10 Awesome French Military Victories You Have Never Heard Of

The Mad War

La Guerre Folle (aka “the Mad War”) took place between 1485 and 1488. King Louis XI had died, and Charles VIII wasn’t old enough to assume power. So the regency was placed in the hands of Anne de Beaujeu. The king’s cousin, the future Louis XII, wasn’t happy with this arrangement. When his bid to assume the regency failed, he fled to Brittany, which was independent.

Battle Of Bir Hakeim

France famously capitulated within a few weeks of World War II beginning. However, the French government remained, setting itself up in exile in London. Many French soldiers rallied to the exiled government. They became known as the Free French.

Battle Of Tours

In October 732, Charles Martel, leader of the Franks, entered battle with the soldiers of the Umayyad Caliphate just outside the city of Tours. His subsequent victory shaped the fate of Europe.

War Of Saint-Sardos

Although most of these victories were won through force, the War of Saint-Sardos was a masterclass in diplomacy. As it stood, the King of England, Edward II, was also the Duke of Aquitaine in France. This meant that while there were English laws and English soldiers in Aquitaine, the English king had to frequently journey to France and give homage to the French king as his lord.

Battle Of Austerlitz

Napoleon is often lauded as one of the greatest generals of all time. Even though he ultimately lost the Napoleonic Wars, France was able to stand alone against a united Europe for over a decade through his leadership. Many of his greatest victories came early in his career, however. If he had been able to continue with the same momentum, he might actually have been victorious.

Hundred Years’ War

Lasting from 1337 to 1453, the Hundred Years’ War featured some of the most famous victories in English history. At Crecy, Poitiers, and Agincourt, the English longbowman was proven to be the most effective soldier of late Medieval Europe. However, the war was also a decisive victory for the French, resulting in the permanent end of four centuries of English territorial influence on the continent (with the exception of Calais).

French Invasion Of Normandy

England and France had waged war over the fate of Normandy on and off for decades by the time hostilities resumed in 1202. This time, however, the French were facing the bumbling King John, who was already struggling to maintain order among his nobility. Several of them were so strongly opposed to John’s rule that they flipped to the French side and joined the effort to conquer Normandy.

Battle Of Bouvines

King John tried to recover his lost lands nearly a decade later when he joined Pope Innocent III’s effort to build an international coalition against France. Leaders in Germany, the Low Countries, and England all united in their efforts to reverse the French conquests of Normandy and in modern-day Belgium and the Netherlands.

Second Battle Of The Marne

In an attempt to bring World War I to an end, the Germans launched the Spring Offensive in March 1918. They hoped to surge through France and force a surrender. Although they failed, they still made significant territorial gains, and the German generals resolved to continue their campaign through the summer by launching an all-out assault through Flanders. As part of this plan, they launched a diversionary attack along the River Marne, hoping to scare the Allies into reinforcing their lines since they were so close to Paris.

Battle Of Malakoff

The first half of the 1800s was the story of Russia’s rise. By 1850, they were an emerging power on the European stage with a powerful fleet in both Sevastopol and St. Petersburg. Meanwhile, the Ottoman Empire, the major power in the Black Sea since the Middle Ages, was in continual decline and militarily weak.

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