Table of Contents Title Page Dedication Praise Acknowledgements INTRODUCTION ONE - Beginnings: Caesar to the Capetians TWO - A Golden Age: Abelard to Philippe-Auguste THREE - Middle Ages: “Saint-Louis” to Philippe le Bel FOUR - The Second “100 Years’ War”: France Survives and Joins the Renaissance FIVE - Henri II’s Succession: The Wars of Religion SIX - Henri IV: Good Sense and Good Taste SEVEN - Louis XIII: Richelieu to the Fronde EIGHT - The Age of Louis XIV NINE - Louis XV: Towards the Deluge TEN - The Great Revolution ELEVEN - The Age of Napoleon TWELVE - Restoration and Revolt THIRTEEN - Empire and Siege FOURTEEN - The Belle Epoque and the Road to War FIFTEEN - The Great War and Versailles SIXTEEN - Years of Illusion SEVENTEEN - The Darkest Years EIGHTEEN - After the Liberation NINETEEN - The General’s Republic TWENTY - Another New Start: Pompidou to Mitterrand ENDNOTES SOURCE NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY PHOTO INSERT About the Author ALSO BY ALISTAIR HORNE Copyright Page For Bobbie Richards—without whose unstinting support, over many years, nothing would ever be written PRAISE FOR ALISTAIR HORNE AND La Belle France “How much happier life would be if one could read books as riveting as Alistair Horne’s . . . every week of the year. Horne has a masterful way of infusing grand historical themes with rich narrative detail.” —Francine du Plessix Gray “Horne [is] one of the most graceful and satisfying of historians.” —Milwaukee Journal Sentinel “The writing is sharp, the pace terrific and hardly a page turns without leaving a memorable detail or telling phrase to savour. Horne in top form is not to be missed. A full-throated wonderfully readable chronicle.” —The Independent (London) “A fluid, graceful, deliberate prose stylist. . . . Horne’s purpose is not to be encyclopedic but to paint a portrait, and this he does surpassingly well.” —The Washington Post Book World “This is the history of France one has always wanted—erudite, affectionate, vastly entertaining and carried along with Tolstoyan sweep as all the characters leap to life.” —The Daily Telegraph (London) “Horne [possesses] broad erudition and [an] intense feel for French history.” —The Washington Times