Liberty Leading the People by Eugene Delacroix

France

A Christmas card from the First World War

First World War

First World War Christmas cards

Books interview: Margaret MacMillan on the First World War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

1914: Why Britain had to go to war. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, displayed remarkable leadership of the British army at the battle of Waterloo. (Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Waterloo: the historians' verdict. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A Second World War memorial monument depicting Soviet soldiers

Q&AWhy did Britain and France not declare war on the Soviet Union when the Red Army marched on Poland in September 1939?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A noisy history of the world. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Holding the line: France in the First World War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An illustration depicting the battle of Naseby, arguably one of the most significant land battles in British history. (Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

20 important battles that shaped Britain

Winston Churchill, former prime minister of the United Kingdom, gives his 'victory' sign while making a polling day tour of his constituency during an election. (Getty Images)

Are these the most overrated people in history?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

George Frederick Handel married opera's passion with the respectability of biblical texts, says Tim Blanning. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

10 milestones in the history of western music. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries by Jacques-Louis David

Napoleon's great cultural charade. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

"Pope Urban II’s address at the Council of Clermont, the moment that triggered the First Crusade, has gone down as perhaps the most influential speech in history," writes Sandbrook. (Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

A big day in history: The day Pope Urban II exhorted Christians to go on crusade. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Nelson mortally wounded at Trafalgar in 1805

Nelson: the unhappy admiral. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Industrial might: Blenheim bombers in production in England, late 1939. The Allies’ combined industrial strength proved too much for the Axis. (Getty Images)

Second World War

The LibraryThe world in flames

The Flight of Bonaparte from the Battle of Krasnoi, 1815. Artist: Sutherland, Thomas (1785-1838)

How Napoleon was humbled. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A contemporary view of the river Seine and Notre-Dame de Paris. (Getty Images)

Ye Olde Travel Guide: Paris 1802. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A statue of Joan of Arc in the home where she is thought to have been born, in Domrémy-La-Pucelle, eastern France. (PATRICK HERTZOG/AFP/Getty Images)

Where history happenedJoan of Arc. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, the leader of a network of French resistance agents during the Second World War. (Photo by AFP/Getty Images)

My history hero: Marie-Madeleine Fourcade (1909–89). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

BBC History Magazine

French celebrity

A poster depicting a First World War soldier musing over having caught a venereal disease while on furlough.(Photo by David Pollack/Corbis via Getty Images)

Sex and the First World War: the Tommies who visited brothels. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Q&A: Why didn't Napoleon invade the Channel Islands?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Pirates, propaganda and the history of swearing. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

King John and the French invasion of England

Where history happened: Dunkirk. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Charles Théveneau de Morande: an 18th-century French spy in London. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Ministry Of Information First World War Official Collection

Food and drink on the Somme frontline: the soldier experience. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

WWI army rations and the French Revolution. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

‘Battle of Quiberon Bay' (c1765), from 'Old Naval Prints' by Charles N Robinson and Geoffrey Holme (The Studio Limited, London), 1924. (Photo by Print Collector/Getty Images)

The battle for Britain 1759. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A group of Belgian refugees fleeing upon the arrival of German troops on the roads, 21 June 1940. (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

The war grave warriors. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The end of World War I. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.