All articles starting with F
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French contract law
French contract law is the body of rules governing contracts in France, set out in the Code civil and substantially rewritten by a 2016 reform, the first since 1804.
French cruiser Jeanne d'Arc (R97)
The French cruiser Jeanne d'Arc (R97) was a helicopter cruiser and training ship of the French Navy, built at Brest and in service from 1964 to 2010.
French cuisine
French cuisine: the cooking and food culture of France, from regional dishes and codified techniques to the UNESCO-listed gastronomic meal (2010). 668 Michelin-starred restaurants in 2026; Nouvelle Cuisine, sustainability debates, and tourism appeal distinguish it.
French Defence
French Defence (1.e4 e6), chess opening preparing ...d5; ECO C00–C19. Second most popular reply to 1.e4 after the Sicilian; known for the light-squared bishop problem, Winawer and Advance Variations, and masters from Botvinnik to Uhlmann.
French dip
French dip: American hot sandwich of sliced roast beef on a French roll served au jus, invented in early 1900s Los Angeles, not France. Philippe the Original (1918 Mathieu story) and Cole's (Garlinghouse story) both claim it; Cole's closed in 2026.
French Directory
The French Directory (le Directoire) was the five-member executive governing France from 2 November 1795 to 9 November 1799 under the Constitution of the Year III, ending with Bonaparte's 18 Brumaire coup.
French drain
A French drain, also called a rubble drain, is a sloped gravel-filled trench with a perforated pipe that carries water away, named for Henry Flagg French.
French dressing
French dressing names two products: a British/classical vinaigrette of oil, vinegar, and seasonings, and an American sweet, creamy orange dressing with ketchup or tomato ingredients; the FDA revoked its US standard of identity effective February 14, 2022.
French East India Company
The French East India Company was a chartered trading company founded by Louis XIV in 1664, holding a monopoly on French trade with the East until 1793.
French embassy to Siam (1685)
The French embassy to Siam of 1685 was a diplomatic mission sent by Louis XIV to King Narai's court at Ayutthaya, led by the Chevalier de Chaumont.
French emigration (1789–1815)
French emigration (1789–1815), the émigré exodus: about 150,000 nobles, clergy, and commoners fled the Revolution, mainly in three waves from 1789, faced confiscation and death sentences, and returned after Napoleon's amnesty of 26 April 1802.
French Enlightenment
The French Enlightenment (siècle des Lumières) was the eighteenth-century intellectual movement in France whose philosophes used reason and science to question absolutist authority, culminating in the French Revolution.
French Equatorial Africa
French Equatorial Africa (Afrique équatoriale française, AEF): 1910–1958 federation of Gabon, Moyen-Congo, Oubangui-Chari, and Chad, capital Brazzaville; concession regime, Congo-Océan railway deaths, Free France rally under Éboué, independence 1960.
French Exit (2020 film)
French Exit (2020 film), also known simply as French Exit, is a comedy-drama directed by Azazel Jacobs, adapted by Patrick deWitt from his 2018 novel, starring Michelle Pfeiffer as a broke socialite who moves to Paris with her son and a cat voiced by Tracy Letts.
French expedition to Ganghwa
The French expedition to Ganghwa (병인양요) was a French naval attack on Ganghwa Island, Korea, in 1866, launched in reprisal for the execution of French Catholic missionaries.
French expedition to Korea
French expedition to Korea (병인양요, Byeongin Yangyo), the 1866 punitive campaign by Admiral Roze's fleet that occupied Ganghwa Island to avenge nine executed French missionaries and was repelled at Jeongjoksan Fortress.
French fashion
French fashion: the Paris-centered clothing and couture system, from Worth's 1858 haute couture house and the legally protected 1945 label to today's Paris Fashion Week and a market where secondhand and ultra fast fashion take 25% of volume.
French Federation of Speleology
The French Federation of Speleology (Fédération Française de Spéléologie, FFS) is France's national federation for caving, canyoning, and underground diving, founded in 1963 at Millau and uniting about 380 clubs.
French Fifth Republic
French Fifth Republic (Cinquième République): regime founded by the 4 October 1958 Constitution after the Fourth Republic's collapse and the Algerian crisis; semi-presidential, directly elected president, five-year term, 24 amendments, one censure motion.
French Figure Skating Championships
The French Figure Skating Championships are France's annual national championships awarding titles in men's and women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance, first held in 1908.
French First Republic
The French First Republic (Première République) was France's republican regime from September 1792 to May 1804, spanning the Convention, Directory, and Consulate, ending with Napoleon's Empire.
French Flanders
French Flanders (Frans-Vlaanderen, la Flandre française) is a region of northern France around Lille and Dunkirk, annexed by France in 1678, with a distinct Flemish identity.
French Football Federation
French Football Federation (Fédération Française de Football, FFF), founded 7 April 1919, is France's football governing body: 2.38 million licenses, 11,716 clubs, national teams, Coupe de France, president Philippe Diallo.
French Foreign Legion
French Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère), foreign-recruiting combat force of the French Army founded 1831; about 9,000 legionnaires in eleven regiments, five-year contracts, service à titre étranger, Camerone Day.
French Fourth Republic
French Fourth Republic (1946-1958): parliamentary regime under the Constitution of 27 October 1946, marked by 26 governments averaging six months, European integration, and collapse in 1958 during the Algerian War, replaced by de Gaulle's Fifth Republic.
French franc
The French franc (franc français) was France's national currency from 1795 until 2002, revalued 100 to 1 in 1960 and replaced by the euro at 6.55957 francs per euro.
French fries
French fries (chips in British English, pommes frites in French) are deep-fried potato batons. Origin is disputed between France and Belgium; earliest printed recipes are Parisian (1775, 1795). Global frozen-fry trade ships 10.6 billion pounds yearly, led by the EU.
French frigate Méduse (1810)
The French frigate Méduse, launched in 1810, wrecked on the Arguin Bank off West Africa in 1816; only 15 of roughly 147 people set adrift on a raft survived.
French Frigate Shoals
French Frigate Shoals (Lalo) is an open atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands within Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, hosting about 96% of Hawaiian green sea turtle nesting and the largest historic Hawaiian monk seal subpopulation.
French genre painting
French genre painting, or peinture de genre, is the branch of French art depicting everyday life, from the Le Nain brothers through Watteau, Chardin, and Greuze to Fragonard.