Editing French Armed Forces (section)

==History==
{{Main|Military history of France}}

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 colonial empire|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 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.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Ferguson|first=Niall|date=2001|title=The Cash Nexus: Money and Power in the Modern World, 1700–2000; p.25-27|url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/135753.The_Cash_Nexus|access-date=2020-07-05|website=www.goodreads.com}}</ref>

The Gallo-Roman conflict predominated from 60 BC to 50 BC, with the Romans emerging victorious in the [[Gallic Wars|conquest of Gaul]] by [[Julius Caesar]]. After the decline of the [[Roman Empire]], a [[Germanic peoples|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, 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 [[French Wars of Religion|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 the continent once more. In parallel, France developed its [[French colonial empire|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 [[War of the Spanish Succession|checked French ambitions]] and left the kingdom bankrupt at the opening of the 18th century.

[[File:Free French Foreign Legionnairs.jpg|thumb|right|[[Free France|Free French]] [[Legionnaire (disambiguation)|Legionnaires]] at the [[Battle of Bir Hakeim]] (1942)]]
Resurgent French armies secured victories in dynastic conflicts against the [[War of the Quadruple Alliance|Spanish]], [[War of the Polish Succession|Polish]], and [[War of the Austrian Succession|Austrian]] crowns. At the same time, France was [[French and Indian Wars|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 [[New France|North American holdings]]. Consolation came in the form of dominance in Europe and the [[American Revolutionary War]], where [[France in the American Revolutionary War|extensive French aid]] in the form of money and arms, and the [[Anglo-French War (1778–83)|direct participation of its army and navy]] led to America's independence.<ref name=aid>Richard Brooks (editor), ''Atlas of World Military History.'' p.&nbsp;101. "''Washington's success in keeping the army together deprived the British of victory, but French intervention won the war.''"</ref> 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 the 19th century witnessed the growth of the [[Second French colonial empire]] as well as French interventions in [[Ten Days' Campaign|Belgium]], [[First Carlist War|Spain]], and [[French intervention in Mexico (disambiguation)|Mexico]]. Other major wars were fought against [[Russian Empire|Russia]] in the [[Crimean War|Crimea]], [[Austrian Empire|Austria]] in [[Second Italian War of Independence|Italy]], and [[Prussia]] within France itself.

Following defeat in the [[Franco-Prussian War]], [[French–German enmity|Franco-German rivalry]] erupted again in the First World War. France and its allies were victorious this time. Social, political, and economic upheaval in 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 [[Vichy France|authoritarian regime]]. The [[Allies of World War II|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 [[Allied-occupied Germany|occupation zone in Germany]] and 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 [[Force de frappe|nuclear power]] with its [[Gerboise Bleue|first test of an atomic bomb]] in [[Algeria]] in 1960.<ref>{{cite news |title=France Explodes Her First A-Bomb in a Sahara Test |first=W. Granger |last=Blair |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0913F63C5916738DDDAA0994DA405B808AF1D3&scp=32& |newspaper=New York Times |date=13 February 1960 |page=1 |access-date=5 November 2010 }}</ref> Since the 1990s its military action is most often seen in cooperation with [[NATO]] and its European partners.