List of wars involving France
This is a list of wars involving France and its predecessor states. It is an incomplete list of French and proto-French wars and battles from the foundation of Francia by Clovis I, the Merovingian king who united all the Frankish tribes and northern Gallo-Romans in the 5th century, to the current Fifth Republic.
Frankish Kingdom, Carolingian Empire and West Francia
Conflict | France & allies | France's opposition | Outcome |
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Campaigns of Clovis I (486-508) Location: Europe |
Kingdom of the Franks | Various Enemies |
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Franco-Visigothic Wars (492-508) |
Kingdom of the Franks | Visigothic Kingdom | Frankish Victory, Gallia Aquitania annexed by Franks |
Frankish-Burgundian War (523-533) Location: France |
Francia | Kingdom of the Burgundians | Frankish Victory |
Conquest of the Thuringia (531) Location: Thuringia |
Francia | Thuringii | Frankish Victory |
Gothic War (535-554) |
Ostrogoths, Franks, Alamanni, Burgundians |
East Roman Empire, Huns, Heruli, Sclaveni, Lombards |
Short-term East Roman conquest of Italy, long-term devastation of Italy |
Conquest of the Alemanni (536) Location: Upper Rhine |
Francia | Alemanni | Frankish Victory |
Conquest of Bavaria (555) Location: Bavaria |
Francia | Baiuvarii | Frankish Victory |
Frankish Civil War (715-719) Location: Francia |
Neustria | Austrasia | Victory for Charles Martel |
Frisian–Frankish wars (600-793) Location: Netherlands |
Kingdom of the Franks | Frisian Kingdom | Frankish Victory |
Umayyad invasion of Gaul (719-759) Location: Southern Gaul |
Kingdom of the Franks | Umayyad Caliphate
Andalusi commanders (as of 750) |
Frankish Victory |
War against the Lombards (755-758) Location: Lombardy |
Kingdom of the Franks | Lombards | Donation of Pepin |
War of Aquitaine (761-768) Location: Aquitaine |
Kingdom of the Franks | Aquitani | Frankish Victory |
Saxon Wars (772-804) Location: Germany |
Kingdom of the Franks | Saxons | Frankish Victory |
War against the Lombards (773-774) Location: Lombardy |
Kingdom of the Franks | Lombards | Frankish Victory, annexation of the Lombard Empire |
War against the Avars and Slavs (791-805) Location: Pannonia |
Kingdom of the Franks | Avars & Slavs | Frankish Victory |
Frankish-Breton War (843-851) Location: France |
West Francia | Duchy of Brittany | Defeat, Treaty of Angers 851 |
Frankish-Viking battles (845-923) Location: France |
West Francia | Vikings |
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Kingdom of France (987–1792)
First French Republic (1792–1804)
Conflict | France & its Allies | France's opposition | Outcome |
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War of the First Coalition (1792-1797) Location: France, Central Europe, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, West Indies |
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French Victory |
War of the Pyrenees (1793-1795) Location: Pyrenees |
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French Victory |
Haitian Revolution (1791–1804) Location: Saint-Domingue ![]() Collage of the Haitian Revolution |
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Haitian victory
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War of the Second Coalition (1798-1802) Location: Europe, Middle East, Mediterranean Sea, Caribbean Sea |
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French Victory
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Peasants' War (1798) Location: Southern Netherlands |
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French Victory |
Quasi-War (1798-1800) Location: Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, and the Mediterranean |
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Convention of 1800 |
War of the Oranges (1801) Location: Portugal |
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French Victory, Portugal closes its ports to British ships |
First French Empire (1804–1814,15)
Bourbon Restoration (1814-15, 1815–1830)
Conflict | France & its Allies | France's opposition | Outcome |
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Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis (1820-1823) Location: Spain |
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French and Spanish Royalist victory |
Greek War of Independence (1821-1829) Location: Greece |
1821:![]() ![]() After 1822: ![]() Supported by: ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Greek victory
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Franco-Trarzan War of 1825 (1825) Location: Waalo, West Africa |
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Trarza | French victory |
Irish and German Mercenary Soldiers' Revolt (1825) Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
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Irish mercenaries German mercenaries |
Revolt Suppressed |
July Monarchy (1830–1848)
Conflict | France & allies | France's opposition | Outcome |
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Liberal Wars (1828–34) Location: Portugal |
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Liberal Victory |
French conquest of Algeria (1827–1830–1857) Location: Regency of Algiers |
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French victory |
Belgian Revolution (1830–31) Location: The Low Countries |
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Franco-Belgian victory
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First Carlist War (1833-1840) Location: Spain |
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French and Liberal victory |
First Franco-Mexican War (1838–1839) Location: Mexico |
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French victory
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Uruguayan Civil War (1839-1851) Location: Uruguay |
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Colorado victory, Arana-Southern Treaty for Anglo-French blockade of the Rio de la Plata |
First Franco-Moroccan War (1844) Location: Morocco |
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French victory |
Franco-Tahitian War (1844–1847) Location: Tahiti |
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French victory |
Bombardment of Tourane (1847) Location: Off Tourane (Da Nang), South Central Coast of Vietnam |
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Nguyễn dynasty | French victory |
Second French Republic (1848–1852)
Conflict | France & its Allies | France's opposition | Outcome |
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First Italian War of Independence (1848) Location: Lombardy |
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French-Austrian Victory
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Second French Empire (1852–1870)
French Third Republic (1870–1940)
Vichy France (1940–1944)
Conflict | France & its Allies | France's opposition | Outcome |
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Franco-Thai War (1940–1941) Location: French Indochina |
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Indecisive
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French Fourth Republic (1946–1958)
French Fifth Republic (1958–present)
Conflict | France & its Allies | France's opposition | Outcome |
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Bizerte crisis (1961) |
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French victory |
Bamileke War (1955-1964) Location: French Cameroon |
Before 1960![]() |
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French-Cameroonian victory |
Shaba I (1977) Location: Shaba Province, Zaire |
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Zairian victory |
Shaba II (1978) |
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Zairian victory |
Western Sahara War (1975-1991) Location: Western Sahara |
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Inconclusive
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Chadian-Libyan conflict (1978-1987) Location: Chad |
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Chadian-French victory
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Gulf War (1990-1991) Location: Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and |
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Coalition victory
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Djiboutian Civil War (1991-1994) Location: Northern Djibouti |
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Franco-Djiboutian victory
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Bosnian War (1992-1995) Location: Bosnia and Herzegovina |
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Croatian and Bosnian victory |
Kosovo War (1998-1999) Location: Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija (then part of Serbia |
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NATO Victory |
Basque conflict (1959–2011) Location: Basque country |
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Neo-fascist paramilitaries:
Basque National Liberation Movement:
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Victory |
Corsican conflict (1976–2011) Location: Corsica |
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Corsican nationalist paramilitaries
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Victory |
War in Afghanistan (2001–2014) Location: Afghanistan |
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Victory
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First Ivorian Civil War (2002–2007) Location: Ivory Coast ![]() A Forces nouvelles's member caught by the French Foreign Legion in 2004 after a plundering. |
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Forces Nouvelles de Côte d'Ivoire | Victory |
Insurgency in the Maghreb (2002–present) |
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Ongoing |
Haitian coup d'état (2004) Location: Haiti |
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Victory |
Chadian Civil War (2005–2010) Location: Chad |
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Rebels![]() Alleged support: ![]() |
Victory |
War in Somalia (2009–present) Location: Somalia |
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Ongoing |
Boko Haram insurgency (2009–present) Location: Northeast Nigeria |
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Ongoing |
Second Ivorian Civil War (2010–2011) Location: Ivory Coast |
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Victory |
Libyan Civil War (2011) Location: Libya ![]() Part of a group of six, Italian-built, Palmaria self-propelled howitzers of the Gaddafi regime's forces, destroyed by French Rafale airplanes at the west-southern outskirts of Benghazi, Libya, in Opération Harmattan on March 19, 2011. |
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Victory
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Northern Mali Conflict (2012–present) Location: Northern Mali |
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Ongoing |
Central African Republic Civil War (2012–present) Location: Central African Republic ![]() French soldiers as part of Operation Sangaris, authorized in late 2013. |
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Ongoing |
Iraqi Civil War (2014–2017) Location: Iraq |
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Ongoing |
Opération Chammal (2014–present) ![]() French Dassault Rafale of Squadron 11F prepares to land on USS Carl Vinson. Carl Vinson is deployed as part of maritime security operations and strike operations in Iraq and Syria. |
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Ongoing
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Wars France was not involved in but provided support (Material, Political, Advisory etc)
Civil Wars and Revolutions
Conflict | French Government | Rebels | Outcome |
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French Revolution (1789-1793) Location: France |
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Revolutionairies | French Republican victory, Execution of Louis XVI |
War in the Vendée (1793-1796) Location: Western France |
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Supported by:
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French Republican victory |
June Rebellion (1832) Location: Paris, France |
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Orléanist victory, rebellion crushed |
French Revolution of 1848 (1848) Location: Paris, France |
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French Government defeat
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June Days uprising (1848) Location: France |
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Uprising Crushed
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Paris Commune (1871) Location: Paris |
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Government Victory |
See also
Notes
- Fought against England during Despenser's Crusade.
- Fought with England during the Caroline War.
- Fought with England during Despenser's Crusade.
- Reconciled with the Emperor and switched sides in the Peace of Prague (1635).
- The French Revolutionary Army overthrew the Dutch Republic and established the Batavian Republic as a puppet state in its place.
- Formed in French-allied Italy in 1797, following the abolition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth after the Third Partition in 1795.
- Re-entered the war as an ally of France after signing the Second Treaty of San Ildefonso.
- Nominally the Holy Roman Empire, of which the Austrian Netherlands and the Duchy of Milan were under direct Austrian rule. Also encompassed many other Italian states, as well as other House of Habsburg states such as the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and Liechtenstein
- Left the war after signing the Peace of Leoben with France.
- Left the war after signing the Peace of Basel with France.
- Left the war after signing the Treaty of Paris with France.
- Left the war after signing the Peace of Basel with France.
- Abolished following the restoration of the neutral Papal States in 1799.
- Short lived state that replaced the Kingdom of Naples in 1799.
- Nominally the Holy Roman Empire, of which the Austrian Netherlands and the Duchy of Milan were under direct Austrian rule. Also encompassed many other Italian states, as well as other Habsburg states such as the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.
- Duchy of Warsaw as a state was in effect fully occupied by Russian and Prussian forces by May 1813, although most Poles remained loyal to Napoleon.
- From 1854
- From 1855
- Until 1855
- Until 1854
- The Anti-Terrorist Liberation Groups (GAL) was supported by some officials of the Spanish government, most notably José Barrionuevo.
- Battle of Daugavpils
- After 1920
- Volunteers
- From 1936 until it surrendered in 1937 to the Italian Corpo Truppe Volontarie in the Santoña Agreement.
- The only party under Francisco Franco from 1937 onward, a merger of the other factions on the Nationalist side.
- 1936–1937, then merged into FET y de las JONS
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- Valerii︠a︡ Fol, Bulgaria: History Retold in Brief, (Riga, 1999), 103.
- Alexandru Madgearu, The Wars of the Balkan Peninsula: Their Medieval Origins, ed. Martin Gordon, (Scarecrow Press, 2008), 90.
- "into line with army of Gabriel Bethlen in 1620." Ágnes Várkonyi: Age of the Reforms, Magyar Könyvklub publisher, 1999. ISBN 963-547-070-3
- Croxton, pp. 225–226.
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- Brown 1976, p. 240.
- Robert Ryal Miller (1961). "The American Legion of Honor in Mexico". Pacific Historical Review. Berkeley, California, United States: University of California Press. 30 (3). ISSN 0030-8684. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
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- "NIGERIAN REJECTS HELP FROM GROUPS THAT AIDED BIAFRA".
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- Griffin, "French military policy in the Nigerian Civil War" (2015), p. 122. "Starting in October 1967, there were also direct Czech arms flights, by a network of pilots led by Jack Malloch, a Rhodesian in contact with Houphouët-Boigny and Mauricheau-Beupré."
- Malcolm MacDonald: Bringing an End to Empire, 1995, p. 416.
- Ethnic Politics in Kenya and Nigeria, 2001, p. 54.
- Africa 1960–1970: Chronicle and Analysis, 2009, p. 423.
- Department Of State. The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs (25 October 2005). "Nigerian Civil War". 2001-2009.state.gov.
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