France

What made for a good medieval king? Understanding Richard I – better known as Richard the Lionheart – is a good place to start.

Low birth rates have obsessed the French since their defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, argues Richard Tomlinson.

The activities and success of the Resistance movement in France from 1940-1944 is examined by Roderick Kedward.

In the world today, a nation's financial collapse can threaten its political and social stability. It was the same in France in 1789, explains Peter Burley.

Daniel Bertaux presents an oral history of a traditional French industry.

Douglas Johnson asks what political or military intrigues lay behind the sudden recall to power, twenty-five years ago this month, of Charles de Gaulle, the wartime leader of the Free French.

Patriotism, propaganda, profit - Anthony Tuck finds that these were the motives that led Englishmen to fight in France.

'To sum up all, poverty, slavery and innate insolence, covered with an affectation of politeness, give you... a true picture of the manners of the whole nation' was Hogarth's opinion of the French in 1749, explains Michael Duffy.