Template:/box-header1 The military history of France includes both those military actions centered on the territory encompassing modern France, and the military history of French-speaking peoples of European descent, both in Europe and in Europe's overseas possessions and territories.
If starting from the Franks, French military history encompasses about 1,500 years. However, the Gauls are the more preferred and popular starting point, partly because Gallo-Roman culture laid the foundation for the current French people. In that case, the breadth and scope of French military history extends for a few more centuries. Such lengthy periods of warfare have allowed peoples of France to often be at the forefront of military developments, and as a result military trends emerging in France have had a decisive impact on European and world history.
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The
Battle of Albuera (16 May 1811) was an indecisive battle during the
Peninsular War. A mixed
British,
Spanish, and
Portuguese corps engaged elements of the French
Armée du Midi (Army of the South) at the small
Spanish village of
Albuera, about 20 kilometres (12 mi) south of the frontier fortress-town of
Badajoz,
Spain. From October 1810
Marshal Masséna's Army of Portugal had been tied down in an increasingly hopeless stand-off against
Wellington's Allied forces, safely entrenched in and behind the
Lines of Torres Vedras. Acting on
Napoleon's orders, in early 1811
Marshal Soult led a French expedition from
Andalusia into
Extremadura in a bid to draw Allied forces away from the Lines and ease Masséna's plight. Napoleon's information was outdated and Soult's intervention came too late; starving and understrength, Masséna's army was already withdrawing to Spain. Soult was able to capture the fortress at Badajoz from the Spanish, but was forced to return to Andalusia following
Marshal Victor's defeat in March at the
Battle of Barrosa. However, Soult left Badajoz strongly garrisoned. In April, following news of Masséna's complete withdrawal from Portugal, Wellington sent a powerful Anglo-Portuguese corps commanded by
Sir William Beresford to retake the border town. The Allies drove most of the French from the surrounding area, and laid siege to the remainder in Badajoz.
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A Cheshire Regiment sentry in a trench near La Boisselle during the Battle of the Somme. The battle is best remembered for its first day, 1 July 1916, on which the British Army suffered 57,470 casualties, including 19,240 dead. With more than one million casualties over five months, it was one of the bloodiest battles in human history. The Allied forces attempted to break through the German lines along a 25-mile (40 km) front north and south of the River Somme.
It was created on 1 October, 1939 as the 6th Foreign Infantry Regiment. The manpower came from 3 battalions of the 1st Foreign Infantry Regiment and one from 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment. It was disbanded 1 January 1942 and its soldiers were transeferred into the 1st Foreign Regiment and Foreign Legion depots. (More...) Template:/box-footer
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Joan of Arc (c. 1412– May 30, 1431) also known as "the Maid of Orleans", was a 15th century virgin,
Catholic saint, and national
heroine of
France. A peasant girl born in Eastern France, Joan led the French army to several important victories during the
Hundred Years' War, claiming divine guidance, and was indirectly responsible for the coronation of King
Charles VII. She was captured by the English, tried by an
ecclesiastical court and burned at the stake by the English when she was nineteen years old. Twenty-four years later, the
Holy See reviewed the decision of the ecclesiastical court, found her innocent, and declared her a
martyr. She was
beatified in
1909 and later
canonized in
1920. Joan asserted that she had visions from
God that told her to recover her homeland from
English domination late in the
Hundred Years' War. The uncrowned
King Charles VII sent her to the
siege at Orléans as part of a relief mission. She gained prominence when she overcame the dismissive attitude of veteran commanders and lifted the siege in only nine days. Several more swift victories led to Charles VII's coronation at
Reims and settled the disputed succession to the throne. Joan of Arc has remained an important figure throughout Western culture. From
Napoleon to the present, French politicians of all leanings have invoked her memory. Major writers and composers who have created works about her include
Shakespeare,
Voltaire,
Schiller,
Verdi,
Tchaikovsky,
Twain, and
Shaw.
