page_title: Territorial evolution of France
section_title: Footnotes
hierarchical_section_title: Territorial evolution of France / Footnotes
context_page_description: The territory of the French State is spread throughout the world. Metropolitan France is that part which is in Europe.
  Occidental France, which arose from the Treaty of Verdun of 843, remained stable for many years. The first kings, the Capetians, were too much occupied with imposing their authority in their own realm to be expansionist. They deftly exploited dissent among their turbulent vassals, applying pressure on them and on the Church and towns. The great conflicts with the kings of England were important occasions for asserting royal power. The 13th century re-annexations of Normandy and of Languedoc to the French kingdom were two important stages in the unification of the kingdom.
  France soon lost the County of Barcelona, from the end of the 9th century. The crossing beyond Rhone, which for a long time remained the frontier, did not begin until the 14th century, with the purchase of the Dauphiné. Louis XI regained his inheritance of the two most powerful prerogatives granted to cadet branches of the dynasty: Burgundy and Anjou including Provence in the Holy Roman Empire.
context_section_description: Lorraine is the French name for Lotharingia, it was that part of Charlemagne's empire which was allocated to Middle Francia. Subsequent generations divided this again and again. France was the successor state of West Francia, while East Francia came to be represented by Germany. With the rise of the 19th century empires, the territory of Middle Francia became an article of contention between them. (For link to a map of the three Francias, see right of window.)
  He was the French king who met Henry VIII of England at the Field of the Cloth of Gold
  This fragmentation is shown in more detail in the Holy Roman Empire map (see right edge of window) but at high resolution it is slow.
  The fortress at Saarlouis was typical of those designed by Vauban. (see right of window for link to a plan) 
  For an example of these efforts, see Lines of Weissenburg.
  This made Napoleone di Buonaparte a Frenchman.
  See a little of the context. In these circumstances, in Britain, it was as blockade runners and smugglers that the chasse-marées came to wider notice than just among seamen, who already knew of them and their association with Breton fishing fleets.
  Alexandre Vuillemin's map of 1843 illustrates the state of development of the French borders after the Congress of Vienna. She then numbered 86 départements and possessed Alsace-Lorraine but no longer Savoy or Nice. (see right of window for link to an electronic copy)
  There is a detailed article in French.
  Solferino was the battle which inspired Henri Dunant to found the Red Cross
  The link at the right of the window is to a map of the County of Nice showing the area of the Kingdom of Sardinia annexed to France in 1860 (light brown) and to Italy (yellow). The maroon area was already part of France before 1860.
  Treaty of Versailles (1919) Article 27. See French Wikipedia, fr:Traité de Versailles (1919) (Traité de Versailles (1919): Remaniements territoriaux)
caption: Nice 1860