It will run through the beginning of the Capetian dynasty to nowadays and will focus on everything related to France and its history.
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After the Battle of Waterloo, commanding the last of the Old Guard, Pierre Cambronne was summoned to surrender by General Colville. A journalist named Rougement reported Cambronne’s reply as “La garde meurt et ne se rend pas !” (“The Guard dies and does not surrender!”). These words became famous and were put on a Cambronne statue in Nantes after his death.
However, Cambronne always denied that he had made the “The Guard dies …” statement. His reply, according to other sources, was the much more direct “Merde!” (“Shit!”, figuratively, “Go to hell”), which he also denied having said. This version of the reply became famous in its own right, becoming known as le mot de Cambronne (“the word of Cambronne”)
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.
Siège de Toulon. Investissement de la place.
Siméon Jean Antoine FORT
© Photo RMN-Grand Palais - G. Blot
The Siege of Toulon (18 September - 18 December 1793) was an early Republicanvictory over a Royalist rebellion in the Southern French city of Toulon.
December 19, 1946: The First Indochina War begins.
The “dirty war” was fought between France, its colonies and allies (most significantly the United States), and the State of Vietnam versus the communist Democratic Republic of Vietnam, which was supported by the Soviet Union and China, and led byHồ Chí Minh. It began as a rebellion against French occupying forces, which sought to retake its pre-World War II Southeast Asian colonies, including Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. What began as a small insurgency movement became full-blown war, which was stalemated and also highly unpopular in France, which was suffering from its own domestic problems.
Initially the United States sought to remain neutral because of its proclaimed opposition to imperialism, but as the Cold War congealed and fears of a communist takeover of the region grew, the U.S. found itself increasingly involved in the conflict. The communist People’s Republic of China, established partway through the war, could now provide more substantial aid through resources and weapons to rebel forces - although the United States provided more aid to France than China ever did to Vietnam. By the end of the war the United States was paying for 80% of the war’s costs. But whatever advantages in firepower and artillery the French possessed over their enemy, the Vietnamese made up for with an overwhelming superiority in manpower. At the end of the war, President Eisenhower introduced the idea of the domino theory in reference to communism in Indochina, the principle that would be used to justify the Second Indochina War (the Vietnam War):
…you have broader considerations that might follow what you would call the “falling domino” principle. You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly. So you could have a beginning of a disintegration that would have the most profound influences.
(April 1954)
The war came to an end after the climactic battle at Dien Bien Phu, which culminated in a decisive victory for the Viet Minh over French forces. Soon after, the Geneva Conference began. The agreements of the conference temporarily split Vietnam into northern and southern regions, divided along the 17th parallel, to be unified in the future based on free and democratic elections, which were never held.
Thomas Alexandre Dumas (1762-1806), the first black general in French history and remains the highest-ranking person of color of all time in a continental European army.
A sidewalk cafe, in fallen La Haye du Puits, France on July 15, 1944
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.
Le ciel de Brest le 31 janvier 1941/ Brest’s sky on the 31th of January 1944
The photo was taken during an aerian raid led by the Royal Air force above Brest. The objective of the camera was opened for 3 or 4 seconds and took photos of the trajectories of the anti-aerian artillery’s shots. The buildings on the ground can be deciphered in between the lines.
2 December 1805 ~ The battle of Austerlitz, also known as The Battle of the Three Emperors
