France, officially called the French Republic, is situated in Western Europe and has several islands associated with its territory. France is also called “Hexagone” because of its territory’s geometric shape. Over the past 500 years, France has been considered one of the world’s major super powers with great economic, political, cultural and military influence and has is one of the most influential nations in Europe. Suzanne Fields had once remarked, “American high school students trail teenagers from 14 European and Asian countries in reading, math and science. We're even trailing France.”
France is credited with having the fourth largest nominal military budget and the third largest stock of nuclear weapons, certainly making the French military army a force to reckon with. Colonialism is an idea that originated in the west and drives Western countries such as France, Great Britain, Italy and Belgium to occupy countries outside Europe.