The

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline. By extension, the term ":wikt:historiography, historiography" is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiog ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

examines how historians have interpreted and written about French history over time, reflecting shifting political, cultural, and intellectual contexts. It can refer to the different ways that French and foreign historians have perceived French history, the role that perceptions of history have played in French politics and wider culture or the historiographical schools, such as the

Annales School The ''Annales'' school () is a group of historians associated with a style of historiography developed by French historians in the 20th century to stress long-term social history. It is named after its scholarly journal '' Annales. Histoire, S ...

, which started or developed in France. During the

Ancien Régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for " ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France {{disambig ...

, historical writing often served dynastic or religious purposes, exemplified by court historians and church chroniclers who promoted the monarchy and Catholic orthodoxy.

The Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment (also the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment) was a European intellectual and philosophical movement active from the late 17th to early 19th century. Chiefly valuing knowledge gained through rationalism and empirici ...

introduced a critical shift, with thinkers like

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...

and

Montesquieu Charles Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (18 January 168910 February 1755), generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French judge, man of letters, historian, and political philosopher. He is the principal so ...

seeking to explain historical change through a more secular analysis. The French Revolution and the early to mid nineteenth century saw more nationalist narratives with the growth of an enduring

national myth A national myth is an inspiring narrative or anecdote about a nation's past. Such myths often serve as important national symbols and affirm a set of national values. A myth is entirely ficticious but it is often mixture with aspects of histori ...

with historians such as

Jules Michelet Jules Michelet (; 21 August 1798 – 9 February 1874) was a French historian and writer. He is best known for his multivolume work ''Histoire de France'' (History of France). Michelet was influenced by Giambattista Vico; he admired Vico's emphas ...

elevating historical figures such as

Joan of Arc Joan of Arc ( ; ; – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the Coronation of the French monarch, coronation of Charles VII o ...

and

Charles Martel Charles Martel (; – 22 October 741), ''Martel'' being a sobriquet in Old French for "The Hammer", was a Franks, Frankish political and military leader who, as Duke and Prince of the Franks and Mayor of the Palace, was the de facto ruler of ...

. There was also a debate on the French Revolution both inside and outside France that in the Nineteenth Century tended to mostly reflect the political divide at the time with conservatives condemning the revolution, liberals praising the revolution of 1789 and radicals praising the revolution of 1793. The late nineteenth century saw the growing influence of the scholarly German style of historiography with a careful attention to source documents with the founding of the Catholic '' Revue des questions historiques'' in 1866 and ten years later the Protestant and republican ''

Revue historique The ''Revue historique'' is a French academic journal founded in 1876 by the Protestant Gabriel Monod and the Catholic Gustave Fagniez. The journal was founded as a reaction against the '' Revue des questions historiques'' created ten years ear ...

'' which championed the École méthodique. The 20th century marked a profound transformation in French historiography, driven by methodological innovation and a shift in historical focus. The most influential development was the rise of the

, founded by

Marc Bloch Marc Léopold Benjamin Bloch ( ; ; 6 July 1886 – 16 June 1944) was a French historian. He was a founding member of the Annales School of French social history. Bloch specialised in medieval history and published widely on France in the Middle ...

and

Lucien Febvre Lucien Paul Victor Febvre ( ; ; 22 July 1878 – 11 September 1956) was a French historian best known for the role he played in establishing the Annales School of history. He was the initial editor of the ''Encyclopédie française'' together wit ...

in 1929, which broke with traditional narrative history centered on political events and " great men." Instead, it emphasized long-term social structures, economic patterns, and the use of interdisciplinary tools from sociology, geography, and anthropology. The school's second generation, particularly

Fernand Braudel Fernand Paul Achille Braudel (; 24 August 1902 – 27 November 1985) was a French historian. His scholarship focused on three main projects: ''The Mediterranean'' (1923–49, then 1949–66), ''Civilization and Capitalism'' (1955–79), and the un ...

, revolutionized historical thought with his concept of the

longue durée The (; ) is the French Annales School approach to the study of history. It gives priority to long-term historical structures over what François Simiand called ("evental history", the short-term time-scale that is the domain of the chronicler a ...

, exemplified in his seminal work (1949), which examined history on civilizational rather than event-based timelines. Post-war historians such as

Georges Duby Georges Duby (; 7 October 1919 – 3 December 1996) was a French historian who specialised in the social and economic history of the Middle Ages. He ranks among the most influential medieval historians of the twentieth century and was one of Fra ...

Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie Emmanuel Bernard Le Roy Ladurie (, 19 July 1929 – 22 November 2023) was a French historian whose work was mainly focused upon Languedoc in the ''Ancien Régime'', particularly the history of the peasantry. One of the leading historians of Franc ...

and Pierre Nora expanded these approaches by integrating mentalities, climate data, and collective memory into historical analysis. Particularly well debated subjects include the the Paris Commune, the Battle of France, and the Vichy regime

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