The French History Quiz

"Gaul" was the term for the enormous area that included much of present-day western Europe.

There was a long period of Roman invasion before Caesar finally got the job done around 50 B.C.E. The area was then part of the Roman Empire until 486 C.E.

Childeric I was the first of the Merovingian kings.

Charlemagne took the French throne in 768, and Pope Leo III made him the Holy Roman Emperor in 800.

Louis the German had the German areas (duh), and Charles the Bald took the Frankish areas.

The Vikings, otherwise known as "Northmen," called the area Normandy.

The Capetians reigned over the Ile-de-France.

William, duke of Normandy, invaded England and eventually bested King Harold at the Battle of Hastings. He then became the first Norman king of England, ending Anglo-Saxon reign.

The House of Valois finally won the war in 1453.

Joan of Arc successfully stopped the English siege of Orleans.

The Huguenots were followers of John Calvin.

Louis XIII established absolute monarchy, and his son Louis XIV took it to new heights during his long reign.

"Nickname" is probably too trite a word for it, but Louis XIV was also known as the Sun King.

And that is why we have Bastille Day.

The storming of the Bastille happened on July 14, 1789.

The Declaration of the Rights of Man is now considered an essential document in the history of human rights.

More than 30,000 French citizens were executed during the 10-month Reign of Terror, which started because of the ongoing conflict between the Girondins and Jacobins.

Army commander Napoleon Bonaparte installed himself as first consul of the republic in 1799 and stepped up to emperor five years later.

Napoleon abdicated in 1814 but escaped from exile the following year and came back to power. The British finally defeated him at Waterloo, Belgium, in 1815.

The Bourbons came back, with Louis XVIII taking the throne.

Germany declared war on France early in the day, and France responded in kind later on, thus setting World War I into motion.

Paris was freed from Nazi occupation on Aug. 25, 1944.

De Gaulle became the 18th president of France in 1958 and ruled until 1969.

The French have held plenty of colonies over the years, but Saudi Arabia was not one.

Edith Cresson was prime minister from 1991-92.

Mitterrand was president from 1981-95.

Hollande was the first Socialist president since Mitterrand.

A pair of brothers shot and killed 11 people in the Charlie Hebdo offices on Jan. 7, 2015.

One hundred thirty people were killed in suicide bombings and mass shootings across Paris on Nov. 13, 2015.