1.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
2.
French Army
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The French Army, officially the Land Army is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. Along with the French Air Force, the French Navy and the National Gendarmerie, the current Chief of Staff of the French Army is General Jean-Pierre Bosser, a direct subordinate of the Chief of the Defence Staff. All soldiers are considered professionals following the suspension of conscription, voted in parliament in 1997, as of 2014, the French Army employed 111,628 personnel. In addition, the element of the French Army consisted of 15,453 personnel of the Operational Reserve. The Kings of France needed reliable troops during and after the Hundred Years War and these units of troops were raised by issuing ordonnances to govern their length of service, composition and payment. These Compagnies dordonnance formed the core of the Gendarme Cavalry into the sixteenth century, stationed throughout France and summoned into larger armies as needed. There was also made for Francs-archers units of bowmen and foot soldiers raised from the non-noble classes. The bulk of the infantry for warfare was still provided by urban or provincial militias, raised from an area or city to fight locally and named for their recruiting grounds. Gradually these units became more permanent, and in 1480s Swiss instructors were recruited and these men would be paid and contracted and receive training. Henry II further regularised the French army by forming standing Infantry regiments to replace the Militia structure, the first of these the Régiments de Picardie, Piémont, Navarre and Champagne were called the Les Vieux Corps. It was normal policy to disband regiments after a war was over as a cost saving measure with the Vieux Corps and the Kings own Household Troops the Maison du Roi being the only survivors. Regiments could be raised directly by the King and so called after the region in which they were raised, or by the nobility and so called after the noble or his appointed colonel. In 1684 there was a reorganisation of the French infantry and again in 1701 to fit in with Louis XIVs plans. This reshuffle created many of the regiments of the French Army and standardised their equipment. The army of the Sun King tended to wear coats with coloured linings. There were exceptions and the troops, recruited from outside France. In addition to these regiments of the line the Maison du Roi provided several elite units, the Swiss Guards, French Guards, the revolution split the army with the main mass losing most of its officers to aristocratic flight or guillotine and becoming demoralised and ineffective. The French Guard joined the revolt and the Swiss Guards were massacred during the storming of the Tuileries palace, under Napoleon I, the French Army conquered most of Europe during the Napoleonic Wars
3.
Troupes de marine
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The Troupe de marine are a corps of the French Army which regroups several specialties, infantry, artillery, armoured and airborne. Despite their designation, they are a part of the Army. The troupe de marine have been professionalized progressively since 1970, the Troupe de marine were formerly known as the Troupes Coloniales, with origin dating back to the Troupes de la marine. The French colonies were under the control of the Ministère de la Marine, accordingly and these companies were destined to embark on royal naval ships to service the naval artillery and participate to the boarding of naval ships engaged in combats at sea. Simultaneously, these companies were also in charge in guarding the sea ports. In the 18th century, they constituted the Compagnies Franches de la Marine who mainly swarmed essentially in Nouvelle France, an evolution was followed and which deemed more and more pronouncing vis-à-vis the ship boarding marines and their officers. A tentative close-up merger was attempted by two naval ship corps including their troops in 1786 with the companies of sailors, however the experience came to little conclusions. The Régiment Royal–La Marine and Régiment de lAmiral de France founded by Colbert dispersed their companies between Dunkerque, Le Havre, Brest, Rochefort and Toulon and they adorned for a first time the white and grey uniform with the blue vest. The four regiments of la marine were transferred from the secretariat of La Marine to that of the secretariat of La Guerre, such was put in effect to meet the successive military war demands of the reign of Louis XIV, wanting to control all French units. The regiments have left the French Navy conserved then, only that of a naval designation, the Marine Royale had proud allure in 1671, France was able to align 196 naval vessels. Colbert decided accordingly to create 100 companies of guardian-soldiers destined to defend the naval vessels, however, these men were redirected again towards the French Army by Louvois in 1673. Starting this date, the naval and marine officers were obliged to recruit themselves their crew, owing to the presence of « levées » on the war or commercial sea ports, similar to the « marine press », the officers garrisoned their naval ships with defenders. However, the system found its limits quickly, the recruits were often lacking discipline and experience. A vicious circle and a pride for the performing French naval, Compagnies franches de la Marine created in 1690. Each company was tasked to guard a military harbor and its immediate coastline, beginning in 1695, the Companies were organized in battalions around the major harbors. The Marine Companies and Battalions were suppressed in 1761, Corps dartillerie de Marine, created in 1692 to oversee the training and use of coastal artillery. The Corps was suppressed in 1761, the Infantry and Artillery Marine units were re-organized into a single marine corps by a short-lived merger in 1769. Some colonial units were created at the time, organized along the same lines of artillery and infantry units
4.
1st Armored Division (France)
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The 1st Armored Division is a unit of the French Army formed during World War II. Dissolved for a first time in 1946, the unit was recreated in 1948 and it was again dissolved in 1999 with the cadre of the professionalization of the French Military. The 1st Mechanised Brigade, created on July 1,1999, the 1re BM was again dissolved on July 21,2015. The 1st Division was recreated in 2016, the 1st Armored Division was created on May 1,1943. It was dissolved on March 31,1946, the 1st Armored Division was recreated in 1948. On July 1,1999, the 1st Mechanised Brigade inherited the traditions of the division, the 1st Mechanised Brigade was dissolved on July 21,2015. The 1st Division was recreated on July 1,2016 part of the Scorpion Force alongside the 3rd Division, the motto of the division, Nomine et Virtute Prima, translates literally to La première par le nom et la valeur in French, The first in designation and worth. The choice of the insignia, the cross of Saint Louis by général Jean Touzet du Vigier, comes from the place of formation of the unit, Tunisia, the division is known and referred to as division Saint-Louis. The division was cited three times at the orders of the forces during the Second World War. In 1943, a French armed force was formed in North Africa, the unit was equipped with modern equipment coming from the United States, and the program anticipated the constitution of several armed divisions. S. American norms, in three tactical groupments, baptized by the Americans as Combat Command, under these designations the three French divisions engaged in operations from 1944 to 1945. Within this context, the 1st Armored Division 1st DB was formed on May 1,1943, the division was heir to the Light Mechanic Brigade which combat engaged in Tunisia. On January 28,1943, général du Vigier took command of this unit in formation and he had left the command of the BLM to général Brossin de Saint-Didier and installed his command post in Mascara where the training center for armored brigades garrisoned. In the coming months of May 1943 joined transmission and services, in August, the train and a squadron group reinforced immediately. Then, the 2nd African Chasseur doubled to form 2nd Tank-Cuirassiers Regiment, the latter had just been promoted to a divisional general on August 25, and all the forces which were under his disposition were grouped around Mascara. The 2nd Zouaves Regiment disappeared and was replaced, as the infantry of the division, the division assumed position within the ranks of the 1st Army then designate as Army B and which would participate to the disembarking of Provence. The first embarking commenced in Oran and Mers-el-Kébir at the end of the month of July 1944, the Naval ships lifted anchors on August 10 and 11. The disembarking should have taken lieu between Saint-Tropez and Saint-Raphaël, at the dawn of August 15, an enormous naval fleet was assembled north-west of Corsica steering and heading north
5.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
6.
Lebanese Civil War
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The Lebanese Civil War was a multifaceted civil war in Lebanon, lasting from 1975 to 1990 and resulting in an estimated 120,000 fatalities. As of 2012, approximately 76,000 people remain displaced within Lebanon, there was also an exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon as a result of the war. The government of Lebanon had been run under a significant influence of the elites among the Maronite Christians, however, the country had a large Muslim population and many pan-Arabist and left-wing groups opposed the pro-western government. Fighting between Maronite and Palestinian forces began in 1975, then Leftist, pan-Arabist and Muslim Lebanese groups formed an alliance with the Palestinians, during the course of the fighting, alliances shifted rapidly and unpredictably. Furthermore, foreign powers, such as Israel and Syria, became involved in the war, Peace keeping forces, such as the Multinational Force in Lebanon & UNIFIL, were also stationed in Lebanon. The 1989 Taif Agreement marked the beginning of the end of the fighting, in January 1989, a committee appointed by the Arab League began to formulate solutions to the conflict. In March 1991, parliament passed an amnesty law that all political crimes prior to its enactment. In May 1991, the militias were dissolved, with the exception of Hezbollah, religious tensions between Sunnis and Shias remained after the war. An 1860 civil war between Druze and Maronites erupted in the Ottoman Mutasarrifate of Mount Lebanon, which had been divided between them in 1842 and it resulted in the massacre of about 10,000 Christians and at least 6,000 Druzes. The 1860 war was considered by the Druze as a military victory, World War I was hard for the Lebanese. While the rest of the world was occupied with the World War, with the defeat and dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, Turkish rule ended. France took control of the area under the French Mandate for Syria, the French created the state of Greater Lebanon as a safe haven for the Maronites, but included a large Muslim population within the borders. In 1926, Lebanon was declared a republic, and a constitution was adopted, however, the constitution was suspended in 1932. Various factions sought unity with Syria, or independence from the French, in 1934, the countrys first census was conducted. In 1936, the Maronite Phalange party was founded by Pierre Gemayel, World War II and the 1940s brought great change to Lebanon and the Middle East. Lebanon was promised independence and on 22 November 1943, during World War II, Free French troops, who had invaded Lebanon in 1941 to rid Beirut of the Vichy French forces, left the country in 1946. The Maronites assumed power over the country and economy, a parliament was created, in which both Muslims and Christians each had a set quota of seats. Accordingly, the President was to be a Maronite, the Prime Minister a Sunni Muslim, the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine in late 1947 led to civil war in Palestine, the end of Mandatory Palestine, and the Israeli Declaration of Independence on 14 May 1948
7.
Multinational Force in Lebanon
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The ceasefire held until June 3,1982 when the PLO attempted to assassinate Shlomo Argov, Israels ambassador to London. Three days later, Israel reentered the PLO-controlled West Beirut and blockaded the city in order to contain insurgency, seven weeks into the blockade, the besieged PLO acceded to a new agreement for their withdrawal. The four-nation MNF was created as an interposition force meant to oversee the withdrawal of the Palestine Liberation Organization. The participants included the U. S. Additionally, the MNF was in charge of training units of the Lebanese Armed Forces. The relatively benign environment at the beginning of the gave way to chaos as the civil war re-escalated following the assassination of President-elect Bashir Gemayel in September 1982. Subsequent political and military developments on the ground caused the MNF to be viewed not as a peacekeeper and it was replaced by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon already present in Lebanon since 1978 under the leadership of Ghanaian Lieutenant General Emmanuel Erskine. Under its mandate, the MNF provides a multinational presence requested by the Lebanese Government to assist it, the MNF is not authorized to engage in combat but may exercise the right of self-defense. The USMNF follows a policy of active self-defense in response to attacks, in order to enhance the safety of MNF personnel, authority has been given to U. S. S. The MNF is currently composed of the units, which perform the functions indicated at the request of the Lebanese Government. Their precise functions within the MNF mission have varied over time, one U. S. Marine Amphibious Unit is ashore at Beirut International Airport as a 1, 400-man force which also provides external-security troops at U. S. diplomatic facilities in the greater Beirut area. Additional elements of the MAU in reserve, mainly combat support, as noted above, U. S. military personnel currently with the MNF will remain on the ground for the protection of our remaining personnel. Two Italian battalions are in a 1, 400-man force in southwest Beirut and also protect the Sabra. The Italian Government has nearly completed the process of returning the size of its force to that level from a high of 2,200 men. The Italians announced on Feb.8 their intention to withdraw further forces, the French battalions serve as a force in and near the port of Beirut. In addition, each contingent of the MNF has naval and/or air support forces in the region, the United States had previously been involved in Lebanon during the 1958 crisis. In May 1958 armed rebellion broke out in Beirut, supported mostly by Muslim elements, Marines and paratroopers were sent to Lebanon by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to keep the country from falling to Communism. President Chamoun left office in September after having completed his term, further instability ensued when Israel invaded Lebanon in June 1982, the invasion targeted the Palestine Liberation Organization bases in Beirut. In August 1982, he was successful in bringing about an agreement for the evacuation of Syrian troops, the agreement also provided for the deployment of a three-nation Multinational Force during the period of the evacuation
8.
Gulf War
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The Iraqi Armys occupation of Kuwait that began 2 August 1990 was met with international condemnation, and brought immediate economic sanctions against Iraq by members of the UN Security Council. US President George H. W. Bush deployed US forces into Saudi Arabia, an array of nations joined the coalition, the largest military alliance since World War II. The great majority of the military forces were from the US, with Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia paid around US$32 billion of the US$60 billion cost, the war was marked by the introduction of live news broadcasts from the front lines of the battle, principally by the US network CNN. The war has also earned the nickname Video Game War after the daily broadcast of images from cameras on board US bombers during Operation Desert Storm. The initial conflict to expel Iraqi troops from Kuwait began with an aerial and naval bombardment on 17 January 1991 and this was followed by a ground assault on 24 February. This was a victory for the coalition forces, who liberated Kuwait. The coalition ceased its advance, and declared a ceasefire 100 hours after the campaign started. Aerial and ground combat was confined to Iraq, Kuwait, Iraq launched Scud missiles against coalition military targets in Saudi Arabia and against Israel. The following names have been used to describe the conflict itself, Gulf War, a problem with these terms is that the usage is ambiguous, having now been applied to at least three conflicts, see Gulf War. The use of the term Persian Gulf is also disputed, see Persian Gulf naming dispute, with no consensus of naming, various publications have attempted to refine the name. Other language terms include French, la Guerre du Golfe and German, Golfkrieg, German, Zweiter Golfkrieg, French, most of the coalition states used various names for their operations and the wars operational phases. Operation Desert Storm was the US name of the conflict from 17 January 1991. Operation Desert Sabre was the US name for the offensive against the Iraqi Army in the Kuwaiti Theater of Operations from 24–28 February 1991, in itself. Operation Desert Farewell was the given to the return of US units and equipment to the US in 1991 after Kuwaits liberation. Operation Granby was the British name for British military activities during the operations, Opération Daguet was the French name for French military activities in the conflict. Operation Friction was the name of the Canadian operations Operazione Locusta was the Italian name for the operations, in addition, various phases of each operation may have a unique operational name. The US divided the conflict into three campaigns, Defense of Saudi Arabian country for the period 2 August 1990, through 16 January 1991
9.
Artillery
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Artillery is a class of large military weapons built to fire munitions far beyond the range and power of infantrys small arms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach fortifications, and led to heavy, as technology improved, lighter, more mobile field artillery developed for battlefield use. This development continues today, modern self-propelled artillery vehicles are highly mobile weapons of great versatility providing the largest share of an armys total firepower, in its earliest sense, the word artillery referred to any group of soldiers primarily armed with some form of manufactured weapon or armour. In common speech, the artillery is often used to refer to individual devices, along with their accessories and fittings. However, there is no generally recognised generic term for a gun, howitzer, mortar, and so forth, the United States uses artillery piece, the projectiles fired are typically either shot or shell. Shell is a widely used term for a projectile, which is a component of munitions. By association, artillery may also refer to the arm of service that customarily operates such engines, in the 20th Century technology based target acquisition devices, such as radar, and systems, such as sound ranging and flash spotting, emerged to acquire targets, primarily for artillery. These are usually operated by one or more of the artillery arms, Artillery originated for use against ground targets—against infantry, cavalry and other artillery. An early specialist development was coastal artillery for use against enemy ships, the early 20th Century saw the development of a new class of artillery for use against aircraft, anti-aircraft guns. Artillery is arguably the most lethal form of land-based armament currently employed, the majority of combat deaths in the Napoleonic Wars, World War I, and World War II were caused by artillery. In 1944, Joseph Stalin said in a speech that artillery was the God of War, although not called as such, machines performing the role recognizable as artillery have been employed in warfare since antiquity. The first references in the historical tradition begin at Syracuse in 399 BC. From the Middle Ages through most of the era, artillery pieces on land were moved by horse-drawn gun carriages. In the contemporary era, the artillery and crew rely on wheeled or tracked vehicles as transportation, Artillery used by naval forces has changed significantly also, with missiles replacing guns in surface warfare. The engineering designs of the means of delivery have likewise changed significantly over time, in some armies, the weapon of artillery is the projectile, not the equipment that fires it. The process of delivering fire onto the target is called gunnery, the actions involved in operating the piece are collectively called serving the gun by the detachment or gun crew, constituting either direct or indirect artillery fire. The term gunner is used in armed forces for the soldiers and sailors with the primary function of using artillery. The gunners and their guns are usually grouped in teams called either crews or detachments, several such crews and teams with other functions are combined into a unit of artillery, usually called a battery, although sometimes called a company
10.
Morbihan
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Morbihan is a department in Brittany, situated in the northwest of France. It is named after the Morbihan, the sea that is the principal feature of the coastline. It is noted for its Carnac stones, which predate and are more extensive than the more familiar Stonehenge, Morbihan is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4,1790. It was created from a part of the Duchy of Brittany, Morbihan is part of the current region of Brittany and is surrounded by the departments of Finistère, Côtes-dArmor, Ille-et-Vilaine, and Loire-Atlantique, and the Atlantic Ocean on the southwest. The Gulf of Morbihan has many islands,365 according to legend, there are also many islets which are too small to be built on. Of these islands, all but two are private, lÎle-aux-Moines and lÎle-dArz, the others are privately owned, some by movie stars or fashion designers. The largest towns in Morbihan are Vannes and Lorient, the Breton language is an important issue, with many advocating bilingual education. The painter Raymond Wintz depicted locations around the Gulf of Morbihan, as of 2014, the préfet of Morbihan is Jean-François Savy, previously head of the Prefectures of Ardennes and of Hautes-Alpes. The Carnac stones, megalithic alignments of Carnac are situated in Morbihan
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