Skip to content
Curated category

Wars involving France

  • War of the Third CoalitionIn March 1802, hostilities between France and the Allies came to an end. However it was clear to the leading European politicians that the peace treaties of…
  • Crimean WarIn July 1853, Russian troops crossed the River Prut into Moldavia and Wallachia. This move placed 80,000 soldiers on Ottoman territory under a pretext of…
  • Saint-Domingue expeditionIn early 1801, Napoleon Bonaparte decided to appoint his sister Pauline's husband, general Charles Leclerc, as head of a military expedition.
  • War of the Fourth CoalitionOn the 9th of October 1806, Prussia declared war on France and joined a renewed coalition. This decision followed months of diplomatic breakdown and the…
  • First Indochina WarIn September 1940, Japan launched its invasion of French Indochina while Germany had already conquered metropolitan France.
  • Gulf WarOn the 2nd of August 1990, Iraqi tanks rolled across the border into Kuwait City. The invasion began with a bombing of the capital and lasted only two days…
  • French invasion of RussiaNapoleon crossed the Neman River on the 24th of June 1812, initiating a campaign that would reshape European history. The decision to invade Russia stemmed…
  • Korean WarOn the 10th of August 1945, Soviet forces entered northern Korea and secured most major cities by the 24th of August. US Colonels Dean Rusk and Charles H.
  • Second French intervention in MexicoIn July 1861, Mexican president Benito Juárez placed a moratorium on foreign debt payments and expelled all Spanish diplomats from the country.
  • Peninsular WarIn July 1807, Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte issued orders to his Foreign Minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord demanding Portugal declare war on…
  • Taiping RebellionIn 1837, a Hakka farmer named Hong Huoxiu failed his imperial examination for the third time. This failure triggered a nervous breakdown that would…
  • Syrian civil warIn March 2011, the city of Daraa erupted with protests that would ignite a fourteen-year war. Young students painted anti-government slogans on school walls…
  • War on terrorOn the 16th of September 2001, US president George W. Bush used the phrase war on terrorism in an ostensibly unscripted comment when answering a journalist's…
  • Phoney WarAn 8-inch howitzer sat silent in France during the autumn of 1939. This image captures the stillness that defined the first eight months of World War II.