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Military history of France

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Military History and War

   Henry IV at the Battle of Ivry, by Peter Paul Rubens. Ivry was the most
   important battle in the French Wars of Religion; victory there allowed
   a Protestant Henry to ascend to the French throne and establish the
   Bourbon dynasty, although he converted to Catholicism to soften the
   political transition.
   Enlarge
   Henry IV at the Battle of Ivry, by Peter Paul Rubens. Ivry was the most
   important battle in the French Wars of Religion; victory there allowed
   a Protestant Henry to ascend to the French throne and establish the
   Bourbon dynasty, although he converted to Catholicism to soften the
   political transition.

   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, greater Europe, and European territorial
   possessions overseas. Because of such lengthy periods of warfare, the
   peoples of France have often been at the forefront of military
   development, and as a result, military trends emerging in France have
   had a decisive impact on European and world history.

   Gallo-Roman conflict predominated from 400 BC to 50 BC, with the Romans
   emerging victorious in the conquest of Gaul by 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. In the Middle Ages, rivalries with
   England and the Holy Roman Empire prompted major conflicts such as the
   Hundred Years' War. With an increasingly centralized monarchy and the
   first standing army since Roman times, France came out of the Middle
   Ages as the most powerful nation in Europe, only to lose that status to
   Spain following defeat in the Italian Wars. The Wars of Religion
   crippled France in the late sixteenth century, but a major victory over
   Spain in the Thirty Years' War, with help from Sweden, made France the
   most powerful nation on the continent once more. The wars of Louis XIV
   in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries left France
   territorially larger, but bankrupt.

   In the eighteenth century, global competition with Great Britain led to
   defeat in the Seven Years' War, where France lost its North American
   holdings, but consolation came in the form of the American
   Revolutionary War, where extensive French aid led to America's
   independence.^ Internal political upheaval eventually led to 23 years
   of nearly continuous war in the French Revolutionary Wars and the
   Napoleonic Wars. France reached the zenith of its power during this
   period, but by 1815 it had been restored to its pre-Revolutionary
   borders. The rest of the nineteenth century witnessed the growth of the
   French colonial empire and wars with Russia, Austria, and Prussia.
   Following defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, Franco-German rivalry
   reasserted itself again in World War I, this time France, with British
   and to a much lesser extent, American aid, emerging as the winner.
   Tensions over the Versailles Treaty led to the Second World War, where
   it was defeated in the Battle of France. The Allies eventually emerged
   victorious over the Germans, however, and France was given an
   occupation zone in Germany. The two world wars destroyed Franco-German
   rivalry and paved the way for European integration, economically,
   politically, and militarily. Today, French military intervention is
   most often seen in its former colonies and with its NATO allies in hot
   spots around the world.

Themes in French military history

European conflicts

   A map of modern France. After centuries of warfare, France is
   territorially the largest nation in Western Europe.
   Enlarge
   A map of modern France. After centuries of warfare, France is
   territorially the largest nation in Western Europe.

   French strategic thinking has often been driven by the need to attain
   or preserve the so-called "natural frontiers," the Pyrenees to the
   southwest, the Alps to the southeast, and the Rhine River to the east.
   Starting with Clovis, 1,500 years of warfare has witnessed the
   accomplishment of most of these objectives, with modern-day France
   lacking only about two-thirds of the Rhine, which is in Germany.
   Nevertheless, France is territorially the largest nation-state in
   Western Europe.

   Warfare with other European powers was not always determined by these
   considerations, and often peoples in France extended their continental
   authority far beyond these barriers, most notably under Charlemagne,
   Louis XIV, and Napoleon. These periods of heavy militaristic activity
   were characterized by their peculiar sociopolitical and war-related
   conventions, but all required strong central leadership in order to
   permit the extension of French rule.

   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 preeminence in Europe and around the world,
   continued for centuries, while the more recent Franco-German rivalry
   required two world wars to stabilize. French involvement in these
   protracted geostrategic clashes was at times both successful and
   unsuccessful. The wars themselves had complex political dimensions,
   often involving alliance systems that rarely remained static and that
   yielded dynamic solutions on the battlefield.

Imperial objectives and post-colonial status

   Starting in the early sixteenth 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. This phase of French militarism only came to an end
   with the failed attempt to subdue Algerian nationalists in the late
   1950s. However, even in the twenty-first century, many former French
   colonies still expect France to provide assistance to put down
   revolutionary activity.

   Since World War II, France's efforts have been directed at maintaining
   its status as a great power and its influence on the UN Security
   Council, despite the fact its military capability is being overtaken by
   the rising power of the People's Republic of China and India, among
   others. However, 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, for some time France withdrew from
   NATO over complaints that its role in the organization was being
   subordinated to the demands of the United States.

   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, are being
   restructured to rapidly deal with emerging threats.^

Gauls

   Vercingetorix surrenders to Julius Caesar after Alesia. Painting by
   Lionel-Noël Royer, 1899.
   Enlarge
   Vercingetorix surrenders to Julius Caesar after Alesia. Painting by
   Lionel-Noël Royer, 1899.

   The region of Gaul consisted of modern-day France, Belgium, Germany
   west of the Rhine, and parts of Switzerland. Gallo-Roman conflict in
   Cisalpine Gaul had been occurring for centuries prior to Caesar's
   invasion of Transalpine Gaul. In either 390 BC or 387 BC,^ a Gallic
   army under Brennus destroyed a Roman force at the Battle of the Allia,
   which led to the sacking of Rome and the destruction of all Roman
   historical records prior to that period.

   Growing professionalism in the Roman army eventually led to victories,
   most noticeably at the Battle of Sentinum and the Battle of Telamon,
   over their Gallic counterparts, whose tactics and weapons changed
   little over the years.^ However, in order to permanently end the Gallic
   threat, a consistent effort was required by the Romans, and this was
   finally provided by Julius Caesar.

   Caesar's conquest of Gaul was met with little resistance initially. 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 21 days, with only 800 out of the 40,000 inhabitants managing to
   escape. 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,^ eventually forced Vercingetorix to surrender. The
   Gallic Wars were over.

Franks and the Carolingian Empire

   The Frankish Realm under Clovis I.
   Enlarge
   The Frankish Realm under Clovis I.

   As Roman power weakened in the fourth and fifth centuries, a Germanic
   tribe, the Franks, overran large areas that today form modern France.
   Under King Clovis I in the late fifth and early sixth centuries,
   Frankish dominions quadrupled as they managed to defeat successive
   opponents for control of Gaul. In 486 the Frankish armies under Clovis
   triumphed over Syagrius, the last Roman official in Northern Gaul, at
   the Battle of Soissons. In 491 Clovis defeated Thuringians east of his
   territories. In 496 he overcame the 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.
   Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours. Painting by Carl von Steuben.
   Enlarge
   Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours. Painting by Carl von Steuben.

   Following Clovis, territorial divisions in the Frankish domain sparked
   intense rivalry between the western part of the kingdom, Neustria, and
   the eastern part, Austrasia. The two were sometimes united under one
   king, but from the sixth to the eighth centuries they often warred
   against each other. Early in the eighth century, the Franks were
   preoccupied with Islamic invasions across the Pyrenees and up the 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. Claims that these victories permitted
   the independent development of European civilization seem exaggerated,^
   but nonetheless they were major symbolic triumphs over the "Islamic
   hordes."^

   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,^ 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.^ Cavalry dominated the battlefields, and
   while the high costs associated with equipping horse and horse-rider
   helped limit their numbers, Carolingian armies maintained a decent size
   of 20,000 (average) by recruiting infantry from imperial territories
   near theaters of operation.^ 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

   King Philip II of France at Bouvines. The battle led to a breakdown in
   the Anglo-German alliance and may have even emboldened the nobles of
   King John to force him to sign the Magna Carta. Painting by Horace
   Vernet.
   Enlarge
   King Philip II of France at Bouvines. The battle led to a breakdown in
   the Anglo-German alliance and may have even emboldened the nobles of
   King John to force him to sign the Magna Carta. Painting by Horace
   Vernet.

   French military history during this period paralleled the rise and
   eventual fall of the armored knight. Following Charlemagne, there was a
   great increase in the proportion of cavalry supplemented by improvement
   in armor: leather and steel, steel helmets, coats of mail, and even
   full armor added to the defensive capabilities of mounted forces.^
   Cavalry eventually grew to be the most important component of French
   armies,^ with the shock charge they provided becoming the standard
   tactic on the battlefield when it was invented in the eleventh
   century.^At the same time, the development of agricultural techniques
   allowed the nations of Western Europe to radically increase food
   production, facilitating the growth of a particularly large aristocracy
   in France.
   A section of the Bayeux Tapestry chronicling the Franco-Norman victory
   at Hastings.
   Enlarge
   A section of the Bayeux Tapestry chronicling the Franco-Norman victory
   at Hastings.

   During the Crusades, there were in fact too many armored knights in
   France for the land to support. Some scholars believe that one of the
   driving forces behind the Crusades was an attempt by such landless
   knights to find land overseas, without causing the type of internecine
   warfare that would largely damage France's increasing military
   strength. However, such historiographical work on the Crusades is being
   challenged and rejected by a large part of the historical community.
   The ultimate motivation or motivations for any one individual are
   difficult to know, but regardless, nobles and knights from France
   generally formed very sizeable contingents of crusading expeditions.^
   Joan of Arc at the Siege of Orleans. This French victory turned the
   tide of the Hundred Years' War, but the elements for the ultimate
   triumph were sown a few years afterward. Painting by Jules Lenepveu.
   Enlarge
   Joan of Arc at the Siege of Orleans. This French victory turned the
   tide of the Hundred Years' War, but the elements for the ultimate
   triumph were sown a few years afterward. Painting by Jules Lenepveu.

   In the eleventh century, French knights wore knee-length mail and
   carried long lances and swords. The Norman knights fielded at the
   Battle of Hastings were more than a match for English forces, and their
   overwhelming victory simply cemented their power and influence.
   Improvements in armor over the centuries led to the establishment of
   plate armor by the fourteenth century, which was further developed more
   rigorously in the fifteenth century.^ However, by the late fourteenth
   century and the early fifteenth, French military power declined during
   the first parts of the Hundred Years' War. New weapons and tactics
   seemingly made the knight more of a sitting target than an effective
   battle force, but the often-praised longbowmen had little to do with
   the English success.^ Poor coordination or rough terrain led to bungled
   French assaults.^ The slaughter of knights at the Battle of Agincourt
   best exemplified this carnage. The French were able to field a much
   larger army of men-at-arms than their English counterparts, who had
   many longbowmen. Despite this, the French suffered about 6,000
   casualties^ compared to a few hundred for the English because the
   narrow terrain prevented the tactical envelopments envisioned in
   recently discovered French plans for the battle.^ The French suffered a
   similar defeat at the Battle of the Golden Spurs against Flemish
   militia in 1302. When knights were allowed to effectively deploy,
   however, they could be more useful, as at Cassel in 1328 or, even more
   decisively, at Bouvines in 1214 and Patay in 1429. Given the successes
   of Henry V, his death in 1422 altered the nature of the war profoundly
   and may have permitted the French to recover virtually all their
   territory by the end of the conflict.^

   Popular conceptions of the victory in the final stages of the Hundred
   Years' War are often dominated by Joan of Arc, but there were far
   deeper reasons for the French triumph. The main step was taken by King
   Charles VII, who, with the Compagnies d'ordonnance, cavalry units with
   20 companies of 600 men each,^ created the first standing army in the
   Western world since Roman times,^ giving the French a considerable edge
   in professionalism and discipline. Additionally, developments in
   artillery made it a crucial part of the French army, and the resounding
   victories at the battles of Formigny and Castillon, both significantly
   attributable to artillery,^ were so decisive that the war ended then
   and there. By 1453 Calais was the only English possession in mainland
   France.

Ancien Régime

   The French triumphant at Rocroi in the Thirty Years' War. The battle
   marked the symbolic end of the Spanish tercios and the resurgence of
   French power in Europe.
   Enlarge
   The French triumphant at Rocroi in the Thirty Years' War. The battle
   marked the symbolic end of the Spanish tercios and the resurgence of
   French power in Europe.

   The French Renaissance and the beginning of the Ancien Régime, normally
   marked by the reign of Francis I, saw the nation become far more
   unified under the monarch. The power of the nobles was diminished as a
   national army was created. With England expelled from the continent and
   being consumed by the Wars of the Roses, France's main rival was the
   Holy Roman Empire. This threat to France became alarming in 1516 when
   Charles V became the king of Spain, and grew worse when Charles was
   also elected Holy Roman Emperor in 1519. France was all but surrounded
   as Spain, Germany, and the Low Countries were controlled by the
   Habsburgs. The lengthy Italian Wars that took place during this period
   resulted in defeat for France and established Catholic Spain, which
   formed a branch of the Habsburg holdings, as the most powerful nation
   in Europe. Later in the sixteenth 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, hence
   precluding France from remaining a powerful force in European affairs.^

   While France could do little to challenge the dominance of the Holy
   Roman Empire, the Empire itself faced many challenges. From the east it
   was severely endangered by the Ottoman Empire, with which the French
   sometimes cooperated. The vast Habsburg empire also proved impossible
   to manage effectively, and the crown was soon divided between the
   Spanish and Austrian holdings. In 1568 the Dutch declared independence,
   launching a war that would take decades and illustrate the weaknesses
   of Habsburg power. Finally in the seventeenth century, the religious
   violence that had beset France a century earlier began to tear the
   empire apart. At first France sat on the sidelines, but under Cardinal
   Richelieu it saw an opportunity to advance its own interests at the
   expense of the Habsburgs. Despite France's staunch Catholicism, it
   intervened on the side of the Protestants. The Thirty Years' War was
   long and extremely bloody, but France came out victorious and, for the
   next century and a half, was the undisputed great power of Europe.
   The French defeated at Malplaquet in the War of the Spanish Succession.
   Despite winning, Marlborough and Eugene suffered so many casualties
   that they were unable to press farther into France. Malplaquet,
   woodblock by R Canton Woodville.
   Enlarge
   The French defeated at Malplaquet in the War of the Spanish Succession.
   Despite winning, Marlborough and Eugene suffered so many casualties
   that they were unable to press farther into France. Malplaquet,
   woodblock by R Canton Woodville.

   The long reign of Louis XIV saw a series of conflicts: the War of
   Devolution, the Franco-Dutch War, the War of the Reunions, the Nine
   Years War, and the War of the Spanish Succession. Wars in this era
   consisted of sieges and movements that were rarely decisive. Few of
   Louis' wars were either clear victories or definite defeats, but
   inexorably, France's borders expanded. 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 a fellow Bourbon placed on
   the throne of Spain. To stop France's advance, several European powers
   formed coalitions. During Louis' long reign, the English reemerged as
   France's great rivals, allied to the Habsburgs. While they could not
   stand up to France 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.

   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-seventeenth 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.^ Military administration also made
   gigantic progress as food supply, clothing, equipment, and armaments
   were provided in a regularity never before equaled.^ In fact, the
   French embedded this standardization by becoming the first army to give
   their soldiers national uniforms in the 1680s and 1690s.^

   The eighteenth 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. This alliance proved less than effective
   in the Seven Years' War, but in the American War of Independence, the
   French helped inflict a major defeat on the British.

Revolutionary France

   The armies of the Revolution at the Battle of Varoux, 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.
   Enlarge
   The armies of the Revolution at the Battle of Varoux, 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.
   Eighteenth-century armies, with their rigid protocols, quasi-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.

   In 1791 the Legislative Assembly passed the "Drill-Book" legislation,
   implementing a series of infantry doctrines created by French theorists
   because of their defeat to the Prussians in the Seven Years' War (see
   "Formations and Tactics" in La Grande Armée).^ 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.^
   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.^ The French triumphed at the decisive Battle of
   Fleurus through numerical superiority; while both sides had roughly
   equivalent forces in the region, the French were able to concentrate
   theirs more effectively. Armies during the Revolution became noticeably
   larger than their Roman counterparts, and combined with the new
   enthusiasm of the soldiery, the tactical and strategic opportunities
   became almost limitless. By 1797 the French had defeated the First
   Coalition, occupied the Low Countries, the west bank of the Rhine, and
   Northern Italy, objectives which had defied the Valois and Bourbon
   dynasties for centuries. Unsatisfied with the results, many European
   powers formed a 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.^ As a result of political pressure, competition, promotion,
   and constant campaigning, France emerged out of the Revolutionary Wars
   with the best officers in Europe, a very helpful feature during the
   later Napoleonic Wars. In the nineteenth century, all European armies
   adopted the fluid officer class the Revolution had introduced, and for
   that fact, the French Revolution can be credited with establishing the
   world's first professional armies.

   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, where dire circumstances seemingly mobilized the
   entire French nation for war. 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. War now emerged as a
   vast panorama of physical and psychological forces heading for victory
   or defeat.

Napoleonic France

   Famous battles and occupied places of La Grande Armée. French peasants
   that had never stepped a few yards beyond their homes suddenly found
   themselves at the steps of the Schönbrunn in Vienna and the spires of
   the Kremlin in Moscow.
   Enlarge
   Famous battles and occupied places of La Grande Armée. French peasants
   that had never stepped a few yards beyond their homes suddenly found
   themselves at the steps of the Schönbrunn in Vienna and the spires of
   the Kremlin in Moscow.

   The Napoleonic Era saw France's influence and power reach immense
   heights, but just as quickly, it collapsed back to its old borders at
   an immense cost to the French people. The reasons for the success are
   varied, but a few points do survive analysis. In the century and a half
   preceding the Revolutionary Era, France had transformed demographic
   leverage to military and political weight; the French population was 19
   million in 1700,^ but this had grown to over 29 million in 1800, much
   higher than most other European powers.^ These numbers permitted France
   to raise armies at a rapid pace should the need arise. Furthermore,
   military innovations carried out during the Revolution and the
   Consulate, evidenced by improvements in artillery and cavalry
   capabilities on top of better army and staff organization, gave the
   French army a decisive advantage in the initial stages of the
   Napoleonic Wars. Another ingredient of success was 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.

   Napoleon developed an army based on conscription using huge masses of
   poorly trained troops that could usually be readily replaced, led by a
   few elite units, like the Imperial Guard. What his armies lacked in
   skill they made up for in bulk. Napoleon's huge losses suffered during
   the disastrous 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.
   Napoleonic Empire, 1811. The French Empire is in dark blue; the "Grand
   Empire"[1] includes areas under French military control (light blue)
   and allies.
   Enlarge
   Napoleonic Empire, 1811. The French Empire is in dark blue; the "Grand
   Empire"^ includes areas under French military control (light blue) and
   allies.

   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,
   French soldiers proved reliable enough to pillage Europe without "going
   native." 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.^

   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 eighteenth-century operational
   strategy underwent massive restructuring. Sieges became infrequent to
   the point of near-irrelevance, a new emphasis towards the destruction,
   not just outmaneuvering, of enemy armies emerged, 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.^ Defeat for a European power now meant
   much more than losing isolated enclaves; near-Carthaginian peaces
   intertwined whole national efforts, sociopolitical, 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 eighteenth-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.^

French colonial empire

   Map of the first (light blue) and second (dark blue—plain and hachured)
   French colonial empires
   Enlarge
   Map of the first (light blue) and second (dark blue—plain and hachured)
   French colonial empires

   The history of French colonial imperialism can be divided into two
   major eras: the first from the early seventeenth century to the middle
   of the eighteenth century, and the second from the early nineteenth
   century to the middle of the twentieth century. In the first phase of
   expansion, France concentrated its efforts mainly in North America and
   India, setting up commercial ventures that were backed by military
   force. Following defeat to the British in the French and Indian 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 saw the establishment of French Indochina (covering
   modern Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia) and a string of military success in
   the Scramble for Africa, where it established control over regions that
   are today covered by modern countries such as Tunisia, Algeria, Chad,
   Madagascar, and Djibouti. In 1914 France had an empire stretching over
   10,000,000 km² (4,000,000 mile²) of land and about 60 million people.^
   Following victory in World War I, part of Cameroon was also added to
   French possessions, and Syria and Lebanon became French mandates. For
   most of the period from 1870 to 1945, France was territorially the
   third largest nation on Earth, after Britain and Russia (later the
   Soviet Union), and had the most overseas possessions following Britain.
   Following the Second World War, France struggled to preserve French
   territories but wound up losing both the Algerian War of Independence
   and the First Indochina War (the precursor to the Vietnam War) to
   guerilla insurgencies. Today, France still maintains a number of
   overseas territories, but their collective size is barely a shadow of
   the old French colonial empire.

Modern period

   La Mademoiselle Soixante-quinze in a World War I French propaganda
   poster that reads "Honor our glorious 75." The famous French artillery
   gun saw extensive use in World War I, but was so versatile that many
   combatants, including Germany and the United States, used it in World
   War II as well.
   Enlarge
   La Mademoiselle Soixante-quinze in a World War I French propaganda
   poster that reads "Honour our glorious 75." The famous French artillery
   gun saw extensive use in World War I, but was so versatile that many
   combatants, including Germany and the United States, used it in World
   War II as well.

   After the exile of Napoleon, France was the beneficiary of a long
   period of European peace. This allowed it to focus on the expansion of
   its overseas empire, particularly in Africa and Asia. These areas of
   the world had generally resisted European colonialism until the start
   of the nineteenth century, but advances in weapons technology allowed
   small numbers of European troops to overcome much larger bodies of
   native warriors.

   In Europe, post-Napoleonic France remained a powerful force in
   continental affairs, inflicting a defeat on the Habsburgs in the
   Franco-Austrian War of 1859, a defeat which led to the unification of
   Italy in 1861, after having triumphed over Russia with other allies in
   the Crimean War. Detrimentally, however, the French army emerged from
   these victories in a very overconfident and complacent state.^ France's
   defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, essentially a dispute over areas of
   France with large German-speaking minorities, led to the loss of
   Alsace-Lorraine and the creation of a united German Empire, both
   results representing major failures in long-term French foreign policy.

   Nevertheless, the French, with British and, later, American assistance,
   managed to hold on for four years and defeat the Germans in World War
   I. 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 latter failure causing widespread mutinies throughout the
   French army, the French remained 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.^ The Treaty of Versailles eventually returned Alsace-Lorraine
   back to France.

   However, a variety of factors, ranging from poor commanders to low
   population growth, crippled France's effort in the 1940 Battle of
   France. In addition, and in many ways as a result, by 1960 it had lost
   its influence over all of its empire, suffering defeat in Indochina and
   granting independence to Algeria after a bitter struggle. Moreover, the
   military had lost status with the population, first because of the
   widely publicized Dreyfus Affair,^ and later because of the
   collaboration of the Vichy government with the occupying forces of Nazi
   Germany during World War II.
   A French bayonet charge in World War I. Trusting in the bayonet as the
   "superior weapon" and believing that the élan of the French soldier
   would carry the day, Plan XVII sent thousands to their deaths during
   the Battle of the Frontiers. 20th century warfare had dawned with a
   frightful jolt as commanders on both sides attempted to restore some
   form of tactical mobility.
   Enlarge
   A French bayonet charge in World War I. Trusting in the bayonet as the
   "superior weapon" and believing that the élan of the French soldier
   would carry the day, Plan XVII sent thousands to their deaths during
   the Battle of the Frontiers. 20th century warfare had dawned with a
   frightful jolt as commanders on both sides attempted to restore some
   form of tactical mobility.

   Despite having one of the largest and most technologically advanced
   standing armies in Europe, and the money to support it, France
   consistently lost out on the development of new tactics through
   insufficient training. Charles De Gaulle had foreseen the importance of
   armored warfare after World War I, but his theories were widely ignored
   in France, only to be taken up by the Germans, who used them to great
   effect with Blitzkrieg. Furthermore, low population growth forced the
   French government to extend conscription terms and made military life
   more unpopular. 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.^ The costs of World War I inspired
   the French to look for more defensive measures. The Maginot Line was
   the result of these deliberations: the French originally allocated
   three billion francs for the project, but by 1935 seven billion had
   been spent.^ The Maginot Line successfully held off the German attacks
   in 1940, but defeat in the northern sectors spelled the end of the
   Third Republic.

   After its defeat, France remained occupied until 1944. The Normandy
   landings in that year were the first step towards the eventual
   Liberation of France. The Free French Forces under de Gaulle had
   participated widely throughout previous campaigns, but their growing
   size made them especially notable in the final phases of the war. In
   May 1945, the final month of the war in Europe, the French had a total
   of 1.25 million soldiers; ten divisions of these, seven infantry and
   three armored, were fighting in Germany.^ At the end of the conflict,
   France was given one of four occupation zones in Germany and in Berlin.

   Historically, the military had sided with the monarchy and the Catholic
   Church, but their struggles over the twentieth century eventually
   allowed the Republican and secular forces that had first come to the
   fore during the French Revolution to cement their hold over French
   politics. The last attempt by the military to set its own policy came
   during the Algerian War of Independence, when French forces took the
   suppression of rebellious Algerians into their own hands, against the
   directions of then President De Gaulle. Eventually, De Gaulle distanced
   himself from the military and appealed to public support, resulting in
   the establishment of the Fifth Republic. However, this also had the
   effect of lessening France's military standing in the world to the
   point where De Gaulle often believed that France had little control
   over its own military destiny. Today, despite having some of the best
   trained and best equipped military forces in the world, and being a
   nuclear power, the role of France is seen in terms of coalition
   interventions, peacekeeping, and minor disputes. Conflicts indicative
   of this status are the Gulf War in 1991, in which France sent 18,000
   troops, 60 combat aircraft, 120 helicopters, and 40 tanks,^ Mission
   Héracles in the War in Afghanistan, and recent peacekeeping actions in
   Côte d'Ivoire.

Topical subjects

French Air Force

   The roundel was first used by the French Air Force in World War I.
   Enlarge
   The roundel was first used by the French Air Force in World War I.

   Many consider the Armée de l'Air to have been the first professional
   air force in the world. The French took active interest in developing
   their air force and had the first fighter pilots of World War I. During
   the interwar years, however, particularly in the 1930s, the quality
   fell when compared with the Luftwaffe, which crushed both the French
   and British air forces during the Battle of France. In the post–World
   War II era, the French made a concerted and successful effort to
   develop a homegrown aircraft industry. Dassault Aviation led the way
   forward with their unique and effective delta-wing designs, which
   formed the basis for the famous Mirage series of jet fighters. The
   Mirage repeatedly demonstrated its deadly abilities in the Six-Day War
   and the Gulf War, becoming one of the most popular and well-sold
   aircraft in the history of military aviation along the way. Currently,
   the French Air Force is expanding and replacing. The French are
   awaiting the A400M military transport aircraft, which is still in
   developmental stages, and the integration of the new Rafale multi-role
   jet fighter, whose first squadron of 20 aircraft became operational in
   2006 at Saint-Dizier.^

French Navy

   The USS Enterprise (left), the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier
   in the world, sailing besides the Charles de Gaulle, the first
   nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in Europe. The French Navy gave
   assistance to U.S.-led efforts in Afghanistan.[2]
   Enlarge
   The USS Enterprise (left), the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier
   in the world, sailing besides the Charles de Gaulle, the first
   nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in Europe. The French Navy gave
   assistance to U.S.-led efforts in Afghanistan.^

   Although the history of the French Navy goes back to the Middle Ages,
   when it was defeated by the English at the Battle of Sluys and, with
   Castilian help, managed to beat the English at La Rochelle, it did not
   become a consistent instrument of national power until the seventeenth
   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.

   A perennial problem for the French Navy was the strategic priorities of
   France, which were first and foremost tied to its European ambitions.
   This meant the army was often treated better than the navy, and as a
   result, the latter suffered in training and operational performance.
   The eighteenth century saw the beginning of Royal Navy domination,
   which managed to inflict a number of significant defeats on the French.
   However, in a very impressive effort, a French fleet under de Grasse
   managed to defeat an English fleet at the Battle of the Chesapeake in
   1781, ensuring that the Franco-American ground forces would win the
   ongoing Battle of Yorktown. Beyond that, and Suffren's 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 World War II.

   Later in the nineteenth 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 Pastry War of 1838 and obliterated
   the Chinese navy at the Battle of Foochow in 1884. It also served as an
   effective link between the growing parts of the French empire. The navy
   performed well during World War I, in which it mainly protected the
   naval lanes in the Mediterranean Sea. At the onset of the war, the
   French, with 16 battleships, 6 cruisers, and 24 destroyers, had the
   largest fleet in the Mediterranean.^ The defeat of France in World War
   II, however, forced the British to destroy the French navy at
   Mers-el-Kebir in order to prevent its fall to the Germans. Currently,
   French naval doctrine calls for two aircraft carriers, but the French
   only have one, the Charles de Gaulle, due to restructuring. The navy is
   in the midst of major technological and procurement changes; newer
   submarines and a second aircraft carrier have been ordered on top of
   the Rafales (the naval version) replacing older aircraft.

French Foreign Legion

   The French Foreign Legion was created in 1831 by French king
   Louis-Philippe. 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.^ 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.^
   Légionnaires in dress uniform. Note the red epaulettes and the
   distinctive white kepi. They carry the standard assault rifle, the
   FAMAS.
   Enlarge
   Légionnaires in dress uniform. Note the red epaulettes and the
   distinctive white kepi. They carry the standard assault rifle, the
   FAMAS.

   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.^ 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!"^ Today,
   legionnaires recognize April 30 as "Cameron Day."

   After the French defeat in Mexico, the Legion participated effectively
   in the Franco-Prussian War, spearheading the attack that lead to the
   only French victory of the war in the Battle of Coulmiers. It later
   fought in the Sino-French War during the 1880s, putting up a stout
   defense at the siege of Tuyen Quang against overwhelming Chinese
   numbers. Much of its time in the later nineteenth century and the early
   twentieth was spent in various operations throughout the French
   colonial empire.

   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 conducted brilliant defenses and spirited counter-attacks.^
   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
   climatic 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 defeat in
   the Algerian War of Independence 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.^ Today, it is one of the most respected units in
   the French Army.

French military linguistic influence

   French specialized military terms have been influential and adopted by
   other languages besides English, like Spanish or German.

   French naval terms adopted by the English language include trophy and
   pilot (as in the English steersman). Other French military terms
   adopted by the English language include aide-de-camp, bayonet, brigade,
   cadre, cartouche, Colonel, combat, corps, détente, enfilade, envoy,
   infantry, lieutenant, marines, mêlée, pioneer, platoon, sergeant,
   sortie, terrain, and volley.

          Note: All the above examples date from Middle French or Modern
          French usage since the 1500s as specifically related to
          specialized military terms. Earlier Old French words related to
          war became part of the English language in a period after the
          adoption of the French-like Anglo-Norman language as the
          official royal and legal language in England - a result of its
          conquest by William the Conqueror in 1066. These words were not
          adopted for special military purposes, but were part of a
          general language of rule that lasted for centuries and had a
          major impact on Middle English. For selected non-war related
          examples, refer to the Wiktionary.

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