The military history of France represents a massive panorama of
conflicts and struggles extending for more than 2,000 years over areas
encompassing modern France, Europe, and European territorial
possessions overseas. Gallo-Roman conflict predominated from 400 BCE
to 50 BCE, with the Romans emerging victorious in the conquest of Gaul
by Julius Caesar. After the decline of the Roman Empire, a Germanic
tribe known as the Franks took control of Gaul by defeating competing
tribes. In the eighteenth century, global competition with Great
Britain led to defeat in the French and Indian War, where France lost
its North American holdings and India, but consolation came in the
form of the American Revolutionary War, where massive French aid led
to America's independence. Internal political upheaval eventually led
to 23 years of nearly continuous war in the French Revolutionary Wars
and the Napoleonic Wars. France reached the zenith of its power during
this period, but by 1815 it had been restored to its pre-Revolutionary
borders. Following defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, Franco-German
rivalry reasserted itself again in World War I, this time France
emerging as the winner. Tensions over the Versailles Treaty led to the
Second World War, where it was humiliated in the Battle of France. The
Allies eventually emerged victorious over the Germans, however, and
France was given an occupation zone in Germany. Today, French military
intervention is most often seen in its former colonies and with its
NATO allies in hot spots around the world.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_France
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Today's selected anniversaries:
330:
Byzantium became the new capital of the Roman Empire under Emperor
Constantine I, and was referred to as Constantinople.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantinople)
1792:
Explorer Robert Gray first sighted the Columbia River, the largest
river flowing into the Pacific Ocean from North America.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_River)
1812:
British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval was assassinated by John
Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_Perceval)
1949:
Siam was officially renamed Thailand.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Thailand)
1960:
Mossad agents captured Adolf Eichmann, a Nazi leader and fugitive war
criminal hiding in Argentina.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Eichmann)
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Wikiquote of the day:
"Positive vibrations man. That's what makes it work. That's reggae
music. You can't look away because it's real. You listen to what I
sing because I mean what I sing, there's no secret, no big deal. Just
honesty, that's all." -- Bob Marley
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bob_Marley)