After the grand tour of Verrazzano, working in the service of King Francis I of France, of the eastern seaboard in 1524, early French attempts at colonization in North America proved abortive. Attempts to establish settlements along the St Lawrence by Cartier and his successors were defeated by the climate... More
Unlike the German chain of command, civilian officials were responsible for all aspects of military and administrative action in France. The President was ceremonially responsible for general authorization of government decisions, and the Premier beneath him served as the head of the elected portion of government. During war the Army... More
The mineral-rich colony of French Guinea (part of French West Africa) was made independent in 1958 under the leadership of President Ahmed Sékou Touré. Touré severed all links with France and turned Guinea into a Marxist republic and, until the military coup in 1984, Guinea was run as a dictatorship.... More
Since the German annexation of French Alsace and Lorraine in 1871, France was determined to reclaim its lost territory. In 1913, responding to rising tension in Europe, they amended Plan XVII, originally drawn up in 1903. In the event of French-German conflict, the French planned to advance on Berlin after... More
In 1627 France’s most notable early cartographer, Nicolas Sanson, created his first major cartographical work entitled ‘Postes de France’. Officially published a few years later in 1632, it depicted the main postal courier routes in France. The creation of the map coincided with a law passed in 1627, which for... More
The French Resistance gained a new level of coordination in 1942 as Jean Moulin, under the direction of Charles de Gaulle in London, was tasked with organizing the operations of various separate factions. The Americans supported an alternative leadership of French resistance under the Army Resistance Organization, leading to rivalry... More
Catholicism was the official religion of the French state and in 1789, at the outbreak of the French Revolution, the church was the largest landowner in the country. The wealth and privileges enjoyed by the Catholic clergy and the aristocracy were prime causes of the resentment that finally erupted amongst... More
On 7 August 1914, under Plan XVII, the VII Corps of the French 1st Army successfully captured Mulhouse in Alsace, part of the Alsace and Lorraine territories annexed by the Germans in the Franco-Prussian War (1871). After the Germans recaptured Mulhouse on 10 August 1914, Marshal Joffre, French Commander-in-Chief, directed... More
The density of the black rat population and their plague-bearing fleas determined the spread of the plague. In Ireland it hit first, and hardest, in the Anglo-Norman ports of the south and east, then devastating their close-settled hinterlands. Gaelic Ireland was not immune, but its relative poverty and sparse settlement... More
After the disastrous naval attack on the Dardanelles on 18 March, it was rapidly decided that a land assault would be necessary to capture the straits. The task was charged to the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force (MEF), which sailed from Alexandria on 22 March accompanied by the Anzacs, a corps of... More
Clovis I was the son of Childeric, a military commander in the Gallic province of Belgica Secunda in the then declining Roman Empire. In 463 Childeric had defeated the Visigoths in Orléans and become known as ‘King of the Franks’. On succeeding him, aged 15, in 481, Clovis began to... More
The annexation of the Gaza Strip by Israel was an accidental by-product of the Six-Day War. Initially, Israeli forces were specifically prohibited from entering it, but when Palestinians there shelled nearby Israeli settlements, its capture was ordered. Prior to the war, the Strip had been under Egyptian military occupation since... More