A History of France Paperback – October 4, 2019

Simon Sebag Montefiore, himself one of the masters of narrative history, dubbed John Julius Norwich a true master of the art. And with good reason: his history of Venice and his stunning 3-volume history of the Byzantine Empire are exceptional in scope, knowledge, and erudition. Luckily for us, Norwich managed to complete his last stunning achievement; cramming a compulsively readable history of France from Julius Caesar to the end of World War 2 — in four hundred pages.Obviously he had to compress a lot of history but he manages this with assurance and aplomb. It’s all here: the Romans, the Merovingians, Capets, Valois, Bourbons, and the topsy turvy 19th Century and the nightmare World Wars. How does he do it? Everything important to twenty centuries of French history is touched upon, sometimes in detail, sometimes in bracing brevity. Inconsequential kings, rogues, and popes are dispensed with with no apology. As a mostly political history he concentrates on the truly significant with occasional swipes at personages once considered to be crucial. Louis-Philippe comes in for some deserved praise while Napoleon III does not, nor does the bizarre General Boulanger. Louis XI and Philip the fair are properly discussed; but, the reader is mercifully spared a lengthy chapter on Louis XIV. Norwich may deem Louis a great king, but I have to disagree. The arts were advanced but he set Louis XVI on his ride to the guillotine (with the ‘help’ of the execrable Louis XV).The discussion of the Franco-Prussian war is a model of concision and a Francophile can be forgiven disgust at the Prussian onslaught, the Commune, and the desecration of the Prussian king crowned Kaiser of Germany at Versailles.Norwich ends with the horrors of the wars with Germany starting in 1914 and 1939. After which: de Gaulle. More than anything this book is a loving homage to France, it is hard to put down, and it left this reader with overwhelming sadness that Sir John had not tackled the subject years before. At least we have this last book. Again, those interested in sublime histories should consider his histories of Venice and the utterly compelling story of the Byzantine Empire. Vale, Sir John. Thank you.

After watching the PBS series on Marie Antionette I realized I didn't know much about the history of France and found this book for a great price. I think this is a well-written book and very readable. My only complaint is the focus is almost exclusively on the country's leaders whether they were kings, emperors or presidents. I'm now more prepared to read about Marie Antionette and Napoleon. It's also a bit unfortunate that the book stops after World War II, but that's explained in the introduction. I'd suggest reading this book if you're interested in a solid overview.

An entertaining run through 2 millenia of French history by one of my favorite writers. Norwich never fails to disappoint in his sparkling writing and voluminous knowledge of history. I knew bits and pieces of French history, but his retelling in a concise book really brought all the parts of it together.The only negatives were a couple of mistakes. At one point he names the son of Henry VI as "Richard" when he was "Edward" - a small point since there were a lot of men with both names running around at the time and the boy never really did much before dying. The other was Norwich's laying the blame for syphilis at the feet of Christopher Columbus who supposedly brought it back from the Americas and the Native Americans. This reasoning has been around for a while but given that (from what I've read) American archaeologists have not found any Native American skeletons with the distinctive evidence of the disease, it is unlikely. In addition, recent archaeology has found skeletons in Anatolia buried in the 12th or 13th century that did have the damage distinctive of syphilis. It seems more likely to me that syphilis arrived either with the Seljuk Turks who were swarming over the Byzantine Empire at the time, or possibly from traders from other parts of Asia, or possibly even Africa. It is more a coincidence (rather than causation) that the disease began to cause serious problems in Europe at the same time as Columbus's explorations occurred.

Very detailed history of France. I was astonished to learn about the enormous number of wars after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, the number of battles with huge numbers of deaths during the Middle ages and the incredible casualties in WWI. The horrors inflicted by the French people on each other during the French Revolution is difficult to read. I would like to understand why the French fought so bravely in WWI and not in WWII. I have read elsewhere that Socialism was taking hold and the people were not willing to work hard or take risks, that they were competing with Germany with a 35 hour workweek against Germany's 50 hours. Moreover Germans were charged up about the punishment inflicted on Germany by the Allies in the Versailles Treaty. Contrast this with the success after WWII with a policy of building up Germany and Japan's economy and including them in defense treaties like NATO. The Marshall Plan is an example.