France

Timeline

Oldest first

1. Civilisation

   Celtic Iron Age750–50 BCE

   At the same time here: Punic Wars and Gallic Wars

2. War

   Punic Wars264–146 BCE

   Rome and its allies

   Ancient Rome, Rome's Italian allies, Mamertines of Messana (asked Rome for help in 264 BCE), Massalia (Marseille), whose ships sailed with the Roman fleet, as at the Ebro in 217 BCE, Syracuse under Hiero II (allied with Rome 263–215 BCE), and Masinissa's Numidians (from 206 BCE)

   against

   Carthage and its allies

   Carthage, Iberian, Celtic and Ligurian allies and mercenaries, Syracuse (allied with Carthage 264–263 BCE and 214–212 BCE), and Syphax's Numidians (206–203 BCE)

   Carthage was destroyed in 146 BCE and its remaining land became the Roman province of Africa; Rome had already taken Sicily and Iberia from Carthage in the earlier wars.

   At the same time here: Celtic Iron Age

3. War

   Gallic Wars58–51 BCE

   Rome and its allies

   Ancient Rome, Gallic peoples allied with Rome, among them the Remi and, until 52 BCE, the Aedui, and Germanic horsemen hired by Caesar

   against

   Gallic, Germanic and British peoples who fought Caesar

   Helvetii and their allies (58 BCE), Suebi under Ariovistus (58 BCE), Belgic peoples, among them the Nervii and the Eburones, Veneti and other peoples of Armorica, Britons under Cassivellaunus (54 BCE), and Arverni and the Gallic coalition led by Vercingetorix (52 BCE)

   Rome held all of Gaul up to the Rhine; Caesar withdrew most of his troops in 50 BCE as civil war loomed, and Gaul was organised into Roman provinces in 27 BCE.

   At the same time here: Celtic Iron Age

4. Civilisation

   Carolingian Empire800–843 CE

5. War

   Second Anglo-Mysore War1780–1784 CE

   Mysore, France and the Dutch Republic

   Kingdom of Mysore, Kingdom of France: troops and a fleet under the Bailli de Suffren, and Dutch Republic: the Dutch East India Company garrison of Negapatam, held jointly with Hyder Ali's troops until November 1781

   against

   East India Company forces and Crown troops

   East India Company forces, Sepoy regiments of the Company's Madras and Bombay armies, and Crown troops sent from Great Britain, with Hanoverian regiments

   The Treaty of Mangalore (11 March 1784) restored the territory each side had held before the war.

6. War

   Fourth Anglo-Mysore War1799 CE

   Mysore and French volunteers

   Kingdom of Mysore and French volunteers from Mauritius

   against

   East India Company forces, British Army regiments and Hyderabad

   East India Company forces, Sepoy regiments of the Company's Madras and Bombay armies, British Army regiments, and Hyderabad, under the Nizam

   Tipu Sultan was killed when Seringapatam fell on 4 May 1799; the Company restored the Wodeyar dynasty to a smaller Mysore bound to it by a subsidiary alliance.

7. War

   Second Anglo-Maratha War1803–1805 CE

   East India Company forces, British Army regiments and their allies

   East India Company forces, Sepoy regiments of the Company's Bombay, Madras and Bengal armies, British Army regiments, Mysore irregular cavalry, The Peshwa Baji Rao II, who ceded territory to pay for a Company force under the Treaty of Bassein (supporting), and Hyderabad, under Nizam Ali Khan (supporting)

   against

   Maratha chiefs, with French officers in Scindia's service

   Gwalior, under Daulat Rao Scindia, Nagpur, under Raghuji II Bhonsle, Indore, under Yashwantrao Holkar, from 1804, Bharatpur, under Raja Ranjit Singh, from 1804, and French officers commanding Scindia's regular battalions

   Scindia and Bhonsle gave up large territories, including the Delhi–Agra region, by treaties of December 1803; the Treaty of Rajghat with Holkar ended the fighting in December 1805.

8. War

   Second Opium War1856–1860 CE

   Britain and France

   United Kingdom (Royal Navy and British Army), Indian regiments under British command, Second French Empire, and United States (supporting)

   against

   Qing China

   Qing dynasty

   In the Convention of Peking (October 1860) the Qing confirmed the Treaties of Tianjin, opened Tianjin to trade, ceded southern Kowloon to Britain and raised the indemnity to 8 million taels each for Britain and France.

   At the same time here: French conquest of Vietnam

9. War

   French conquest of Vietnam1858–1885 CE

   France, with Spain (1858–1862) and local auxiliaries

   France, Spain, with troops from the Spanish Philippines (1858–1862), and Vietnamese auxiliaries in French service, among them Cochinchinese riflemen

   against

   Đại Nam (Nguyễn dynasty), the Black Flag Army and Qing China

   Đại Nam under the Nguyễn dynasty, Black Flag Army of Liu Yongfu, and Qing dynasty

   By 1885 France ruled all of Vietnam: Cochinchina as a colony, Annam and Tonkin as protectorates; in the Treaty of Tientsin the Qing recognised the French protectorate.

   At the same time here: Second Opium War

10. War

    World War I1914–1918 CE

    Allies (Entente)

    France, United Kingdom, Russian Empire (until 1917), Kingdom of Serbia, Kingdom of Italy (from 1915), and United States

    against

    Central Powers

    German Empire, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, and Kingdom of Bulgaria (from 1915)

    The Allies won: Germany signed an armistice on 11 November 1918 and the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, and the German, Austro-Hungarian, Russian and Ottoman empires broke up.

11. War

    World War II1939–1945 CE

    Allies

    Soviet Union (from 1941), United States, United Kingdom, Republic of China (Nationalist government), France, and Second Polish Republic

    against

    Axis

    Nazi Germany, Empire of Japan, and Kingdom of Italy (until 1943)

    The Allies won: Germany surrendered unconditionally on 8 May 1945 and Japan on 2 September 1945.

12. War

    First Indochina War1946–1954 CE

    French Union: France and the Associated States of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia

    France, State of Vietnam, Kingdom of Laos, Kingdom of Cambodia, and United States (supporting)

    against

    Viet Minh (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and allies

    Democratic Republic of Vietnam (Viet Minh), Pathet Lao, Khmer Issarak (United Issarak Front), China (supporting), and Soviet Union (supporting)

    France agreed at Geneva to armistices that left the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in the north and the State of Vietnam in the south, divided at the 17th parallel; the last French troops left the south in April 1956.

    At the same time here: Korean War

13. War

    Korean War1950–1953 CE

    North Korea, the Chinese People's Volunteer Army and the Soviet Union

    North Korea, Chinese People's Volunteer Army, and Soviet Union

    against

    South Korea and the United Nations Command

    South Korea, United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Netherlands, Canada, France, New Zealand, Philippines, Türkiye, Thailand, South Africa, Greece, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ethiopia, and Colombia

    An armistice, not a peace treaty, ended the fighting on 27 July 1953, with the front line close to the 38th parallel; Korea stayed divided.

    At the same time here: First Indochina War

14. War

    Gulf War1990–1991 CE

    US-led coalition

    United States, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, France, Egypt, Syria, and Kuwait

    against

    Iraq

    Iraq

    Iraqi forces left Kuwait and the coalition declared a ceasefire on 28 February 1991; Iraq accepted UN ceasefire terms, and sanctions on it stayed in place.