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The Musketeers of the military household of the King of France (Mousquetaires de la maison militaire du roi de France or compagnie des mousquetaires du roi), also known as the Musketeers of the Guard (French: Mousquetaires de la garde) or King's Musketeers (Mousquetaires du roi), were an elite fighting company of the military branch of the Maison du Roi, the royal household of the French monarchy.
Over 300 musketeers served in the Kongo army against the Portuguese at the Battle of Mbwila in 1665. [30] [31] Musketeers were employed into the Wydah army from 1680 AD but they did not completely replace the spearmen, swordsmen and archers. In war, the Musketeers were first to go into action as they fought in the front ranks of the army. [32]
The Kingdom of France in the Middle Ages (roughly, from the 10th century to the middle of the 15th century) was marked by the fragmentation of the Carolingian Empire and West Francia (843–987); the expansion of royal control by the House of Capet (987–1328), including their struggles with the virtually independent principalities (duchies and counties, such as the Norman and Angevin regions ...
It began with the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery. The Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history: Antiquity, Medieval period, and Modern period. The Medieval period is itself subdivided into the early, high, and late Middle Ages.
To a large extent, modern France lies within clear limits of physical geography.Roughly half of its margin lies on sea coasts: one continuous coastline along "La Manche" ("the sleeve" or English Channel) and the Atlantic Ocean forming the country's north-western and western edge, and a shorter, separate coastline along the Mediterranean Sea forming its south-eastern edge.
From the 16th to the 17th centuries, the First French colonial empire existed mainly in the Americas and Asia. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the second French colonial empire existed mainly in Africa and Asia. France had about 80 colonies throughout its history, the second most colonies in the world behind only the British Empire. [1]
It was also an early colonial power, with colonies in Asia and Africa, and the largest being New France in North America geographically centred around the Great Lakes. The Kingdom of France was descended directly from the western Frankish realm of the Carolingian Empire, which was ceded to Charles the Bald with the Treaty of Verdun (843).
Animated map of French territory in continental Europe over time. After centuries of warfare and diplomacy, France has the largest territory of any nation in Western Europe. Historian Niall Ferguson argues that France is the most belligerent military power in history. It participated in 50 of the 125 major European wars fought since 1495; more ...