ADitto - Hocobo!!!!

AFrance did not have a stock market, so they were insulated from the financial pressures faced by the major financial centers of New York, London, and Amsterdam.France has always been a liberal mecca of creativity, so they were somewhat insulated from the financial pressures created by the speculation and greed that caused America's Great Depression.If you look back into history, you will find that America and the world suffered through much greater global depressions in the past, but because people were more tied to microeconomic factors (i.e. single farms) than macroeconomic factors (i.e. stock market, central banks), the effects of these recessions/depressions were not widely felt.The overriding cause of the Depression, on an individual scale, had to do with urbanization, speculation, and employment, rather than self-sustaining trades or business ownership.The move from rural to industrial society created the foundation for the mess.

AThe Age of Discovery, also known as the Age of Exploration, was a period in history starting in the 15th century and continuing into the early 17th century during which Europeans engaged in intensive exploration of the world, establishing direct contacts with Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania and mapping the planet. Historians often refer to the 'Age of Discovery' as the pioneer Portuguese and Spanish long-distance maritime travels in search of alternative trade routes to "the Indies", moved by the trade of gold, silver and spices.The Portuguese began systematically exploring the Atlantic coast of Africa from 1418, under the sponsorship of Prince Henry, reaching the Indian Ocean by this route in 1488. In 1492, racing to find a trade route to Asia, the Spanish monarchs funded Christopher Columbus’ plan to sail west to reach the “Indies” by crossing the Atlantic. He landed on an uncharted continent, then seen by Europeans as a “new world”, America. To prevent conflict between Portugal and Spain, a treaty was signed dividing the world into two regions of exploration, where each had exclusive rights to claim newly discovered lands. In 1498, a Portuguese expedition commanded by Vasco da Gama finally achieved the dream of reaching India by sailing around Africa, opening up direct trade with "Asia". Soon, the Portuguese sailed further eastward, to the valuable “spice islands” in 1512, landing in China one year later. East and west exploration overlapped in 1522, when Ferdinand Magellan led a Spanish expedition west, achieving the first circumnavigation of the world, while Spanish conquistadors explored inland the Americas, and later, some of the South Pacific islands. In 1595, the Dutch, French and English, who entered the race of exploration shortly after learning of these exploits, defied the Iberian monopoly on maritime trade by searching for new routes, first to the north, and into the Pacific Ocean around South America, but eventually by following the Portuguese around Africa into the Indian Ocean; discovering Australia in 1606, New Zealand in 1642, and Hawaii in 1778. Meanwhile, from the 1580s to the 1640s Russians explored and conquered almost the whole of Siberia.The Age of Discovery is seen as a bridge between the Middle Ages and the Modern era, along with its contemporary Renaissance movement, triggering the early modern period and the rise of European nation-states. Accounts from distant lands and maps spread with the help of the new printing press fed the rise of humanism and worldly curiosity, ushering in a new age of scientific and intellectual inquiry. European overseas expansion led to the rise of colonial empires, with the contact between the Old and New Worlds producing the Columbian Exchange: a wide transfer of plants, animals, foods, human populations (including slaves), communicable diseases, and culture between the Eastern and Western hemispheres, in one of the most significant global events concerning ecology, agriculture, and culture in history. European exploration spanned until accomplishing the global mapping of the world, resulting in a new world-view and distant civilizations acknowledging each other, reaching the most remote boundaries much later.

AThe reason for wwI was because of a grand duke royal assasination. The reason for wwII was because of the incredible inflation rate imposed on the german people. The twenty years between the two wars, which was a continuation of wwI was caused when Hitler bullied an aging chancellor into ceding him total power over most of the state of germany. German treaties with Japan, and Italy prior to its conflict with britain and france only put in place, no doubt that germany under Hitler had every intention to make Britain and France pay for the imposition of germanys dire financial state of those last 20 years of incredible inflation on the national budgets. He even had a meeting with the pope just prior to his invasion of france.I believe that germany would have invaded France even sooner than they did, because in hindsight, the financial punishment imposed on the germans loss in wwI and the english loss of life in trench warfare was to much for thier nationalism to maintain its respect, causing countrywide resentment. That made it easy for hitler to rally the german masses for wwII. If the allies had been even more strict, the war definitely would have started sooner.

ABerck-sur-Mer doesn't seem to be served by railway, but nearby villages as Verton and Le Touquet/Etaples does. You'll need to use the Eurostar from London to France then do a minimum of two changes with local trains and/or buses. My favotire trick to search in european timetables is the swiss federal railway's website available at:http://www.sbb.ch/en/index.htmor the french verision if you prefer:http://www.cff.ch

ABoth, before the time of satellites underwater landlines were installed between the two countries and are still in use.

AIt depends on what month you go, what day of the week you fly and which airport you use. If you can drive to a larger airport, it could save you a lot of money, as domestic US flights tend to be very expensive. You don't say where in Kansas you live, but Denver or Kansas City would probably be your best choice. Avoid flying on the weekends if you can, Saturdays are especially expensive.The best web sites for finding cheap tickets are European-based flight comparison engines:http://momondo.comhttp://skyscanner.netUsing Momondo, I found weekday flights in July from Kansas City to Paris for about $850 round trip and in September for about $750. The same dates from Denver cost $825 and $725. The prices that the other answers gave you are much too high. I had to take an emergency flight from Norway to Denver earlier this year, booked only one day ahead of time, and it only cost $1200 regular fare.A hostel bunk in Paris will cost about $32/night at current exchange rates, and a double room in a 2-star hotel costs about $100/night. I always stay at Hotel de la Porte Dorée, if you need a recommendation.http://www.hoteldelaportedoree.com/index.html

AI am sorry to disappoint you but even with a degree in French, cosmetology is not a career that would open you doors to immigrate to France and get French nationality. There are plenty of native trained beauticians in France and it is not an area where there is sufficient demand for non Europeans to be given a residence and work permit. In any case before being able to even apply for French nationality, it is necessary to have lived at least five continuous years on French soil, and the rare work and residence permits given are for a maximum of three years. If you rose to the top of the profession in the USA and became a "name" like Helena Rubinstein or Gloria Vanderbilt , you might stand a chance to reside part-time in France, but that is as far as it would go. In any case you are much more likely to earn a good living as a cosmetologist in the USA as American women are much more into this kind of treatments than French ones who keep make-up and artificial aids to a minimum.

AUp until the 1970's Britain did it alone on most of its combat aircraft and developed a long list of successful types. The UK could have gone it alone on some other joint projects (BAe EAP instead of Eurofighter, TSR2 instead of Tornado) but saw advantages to sharing the workload, both politically and economically. France was able to rely on export success (which has now vanished) to keep its aircraft industry alive. France had also pulled out of NATO which left her somewhat on her own. Rafale will probably be the last wholly French combat aircraft project. Germany had its aviation industry bombed into oblivion in WW2. It has never fully recovered.

AUnemployment has become one of the main difficulties which is on the minds of people in France, it has been the foundation of rioting and has resulted in political changes that are reaching their peak with France's elections.You need only to type in Unemployment in France into Google and see several articles, here's a bit of a head start:http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/06/MNGUIPM5L01.DTLhttp://www.voanews.com/english/2007-05-04-voa39.cfmexcerpted from SFGate newsFrench politicians are masters of nuance who choose their words carefully, so it is striking that both candidates in today's presidential runoff election have talked a lot about a country in crisis. "France is undergoing an unprecedented identity crisis," said Nicolas Sarkozy, the center-right candidate who is considered the front-runner. "Her model of integration has broken down, her social model is failing, her cohesion withers. A terrible doubt overcomes her. She has doubts about her values, her future, her identity, her vocation." Both Sarkozy and his rival, Segolene Royal of the Socialist Party, cite a long list of specific woes: Low economic growth. High unemployment. A public sector that spends almost half its budget on salaries and pensions. Youth riots that revealed rage and alienation in the Muslim immigrant community. Declining influence in Europe and beyond.