An Untold History of France in 100 Maps

100 maps for 100 moments that were, for our country — first during its formation, then throughout its development — decisive episodes, turning points, tipping points forming as many reference marks without which the past, with its continuities and its ruptures, cannot be understood.

The Battle of Alesia, the partition of Verdun, France of monasteries and cathedrals, the kingdom of Saint Louis, the rifts of the Wars of Religion, Vauban's fortified frontier, the Enlightenment, the Wars of the Vendée, Napoleon's France, the Revolution of 1830, the construction of the railway network in the 19th century, schools, urbanisation and regional languages in 1900, the Great War, its victims, the era of the colonies and French Algeria, decolonisation, the presidential elections of the Fifth Republic, May 68, the motorway network, the stages of European integration, the upheavals of the family model, recent military operations and the Yellow Vests crisis: so many subjects and so many maps, among many others, that Jean Sévillia comments upon with mastery and concision.

Combining the pleasure of reading with erudition, this first untold History of France in 100 maps makes it possible above all to understand the evolution of our country, to grasp its weaknesses and to appreciate its formidable riches.