Military history of France

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
France
French Army lists
Field armies in the First World War
Divisions in the First World War
Divisions in the Second World War
Regiments
Hundred Years War. The victory at Castillon showcased the power of artillery against charging masses of infantry and allowed the French to capture Bordeaux
a few months later. The English subsequently lost their major remaining possessions on the European continent.

The military history of France encompasses an immense panorama of conflicts and struggles extending for more than 2,000 years across areas including modern France, Europe, and a variety of regions throughout the world.

According to historian Niall Ferguson, France is the most successful military power in history. It participated in 50 of the 125 major European wars that have been fought since 1495; more than any other European state. The first major recorded wars in the territory of modern-day France itself revolved around the Gallo-Roman conflict that predominated from 60 BC to 50 BC. The Romans eventually emerged victorious through the campaigns of Julius Caesar. After the decline of the Roman Empire, a Germanic tribe known as the Franks took control of Gaul by defeating competing tribes. The "land of Francia", from which France gets its name, had high points of expansion under kings Clovis I and Charlemagne, who established the nucleus of the future French state. In the Middle Ages, rivalries with England prompted major conflicts such as the Norman Conquest and the Hundred Years' War. With an increasingly centralized monarchy, the first standing army since Roman times, and the use of artillery, France expelled the English from its territory and came out of the Middle Ages as the most powerful nation in Europe, only to lose that status to the Holy Roman Empire and Spain following defeat in the Italian Wars. The Wars of Religion crippled France in the late 16th century, but a major victory over Spain in the Thirty Years' War made France the most powerful nation on the continent once more. In parallel, France developed its first colonial empire in Asia, Africa, and in the Americas. Under Louis XIV France achieved military supremacy over its rivals, but escalating conflicts against increasingly powerful enemy coalitions checked French ambitions and left the kingdom bankrupt at the opening of the 18th century.

Resurgent French armies secured victories in dynastic conflicts against the

Russia in the Crimea, Austria in Italy, and Prussia
within France itself.

Following defeat in the

nuclear power and, since the late 20th century, has cooperated closely with NATO, the United States
and European partners.

Dominant themes

Animated map of French territory in continental Europe over time. After centuries of warfare and diplomacy, France has the largest territory of any nation in Western Europe.

Historian Niall Ferguson argues that France is the most belligerent military power in history. It participated in 50 of the 125 major European wars fought since 1495; more than any other European state. It is followed by Austria which fought in 47 of them; Spain in 44; and England in 43. Out of the 169 most important world battles fought since 387BC, France has won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10.[2]

In the last few centuries, French strategic thinking has sometimes been driven by the need to attain or preserve the so-called "natural frontiers," which are the

Rhine River to the east.[3] Starting with Clovis, 1,500 years of warfare and diplomacy has witnessed the accomplishment of most of these objectives. Warfare with other European powers was not always determined by these considerations, and often rulers of France extended their continental authority far beyond these barriers, most notably under Charlemagne, Louis XIV, and Napoleon.[4] These periods of incessant conflict were characterized by their own standards and conventions, but all required strong central leadership in order to permit the extension of French rule.[5] Important military rivalries in human history have come about as a result of conflict between French peoples and other European powers. Anglo-French rivalry, for prestige in Europe and around the world, continued for centuries, while the more recent Franco-German rivalry required two world wars to stabilize.[6]

Animated map showing growth and decline of the French colonial empire

Starting in the early 16th century, much of France's military efforts were dedicated to securing its overseas possessions and putting down dissent among both French colonists and native populations. French troops were spread all across its empire, primarily to deal with the local population. The French colonial empire ultimately disintegrated after the failed attempt to subdue Algerian nationalists in the late 1950s, a failure that led to the collapse of the

UN Security Council. France has also been instrumental in attempting to unite the armed forces of Europe for their own defense in order to both balance the power of Russia and to lessen European military dependence on the United States. For example, France withdrew from NATO in 1966 over complaints that its role in the organization was being subordinated to the demands of the United States.[8] French objectives in this era have undergone major shifts. Unencumbered by continental wars or intricate alliances, France now deploys its military forces as part of international peacekeeping operations, security enforcers in former colonies, or maintains them combat ready and mobilized to respond to threats from rogue states. France is a nuclear power with the largest nuclear arsenal in Europe, and its nuclear capabilities, just like its conventional forces, have been restructured to rapidly deal with emerging threats.[9]

Early period

See also: List of wars involving France
Brennus and the sack of Rome
as imagined in the 19th century

Around 390 BC, the Gallic

Italia
.

Around 125 BC, the south of France is conquered by the Romans who called this region Provincia Romana ("Roman Province"), which evolved into the name Provence in French.[10] Brennus' sack of Rome was still remembered by Romans, when Julius Caesar conquered the remainder of Gaul. Initially Caesar met with little Gallic resistance: the 60 or so tribes that made up Gaul were unable to unite and defeat the Roman army, something Caesar exploited by pitting one tribe against another. In 58 BC, Caesar defeated the Germanic tribe of the Suebi, which was led by Ariovistus. The following year he conquered the Belgian Gauls after claiming that they were conspiring against Rome. The string of victories continued in a naval triumph against the Veneti in 56 BC. In 53 BC, a united Gallic resistance movement under Vercingetorix emerged for the first time. Caesar laid siege to the fortified city of Avaricum (Bourges) and broke through the defenses after 25 days, with only 800 out of the 40,000 inhabitants managing to escape.[11] He then besieged Gergovia, Vercingetorix's home town, and suffered one of the worst defeats in his career when he had to retreat to suppress a revolt in another part of Gaul. After returning, Caesar surrounded Vercingetorix at Alesia in 52 BC. The townspeople were starved into submission and Caesar's unique defensive earthworks, protruding towards the city and away from it in order to stop a massive Gallic relief force,[12] eventually forced Vercingetorix to surrender. The Gallic Wars were over.

Alamanni at the Battle of Tolbiac. In 507 he scored the most impressive victory in his career, prevailing at the Battle of Vouillé against the Visigoths, who were led by Alaric II, the conqueror of Spain.[14]

Frankish expansion from the early Clovis I' kingdom (481) to the divisions of Charlemagne's Empire (843/870)

Following Clovis, territorial divisions in the Frankish domain sparked intense rivalry between the western part of the kingdom,

Rhone Valley. Two key battles during this period were the Battle of Toulouse and the Battle of Tours
, both won by the Franks, and both instrumental in slowing Islamic incursions.

Under Charlemagne the Franks reached the height of their power. After campaigns against Lombards, Avars, Saxons, and Basques, the resulting Carolingian Empire stretched from the Pyrenees to Central Germany, from the North Sea to the Adriatic. In 800 the Pope made Charlemagne Emperor of the West in return for protection of the Church. The Carolingian Empire was a conscious effort to recreate a central administration modeled on that of the Roman Empire,[15] but the motivations behind military expansion differed. Charlemagne hoped to provide his nobles an incentive to fight by encouraging looting on campaign. Plunder and spoils of war were stronger temptations than imperial expansion, and several regions were invaded over and over in order to bolster the coffers of Frankish nobility.[16] Cavalry dominated the battlefields, and while the high costs associated with equipping horses and horse-riders helped limit their numbers, Carolingian armies maintained an average size of 20,000 during peacetime by recruiting infantry from imperial territories near theaters of operation, swelling to more with the levies called upon when at war.[17] The Empire lasted from 800 to 843, when, following Frankish tradition, it was split between the sons of Louis the Pious by the Treaty of Verdun.

Middle Ages

See also: List of wars involving France
Horse riders wearing helmets and armor galloping through the midst of flying arrows.
A section of the Bayeux Tapestry chronicling the Norman victory at Hastings

Military history during this period paralleled the rise and eventual fall of the armored

feudal local and regional lords using the knights and levied conscripts below them to fight amongst each other, often in defiance or even outright rebellion towards their sovereign. After campaigns designed for plundering, attacking and defending, castles became the dominant feature of medieval warfare.[22]

Armored soldiers deploy ladders in preparation for scaling a castle. Archers stand behind the soldiers and shoot with their bows and arrows.
Castles were the most important defensive structures during the Middle Ages, making them a valuable target for any invading army.

During the

Arabic language is simply known as Al-Franj or "The Franks"[25] and Old French became the lingua franca of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.[26]

The advent of artillery, like these bombards at the Mont-Saint-Michel, greatly changed the techniques of warfare in the late Middle Ages.

In the 11th century, French knights wore knee-length

Bouvines Campaign (1202-1214), the Saintonge War (1242) and the War of Saint-Sardos
(1324).

Improvements in armor over the centuries led to the establishment of

Cassel in 1328 or, even more decisively, at Bouvines in 1214, and Patay
in 1429.

Popular conceptions of the third and final phase of the Hundred Years War are often dominated by the exploits of

Compagnies d'ordonnance—cavalry units with 20 companies of 600 men each[32]—and launched the first standing army for a dynastic state in the Western world.[33] The Compagnies gave the French a considerable edge in professionalism and discipline, being composed of paid full-time professional soldiers, at a time when the allegiances of the aristocratic knights would often shift to the opposing side. Strong French counterattacks turned the tide of the war. The important victories of Orléans, Patay, Formigny and Castillon allowed the French to win back all English continental territories, except Calais, which was later captured
by the French.

Equipment of medieval French sergeants was based on their property:[34]

Property worth Military equipment
L60+ Hauberk, helmet, sword, knife, spear, and shield
L30+ Gambeson, sword, knife, spear, and shield
L10+ Helmet, sword, knife, spear, and shield
L10< Bow, arrows, and knife

Ancien Régime

See also: List of wars involving France
Battle of Marignan
(1515)

The

Thirty Years War. Later in the 16th century, France was weakened internally by the Wars of Religion. As nobles managed to raise their own private armies, these conflicts between Huguenots and Catholics all but demolished centralization and monarchical authority, precluding France from remaining a powerful force in European affairs.[35] On the battlefield, the religious conflicts highlighted the influence of the gendarmes, heavy cavalry units that comprised the majority of cavalrymen attached to the main field armies.[36] The pride of the royal cavalry, gendarme companies were often attached to the main royal army in hopes of inflicting a decisive defeat on Huguenot forces, although secondary detachments were also used for scouting and intercepting enemy troops.[37]

The Battle of Rocroi in (1643)

After the Wars of Religion, France could do little to challenge the dominance of the Holy Roman Empire, although the empire itself faced several problems. From the east it was

French marshals who would help usher in a new era of military strategy. After their victory, France emerged as the sole dominant European power under the reign of Louis XIV. In parallel, French explorers, such as Jacques Cartier or Samuel de Champlain, claimed lands in the Americas for France, paving the way for the expansion of the French colonial empire
.

The Battle of Fontenoy (1745), during the War of the Austrian Succession

The long reign of

Nine Years War, and the War of the Spanish Succession. Few of these wars were either clear victories or definite defeats, but French borders expanded steadily anyway. The west bank of the Rhine, much of the Spanish Netherlands, and a good deal of Luxembourg were annexed while the War of the Spanish Succession saw the grandson of Louis placed on the throne of Spain. The French strategic situation, however, changed decisively with the Glorious Revolution in England, which replaced a pro-French king with an enemy of Louis, the Dutch William of Orange. After a period of two centuries seeing only rare hostilities with France, England now became a consistent enemy again, and remained so until the 19th century. To stop French advances, England formed coalitions with several other European powers, most notably the Habsburgs. While these armies had difficulties against the French on land, the British Royal Navy dominated the seas, and France lost many of its colonial holdings. The British economy also became Europe's most powerful, and British money
funded the campaigns of their continental allies.

Lord Cornwallis to French troops (left) and American troops (right), at Yorktown
(1781)

Wars in this era consisted mostly of

network of fortifications for the defense of France.[39] The armies of Louis XIV were some of the most impressive in French history, their quality reflecting militaristic as well political developments. In the mid-17th century, royal power reasserted itself and the army became a tool through which the King could wield authority, replacing older systems of mercenary units and the private forces of recalcitrant nobles.[40] Military administration also made gigantic progress as food supply, clothing, equipment, and armaments were provided in a regularity never before equaled.[41] In fact, the French embedded this standardization by becoming the first army to give their soldiers national uniforms in the 1680s and 1690s.[42]

The 18th century saw France remain the dominant power in Europe, but begin to falter largely because of internal problems. The country engaged in a long series of wars, such as the War of the Quadruple Alliance, the War of the Polish Succession, and the War of the Austrian Succession, but these conflicts gained France little. Meanwhile, Britain's power steadily increased, and a new force, Prussia, became a major threat. This change in the balance of power led to the Diplomatic Revolution of 1756, when France and the Habsburgs forged an alliance after centuries of animosity.[43] This alliance proved less than effective in the Seven Years' War, but in the American Revolutionary War, the French helped inflict a major defeat on the British.

Revolutionary France

Main article: French Revolutionary Wars
See also: List of wars involving France and French Revolutionary Army
Colored painting showing French army at Varoux
The armies of the Revolution at Jemappes in 1792. With chaos internally and enemies on the borders, the French were in a jittery state in 1792. By 1797, however, they had exported their ideology (and the army that followed it) to the Low Countries and Northern Italy.

The French Revolution, true to its name, revolutionized nearly all aspects of French and European life. The powerful sociopolitical forces unleashed by a people seeking liberté, égalité, and fraternité made certain that even warfare was not spared this upheaval. 18th-century armies—with their rigid protocols, static operational strategy, unenthusiastic soldiers, and aristocratic officer classes—underwent massive remodeling as the French monarchy and nobility gave way to liberal assemblies obsessed with external threats. The fundamental shifts in warfare that occurred during the period have prompted scholars to identify the era as the beginning of "modern war".[44]

In 1791 the Legislative Assembly passed the "Drill-Book" legislation, implementing a series of infantry doctrines created by French theorists because of their defeat by the Prussians in the Seven Years' War.[45] The new developments hoped to exploit the intrinsic bravery of the French soldier, made even more powerful by the explosive nationalist forces of the Revolution. The changes also placed a faith on the ordinary soldier that would be completely unacceptable in earlier times; French troops were expected to harass the enemy and remain loyal enough to not desert, a benefit other Ancien Régime armies did not have. Following the declaration of war in 1792, an imposing array of enemies converging on French borders prompted the government in Paris to adopt radical measures. August 23, 1793, would become a historic day in military history; on that date the National Convention called a levée en masse, or mass conscription, for the first time in human history.[46] By summer of the following year, conscription made some 500,000 men available for service and the French began to deal blows to their European enemies.[47]

An episode (Battle of Entrames) of the civil war between republicans and royalists during the French Revolutionary Wars

Armies during the Revolution became noticeably larger than their Holy Roman counterparts, and combined with the new enthusiasm of the troops, the tactical and strategic opportunities became profound. By 1797 the French had defeated the

Second Coalition, but by 1801 this too had been decisively beaten. Another key aspect of French success was the changes wrought in the officer classes. Traditionally, European armies left major command positions to those who could be trusted, namely, the aristocracy. The hectic nature of the French Revolution, however, tore apart France's old army, meaning new men were required to become officers and commanders.[48]

Besides opening a flood of tactical and strategic opportunities, the Revolutionary Wars also laid the foundation for modern military theory. Later authors that wrote about "nations in arms" drew inspiration from the French Revolution, in which dire circumstances seemingly mobilized the entire French nation for war and incorporated nationalism into the fabric of military history.[49] Although the reality of war in the France of 1795 would be different from that in the France of 1915, conceptions and mentalities of war evolved significantly. Clausewitz correctly analyzed the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras to give posterity a thorough and complete theory of war that emphasized struggles between nations occurring everywhere, from the battlefield to the legislative assemblies, and to the very way that people think.[50] War now emerged as a vast panorama of physical and psychological forces heading for victory or defeat.

Napoleonic France

Main article: Napoleonic Wars
See also: List of wars involving France and Grande Armée § History
Ulm Campaign raised the tally of captured Austrian soldiers to 60,000. With the Austrian army destroyed, Vienna
would fall to the French in November.

The

Napoleon Bonaparte
himself—intelligent, charismatic, and a military genius, Napoleon absorbed the latest military theories of the day and applied them in the battlefield with deadly effect.

battle of Iena (1806) which led to the occupation of Prussia

Napoleon inherited an army that was based on conscription and used huge masses of poorly trained troops, which could usually be readily replaced.

Russian campaign would have destroyed any professional commander of the day, but those losses were quickly replaced with new draftees. After Napoleon, nations planned for huge armies with professional leadership and a constant supply of new soldiers, which had huge human costs when improved weapons like the rifled musket replaced the inaccurate muskets of Napoleon's day during the American Civil War
.

A map of the French Empire in 1812
French Empire, 1811. The French Empire is in dark green while the "Grand Empire" includes satellite states and areas under French military control (light green).

This large size came at a cost, as the logistics of feeding a huge army made them especially dependent on supplies. Most armies of the day relied on the supply-convoy system established during the Thirty Years' War by

Gustavus Adolphus. This limited mobility, since the soldiers had to wait for the convoys, but it did keep possibly mutinous troops from deserting, and thus helped preserve an army's composure. However, Napoleon's armies were so large that feeding them using the old method proved ineffective, and consequently, French troops were allowed to live off the land. Infused with new concepts of nation and service. Napoleon often attempted to wage decisive, quick campaigns so that he could allow his men to live off the land. The French army did use a convoy system, but it was stocked with very few days worth of food; Napoleon's troops were expected to march quickly, effect a decision on the battlefield, then disperse to feed. For the Russian campaign, the French did store 24 days' worth of food before beginning active operations, but this campaign was the exception, not the rule.[54]

Napoleon's biggest influence in the military sphere was in the conduct of warfare. Weapons and technology remained largely static through the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras, but 18th-century operational strategy underwent massive restructuring. Sieges became infrequent to the point of near-irrelevance, a new emphasis arose towards the destruction of enemy armies as well as their outmaneuvering, and invasions of enemy territory occurred over broader fronts, thus introducing a plethora of strategic opportunities that made wars costlier and, just as importantly, more decisive.[55] Defeat for a European power now meant much more than losing isolated enclaves. Near-Carthaginian treaties intertwined whole national efforts—social, political, economic, and militaristic—into gargantuan collisions that severely upset international conventions as understood at the time. Napoleon's initial success sowed the seeds for his downfall. Not used to such catastrophic defeats in the rigid power system of 18th-century Europe, many nations found existence under the French yoke difficult, sparking revolts, wars, and general instability that plagued the continent until 1815, when the forces of reaction finally triumphed at the Battle of Waterloo.[56]

French colonial empire

Main articles: French colonial empire and List of French possessions and colonies
See also: New France, French West Indies, French India, French West Africa, French Equatorial Africa, List of wars involving France, Troupes coloniales, and Army of Africa (France)
Global map of French colonial empire
Map of the first (green) and second (blue) French colonial empires

The history of French colonial imperialism can be divided in two major eras: the first from the early 17th century to the middle of the 18th century, and the second from the early 19th century to the middle of the 20th century. In the first phase of expansion, France concentrated its efforts mainly in North America, the Caribbean and India, setting up commercial ventures that were backed by military force. Following defeat in the Seven Years' War, France lost its possessions in North America and India, but it did manage to keep the wealthy Caribbean islands of Saint-Domingue, Guadeloupe, and Martinique.

The second stage began with the

overseas territories
, but their collective size is barely a shadow of the old French colonial empire.

From 1815

Franco-Austrian War
(1859)

After the exile of Napoleon, the freshly restored

Dreyfus Affair, however, mitigated these nationalist tendencies by prompting public skepticism about the competence of the military.[60]

First World War

See also: French Army in World War I
French soldiers in a trench, during the Battle of Verdun (1916)

In World War I, the French, with

in the colonies until the final defeat of the Central Powers and their allies. After major conflicts such as the Battle of the Frontiers, the First Battle of the Marne, the Battle of Verdun, and the Second Battle of the Aisne—the last resulting in tremendous loss of life and mutiny within the army—the French proved to be enough of a cohesive fighting force to counterattack and defeat the Germans at the Second Battle of the Marne, the first in what would become a string of Allied victories that ended the war.[61] The Treaty of Versailles eventually returned Alsace-Lorraine to France. The French military, civilian and material losses during the First World War were huge. With more than 1.3 million military fatalities and more than 4.6 million wounded, France suffered the second highest Allied losses, after Russia. As a result, France was adamant on the payment of reparations by Germany. The organised failure of the Weimar Republic to pay reparations led to the Occupation of the Ruhr
by French and Belgian forces.

Second World War

See also: Military history of France during World War II
Free French Foreign Legionnaires at the Battle of Bir Hakeim
(1942)

A variety of factors—ranging from smaller industrial base to low population growth and obsolete military doctrines—crippled the French effort at the outset of World War II. The Germans won the Battle of France in 1940 despite the French often having better planes and tanks than their opponents whereas they were lacking modern weaponry for the infantry, the main problem although was the unexistant doctrine to synchronize the tanks alongside the plane, as tanks were not used as a primary force but rather as support for infantry, without planning an anti-air protection for them. their use as primary force were made in very rare occasion, when commanded by Charles de Gaulle for example, only a tank crew division commander by the time of 1940. Prior to the Battle of France, there were sentiments among many Allied soldiers, French and British, of pointless repetition; they viewed the war with dread since they had already beaten the Germans once, and images of that first major conflict were still poignant in military circles.

Third Republic
collapsed in the ensuing conflict.

French forces advance in Colmar Pocket, 1945

After the defeat, Vichy France cooperated with the Axis powers until 1944. Charles de Gaulle exhorted the French people to join the allied armies, while the French Vichy forces participated in direct action against Allied forces, inflicting casualties in some cases.

The

Free French Forces, under de Gaulle, had participated widely throughout previous campaigns, and their large size made them notable at the end of the war. As early as the winter of 1943, the Free French already had nearly 260,000 soldiers,[66] and these numbers only grew as the war progressed. The French Resistance had also a significant contribution, participating also actively in the liberation of France. At the end of the war, France was given one of four occupation zones in Germany, in Berlin and Austria
.

Post-1945 warfare

Main article:
List of French wars and battles § Modern period
See also: Overseas military bases of France and List of equipment of the French Army
Côte d'Ivoire
in 2003

Following the 1939–45 war, decolonization spread through the former European empires.

Following the

OAS. Related to and during the Algerian war France participated in the Suez Crisis
with Israel and the UK.

By 1960 France had lost its direct military influence over all of its former colonies in Africa and Indochina. Nonetheless, several colonies in the Pacific, Caribbean, Indian Oceans and South America remain French territory to this day and France kept a form of indirect political influence in Africa colloquially known as the Françafrique.

As

French atomic weapons and promoted a foreign policy independent of U.S. influence. He also withdrew France from the NATO military command in 1966—although remaining a member of the western alliance. The effect of withdrawal was reduced by continued cooperation between the French military and NATO, though France did not formally rejoin the NATO military command until 2009.[67]

France intervened in various post-colonial conflicts, supporting former colonies (

Chadian–Libyan conflict, Djiboutian Civil War), NATO peacekeeping missions in war-torn countries (UNPROFOR, KFOR, UNAMIR) and many humanitarian missions
.

As a nuclear power and having some of the best trained and best equipped forces in the world, the French military has now met some of its primary objectives which are the defense of national territory, the protection of French interests abroad, and the maintenance of global stability. Conflicts indicative of these objectives are the

War in Afghanistan, along with recent interventions in Africa
.

African interventions during the early 21st century include

civil war, as Islamist militants appeared to threaten the south after seizing control of the arid north. Changes in the government of France, including Socialist François Hollande becoming president
in 2012 after years of center-right governance, have done little to alter Paris' foreign policy in Africa.

Hollande also proposed French military involvement in the

chemical attacks French intelligence reports linked to the forces of President Bashar al-Assad in mid-2013.[69]

France has encouraged military cooperation at an EU level, starting with the formation of the

the Lancaster House Treaties of 2010
. These promised close integration in both procurement and at an operational level, reaching into the most sensitive areas such as nuclear warheads.

Topical subjects

French Air and Space Force

Main articles:
History of the Armée de l'Air in the colonies (1939–62)
The Tricolore cockade of the French Air and Space Force was the first roundel used on combat aircraft.[71]

The

Rafale multi-role jet fighter, whose first squadron of 20 aircraft became operational in 2006 at Saint-Dizier.[73]
In 2020 it was renamed the Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace, or French Air and Space Force.

French Navy

Battle of Chesapeake
.
Main article: History of the French Navy

Hundred Years War. However, the navy did not become a consistent instrument of national power until the 17th century with Louis XIV. Under the tutelage of the "Sun King," the French Navy was well financed and equipped, managing to resoundingly defeat a combined Spanish-Dutch fleet at the Battle of Palermo in 1676 during the Franco-Dutch War, although, along with the English navy, it suffered several strategic reversals against the Dutch, who were led by the brilliant Michiel de Ruyter. It scored several early victories in the Nine Years War against the Royal Navy and the Dutch Navy
. Financial difficulties, however, allowed the English and the Dutch to regain the initiative at sea.

The Charles de Gaulle, the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in Europe

A perennial problem for the French Navy was the strategic priorities of France, which were first and foremost tied to its European ambitions. This reality meant that the army was often treated better than the navy, and as a result, the latter suffered in training and operational performance.

impressive campaigns against the British in India, there was not much more good news. The French Revolution all but crippled the French Navy, and efforts to make it into a powerful force under Napoleon were dashed at the Battle of Trafalgar
in 1805, where the British all but annihilated a combined Franco-Spanish fleet. The disaster guaranteed British naval domination until the end of the Napoleonic wars.

Later in the 19th century, the navy recovered and became the second finest in the world after the Royal Navy. It conducted a successful blockade of Mexico in the

Mers-el-Kebir in order to prevent the threat she fall to the Germans, the remaining of French fleet scuttled herself at Toulon for prevent the 7th Panzer Division
to capture the fleet, two years later .

Currently, French naval doctrine calls for two aircraft carriers, but the French currently only have one, the Charles de Gaulle, due to restructuring. The navy is in the midst of some technological and procurement changes; newer submarines are under construction and Rafale aircraft (the naval version) are currently replacing older aircraft.

Foreign Legion

Main articles: French Foreign Legion and List of French paratrooper units

The

Louis-Philippe to allow the incorporation of foreign nationals into the French Army. Over the past century and a half, it has gone on to become one of the most recognizable and lauded military units in the world. The Legion had a very difficult start; there were few non-commissioned officers, many of the soldiers could not speak French, and pay was often irregular.[78] The Legion was soon transferred to fight in Algeria, performing moderately successfully given its condition. On August 17, 1835, the commander of the Legion, Colonel Joseph Bernelle, decided to amalgamate all the battalions so that no nationality was exclusively confined to a particular battalion; this helped ensure that the Legion did not fragment into factions.[79]

Following participation in Africa and in the Carlist Wars in Spain, the Legion fought in the Crimean War and the Franco-Austrian War, where they performed heroically at the Battle of Magenta, before earning even more glory during the French intervention in Mexico. On April 30, 1863, a company of 65 legionnaires was ambushed by 2,000 Mexican troops at the Hacienda Camarón; in the resulting Battle of Camarón, the legionnaires resisted bravely for several hours and inflicted 300–500 casualties on the Mexicans while 62 of them died and three were captured.[80] One of the Mexican commanders, impressed by the memorable intransigence he had just witnessed, characterized the Legion in a way they've been known ever since, "These are not men, but devils!"[81]

In World War I, the Legion demonstrated that it was a highly capable unit in modern warfare. It suffered 11,000 casualties in the Western Front while conducting brilliant defenses and spirited counter-attacks.[82] Following the debacle in the Battle of France in 1940, the Legion was split between those who supported the Vichy government and those who joined the Free French under de Gaulle. At the Battle of Bir Hakeim in 1942, the Free French 13th Legion Demi-Brigade doggedly defended its positions against a combined Italian-German offensive and seriously delayed Rommel's attacks towards Tobruk. The Legion eventually returned to Europe and fought until the end of the Second World War in 1945. It later fought in the First Indochina War against the Viet Minh. At the climactic Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954, French forces, many of them legionnaires, were completely surrounded by a large Vietnamese army and were defeated after two months of tenacious fighting. French withdrawal from Algeria led to the collapse of the French colonial empire. The legionnaires were mostly used in colonial interventions, so the destruction of the empire prompted questions about their status. Ultimately, the Legion was allowed to exist and participated as a rapid reaction force in many places throughout Africa and around the world.[83]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Richard Brooks (editor), Atlas of World Military History. p. 101. "Washington's success in keeping the army together deprived the British of victory, but French intervention won the war."
  2. ^ Ferguson, Niall (2001). "The Cash Nexus: Money and Power in the Modern World, 1700-2000; p.25-27". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  3. ^ William Roosen, The age of Louis XIV: the rise of modern diplomacy. p. 55
  4. ^ Richard Brooks (editor), Atlas of World Military History. pp. 46–7, 84–5, 108–9.
  5. ^ Brooks pp. 46–7, 84–5, 108–9.
  6. ^ William Thompson, Great power rivalries. p. 104
  7. ^ Richard Brooks (editor), Atlas of World Military History. p. 234
  8. ^ Kay, Sean. NATO and the future of European security. p. 43
  9. ^ Jolyon Howorth and Patricia Chilton, Defence and dissent in contemporary France. p. 153
  10. ^ Inc, Time (13 July 1953). "LIFE". Time Inc. Retrieved 6 May 2018 – via Google Books. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  11. ^ Alfred Bradford and Pamela Bradford, With arrow, sword, and spear: a history of warfare in the ancient world. p. 213
  12. De Bello Gallico
    , Caesar claims a Gallic relief force of 250,000 men, but the logistical requirements for such a huge army were beyond anything the Gauls could procure. It is likely that Caesar inflated the figures to make his victory seem more impressive.
  13. ^ Jim Bradbury, The Routledge companion to medieval warfare. p. 109
  14. ^ Jim Bradbury, The Routledge companion to medieval warfare. p. 110
  15. ^ J. M. Roberts, History of the World. p. 384
  16. ^ Brooks, Richard (editor), Atlas of World Military History. p. 46
  17. ^ Brooks p. 47
  18. ^ French Medieval Armies and Navies, Xenophon Group. Accessed March 20, 2006
  19. ^ French Medieval Armies and Navies, Xenophon Group. Accessed March 20, 2006
  20. ^ Richard Brooks (editor), Atlas of World Military History. p. 53
  21. ^ Brooks p. 50
  22. ^ Brooks p. 50
  23. ^ Andrew Jotischky, Crusading and the Crusader States. p. 37. The theory that argues for sociological and economic rather than spiritual motivation provides regional examples where noble fathers would give their lands to the oldest surviving son, meaning younger sons would be left landless and looking for somewhere to go (the Crusades, in this case). Problems with the theory include, but are not limited to, the fact that there is no proof that younger sons formed the majority of the crusaders, the response to the crusading movement was just as strong in areas with equitable inheritance systems, and, since they were in many ways bound to the wishes and the decisions of their nobles, knights often had little individual choice in whether they would participate in a crusade.
  24. ^ Jotischky p. 37
  25. ^ "Discover Islamic Art Virtual Exhibitions - Al-Franj: the Crusaders in the Levant - Introduction". www.discoverislamicart.org. Archived from the original on 6 May 2018. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  26. ^ "- Hosanna Lutheran Church". www.welcometohosanna.com. Archived from the original on 29 October 2016. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  27. ^ David Eltis, The military revolution in sixteenth-century Europe. p. 12
  28. ^ Richard Brooks (editor), Atlas of World Military History. p. 59. "Much has been made of the success of the English longbow. However, it was not a war-winning weapon. Reliance on this defensive weapon on the battlefield gave the initiative to the French.."
  29. ^ Brooks p. 59. (continuing from last comment) "...its victories also depended on the French bungling their attack. The English were fortunate that their opponent failed to get it right three times in a 70-year period."
  30. ^ Trevor Dupuy, Harper Encyclopedia of Military History. p. 450
  31. ^ Richard Brooks (editor), Atlas of World Military History. p. 59. "The major defeats of the French by the English boosted French military thought. A recently discovered document of the French battle plan for the Agincourt campaign shows how carefully the French thought about ways of defeating the English. In the event, the plan could not be fully executed because the battlefield at Agincourt was too narrow for the French forces to fully deploy."
  32. ^ French Medieval Armies and Navies, Xenophon Group. Accessed March 20, 2006
  33. ^ Jeremy Black, Cambridge illustrated atlas, warfare: Renaissance to revolution, 1492-1792. p. 49
  34. ISBN 9781326256524
    .
  35. ^ John A. Lynn, The Wars of Louis XIV. p. 8
  36. ^ James Wood, The King's Army. p. 131
  37. ^ Wood p. 132
  38. ^ Kemal Karpat, The Ottoman state and its place in world history. p. 52
  39. ^ Jamel Ostwald, Vauban under siege. p. 7
  40. ^ John A. Lynn, Giant of the Grand Siècle: The French Army, 1610–1715. p. 16 (preface)
  41. ^ Lynn p. 16 (preface)
  42. ^ Richard Brooks (editor), Atlas of World Military History. p. 84
  43. ^ Jackson Spielvogel, Western Civilization: Since 1500. p. 551
  44. ^ Lester Kurtz and Jennifer Turpin, Encyclopedia of violence, peace and conflict, Volume 2. p. 425
  45. ^ David G. Chandler, The Campaigns of Napoleon. p. 136
  46. ^ John R. Elting, Swords Around a Throne: Napoleon's Grande Armée. p. 35. The opening words are mundane, but they helped pave the way for a new era in human history, one where militarism became entrenched in national culture: "From this moment until our enemies shall have been driven from the territory of the Republic, all Frenchmen are permanently requisitioned for the service of the armies."
  47. ^ T. C. W. Blanning, The French Revolutionary Wars. p. 109
  48. ^ John R. Elting, Swords Around a Throne: Napoleon's Grande Armée. p. 28–29. Aristocratic officers deserted gradually, not suddenly. Furthermore, desertion rates depended upon the service: cavalry officers were more likely to leave the army than their artillery counterparts.
  49. ^ Parker, Geoffrey. The Cambridge history of warfare. p. 189
  50. ^ Peter Paret, Clausewitz and the State. p. 332
  51. ^ John A. Lynn, The Wars of Louis XIV. p. 28
  52. ^ Martyn Lyons, Napoleon Bonaparte and the Legacy of the French Revolution. p. 43. Lyons writes, France had a large population by European standards, numbering over 29 million in 1800. This was more than the population of the Habsburg Empire (20 million), more than double the population of England (about 12 million), and more than four times the population of Prussia (6 million).
  53. ^ Lester Kurtz and Jennifer Turpin, Encyclopedia of violence, peace and conflict, Volume 2. p. 425
  54. ^ David G. Chandler, The Campaigns of Napoleon. p. 758
  55. ^ Chandler p. 162
  56. ^ Todd Fisher & Gregory Fremont-Barnes, The Napoleonic Wars: The Rise and Fall of an Empire. p. 186. "Up to 1792,...conflicts were, of course, those of kings, and followed the pattern of eighteenth-century warfare: sovereigns sought limited objectives and entertained no desire to overthrow their adversaries' ruling (and indeed usually ancient) dynasty. The outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 altered this pattern forever and international relations underwent some radical changes as a result."
  57. ^ Conrad Phillip Kottak, Cultural Anthropology. p. 331
  58. ^ Richard Brooks (editor), Atlas of World Military History. p. 129
  59. Alsace-Lorraine, revanchism
    in French politics made certain that the army was carefully nurtured and well-treated because it was viewed as the only instrument through which France could overcome the humiliations of 1870.
  60. ^ de la Gorce p. 48
  61. ^ Hew Strachan, The Oxford Illustrated History of the First World War. p. 280
  62. ^ John Keegan, The Second World War. p. 64
  63. ^ Keegan p. 61
  64. ^ Boyce, French Foreign and Defence Policy. p. 185
  65. ^ Boyce p. 185
  66. ^ F. Roy Willis, France, Germany, and the New Europe, 1945-1967. p. 9
  67. ^ Cody, Edward (12 March 2009). "After 43 Years, France to Rejoin NATO as Full Member". Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 6 May 2018 – via www.washingtonpost.com.
  68. ^ Charles Hauss, Politics in France. p. 194
  69. ^ "France emerges as key U.S. ally against Syria". USA Today. 2 September 2013. Archived from the original on 2 September 2013. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
  70. ^ Agence France-Presse (31 October 2013). "France Dissolves Symbolic Regiment Based In Germany". Defense News. Archived from the original on November 8, 2013.
  71. ^ Royal Air Force Museum Archived 2009-06-02 at the Wayback Machine
  72. ^ Shlomo Aloni, Israeli Mirage and Nesher Aces. p. 6
  73. ^ French airforce adds home-grown fighter plane to its arsenal Agence-France Presse. Accessed November 7, 2006
  74. ^ Jean-Claude Castex, Dictionnaire des batailles navales franco-anglaises, Presses de l'Université Laval, 2004, p. 21
  75. ^ Jean-Claude Castex, Dictionnaire des batailles navales franco-anglaises, Presses de l'Université Laval, 2004, p.21
  76. ^ Russell Weigley, The age of battles: the quest for decisive warfare from Breitenfeld to Waterloo. pp. 158–9
  77. ^ Barbara Tuchman, The Guns of August. p. 166
  78. ^ David Jordan, The History of the French Foreign Legion. p. 10
  79. ^ Jordan p. 14
  80. ^ Byron Farwell, The encyclopedia of nineteenth-century land warfare. p. 155
  81. ^ David Jordan, The History of the French Foreign Legion. p. 34
  82. ^ Jordan p. 67
  83. ^ Jordan p. 94

Works cited

Further reading

Historiography and memory

  • Forrest, Alan. The Legacy of the French Revolutionary Wars: The Nation-in-Arms in French Republican Memory (Cambridge University Press, 2009)
  • Messenger, Charles, ed. Reader's Guide to Military History (2001) 948pp; Evaluation of thousands of books on military history, many of them involving France.

In French

  • Bertaud, Jean-Paul, and William Serman. Nouvelle histoire militaire de la France, 1789–1919 (Paris, Fayard: 1998); 855pp

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Military history of France.
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