It was a Merovingian capital in the 5th cent. and became
the national capital with the accession (987) of Hugh
Capet, Count of Paris.
It florished as the centre of medieval commerce and
Scholasticism but suffered severely during the Hundred
Years War.
Paris consistently displayed a rebellious and independent
spirit, as in its resistance to Henry IV (1589-93);
the first Fronde (1648-49); the revolutions of 1789,
1830, and 1848; and the Commune de Paris (1871).
During World War II it was occupied (1940-44) by the
Germans but was relatively undamaged.
