The History of France, Vol. 1 (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The History of France, Vol. 1<br><br>Many years ago, when I first began to read history, I was surprised as well as disappointed in not being able to find in our English literature a good general history of France. As I did not then understand the French language, my curiosity was forced to satisfy itself with imperfect compilations and abridgments.<br><br>This deficiency seemed the more remarkable to me, as I discerned at a glance that no nation in Europe had been more intimately connected with the whole course of European civilization than the Gallic nation. Descended from a peculiar and lively race, which was among the first of the western races to submit to the Roman yoke and to appropriate the Roman culture, it had ever taken a leading and active part in the great movements which shaped and controlled the destiny of historic mankind. It was on the soil of Gaul, as a kind of middle or debatable ground, that the most stupendous struggles took place between Romanic and Germanic influences; there that the only durable barbaric monarchy was established after the great invasions; there that feudalism flourished in its most splendid as well as wretched forms; and there that royalty, aristocracy, and democracy, wrestling with each other for centuries, alternately achieved the most brilliant successes and experienced the most disastrous defeats.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.