Praying for France and its safety. Prepared and compiled by Lilian Schmid. Transforming Sydney 2016

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1 Praying for France and its safety Prepared and compiled by Lilian Schmid Transforming Sydney 2016 Psalm 91 for the protection of France and its leaders Psalm 71 for God s protection over all nations in Europe Forgiveness Prayer on behalf of France: You are all-powerful! Even Your thoughts produce action. We pray for French leaders in the government. Lord, they also have power, though it is limited. We pray that they would use their positions wisely, for You are the One who has allowed them to lead France. France needs strong men and women of faith in these kinds of roles. We pray that French men and women in authority will strive to live godly lives and to repent when necessary. If there is any corruption, we pray that French leaders would repent and ask for forgiveness, so that their country doesn t fall apart. We thank you for those leaders and pray for their safety. Amen Exodus 14:13 But Moses said to the people, "Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. History On 7 January 2015, armed gunmen killed twelve people in an attack on the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in the centre of Paris. French President Francois Hollande immediately condemned the violence as cowardly murder and an act of terrorism. Terrorist violence has a long history in France. The term terrorism itself was coined in the wake of the 1789 revolution as a term to describe the government s bloody campaign against counter-revolutionaries. Only during the late 19th century did the label acquire its modern, more negative connotation. At this time anarchists around the world, inspired by their counterparts in Russia, targeted heads of state, whether presidents or

2 monarchs, during the so-called Decade of Regicide between 1892 and US President William McKinley, assassinated in September 1901, was the most high-profile victim of this spasm of violence. Civilians were not spared the anarchists attacks. Thus in February 1894, Frenchman Emile Henry tossed a bomb into a plush Parisian restaurant and fled. As anarchism receded after the First World War a new ideology, fascism, inspired home-grown terrorists in France. In November 1937, the Comité Secret d Action Révolutionnaire, otherwise known as the Cagoule, was exposed by the French police authorities. The Cagoule had emerged from the extreme right-wing street politics of the decade that had afflicted France as elsewhere in Europe. The Cagoule did not commit indiscriminate attacks against civilians; it assassinated several prominent Italian antifascists who were resident in France in return for arms from Mussolini. Yet its master plan was to overthrow the democratic Third Republic and install a fascist regime in its place. To achieve this goal, Cagoule activists committed several anonymous bombings, notably in Paris, hoping to spread the fear that the communist party had in fact perpetrated the attacks and that social revolution was imminent. Yet the group failed to convince its friends in the army to take pre-emptive action against the left and the authorities uncovered the plot. Political violence continued throughout the so-called Dark Years of the Occupation. After the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, the French communist party, finally free from the neutrality imposed upon it by Moscow, began a campaign of bombings and assassinations against the German military and collaborationist groups. The attacks drew harsh reprisals from the Occupation authorities: hostages were taken from the locality in which the attacks occurred and many subsequently shot. To combat the resistance, the Vichy regime founded the Milice in January 1943, a paramilitary force intended to hunt down and kill resisters. Since the Liberation in 1944 terrorist violence has continued to plague France. Civil conflict in Algeria during the 1950s spawned the Algerian Front de la libération nationale (FLN). This nationalist movement reacted to repression in the territory with the shooting of French police and government officials and

3 the bombing of civilians. Pro-imperial European settlers founded the Organisation de l armée secrète and committed their own atrocities in Algeria before moving their campaign to mainland France following French withdrawal from the colony. During the 1970s and 1980s, left-wing radicalism saw groups such as Action Directe commit violent attacks. Action Directe emerged from the European milieu of anticapitalist terrorism that gave rise to groups in such as the Rote Armee Fraktion in Germany and the Brigate Rosse in Italy. The spectre of politico-religious terrorism emerge during the 1990s. As Algeria descended into civil war in the early 1990s, the most radical Islamist group, the Groupe Islamique Armée (GIA) committed attacks on French territory both to provide new momentum for its political campaign and to punish France for its imperial past in the territory. Its actions in the mid-1990s included the hijacking of a plane bound for France on Christmas Day 1994 and the bombing of metro stations in Paris, notably the Saint-Michel station where eight people were killed. France s confrontation with Islamic-inspired terrorism has continued since the attacks on New York in September 2001 and the country has not escaped the actions of Islamic State: hiker Hervé Gourdel was abducted and murdered in Algeria in September 2014 by a group sympathetic to IS. France s experience with terrorism is indicative of the problems encountered by historians. Given the variety of ideologies, beliefs, and tactics employed by violent groups since the 1890s, it is more accurate to speak of terrorisms than terrorism. For, if scholars usually agree on the fact that terrorism seeks publicity for its crimes, they can agree on little else in defining the phenomenon. A major obstacle to a generic definition of terrorism is that the term is inherently subjective. Few would claim that French resisters during the Second World War were themselves terrorists, instead accusing the collaborationist authorities of this crime. But we cannot ignore that the assassinations and bombings committed by resisters often assumed the form of what we wold now recognise to be terrorist attacks. French resisters are better understood as freedom fighters, a label popularised by anti-colonial

4 nationalist movements after Consequently, for FLN activists in Algeria during the 1950s, it was the French committed acts of terror against indigenous peoples who simply wanted to liberate their country from foreign rule. Terrorism and terrorist are thus political tools by which states and nonstate groups could discredit their opponent. Nevertheless, while terrorism, as is evident from the French experience, is constantly evolving, looking to its past may offer lessons in how terrorist groups emerge, operate, evolve, and eventually recede. Chris Millington is Lecturer in History at Swansea University and co-author of the forthcoming Fascism and France: February 1934 and the Dynamics of Political Crisis (Routledge). - See more at: Praying for France is a very important prayer strategy to uphold France in our prayers and ask the Lord to send His angels to protect its borders and all its cities and departments, find below all information you need to pray for France. Adopting a suburb

5 As early as 1000 BC much of this fertile land now called France was occupied by the Celtic Gauls. The powerful Romans arrived, defeated the Gauls by 52 BC, and subsequently Rome ruled for almost 500 years. As the Roman Empire faded, France was overrun by a series of barbarian invaders and shattered into varied factions. The name France is from the Latin word 'Francia' meaning (country of the Franks), a Germanic people who conquered the area during the 5th century. Political fragmentation, wars and countless self-serving rulers followed, and by the end of the 8th century the population of Gaul diminished as its countryside was in ruins and commerce was almost non-existent. In 987, Hugh Capet was chosen by the remaining nobles as king, and the Capetian Dynasty began its 800 year rule from Paris. This marked the birth of

6 France as a separate kingdom, and a long list of kings would soon assume the throne; some good, some not so good. As the influence of the 'King du Jour' expanded outward from Paris, rural towns grew in population, cultural activities returned, and the prestige of France reached across Europe. This brought the inevitable conflicts with others, and especially with England. hundred years war The Hundred Years' War (actually 116 years) between England and France was a bloody affair, and at its end the English were finally vanquished from the land, and the heroic feats of Joan of Arc (and others) memorialized in the history of France for all time. Religious conflicts and civil wars continued, and then in 1643, Louis XIV assumed the throne. Although he instigated many wars, France grew in stature, strength and wealth during his reign, and became a real cultural and economic power across the continent. By the late 1700's, the monarchy had lost respect, and revolution was in the air. On July 14, 1789, the Bastille prison was stormed, and the so-called 'Reign of Terror' began; execution by guillotine was the order-of-the-day, even for the reigning King, Louis XVI. Fresh from unrelated military victories the ambitious general, Napoleon Bonaparte, seized the moment and took control of France in His armies quickly conquered much of Europe but he was later defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and banished to the island of Saint Helena, where he died in Assorted kings, emperors and unproductive wars would follow. In 1875 the monarchy was finally ended, and a republican constitution was adopted. In 1905, church and state were separated by law and France would never again bow to an autocratic king. world war one Although on the victorious side in World Wars I and II, France ultimately suffered extensive losses to its empire, manpower, wealth and status as a dominant nation-state. World War I was especially brutal as over one million French troops were killed.

7 Over the last half-century, the French have aggressively and tenaciously recovered, and although recently rocked by the violent protests of youth, modern France is a strong economic force and a consequential leader among European nations. Its presidential democracy is stable and it proudly stood at the forefront in the development of the European Union (EU). France today is a sophisticated powerhouse of architecture, art, cinema, cuisine, fashion, literature, music and wine. Its countless attractions, enchanting culture and pastoral countryside attract more visitors than any other country on the planet. France Facts age Name: France French Republic Capital City: Paris (2,193,031 pop.) (11,836,970 metro) France Population: 65,951,611 (2013 est.) Currency: Euro Ethnicity: Celtic and Latin with Teutonic, Slavic, North African, Indochinese, and Basque minorities Land Sizes Language: French (official) 100%, rapidly declining regional dialects and languages (Provencal, Breton, Alsatian, Corsican, Catalan, Basque, Flemish) overseas departments: French, Creole patois Largest Cities: (by population) Paris, Marseille, Lyon. Toulouse, Nice, Nantes, Strasbourg Name: The name France is from the Latin word 'Francia' meaning country of the Franks, a Germanic people who conquered the area during the 5th century.

8 National Day: July 14 Religion: Roman Catholic 88%, Muslim 5%, Protestant 2%, unaffiliated 2%, Jewish 1%, France is divided into 101 departments : - 96 departments in mainland France, numbered 1 through 95 plus Corsica: 2A and 2B replacing the number overseas departments (which are also regions) : Guadeloupe (971), Martinique (972), Guyana (973), Reunion (974) and Mayotte (976). Note that Mayotte in mars 2011 obtained the status of department (and region). Here, in alphabetical order, the list of metropolitan departments. The name of the town is written in black on the right of the name of each department. French departments! 01 - Ain - Bourg-en-Bresse 02 - Aisne - Laon

9 03 - Allier - Moulins 04 - Alpes-de-Haute-Provence - Digne 05 - Hautes-Alpes - Gap 06 - Alpes Maritimes - Nice 07 - Ardèche - Privas 08 - Ardennes - Charleville-Mézières 09 - Ariège - Foix 10 - Aube - Troyes 11 - Aude - Carcassonne 12 - Aveyron - Rodez 13 - Bouches-du-Rhône - Marseille 14 - Calvados - Caen 15 - Cantal - Aurillac 16 - Charente - Angoulême 17 - Charente-Maritime - La Rochelle 18 - Cher - Bourges 19 - Corrèze - Tulle 2A - Corse-du-Sud - Ajaccio 2B - Haute Corse - Bastia 21 - Côte-d'Or - Dijon 22 - Côtes d'armor - St-Brieuc 23 - Creuse - Guéret 24 - Dordogne - Périgueux

10 25 - Doubs - Besançon 26 - Drôme - Valence 27 - Eure - Evreux 28 - Eure-et-Loir - Chartres 29 - Finistère - Quimper 30 - Gard - Nîmes 31 - Haute Garonne - Toulouse 32 - Gers - Auch 33 - Gironde - Bordeaux 34 - Hérault - Montpellier 35 - Ille-et-Vilaine - Rennes 36 - Indre - Châteauroux 37 - Indre-et-Loire - Tours 38 - Isère - Grenoble 39 - Jura - Lons-le-Saunier 40 - Landes - Mont-de-Marsan 41 - Loir-et-Cher - Blois 42 - Loire - St-Étienne 43 - Haute Loire - Le Puy 44 - Loire Atlantique - Nantes 45 - Loiret - Orléans 46 - Lot - Cahors 47 - Lot-et-Garonne - Agen

11 48 - Lozère - Mende 49 - Maine-et-Loire - Angers 50 - Manche - St-Lô 51 - Marne - Châlons-sur-Marne 52 - Haute Marne - Chaumont 53 - Mayenne - Laval 54 - Meurthe-et-Moselle - Nancy 55 - Meuse - Bar-le-Duc 56 - Morbihan - Vannes 57 - Moselle - Metz 58 - Nièvre - Nevers 59 - Nord - Lille 60 - Oise - Beauvais 61 - Orne - Alençon 62 - Pas-de-Calais - Arras 63 - Puy-de-Dôme - Clermont-Ferrand 64 - Pyrénées Atlantiques - Pau 65 - Hautes Pyrénées - Tarbes 66 - Pyrénées Orientales - Perpignan 67 - Bas-Rhin - Strasbourg 68 - Haut-Rhin - Colmar 69 - Rhône - Lyon 70 - Haute Saône - Vesoul

12 71 - Saône-et-Loire - Mâcon 72 - Sarthe - Le Mans 73 - Savoie - Chambéry 74 - Haute Savoie - Annecy 75 - Paris - Paris 76 - Seine Maritime - Rouen 77 - Seine-et-Marne - Melun 78 - Yvelines - Versailles 79 - Deux-Sèvres - Niort 80 - Somme - Amiens 81 - Tarn - Albi 82 - Tarn-et-Garonne - Montauban 83 - Var - Toulon 84 - Vaucluse - Avignon 85 - Vendée - La Roche-sur-Yon 86 - Vienne - Poitiers 87 - Haute Vienne - Limoges 88 - Vosges - Épinal 89 - Yonne - Auxerre 90 - Territoire de Belfort - Belfort 91 - Essonne - Evry 92 - Hauts-de-Seine - Nanterre 93 - Seine-St-Denis - Bobigny

13 94 - Val-de-Marne - Créteil 95 - Val-D'Oise - Pontoise Guadeloupe - Basse-Terre Martinique - Fort-de-France Guyane - Cayenne La-Reunion - Saint-Denis Mayotte Mamoudzou The department is the second-level administrative division of France. This division into departments is between the region and the district. Each department belongs to a single region. (Each overseas region being composed of a single department). France is divided into 101 departments. They are divided into 343 districts ("arrondissements"), townships("cantons") and towns ("communes"). Each department has a capital city or prefecture department which includes its institutions. This capital is often the largest city of the department. According to figures, the population median of a department of France was 511,012 inhabitants in Responsibilities of the department are: social action, the restructuring of rural land, construction, maintenance, college, school transport,... The removal of one or more local levels is being debated in France for several years and especially the option to remove maps department level. For now, the Balladur committee dealing with this reform did not adopt this proposal, so there is currently no change at the departmental level.

14 Above you can find the map of France departments. Clicking on a department of this map, you can view statistics, informations of its population, see the list of all cities, knowing the chief town and sub-prefecture of the department... Region : Alsace (67) Department Bas-Rhin (68) Department Haut-Rhin

15 Region : Aquitaine (24) Department Dordogne (33) Department Gironde (40) Department Landes (47) Department Lot-et-Garonne (64) Department Pyrénées Atlantiques Region : Auvergne (03) Department Allier (15) Department Cantal (43) Department Haute Loire (63) Department Puy-de-Dôme Region : Basse-Normandie (14) Department Calvados (50) Department Manche (61) Department Orne Region : Bourgogne (21) Department Côte-d'Or (58) Department Nièvre (71) Department Saône-et-Loire (89) Department Yonne

16 Region : Bretagne (22) Department Côtes d'armor (29) Department Finistère (35) Department Ille-et-Vilaine (56) Department Morbihan Region : Centre (18) Department Cher (28) Department Eure-et-Loir (36) Department Indre (37) Department Indre-et-Loire (41) Department Loir-et-Cher (45) Department Loiret Region : Champagne-Ardenne (08) Department Ardennes (10) Department Aube (51) Department Marne (52) Department Haute Marne Region : Corse (2A) Department Corse-du-Sud (2B) Department Haute Corse Region : Franche-Comté (25) Department Doubs (39) Department Jura

17 (70) Department Haute Saône (90) Territoire de Belfort Region : Haute-Normandie (27) Department Eure (76) Department Seine Maritime Region : Ile-de-France (75) Department Paris (77) Department Seine-et-Marne (78) Department Yvelines (91) Department Essonne (92) Department Hauts-de-Seine (93) Department Seine-St-Denis (94) Department Val-de-Marne (95) Department Val-D'Oise Region : Languedoc-Roussillon (11) Department Aude (30) Department Gard (34) Department Hérault (48) Department Lozère (66) Department Pyrénées Orientales Region : Limousin (19) Department Corrèze (23) Department Creuse

18 (87) Department Haute Vienne Region : Lorraine (54) Department Meurthe-et-Moselle (55) Department Meuse (57) Department Moselle (88) Department Vosges Region : Midi-Pyrénées (09) Department Ariège (12) Department Aveyron (31) Department Haute Garonne (32) Department Gers (46) Department Lot (65) Department Hautes Pyrénées (81) Department Tarn (82) Department Tarn-et-Garonne Region : Nord-Pas-de-Calais (59) Department Nord (62) Department Pas-de-Calais Region : Pays de Loire (44) Department Loire Atlantique (49) Department Maine-et-Loire (53) Department Mayenne (72) Department Sarthe

19 (85) Department Vendée Region : Picardie (02) Department Aisne (60) Department Oise (80) Department Somme Region : Poitou-Charentes (16) Department Charente (17) Department Charente-Maritime (79) Department Deux-Sèvres (86) Department Vienne Region : Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur (04) Department Alpes de Haute Provence (05) Department Hautes-Alpes (06) Department Alpes Maritimes (13) Department Bouches-du-Rhône (83) Department Var (84) Department Vaucluse Region : Rhône-Alpes (01) Department Ain (07) Department Ardèche (26) Department Drôme (38) Department Isère (42) Department Loire

20 (69) Department Rhône (73) Department Savoie (74) Department Haute Savoie Overseas departments (971) Guadeloupe (972) Martinique (973) Guyane (974) La Réunion (976) Mayotte COM - TOM (984) Terres Australes et Antarctiques (986) Wallis et Futuna (987) Polynésie Française (988) Nouvelle-Calédonie (975) Departement de Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon Map of France cities Here are the 100 largest cities of France (population 2006). We do not count here the concept of urban area but the municipal population. Click on the city name to see all this information: pictures, maps, population, population density, area, elevation, geographic coordinates,...

21 01- Paris02- Marseille03- Lyon04- Toulouse05- Nice06- Nantes07- Strasbourg08- Montpellier09- Bordeaux10- Lille11- Rennes12- Reims13- Le Havre14- Saint-Étienne15- Toulon16- Grenoble17- Angers18- Dijon19- Brest20- Le Mans21- Nîmes22- Aix-en-Provence23- Clermont-Ferrand24- Tours25- Amiens26- Limoges27- Villeurbanne28- Metz29- Besançon30- Perpignan31- Orléans32- Caen33- Mulhouse34- Boulogne-Billancourt35- Rouen36- Nancy37- Argenteuil38- Montreuil39- Saint-Denis40- Roubaix41- Avignon42- Tourcoing43- Poitiers44- Nanterre45- Créteil46- Versailles47- Pau48- Courbevoie49- Vitry-sur-Seine50- Asnières-sur-Seine51- Colombes 52- Aulnaysous-Bois 53- La Rochelle 54- Rueil-Malmaison 55- Antibes 56- Saint-Maur-des- Fossés 57- Calais 58- Champigny-sur-Marne 59- Aubervilliers 60- Béziers 61- Bourges 62- Cannes 63- Saint-Nazaire 64- Dunkerque 65- Quimper 66- Valence 67- Colmar 68- Drancy 69- Mérignac 70- Ajaccio 71- Levallois-Perret 72- Troyes 73- Neuilly-sur-Seine 74- Issy-les-Moulineaux 75- Villeneuve-d'Ascq 76- Noisyle-Grand 77- Antony 78- Niort 79- Lorient 80- Sarcelles 81- Chambéry 82- Saint- Quentin 83- Pessac 84- Vénissieux 85- Cergy 86- La Seyne-sur-Mer 87- Clichy 88- Beauvais 89- Cholet 90- Hyères 91- Ivry-sur-Seine 92- Montauban 93- Vannes 94- La Roche-sur-Yon 95- Charleville-Mézières 96- Pantin 97- Laval 98- Maisons-Alfort 99- Bondy 100- Évry Here are the 10 largest urban area of France (population 2006) : 01- Paris02- Lyon03- Marseille04- Lille05- Toulouse06- Nice07- Bordeaux08- Nantes09- Strasbourg10- Toulon In 2010, the population of France was estimated at inhabitants. On 1 January 2009, the population of France was estimated at inhabitants, distributed as follows: in metropolitan France in the overseas departments (DOM without St. Martin and St. Barthelemy) in overseas communities (COM, including St. Martin and St. Barthelemy)

22 The population is increasing by people by Northern France is the most populated with about 40 million people (or 2 / 3 of the population) against approximately 22.5 million in the South (or 1 / 3 of the population) (metropolitan France only). Within the European Union (EU) demography of France stands out for the life expectancy of women (84.23 years 2008 estimate) which is the highest in Europe and a fertility rate (2.02 in 2008) the highest in Europe. At right, you could find the map of France's largest cities. By browsing the site you can view a map of France, statistics, information, photos and travel guide for each town of France. You will find here (clicking on this map at right), the map of population density of France, the map of cities of France and finally the detailed classification of the 5 main areas French: Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Lille, Toulouse

23 Map of France : key data Administrative divisions : France is divided into 27 regions, 101 departments, 343 districts (arrondissements), townships (cantons) and Towns (communes). Population of France : In 2010, the population of France was estimated at inhabitants. Largest cities of France : The 5 largest cities of France are (municipal population in 2006) : 1-Paris, 2-Marseille, 3-Lyon, 4-Toulouse, 5-Nice Largest urban areas of France : The 5 largest urban areas of France are (population of urban areas in 2006) : 1-Paris, 2-Lyon, 3-Marseille, 4-Lille, 5- Toulouse The mountains on the map of France : The 5 major mountains of France are the Alpes, the Pyrénnées, the Massif Central, the Jura, the Vosges The seas on the map of France : The 4 seas around France are: the North Sea, the English Channel, the Atlantic Ocean, the mediterranean sea The rivers on the map of France : The 5 main rivers of France are: the Seine, the Loire, the Garonne, the Rhone, the Rhine The highest mountain in France : The highest point on the map of France is the Mont Blanc in the Alpes, peaking at m.

24 Information compiled by Lilian Schmid 27/7/2016