The ancient culture of the Celts had settled in many European countries including France

Charlemagne rules as King of the Franks and is crowned as Holy Roman Emperor

Hugh Capet founds the Capetian dynasty

William, Duke of Normandy, invades England and wins the Battle of Hastings defeating King Harold

First Crusade ( The People's Crusade). Jerusalem is re-taken from the Muslims on the urging of Pope Urban II. 1st Crusade led by Count Raymond IV of Toulouse and proclaimed by many wandering preachers, notably Peter the Hermit

The Knights Templar founded to protect Jerusalem and European pilgrims on their journey to the city

Second Crusade led by Holy Roman Emperor Conrad III and by King Louis VII of France

Third Crusade 3rd Crusade led by Richard the Lionheart of England, Philip II of France, and Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I. Saladin manages to unite the Muslim world and recapture Jerusalem, sparking the fourth Crusade

Fourth Crusade and the French/Flemish advanced on Constantinople but the Christians fail to recapture Jerusalem

The Children's Crusade led by a French peasant boy, Stephen of Cloyes

Other crusades follow including the eighth crusade led by Louis IX of France - but the armies still fail to capture Jerusalem

Hundred Years' War with England

The French are defeated at the Battle of Crecy

The Black Death ravages Europe for the first of many times. An estimated one third of the population is thought to have perished within the first year

The French are defeated at the Battle of Poitiers

Battle of Agincourt

Joan of Arc lifts the siege of Orleans for the Dauphin of France, enabling him to eventually be crowned at Reims

Capture, trial, and execution of Joan of Arc

The Medici family rises to prominence in Florence

The Hundred Years War ends. Calais is the only English possession on Continental Europe

Italian Wars- France and Austria fight over Italian lands

Francois I crowned French King

Jacques Cartier discovers the Great Lakes and the the St. Lawrence River

Reign of Henry II

Massacre of Protestants in Paris on St. Bartholomew's Eve by Catholics. 200,000 Huguenots fled France

Henri IV becomes 1st French Catholic Bourbon King

Samuel de Champlain set sail for Quebec from Honfleur, France following in the path of Jacques Cartier to the St Lawrence River and Tadoussac

Samuel de Champlain establishes the first successful New France Colony at Port Royal

Founding of Quebec

New France expansion into Canada under Louis de Frontenac

French power in Canada declines as the British capture Ft. Louisburg

Louis XIII crowned at the age of 17

Cardinal Richelieu becomes French principal minister

Louis XIV becomes king. Mazarin becomes French Prime Minister

Louis XV accedes the throne on 5 May 1789 King Louis XVI called a meeting of the Estates-General at Versailles to obtain support for new taxes sewing the seeds of the French Revolution as the nobles and church were not subject to taxes

The commoners declared themselves a National Assembly giving themselves the power to write a new French constitution

The Bastille stormed by the people of Paris

King Louis and Queen Marie-Antoinette are executed and a republic set up in France

Napoleon Bonaparte promoted to general during the war with Prussia and Austria

Napoleon seizes control of France and begins building a French empire

Napoleon defeated at Waterloo by the British and exiled. The Bourbons were returned to the French throne

Charles X becomes king

Charles X overthrown during the July Revolution of 1830

Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, a nephew of Napoleon, was elected to a four-year term as French president

Louis Napoleon Bonaparte seizes power

Louis Napoleon Bonaparte declares himself Emperor Napoleon III of France

France declares war on Prussia and Emperor Napoleon III is overthrown

World War I - Germany invades France

France and the United Kingdom declare war on Germany starting World War 2

German troops enter Paris

Allied troops regain Paris and Charles De Gaulle becomes head of a provisional French government

The United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Morocco and Tunisia granted their independence from France

Algeria becomes independent