The French

Résumé

This work discusses how a key historical characteristic of the French is a tendency to riot, which emerged from the trauma associated with the Hundred Years' War, the Black Death, in which France lost about 70 percent of its population, and the French Revolution. It then details how, the French built myths about the ideals that supposedly drove them in the Revolution, although in fact the main driving force was a struggle over prestige and power, and how the French then used these myths to lead Europe conceptually and strategically for a brief historical moment under Napoleon Bonaparte. This work then recounts how, in 1871, a democratic system of government was instituted in France, but it was not due to a desire for such a system on the part of the masses; rather, it was imposed on them by Bismarck, who wanted to weaken France. This work also note how the national identity that evolved in France was lost with the outbreak of World War II, and the solution to this collapse of national identity was found in the establishment of the European Union.