France Première History-Geography
Chapters: 8
1. History 1: Europe and revolutions
French Revolution and Empire: a new idea of nation · Europe between restoration and revolution
- The Rise of Nationalism in Europe – Before 1789, Europe was split into many kingdoms and people were loyal to a king. The French Revolution said power belongs to the people, who form one nation. Napoleon spread equal laws. After 1815 kings came back, but liberals, romantic writers and hungry common people pushed for nation-states in 1830 and 1848. Germany (1871) and Italy (1861) were built by joining many small states. Nations were shown as women figures like Marianne and Germania. By 1914, nationalism mixed with imperial rivalry, and the Balkans tension led to the First World War.
2. History 2: France in the Europe of nations 1848–1871
Second Republic and Second Empire · Industrialisation · New states through war and diplomacy (Italy, Germany)
- Suffrage: Winning the Right to Vote – Suffrage is the right to vote. In the early 1800s most countries let only rich men vote (census or property suffrage). Step by step the limits fell. France brought in universal male suffrage in 1848 (and ended slavery the same year), but the Second Republic soon gave way to Napoleon III's Second Empire, which kept the vote but controlled it. From the late 1800s women's movements (suffragists and suffragettes) campaigned for the vote: New Zealand was first in 1893, many countries followed after 1918, France in 1944 and India gave all adults the vote from 1950. Universal adult suffrage means one person, one vote, in secret, for every adult citizen.
- The Age of Industrialisation – Before factories, merchants gave raw material to peasant families who spun and wove at home (proto-industrialisation). From the 1760s Britain built cotton mills, machines like the spinning jenny and James Watt's improved steam engine. Change was slow: hand labour stayed cheap and common. In India, weavers once supplied world markets; the East India Company controlled them through gomasthas, and Manchester cloth later flooded India. From 1854 Indian mills grew in Bombay and elsewhere, and small workshops also grew. Makers sold goods through labels, calendars and adverts, and swadeshi adverts appealed to national pride.
- The Rise of Nationalism in Europe – Before 1789, Europe was split into many kingdoms and people were loyal to a king. The French Revolution said power belongs to the people, who form one nation. Napoleon spread equal laws. After 1815 kings came back, but liberals, romantic writers and hungry common people pushed for nation-states in 1830 and 1848. Germany (1871) and Italy (1861) were built by joining many small states. Nations were shown as women figures like Marianne and Germania. By 1914, nationalism mixed with imperial rivalry, and the Balkans tension led to the First World War.
3. History 3: Third Republic before 1914
Building the republican project · Continuity and change in French society · France and its colonies
- The Third Republic of France (1870-1914) – The Third Republic began in 1870 when the emperor fell, and was made firm by the laws of 1875. It brought freedom of the press, meeting and unions, free, compulsory and secular schools (1881-82), and in 1905 it separated the Churches from the State. The Dreyfus affair split the country, and women still could not vote until 1944.
- Social Change and Social Order in Villages and Cities – Social change means a big, lasting change in how society is organised. It can be slow (evolutionary) or sudden (revolutionary), and it can change structures, ideas or values. It is caused by the environment, technology and the economy, politics and culture. Social order is the other side: the way society keeps itself steady through shared values, domination, authority and law. Order is always challenged by contest, crime and violence. Villages, towns and cities differ in size, density and work, and each changes in its own way.
- Imperialism: Why Empires Grew and How People Resisted – Imperialism is when a powerful state takes control over other lands and peoples, by war, treaties or money. Colonialism is one form: ruling a colony directly. Between about 1870 and 1914 ('New Imperialism') industrial powers raced for colonies in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. They wanted raw materials, markets, places to invest, ports and prestige, and excused it with racist ideas. Control grew from trading posts to unequal treaties to full colonies. The colonies were drained: raw materials left cheap, factory goods came back, local industry fell. People resisted with revolts, reforms and mass movements, and most colonies were free by the 1970s. The borders and inequalities left behind still shape the world.
4. History 4: WWI and the end of empires
A global war and its stages · Societies at war · Leaving the war: building a new order
- World War I (1914–1918): Causes, Course and Consequences – World War I was fought from 1914 to 1918 between the Allies (France, Britain, Russia, later Italy, the USA and others) and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria). Four long-term causes built tension: militarism, alliances, imperialism and nationalism (MAIN). The spark was the killing of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. On the Western Front the war became a stalemate of trenches; new weapons made it very deadly. It was a total war: whole economies, women workers and colonies were mobilised, including about 1.3 million Indians. Russia left after its 1917 revolution, the USA joined in 1917, and fighting stopped with the armistice of 11 November 1918. The peace treaties of 1919–1920, including Versailles, redrew Europe, ended four empires, created the League of Nations and left anger that helped cause World War II.
5. Geography 1: metropolisation
Cities and metropolisation · Unequal, changing metropolises
- Urbanisation: Why Cities Grow and How to Make Them Work – Urbanisation is the rise in the share of a country's or the world's people who live in towns and cities. In 1950 about 30% of the world was urban; since 2007 more than half is, and about 68% is expected by 2050. Cities grow by rural–urban migration (push factors from the countryside, pull factors to the city) and by natural increase. Today the fastest growth is in lower-income and newly emerging countries of Asia and Africa, where megacities of 10 million or more are forming; in many rich countries growth is slow and people also move out to suburbs (suburbanisation and counter-urbanisation). Fast growth brings opportunities (jobs, services) and problems (informal housing, traffic, pollution, waste, flooding, the urban heat island). Sustainable urban development tries to fix these with public transport, green spaces, clean water, recycling, affordable housing and renewable energy.
6. Geography 2: spaces and actors of production
Production spaces worldwide · Coastal and metropolitan production, flows
- Economic Geography: Where Things Are Made and How They Move – Economic geography studies where people produce, trade and consume, and why. Work is grouped into sectors: primary (farming, fishing, mining), secondary (factories, building) and tertiary (shops, transport, banks, software, tourism); a quaternary sector of research and information is sometimes added. Firms choose places that cut costs and reach buyers: raw materials, energy, transport, workers, markets, government support and nature all matter. Most products are now made in global value chains, with steps spread over many places; value grows most at design, branding and sale. Multinational firms and public actors (states, regions, cities) shape these spaces. Goods move in containers and trucks, while money, data and ideas flow through cables. Production crowds into big cities (metropolises) and coasts, and places compete to attract firms. Old industrial regions restructure, sometimes shrinking and sometimes turning to new industries and services.
7. Geography 3: rural spaces
Fragmentation of rural spaces · Changing rural areas
- Rural Geography: How Countryside Areas Live and Change – Rural areas have few people per square kilometre, lots of open land and small settlements. Farming shaped them, but machines mean fewer farm jobs. Today rural land has many uses: homes for commuters, tourism, nature protection and energy. Areas near cities often grow (the rural-urban fringe), while remote areas may lose people and services. Farmers, residents, local councils and businesses all want different things, so land-use planning sets rules.
8. Geography 4: China’s spatial change
Development, inequality and opening up
- Development Geography: Why Places Are Rich or Poor – Development means people living better lives: more income, better health, more schooling and more freedom. We measure it with indicators such as GNI per person, life expectancy and years at school, and with the Human Development Index (HDI, 0 to 1), which joins all three. Development is uneven: rich cores and poorer peripheries exist between world regions and inside one country. Where rich and poor areas touch, there are strong contrasts and flows of workers, goods, factories and money, with both good and bad effects. There is no single model of development: countries have grown through export factories, services, or mines and farming, each with risks.