History of the metre

In the aftermath of the French Revolution (1789), the old units of measure that were associated with the Ancien Régime were replaced by new units. The livre was replaced by the decimal franc, and a new unit of length was introduced which became known as the metre. Although there was initially considerable resistance to the adoption of the new metric system in France (including an official reversion to the mesures usuelles (French for: "normal units") for a period of time), the metre gained following in continental Europe during the mid nineteenth century, particularly in scientific usage, and was officially adopted as an international measurement unit by the Metre Convention of 1875.