French efforts to expand its overseas empire go as far back as the 16th century, though it wasn’t until 1605 that a settled outpost was established in what is now Nova Scotia, Canada. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, it would grow to be one of the largest and wealthiest empires in history, with colonies spread across the Americas, Africa, Middle East, Indian subcontinent, and southeast Asia at its peak. Much of that was made possible by military conquest, as the French army was also a potent and formidable military force, often equipped with state-of-the-art technology and made up of conscripts from around the world.
Of course, the French imperial army also went through its fair share of military defeats, much like every other empire in history. Despite its technological superiority and vast numbers, the French empire faced many worthy enemies throughout its existence. That includes two large wars of independence in Indochina – now Vietnam – and Algeria, and the largest slave rebellion ever in Haiti, among other lesser-known conflicts fought around the world.
10. Korea
The French invasion of Korea in 1866 was triggered by the persecution of Christians ongoing across the country at that time. In February, seven French Catholic missionaries were executed on the orders of the imperial regent of Korea, drawing a disproportionate response from the French forces stationed in the Far East.
Fighting was largely limited to Ganghwa island – a strategic location on the Han river en route to Seoul. For six weeks beginning in October, the French forces occupying the island made multiple attempts to advance towards the heavily-fortified capital, though to little success. The Korean army was better-equipped and numerically-superior, with the added ‘home ground’ advantage. The invasion resulted in a humiliating defeat for the French, which massively reduced its influence in the region for years to come.
9. Austria
The Battle of Neerwinden was fought on March 18, 1793 between France and an Austrian army led by the Habsburg Prince Frederick Josias. While not a major battle on its own, it was an important engagement in the larger French Revolutionary wars – a series of conflicts between post-revolution France and a coalition of European monarchies.
It was the first French defeat in the otherwise-successful invasion of the Austrian Netherlands, setting the stage for further setbacks against the Habsburgs during the following year. Despite the revolutionary morale and numerical superiority of the French troops, they were no match for the trained, experienced army wielded by Austria. By the end of it, the French army was forced to retreat with losses of over 4,000 soldiers, compared to about 2,000 lives lost on the Austrian side.
8. China
The 1859 Battle of Taku Forts in China happened in the backdrop of the Opium Wars – a decades-long war that pitted the British and French empire against imperial China. It was a large-scale conflict occasionally involving other European powers, fought primarily over trading rights in China. While the western nations ultimately won the war, the battle at Taku Forts was a huge setback for both Britain and France, forcing them to retreat and return with a much larger force.
On June 25, allied forces began bombarding the forts – a strategic location on the way to the capital city of Peking, now Beijing. A contingent of soldiers was also sent to overrun the garrison, though the combined attack was soon halted and repulsed by the heavily-fortified defensive positions of the Chinese. Out of 1,100 invading soldiers, 434 were killed or wounded that day, with four of their gunboats sunk.
7. Mexico
Cinco de Mayo is often confused with Mexico’s independence day, though it’s actually the date of a major Mexican victory against French forces back in 1862. Known as the Battle of Puebla, it was one of the many small and large-scale battles fought during the Second French Intervention in Mexico – an invasion launched by Napoleon III to replace the nascent Mexican republic with a conservative French puppet state.
At the time, Puebla was the second largest Mexican city, located at a strategic location on the way to the capital. The French – emboldened by earlier victories in the campaign and the overwhelming technological and military superiority of their forces – attacked the city on May 5. While the defending army was made up of volunteers and poorly-trained militias armed with basic weapons like machetes, they were able to hold off the French advance, eventually forcing them to retreat.
The victory at Puebla galvanized Mexican resistance against colonialism. While France did take Puebla and Mexico City in 1863, they could never hold the territory due to irregular warfare waged by Mexican rebels across the countryside. After nearly six years of fighting, French forces completely withdrew from Mexico in March, 1867.
6. Japan
When France was successfully invaded and occupied by Germany during the early phases of the Second World War, many of its overseas properties were still controlled by imperial French troops. Sensing an opportunity, Japan signed a pact with the collaborationist Vichy government to station more than 6,000 troops in French Indochina – a colonial-era name for the countries of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.
Without warning, a full-scale Japanese invasion was launched on September 22, 1940, as infantry columns breached the border at three places. For close to five days, colonial French troops and Foreign Legionaires fought the Imperial Japanese Army for control of major strategic points, though they were eventually defeated by the superior Japanese airpower and armor.
5. Prussia
The Franco-Prussian War began in July 1870, when the French emperor Napoleon III ordered his troops to mount a full-scale invasion of Prussia – then a loose confederation of German states under the leadership of Otto von Bismarck. While the immediate cause was a dispute regarding the Spanish throne, the war was fought in the backdrop of a larger rivalry between Prussia and France – at that point two of the most powerful states in Europe.
The war ended in disaster for France. Despite being evenly matched in terms of numbers, Prussia was able to deploy a large number of troops to the battlefield within a few days’ time. French soldiers, on the other hand, were usually unequipped or late to the front, resulting in catastrophic losses for one of the most technologically-advanced military forces of the time.
The war ended with the Siege of Paris and eventual French defeat in 1971, and it would have lasting consequences for Europe in the years to come. In France, it ended Napoleon’s reign and established the French Third Republic. In Germany, it reinforced popular faith in German militarism and united the previously-separate Prussian states into a singular German empire.
4. Vietnam
The First Indochina war between France and communist rebels in Vietnam – then Indochina – began almost as soon as the end of WW2. As Japan signed the surrender terms on September 2, 1945, an independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam was declared by the Viet Minh leader Ho Chi Minh on the same day, setting the stage for a years-long conflict that would significantly erode the strength of the French colonial empire.
While fighting was limited to small-scale, low-intensity skirmishes in the early years, all that changed in 1949 after the successful revolution in China. The Viet Minh deployed increasingly aggressive guerrilla tactics across North Vietnam and parts of South Vietnam, prompting the United States and other western powers to get involved.
The war came to an end with the siege of Dien Bien Phu – a mountain outpost near the Laotian border occupied by France. While heavily fortified and regularly supplied from air, the garrison couldn’t withstand the overwhelming assault by Viet Minh forces. The garrison was overrun within two months beginning in March, 1954, bringing a decisive and bloody end to the French colonial empire in Asia.
3. Algeria
The Algerian War of Independence against colonial French rule was one of the largest conflicts of the 20th century. Beginning in 1954 and lasting until 1962, more than 1.5 million Algerians may have died throughout the war, though the real numbers could be far higher. Much of the violence could be attributed to French retaliation against revolutionary activities by the Algerians, particularly those allied with the National Liberation Front (FLN), including summary executions, rape, and torture against the native civilian population.
The most intense phase of the war was the Battle of Algiers in 1956-57, where Algerian rebels deployed increasingly-brutal combat techniques to break the French will to fight. While retaliation was often swift and disproportionate, the ferocity of the fighting quickly turned the French citizenry against the war. France did make some breakthroughs from 1958 and 1959, though growing anti-war pressure at home and abroad forced Charles de Gaulle to sign a peace agreement in 1962, ending more than 132 years of French rule in Algeria.
2. Russia
When the French invasion of Russia began in 1812 under Napoleon Bonaparte, his army was perhaps the largest concentration of military force assembled anywhere in the world until that time. The Grande Armée was more than 500,000 troops strong and made up of battle-hardened, highly-trained soldiers from across the French empire.
As soon as it crossed into Russia, the French army was slowed down by poor roads and the vast Russian interior, as French supply lines heavily depended on wagons and a reliable network of roads to function. Moreover, the troops were seriously underprepared for the Russian winter, as they presumably expected the fighting to end before it set in.
As French soldiers started deserting or dying due to the harsh conditions, the Russians refused to give them a fight. Napoleon’s forces occupied Moscow on September 14, only to find it deserted with most of its food rations gone. Unwilling to face the oncoming winter in the heart of Russia, the Grande Armée – now down to barely 100,000 soldiers – began its retreat from Moscow on October 19.
1. Haiti
Before its successful revolution against colonial French rule, Haiti was one of the most lucrative overseas colonies in the world, as well as a major market for the French-controlled slave trade in Africa. Then called St. Domingue, it accounted for nearly two-thirds of all overseas trade in France, employing around 1,000 ships and 15,000 French sailors.
Beginning in 1791 and inspired by the ideals of the French revolution, slaves across Haiti formed small bands and started attacking slaveowners and other slaves that refused to join the rebellion. While many different actors eventually became involved in the conflict – including Britain and Spain – it was mainly a freedom struggle of the enslaved people of Haiti against imperial, colonial rule.
The revolution wouldn’t come to an end until 1804, when the rebel leader Jean-Jacques Dessalines published the Haitian declaration of independence and replaced the colony with the Haitian state. While over 200,000 Haitian slaves lost their lives during the 12-year-long rebellion, its success served as an example for other oppressed people across the Americas and the rest of the world. Till date, the Haitian Revolution remains the only successful slave revolt in history.