De Gaulle's vision of Franco-German reconciliation, of the building of a new European order with France and Germany as its centre of gravity, ended - according to one British historian - a historic enmity created by the division of Charlemagne's empire in the ninth century.

BBC: Part Three - France and the World

In the 9th century, the western part of Charlemagne's empire was called France and its inhabitants French.

ECONOMIST: Letters