The Gauls first major enemies were the Greeks, the Greeks had established colonies in southern France, and as the Gauls expanded their territory, they met up with the Greeks. The Gauls and the Greeks had several small skirmishes, but nothing too serious.
The Gaul's real enemies came when Rome established their republic in Italy. The Gauls, lead by their famous general Brennus, crossed the Alps, came down into Italy, and attacked Rome. The Romans tried to fight, but the Gauls defeated them again and again. The Gauls retreated when they ran low on supplies and the Romans were hiding out in the citadel where the Gauls couldn't reach them. This happened in C. 300 B.C.
The Romans got their revenge when Consul Gaius Julius Caesar invaded Gaul in 52 B.C. The Gauls were defeated and under Roman control at last.
Gaul stayed in Roman control until C. 420 A.D., when a German tribe called the Franks defeated the Romans and took control of Gaul, which was then christened France by the Franks.
In that time, France was split in two parts, the northern Franks, and the southern Franks. In 486 A.D., Clovis, king of the northern Franks, defeated Syagrius, the king of the southern Franks and became emperor of united France.
In 686 A.D., one of Clovis's successors, Charles Martel, saved France and all of Europe from the Muslims, who were invading France. The Muslim army and the Frankish army met near Poitiers, the Muslims were defeated, and Europe was saved.
Charles Martel's son Pepin was a short, yet ambitious man. We know him as Pepin the short. Pepin expanded the Frankish territory in France, Germany, and Italy. The Frankish empire had never before been so large and grand. But the Frankish king people remember best was Pepin's son Charles. This Charles defeated the invading Goths, Saxons, Angles, Lombards, and Muslims. He expanded Frankish territory so much, and defeated his enemies so many times, he became know as Charles the great. In French, Charlemagne. 7(pg. 2) In the middle ages, France was under control of the feudal system, a deal where the peasants worked the land and gave 50% of their crops to their baron or noble. In exchange, the noble fed the peasants in times of starvation, gave them a small farm in which to grow crops in, and protected them when enemies attacked. France stayed under the feudal system until the end of the middle ages. Soon after, in 1789, the French revolution erupted. Then, in 1799, Napoleon made his assent to power.
When Napoleon was gone, France was involved in endless wars and battles. All this fighting stopped in the early 1900's, only to start again in 1914 in the form of World War 1. Soon after that, in 1939, World War 2 started. After WW2, France settled down from all their fighting and became the country that they still are today.
