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163-477: The military history of France encompasses an immense panorama of conflicts and struggles extending for more than 2,000 years across areas, including modern France, greater Europe, and French territorial possessions overseas . According to British historian Niall Ferguson , the French participated in 50 of the 125 major European wars that have been fought since 1495; more than any other European state. They are followed by

326-718: A French East India Company on the model of England and the Netherlands. On 1 June 1604, he issued letters patent to Dieppe merchants to form the Dieppe Company , giving them exclusive rights to Asian trade for 15 years. No ships were sent, however, until 1616. In 1609, another adventurer, Pierre-Olivier Malherbe , returned from a circumnavigation of the globe and informed Henry of his adventures. He had visited China and India and had an encounter with Akbar . Colonies were established in India's Chandernagore (1673) and Pondichéry in

489-519: A failed expedition in 1802, and were up against a crippling Royal Naval blockade the following year. As a result, the Empire of Haiti ultimately achieved independence in 1804 (becoming the first black republic in the world, followed by Liberia in 1847). The black and mulatto population of the island (including the Spanish east) had declined from 700,000 in 1789 to 351,819 in 1804. About 80,000 Haitians died in

652-673: A German aircraft, carrying a staff officer with the Luftwaffe plans for an offensive through central Belgium to the North Sea, force-landed near Maasmechelen (Mechelen) in Belgium. The documents were captured but Allied intelligence doubted that they were genuine. In the full moon period in April 1940, another Allied alert was called for a possible attack on the Low Countries or Holland, an offensive through

815-563: A German attack in the centre of the French front. After the transfer from the strategic reserve of the Seventh Army to the 1st Army Group, seven divisions remained behind the Second and Ninth armies and more could be moved from behind the Maginot Line. All but one division were either side of the junction of the two armies, GQG being more concerned about a possible German attack past the north end of

978-504: A German force consisting of 43 divisions (32 of them reserves) and no tanks. The French advanced until they met the thin and undermanned Siegfried Line . On 17 September, Gamelin gave the order to withdraw French troops to their starting positions; the last of them left Germany on 17 September, the day of the Soviet invasion of Poland . Following the Saar Offensive, a period of inaction called

1141-694: A German invasion of the Netherlands but not Belgium, by changing the deployment area to be reached by the Seventh Army; the Escaut plan would only be followed if the Germans forestalled the French move into Belgium. In the winter of 1939–40, the Belgian consul-general in Cologne had anticipated the angle of advance that Manstein was planning. Through intelligence reports, the Belgians deduced that German forces were concentrating along

1304-611: A colony was founded on Saint Kitts in 1625 (the island had to be shared with the English until the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, when it was ceded outright). The current isle of the Commonwealth of Dominica in the eastern Caribbean also fell under increasing French settlement from the early 1630s. The Compagnie des Îles de l'Amérique founded colonies in Guadeloupe and Martinique in 1635, and

1467-539: A colony was later founded on Saint Lucia by (1650). The food-producing plantations of these colonies were built and sustained through slavery, with the supply of slaves dependent on the African slave trade . Local resistance by the indigenous peoples resulted in the Carib Expulsion of 1660. France's most important Caribbean colonial possession was established in 1664, when the colony of Saint-Domingue (today's Haiti )

1630-504: A concentration of forces in a position impossible to adequately resupply, along routes that could be cut easily by the French. If the Allies did not react as expected, the German offensive could end in catastrophe. Their objections were ignored and Halder argued that, as Germany's strategic position seemed hopeless anyway, even the slightest chance of decisive victory should be grasped. Shortly before

1793-645: A controversial final series of six nuclear tests on Mururoa in the South Pacific , the French signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996. Since then, France has implemented a moratorium on the production, export, and use of anti-personnel landmines and supports negotiations leading toward a universal ban. The French are key players in the adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe to

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1956-565: A determined stand on the Somme and Aisne rivers but were defeated by the German combination of air superiority and armoured mobility. Italy entered the war on the German side on 10 June 1940 and began the Italian invasion of France . German armies outflanked the Maginot Line and pushed deep into France, occupying Paris unopposed on 14 June. After the flight of the French government and the collapse of

2119-466: A force multiplier for law enforcement personnel during contingencies and to reinforce military personnel whenever being deployed within France and abroad. French colonial empire The French colonial empire ( French : Empire colonial français ) comprised the overseas colonies , protectorates , and mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. A distinction

2282-529: A heavy tank like the French Char B1 ; French tanks were better designs, more numerous, with superior armour and armament but slower and with inferior mechanical reliability than the German designs. Although the German Army was outnumbered in artillery and tanks, it possessed some advantages over its opponents. The newer German Panzers had a crew of five: commander, gunner, loader, driver, and mechanic. Having

2445-518: A long war in the west. Hitler ordered a conquest of the Low Countries to be executed at the shortest possible notice to forestall the French and prevent Allied air power from threatening the industrial area of the Ruhr . It would also provide the basis for a long-term air and sea campaign against Britain. There was no mention in the directive of a consecutive attack to conquer the whole of France, although

2608-463: A mass firepower effect in attack or defence. The French numerical advantage in heavy weapons and equipment, which was often deployed in "penny-packets" (dispersed as individual support weapons) was offset. Most French tanks also lacked radio and orders between infantry units were typically passed by telephone or verbally. The German communications system permitted a degree of communication between air and ground forces. Attached to Panzer divisions were

2771-521: A member of the Council of State, to head up a thirty-five member commission charged with a wide-ranging review of French defence. The commission issued its White Paper in early 2008. Acting upon its recommendations, President Sarkozy began making radical changes in French defense policy and structures starting in the summer of 2008. In keeping with post- Cold War changes in European politics and power structures,

2934-772: A move towards Breda in the Netherlands; if the Allies prevented a German occupation of Holland, the ten divisions of the Dutch army would join the Allied armies, control of the North Sea would be enhanced and the Germans would be denied bases for attacks on Britain. By May 1940, the 1st Army Group was responsible for the defence of France from the Channel coast south to the Maginot Line. The Seventh Army ( Général d'armée Henri Giraud ), BEF (General Lord Gort ), First Army ( Général d'armée Georges Maurice Jean Blanchard ) and Ninth Army ( Général d'armée André Corap ) were ready to advance to

3097-581: A permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council . The imperative of avoiding a third Franco-German conflict on the scale of those of two world wars paved the way for European integration starting in the 1950s. France became a nuclear power with its first test of an atomic bomb in Algeria in 1960. Since the 1990s its military action is most often seen in cooperation with NATO and its European partners. Today, French military doctrine

3260-568: A protectorate in Morocco between the years of 1912 to 1956. France's general approach to governing the protectorate of Morocco was a policy of in-direct rule where they co-opted existing governance systems to control the protectorate. Specifically, the Moroccan elite and Sultan were both left in control while being strongly influenced by the French government. French colonialism in Morocco was discriminatory against native Moroccans and highly detrimental to

3423-482: A quick tempo and exploit opportunities faster than the Allies. Panzer divisions could conduct reconnaissance, advance to contact or defend and attack vital positions and weak spots. Captured ground would be occupied by infantry and artillery as pivot points for further attacks. Although many German tanks were outgunned by their opponents, they could lure Allied tanks onto the divisional anti-tank guns. The avoidance of tank-versus-tank engagements conserved German tanks for

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3586-577: A reported strength of 103,000 active personnel and 25,000 reserve personnel in 2018. They are used in everyday law enforcement, and also form a coast guard formation under the command of the French Navy. There are however some elements of the Gendarmerie that participate in French external operations, providing specialised law enforcement and supporting roles. Historically the National Guard functioned as

3749-460: A small number of the best-equipped and " elite divisions were offset by many second and third rate divisions". Army Group A, commanded by Gerd von Rundstedt, comprised 45 + 1 ⁄ 2 divisions, including seven Panzer and was to execute the main movement effort through the Allied defences in the Ardennes. The manoeuvre carried out by the Germans is sometimes referred to as a "Sichelschnitt" ,

3912-417: A trained individual for each task allowed a logical division of labour. French tanks had smaller crews; the commander had to load the main gun, distracting him from observation and tactical deployment. The Germans enjoyed an advantage through the theory of Auftragstaktik (mission command) by which officers, NCOs and men were expected to use their initiative and had control over supporting arms, rather than

4075-620: Is based on the concepts of national independence, nuclear deterrence ( see Force de dissuasion ), and military self-sufficiency. France is a charter member of NATO , and has worked actively with its allies to adapt NATO—internally and externally—to the post- Cold War environment. In December 1995, France announced that it would increase its participation in NATO's military wing, including the Military Committee (France withdrew from NATO's military bodies in 1966 whilst remaining full participants in

4238-541: Is commanded by the French Navy. The National Gendarmerie is primarily a military and airborne capable police force which serves as a rural and general purpose police force. Reactivated in 2016, the National Guard serves as the official primary military and police reserve service of the Armed Forces. It is placed under the jurisdiction of Ministry of the Armed Forces and serves as a reserve force . It also doubles as

4401-510: Is generally made between the " First French colonial empire ", that existed until 1814, by which time most of it had been lost or sold, and the " Second French colonial empire ", which began with the conquest of Algiers in 1830. On the eve of World War I, France's colonial empire was the second-largest in the world after the British Empire . France began to establish colonies in the Americas ,

4564-544: Is now entirely deprived of her influence and her power in the West Indies." Meanwhile, France's newly resumed war with Britain resulted in the British capture of practically all remaining French colonies. These were restored at the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, but when war resumed in 1803, the British soon recaptured them. France's 1800 recovery of Louisiana from Spain in the secret Third Treaty of San Ildefonso came to nothing, as

4727-850: Is sometimes known as the Second Hundred Years' War . Although the War of the Austrian Succession was indecisive – despite French successes in India under the French Governor-General Joseph François Dupleix and Europe under Marshal Saxe – the Seven Years' War, after early French successes in Menorca and North America, saw a French defeat, with the numerically superior British (over one million to about 50 thousand French settlers) conquering not only New France (excluding

4890-775: The Heer (German Army), 1,000,000 of the Luftwaffe (German Air Force), 180,000 of the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) and 100,000 of the Waffen-SS (military arm of the Nazi Party). When consideration is made for those in Poland, Denmark and Norway, the Army had 3,000,000 men available for the offensive starting on 10 May 1940. These manpower reserves were formed into 157 divisions. Of these, 135 were earmarked for

5053-708: The Albert Canal and increased the readiness of the army; Gamelin and Grand Quartier Général (GQG) began to consider the possibility of advancing further than the Escaut. By November, GQG had decided that a defence along the Dyle Line was feasible, despite the doubts of General Alphonse Georges , commander of the North-Eastern Front, about reaching the Dyle before the Germans. The British had been lukewarm about an advance into Belgium, but Gamelin persuaded them; on 9 November,

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5216-749: The Allies failed to fulfil their military obligations to Poland, later called the Western betrayal by the Poles. The possibility of Soviet assistance to Poland had ended with the Munich Agreement of 1938, after which the Soviet Union and Germany eventually negotiated the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , which included an agreement to partition Poland. The Allies settled on a long-war strategy in which they would complete

5379-621: The Caribbean , and India in the 16th century but lost most of its possessions after its defeat in the Seven Years' War . The North American possessions were lost to Britain and Spain, but Spain later returned Louisiana to France in 1800. The territory was then sold to the United States in 1803 . France rebuilt a new empire mostly after 1850, concentrating chiefly in Africa as well as Indochina and

5542-559: The Dyle river to Antwerp, which was 70–80 km (43–50 mi) shorter than the alternatives. A second possibility was a line from the French border to Condé , Tournai , along the Escaut ( Scheldt ) to Ghent and thence to Zeebrugge on the North Sea coast, possibly further along the Scheldt (Escaut) to Antwerp, which became the Escaut plan/Plan E. The third possibility was along field defences of

5705-464: The Fliegerleittruppen ( Tactical Air Control Party troops) in wheeled vehicles. There were too few Sd.Kfz. 251 command vehicles for all of the army but the theory allowed the army in some circumstances to call Luftwaffe units to support an attack . Fliegerkorps VIII , equipped with Junkers Ju 87 dive-bombers ( Stukas ), was to support the dash to the Channel if Army Group A broke through

5868-662: The French Army , German commanders met with French officials on 18 June to negotiate an end to hostilities. On 22 June 1940, the Second Armistice at Compiègne was signed by France and Germany. The neutral Vichy government led by Marshal Philippe Pétain replaced the Third Republic and German military occupation began along the French North Sea and Atlantic coasts and their hinterlands. The Italian invasion of France over

6031-602: The French Union , which endured until 1958. Newer remnants of the colonial empire were integrated into France as overseas departments and territories within the French Republic. These now total altogether 119,394 km (46,098 sq. miles), with 2.8 million people in 2021. Links between France and its former colonies persist through La francophonie , the CFA franc , and joint military operations such as Operation Serval . During

6194-417: The Gendarmerie Nationale ). It breaks down as follows (2022): The reserve element of the French Armed Forces consists of two structures; the Operational Reserve and the Citizens Reserve. As of 2022 the strength of the Operational Reserve is 25,785 personnel. Apart from the three main service branches, the French Armed Forces also includes a fourth military branch called the National Gendarmerie . It had

6357-430: The Isle de France (now Mauritius ). In 1825 Charles X sent an expedition to Haïti , resulting in the Haiti indemnity controversy . The beginnings of the second French colonial empire were laid in 1830 with the French invasion of Algeria , which was fully conquered by 1903. Historian  Ben Kiernan  estimates that 825,000 Algerians died during the conquest by 1875. The French Colonial Empire established

6520-493: The Mascarene Islands . Initial French colonial projects, partially administered by the French East India Company , prioritized plantation economies and slave labor. These economies were based on monoculture agriculture and forced African labor. Poor living conditions, famines, and disease made enslaved labor conditions particularly lethal across French colonies. French presence in Senegal began in 1626, although formal colonies and trading posts were not established until 1659 with

6683-401: The Middle East , and the Balkans , frequently taking a lead role in these operations. France has undertaken a major restructuring to develop a professional military that will be smaller, more rapidly deployable, and better tailored for operations outside of mainland France. Key elements of the restructuring include: reducing personnel, bases and headquarters, and rationalisation of equipment and

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6846-476: The Netherlands , France took control of Mauritius, which it renamed the Island of France in 1721. Furthermore, France took control of Rodrigues in 1735 and Seychelles in 1756. On Reunion Island ( Bourbon Island ), the French East India Company first introduced the slave trade in the 1730s. The French East India Company additionally introduced coffee and sought to create a plantation economy centered around forced labor. Characteristic of plantation colonies,

7009-437: The Panzerwaffe should be concentrated at Sedan. This concentration of armour would advance to the west to the English Channel , without waiting for the main body of infantry divisions. This might lead to a strategic collapse of the enemy, avoiding the relatively high number of casualties normally caused by a Kesselschlacht (cauldron battle). Such a risky independent use of armour had been widely discussed in Germany before

7172-459: The Phoney War (the French Drôle de guerre , joke war or the German Sitzkrieg , sitting war) set in between the belligerents. Adolf Hitler had hoped that France and Britain would acquiesce in the conquest of Poland and quickly make peace. On 6 October, in a speech to the Reichstag he made a peace offer to the Western powers. On 9 October 1939, Hitler issued Führer-Directive Number 6 ( Führer-Anweisung N°6 ). Hitler recognised

7335-399: The Sahal Region with African support but without NATO involvement and launched Operation Barkhane to combat terror in African Sahal from 2014 to 2022. France participates in several recurring exercises with other nations, including: In 2023, Exercise Orion, the largest in decades, is to be held in the Champagne-Ardenne region. About 10,000 soldiers are expected to take part, along with

7498-417: The Spanish , Polish , and Austrian crowns. At the same time, France was fending off attacks on its colonies. As the 18th century advanced, global competition with Great Britain led to the Seven Years' War , where France lost its North American holdings . Consolation came in the form of dominance in Europe and the American Revolutionary War , where extensive French aid in the form of money and arms, and

7661-533: The United Kingdom and France offered military support to Poland in the likely case of a German invasion. At dawn on 1 September 1939, the German invasion of Poland began. France and the United Kingdom declared war on 3 September, after an ultimatum for German forces immediately to withdraw their forces from Poland was not answered. Australia and New Zealand also declared war on 3 September, South Africa on 6 September and Canada on 10 September. While British and French commitments to Poland were met politically,

7824-417: The Western Campaign ( German : Westfeldzug ), the French Campaign ( Frankreichfeldzug , campagne de France ) and the Fall of France , during the Second World War was the German invasion of the Low Countries ( Belgium , Luxembourg and the Netherlands ) and France . The invasion plan for the Low Countries and France was called Case Yellow ( German , Fall Gelb ). Fall Rot ( Case Red )

7987-453: The armaments industry . Since the end of the Cold War , France has placed a high priority on arms control and non-proliferation. French Nuclear testing in the Pacific , and the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior strained French relations with its Allies, South Pacific states (namely New Zealand ), and world opinion. France agreed to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1992 and supported its indefinite extension in 1995. After conducting

8150-453: The direct participation of its army and navy led to America's independence. Internal political upheaval eventually led to 23 years of nearly continuous conflict in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars . France reached the zenith of its power during this period, dominating the European continent in an unprecedented fashion under Napoleon Bonaparte , but by 1815 it had been restored to its pre-Revolutionary borders. The rest of

8313-449: The 16th century, the French colonization of the Americas began. Excursions of Giovanni da Verrazzano and Jacques Cartier in the early 16th century, as well as the frequent voyages of French boats and fishermen to the Grand Banks off Newfoundland throughout that century, were the precursors to the story of France's colonial expansion. But Spain's defense of its American monopoly, and the further distractions caused in France itself in

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8476-463: The 17th and 19th century to secure access to and to control the slave trade. Through an emphasis on controlling seaports, the French sought to forcibly extract enslaved people to send them abroad for profit. Colonial development prioritized export oriented production while local industry remained very underdeveloped. There was high development of production for export oriented production, notably of ground nuts in Senegal . In additional coastal areas,

8639-399: The 1802–03 campaign alone. Of the 55,131 French soldiers dispatched to Haiti in 1802–03, 45,000, including 18 generals, died, along with 10,000 sailors, the great majority from disease. Captain [first name unknown] Sorrell of the British navy observed, "France lost there one of the finest armies she ever sent forth, composed of picked veterans, the conquerors of Italy and of German legions. She

8802-862: The 1960s with the beginning of self-rule. Under French control, the colony of Madagascar included the dependencies of Comoros , Mayotte , Réunion , Kerguelen , Île Saint-Paul , Amsterdam Island , Crozet Islands , Bassas da India , Europa Island , Juan de Nova Island , Glorioso Islands , and Tromelin . Battle of France Germany : 27,074 killed 111,034 wounded 18,384 missing 1,129 airmen killed 1,236 aircraft lost 795–822 tanks lost German: 156,547 Italian: 6,029–6,040 Asia-Pacific Mediterranean and Middle East Other campaigns Coups Luxembourg The Netherlands Belgium France Britain 1941–1943 1944–1945 Germany Strategic campaigns The Battle of France ( French : bataille de France ; 10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as

8965-470: The 19th century witnessed the growth of the Second French colonial empire as well as French interventions in Belgium , Spain , and Mexico . Other major wars were fought against Russia in the Crimea , Austria in Italy , and Prussia within France itself. Following defeat in the Franco-Prussian War , Franco-German rivalry erupted again in the First World War. France and its allies were victorious this time. Social, political, and economic upheaval in

9128-413: The 300,000 of the French Army. All of the British Expeditionary Force was motorised. Most of the German logistical transport consisted of horse-drawn vehicles. Only 50 per cent of the German divisions available in 1940 were fit for operations, often being worse equipped than the German army of 1914 or their equivalents in the British and French Armies. In the spring of 1940, the German Army was semi-modern;

9291-520: The African and Asian continents. In December 1600, a company was formed through the association of Saint-Malo , Laval , and Vitré to trade with the Moluccas and Japan. Two ships, the Croissant and the Corbin , were sent around the Cape of Good Hope in May 1601. One was wrecked in the Maldives , leading to the adventure of François Pyrard de Laval , who managed to return to France in 1611. The second ship, carrying François Martin de Vitré , reached Ceylon and traded with Aceh in Sumatra , but

9454-400: The Alps took a small amount of ground and after the armistice , Italy occupied a small area in the south-east. The Vichy regime retained the zone libre (free zone) in the south. Following the Allied invasion of French North Africa in November 1942, in Case Anton , the Germans and Italians took control of the zone until France was liberated by the Allies in 1944. During the 1930s,

9617-443: The Ardennes and kept a Ju 87 and a fighter group on call. On average, they could arrive to support armoured units within 45–75 minutes of orders being issued. The German army conducted combined arms operations of mobile offensive formations, with well-trained artillery, infantry, engineer and tank formations, integrated into Panzer divisions. The elements were united by wireless communication, which enabled them to work together at

9780-400: The Army should attack early, ready or not, hoping that Allied unreadiness might bring about an easy victory. Hitler proposed an invasion on 25 October 1939 but accepted that the date was probably unrealistic. On 29 October, Halder presented Aufmarschanweisung N°2, Fall Gelb , with a secondary attack on the Netherlands. On 5 November, Hitler informed Walther von Brauchitsch that he intended

9943-400: The Army's reserve national defense and law enforcement militia. After 145 years since its disbandment, due to the risk of terrorist attacks in the country, the Guard was officially reactivated, this time as a service branch of the Armed Forces, on 12 October 2016. Since 2019 young French citizens can fulfill the mandatory service Service national universel (SNU) within the Armed Forces in

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10106-413: The Austrians who fought in 47 of them, the Spanish in 44 and the English (and later British) who were involved in 43. In addition, out of all recorded conflicts which occurred since the year 387 BC, France has fought in 168 of them, won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10. The Gallo-Roman conflict predominated from 60 BC to 50 BC, with the Romans emerging victorious in the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar . After

10269-410: The Belgian and Luxembourg frontiers. In March 1940, Swiss intelligence detected six or seven Panzer divisions on the German-Luxembourg-Belgian border and more motorised divisions were detected in the area. French intelligence were informed through aerial reconnaissance that the Germans were constructing pontoon bridges about halfway over the Our River on the Luxembourg–German border. On 30 April,

10432-452: The Beveland Peninsula (now the Walcheren – Zuid-Beveland –Noord-Beveland peninsula ) in the Holland Hypothesis . On 12 March 1940, Gamelin discounted dissenting opinion at GQG and decided that the Seventh Army would advance as far as Breda, to link with the Dutch. Georges was told that the role of the Seventh Army on the left flank of the Dyle manoeuvre would be linked to it and Georges notified Billotte that if it were ordered to cross into

10595-449: The Caribbean island of Hispaniola ), France's richest and most important colony, was riven by a massive slave revolt , caused partly by the divisions among the island's elite, which had resulted from the French Revolution of 1789. The slaves, led eventually by Toussaint L'Ouverture and then, following his capture by the French in 1801, by Jean-Jacques Dessalines , held their own against French and British opponents. The French launched

10758-402: The Dyle Line, by pivoting on the right (southern) Second Army. The Seventh Army would take over west of Antwerp, ready to move into Holland and the Belgians were expected to delay a German advance, then retire from the Albert Canal to the Dyle, from Antwerp to Louvain. On the Belgian right, the BEF was to defend about 20 km (12 mi) of the Dyle from Louvain to Wavre with nine divisions and

10921-465: The Dyle plan was adopted. On 17 November, a session of the Supreme War Council deemed it essential to occupy the Dyle Line and Gamelin issued a directive that day detailing a line from Givet to Namur, the Gembloux Gap, Wavre, Louvain and Antwerp. For the next four months, the Dutch and Belgian armies laboured over their defences, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) expanded and the French army received more equipment and training. Gamelin also considered

11084-426: The First Army, on the right of the BEF, was to hold 35 km (22 mi) with ten divisions from Wavre across the Gembloux Gap to Namur. The gap from the Dyle to Namur north of the Sambre, with Maastricht and Mons on either side, had few natural obstacles and was a traditional route of invasion, leading straight to Paris. The Ninth Army would take post south of Namur, along the Meuse to the left (northern) flank of

11247-420: The French border from Luxembourg to Dunkirk . For the first fortnight of the war, Gamelin favoured Plan E, because of the example of the fast German advances in Poland. Gamelin and the other French commanders doubted that they could move any further forward before the Germans arrived. In late September, Gamelin issued a directive to Général d'armée Gaston Billotte , commander of the 1st Army Group, ...assuring

11410-417: The French built the Maginot Line , fortifications along the border with Germany . The line was intended to economise on manpower and deter a German invasion across the Franco–German border by diverting it into Belgium, which could then be met by the best divisions of the French Army . The war would take place outside French territory, avoiding the destruction of the First World War . The main section of

11573-646: The French colonists were a minority on Reunion Island. In 1763 there were only 4,000 French colonists while there were over 18,000 African enslaved people. The majority of enslaved people on Reunion Island worked on coffee plantations. They primarily came from Madagascar, Mozambique, and Senegal. The economy of the Mauritius (Island of France) was similarly based on an exploitative plantation system dependent on forced African labor. The monoculture plantations farmed sugar cane, cotton, indigo, rice, and wheat. Around 2,000 colonists and enslaved people from Reunion Island migrated to Mauritius. Conditions for enslaved people on

11736-540: The French from committing fully to the conflict, and thus the French forces suffered high losses. For example, at the Battle of El Herri in 1914, 600 French soldiers were killed. The fighting was primarily characterized by Guerrilla warfare. The Zaian forces additionally received military and economic support from the Central Powers. The Berber independence leader Abd el-Krim (1882–1963) organized armed resistance against

11899-620: The French governed indirectly and preserved the existing government structure. The bey remained an absolute monarch, Tunisian ministers were still appointed, although they were both subject to French authority. Over time, the French gradually weakened the existing structures of power and centralized power into a French colonial administration. French West Africa was a confederation of eight other French colonial territories including French Mauritania , French Senegal , French Guinea , French Ivory Coast , French Niger , French Upper Volta , French Dahomey , French Togoland , and French Sudan . At

12062-641: The French military attaché in Bern warned that the centre of the German assault would come on the Meuse at Sedan, sometime between 8 and 10 May. These reports had little effect on Gamelin, as did similar reports from neutral sources such as the Vatican and a French sighting of a 100 km-long (60 mi) line of German armoured vehicles on the Luxembourg border trailing back inside Germany. Germany had mobilised 4,200,000 men of

12225-422: The French military's traditional focus on territorial defence will be redirected to meet the challenges of a global threat environment. Under the reorganisation, the identification and destruction of terrorist networks both in metropolitan France and in francophone Africa will be the primary task of the French military. Redundant military bases will be closed and new weapons systems projects put on hold to finance

12388-635: The French navy and possibly forces from Belgium, Britain, and the United States. The head of the French armed forces is the President of the Republic , in his role as chef des armées . However, the Constitution puts civil and military government forces at the disposal of the gouvernement (the executive cabinet of ministers chaired by the Prime Minister , who are not necessarily of the same political side as

12551-566: The French set up slave plantations. Initial French development prioritized the building of roads to connect natural resources to harbors and ports. Additional initial French settlements were established on the Mascarene Islands which include Reunion Island , Mauritius , and Rodrigues . Reunion Island was first settled in 1642 and was administered by the French East India Company starting in 1665. After initial settlement by

12714-547: The General Staff Oberkommando des Heeres [OKH]), presented the first plan for Fall Gelb on 19 October. Fall Gelb entailed an advance through the middle of Belgium; Aufmarschanweisung N°1 envisioned a frontal attack, at a cost of half million German soldiers to attain the limited goal of throwing the Allies back to the River Somme . German strength in 1940 would then be spent and only in 1942 could

12877-563: The German armies there. British , Belgian and French forces were pushed back to the sea by the Germans where the British and French navies evacuated the encircled elements of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and the French and Belgian armies from Dunkirk in Operation Dynamo . German forces began Fall Rot ("Case Red") on 5 June 1940. The remaining Allied divisions in France, sixty French and two British, made

13040-739: The German translation of the phrase "sickle cut" coined by Winston Churchill after the event. It involved three armies (the 4th , 12th and 16th ) and had three Panzer corps. The XV had been allocated to the 4th Army but the XLI (Reinhardt) and the XIX (Guderian) were united with the XIV Army Corps of two motorised infantry divisions on a special independent operational level in Panzergruppe Kleist (XXII Corps). Army Group B ( Fedor von Bock ), comprised 29 + 1 ⁄ 2 divisions including three armoured,

13203-403: The Low Countries to outflank the Maginot Line from the north, an attack on the Maginot Line or an invasion through Switzerland. None of the contingencies anticipated the German attack through the Ardennes but after the loss of the Luftwaffe plans, the Germans assumed that the Allied appreciation of German intentions would have been reinforced. Aufmarschanweisung N°3, Fall Gelb , an amendment to

13366-618: The Maginot Line and then south-east through the Stenay Gap, for which the divisions behind the Second Army were well placed. If the Allies could control the Scheldt Estuary, supplies could be transported to Antwerp by ship and contact established with the Dutch Army along the river. On 8 November, Gamelin directed that a German invasion of the Netherlands must not be allowed to progress around

13529-513: The Maginot Line ran from the Swiss border and ended at Longwy ; the hills and woods of the Ardennes region were thought to cover the area to the north. General Philippe Pétain declared the Ardennes to be "impenetrable" as long as "special provisions" were taken to destroy an invasion force as it emerged from the Ardennes by a pincer attack . The French commander-in-chief, Maurice Gamelin , also believed

13692-484: The Mascarene Island plantations were very poor. Enslaved labor was highly lethal because of poor living conditions and famines. After a series of crop failures from 1725 to 1737, as much as 10% of the islands' enslaved populations died due to famine and disease. In the middle of the 18th century, a series of colonial conflicts began between France and Britain , which ultimately resulted in the destruction of most of

13855-429: The Moroccan economy. Moroccans were treated as second class citizens and discriminated against in all aspects of colonial life. Infrastructure was discriminatory in colonial Morocco. The French colonial government built 36.5 kilometers of sewers in the new neighborhoods created to accommodate new French settlers while only 4.3 kilometers of sewers were built in indigenous Moroccan communities. Additionally, land in Morocco

14018-576: The Moselle but failed to detect the redeployment from the Dutch frontier to the Eifel – Moselle area. On 27 January, Manstein was sacked as Chief of Staff of Army Group A and appointed commander of an army corps in East Prussia . To silence Manstein, Halder had instigated his transfer to Stettin on 9 February. Manstein's staff brought his case to Hitler, who had independently suggested an attack at Sedan, against

14181-460: The Netherlands, the left flank of the army group was to advance to Tilburg if possible and certainly to Breda. The Seventh Army was to take post between the Belgians and Dutch by passing the Belgians along the Albert Canal and then turning east, a distance of 175 km (109 mi), when the Germans were only 90 km (56 mi) distant from Breda. On 16 April, Gamelin also made provision for

14344-692: The Organisation's political Councils). France remains a firm supporter of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and other cooperative efforts. Paris hosted the May 1997 NATO-Russia Summit which sought the signing of the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security. Outside of NATO, France has actively and heavily participated in both coalition and unilateral peacekeeping efforts in Africa ,

14507-447: The Second Army. The Second Army was the right (eastern) flank army of the 1st Army Group, holding the line from Pont à Bar 6 km (3.7 mi) west of Sedan to Longuyon . GQG considered that the Second and Ninth armies had the easiest task of the army group, dug in on the west bank of the Meuse on ground that was easily defended and behind the Ardennes, a considerable obstacle, the traversing of which would give plenty of warning of

14670-468: The South Pacific . As it developed, the new French empire took on roles of trade with the metropole , supplying raw materials and purchasing manufactured items. Especially after the disastrous Franco-Prussian War , which saw Germany become the leading economic and military power of Continental Europe, acquiring colonies and rebuilding an empire was seen as a way to restore French prestige in the world. It

14833-455: The Spanish and French for control of Morocco . The Spanish had faced unrest off and on from the 1890s, but in 1921 Spanish forces were massacred at the Battle of Annual . El-Krim founded an independent Rif Republic that operated until 1926 but had no international recognition. Paris and Madrid agreed to collaborate to destroy it. They sent in 200,000 soldiers, forcing el-Krim to surrender in 1926; he

14996-618: The United Nations force stationed in Haiti following the 2004 Haiti rebellion . France has sent troops, especially special forces , into Afghanistan to help the United States and NATO forces fight the remains of the Taliban and Al Qaeda . In Opération Licorne a force of a few thousand French soldiers is stationed in Ivory Coast on a UN peacekeeping mission. These troops were initially sent under

15159-570: The advice of OKH. On 2 February, Hitler was told of Manstein's plan and on 17 February, Hitler summoned Manstein, General Rudolf Schmundt (Chief of Personnel of the German Army) and General Alfred Jodl , the Chief of Operations of Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW, Supreme Command of the Armed Forces), to a conference. The next day, Hitler ordered Manstein's thinking to be adopted, because it offered

15322-463: The area to be safe from attack, noting it "never favoured large operations". French war games, held in 1938, of a hypothetical German armoured attack through the Ardennes, left the army with the impression that the region was still largely impenetrable and that this, along with the obstacle of the Meuse River , would allow the French time to bring up troops into the area to counter any attack. In 1939,

15485-481: The battle. German tanks had radio receivers that allowed them to be directed by platoon command tanks, which had voice communication with other units. Wireless allowed tactical control and far quicker improvisation than the opponent. Some commanders regarded the ability to communicate to be the primary method of combat and radio drills were considered to be more important than gunnery. Radio allowed German commanders to co-ordinate their formations, bringing them together for

15648-592: The beginning of Napoleon III's reign, the presence of France in Senegal was limited to a trading post on the island of Gorée , a narrow strip on the coast, the town of Saint-Louis , and a handful of trading posts in the interior. The economy had largely been based on the slave trade , carried out by the rulers of the small kingdoms of the interior, as well as elite families, until France abolished slavery in its colonies in 1848. In 1854, Napoleon III named an enterprising French officer, Louis Faidherbe , to govern and expand

15811-406: The border, including infantry, armour, artillery and air defence. There are also naval and air personnel deployed offshore. The French Joint Force and Training Headquarters (État-Major Interarmées de Force et d'Entraînement) at Air Base 110 near Creil maintains the ability to command a medium or large-scale international operation, and runs exercises . In 2011, from 19 March, France participated in

15974-504: The choice between requesting a transfer to another unit or volunteering for the active mission. In 1996, President Jacques Chirac 's government announced the end of conscription and in 2001, conscription formally was ended. Young people must still, however, register for possible conscription (should the situation call for it). As of 2017 the French Armed Forces have total manpower of 426,265, and has an active personnel of 368,962 (with

16137-627: The close of the Napoleonic Wars , most of France's colonies were restored to it by Britain, notably Guadeloupe and Martinique in the West Indies , French Guiana on the coast of South America , various trading posts in Senegal , the Île Bourbon ( Réunion ) in the Indian Ocean , and France's tiny Indian possessions; however, Britain finally annexed Saint Lucia , Tobago , the Seychelles , and

16300-530: The colony, and to give it the beginning of a modern economy. Faidherbe built a series of forts along the Senegal River, formed alliances with leaders in the interior, and sent expeditions against those who resisted French rule. He built a new port at Dakar , established and protected telegraph lines and roads, followed these with a rail line between Dakar and Saint-Louis and another into the interior . He built schools, bridges, and systems to supply fresh water to

16463-477: The continent once more. In parallel, France developed its first colonial empire in Asia, Africa, and in the Americas. Under Louis XIV , France achieved military supremacy over its rivals, but escalating conflicts against increasingly powerful enemy coalitions checked French ambitions and left the kingdom bankrupt at the opening of the 18th century. Resurgent French armies secured victories in dynastic conflicts against

16626-783: The decline of the Roman Empire , a Germanic tribe known as the Franks took control of Gaul by defeating competing tribes. The "land of Francia," from which France gets its name, had high points of expansion under kings Clovis I and Charlemagne . In the Middle Ages , rivalries with England and the Holy Roman Empire prompted major conflicts such as the Norman Conquest and the Hundred Years' War . With an increasingly centralized monarchy,

16789-412: The defence budget received further cuts on top of those already announced in the 2013 White Paper. They warned that further cuts would leave the armed forces unable to support operations abroad. There are currently 36,000 French troops deployed in foreign territories—such operations are known as "OPEX" for Opérations Extérieures ("External Operations"). Among other countries, France provides troops for

16952-408: The directive read that as much as possible of the border areas in northern France should be occupied. On 10 October 1939, Britain refused Hitler's offer of peace and on 12 October, France did the same. The pre-war German codename of plans for a campaign in the Low Countries was Aufmarschanweisung N°1, Fall Gelb (Deployment Instruction No. 1, Case Yellow). Colonel-General Franz Halder (Chief of

17115-660: The east (right flank) and attack on the west (left flank) by advancing into Belgium, to fight forward of the French frontier . The extent of the forward move was dependent on events, which were complicated when Belgium ended the Franco-Belgian Accord of 1920 after the German Remilitarisation of the Rhineland on 7 March 1936. The neutrality of the Belgian state was reluctant openly to co-operate with France but information

17278-612: The enforcement of a no-fly zone over northern Libya , during the Libyan Civil war , in order to prevent forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi from carrying out air attacks on Anti-Gaddafi forces . This operation was known as Opération Harmattan and was part of France's involvement in the conflict in the NATO-led coalition, enforcing UN Security Council Resolution 1973 . On 11 January 2013 France begun Operation Serval to fight Islamists in Mali and

17441-402: The establishment of the 1663 Sovereign Council , the territories of New France were developed as mercantile colonies . It is only after the arrival of intendant Jean Talon in 1665 that France gave its American colonies the proper means to develop population colonies comparable to that of the British. Acadia itself was lost to the British in the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Back in France, there

17604-540: The expense of Army Group B to the north. While Manstein was formulating new plans in Koblenz , Generalleutnant Heinz Guderian , commander of the XIX Army Corps , was lodged in a nearby hotel. Manstein was initially considering a move north from Sedan, directly in the rear of the main Allied mobile forces in Belgium. When Guderian was invited to contribute to the plan during informal discussions, he proposed that most of

17767-480: The field army would have needed more troops than the British Expeditionary Force.) The 88 mm Flak had an elevation of −3° to +85° and could be used as artillery i.e. against panzers. The armies which invaded the west had 85 heavy and 18 light batteries belonging to the Luftwaffe , 48 companies of light Flak integral to divisions of the army and 20 companies of light Flak allocated as army troops,

17930-598: The first French colonial empire and the near-complete expulsion of France from the Americas. These wars were the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748), the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), the American Revolution (1775–1783), the French Revolutionary Wars (1793–1802) and the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815). It may even be seen further back in time to the first of the French and Indian Wars . This cyclic conflict

18093-582: The first standing army since Roman times, and the use of artillery, France expelled the English from its territory and came out of the Middle Ages as the most powerful nation in Europe, only to lose that status to Spain following defeat in the Italian Wars . The Wars of Religion crippled France in the late 16th century, but a major victory in the Thirty Years' War made France one of the most powerful nations on

18256-403: The flanks. Hitler made such a suggestion on 11 November, pressing for an early attack on unprepared targets. Halder's plan satisfied no-one; General Gerd von Rundstedt , the commander of Army Group A ( Heeresgruppe A ) recognised that it did not adhere to the classic principles of Bewegungskrieg ( war of manoeuvre ) that had guided German strategy since the 19th century. A breakthrough

18419-459: The foundation of Port Royal in the colony of Acadia in North America, in what is now Nova Scotia , Canada. A few years later, in 1608, Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec , which was to become the capital of the enormous, but sparsely settled, fur-trading colony of New France (also called Canada). New France had a rather small population, which resulted from more emphasis being placed on

18582-451: The founding of Saint-Louis , and 1677 with the founding of Gorée . Additionally, the first settlement of Madagascar began in 1642 with the establishment of Fort Dauphin . Initial French colonial expansion in Senegal and Madagascar was primarily motivated by desires to secure access to natural resources including gum arabic, groundnuts (or peanuts) and other raw materials. In addition they were further motivated by desires throughout

18745-401: The fur trade rather than agricultural settlements. Due to this emphasis, the French relied heavily on creating friendly contacts with the local First Nations community. Without the appetite of New England for land, and by relying solely on Aboriginals to supply them with fur at the trading posts, the French composed a complex series of military, commercial, and diplomatic connections. These became

18908-583: The humiliation of defeat and occupation, France was eager to maintain its overseas empire at the end of the Second World War." However, after 1945, anti-colonial movements began to challenge European authority. Revolts in Indochina and Algeria proved costly and France lost both colonies. After these conflicts, a relatively peaceful decolonization took place elsewhere after 1960. The French Constitution of 27 October 1946 (Fourth French Republic) established

19071-443: The integrity of the national territory and defending without withdrawing the position of resistance organised along the frontier.... giving the 1st Army Group permission to enter Belgium, to deploy along the Escaut according to Plan E. On 24 October, Gamelin directed that an advance beyond the Escaut was only feasible if the French moved fast enough to forestall the Germans. By late 1939, the Belgians had improved their defences along

19234-512: The invasion to begin on 12 November. Brauchitsch replied that the military had yet to recover from the Polish campaign and offered to resign; this was refused but two days later Hitler postponed the attack, giving poor weather as the reason for the delay. More postponements followed, as commanders persuaded Hitler to delay the attack for a few days or weeks, to remedy some defect in the preparations or to wait for better weather. Hitler also tried to alter

19397-525: The invasion, Hitler, who had spoken to forces on the Western Front and who was encouraged by the success in Norway , confidently predicted the campaign would take only six weeks. He was most excited over the planned military glider attack on Fort Eben-Emael . On 3 September 1939, French military strategy had been settled, taking in analyses of geography, resources and manpower. The French Army would defend in

19560-649: The later 16th century by the French Wars of Religion , prevented any constant efforts by France to settle colonies. Early French attempts to found colonies in Brazil, in 1555 at Rio de Janeiro (" France Antarctique ") and in Florida (including Fort Caroline in 1562), and in 1612 at São Luís (" France Équinoxiale "), were not successful, due to a lack of official interest and to Portuguese and Spanish vigilance. The story of France's colonial empire truly began on 27 July 1605, with

19723-496: The limited Saar Offensive but by mid-October had withdrawn to their start lines. German armies invaded Belgium , Luxembourg , the Netherlands , and France on 10 May 1940. In Fall Gelb ("Case Yellow"), German armoured units made a surprise push through the Ardennes and then along the Somme valley, cutting off and surrounding the Allied units that had advanced into Belgium to meet

19886-473: The main attack against France begin. When Hitler raised objections to the plan and wanted an armoured breakthrough, as had happened in the invasion of Poland, Halder and Brauchitsch attempted to dissuade him, arguing that while the fast-moving mechanised tactics were effective against a "shoddy" Eastern European army, they would not work against a first-rate military like the French. Hitler was disappointed with Halder's plan and initially reacted by deciding that

20049-573: The most enduring alliances between the French and the First Nation community. The French were, however, under pressure from religious orders to convert them to Catholicism . Through alliances with various Native American tribes, the French were able to exert a loose control over much of the North American continent. Areas of French settlement were generally limited to the St. Lawrence River Valley. Prior to

20212-569: The necessity of military campaigns to defeat the Western European nations, preliminary to the conquest of territory in Eastern Europe, to avoid a two-front war but these intentions were absent from Directive N°6. The plan was based on the seemingly more realistic assumption that German military strength would have to be built up for several years. Only limited objectives could be envisaged and were aimed at improving Germany's ability to survive

20375-751: The new strategic environment. France remains an active participant in: the major programs to restrict the transfer of technologies that could lead to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction: the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Australia Group (for chemical and biological weapons), and the Missile Technology Control Regime . France has also signed and ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention . On 31 July 2007, President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered M. Jean-Claude Mallet,

20538-503: The next stage of the offensive, units carrying supplies for three to four days' operations. The Panzer divisions were supported by motorised and infantry divisions. German tank battalions ( Panzer-Abteilungen ) were to be equipped with the Panzerkampfwagen III and Panzerkampfwagen IV tanks but shortages led to the use of light Panzerkampfwagen II and even lighter Panzerkampfwagen I instead. The German Army lacked

20701-408: The offensive, including 42 reserve divisions. The German forces in the west in May and June deployed some 2,439 tanks and 7,378 guns. In 1939–40, 45 per cent of the army was at least 40 years old and 50 per cent of all the soldiers had just a few weeks' training. The German Army was far from motorised; ten per cent of their army was motorised in 1940 and could muster only 120,000 vehicles, compared with

20864-456: The plan on 30 January, was only a revision of details. On 24 February, the main German effort was moved south to the Ardennes. Twenty divisions (including seven panzer and three motorised divisions) were transferred from Heeresgruppe B opposite Holland and Belgium to Heeresgruppe A facing the Ardennes. French military intelligence uncovered a transfer of German divisions from the Saar to the north of

21027-432: The plan, which he found unsatisfactory; his weak understanding of how poorly prepared Germany was for war and how it would cope with losses of armoured vehicles were not fully considered. Though Poland had been quickly defeated, many armoured vehicles had been lost and were hard to replace. This led to the German effort becoming dispersed; the main attack would remain in central Belgium, secondary attacks would be undertaken on

21190-612: The possibility of decisive victory. Hitler recognised the breakthrough at Sedan only in tactical terms, whereas Manstein saw it as a means to an end. He envisaged an operation to the English Channel and the encirclement of the Allied armies in Belgium; if the plan succeeded, it could have a strategic effect. Halder then went through an "astonishing change of opinion", accepting that the Schwerpunkt should be at Sedan. He had no intention of allowing an independent strategic penetration by

21353-437: The president). The Minister of the Armed Forces oversees the military's funding, procurement and operations. Historically, France relied a great deal on conscription to provide manpower for its military, in addition to a minority of professional career soldiers. Following the Algerian War , the use of non-volunteer draftees in foreign operations was ended; if their unit was called up for duty in war zones, draftees were offered

21516-476: The rearmament plans of the 1930s while fighting a defensive land war against Germany and weakening its war economy with a trade blockade , ready for an eventual invasion of Germany. On 7 September, in accordance with the Franco-Polish alliance , France began the Saar Offensive with an advance from the Maginot Line 5 km (3 mi) into the Saar . France had mobilised 98 divisions (all but 28 of them reserve or fortress formations) and 2,500 tanks against

21679-420: The region connected to Canada through the Great Lakes , was maintained through a vast system of fortifications, many of them centred in the Illinois Country and in present-day Arkansas. As the French empire in North America grew, the French also began to build a smaller but more profitable empire in the West Indies . Settlement along the South American coast in what is today French Guiana began in 1624, and

21842-427: The restructuring and global deployment of intervention forces. In a historic change, Sarkozy furthermore has declared that France "will now participate fully in NATO ," four decades after former French president General Charles de Gaulle withdrew from the alliance's command structure and ordered American troops off French soil. In May 2014, high ranking defence chiefs of the French Armed Forces threatened to resign if

22005-418: The service branch of their choice. Placed under the command of the staffs, the French armed forces include the five service branches , the Army , the National Navy , the Air and Space Force , the National Gendarmerie , and the National Guard , as well as the support services and joint organizations: In addition, the National Gendarmerie form a Coast Guard force called the Gendarmerie Maritime which

22168-470: The seven Panzer divisions of Army Group A. Much to the dismay of Guderian, this element was absent from the new plan, Aufmarschanweisung N°4, Fall Gelb , issued on 24 February. The bulk of the German officer corps was appalled and called Halder the "gravedigger of the Panzer force". Even when adapted to more conventional methods, the new plan provoked a storm of protest from the majority of German generals. They thought it utterly irresponsible to create

22331-466: The slower, top-down methods of the Allies. Army Group B had the support of 1,815 combat aircraft, 487 transport aircraft and 50 gliders; 3,286 combat aircraft supported Army Groups A and C. The Luftwaffe was the most experienced, well-equipped and well-trained air force in the world. The combined Allied total was 2,935 aircraft, about half the size of the Luftwaffe . The Luftwaffe could provide close support with dive-bombers and medium bombers but

22494-407: The small islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon ), but also most of France's West Indian (Caribbean) colonies, and all of the French Indian outposts . While the peace treaty saw France's Indian outposts, and the Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe restored to France, the competition for influence in India had been won by the British, and North America was entirely lost – most of New France

22657-470: The south east (1674), and later at Yanam (1723), Mahe (1725), and Karikal (1739) (see French India ). In 1664, the French East India Company was established to compete for trade in the east. Although initial French colonization primarily occurred in the Americas and in Asia , the French did establish a few colonies and trading posts on the African continent. Initial French colonization in Africa began in modern-day Senegal , Madagascar , and along

22820-465: The success of the Haitian Revolution convinced Napoleon that holding Louisiana would not be worth the cost, leading to its sale to the United States in 1803. The French attempt to establish a colony in Egypt in 1798–1801 was not successful. Battle casualties for the campaign were at least 15,000 killed or wounded and 8,500 prisoners for France; 50,000 killed or wounded and 15,000 prisoners for Turkey, Egypt, other Ottoman lands, and Britain. At

22983-423: The terms of a mutual protection pact between France and the Ivory Coast, but the mission has since evolved into the current UN peacekeeping operation. The French Armed Forces have also played a leading role in the ongoing UN peacekeeping mission along the Lebanon - Israel border as part of the cease-fire agreement that brought the 2006 Lebanon War to an end. Currently, France has 2,000 army personnel deployed along

23146-475: The time; colonialism was widely regarded as both unimportant to France, and immoral. Some recovery of the French colonial empire was made during the French intervention in the American Revolution , with Saint Lucia being returned to France by the Treaty of Paris in 1783, but not nearly as much as had been hoped for at the time of French intervention. True disaster came to what remained of France's colonial empire in 1791 when Saint Domingue (the Western third of

23309-567: The towns. He also introduced the large-scale cultivation of Bambara groundnuts and peanuts as a commercial crop. Reaching into the Niger valley, Senegal became the primary French base in West Africa and a model colony. Dakar became one of the most important cities of the French Empire and of Africa. French Equatorial Africa was a confederation of French colonial possessions in the Sahel and Congo River regions of Africa. Colonies included in French Equatorial Africa include French Gabon , French Congo , Ubangui-Shari , and French Chad . Cameroon

23472-426: The wake of the conflict led to the Second World War, in which the Allies were defeated in the Battle of France and the French government surrendered and was replaced with an authoritarian regime . The Allies , including the government in exile's Free French Forces and later a liberated French nation, eventually emerged victorious over the Axis powers . As a result, France secured an occupation zone in Germany and

23635-639: The war but OKH doubted such an operation could work. Manstein's general operational ideas won immediate support from Guderian, who understood the terrain, having experienced the conditions with the German Army in 1914 and 1918. Manstein wrote his first memorandum outlining the alternative plan on 31 October. In it he avoided mentioning Guderian and played down the strategic part of the armoured units, to avoid unnecessary resistance. Six more memoranda followed between 31 October 1939 and 12 January 1940, each becoming more radical. All were rejected by OKH and nothing of their content reached Hitler. On 10 January 1940,

23798-399: The west of Antwerp and gain the south bank of the Scheldt. The left flank of the 1st Army Group was reinforced by the Seventh Army, containing some of the best and most mobile French divisions, which moved from the general reserve by December. The role of the army was to occupy the south bank of the Scheldt and be ready to move into Holland and protect the estuary by holding the north bank along

23961-508: Was a broadly based force, intended to support national strategy and could carry out operational, tactical and strategic bombing operations. Allied air forces were mainly intended for army co-operation but the Luftwaffe could fly air superiority missions, medium-range interdiction , strategic bombing and close air support operations, depending on circumstances. It was not a Panzer spearhead arm, since in 1939 fewer than 15 per cent of Luftwaffe aircraft were designed for close support as this

24124-402: Was also to provide manpower during the world wars. A major goal was the Mission civilisatrice or " Civilizing Mission ". In 1884, the leading proponent of colonialism, Jules Ferry , declared: "The higher races have a right over the lower races, they have a duty to civilize the inferior races ." Full citizenship rights – assimilation – were offered, although in reality "assimilation

24287-508: Was always receding [and] the colonial populations treated like subjects not citizens." France sent small numbers of settlers to its empire, with the notable exception of Algeria, where the French settlers took power while being a minority. In World War II, Charles de Gaulle and the Free French took control of the overseas colonies one-by-one and used them as bases from which they prepared to liberate France . Historian Tony Chafer argues: "In an effort to restore its world-power status after

24450-416: Was captured by the Dutch on the return leg at Cape Finisterre . François Martin de Vitré was the first Frenchman to write an account of travels to the Far East in 1604, at the request of Henry IV, and from that time numerous accounts on Asia would be published. From 1604 to 1609, following the return of François Martin de Vitré, Henry developed a strong enthusiasm for travel to Asia and attempted to set up

24613-413: Was communicated about Belgian defences. By May 1940, there had been an exchange of the general nature of French and Belgian defence plans but little co-ordination against a German offensive to the west, through Luxembourg and eastern Belgium. The French expected Germany to breach Belgian neutrality first, providing a pretext for French intervention or that the Belgians would request support when an invasion

24776-474: Was exiled in the Pacific until 1947. Morocco became quiet, and in 1936 became the base from which Francisco Franco launched his revolt against Madrid. The French protectorate of Tunisia lasted from 1881 to 1956. The protectorate was initially established after the successful invasion of Tunisia in 1881. The groundwork for occupation was laid on April 24, 1881, when the French deployed 35,000 troops from Algeria to invade several Tunisian cities. As in Morocco,

24939-427: Was far more expensive for Moroccans than for French settlers. For example, while the average Moroccan had a plot of land 50 times smaller than their French settler counterparts, Moroccans were forced to pay 24% more per hectare. Moroccans were additionally prohibited from buying land from French settlers. Colonial Morocco's economy was designed to benefit French businesses at the detriment of Moroccan laborers. Morocco

25102-493: Was forced to import all of its goods from France despite higher costs. Additionally, improvements to agriculture and irrigation systems in Morocco exclusively benefited colonial agriculturalists while leaving Moroccan farms at a technological disadvantage. Between the years of 1914 to 1921 the Zaian Confederation of Berber Tribes, primarily from the Atlas Mountain region of Morocco, staged an armed resistance against French colonial control . The outbreak of World War One prevented

25265-437: Was founded on the western half of the Spanish island of Hispaniola . In the 18th century, Saint-Domingue grew to be the richest sugar colony in the Caribbean. The eastern half of Hispaniola (today's Dominican Republic ) also came under French rule for a short period, after being given to France by Spain in 1795. With the end of the French Wars of Religion , King Henry IV encouraged various enterprises to establish trade with

25428-416: Was imminent. Most of the French mobile forces were assembled along the Belgian border, ready to forestall the Germans. An early appeal for help might give the French time to reach the German–Belgian frontier but if not, there were three feasible defensive lines further back. A practicable line existed from Givet to Namur , across the Gembloux Gap ( la trouée de Gembloux ), Wavre , Louvain and along

25591-429: Was initially colonized by the German Empire in 1884. The indigenous people of Cameroon refused to work on German related projects, which turned into force labor. However, after World War One, the colony was partitioned by France and Britain. The French colony lasted from 1916 to until self-rule was achieved in 1960. French colonialism in Madagascar began in 1896 when France established a protectorate by force and ended in

25754-410: Was needed to encircle and destroy the main body of Allied forces. The most practical place to achieve this would be in the region of Sedan , which lay in the sector of Army Group A. On 21 October, Rundstedt agreed with his chief of staff , Generalleutnant Erich von Manstein , that an alternative operational plan to reflect these principles was needed, by making Army Group A as strong as possible at

25917-428: Was not its main role. The Germans had an advantage in anti-aircraft guns ( Fliegerabwehrkanone [ Flak ]), with 2,600 88 mm (3.46 in) heavy Flak guns and 6,700 37 mm (1.46 in) and 20 mm (0.79 in) . Light Flak refers to the number of guns in the German armed forces, including the anti-aircraft defence of Germany and the equipment of training units. (A 9,300-gun Flak component with

26080-438: Was planned to finish off the French and British after the evacuation at Dunkirk. The Low Countries and France were defeated and occupied by Axis troops down to the Demarcation line , ending land operations on the Western Front until the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944. On 3 September 1939, France and Britain declared war on Germany, over the German invasion of Poland on 1 September. In early September 1939, France began

26243-435: Was relatively little interest in colonialism, which concentrated rather on dominance within Europe, and for most of its history, New France was far behind the British North American colonies in both population and economic development. In 1699, French territorial claims in North America expanded still further, with the foundation of Louisiana in the basin of the Mississippi River . The extensive trading network throughout

26406-419: Was taken by Britain (also referred to as British North America ), except Louisiana , which France ceded to Spain as payment for Spain's late entrance into the war (and as compensation for Britain's annexation of Spanish Florida). Also ceded to the British were Grenada and Saint Lucia in the West Indies. Although the loss of Canada would cause much regret in future generations, it excited little unhappiness at

26569-441: Was to advance through the Low Countries and lure the northern units of the Allied armies into a pocket. It was composed of the 6th and 18th Armies. Army Group C, (General Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb ) comprising 18 divisions of the 1st and 7th Armies, was to prevent a flanking movement from the east and with launching small holding attacks against the Maginot Line and the upper Rhine . Wireless proved essential to German success in

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