French Civil War

I'm trying to come up with a scenario where almost all European countries have had a civil war. When would be the best time for France to have their war? Or was the religious wars of 1562-1598 the best time frame?
 
I'm trying to come up with a scenario where almost all European countries have had a civil war. When would be the best time for France to have their war? Or was the religious wars of 1562-1598 the best time frame?

The Wars of Religion and the years 1793-1798 were civil wars in all but name.
 
Most of the European civil wars were generally succession wars.
France didn't really have them as their royal succession was fairly strict and the tendency of the kings to strengthen senior heirs above the lesser.
So, removing the so-called Salic Law could create a civil war scenario later on.
Alternatively remove all the nearby male line candidates so that the choice is between a nearby female line or a distant, weak, possibly foreign male line.
 
Might be a bit out of your time frame but I think a French Civil War after the conclusion of WW2 is right with a series of PoDs. The resistance all hated each other and spent much of their time killing each other in order to win control over post-war France as they did killing Nazis.

I would add this is basically OTL though - the Wars of Religion and the Revolution were both civil wars by almost any definition
 
What about the Vendee?

Maybe. The line between a civil war and an insurgency is not a clear cut thing. I suppose if the Vendee rebels had a real chance of either seizing control of France, or establishing their own government or autonomous region, then it'd be a civil war.
 
The French religious wars qualify as civil wars, considering it was essentially two parties (the Ligue and the Protestants) alternatively jockeying with the Politiques against the other or, when feeling strong enough, outright revolting against royal power. Notably, Henri III lost his capital to the League.
 
Napoleon wins, then dies cue power struggle. Or have there be an attempted coup against him after a Napoleonic victory, that fails to seize power but only after managing to kill him first.
 
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