TIMELINE

William I the Conqueror (1066-87)
William II Rufus (1087-1100)
Henry I (1100-35)

1109-1114 Anglo French War
1116-1119 Anglo French War
1123-1135 Anglo French War

Louis VI the Fat, King of France 1108-37, attacked Henry I in Normandy 3 times – all unsuccessful but did resist 1124 invasion of Holy Roman Emperor Henry V, who had come to the aid of Henry I.

Stephen (1135-54)
Empress Matilda (1141)
Henry II (1154-89)

Anglo French War

Richard I the Lionheart (1189-99)
John (1199-1216)

Anglo French War

Henry III (1216-72)

Anglo French War (1243 5 year Truce)

Edward I (1272-1307)

Anglo French War

1303 Treaty of Paris - war between France and England came to an end. The marriage between Edward I and the sister of King Philip IV, as well as the one between Edward's son and the French king's daughter were agreed upon.

Edward II (1307-27)
Edward III (1327-77)

SLUYS 24 June More Info
Dramatic naval victory for Edward III over French.

The French gathered a fleet of 230 ships to prepare for an invasion of England. The French chained their ships together, whilst the 190 English ships commanded by Edward III remained mobile. The English were able to destroy the majority of the French fleet - 200 French ships were lost.

Treaty of Bruges

Richard II (1377-99)
Henry IV (1399-1413)
Henry V (1413-22)

End of Hundred Years War at Castillon. Everything but Calais returned .

Anglo French War

Anglo French War
French King Henry II declared war with the intention of retaking Boulogne, which fell to him in 1550.

Lady Jane Grey (1553)
Mary I, Tudor (1553-58)

La Rochelle Expedition
The first Duke of Buckingham, George Villiers, led a disastrous expedition to relieve the Huguenots of La Rochelle; he was at Portsmouth preparing another expedition to La Rochelle when he was murdered in 1628 by John Felton, a mentally disturbed ex-naval officer.

Treaty of Utrecht
Peace was made between England and France. England retained Gibraltar. British possession of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and most of the West Indies was confirmed.

George I (1714-27)

BATTLE OF PLESSEY 23 June
In 1756 Suraj Dowlah succeeded as Nabob of Bengal and breached the long standing treaty with the East India Company – throwing Company Men into the Black Hole of Calcutta.

Clive of India recaptured Calcutta, seized Chandernagore from the French before proceeding on to Plessey. Clive had a Company force of 1000 British, 2000 Indian soldiers faced the Nabob’s army of 50,000 men supported by French artillery. The Nabob started the battle by wasting his ammunition with a pointless bombardment, leaving the British forces to overwhelm his position with only 20 -70 men lost. The battle ended French trade and influence on the Indian subcontinent.

SECOND SIEGE OF LOUISBOURG 27 July
The Siege lasted from 2 June - 27 July 1758. The Fortress of Louisbourg, Canada, protected access to the French Canadian colony. The British force comprised of 21 Ships of the Line and 14 Frigates under Admiral Boscawen and 13,200 soldiers under Major-General Jeffrey Amherst. 5 French ships in the harbour prevented a naval assault on the 7,000 strong French garrison so British forces found a small unfortified creek to land in.

The British slowly set up their guns and managed to get a lucky shot blowing up the powder store of one of the French ships and destroying 2 more by the subsequent fire. The burning ships caused great damage to the town and fortress which soon capitulated. The British deported virtually all the French inhabitants to France.

BATTLE OF MIDDEN 1 August More Info
41,000 British and Hanoverian troops commanded by Ferdinand of Brunswick defeat 52,000 Frenchmen under Marshal Contades. A misheard order led the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry to advance without support of cannon or cavalry. When Ferdinand of Brunswick realised that the advancing British column had committed itself he ordered General Lord George Sackville to support them with the cavalry. Sackville refused and was later court martialed and dismissed.

The single English column some how managed to break through ‘three lines of cavalry, and four brigades of infantry, ranked in order of battle, and tumble them to ruin' and was largely responsible for the allied victory. Midden fell the next day.

BATTLE OF THE PLAINS OF ABRAHAM 13 September More Info

Canadian battle that was precursor to Quebec's fall. James Wolfe found new route the Heighs of Abraham, overwealmed the French and promptly died.

BATTLE OF THE NILE 1 August
Otherwise known as Aboukir Bay. Nelso destroys the French fleet.

Having unsuccessfully tried to catch the French fleet on its way to Egypt, Britain's Admiral Nelson finally got within cannon shot at Aboukir Bay. Nelson had 13 ships under his command, four fewer than Admiral Brueys d'Aigalliers, who felt protected by land batteries and rocks. As soon as he saw the French Nelson set to them, but first his vessels had to brave fire from the battery placed on Aboukir Island. Having got past those guns, the British then exploited poor positioning by Brueys d'Aigalliers, who had allowed too much room at the head of his line, and sailed down the unmanned shore-side of the first French ships, pummeling them with little fear of return fire. Other arriving vessels also took advantage of similar gaps in the French line and even the mighty 120-gun L'Orient was in desperate trouble. It had forced the nearly sinking Bellerophon out of the battle but, at 10pm, the French flagship exploded after being set upon by a pack of British ships. The Nile was a stunning victory for Nelson with only four enemy vessels escaping.

Note: Courage and determination have never been more impressively characterised than those of Dupetit Thouars, captain of the Tonnant, during the Battle of the Nile. Thouars had his right arm shot away, then the left and finally one of his legs was taken off by a cannonball. Refusing to give up command, he insisted on being put in a tub of bran that was on deck and led his men until he collapsed from blood loss. One of his final orders was to nail the Tricolour to the mast so it could not taken down in surrender.

CAPTURE OF MALTA 5 September

2ND BATTLE OF ABOUKIR 22 March
Landing at Aboukir with 18,000 men, Britain's Sir Ralph Abercromby tried to push through the French positions sealing the narrow isthmus that led to Alexandria. Strong defence, however, foiled the move and so the British withdrew and set up defensive works of their own. A strong body of French reinforcements arrived and so General Jacques-Francois Menou decided to throw the British off with a daring night attack. A local spy tipped off the British, but Menou's plan was sufficiently clever to render the early warning almost useless. His men began an expected attack against the weaker British left wing but this was only a feint and the true target - the strong British right protected by Roman ruins and a redoubt - soon came under massive pressure.

Fortunately, for the redcoats, the troops there were led by the brilliant General Sir John Moore, who stemmed the assault and then ordered a bayonet-led counterattack by the 42nd Highlanders that sent the French into retreat - but advanced too far and was cut down by enemy horsemen. The situation was still dangerous for the British but reinforcements arrived just in time and overwhelmed the exhausted French. Menou lost 3000 men while the British suffered 1300 casualties, including the mortally wounded Abercromby who died a week later.