debor044

Of the many celebrated, little known, or completely forgotten conflicts of the late 18 th  and early 19 th  centuries, the Haitian Revolution fought from 1791-1804 is one of the most culturally relevant conflicts. Currently the Haitian Revolution has garnered more attention from military and popular historians, which as a study as a revolt, rebellion and colonialist war nevertheless deserves more attention from historians. Luckily a resurgence in the study and historical interpretation of this period has occurred, with more many books written or currently being written on Napoleon’s ‘West Indian Policy’ and campaign within the context of the greater Haitian Revolution period from the Haitian/Caribbean perspective. Soldier & Haitian patriot, François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture As a French colony, Saint Domingue what is today the nation of  Haiti,  and the greater  island  of  Hispaniola in general , split in half by the Spanish an...

Vichy France's "small war" with Thailand in 1940-1941 is one of the most unique campaigns and micro conflicts in the greater military history of World War Two (1939-1945). Marshall Pétains shakes Adolph Hitler's hand, 1941 The Vichy collaborators in France and abroad formed a coalition/puppet government with their conquerors in the North of France while a 'free' southern zone was established rule by Vichy following the defeat of the French Army and the capture of Paris. The Vichy army fought rather poorly against their former Allies in North Africa while helping to cement fascist rule throughout occupied metropolitan France and Algeria. Thousands of miles away in French Indochina where French rule had been established by imperial conquest beginning in 1862 as French Cochinchina (Vietnam), the Vichy government collaborated nominally with the Japanese in fear of being ousted by the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) forces who were already poised to invade the region ...

On 19 May 1883, the Battle of the Paper Bridge (Cầu Giấy, Hanoi) was fought between a French column led by Commandant Henri Rivière (b.1827-1883) and the Black Flag Army led by Liu Yongfu (b.1837-1917), a southern Han Chinese bandit, mercenary-soldier, and revolutionary. The Black Flag army ended Rivière’s expedition into the Tonkin (North Vietnam), then a tributary state of the Qing Empire (China and it Imperial provinces, 1644-1912) with a stunning ambush near what was called the Paper Bridge (Pont du Papier) outside modern day Hanoi in Vietnam. Background France’s early campaigns fought in Northern Vietnam from 1881-1889 form just the tail-end of a greater narrative of Franco-Vietnamese and Franco-Sino (Chinese) conflict for control over the Tonkin (Tonquin or Tongkin) province of North Vietnam. The Battle of the Paper Bridge (Cầu Giấy) in 1883 was arguably the first major conflict in France’s commitment to conquer and pacify what became Vietnam and French Indochina (1896-1954). The...

On August 29th of 1350, the Battle of Winchelsea, known also as the Battle of Les Espagnols Sur Mer , was fought off the southern coast England between the fleets of King Edward III of England (b.1312-1377) and the Castilian (Spanish) prince Don Carlos de la Cerda (b.1327-1354). The Channel was and is still today the gateway to south England and during the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453) it was the site of the oft forgotten Battle of Winchelsea. The Battle of Sluys 1340 as depicted in an illumination from Froissart's Chronicles Battle of Winchelsea in 1450 An aggressive English naval strategy from 1340-1429 during the Hundred Years' Wars often led to the piracy of any and all ships crossing or returning from the Channel into the North Atlantic. A greater English strategy protected both the major channel ports and the western Irish sea ports, the English always wary of any French, Scottish, and/or Spanish vessels looking for easy plunder along the coast just as the Vikings of the...

Algeria’s War for Independence, fought from 1954-1962 is one of the most important conflicts fought in the post-War era, arguably the premier example of neo-colonialism, & the implementation of insurgency and anti-insurgency tactics in the modern age. French Paras in Algeria during the Algerian War Since the invasion of Iraq and the corresponding insurgency of 2003-2011, renewed interest in the military campaigns of the Algerian War from the United States and Western European spheres of military education has made the conflict a precursor study in the greater study of guerrilla/insurgency tactics in the modern age. Prelude, French Algeria 1830-1914 France ’s initial conquests of Algeria began with their invasion the coastal regions in 1830, ending with an outright defeat of the Ottoman Empire for control of coastal Algeria in 1848. With their conquest half complete France was drawn into conflict with the sultanate of Morocco , eventually confirming de facto control over Algeri...