The map above shows just about every country that has been invaded by France one way or another.
The various ways include:
- Invaded
- Colonised
- Former part of an invaded country
- Fought against but did not invade
- Fought on the territory but not against the country
- Airstrikes without land troops
- Temporary Settlement/occupation
As with any map of this type the terms and timelines are highly subjective. And misses several countries, for example:
- Ground troops in Libya during WW2 (see Battle of Bir Hakeim)
- Argentina (see French blockade of the Río de la Plata)
- Most of South America still technically belonged to Spain during the Napoleonic Wars
- Mauritius (See Mauritius campaign of 1809–11)
- Malta (see French occupation of Malta)
For a full list you can see the original discussion on Reddit.
To learn more about French military history have a look at the following books:
- Greater France: A History of French Overseas Expansion
- Ghost Empire: How the French Almost Conquered North America
- Napoleon’s Wars: An International History
- France and Its Empire Since 1870
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Drew says
A British map would show the whole world practically in colour. As far as I am aware, there are only 5-7 countries of the world with whom we have not fought against or taken any military action on their turf.
Peter says
Actually there are is a list of 22 countries, that never have been invaded by Britain in their history. And there is a huge overlap with countris, that do not have acces to an ocean, like Mongolia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan an Liechtenstein. San Marino does not belong to it, as it has been bombed and invaded by british troops during Second World War despite it´s neutrality.You can find the map here: https://www.indy100.com/article/uk-great-britain-invasion-empire-war-conquest-globe-invaded-2017-7460711
Ander Aristondo says
The Spanish America should be included in former part of invaded country.
David McCormack says
Could include South Pacific for Nuclear testing. And bombing the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland Harbour.
Claude says
Sweden is an interesting case: France did not invade but the royals are all French since the 1810s as Bernadotte (one of Napoleon’s generals) was adopted by the king of Sweden.
Y.D. Robinson says
In addition to the mini-list of countries that are missing, there are three others that were invaded (or really, occupied or explored) one way or another:
South Africa – the French occupied Cape Town from 1781 to 1783, at a time when the Netherlands (the local colonial power at the time) was allied with France.
Australia – the French explored large swaths of Australia in the late 1700s and into the early 1800s, largely even as the British were setting up their penal colony at Sydney, and even made initial claims to a couple of corners of the country.
New Zealand – the French established the settlement of Akaroa on the South Island for a brief time around 1840 before the British takeover of the entire archipelago soon afterwards.