Hi! Thanks for the question.
Since you indicated that you would want a base or backgrounder on wars
France participated on since the French Revolution, I will point you
to links on such topics. I will also try to provide some snippets from
some of the articles I will be citing here but I highly recommend that
you read the whole article so as to get a better perspective.
The French Revolution of 1789:
The French Revolution began in 1789 with the meeting of the States
General in May. On July 14 of that same year, the Bastille was
stormed: in October, Louis XVI and the Royal Family were removed from
Versailles to Paris. The King attempted, unsuccessfully, to flee Paris
for Varennes in June 1791. A Legislative Assembly sat from October
1791 until September 1792, when, in the face of the advance of the
allied armies of Austria, Holland, Prussia, and Sardinia, it was
replaced by the National Convention, which proclaimed the Republic.
The King was brought to trial in December of 1792, and executed on
January 21, 1793. In January of 1793 the revolutionary government
declared war on Britain, a war for world dominion which had been
carried on, with short intermissions, since the beginning of the reign
of William and Mary, and which would continue for another twenty-two
years.
French Revolution
http://65.107.211.206/history/hist7.html
Additional resources to get you up to speed on the French revolution
are listed on the following:
History Channel: French Revolution
http://www.historychannel.com/perl/print_book.pl?ID=87774
Internet Modern History Sourcebook: French Revolution (My favorite
historical resource on the Internet)
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook13.html
During the French Revolution, there were so called French
Revolutionary wars which France waged with other countries.
War with Austria
"On Apr. 20, 1792, France declared war on Austria. The French armies
lacked organization and discipline, and many noble officers had
emigrated. The allied Austrian and Prussian forces under Charles
William Ferdinand, duke of Brunswick, quickly crossed the frontier and
began to march on Paris.
First Coalition
Late in 1792 the Convention issued a decree offering assistance to
all peoples wishing to recover their liberty. This decree, the
execution of Louis XVI (Jan., 1793), and the opening of the Scheldt
estuary (contrary to the Peace of Westphalia) provoked Great Britain,
Holland, and Spain to join Austria and Prussia in the First Coalition
against France.
Second Coalition
Meanwhile, France again aroused the anger of the European powers by
creating the Cisalpine Republic and the Roman Republic and by invading
Switzerland, which was transformed into the Helvetic Republic.
French Revolutionary Wars
http://www.historychannel.com/perl/print_book.pl?ID=87776
For more on the previously mentioned wars:
Austria, 1792-1815
http://stabi.hs-bremerhaven.de/whkmla/region/germany/au17891815.html
The First War of the Coalition, 1792-1797
http://stabi.hs-bremerhaven.de/whkmla/military/napwars/coalition1.html
The Second Coalition 1799-1801
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/terrace/adw03/c-eight/coalit2.htm
There was also a 3rd coalition against France in 1803.
The Peace of Amiens, concluded between Britain and France in 1802 did
not last long. In May 1803 hostilities broke out again. Also in 1803
a third coalition was formed although it did nothing until 1805. The
coalition comprised Prussia, England, Austria, Russia and Sweden. A
third coalition was necessary because Napoleon began a quest for
military Empire in Europe. He invaded Northern Italy, occupied
Switzerland and left a French army of occupation in Holland. He
contemplated a second invasion of Egypt and refused commercial
treaties with Britain.
The Third Coalition (1803-7)
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/terrace/adw03/c-eight/coalit3.htm
The next article from the War Times Journal meanwhile discusses the
wars France was in during Napoleons time or what is popularly knows
as the Napoleonic wars.
The French Revolt and Empire
http://www.wtj.com/articles/napsum1/
The following link is a discussion of the Battle of Waterloo or
Napoleons last war.
The Battle of Waterloo: 18 June 1815
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/terrace/adw03/c-eight/waterloo.htm
In the Crimean War of 1853, France and Britain joined hands to fight
Russia.
The Franco-Russian dispute over the holy places in Palestine was the
immediate cause of the Crimean War. At the time Turkey controlled
Palestine, Egypt, and large chunks of the Middle East. The Port
(Moslem ruler of Turkey) had given privileges to protect the
Christians and their churches in the Holy Land to many nations. That
explains why so many different churches and nationals control various
holy shrines in Israel to this very day. At the time France and
England had gotten more specific commitments from the Port than other
nations.
The Crimean War: 1853-1856
http://mars.acnet.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/russia/lectures/19crimeanwar.html
Britain France Russia Crimean War 1853-1856
http://www.onwar.com/aced/data/cite/crimean1853.htm
In 1870 the French was then involved in the Franco-Prussian War.
Franco-German War, 187071, conflict between France and Prussia that
signaled the rise of German military power and imperialism. It was
provoked by Otto von Bismarck (the Prussian chancellor) as part of his
plan to create a unified German Empire.
The emergence of Prussia as the leading German power and the
increasing unification of the German states were viewed with
apprehension by Napoleon III after the Prussian victory in the
Austro-Prussian War of 1866. Bismarck, at the same time, deliberately
encouraged the growing rift between Prussia and France in order to
bring the states of S Germany into a national union. He made sure of
Russian and Italian neutrality and countedcorrectlyon British
neutrality. War preparations were pushed on both sides, with
remarkable inefficiency in France and with astounding thoroughness in
Prussia.
Franco-Prussian War
http://www.bartleby.com/65/fr/FrancoPr.html
The Modern History website has a copy of a war correspondents report
during the Franco Prussian war.
Modern History Sourcebook: A War Correspondent in the Franco-Prussian
War, 1870
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1870war1.html
In case your interested and would probably be a good support for your
research, the same site also has documents and more articles for 19th
century France.
19th Century France
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook21.html
Then France was thrusts into World War 1 and II.
When war broke out in August 1914, France, Britain and Russia were
allied against Germany and Austria. The Germans attacked France
through southern Belgium - aiming to capture Paris in a swift
knock-out blow.
The French Army stopped the Germans along the River Marne north of
Paris - helped by the British Expeditionary Force that rushed across
the Channel.
First World War
http://www.theotherside.co.uk/tm-heritage/background/first-war.htm
The Causes of World War One
http://www.firstworldwar.com/origins/causes.htm
In 1938, France joined Great Britain in an attempt to appease Nazi
aggression. France signed the Munich Pact and helped give Germany
"permission" to invade the Sudeten territories of Czechoslovakia. It
was soon clear that this attempt at appeasement failed.
After Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, France declared war.
France's war against Germany did not last long. On June 22, 1940,
France surrendered to Germany.
World War II in France
http://worldwariihistory.info/in/France.html
Causes of the Second World War
http://www.rpfuller.com/gcse/history/6.html
After the two world wars, France this time became involved in a war
with Vietnam in the French Indochina War of 1946.
Vietnam had a long history both as an independent kingdom and major
power in its region, and as a subjugated province of China; its people
were both proud of their past glory and painfully aware of their many
years of subjugation. In the mid-nineteenth century, Vietnam became a
colony of France. And like other European possessions in Asia, it
fell under the control of Japan during World War II. After the defeat
of Japan, the question arose of what was to happen to Vietnam in the
postwar world. There were two opposing forces attempting to answer
that question, both of them appealing to the United States for help.
The French wanted to reassert their control over Vietnam. Challenging
them was a powerful nationalist movement within Vietnam committed to
creating an independent nation.
The First Indochina War
http://home.att.net/~r.hodgeman/history1.html
The About.com website has a great resource on the French Indochina
War.
http://militaryhistory.about.com/library/blfrenchindochinawar.htm
In 1955, France this time got into a war with another of its colony
states, Algeria.
On November 1st 1954, six months after the disaster of the Indochina
War, several bomb attacks were made in Algeria against "pieds-noirs"
("black feet", French people born in France and living in Algeria).
Those acts led the French Army to War against rebels (fellaghas, who
wanted independence for their country. During the war 50 000 to 400
000 soldiers intervened in that conflict. The French Naval Aviation
took part in various types of missions over North Africa, such as
tactical transport and CAS. First S-55s of the French Navy were tested
in 1955 at Sétif within the n° 2 (GH-2/ Helicopter Group). In 1956,
the 31F squadron was created in Algeria and equipped with H-21C
"flying bananas" which provided tactical transport missions of the
French Army troops. The 33F squadron, armed with H-19D, was created in
1957. The 32F was born in 1958 with HSS-1s. The Groupe d'Hélicoptères
Aéronautique Navale n° 1 (GHAN-1/ Naval Helicopter Group) was created
at NAS Lartigue on November 1st 1957 in order to support the 31F, 32F
and 33F squadrons. Those helicopters, operated over South of Oran, and
close to Algerian and Moroccan borders. From 1958, they worked with
French Special Naval Forces (four commando units ; De Penfentenyo, De
Montfort, Trepel and Jaubert). The helicopters were equipped with
several weapon systems such as guns and bombs.
ALGERIA WAR (1955-1962)
http://frenchnavy.free.fr/history/wars-operations/algerie/algeria.htm
Search terms used:
French wars France Algeria Indochina wars
I hope these links would help you in your research. Before rating this
answer, please ask for a clarification if you have a question or if
you would need further information.
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Regards,
Easterangel-ga |