La Fayette, We Are Here!
Episodes
43 episodes
Napoleonic Discussion with Very Special Guests
In this very special episode, I am joined by a coalition of Napoleonic experts to discuss this fascinating period of history and its legacy. We cover Napoléon's personality, some campaigns, the roles of his marshals, the era's lasting impact, a...
Charles de Gaulle, Tales of Grandeur
Charles de Gaulle, the famous general who led the French Resistance during the Second World war before becoming President and the father of the current French political system: the Fifth Republic.De Gaulle is a very, very complicated ma...
The Fall of France of 1940, German Victory or French Defeat?
The Fall of France of 1940, the famous military campaign that saw France being conquered by the German army in a few weeks. This subject is one of the most misinterpreted military events in history.Reading online, you’d believe that the...
Napoléon Part II - From Paris to Saint Helena
December 2nd 1804, Napoléon Bonaparte is crowned Emperor of the French. Over the next decade, he will keep reforming and modernizing France, but he will also fight the rest of Europe. He will become master of the continent, defeating all his en...
Napoléon Part I - From Corsica to Paris
Napoléon Bonaparte doesn't really need an introduction. He's the most famous Frenchman ever. He's had more books written about him than any other person, except for Jesus Christ. This French general and emperor shook France, Europe and the worl...
The French Revolution, a Worldwide Tremor
The French Revolution shook the world from 1789 to 1799 and completely transformed modern European societies. By ricochet, it transformed the whole world. It was a real political tsunami, with immediate and long term consequences. With th...
Aliénor d’Aquitaine, Queen of France and of England
Of the millions of people who are born every year during the Middle Ages, an extremely small number are what we call “blue bloods”, members of the nobility. Out of that already small number, a little percentage can be called “royalty”. Someone ...
The Hundred Years’ War, Death by all Means - Part Two
This part-two of a two-part episode on the Hundred Years' War. I encourage you to listen to the previous episode if you haven't al...
The Hundred Years’ War, Death by all Means - Part One
The Hundred Years' War or la guerre de Cent Ans in French. That enormous conflict, or series of conflicts actually, ravaged France from 1337 to 1453.The vast majority of English or American history podcasts or books have an Eng...
Vikings and Franks, with Christophe Adrien
Vikings in France. Here's an often ignored topic for historical discussion. In this special episode, we try to remedy to that situation. I say "we" because we have a guest on this one, historian and author Christo...
Charlemagne, King of the Franks and Roman Emperor
Charlemagne is one of the most important figures of the Middle Ages. He ruled from 768 to 814 as king of the Franks, and became Roman Emperor in 800. He conquered peoples, built institutions and completely changed Europe's political trajectory....
Voltaire in Prussia, with Alec Avdakov
In this special episode, we travel outside of France, to Prussia, guided by Alec Avdakov from the podcast "The Life and Times of Frederick the Great". Make sure to check out his podcast.
The French Enlightenment: Les Lumières
We live in an enlightened world. We owe a lot to the men and women of the XVIIIth century and what they gave us. During this period, all over Europe, but especially in France, sciences, politics, literature, art, philosophy and many other aspec...
Louis XIV, The Sun King
Probably the most famous French monarch, Louis XIV left a deep mark on France and Europe. Over his 72-year reign, from 1643 to 1715, he accomplished many things. He conquered new territory, expanded France's colonies, modernized the count...
The Franco-Prussian War of 1870, rehearsal for the World Wars
The Franco-Prussian war of 1870 is an important but often neglected conflict. Most people don't even know about it. In America, even history fans go straight from the Civil War to World War I, not really taking into account this major con...
An Overview of All French History
For our second episode, we are taking a grand Tour de France. This is a complete overview of France's 20 centuries long history. It is not exhaustive, of course, but it should help people refresh their memory or get a better grip on the whole o...
