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
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