A key player on the world stage and a country at the political heart of Europe, paid a high price in both economic and human terms during the two world wars.
The years which followed saw protracted conflicts culminating in independence for Algeria and most other French colonies in Africa as well as decolonisation in south-east Asia.
OverviewOverviewFactsLeadersMediawas one of the founding fathers of European integration as the continent sought to rebuild after the devastation of World War II.
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In the 1990s Franco-German cooperation was central to European economic integration. The bond between the two countries was again to the fore in the new millennium when their leaders voiced strong opposition as the US-led campaign in Iraq began.
But sent shockwaves through European Union capitals when its voters rejected the proposed EU constitution in a referendum in May 2005.
's colonial past is a major contributing factor in the presence of a richly diverse multicultural population. It is home to more than five million people of Arab and African descent.
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