1.
La Rochelle
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La Rochelle is a city in southwestern France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department, the city is connected to the Île de Ré by a 2. 9-kilometre bridge completed on 19 May 1988. Its harbour opens into a protected strait, the Pertuis dAntioche, the area of La Rochelle was occupied in antiquity by the Gallic tribe of the Santones, who gave their name to the nearby region of Saintonge and the city of Saintes. The Romans subsequently occupied the area, where they developed salt production along the coast as well as wine production, roman villas have been found at Saint-Éloi and at Les Minimes, as well as salt evaporation ponds dating from the same period. La Rochelle was founded during the 10th century and became an important harbour in the 12th century, in 1137, Guillaume X to all intents and purposes made La Rochelle a free port and gave it the right to establish itself as a commune. Fifty years later Eleanor of Aquitaine upheld the communal charter promulgated by her father, and for the first time in France, Guillaume was assisted in his responsibilities by 24 municipal magistrates, and 75 notables who had jurisdiction over the inhabitants. During the Plantagenet control of the city in 1185, Henry II had the Vauclair castle built, the main activities of the city were in the areas of maritime commerce and trade, especially with England, the Netherlands and Spain. In 1196, a wealthy bourgeois named Alexandre Auffredi sent a fleet of seven ships to Africa to tap the riches of the continent. He went bankrupt and went into poverty as he waited for the return of his ships, the Knights Templar had a strong presence in La Rochelle since before the time of Eleanor of Aquitaine, who exempted them from duties and gave them mills in her 1139 Charter. La Rochelle was for the Templars their largest base on the Atlantic Ocean, from La Rochelle, they were able to act as intermediaries in trade between England and the Mediterranean. The fleet allegedly left laden with knights and treasures just before the issue of the warrant for the arrest of the Order in October 1307, during the Hundred Years War in 1360, following the Treaty of Bretigny La Rochelle again came under the rule of the English monarch. La Rochelle however expelled the English in June 1372, following the naval Battle of La Rochelle, the French and Spanish decisively defeated the English, securing French control of the Channel for the first time since the Battle of Sluys in 1340. The naval battle of La Rochelle was one of the first cases of the use of handguns on warships, having recovered freedom, La Rochelle refused entry to Du Guesclin, until Charles V recognized the privileges of the city in November 1372. In 1402, the French adventurer Jean de Béthencourt left La Rochelle, until the 15th century, La Rochelle was to be the largest French harbour on the Atlantic coast, dealing mainly in wine, salt and cheese. During the Renaissance, La Rochelle adopted Protestant ideas, calvinism started to be propagated in the region of La Rochelle, resulting in its suppression through the establishment of Cours présidiaux tribunals by Henry II. An early result of this was the burning at the stake of two heretics in La Rochelle in 1552. On the initiative of Gaspard de Coligny, the Calvinists attempted to colonize the New World to find a new home for their religion, with the likes of Pierre Richier and Jean de Léry. After the short-lived attempt of France Antarctique, they failed to establish a colony in Brazil and he has been described, by Lancelot Voisin de La Popelinière, as le père de léglise de La Rochelle
2.
French Navy
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The French Navy, informally La Royale, is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces. As of June 2014, the French Navy employed a total of 36,776 personnel, the reserve element of the French Navy consisted of 4,827 personnel of the Operational Reserve. The French naval fleet includes more than a hundred vessels and nuclear type submarines, the history of the French Navy dates back to the History of the French Navy of Antiquity to the Renaissance, part of the History of the French Navy. The French Royal Navy was quasi inexistent prior 1624, the Ordre de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem, which was both a religious and military order, had its own respective international war fleet which assured the policing of the seas in the Mediterranean. The members which had satisfied obligations for periods in service at sea fulfilling their service, were granted the rank of Knights Hospitaller, however, many considered the naval service formation to integrate later, while being well formed, their respective navy. The Ordre de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem was one of the ancestors of the French naval schools and in principal, the Order accordingly formed most of the ships Captains, Officers of the French Royal Navy and Admirals of the Marine française de guerre de la Méditerranée. During the Revolution, the French Navy succeeded to the French Royal Navy, under the First French Empire and the Second French Empire, the navy was designated as the Imperial French Navy. The French Navy is still designated today familiarly as La Royale and this expression was used by commercial sailors due to their military service at the corps of the navy by the institution of maritime inscription. The implementation then of the Ministère de la Marine later the de la Marine de guerre française at rue Royale. The symbol of the French Navy, which was since origin a golden anchor » and this symbol featured on all naval vessels, the arms, uniforms, the couriers, equipment, and general arms of the navy. This symbol was replaced in 1990 by a logo featuring a bow section of a warship with two ascending red and blue spray foams, and the inscription Marine nationale. The Chief of Staff of the French Navy was Admiral Bernard Louzeau, the navy became a consistent instrument of national power around the seventeenth century with Richelieus efforts under Louis XIII, and Colberts under Louis XIV. Under the tutelage of the Sun King, the French Navy was well-financed and -equipped, managing to score several victories in the Nine Years War against the Royal Navy. Financial troubles, however, forced the navy back to port and allowed the English, before the Nine Years War, in the Franco-Dutch War, it managed to score a decisive victory over a combined Spanish-Dutch fleet at the Battle of Palermo. The French Navy scored various successes, as in the campaigns led in the Atlantic by Picquet de la Motte, in 1766, Bougainville led the first French circumnavigation. During the American Revolutionary War the French Navy played a role in supporting the Americans. French warships participated in the battle by bombarding British ground forces, in India, Suffren waged campaigns against the British, successfully contending for supremacy against Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Hughes. In the Mediterranean, the French Navy waged a campaign during a 1798 French invasion of Egypt
3.
Admiral of France
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The title Admiral of France is one of the Great Officers of the Crown of France, the naval equivalent of Marshal of France. The title was created in 1270 by Louis IX of France, at the time it was equivalent to the office of Constable of France. The Admiral was responsible for defending the coasts of Picardy, Normandy, Aunis, in times of war, it was his responsibility to assemble French merchant ships into a navy. He had to arm, equip, and supply the ships for the course of the war, in peacetime, he was responsible for the maintenance of the royal fleet. He was also responsible for commerce and the merchant fleet. During the modern era, few admirals were sailors — moreover, with the exception of Claude dAnnebault, the title, like the title of Constable, had much more political importance. He also had rights, comparable to those exercised by the constable. This was known as the Table de marbre, after the seat of the admiralty in Paris, a second headquarters of the admiralty was established at Rouen, and about 50 other headquarters were set up at various other places around the coast of France. These tribunals judged cases dealing with fishing disputes and any crimes committed in the countrys ports. The Admiralty was suppressed in 1627 by Cardinal Richelieu, who had been named to the newly created post of Grand Master of Navigation, the position was recreated in 1669, but was now only an honorific title. The first new admiral was Louis, Count of Vermandois, who at the time was only 2 years old, thereafter, only Louis Alexandre, Count of Toulouse involved himself in maritime affairs. It was suppressed once more in 1791, restored in 1805 in the person of Marshal of France Joachim Murat, currently, the most recent Admiral of France was François Thomas Tréhouart, in 1869. Accordingly, they were not recognized by the Kingdom of France, william de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk 1424-1437 Edward de Courtenay,1439 B. Barbiche, Les institutions de la monarchie française à lépoque moderne, musée national de Versailles Galeries historiques du Palais de Versailles, book 7, Imprimerie royale,1842. Philippe Le Bas, France dictionnaire encyclopedique, tome 1, A-AZ,1810
4.
French Revolutionary Wars
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The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of sweeping military conflicts, lasting from 1792 until 1802, resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted the French First Republic against Britain, Austria and several other monarchies and they are divided in two periods, the War of the First Coalition and the War of the Second Coalition. Initially confined to Europe, the fighting gradually assumed a global dimension as the political ambitions of the Revolution expanded, French success in these conflicts ensured the spread of revolutionary principles over much of Europe. The Revolutionary Wars began from increasing political pressure on King Louis XVI of France to prove his loyalty to the new direction France was taking. In the spring of 1792, France declared war on Prussia and Austria, the victory rejuvenated the French nation and emboldened the National Convention to abolish the monarchy. A series of victories by the new French armies abruptly ended with defeat at Neerwinden in the spring of 1793, by 1795, the French had captured the Austrian Netherlands and knocked Spain and Prussia out of the war with the Peace of Basel. A hitherto unknown general called Napoleon Bonaparte began his first campaign in Italy in April 1796, in less than a year, French armies under Napoleon decimated the Habsburg forces and evicted them from the Italian peninsula, winning almost every battle and capturing 150,000 prisoners. With French forces marching towards Vienna, the Austrians sued for peace and agreed to the Treaty of Campo Formio, the War of the Second Coalition began with the French invasion of Egypt, headed by Napoleon, in 1798. The Allies took the opportunity presented by the French strategic effort in the Middle East to regain territories lost from the First Coalition. The war began well for the Allies in Europe, where they pushed the French out of Italy and invaded Switzerland—racking up victories at Magnano, Cassano. However, their efforts largely unraveled with the French victory at Zurich in September 1799, meanwhile, Napoleons forces annihilated a series of Egyptian and Ottoman armies at the battles of the Pyramids, Mount Tabor, and Abukir. These victories and the conquest of Egypt further enhanced Napoleons popularity back in France, however, the Royal Navy had managed to inflict a humiliating defeat on the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile in 1798, further strengthening British control of the Mediterranean. Napoleons arrival from Egypt led to the fall of the Directory in the Coup of 18 Brumaire, Napoleon then reorganized the French army and launched a new assault against the Austrians in Italy during the spring of 1800. This latest effort culminated in a decisive French victory at the Battle of Marengo in June 1800, another crushing French triumph at Hohenlinden in Bavaria forced the Austrians to seek peace for a second time, leading to the Treaty of Lunéville in 1801. With Austria and Russia out of the war, the United Kingdom found itself increasingly isolated and agreed to the Treaty of Amiens with Napoleons government in 1802, concluding the Revolutionary Wars. The lingering tensions proved too difficult to contain, however, in 1789–1792, the entire governmental structure of France was transformed to fall into line with the Revolutionary principles of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. As a result, one of the first major elements of the French state to be restructured was the army, the transformation of the army was best seen in the officer corps. Before the revolution 90% had been nobility, compared to only 3% in 1794, Revolutionary fervour was high, and was closely monitored by the Committee of Public Safety, which assigned Representatives on Mission to keep watch on generals
5.
Napoleonic Wars
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The wars resulted from the unresolved disputes associated with the French Revolution and the Revolutionary Wars, which had raged on for years before concluding with the Treaty of Amiens in 1802. Napoleon became the First Consul of France in 1799, then Emperor five years later, inheriting the political and military struggles of the Revolution, he created a state with stable finances, a strong central bureaucracy, and a well-trained army. The British frequently financed the European coalitions intended to thwart French ambitions, by 1805, they had managed to convince the Austrians and the Russians to wage another war against France. At sea, the Royal Navy destroyed a combined Franco-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar in October 1805, Prussian worries about increasing French power led to the formation of the Fourth Coalition in 1806. France then forced the defeated nations of the Fourth Coalition to sign the Treaties of Tilsit in July, although Tilsit signified the high watermark of the French Empire, it did not bring a lasting peace for Europe. Hoping to extend the Continental System and choke off British trade with the European mainland, Napoleon invaded Iberia, the Spanish and the Portuguese revolted with British support. The Peninsular War lasted six years, featured extensive guerrilla warfare, the Continental System caused recurring diplomatic conflicts between France and its client states, especially Russia. Unwilling to bear the consequences of reduced trade, the Russians routinely violated the Continental System. The French launched an invasion of Russia in the summer of 1812. The resulting campaign witnessed the collapse and retreat of the Grand Army along with the destruction of Russian lands. In 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russian forces in a Sixth Coalition against France, a lengthy military campaign culminated in a large Allied army defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813. The Allies then invaded France and captured Paris in the spring of 1814 and he was exiled to the island of Elba near Rome and the Bourbons were restored to power. However, Napoleon escaped from Elba in February 1815 and took control of France once again, the Allies responded by forming a Seventh Coalition, which defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in June. The Congress of Vienna, which started in 1814 and concluded in 1815, established the new borders of Europe and laid out the terms, Napoleon seized power in 1799, creating a de facto military dictatorship. The Napoleonic Wars began with the War of the Third Coalition, Kagan argues that Britain was irritated in particular by Napoleons assertion of control over Switzerland. Furthermore, Britons felt insulted when Napoleon stated that their country deserved no voice in European affairs, for its part, Russia decided that the intervention in Switzerland indicated that Napoleon was not looking toward a peaceful resolution of his differences with the other European powers. The British quickly enforced a blockade of France to starve it of resources. Napoleon responded with economic embargoes against Britain, and sought to eliminate Britains Continental allies to break the coalitions arrayed against him, the so-called Continental System formed a league of armed neutrality to disrupt the blockade and enforce free trade with France
6.
Action of 3 July 1810
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During the engagement the British convoy resisted strongly and suffered heavy casualties but two ships were eventually forced to surrender. These were the British flagship, the Windham, which held off the French squadron to allow the surviving ship Astell to escape, combined with limited British resources in the region, this allowed the French frigates significant freedom to attack British interests across the Ocean. As a result, this was the last successful attack on a British merchant convoy in the Indian Ocean during the Napoleonic Wars. When one French squadron under Admiral Linois had tried to seize a convoy in 1805, in late 1808, the French Navy despatched five frigates to the Indian Ocean to rendezvous at Île de France under the command of Commodore Jacques Hamelin. The first frigate to discover a convoys was Caroline, which attacked a Europe-bound convoy in the Action of 31 May 1809, capturing two East Indiamen carrying over £500,000 worth of silk, Caroline brought her prizes back to the fortified port of Saint Paul on Île Bonaparte. Despite the British attack on Saint Paul, French frigates continued to operate in the Indian Ocean and his ships seized a number of small merchantmen and in the Action of 18 November 1809 he personally defeated and captured three large East Indiamen in convoy. Before his squadron and their prizes returned to Île de France in late December, they had captured the British brig HMS Victor. During the winter few ships were at sea, as the risk of being caught in a hurricane was considered too severe to operate between December and March. Rowley correspondingly withdrew most of his forces to the Cape of Good Hope, Hamelin too kept his forces in harbour at Île de France, replenishing his ships and recruiting sailors from the large pool of unemployed men in Port Napoleon. On 14 March, before Rowley could return to his blockade and this force consisted of the large frigate Bellone, the captured Minerva now renamed Minerve and the captured brig Victor. The force was led by Guy-Victor Duperré on Bellone, with Pierre Bouvet in Minerve as his second in command, by the 1 June, Duperré had moved to the Western Indian Ocean, sailing off Madagascar in the hope of sighting British ships from Cape Town. Due to the period at sea, his ships were in a poor state of repair. At 06,00 on 3 July, Duperrés squadron was cruising off the island of Mayotta when sails were sighted 36 nautical miles to the north east. Giving chase immediately, Duprée discovered that his quarry was a convoy of three large East Indiamen, Ceylon, Windham, under Captain Stewart, and Astell, commanded by Henry Meriton in Ceylon. The convoy had departed from Cape Town on 13 June with five ships, the others continued their journey to Madras via the Mozambique Channel. These troops were on passage to India and would be able to provide musket fire, by 09,30 however the Astell was forced to reduce sail or risk snapping her topmasts. This slowed the British convoy, Windham and Ceylon slowing too to protect Astell, realising that he could not outrun Duperré, Meriton decided to turn his ships about and engage the French frigates. At 11,30, Bellone closed the gap between the squadron and convoy to just 4 nautical miles and Meriton ordered his ships to form a battle line to meet the French attack
7.
Battle of Grand Port
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The Battle of Grand Port was a naval battle between squadrons of frigates from the French Navy and the British Royal Navy. The battle was fought during 20–27 August 1810 over possession of the harbour of Grand Port on Isle de France during the Napoleonic Wars. The British squadron of four frigates sought to blockade the port to prevent its use by the French through the capture of the fortified Île de la Passe at its entrance. The British defeat was the worst the Royal Navy suffered during the entire war, in December 1810 an adequate reinforcement was collected, with the provision of a strong battle squadron under Admiral Albemarle Bertie, that rapidly invaded and subdued Isle de France. During the early century, the Indian Ocean formed an essential part of the network of trade routes that connected the British Empire. Heavily laden East Indiamen travelled from British Indian port cities such as Bombay or Calcutta to the United Kingdom carrying millions of pounds worth of goods. From Britain, the returned on the same routes, often carrying soldiers for the growing British Indian Army. The first French success came at the end of the spring, commodore Josias Rowley was given command of the British response to the French deployment, a hastily assembled force composed mainly of those ships available at the Cape of Good Hope in early 1809. In August 1809, Caroline arrived with her prizes at Saint-Paul on Île Bonaparte and he planned a successful invasion of the town, launched on 20 September 1809, which resulted in the capture of the ports defences, Caroline and the captured East Indiamen. With his objectives complete, Rowley withdrew five days later, almost a year later, Rowley returned with a larger task force and made a second landing around the capital of Île Bonaparte, Saint-Denis. Marching on the seat of government, Rowleys troops rapidly overwhelmed the defences and forced the garrison to surrender, renaming the island Île Bourbon. Minerva, renamed Minerve in French hands, was involved in the Action of 3 July 1810. With Île Bourbon secured in July 1810, the British now occupied a fortified island base within easy sailing distance of Isle de France. Even before Île Bourbon was completely in British hands, Rowley had detached HMS Sirius from the squadron with orders to restore the blockade of Isle de France. Shortly afterwards, Siriuss captain Samuel Pym led his men in a raid on a coastal vessel moored off the side of the island. Two days after this operation, reinforcements arrived in the form of the frigates HMS Iphigenia, HMS Nereide. These fortified islands could be used to block entry to the ports of Isle de France, the British planned to use the troops on Nereide, under her captain Nesbit Willoughby, to storm Île de la Passe and capture the battery. During the night however, the pilot became lost and the boats were scattered in high winds and had not reassembled by dawn
8.
Invasion of Algiers in 1830
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The Invasion of Algiers in 1830 was a large-scale military operation by which the Kingdom of France, ruled by Charles X, invaded and conquered the Ottoman Regency of Algiers. Algiers had been a province of the Ottoman Empire since the Capture of Algiers in 1529 by Hayreddin Barbarossa, a diplomatic incident in 1827, the so-called Fan Affair served as a pretext to initiate a blockade against the port of Algiers. Charles X was also in need of diverting attention from turbulent French domestic affairs that culminated with his deposition during the stages of the invasion in the July Revolution. The invasion of Algiers began on 5 July 1830 with a bombardment by a fleet under Admiral Duperré. The French quickly defeated the troops of Hussein Dey, the Ottoman ruler and this resulted in a protracted military campaign, lasting more than 45 years, to root out popular opposition to the colonisation. The so-called pacification was marked by resistance of such as Ahmed Bey, Abd El-Kader. The invasion marked the end of several centuries of Ottoman rule in Algeria, in 1848, the territories conquered around Algiers were organised into three départements, defining the territories of modern Algeria. During the Napoleonic Wars, the Regency of Algiers had greatly benefited from trade in the Mediterranean, the Bourbon Restoration limited trading, while the Mediterranean was completely controlled by the British Royal Navy, and the rebuilding French Navy. This in turn led to the First Barbary War and the Second Barbary War, the wide unpopularity of the Bourbon Restoration also made France unstable. In an attempt to distract his people from domestic affairs, King Charles X decided to engage in a colonial policy. In 1827, Hussein Dey, Algerias Ottoman ruler, demanded that the French pay a 28-year-old debt, the French consul Pierre Deval refused to give answers satisfactory to the dey, and in an outburst of anger, Hussein Dey touched the consul with his fly-whisk. Charles X used this as an excuse to initiate a blockade against the port of Algiers. The blockade lasted for three years, and was primarily to the detriment of French merchants who were unable to do business with Algiers, while Barbary pirates were still able to evade the blockade. When France in 1829 sent an ambassador to the dey with a proposal for negotiations, the French then determined that more forceful action was required. King Charles X decided to organise an expedition on the coasts of Algiers to punish the impudence of the dey. The naval part of the operation was given to Admiral Duperré and he was nevertheless given command of the fleet. The land part was under the orders of Louis Auguste Victor de Ghaisne, on 16 May, a fleet comprising 103 warships and 464 transports departed Toulon, carrying a 37, 612-man strong army. The ground was well-known, thanks to observations made during the First Empire, the vanguard of the fleet arrived off Algiers on 31 May, but it took until 14 June for the entire fleet to arrive
9.
Nobility of the First French Empire
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Napoleon I created titles of nobility to institute a stable elite in the First French Empire, after the instability resulting from the French Revolution. Like many others, both before and since, Napoleon found that the ability to confer titles was also a tool of patronage which cost the state little treasure. The Grand Dignitaries of the Empire ranked, regardless of noble title, enoblement started in 1804 with the creation of the princely title for members of Napoleons imperial family. In 1806 ducal titles were created and in 1808 those of count, baron, Napoleon founded the concept of nobility of Empire by an imperial decree on 1 March 1808. The purpose of creation was to amalgamate the old nobility. This step, which aimed at the introduction of a elite, is fully in line with the creation of the Legion of Honour. A council of the seals and the titles was created and charged with establishing armorial bearings. These creations are to be distinguished from an order such as the Order of the Bath. These titles of nobility did not have any true privileges, with two exceptions, right of bearing, the lands granted with the title were held in a majorat. This nobility is essentially a nobility of service, to a large extent made up of soldiers, some civil servants, there were 239 remaining families belonging to the First Empire nobility in 1975. Of those, perhaps about 135 were titled, only one princely title and seven ducal titles remain today. Along with a new system of titles of nobility, the First French Empire also introduced a new system of heraldry, Napoleonic heraldry was based on traditional heraldry but was characterised by a stronger sense of hierarchy. It employed a system of additional marks in the shield to indicate official functions and positions. Another notable difference from traditional heraldry was the toques, which replaced coronets, the toques were surmounted by ostrich feathers, dukes had 7, counts had 5, barons 3, knights 1. The number of lambrequins was also regulated,3,2,1, as many grantees were new men, and the arms often alluded to their life or specific actions, many new or unusual charges were also introduced. The most characteristic mark of Napoleonic heraldry was the additional marks in the shield to indicate official functions and positions and these came in the form of quarters in various colours, and would be differenced further by marks of the specific rank or function. The said marks of the rank or function as used by Barons. A decree of 3 March 1810 states, The name, arms and this provision applied only to the bearers of Napoleonic titles
10.
Peerage of France
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The Peerage of France was a hereditary distinction within the French nobility which appeared in 1180 in the Middle Ages, and only a small number of noble individuals were peers. The prestigious title and position of Peer of France was held by the greatest, French peerage thus differed from British peerage, for the vast majority of French nobles, from baron to duke, were not peers. The title of Peer of France was an honour granted only to a small number of dukes, counts. It was analogous to the rank of Grandee of Spain in this respect, the French word pairie is equivalent to the English peerage. The individual title, pair in French and peer in English, derives from the Latin par and it signifies those noblemen and prelates considered to be equal to the monarch in honour, and it considers the monarch thus to be primus inter pares, or first among equals. The main uses of the word refer to two historical traditions in the French kingdom, before and after the First French Empire of Napoleon I, the word also exists to describe an institution in the Crusader states. Some etymologists posit that the French word baron, taken from the Latin baro, such a derivation would fit the early sense of baron, as used for the whole peerage and not simply as a noble rank below the comital rank. Medieval French kings conferred the dignity of a peerage on some of their pre-eminent vassals, some historians consider Louis VII to have created the French system of peers. A peerage was attached to a territorial jurisdiction, either an episcopal see for episcopal peerages or a fief for secular ones. Peerages attached to fiefs were transmissible or inheritable with the fief, the traditional number of peers is twelve. But since the first two were absorbed into the early in the recorded history of the peerage, the Duke of Burgundy has become the premier lay peer. In their heyday, the Duke of Normandy was undoubtedly the mightiest vassal of the French crown, the constitution of the peerage first became important in 1202, for the court that would try King John of England in his capacity as vassal of the French crown. In 1216, Erard of Brienne claimed the County of Champagne through the right of his wife, again this required the peers of France, so the County of Champagne is also a peerage. Six of the peers were identified in the charter - the archbishop of Reims, the bishops of Langres, Chalons, Beauvais and Noyon. The tenth peerage that could be identified in the documents is the County of Flanders, in that year John de Nesle entered a complaint against Joan of Flanders, the countess responded that she could only be cited by a peer. Thus, though there had been differences in the dates of the identification of the peers, they were probably instituted simultaneously. Parallels may also be seen with the mythical Knights of the Round Table under King Arthur, in later periods peers also held up by poles a baldaquin or cloth of honour over the king during much of the ceremony. This paralleled the arch-offices attached to the electorates, the more prestigious and powerful first college in the Holy Roman Empire
11.
Arc de Triomphe
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The Arc de Triomphe should not be confused with a smaller arch, the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, which stands west of the Louvre. Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I and it set the tone for public monuments with triumphant patriotic messages. Inspired by the Roman Arch of Titus, the Arc de Triomphe has an height of 50 metres, width of 45 m. The smaller transverse vaults are 18.68 m high and 8.44 m wide, three weeks after the Paris victory parade in 1919, Charles Godefroy flew his Nieuport biplane under the archs primary vault, with the event captured on newsreel. Pariss Arc de Triomphe was the tallest triumphal arch until the completion of the Monumento a la Revolución in Mexico City in 1938, the Arch of Triumph in Pyongyang, completed in 1982, is modelled on the Arc de Triomphe and is slightly taller at 60 m. The Arc is located on the bank of the Seine at the centre of a dodecagonal configuration of twelve radiating avenues. It was commissioned in 1806 after the victory at Austerlitz by Emperor Napoleon at the peak of his fortunes, the architect, Jean Chalgrin, died in 1811 and the work was taken over by Jean-Nicolas Huyot. On 15 December 1840, brought back to France from Saint Helena, prior to burial in the Panthéon, the body of Victor Hugo was displayed under the Arc during the night of 22 May 1885. The sword carried by the Republic in the Marseillaise relief broke off on the day, it is said, the relief was immediately hidden by tarpaulins to conceal the accident and avoid any undesired ominous interpretations. On 7 August 1919, Charles Godefroy successfully flew his biplane under the Arc, Jean Navarre was the pilot who was tasked to make the flight, but he died on 10 July 1919 when he crashed near Villacoublay while training for the flight. Following its construction, the Arc de Triomphe became the point of French troops parading after successful military campaigns. Famous victory marches around or under the Arc have included the Germans in 1871, the French in 1919, the Germans in 1940, and the French and Allies in 1944 and 1945. A United States postage stamp of 1945 shows the Arc de Triomphe in the background as victorious American troops march down the Champs-Élysées, after the interment of the Unknown Soldier, however, all military parades have avoided marching through the actual arch. The route taken is up to the arch and then around its side, out of respect for the tomb, both Hitler in 1940 and de Gaulle in 1944 observed this custom. By the early 1960s, the monument had grown very blackened from coal soot and automobile exhaust, and during 1965–1966 it was cleaned through bleaching. In the prolongation of the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, a new arch, after the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel and the Arc de Triomphe de lÉtoile, the Grande Arche is the third arch built on the same perspective. In 1995, the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria placed a bomb near the Arc de Triomphe which wounded 17 people as part of a campaign of bombings, the astylar design is by Jean Chalgrin, in the Neoclassical version of ancient Roman architecture. Major academic sculptors of France are represented in the sculpture of the Arc de Triomphe, Jean-Pierre Cortot, François Rude, Antoine Étex, James Pradier and Philippe Joseph Henri Lemaire
12.
Legion of Honour
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The Legion of Honour, full name National Order of the Legion of Honour, is the highest French order of merit for military and civil merits, established 1802 by Napoléon Bonaparte. The order is divided into five degrees of increasing distinction, Chevalier, Officier, Commandeur, Grand Officier and Grand-Croix. The orders motto is Honneur et Patrie and its seat is the Palais de la Légion dHonneur next to the Musée dOrsay, in the French Revolution, all French orders of chivalry were abolished, and replaced with Weapons of Honour. The Légion however did use the organization of old French orders of chivalry, the badges of the legion also bear a resemblance to the Ordre de Saint-Louis, which also used a red ribbon. Napoleon originally created this to ensure political loyalty, the organization would be used as a facade to give political favours, gifts, and concessions. The Légion was loosely patterned after a Roman legion, with legionaries, officers, commanders, regional cohorts, the highest rank was not a grand cross but a Grand Aigle, a rank that wore all the insignia common to grand crosses. The members were paid, the highest of them extremely generously,5,000 francs to an officier,2,000 francs to a commandeur,1,000 francs to an officier,250 francs to a légionnaire. Napoleon famously declared, You call these baubles, well, it is with baubles that men are led, do you think that you would be able to make men fight by reasoning. That is good only for the scholar in his study, the soldier needs glory, distinctions, rewards. This has been quoted as It is with such baubles that men are led. The order was the first modern order of merit, under the monarchy, such orders were often limited to Roman Catholics, and all knights had to be noblemen. The military decorations were the perks of the officers, the Légion, however, was open to men of all ranks and professions—only merit or bravery counted. The new legionnaire had to be sworn in the Légion and it is noteworthy that all previous orders were crosses or shared a clear Christian background, whereas the Légion is a secular institution. The jewel of the Légion has five arms, in a decree issued on the 10 Pluviôse XIII, a grand decoration was instituted. This decoration, a cross on a sash and a silver star with an eagle, symbol of the Napoleonic Empire, became known as the Grand Aigle. After Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of the French in 1804 and established the Napoleonic nobility in 1808, the title was made hereditary after three generations of grantees. Napoleon had dispensed 15 golden collars of the legion among his family and this collar was abolished in 1815. The Légion dhonneur was prominent and visible in the French Empire, the Emperor always wore it and the fashion of the time allowed for decorations to be worn most of the time
13.
Paris
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Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
14.
French people
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The French are an ethnic group and nation who are identified with the country of France. This connection may be legal, historical, or cultural, modern French society can be considered a melting pot. To be French, according to the first article of the French Constitution, is to be a citizen of France, regardless of origin, race. The debate concerning the integration of this view with the underlying the European Community remains open. A large number of foreigners have traditionally been permitted to live in France, indeed, the country has long valued its openness, tolerance and the quality of services available. Application for French citizenship is often interpreted as a renunciation of previous state allegiance unless a dual citizenship agreement exists between the two countries, the European treaties have formally permitted movement and European citizens enjoy formal rights to employment in the state sector. Seeing itself as a nation with universal values, France has always valued. However, the success of such assimilation has recently called into question. There is increasing dissatisfaction with, and within, growing ethno-cultural enclaves, the 2005 French riots in some troubled and impoverished suburbs were an example of such tensions. However they should not be interpreted as ethnic conflicts but as social conflicts born out of socioeconomic problems endangering proper integration, the name France etymologically derives from the word Francia, the territory of the Franks. The Franks were a Germanic tribe that overran Roman Gaul at the end of the Roman Empire, in the pre-Roman era, all of Gaul was inhabited by a variety of peoples who were known collectively as the Gaulish tribes. Gaul was militarily conquered in 58-51 BCE by the Roman legions under the command of General Julius Caesar, the area then became part of the Roman Empire. Over the next five centuries the two cultures intermingled, creating a hybridized Gallo-Roman culture, the Gaulish vernacular language disappeared step by step to be replaced everywhere by Vulgar Latin, which would later develop under Frankish influence into the French language in the North of France. With the decline of the Roman Empire in Western Europe, a federation of Germanic peoples entered the picture, the Franks were Germanic pagans who began to settle in northern Gaul as laeti, already during the Roman era. They continued to filter across the Rhine River from present-day Netherlands, at the beginning, they served in the Roman army and reached high commands. Their language is spoken as a kind of Dutch in northern France. Another Germanic people immigrated massively to Alsace, the Alamans, which explains the Alemannic German spoken there and they were competitors of the Franks, thats why it became at the Renaissance time the word for German in French, Allemand. By the early 6th century the Franks, led by the Merovingian king Clovis I and his sons, had consolidated their hold on much of modern-day France, the Vikings eventually intermarried with the local people, converting to Christianity in the process
15.
Bourbon Restoration
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The Bourbon Restoration was the period of French history following the fall of Napoleon in 1814 until the July Revolution of 1830. The brothers of executed Louis XVI of France reigned in highly conservative fashion, and they were nonetheless unable to reverse most of the changes made by the French Revolution and Napoleon. At the Congress of Vienna they were treated respectfully, but had to give up all the gains made since 1789. King Louis XVI of the House of Bourbon had been overthrown and executed during the French Revolution, a coalition of European powers defeated Napoleon in the War of the Sixth Coalition, ended the First Empire in 1814, and restored the monarchy to the brothers of Louis XVI. The Bourbon Restoration lasted from 6 April 1814 until the uprisings of the July Revolution of 1830. There was an interlude in spring 1815—the Hundred Days—when the return of Napoleon forced the Bourbons to flee France, when Napoleon was again defeated by the Seventh Coalition they returned to power in July. During the Restoration, the new Bourbon regime was a monarchy, unlike the absolutist Ancien Régime. The period was characterized by a conservative reaction, and consequent minor but consistent occurrences of civil unrest. It also saw the reestablishment of the Catholic Church as a power in French politics. The eras of the French Revolution and Napoleon brought a series of changes to France which the Bourbon Restoration did not reverse. First of all, France became highly centralized, with all decisions made in Paris, the political geography was completely reorganized and made uniform. France was divided more than 80 departments, which have endured into the 21st century. Each department had an administrative structure, and was tightly controlled by a prefect appointed by Paris. The Catholic Church lost all its lands and buildings during the Revolution, the bishop still ruled his diocese, and communicated with the pope through the government in Paris. Bishops, priests, nuns and other people were paid salaries by the state. All the old rites and ceremonies were retained, and the government maintained the religious buildings. The Church was allowed to operate its own seminaries and to some extent local schools as well, bishops were much less powerful than before, and had no political voice. However, the Catholic Church reinvented itself and put a new emphasis on personal religiosity that gave it a hold on the psychology of the faithful, education was centralized, with the Grand Master of the University of France controlling every element of the entire educational system from Paris
16.
Oratory of Saint Philip Neri
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They are commonly referred to as Oratorians. This Congregation of the Oratory should not be confused with the French Oratory, a distinct congregation, founded in Rome in 1575 by St. Philip Neri, today it has spread around the world, with over 70 Oratories and some 500 priests. The post-nominal initials commonly used to identify members of the society are C. O, normally an oratory must have a minimum of four members, two being ordained, in order to be founded. The Congregation of the Oratory was founded by St. Philip Neri in the city of Rome, the first Oratory received papal recognition in 1575. The new community was to be a congregation of priests living under obedience. Like Jesus, he was able to enter into the human misery present in the noble palaces. The core of St. Philips spirituality focused on a return to the lifestyle of the first Disciples of Christ. The object of the institute is threefold, prayer, preaching, up to 1800 the Oratory continued to spread through Italy, Sicily, Spain, Portugal, Poland, and other European countries, in South America, Brazil, India, and Ceylon. Under Napoleon I the Oratory was in various places despoiled and suppressed, a few houses were founded in Munich and Vienna. There are eighty six Congregations of the Oratory throughout the world, each Community is autonomous, but there is a Confederation which facilitates contact with the Holy See. As such, the Congregation of the Oratory functions more like a federation than like a religious institute. The second is the Particular Statutes, which outline how an individual Oratory is to be conducted, the third document is the Constitutions, which establish general norms, and outline the relationship between the Congregation and the Holy See. As the Oratory is a confederation, there is no central authority such as is found within the Dominicans, Franciscans, the definitive foundation of an Oratorian Congregation is actually done by the Roman Pontiff directly, which makes a Congregation what is called a “Pontifical Right” foundation. This person, known as Procurator General, resides in Rome at the Procura General, an Oratorian resides in an Oratory community of his choosing and is permanently stable, i. e. he is not subject to transfer to other Oratories or communities. Oratorians have what is called stability, which means they are committed as members of the community of a particular Oratory, though a member may move if there is a serious enough reason. Oratorians normally have a set each day for praying together in silent meditation. Some oratories are specifically connected with parishes and thus its members serve as clergy of the parish, as Oratorians are secular clergy, they wear roughly the same dress as parish priests. However, the cassock is fastened with a set of buttons curved from the top to the righthand side
17.
Corvette
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A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper warship, the warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloop-of-war. The modern types of ship below a corvette are coastal patrol craft, in modern terms, a corvette is typically between 500 tons and 2,000 tons although recent designs may approach 3,000 tons, which might instead be considered a small frigate. The word corvette is first found in Middle French, a diminutive of the Dutch word corf, meaning a small ship, from the Latin corbis, the rank corvette captain, equivalent in many navies to lieutenant commander, derives from the name of this type of ship. During the Age of Sail, corvettes were one of many types of smaller than a frigate. They were very closely related to sloops-of-war, the role of the corvette consisted mostly of coastal patrol, fighting minor wars, supporting large fleets, or participating in show-the-flag missions. The English Navy began using small ships in the 1650s, the first reference to a corvette was with the French Navy in the 1670s, which may be where the term originated. The French Navys corvettes grew over the decades and by the 1780s they were ships of 20 guns or so, the British Navy did not adopt the term until the 1830s, long after the Napoleonic Wars, to describe a small sixth-rate vessel somewhat larger than a sloop. Most corvettes and sloops of the 17th century were around 40 to 60 ft in length and they carried four to eight smaller guns on a single deck. Over time, vessels of increasing size and capability were called corvettes, by 1800, they reached lengths of over 100 ft, ships during the steam era became much faster and more manoeuvrable than their sail ancestors. Corvettes during this era were used alongside gunboats during colonial missions. Battleships and other vessels were unnecessary when fighting the indigenous people of the Far East. The modern corvette appeared during World War II as an easily built patrol, first Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill, later Prime Minister, had a hand in reviving the name corvette. During the arms buildup leading to World War II, the corvette was almost attached to the Tribal-class destroyer. The Tribals were so much larger than and sufficiently different from other British destroyers that some consideration was given to resurrecting the classification of corvette and this idea was dropped, and the term applied to small, mass-produced antisubmarine escorts such as the Flower class of World War II. The first modern corvettes were the Flower class and their chief duty was to protect convoys throughout the Battle of the Atlantic and on the routes from the UK to Murmansk carrying supplies to the Soviet Union. They were very seaworthy and maneuverable, but living conditions for ocean voyages were appalling, because of this, the corvette was superseded in the Royal Navy as the escort ship of choice by the frigate, which was larger, faster, better armed, and had two shafts. The Royal Australian Navy built 60 Bathurst-class corvettes, including 20 for the Royal Navy crewed by Australians and these were officially described as Australian mine sweepers, or as minesweeping sloops by the Royal Navy, and were named after Australian towns
18.
French frigate Virginie (1794)
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Virginie was a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. She took part in the First Battle of Groix and in the Battle of Groix, Virginie retreated and the British squadron gave chase, joining with the French frigate around 23,00. Indefatigable closed in and exchanged broadsides, without succeeding in her attempts at raking Virginie, the gunnery exchange lasted for 4 hours, until the British frigates caught up. Bergeret then struck his colours in the face of an overwhelming opponent and she was subsequently recommissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Virginie. In January 1799, Virginie was with British squadron at the defence of Macau during the Macau Incident, on 20 May 1808, she captured the Dutch frigate Guelderland. Notes Citations References Grocott, Terence Shipwrecks of the revolutionary & Napoleonic eras, dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours 11671 -1870. Naval Database Lines of Virginie at the National Maritime Museum
19.
Boulogne-sur-Mer
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Boulogne-sur-Mer, often called Boulogne, is a city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais, Boulogne lies on the Côte dOpale, a tourist coast on the English Channel, and is the most-visited location in its region after the Lille conurbation. Boulogne is its departments second-largest city after Calais, and the 60th largest in France and it is also the countrys largest fishing port, specialising in herring. Boulogne was the major Roman port for trade and communication with Britain, the citys 12th-century belfry is recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, while another popular attraction is the marine conservation centre Nausicaa. The French name Boulogne derives from the Latin Bononia, which was also the Roman name for Bologna in Italy, both places—and Vindobona —are thought to have derived from native Celtic placenames, with bona possibly meaning foundation, citadel, or granary. The French epithet sur-Mer distinguishes the city from Boulogne-Billancourt on the edge of Paris, in turn, the Boulogne in Boulogne-Billancourt originates from a church there dedicated to Notre-Dame de Boulogne, Our Lady of Boulogne. Boulogne-sur-Mer is in Northern France, at the edge of the Channel, Boulogne is a relatively important city of the North, exercising an influence on the Boulonnais territory. The coast consists of important tourist natural sites, like the capes Gris Nez and Blanc Nez, the hinterland is mainly rural and agricultural. Boulogne is close to the A16 motorway, metropolitan bus services are operated by Marinéo. The company Flixbus propose a bus line connecting Paris to Boulogne, there are coach services to Calais and Dunkerque. The city has railway stations, which the most important is Boulogne-Ville station, boulogne-Tintelleries station is used for regional transit. It is located near the university and the city centre, the former Boulogne-Maritime and Boulogne-Aéroglisseurs stations served as a boat connection for the railway. Boulogne currently has no cross channel ferry services since the closure of the route to Dover by LD Lines in 2010. The city is divided into parts, City centre, groups historic and administrative buildings. Fortified town, old-town where are a lot of monuments and also the city hall. It is surrounded by 13th-century ramparts very appreciated today by walkers, gambetta-Sainte-Beuve, tourist area situated in the northwest of the city, on the edge of the beach and the recreational harbour. Capécure, economic and industrial area, situated in the west of the city, saint-Pierre, former neighborhood of the fishermen, destroyed during the World War II and reconstructed after. Chemin Vert, zone borned in the 1950s, knowing today poverty and it is the neighborhood of Franck Ribéry
20.
Martinique
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Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. One of the Windward Islands, it is north of Saint Lucia, southeast of Puerto Rico, northwest of Barbados. As with the overseas departments, Martinique is one of the eighteen regions of France. As part of France, Martinique is part of the European Union, the official language is French, and virtually the entire population also speak Antillean Creole. Martinique owes its name to Christopher Columbus, who sighted the island in 1493, the island was then called Jouanacaëra-Matinino, which came from a mythical island described by the Tainos of Hispaniola. According to historian Sydney Daney, the island was called Jouanacaëra by the Caribs, when Columbus returned to the island in 1502, he rechristened the island as Martinica. The name then evolved into Madinina, Madiana, and Matinite, finally, through the influence of the neighboring island of Dominica, it came to be known as Martinique. The island was occupied first by Arawaks, then by Caribs, the Carib people had migrated from the mainland to the islands about 1201 CE, according to carbon dating of artifacts. They were largely displaced, exterminated and assimilated by the Taino, Martinique was charted by Columbus in 1493, but Spain had little interest in the territory. On 15 September 1635, Pierre Belain dEsnambuc, French governor of the island of St. Kitts, dEsnambuc claimed Martinique for the French King Louis XIII and the French Compagnie des Îles de lAmérique, and established the first European settlement at Fort Saint-Pierre. DEsnambuc died in 1636, leaving the company and Martinique in the hands of his nephew, in 1637, his nephew Jacques Dyel du Parquet became governor of the island. In 1636, the indigenous Caribs rose against the settlers to drive them off the island in the first of many skirmishes. The French successfully repelled the natives and forced them to retreat to the part of the island. When the Carib revolted against French rule in 1658, the Governor Charles Houël du Petit Pré retaliated with war against them, many were killed, those who survived were taken captive and expelled from the island. Some Carib had fled to Dominica or St. Vincent, where the French agreed to them at peace. They were quite industrious and became quite prosperous, from September 1686 to early 1688, the French crown used Martinique as a threat and a dumping ground for mainland Huguenots who refused to reconvert to Catholicism. Over 1,000 Huguenots were transported to Martinique during this period, usually under miserable and those that survived the trip were distributed to the island planters as Engagés under the system of serf peonage that prevailed in the French Antilles at the time. Many of them were encouraged by their Catholic brethren who looked forward to the departure of the heretics, by 1688, nearly all of Martiniques French Protestant population had escaped to the British American colonies or Protestant countries back home
21.
Lorient
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Lorient is a commune and a seaport in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France. Beginning around 3000 BC, settlements in area of Lorient are attested by the presence of megalithic architecture, ruins of Roman roads confirm Gallo-Roman presence. In 1664, Jean-Baptiste Colbert founded the French East Indies Company, in June 1666, an ordinance of Louis XIV granted lands of Port-Louis to the company, along with Faouédic on the other side of the roadstead. One of its directors, Denis Langlois, bought lands at the confluence of the Scorff and the Blavet rivers, at first, it only served as a subsidiary of Port-Louis, where offices and warehouses were located. The company then erected a chapel, workshops, forges, and offices, the French Royal Navy opened a base there in 1690, under the command of Colbert de Seignelay, who inherited his fathers position as Secretary of State of the Navy. At the same time, privateers from Saint-Malo took shelter there, in 1700, the town grew out of lEnclot following a law forcing people to leave the domain to move to the Faouédic heath. Despite the economic bubble caused by the Company in 1720, the city was growing as it took part in the Atlantic triangular slave trade. From 1720 to 1790,156 ships deported an estimated 43,000 slaves, sales began in 1734, peaking up to 25 million livres tournois. In 1769, the Companys monopoly ended with the scrapping of the company itself, up until Companys closure, the city took advantage of its prosperity. In 1735, new streets were laid down and in 1738, in 1744, the city walls were erected, and proved quickly useful as Lorient was raided in September 1746. Following the demise of the Company, the city lost one-seventh of its population, in 1769, the city evolved into a full-scale naval base for the Royal Navy when the King bought out the Companys infrastructures for 17,500,000 livres tournois. From 1775 on, the American revolutionary war brought a surge in activity, the French Revolution and the subsequent Napoleonic wars put an end to trade for nearly two decades. Maritime activities slowed at the start of the 19th century, the shipyards, during this period, the city was more of an administrative center. The first secondary school opened in 1822, a lazaretto in 1823, the city began to modernize in the second quarter of the century, in 1825, a roofed slipway and a drydock were added to the shipyards. A sardine cannery opened the same year, the first gasworks was built in 1845. In the second half of the 19th century, the engine allowed the ports to strengthen their output. The first locomotive reached the city in 1865, in 1861, the original drydock was enlarged as a second one was dug out. The same year, the ironclad Couronne was built on a design inspired by the Gloire class, though unlike her wooden-hull predecessors
22.
Capitaine de vaisseau
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The rank insignia of the French Navy are worn on shoulder straps of shirts and white jackets, and on sleeves for navy jackets and mantels. Until 2005, only commissioned officers had an anchor on their insignia, the two highest ranks, vice-amiral descadre and amiral, are functions, rather than ranks. They are assumed by officers ranking vice-amiral, the only amiral de la flotte was François Darlan after he was refused the dignity of Admiral of France. The title of de la flotte was created so that Darlan would not have an inferior rank to that of his counterpart in the British Royal Navy. Personnel with a particular attribution may wear distinctive features on their rank insignia, for instance, medical officers bear two red stripes on their insignia. Similarly, the Ingénieur des études et techniques de travaux maritimes wear pearl-grey stripes, peintres de la Marine, who are not employed by the Navy but have a special status, wear a uniform and officier straps with rank insignia replaced with the words Peintre officiel
23.
Isle de France (Mauritius)
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Under the French, the island witnessed major changes. The raids continued until 1810 when the British sent an expedition to capture the island. The first British attempt, in August 1810, to attack Grand Port resulted in a French victory, a subsequent and much larger attack launched in December of the same year from Rodrigues, which had been captured a year earlier, was successful. The British landed in numbers in the north of the island and rapidly overpowered the French. In the Treaty of Paris, the French ceded Île de France together with its territories including the Chagos Archipelago, Rodrigues, Seychelles, Agaléga, Tromelin, the island then reverted to its former name, Mauritius. After the Dutch had abandoned Mauritius, the became a French colony in September 1715 when Guillaume Dufresne dArsel landed and took possession of it. The French government turned over the administration of Mauritius to the French East India Company, furthermore, until 1735, Île de France was administered from Île Bourbon, now known as Réunion. By 1726, the company had made grants to colonists. The grants covenants specified that recipients of the grants who could not cultivate their land for a period of 3 years would lose them, each colonist was given 20 slaves and in return had to pay yearly one tenth of their production to the French East India Company. The attempt to develop agriculture resulted in a demand for labour. According to Lougnon,156 ships called at Mauritius between 1721 and 1735, prior to the arrival of Bertrand-François Mahé de La Bourdonnais, most of them being Company ships, slave traders brought a total of 650 slaves to Mauritius from Madagascar, Mozambique, India and West Africa. International trade, in particular trade, grew in the 18th century and by the 1780s. The total value of French long-distance trade with Africa, Asia, America and re-exports to the rest of Europe was £25 million and this state of affairs explained the growing importance of Port Louis as a centre of entrepôt trade. Among the French colonists, the lure of money and the importance of commercial activities contributed to their lack of interest in agriculture. Slave trade, both legal and illegal, was an important aspect of the French international trade in the Indian Ocean, a class of traders and merchants developed and thrived. The governor, suspicious of the English ship who called in there to effect repairs in 1803, Flinders was returning to England from Australia with the logbooks and records of his scientific explorations. When La Bourdonnais arrived in Île de France in 1735, there were 638 slaves in a population of 838 inhabitants. Thereafter, some 1,200 to 1,300 slaves arrived annually, within five years the number of slaves had quadrupled to 2,612, Mahé de La Bourdonnais established Port Louis as a naval base and a shipbuilding centre
24.
Mauritius
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Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about 2,000 kilometres off the southeast coast of the African continent. The country includes the islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues, and the outer islands, the islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues form part of the Mascarene Islands, along with nearby Réunion, a French overseas department. The area of the country is 2,040 km², the capital and largest city is Port Louis. Mauritius was a British colonial possession from 1810 to 1968, the year of its independence, the government uses English as the main language. The sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago is disputed between Mauritius and the United Kingdom, the UK excised the archipelago from Mauritian territory in 1965, three years prior to Mauritian independence. The UK gradually depopulated the archipelagos indigenous population and leased its biggest island, Diego Garcia, access to the archipelago is prohibited to casual tourists, the media, and its former inhabitants. Mauritius also claims sovereignty over Tromelin Island from France, the people of Mauritius are multiethnic, multi-religious, multicultural and multilingual. The islands government is modelled on the Westminster parliamentary system. Along with the other Mascarene Islands, Mauritius is known for its flora and fauna. The island is known as the only known home of the dodo. Mauritius is the country in Africa where Hinduism is the largest religion. The first historical evidence of the existence of an island now known as Mauritius is on a map produced by the Italian cartographer Alberto Cantino in 1502. From this, it appears that Mauritius was first named Dina Arobi around 975 by Arab sailors, in 1507 Portuguese sailors visited the uninhabited island. The island appears with a Portuguese name Cirne on early Portuguese maps, another Portuguese sailor, Dom Pedro Mascarenhas, gave the name Mascarenes to the Archipelago. In 1598 a Dutch squadron under Admiral Wybrand van Warwyck landed at Grand Port and named the island Mauritius, in honour of Prince Maurice van Nassau, later the island became a French colony and was renamed Isle de France. On 3 December 1810 the French surrendered the island to Great Britain during the Napoleonic Wars, under British rule, the islands name reverted to Mauritius /məˈrɪʃəs/. Mauritius is also known as Maurice and Île Maurice in French. The island of Mauritius was uninhabited before its first recorded visit during the Middle Ages by Arab sailors, in 1507 Portuguese sailors came to the uninhabited island and established a visiting base
25.
French frigate Bellone (1807)
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Bellone was a 44-gun Consolante-class frigate of the French Navy. Bellone, under the command of Guy-Victor Duperré, departed Saint-Malo on 18 January 1809 and she sailed from La Réunion for a combat patrol in August. On 2 November she captured HMS Victor, twenty days later, she captured the 48-gun Portuguese Minerva after a 2-hour battle. Bellone sailed back to La Réunion with her prize, arriving on 2 January 1810, in April 1810, the squadron comprising Bellone, Minerve and Victor departed for another patrol, during which they fought the Action of 3 July 1810 and the Battle of Grand Port. Bellone was surrendered to the British when Île de France fell, Bellone was recommissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Junon. In June 1812, Junon escorted a convoy from Portsmouth to India, on 8 February 1813, nine boats and 200 men of the squadron of which Junon was part captured the letter of marque schooner Lottery. Lottery was of 210 tons burthen, copper-bottomed and fastened, and carried six 12-pounder carronades, the Americans suffered 19 men wounded, including their captain, John Southcomb, before they struck. Southcomb died of his wounds and his body was taken ashore, Lottery had been carrying a cargo of coffee, sugar and lumber from Baltimore to Bordeaux. A week later Lottery convoyed several prizes to Bermuda, the Royal Navy took Lottery into service as HMS Canso. In June, Bellones boats raided the James River, and she sustained attack by US gunboats, inventaire de la sous-série Marine BB4. Tome deuxième, BB41 à482 Maclay, Edgar Stanton, dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours,1671 -1870
26.
Counter admiral
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Counter admiral is a rank found in many navies of the world, but no longer used in English-speaking countries, where the equivalent rank is rear admiral. The term derives from the French contre-amiral, in modern navies that use it, rear admiral is generally, although not always, the lowest flag officer rank. In the navies of Portugal and Brazil, the rank of contra-almirante is the lowest of the permanent flag officer ranks. In the Portuguese Navy there is an officer rank below that of contra-almirante, the rank of comodoro. Until the end of the 19th century, the present rank of contra-almirante was named chefe de esquadra, contre-Amiral is the OF-6 rank of the Marine nationale. Konteradmiral is an OF-7 two-star rank equivalent to the Generalmajor in the German Army, see also, Kontr-Admiral was the lowest flag officer rank of the Soviet Navy and is the lowest flag rank of the Russian Navy, similar to an OF-6 officer
27.
Algiers
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Algiers is the capital and largest city of Algeria. In 2011, the population was estimated to be around 3,500,000. An estimate puts the population of the metropolitan city to be around 5,000,000. Algiers is located on the Mediterranean Sea and in the portion of Algeria. The casbah and the two form a triangle. A Phoenician commercial outpost called Ikosim which later developed into a small Roman town called Icosium existed on what is now the quarter of the city. The rue de la Marine follows the lines of what used to be a Roman street, Roman cemeteries existed near Bab-el-Oued and Bab Azoun. The city was given Latin rights by Emperor Vespasian, the bishops of Icosium are mentioned as late as the 5th century. The present-day city was founded in 944 by Bologhine ibn Ziri and he had earlier built his own house and a Sanhaja center at Ashir, just south of Algiers. Although his Zirid dynasty was overthrown by Roger II of Sicily in 1148, the city was wrested from the Hammadids by the Almohads in 1159, and in the 13th century came under the dominion of the Ziyanid sultans of Tlemcen. Nominally part of the sultanate of Tlemcen, Algiers had a measure of independence under amirs of its own due to Oran being the chief seaport of the Ziyanids. As early as 1302 the islet of Peñón in front of Algiers harbour had been occupied by Spaniards, thereafter, a considerable amount of trade began to flow between Algiers and Spain. However, Algiers continued to be of little importance until after the expulsion of the Moors from Spain. In 1510, following their occupation of Oran and other towns on the coast of Africa, in 1516, the amir of Algiers, Selim b. Teumi, invited the corsair brothers Aruj and Hayreddin Barbarossa to expel the Spaniards, Aruj came to Algiers, ordered the assassination of Selim, and seized the town and ousted the Spanish in the Capture of Algiers. Hayreddin, succeeding Aruj after the latter was killed in battle against the Spaniards in the Fall of Tlemcen, was the founder of the pashaluk, Algiers from this time became the chief seat of the Barbary pirates. Formally part of the Ottoman Empire but essentially free from Ottoman control, starting in the 16th century Algiers turned to piracy, repeated attempts were made by various nations to subdue the pirates that disturbed shipping in the western Mediterranean and engaged in slave raids as far north as Iceland. The United States fought two wars over Algiers attacks on shipping, among the notable people held for ransom was the future Spanish novelist Miguel de Cervantes, who was captive in Algiers almost five years, and who wrote two plays set in Algiers of the period
28.
Toulon
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Toulon is a city in southern France and a large military harbour on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-dAzur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department, the Commune of Toulon has a population of 165,514 people, making it the fifteenth-largest city in France. It is the centre of an area with 559,421 inhabitants. Toulon is the fourth-largest French city on the Mediterranean coast after Marseille, Nice, Toulon is an important centre for naval construction, fishing, wine making, and the manufacture of aeronautical equipment, armaments, maps, paper, tobacco, printing, shoes, and electronic equipment. The military port of Toulon is the naval centre on Frances Mediterranean coast, home of the French Navy aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle. The French Mediterranean Fleet is based in Toulon, archaeological excavations, such as those at the Cosquer Cave near Marseilles, show that the coast of Provence was inhabited since at least the Paleolithic era. The Ligurians settled in the beginning in the 4th century BC. In the 2nd century BC, the residents of Massalia called upon the Romans to help pacify the region. The Romans defeated the Ligurians and began to start their own colonies along the coast, Toulon harbour became a shelter for trading ships, and the name of the town gradually changed from Telo to Tholon, Tolon, and Toulon. Toulon was Christianized in the 5th century, and the first cathedral built, honoratus and Gratianus of Toulon, according to the Gallia Christiana, were the first bishops of Toulon, but Louis Duchesne gives Augustalis as the first historical bishop. He assisted at councils in 441 and 442 and signed in 449 and 450 the letters addressed to Pope Leo I from the province of Arles, a Saint Cyprian, disciple and biographer of St. Cæsarius of Arles, is also mentioned as a Bishop of Toulon. His episcopate, begun in 524, had not come to an end in 541, in 1095, a new cathedral was built in the city by Count Gilbert of Provence. As barbarians invaded the region and Roman power crumbled, the town was attacked by pirates. In 1486 Provence became part of France and his Italian campaign failed, and 1497, the rulers of Genoa, who controlled commerce on that part of the Mediterranean, blockaded the new port. However, a few months later the commander of the new fort sold it to the commander of an Army of the Holy Roman Empire, in 1543, Francis I found a surprising new ally in his battle against the Holy Roman Empire. He invited the fleet of Ottoman Admiral Barbarossa to Toulon as part of the Franco-Ottoman alliance, the residents were forced to leave, and the Ottoman sailors occupied the town for the winter. This fleet carried aboard an army of 8,000 infantry and 800 cavalry and its baggage under Thomas of Savoy, king Louis XIV was determined to make France a major sea power. In 1660, his Minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert ordered Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban to build a new arsenal and to fortify the town
29.
Hundred Days
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The Hundred Days marked the period between Napoleons return from exile on the island of Elba to Paris on 20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII on 8 July 1815. This period saw the War of the Seventh Coalition, and includes the Waterloo Campaign, the phrase les Cent Jours was first used by the prefect of Paris, Gaspard, comte de Chabrol, in his speech welcoming the king back to Paris on 8 July. Napoleon returned while the Congress of Vienna was sitting, the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars pitted France against various coalitions of other European nations nearly continuously from 1792 onward. The overthrow and subsequent public execution of Louis XVI in France had greatly disturbed other European leaders, rather than leading to Frances defeat, the wars allowed the revolutionary regime to expand beyond its borders and create client republics. The success of the French forces made an out of their best commander. In 1799, Napoleon staged a successful coup détat and became First Consul of the new French Consulate, five years later, he crowned himself Emperor Napoleon I. The rise of Napoleon troubled the other European powers as much as the revolutionary regime had. Despite the formation of new coalitions against him, Napoleons forces continued to conquer much of Europe, the tide of war began to turn after a disastrous French invasion of Russia in 1812 that resulted in the loss of much of Napoleons army. The following year, during the War of the Sixth Coalition, Coalition forces defeated the French in the Battle of Leipzig, following its victory at Leipzig, the Coalition vowed to press on to Paris and depose Napoleon. In the last week of February 1814, Prussian Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher advanced on Paris, the Battle of Reims went to Napoleon, but this victory was followed by successive defeats from increasingly overwhelming odds. Coalition forces entered Paris after the Battle of Montmartre on 30 March 1814, on 6 April 1814, Napoleon abdicated his throne, leading to the accession of Louis XVIII and the first Bourbon Restoration a month later. The defeated Napoleon was exiled to the island of Elba off the coast of Tuscany, Napoleon spent only nine months and 21 days in uneasy retirement on Elba, watching events in France with great interest as the Congress of Vienna gradually gathered. He had been escorted to Elba by Sir Neil Campbell, who remained in there while performing other duties in Italy. Equally threatening was the situation in Europe which had been stressed and exhausted during the previous decades of near constant warfare. The conflicting demands of major powers were for a time so exorbitant as to bring the Powers at the Congress of Vienna to the verge of war with each other. Thus every scrap of news reaching remote Elba looked favourable to Napoleon to retake power as he reasoned the news of his return would cause a popular rising as he approached. So threatening were the symptoms that the royalists at Paris and the plenipotentiaries at Vienna talked of deporting him to the Azores or to Saint Helena, at the Congress of Vienna the various participating nations had very different and conflicting goals. Tsar Alexander of Russia had expected to absorb much of Poland and to leave a Polish puppet state, the renewed Prussian state demanded all of the Kingdom of Saxony
30.
Ferdinand VII of Spain
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Ferdinand VII was twice King of Spain, in 1808 and again from 1813 to his death. He was known to his supporters as the Desired and to his detractors as the Felon King and he reestablished the absolutist monarchy and rejected the liberal constitution of 1812. He suppressed the liberal press 1814-33 and jailed many of its editors and writers, under his rule, Spain lost nearly all of its American possessions, and the country entered into civil war on his death. His reputation among historians is very low, historian Stanley Payne says, He proved in many ways the basest king in Spanish history. Cowardly, selfish, grasping, suspicious, and vengeful, seemed almost incapable of any perception of the commonwealth and he thought only in terms of his power and security and was unmoved by the enormous sacrifices of Spanish people to retain their independence and preserve his throne. Ferdinand was ostensibly the eldest surviving child of Charles IV of Spain, Ferdinand was born in the palace of El Escorial near Madrid. The Queens confessor Fray Juan Almaraz wrote in his last will that she admitted in articulo mortis that none, none of her sons and daughters, none was of the legitimate marriage. In his youth Ferdinand occupied the position of an heir apparent who was excluded from all share in government by his parents and their advisor and Prime Minister. National discontent with the government produced a rebellion in 1805, in October 1807, Ferdinand was arrested for his complicity in the El Escorial Conspiracy in which the rebels aimed at securing foreign support from the French Emperor Napoleon. When the conspiracy was discovered, Ferdinand submitted to his parents, following a popular riot at Aranjuez Charles IV abdicated in March 1808. Ferdinand ascended the throne and turned to Napoleon for support and he abdicated on 6 May 1808. Napoleon kept Ferdinand under guard in France for six years at the Chateau of Valençay, while the upper echelons of the Spanish government accepted his abdication and Napoleons choice of his brother Joseph Bonaparte as king of Spain, the Spanish people did not. Uprisings broke out throughout the country, marking the beginning of the Peninsular War, provincial juntas were established to control regions in opposition to the new French king. After the Battle of Bailén proved that the Spanish could resist the French, on 24 August, Ferdinand VII was proclaimed king of Spain again, and negotiations between the Council and the provincial juntas for the establishment of a Supreme Central Junta were completed. Subsequently, on 14 January 1809, the British government acknowledged Ferdinand VII as king of Spain, the Spanish people, blaming the policies of the Francophiles for causing the Napoleonic occupation and the Peninsular War by allying Spain too closely to France, at first welcomed Fernando. Ferdinand soon found that in the years a new world had been born of foreign invasion. In his name Spain fought for its independence and in his name as well juntas had governed Spanish America, Spain was no longer the absolute monarchy he had relinquished six years earlier. Instead he was now asked to rule under the liberal Constitution of 1812, before being allowed to enter Spanish soil, Ferdinand had to guarantee the liberals that he would govern on the basis of the Constitution, but, only gave lukewarm indications he would do so
31.
Vice admiral
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Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to an admiral and junior to an admiral. The rank insignia for a vice admiral often involves three stars, but this is not always the case, in the navy of Iraq, vice admiral insignia involves one star. Vice admiral is the equivalent of air marshal in the Royal Australian Air Force, in the Royal Canadian Navy, the rank of vice-admiral is equivalent to lieutenant-general of the Canadian Army and Royal Canadian Air Force. A vice-admiral is an officer, the naval equivalent of a general officer. A vice-admiral is senior to a rear-admiral and major general, two rows of gold oak leaves are located on the black visor of the white service cap. Vice-admirals are addressed by rank and name, thereafter by subordinates as Sir or Maam, vice-admirals are normally entitled to a staff car, the car will normally bear a flag, dark blue with three gold maple leaves arranged one over two. A vice-admiral generally holds only the most senior command or administrative appointments, barring only Chief of Defence Staff, charles, Prince of Wales holds the honorary rank of vice admiral in the Royal Canadian Navy. The vice-amiral rank used to be an OF-8 rank in NATO charts, the rank of vice-amiral descadre equals a NATO OF-8 rank. In the ancien régime Navy, between 1669 and 1791, the office of Vice-Admiral of France was the highest rank, the supreme office of Admiral of France being purely ceremonial. Distinct offices were, 1669-1791 Vice-admiral of the West, 1778-1791 Vice-admiral of the Asian and American Seas. 1784-1788 Vice-admiral of the Indian Seas, vizeadmiral is an OF-8 three-star rank equivalent to the German Heer and Luftwaffe rank of Generalleutnant. In India, vice admiral is a three star admiral, in Italy, the equivalent to vice admiral is the ammiraglio di squadra or squadron admiral. In the Philippines, the vice admiral is the highest-ranking official of the Philippine Navy. He is recognized as the flag officer in-charge of the Navy, the rank vice-admiral in the Philippines, has the same ranking in the U. S Navy. In Vietnam, the equivalent to vice admiral is the phó đô đốc
32.
Order of Saint Louis
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The Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis is a dynastic order of chivalry founded 5 April 1693 by King Louis XIV, named after Saint Louis. It was intended as a reward for exceptional officers, notable as the first decoration that could be granted to non-nobles, by the authorities of the French Republic, it is considered a predecessor of the Legion of Honour, with which it shares the red ribbon. As such, it is recognised by the International Commission on Orders of Chivalry. The King was the Grand Master of the order, and the Dauphin was automatically a member as well, the Order had three classes, Grand-Croix Commandeur Chevalier The entire order included 8 Grand Crosses,28 Commanders and a variable number of Knights. Officers of the Order included, after the Grand Master, a Trésorier, a Greffier, the badge of the order consisted of a portrait of Saint Louis surrounded by the motto « LUD M IN1693 ». The reverse features a sword interlaced with a crown and a white sash. The general assembly of the Order was held annually on 25 August, conditions to obtain the award did not include nobility, however, Catholic faith was mandatory, as well as at least ten years service as a commissioned officer in the Army or the Navy. Members of the Order received a pension, hereditary nobility was granted to a knights son and grandsons. Another decoration, the Institution of Military Merit was created for the Protestant officers in service of the French king. Until the death of Louis XIV, the medal was awarded to outstanding officers only, on 1 January 1791, during the French Revolution, a decree changed the name to décoration militaire. It was subsequently withdrawn on 15 October 1792, one of the first acts of Louis XVIII was to reinstate the Order of Saint Louis, awarding it to officers of the Royal and Imperial armies alike. In 1830 the new king Louis-Philippe abolished the order, which was never reinstated, Louis, by the grace of God King of France and Navarre, to all present and yet to come, hail. We have decided that only officers still serving in our troops shall be introduced and that virtue, merit and distinguished service in our armies shall be the only criteria to enter
33.
Brest, France
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Brest is a city in the Finistère département in Brittany in northwestern France. The city is located on the edge of continental Europe. Although Brest is by far the largest city in Finistère, the préfecture of the department is the much smaller Quimper, during the Middle Ages, the history of Brest was the history of its castle. Then Richelieu made it a military harbour, Brest grew around its arsenal, until the second part of the 20th century. Heavily damaged by the Allies bombing raids during World War II, at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, the deindustrialization of the city was followed by the development of the service sector. Nowadays, Brest is an important university town with 23,000 students, Brest is also an important research centre, mainly focused on the sea, with among others the largest Ifremer centre, le Cedre and the French Polar Institute. Brest’s history has always been linked to the sea, the Académie de Marine was founded in 1752 in this city, the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle was built there. Every four years, Brest hosts the festival of the sea, boats and sailors. Nothing definite is known of Brest before about 1240, when a count of Léon ceded it to John I, in 1342, John IV, Duke of Brittany, surrendered Brest to the English, in whose possession it was to remain until 1397. The importance of Brest in medieval times was great enough to rise to the saying. With the marriage of Francis I of France to Claude, the daughter of Anne of Brittany, the advantages of Brests situation as a seaport town were first recognized by Cardinal Richelieu, who in 1631 constructed a harbor with wooden wharves. This soon became a base for the French Navy, jean-Baptiste Colbert, finance minister under Louis XIV, rebuilt the wharves in masonry and otherwise improved the harbour. Fortifications by Vauban followed in 1680–1688 and these fortifications, and with them the naval importance of the town, were to continue to develop throughout the 18th century. In 1694, an English squadron under Lord Berkeley, was defeated in its attack on Brest. In 1917, during the First World War, Brest was used as the port for many of the troops coming from the United States. Thousands of such men came through the port on their way to the front lines, the United States Navy established a naval air station on 13 February 1918 to operate seaplanes. The base closed shortly after the Armistice of 11 November 1918, in the Second World War, the Germans maintained a large U-boat submarine base at Brest. In 1944, after the Allied invasion of Normandy, the city was almost totally destroyed during the Battle for Brest, with only a tiny number of buildings left standing
34.
Charles X of France
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Charles X was King of France from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. For most of his life he was known as the Count of Artois, an uncle of the uncrowned King Louis XVII, and younger brother to reigning Kings Louis XVI and Louis XVIII, he supported the latter in exile and eventually succeeded him. His rule of almost six years ended in the July Revolution of 1830, which resulted in his abdication, exiled once again, Charles died in 1836 in Gorizia, then part of the Austrian Empire. He was the last of the French rulers from the branch of the House of Bourbon. Charles Philippe of France was born in 1757, the youngest son of the Dauphin Louis and his wife, Charles was created Count of Artois at birth by his grandfather, the reigning King Louis XV. As the youngest male in the family, Charles seemed unlikely ever to become king and his eldest brother, Louis, Duke of Burgundy, died unexpectedly in 1761, which moved Charles up one place in the line of succession. He was raised in childhood by Madame de Marsan, the Governess of the Children of France. At the death of his father in 1765, Charless oldest surviving brother, Louis Auguste and their mother Marie Josèphe, who never recovered from the loss of her husband, died in March 1767 from tuberculosis. This left Charles an orphan at the age of nine, along with his siblings Louis Auguste, Louis Stanislas, Count of Provence, Clotilde, Louis XV fell ill on 27 April 1774 and died on 10 May of smallpox at the age of 64. His grandson Louis-Auguste succeeded him as King Louis XVI of France, in November 1773, Charles married Marie Thérèse of Savoy. The marriage, unlike that of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, was consummated almost immediately, in 1775, Marie Thérèse gave birth to a boy, Louis Antoine, who was created Duke of Angoulême by Louis XVI. Three years later, in 1778, Charles second son, Charles Ferdinand, was born, in the same year Queen Marie Antoinette gave birth to her first child, Marie Thérèse, quelling all rumours that she could not bear children. Charles was thought of as the most attractive member of his family and his wife was considered quite ugly by most contemporaries, and he looked for company in numerous extramarital affairs. According to the Count of Hézecques, few beauties were cruel to him, later, he embarked upon a lifelong love affair with the beautiful Louise de Polastron, the sister-in-law of Marie Antoinettes closest companion, the Duchess of Polignac. Charles also struck up a friendship with Marie Antoinette herself. The closeness of the relationship was such that he was accused by Parisian rumour mongers of having seduced her. As part of Marie Antoinettes social set, Charles often appeared opposite her in the theatre of her favourite royal retreat. They were both said to be very talented amateur actors, Marie Antoinette played milkmaids, shepherdesses, and country ladies, whereas Charles played lovers, valets, and farmers
35.
July Revolution
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Supporters of the Bourbon would be called Legitimists, and supporters of Louis Philippe Orléanists. On 16 September 1824, Charles X ascended to the throne of France and he was the younger brother of Louis XVIII, who, upon the defeat of Napoleon I, and by agreement of the Allied powers, had been installed as King of France. Both Louis and Charles ruled by right rather than Revolution. Upon the abdication of Napoleon in 1814, continental Europe, the Congress of Vienna met to redraw the continents political map. Another very influential person at the Congress was Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, although France was considered an enemy state, Talleyrand was allowed to attend the Congress because he claimed that he had only cooperated with Napoleon under duress. Talleyrand proposed that Europe be restored to its borders and governments. France returned to its 1789 borders and the House of Bourbon, the Congress however forced Louis to grant the Charte constitutionnelle française, the French Constitution otherwise known as La Charte. This document was the trigger of the July Revolution. On 16 September 1824, after an illness of several months. Therefore, his brother, Charles, aged 66, inherited the throne of France. On 27 September Charles X as he was now known, made his entry into Paris to popular acclaim. But eight months later, the mood of the capital had sharply worsened in its opinion of the new king, the causes of this dramatic shift in public opinion were many, but the main two were, The imposition of the death penalty for anyone profaning the Eucharist. The provisions for financial indemnities for properties confiscated by the 1789 Revolution and these indemnities to be paid to any one, whether noble or non-noble, who had been declared enemies of the Revolution. Critics of the first accused the king and his new ministry of pandering to the Catholic Church, the second matter, that of financial indemnities, was far more opportunistic than the first. But opponents, many of whom were frustrated Bonapartists, began a campaign that Charles X was only proposing this in order to shame those who had not emigrated. Both measures, they claimed, were nothing more than clever subterfuge meant to bring about the destruction of La Charte and this, too, was about to change. On 12 April, propelled by both genuine conviction and the spirit of independence, the Chamber of Deputies roundly rejected the proposal to change the inheritance laws. The popular newspaper Le Constitutionnel pronounced this refusal a victory over the forces of counter-revolutionaries, the popularity of both the Chamber of Peers and the Chamber of Deputies skyrocketed, and the popularity of the king and his ministry dropped
36.
Louis Philippe I
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Louis Philippe I was King of the French from 1830 to 1848 as the leader of the Orléanist party. He spent 21 years in exile after he left France in 1793 and he was proclaimed king in 1830 after his cousin Charles X was forced to abdicate in the wake of the events of the July Revolution of that year. His government, known as the July Monarchy, was dominated by members of a wealthy French elite and he followed conservative policies, especially under the influence of the French statesman François Guizot during the period 1840–48. He also promoted friendship with Britain and sponsored colonial expansion, notably the conquest of Algeria and his popularity faded as economic conditions in France deteriorated in 1847, and he was forced to abdicate after the outbreak of the French Revolution of 1848. He lived out his life in exile in Great Britain, Louis Philippe was born in the Palais Royal, the residence of the Orléans family in Paris, to Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres, and Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, he was a Prince of the Blood and his mother was an extremely wealthy heiress who was descended from Louis XIV of France through a legitimized line. Louis Philippe was the eldest of three sons and a daughter, a family that was to have erratic fortunes from the beginning of the French Revolution to the Bourbon Restoration. Louis Philippes father was exiled from the court, and the Orléans confined themselves to studies of the literature. Louis Philippe was tutored by the Countess of Genlis, beginning in 1782 and she instilled in him a fondness for liberal thought, it is probably during this period that Louis Philippe picked up his slightly Voltairean brand of Catholicism. When Louis Philippes grandfather died in 1785, his father succeeded him as Duke of Orléans, from October 1788 to October 1789, the Palais Royal was a meeting-place for the revolutionaries. Louis Philippe grew up in a period that changed Europe as a whole and, following his fathers support for the Revolution. In his diary, he reports that he took the initiative to join the Jacobin Club. In June 1791, Louis Philippe got his first opportunity to become involved in the affairs of France, in 1785, he had been given the hereditary appointment of Colonel of the 14th Regiment of Dragoons. With war on the horizon in 1791, all proprietary colonels were ordered to join their regiments, Louis Philippe showed himself to be a model officer, and he demonstrated his personal bravery in two famous instances. The young colonel broke through the crowd and extricated the two priests, who then fled, at a river crossing on the same day, another crowd threatened to harm the priests. Louis Philippe put himself between a peasant armed with a carbine and the priests, saving their lives, the next day, Louis Philippe dove into a river to save a drowning local engineer. For this action, he received a crown from the local municipality. His regiment was moved north to Flanders at the end of 1791 after the Declaration of Pillnitz, Louis Philippe served under his fathers crony, the Duke of Biron, along with several officers who later gained distinction in Napoleons empire and afterwards
37.
Claudius Jacquand
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Claude Jacquand, known as Claudius was a French painter of historical tableaus, genre scenes and religious subjects. He came from a devoted to handicrafts and his father was a comb-maker. He had his first art lessons at the École nationale des beaux-arts de Lyon with Fleury François Richard, following his mothers death in 1836, he moved to Paris and began exhibiting. In 1839, he became a Knight in the Legion dHonneur and, the following year, at an exhibition in The Hague, he won another Gold Medal and was decorated with the Order of Leopold. He taught painting to his son-in-law Auguste de Pinelli, who became a well-known artist. He and his family settled at her hometown of Émeringes, where he built a mansion inspired by a castle he had seen in Paris and he was chosen to be Mayor in 1844. A year later, he exhibited at the Salon, where Charles Baudelaire characterized him as a painter of the twentieth quality, after the French Revolution of 1848, his income began to shrink dramatically and he sought paid employment. An effort to obtain the post of Director at the Musée de lHistoire de France at Versailles was not successful and he and Lydia moved to Boulogne-sur-Mer in 1852 and sold their properties in Émeringes to help maintain their life style. Nevertheless, in 1856, they were forced to seek less expensive quarters in Paris, Lydia died in 1863, amid worsening financial problems. He continued to regularly, earning merely enough to get by
38.
Adolphe Thiers
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Marie Joseph Louis Adolphe Thiers was a French statesman and historian. He was the second elected President of France, and the first President of the French Third Republic and he was ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra during his term as president. Thiers was a key figure in the July Revolution of 1830, which overthrew the Bourbon monarchy, and the French Revolution of 1848, which established the Second French Republic. He served as a minister in 1836,1840 and 1848, dedicated the Arc de Triomphe. He was first a supporter, then an opponent of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte. When Napoleon III seized power, Thiers was arrested and briefly expelled from France and he then returned and became an opponent of the government. Following the defeat of France in the Franco-German War, which Thiers opposed, he was elected executive of the new French government. When the Paris Commune seized power in March 1871, Thiers gave the orders to the army for its suppression, at the age of seventy-four, he was named President of the Republic by the French National Assembly in August 1871. His chief accomplishment as president was to achieve the departure of German soldiers from most of French territory two years ahead of schedule. Opposed by the monarchists in the French assembly and the wing of the Republicans, he resigned on 24 May 1873. He was also a literary figure, the author of a very successful ten-volume history of the French Revolution. In 1834 he was elected the second-youngest member ever of the Académie Française, Adolphe Thiers was born on 15 April 1797, during the rule of the Directorate. His father was a businessman and occasional government official under Napoleon and his father abandoned Adolphe and his mother shortly after he was born. His mother had little money, but Thiers was able to receive an education thanks to financial aid from an aunt. He won admission to a lycée of Marseille through a competitive examination, while studying at the faculty of law he began his lifelong friendship with François Mignet. They both were admitted to the bar in 1818, and Thiers made a living as a lawyer for three years. He showed a strong interest in literature, and won a prize of five hundred francs for an essay on the marquis de Vauvenargues. Nonetheless, he was unhappy with his life in Aix and he wrote to his friend Teulon, I am without fortune, without status, and without any hope of having either here
39.
Jean-de-Dieu Soult
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Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult, 1st Duke of Dalmatia, was a French general and statesman, named Marshal of the Empire in 1804 and often called Marshal Soult. Soult was one of six officers in French history to receive the distinction of Marshal General of France. The Duke also served three times as President of the Council of Ministers, or Prime Minister of France. Soults intrigues while occupying Portugal earned him the nickname, King Nicolas, one historian called him a plunderer in the world class. Soult was born at Saint-Amans-la-Bastide and named after John of God and he was the son of a country notary named Jean Soult by his marriage to Brigitte de Grenier. His paternal grandparents were Jean Soult and Jeanne de Calvet, while his grandparents were Pierre François de Grenier de Lapierre. His younger brother Pierre also became a French general, Soults superior education ensured his promotion to the rank of sergeant after six years service, and in July 1791 he became instructor to the first battalion of volunteers of the Bas-Rhin. He was serving in this battalion in 1792, after the Battle of Fleurus of 1794, in which he distinguished himself for coolness, he was promoted to brigadier general by the representatives on mission. For the next five years Soult was employed in Germany under Jourdan, Moreau, Kléber and Lefebvre, and in 1799 he was promoted general of division and ordered to proceed to Switzerland. It was at time that he laid the foundations of his military fame, he particularly distinguished himself in Massénas great Swiss campaign. He accompanied Masséna to Genoa, and acted as his principal lieutenant throughout the siege of that city. He was wounded and taken prisoner at Monte Cretto on 13 April 1800, the victory of Marengo restored his freedom, and Soult received the command of the southern part of the kingdom of Naples. In 1802 he was appointed one of the four generals commanding the consular guard. Though he was one of those generals who had served under Moreau, in consequence he was appointed in August 1803 as the commander-in-chief of the camp of Boulogne, and in May 1804 he was made one of the first marshals of the Empire. He commanded a corps in the advance on Ulm, and at Austerlitz he led the attack on the allied centre. Soult played a part in many of the famous battles of the Grande Armée, including the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805. However, he was not present at the Battle of Friedland because on that day he was conquering Königsberg. After the conclusion of the Peace of Tilsit, he returned to France, the awarding of this honour greatly displeased him, for he felt that his title should have been Duke of Austerlitz, a title which Napoléon had reserved for himself
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