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|capital =Paris

|capital-raw =

|language =French

|king =

|president =Emmanuel Macron

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|chancellor =

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|pm-raw =

|area =260,558 sq mi

|pop =66,666,667 (2020)

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|gdp-year =

|gdp-pc =$41,250 (2020)

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:''For the impact on left-wing policies on France and the rest of Europe, see [[European migrant crisis]]''

==Geography==

*Total area: 674,843 km². (260,558 sq. mi.); largest Western European country, about the size of [[Texas]].

*Cities: Capital (and largest city)--[[Paris]]. Major cities--[[Marseille]], [[Lyon]], [[Toulouse]], [[Strasbourg]], [[Nice]], [[Rennes]], [[Lille]], [[Bordeaux]].

==History==

See: [[History of France]]

The "Vichy" government largely cooperated with the German Nazi regime, namely in the allocation of French resources and manpower, and the forceful deportations of tens of thousands of French [[Jews]] living in France to [[concentration camp]]s across Europe. France came under more complete German control following the German military occupation of November 1942 in response to saboteurs and resistance movements. Economically, a full one-half of France's public sector revenue was appropriated for the German war effort against the [[Soviet Union]].

The massacre at Oradour-sur-Glane on June 10, 1944, four days after the [[Normandy Invasion]] commenced, was committed by the SS Panzer Division Das Reich. The entire village, 642 people, men, women, children, and the elderly were killed, allegedly for harboring resistance fighters and to make an example for other villages. The village was burnt following the massacre. The village was not rebuilt and remains in the condition the Nazis left it as a memorial.<ref>https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/oradour-sur-glane</ref> 70 years later, the Ukrainian [[Azov Battalion]] notorious for [[war crimes]] and massacres of civilians in the [[Donbas]],<ref>http://www.indiandefencereview.com/what-forced-a-russian-response-in-ukraine/</ref> adopted the same Wolfsangel insignia of the SS Division Das Reich; the 5th Republic of "democratic Europe" supported the Azov Nazis with money, training and weapons.<ref>https://twitter.com/PhilippeMurer/status/1500086419477389318</ref>

==People==

The future of the French cultural exception is uncertain. On the positive side, the unexpected success of the Korean film industry should inspire European leaders.<ref>[https://worldpolicy.org/2014/11/03/france-ending-the-cultural-exception/ FRANCE: ENDING THE CULTURAL EXCEPTION], WorldPolicy.org</ref>}}

In 1996, the ''New York Times'' reported:

{{Cquote|The French Government, on a crusade to safeguard the country's culture from marauding forces of commercialism, has risen yet again to defend the national patrimony, setting up a foundation to involve the citizens directly in trying to protect some of the things that make France French.

Other religious groups include Evangelicals, Christian Scientists, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). Membership in evangelical churches is growing (with as many as 400,000 adherents, according to February 2007 press reports), including African-style "prosperity" churches, especially in the suburbs of Paris, in large part because of increased participation by African and Antillean immigrants. According to the press, there are approximately 31,000 Mormons. The Church of Scientology has an estimated 5,000 to 20,000 members.

==Government==

Traditionally, decision-making in France has been highly centralized, with each of France's departments headed by a prefect appointed by the central government. In 1982, the national government passed legislation to decentralize authority by giving a wide range of administrative and fiscal powers to local elected officials. In March 1986, regional councils were directly elected for the first time, and the process of decentralization continues, albeit at a slow pace.

===Principal Government Officials===

See [[List of French Presidents]].

*President—Emmanuel Macron

On May 19, 2022, during a visit to [[Romania]], Macron commented on NATO provocations against [[Transnistria]]: “The recent incidents in Transnistria show that we cannot exclude that the conflict will spread to neighboring countries," and that France “intends to keep a special eye on the regional security situation and any possible encroachment on [[Moldova]]’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” The Romanian Ministry of Defense announced that France would deploy a special air defense unit in Romania at the Capu-Midia military base, in the Constanta district

===Foreign Relations===

After a [[coup]] in the African nation Burkina Faso in January 2022, residents demanded that Russia intervene and throw the French out.<ref>https://archive.ph/3H6aV#selection-363.0-367.146</ref> In preparation for ground war in Europe, France withdrew all remaining troops from [[Mali]] by May 27, 2022;<ref>https://youtu.be/dp1Gw6irevk</ref> [[Joe Biden]] order US troops back to Africa to pick up the slack.<ref>https://thepeninsulaqatar.com/article/17/05/2022/biden-sending-us-troops-back-to-somalia-after-trump-pulled-out</ref>

====Ukraine====

{{See also|Russia-Ukraine war}}

On March 26, 2022 two officers of the main department of external security of the Ministry of Defense of the French Republic (DGSE) flying by helicopter were shot down by [[Russian]] forces while on a mission to withdraw fighters from the [[Battle of Mariupol]].<ref>https://avia--pro-net.translate.goog/news/na-ukraine-sbit-vertolyot-s-oficerami-francuzskoy-razvedki-dgse</ref> The two were immediately taken prisoner by the Russians. According to reports by both a Russian and Ukrainian source, French soldiers from the Special Operations Command were in Mariupol side by side with the Azov Nazis. Troops attached to the Special Operations Command are under the orders of Chief of the Defense Staff, General Thierry Burkhard, but they receive their orders directly from the Chief of the Armed Forces, President Emmanuel Macron. On March 31, 2022, General Eric Vidaud, the head of the Direction of Military Intelligence (DRM), was fired.<ref>https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/03/31/frances-intelligence-chief-failed-predict-invasion-step-immediately/</ref>

Public broadcaster France-Télévision presented a report on during the France-2 evening news, on March 31, 2022.<ref>https://www.voltairenet.org/article216354.html?id_article=216354#social</ref> The report acknowledged that the [[Azov Battalion]] consisted of neo-Nazi elements since 2014, singling out one of its founders, [[Andriy Biletsky]], but insisted that it had evolved into a respectable defense force. However, France-2 omitted to mention its other founder, [[Dmytro Yarosh]], who during the Russia-Ukraine war was Adviser to the [[Commander-in-Chief]] of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU).

A former French Army soldier who spent several weeks in Ukraine delivering medical equipment and supplies told Sud Radio:

{{quotebox-float|"There, on the spot I saw [[war crimes]]. I saw a lot of war crimes. The only crimes I saw during the days I was there were perpetrated by Ukrainian forces...I saw Russian soldiers who were taken prisoner, bound and badly beaten…They were brought [to a detention area] in groups of three or four in minibuses. Every soldier exiting the minibus received a bullet from a Kalashnikov rifle in the knee…Those who admitted that they were officers got shot in the head...When I returned to France, I was extremely shocked by what the people who were invited on the TV shows were saying. A chasm exists between what I see and hear on TV and what I saw on the spot. For me it’s abominable...It shocks me enormously that Europe still gives weapons to a force which in my view are neo-Nazis, who have neo-Nazi insignia. We don’t talk about it. It’s an [[SS]] insignia brandished across Ukraine, everywhere...No one in Ukraine seems concerned about this, while we arm them with European weapons. They go off and commit war crimes, I saw this myself."<ref>https://youtu.be/ZoKnhXnp-Zk</ref>}}

====United States====

Relations between the United States and France are active and cordial. Mutual visits by high-level officials are conducted frequently. Bilateral contact at the cabinet level has traditionally been active. France and the United States share common values and have parallel policies on most political, economic, and security issues. Differences are discussed frankly and have not generally been allowed to impair the pattern of close cooperation that characterizes relations between the two countries.

France is one of NATO's top three troop contributors. The French support NATO modernization efforts and are leading contributors to the NATO Response Force (NRF). France is keen to build European defense capabilities, including through the development of EU battle-group sized force packages and joint European military production initiatives. Defense Minister Morin supports development of a European defense that must complement, not compete with, NATO, which remains at the core of transatlantic security. French resistance, however, to efforts to reinforce NATO's reach beyond the North Atlantic region remain a source of contention.

Relations at a cultural and popular level are complex. While many Americans see the French as too quick surrender in the face of military conflict, many French people view suspiciously America's willingness to go to war. There are suspicions that America will only fight to secure wealth primarily oil or its ideology of the US version of liberty with disregard for other nation's views. Americans often view French culture as being very elitist and overly reliant on the high arts while some French take exception to American "cultural imperialism" even though the French are keen consumers of American-style fast food, cinema and modern music. The French are generally proud of the donation of the Statue of Liberty but can sometimes appear ungrateful for the help America and other Allies gave in World War 2.

Outside of NATO, France has actively and heavily participated in a variety of so-called "peacekeeping" efforts in Africa, the Middle East, and the Balkans, often taking the lead in these operations. France has undertaken a major restructuring to develop a professional military that will be smaller, more rapidly deployable and better tailored for operations outside of mainland France. Key elements of the restructuring include reducing personnel, bases, and headquarters and rationalizing equipment and the armament industry. French active-duty military in June 2007 numbered about 350,000 (including Gendarmes), of which nearly 34,000 were deployed outside of French territory. France completed the move to all-professional armed forces when conscription ended on December 31, 2002.

Despite having very strict [[gun control]] laws, there have been many [[List of Islamist terrorist attacks|Islamic terrorist attacks]] in France.<ref>Hawkins, Awr (April 21, 2017). [https://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/04/21/france-2015-to-present-strict-gun-control-a-paper-tiger/ France 2015 to Present: Strict Gun Control a Paper Tiger]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved April 22, 2017.</ref>

== Economy ==