It will run through the beginning of the Capetian dynasty to nowadays and will focus on everything related to France and its history.
Feel free to submit!
Battle of Poitiers (miniature of Froissart)
The Battle of Poitiers was a major battle of the Hundred Years’ War between England and France. The battle occurred on 19 September 1356 near Poitiers, France. Preceded by the Battle of Crécy in 1346, and followed by the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, it was the second of the three great English victories of the war.
Le Général Lescure blessé passe la Loire à Saint-Florent - Jules Girardet
The Virée de Galerne was a military operation of the War in the Vendée during the French Revolutionary Wars across Britanny andNormandy. It takes its name from “gwalarn”, a Breton word for the “vent de noroît” (northwest wind).
It concerns the Vendean army’s crossing of the River Loire after their defeat in the battle of Cholet on 17 October 1793 and its march to Granville in the hope of finding reinforcements there from England. Unable to take Granville on 14 November 1793, it fell back towards Savenay (23 December 1793) where it was completely destroyed by Republican troops under Kléber. The battle of Savenay marked the end of what would come to be called the first war in the Vendée.
The national archives of the Overseas territories realised an animation about the battle of Rhum, a battle that took place in the Martinique during the Franco-Dutch war.
Bataille de Pontvallain et couronnement de Grégoire XI
The Battle of Pontvallain was an important battle in France’s Hundred Years War with England. It was fought the 4 December 1370 in the Sarthe region between English forces that had broken away from the army commanded by the English knight Sir Robert Knolles and a French army under the newly-appointed Constable of France, Bertrand du Guesclin. The battle was in fact two separate engagements, one at Pontvallain and a smaller one at the nearby town of Vaas; they are sometimes named as separate battles. Though the engagements were comparatively small-scale, they were significant because the English were routed, bringing to an end their 30-year reputation for invincibility in open battle.
2 December 1805 ~ The battle of Austerlitz, also known as The Battle of the Three Emperors
Adolph Northen (1828–1876)Titre
Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow
The Battle of Berezina (or Beresina) took place from 26 to 29 November 1812, between the French army of Napoleon, retreating after his invasion of Russia and crossing the Berezina (near Borisov, Belarus), and the Russian armies under Mikhail Kutuzov, Peter Wittgensteinand Admiral Pavel Chichagov. The battle ended with a mixed outcome. The French suffered very heavy losses but managed to cross the river and avoid being trapped. Since then “Bérézina” has been used in French as a synonym for “disaster.”
Scene of the Battle of Vertières during the Haitian Revolution, engraved in 1845 by French anonymous
The Battle of Vertières (in Haitian Creole Batay Vètyè) was the last major battle of the Second War of Haitian Independence, the final part of the Haitian Revolution under François Capois. It was fought between Haitian rebels and French expeditionary forces on 18 November 1803 at Vertières. By the end of October 1803, Haitian rebels had already taken over all the territory from France. The only places left to France were Mole St. Nicolas, held by Noailles, and Cap-Français, where, with 5000 troops, Rochambeau was at bay.
Bataille d’Azincourt
The Battle of Agincourt was a major English victory against a numerically superior French army in the Hundred Years’ War. The battle occurred on Friday, 25 October 1415 (Saint Crispin’s Day), near modern-day Azincourt, in northern France. Henry V’s victory crippled France and started a new period in the war, during which, first, Henry married the French king’s daughter and, second, his son, Henry VI, was made heir to the throne of France (although Henry VI later failed to capitalise on his father’s battlefield success).
Henry V led his troops into battle and participated in hand-to-hand fighting. The French king of the time, Charles VI, did not command the French army himself as he suffered from severe, repeating illnesses and moderate mental incapacitation. Instead, the French were commanded by Constable Charles d’Albret and various prominent French noblemen of the Armagnac party.
The battle is notable for the use of the English longbow, which Henry used in very large numbers, with English and Welsh archers forming most of his army.
Bataille de Trafalgar - 21 octobre 1805 - situation à 17H
The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement fought by the British Royal Navy against the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815).
The battle was the most decisive British naval victory of the war. Twenty-seven British ships of the line led by Admiral Lord Nelson aboard HMS Victory defeated thirty-three French and Spanish ships of the line under French Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve off the south-west coast of Spain, just west of Cape Trafalgar. The Franco-Spanish fleet lost twenty-two ships, without a single British vessel being lost.
The British victory spectacularly confirmed the naval supremacy that Britain had established during the previous century and was achieved in part through Nelson’s departure from the prevailing naval tactical orthodoxy, which involved engaging an enemy fleet in a single line of battle parallel to the enemy to facilitate signalling in battle and disengagement, and to maximise fields of fire and target areas. Nelson instead divided his smaller force into two columns directed perpendicularly against the larger enemy fleet, with decisive results.
Nelson was mortally wounded during the battle, becoming one of Britain’s greatest war heroes. The commander of the joint French and Spanish forces, Admiral Villeneuve, was captured along with his ship Bucentaure. Spanish Admiral Federico Gravina escaped with the remnant of the fleet and succumbed months later to wounds sustained during the battle.
Victor-Jean Adam (1801-1866) : Henri IV après la bataille de Coutras
The Battle of Coutras, fought on 20 October 1587, was a major engagement in the French Religious Wars between a Huguenot army under Henry of Navarre (the future Henry IV of France) and a royalist army led by Anne, Duke of Joyeuse. Henry of Navarre was victorious, Joyeuse was killed while attempting to surrender.
PS : the painting makes me wonder - which color is Henri IV’s white horse? :p
