV was a minor (his father and grandfather having died before Louis XIV, he was very young when succeeding him and had a recency).
Point in case, Louis XV was so decadent that he allowed his mistress Madame Pompadour to bully him into expelling the Jesuits and into asking the Popes or pressuring the Popes for dissolution of the order.
Other point in case, Regency and Louis XV was arguably, as most Pagan period (prior to Revolution), the _worst_ one for black slaves in Louisiana and certain island colonies (Québec never had legal or as far as I known any other slavery, any more than France itself).
greece is a great country for such a video because it as well has gone through a complicated past (i would suggest starting from byzantium rather than the modern state of greece as it's very young in the context of states such as england, france and spain, also it would make the video longer and more interesting)
5:53 Napoleon's invasion of Russia was at 1812, not 1814.
Thanks JJ almost went outside but then I got your notification Life saver!
Whew, glad you dodged THAT bullet!
@7:50 omg.. I needed that laugh today. Of course he did! It wasn’t just a chuckle - my neighbor had to text me to ask if I was okay.
Great breakdown! I never could get my head around the French Revolution and all the republics. Thank you for this, I'm sure it must have taken a lot of research.
Hahaha J.J. laughing when he mentions the chaos of the Third Republic
I'd really like to see you make a video like this on the various monarchs and prime ministers of the UK.
You did one like this for Canada, but now you should go through every president of America.
Great video! Awesome detail on post revolution France. I would definitely be interested in something with a focus on Capet dynasty and their cadet branches Valois, and Bourbon. Thanks!
JJ, you literally just summarized all I knew from a whole ass year of French history
8:11 _"after leading France into a disastrous war with neighbouring Prussia"_
Who led two nations into that war is disputed. Some would say that Bismarck truncating the Ems telegram was responsible for the Franco-Prussian war. Anyway, Napoleon III lost it.
Napoleon III could´ve ignored the provocations of Bismark but instead he decided to declair war beacause of the pressure from the French public.
wait,@@mitonaarea5856 , as I recall it, Bismarck arranged a faking of a telegram from Napoleon III, one which made the King of Prussia declare war against France.
I'd just bring a little precision here, the capet family didn't actually run the country until the revolution; at first, they ran out of male heir that weren't english kings, so they put a cousin at the head of the country, which was Philippe the 6th from the house of Valois.
So after the Capet dynasty, there was the Valois dynasty, which was once again replaced by a cousin later with Henry the 4th and th Bourbon dynasty.
So the late kings of france (Louis the 16th, Louis the 18th) that you talk about are refered as Bourbon, not as Capet
oh my goodness, there's so much that is just wrong about this video and the first of it is the concept regnal chronology BS. Presenting it this way seems to say no king had any constraints. NO social, economical, religious, political concern come from the population the origin of it all comes from the king. Obviously that is just stupid.
Then we move on to the inexactitude of the information presented.
1:17 The Merovingian Dynasty officially starts with Merovee not Claudion who's likely to be more legendary than anything else. But regardless Clovis was the first king so you should start with him if you want to talk about regnal Sh*t, regnal meaning kingly. That might seems petty but it shows how little work has been made to do this video.
1:05 you change Neustria name to Francia wink wink that is France. Well no it isn't, not even close. Clovis was king alright but king of the Franks, the Franks being the warrior/ ruling class. Heck, the concept of country or nation didn't exist at the time. Land was seen the way we see money on a bank account today. It was divided between the heirs, it was simply a propriety.
the concept of France/ Francia came in the XIII century 700 years after Clovis.
1:39 the Carolingian where mayors of the palace a position so important that they were de facto king of the franks for several generations, the pope intervention came after the fact to legitimate the action not enact it.
well I am two minutes in and no one is going to bother reading it so I'll stop with all the oversimplification borderline falsehood of the video. However just in case someone bother I'll have to mention the worst part of the video
3:08 until 3:17 he describe the first republic accurately with a sarcastic tone. Consensus based decision isn't it democracy?
The first republic was the first effective western democracy nothing to be sarcastic about.
Now let's talk about the reign of terror failing to mention that France is on the brink to civil war while being invaded by a coalition of the rest of Europe. 17 000 people have been guillotine but all of them had a trial, notice I didn't say fair, nevertheless the rule of law was applied and it wasn't totally arbitrary. To quote Robespierre himself "The government in a revolution is the despotism of liberty against tyranny."
Thanks for the info
Would be nice to see you make a video of your own hahaha
Finally someone who talks about France without going down the "Robespierre bad, direct democracy bad" route
one correction, it was after Napoleon lost at the Battle of Leipzig was when he was asked to step down and then sent to Elba
then he came back and France had the 100 days, he lost waterloo and then was exiled to Helena
J.J. your videos are always incredibly informative. Whenever your videos appear in my subscriptions I become ecstatic. Thank you for doing what you do and creating these fun, educational videos for us to learn and become just a little bit more informed.
Kyle Griffin thank you so much my friend. What grade are you in?
You simplify the vast and chaotic history of France so well! I always love your historical videos
I love this video! Post Reign of Terror and pre-WWII France was a real blind spot for me. I would love to learn more about other important blind spots like this! I wonder who led the United States during the Articles of Confederation days?
Hunter Kauffman I made a video about that!
@@JJMcCullough where!
This brought back a lot of bad memories from my Western Civ class in college. Thanks a lot. I watched the whole thing anyway.
Amazing!! Congratulations, you should do videos like this with other countries!!
Great video! While you are correct that there was no one single leader fo France during the Revolution, I would say that many historians accept the following people as the most influential figures (and hence de-facto leaders) in their respective years:
1791-1793: Jacques Pierre Brissot, de-facto leader of the Girondins in the Legislative Assembly and later National Convent.
1793-1793 (from about May to August): Georges Danton, most influential leader of the Jacobins in the National Convent (and also Committee for Public Safety). Somewhat sidelined as the Jacobin leader by August 1793.
1793-1794: Maximilien Robespierre, de-facto leader of the Committee of Public Safety and also the Jacobins in general, responsible for executing his predecessors Louis XVI, Brissot, and Danton. Eventually arrested and executed himself in 1794.
1794-1795: Jean-Lambert Tallien, most prominent leader of the Thermidorian Reaction, whose largely shared whatever power he had with his anti-Robespierre co-conspirators.
1795-1799: Paul Barras, a co-conspirator of Tallien, who became the most influential member of the newly established Directory regime. His rule was nowhere near as absolute as that of Robespierre and he had to share power with other Directory Members.
1799-1814: Napoleon Bonaparte, initially Provisional Consul of France, then First Consul, and finally Emperor (as Napoleon I) overthrew the “decadent” Directory in alliance with Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes, who was hoping to take power himself but was ultimately sidelined by Bonaparte, who quickly concentrated power in his own hands owing in part to his popularity as a victorious general.
This was fantastic. I really appreciate the work you put into this. Would love to see another regnal chronology of another European country... Sweden? Italy? Belgium? Any would be good!
Every leader of France, EVER *skips 90% of them*
He for example skipe the time we had 3 different prime minister in a day.
Interesting. The current French presidency is often called a "elected monarch."
It almost seems like France was much more stable under the old Monarchies
It's true. We must be ruled by a King one more time.
Regnal chronology is a serious illness and I don't appreciate you taking it lightly
What do you mean?
@@haiironosora9714 It's a joke. Regnal kind of sounds like renal. So regnal chronology sounds a little like a disorder or disease.
@@candacen7779 LOL! It's just as funny seeing you trying to explain the joke tbh!! :-D
France: our political history is insane. Italy : hold my wine.
I'm going to France in August with my family
bring me back a yellow vest please
I'll try
But I am also going to Scotland,England. And Ireland
so?
Do every leader Australia has ever had.
Great video ( I just found one mistake: Valéry is first name, not giscard. So his full name is Valéry Giscard D’Estaing )
I think it's also necessary to point out that during Charles de Gaulle's trip to Canada in 1967 he made a public statement in Montreal that showed favourable attitude towards the Quebec Sovereignty movement, which was a big diplomatic and political problem because that was when a paramilitary group (or terrorist group) called the Front de Libération du Québec was still kicking and since then de Gaulle wasn't very much well liked in the rest of Canada.
Hey JJ. Love your videos (and especially the SMW sound bytes). Miss your mustache lol
This guy makes every video like a high school cool kid doing a presentation about some random topic he doesn’t care about
JJ video pops up,
Instant click
This video was really great.
It would be awesome if you could do such a video about Germany since the German history had many overlaps with the French history and is really interesting.
History is just way more interesting when the story is told in your style.
J.J., you must be a fanboy of Charles de Gaulle, he was the one who said "Vive le Québec libre!" during a public speech from a balcony in Montréal.
Great vid can you do ways to get into canada from borders next?
When you study closely, history is basically a giant ripple effect. Major events building off of other events.
*hopes JJ will be sponsored by VANS*
Amelia Doubleyou me too! Vans, I love you!
Ça vanne ?
I'm a proud american, and I admire the French people and their history of holding their leaders feet to the fire. There is a somewhat popular notion that they are weak or "pussies" or whatever but they are clearly one of the most active and powerful populous in the 1st world. I wish my fellow citizens had as strong a grasp of our governments "short and curlies " as the people of France.
Oooo! Yeah you should do Russia!
It would be really awesome if you make a series on this topic with other countries too! Loved it
JJ.MC CULLOUGH
ENGLAND is the most beautiful success of French colonization.
William the Conqueror in 1066 😁😁😁 * * *
Incredibly accurate and concise summary!
Agree the chaotic many changes of government in France tells a lot about our country...
I remember learning about these rulers at school, but forgot much of the details since. This is one of the most helpful and dynamic educational videos about France!
Great job JJ, (almost) making it up for our differences over Quebec 😅😍
A French subscriber from Paris!
Putin le vent qu'il t'a mis !!!! 3ans
what bout the bourbon and valois families?
they were cousin of the capet
@@ulricmorningstar3524 They are Capet !
Wow, that painting of Napoleon at 5:08 sure is flattering! Guess a lot of artistic liberties were taken by that particular artist, since we don’t exactly remember Napoleon for his dashing good looks today.
WRONG
EMPEROR NAPOLEON, WAS EMPEROR OF THE FRENCH (PEOPLE)
HE WAS NEVER EMPEROR OF FRANCE
THIS IS SO WRONG. HOW DARE YOU!!!
LOUIS XVII chill Louis
Bro you didn't even reign.
I had to read this in a French accent
Did you just make an account to make this? If so, sad.
Yo losers. He's obviously joking.
When the French lost the battle of Waterloo, Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled by the British to St Helena.
being a french student and a francophile I cringe every time you anglicize their word pronunciation but it’s OKAY it’s fine i’m fine everything is fine
Being a french guy, I wish anglos would at least try to pronounce french words instead of reading them as if they were english 😔
Giscard d'Estaing is the major victim in this video
@@snowcold5932 Bruh, J.J. the guy who unironicially thinks French should not be an official language in Canada.
I really admire the amount of effort you put into the research here!
holy shit watched the video 2 minutes after it released
The state of this guys hair
This might be long but what about doing Greece?
If France isn't in some form of unrest something is either horribly wrong or they are in a golden age.
Can you do a Video about Germany?
This is my favorite video of yours. That’s really saying something because I loved the Philippines history vid, and the speeches video
French monarchy: *exists*
Some choppy boi: *I'm about to end this man's career*
The problem with Parliaments is not that people just want to do whatever they want, a lot of these "strongmen" are willing to compromise, but the problem that partisan parliaments devolve quickly into shouting matches where the "opposition" is more interested in coming up with things to accuse the ruling party of than actually working with the ruling party to achieve better outcomes for people.
That's why time and again every time a parliamentary system is implemented it becomes inefficient, corrupt and ultimately falls at the hands of a populist uprising sooner or later.
We need a better system where those who win and those who didn't win are all expected to work together
you should definitely do south korea. it is much more interesting than the north because it has more than 3 people to talk about.
I like how he says "about" and "around"
-an American who loves his syrup brothers to the north lol
russian empire
india!!!! (rlly good)
china
british empire
italy
japan
India would be really hard as it never had one centralized monarch for big periods of its history, only the Guptas, Mauryas, Mughals, and the British.
@@jadenstar1038 . The Modern India as a united country is a Brits invention, before this it was a collection of states just like Europe today
You haven't done an every world leader video in over half a year. Let it continue!
United Kingdom. Or China.
Fun fact: The Exeutive Directory is basicly how the swiss federal council works today.
Great job... but you literally reviewed 1000 years of French history in about 10 seconds - The capetians dynasty provided with some of the greatests leader & gave birth to the houses of Valois, the Orleans, the Bourbons etc. each one with very differents reigning systems and political regimes, from feodal, to modern monarchy and to absolutism.
You glided over Valois, and then and then Valois-Orléans, and then Valois-Orléans-Angoulême.
Next up, can you do every President of Ireland and every Taoiseach (Irish PM)?
1. That list would be rather short compared to the video here. Ireland relatively recently is an independent country.
2. Irish presidents really aren't that powerful, or meaningful
An Irish history video might be a good idea. For centuries Ireland's geographical position has made it of strategic interest to many European powers at one point or another, even though she herself has not been a powerful country. You'd need to start before the English ever set foot in Ireland and cover a lot of history shared with the British, before you could meaningfully get to Irish prime ministers and presidents though! :-)
It would be cool if he talked about Gaelic Ireland
French politicians: Lets make a new government!
French people: Cowabunga it is
RUSSIA!
Though I'd like to see you take a crack at some of the more unusual history of governments, like Switzerland or Austria-Hungary.
San Marino
I am such a fan of your French prononciation XD
Pompidou and Giscarg d'Estaing were the one to kill me