Joan of Arc In Domremy, France, 1412, Joan of Arc was born to Jacques d’Arc and Isabelle Romee. During Joan’s childhood, France was divided because King Henry V of England defeated the French at Agincourt after he had successfully invaded France. This made the country very divided and weak. When Joan turned twelve, she started to have visions. She felt that God’s voice was telling her to renew the French nation.
Joan of Arc claimed to have been inspired by divine visions and voices, beginning in her teens, to save France from the English and their Burgundian allies. She lead the French military on many successful campaigns against the invading English, and had ‘The Dauphin’ crowned as King Charles VII in Paris in July 1429. However when she was captured in battle and handed over to the English, they used her unorthodox claims to try her as a Heretic at Rouen, the center of English rule in France. There are several primary sources presented to us about the trial of Joan of Arc, from the manuscript of an anonymous author written in 1500, to a letter written by Joan herself along with extracts of the transcript of the trial. From each of these we can see the great positive impact of a person claiming to have been influenced by the divine if they are to be believed.
France's political system of absolute monarchy slowly emerged in the 16th century which was strongly influenced by religious conflicts between Calvinists and Catholics. Though earlier French kings had tried to strengthen their power, Absolute Monarchy was finally established during the reign of Louis XIII (1610-1643) and consolidated during that of Louis XIV (1643- 1715) in the 17th century. It was Louis XIII’s regent Cardinal Richelieu who vowed "to make the royal power supreme in France and France supreme in Europe. He was also well known to have a powerful network of spys. When Louis XIII died the next in line to take the throne was his only 5 years old son, Louis XIV.
Harold might have won if he had waited but) he was defeated and killed in the battle of Hastings. William – “The Conqueror” marched to London, which quickly gave in and he was crowned king of England in Edward’s church of Westminister Abbey on Christmas Day, 1066. A new period has begun. There was an Anglo-Saxon rebellion against the Normans every year until 1070. The small Norman army marched from village to village, destroying places which it couldn’t control.
To work toward peace, new peace talks began in Paris on January 25, 1969. When the U.S. had withdrawn most of its troops from Vietnam, the North Vietnamese staged another massive assault, called the Easter Offensive (also called the Spring Offensive), on March 30, 1972. North Vietnamese troops crossed over the demilitarized zone (DMZ) at the 17th parallel and invaded South Vietnam. The remaining U.S. forces and the South Vietnamese army fought back. The Paris Peace Accords On January 27, 1973, the peace talks in Paris finally succeeded in producing a cease-fire agreement.
The presentation of the allied reparation demands cause political crisis and the fall of the government. A new coalition government was quickly formed and newly appointed foreign minister Walter Rathenau, believed for the good of the nation, it was necessary that Germany should seek to fulfill the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles in order to attempt to reach a situation where renegotiation would be viable. However this did not happen. After the Germans failed to pay the second reparation, they declared default and due to this 600,000 French soldiers occupied the Ruhr, the most important industrial area of Germany. The French invaded, as
But that wasn’t all Henry also called upon the Earl of Oxford and his men. Oxford did obviously have power and had also a military advisor which might have come in useful. Henry also called upon French mercenaries to help in his battle. Richard III, King of England found out about Henry’s arrival from France called for the services of the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Surrey, the Earl of Northumberland and Sir Brackenbury, who was at that time the Keeper of the Tower of London, to meet in Leicester. Richard realised Henry was on his way to London so Richard stopped at Ambion Hill where the two armies were to meet near Market Bosworth.
Elizabeth in response punched him on the ear, which caused Essex to grasp his sword. This was completely unprecedented and could have been viewed as treason. Essex then stormed out during the meeting and was banned from returning to court by Elizabeth. During Essex’ absence from court, Elizabeth’s closest friends and ally William Cecil passed away in 1599. Cecil was a key figure during Elizabeth’s reign and some historians conclude that he was in fact the man who was running the country.
These treaties provided important gains for Britain, Austria and the house of bourbon that set the foundation for future development in Europe and abroad. The treaties also labelled the defeat of French ambitions created under Louis XIV and introduced the concept of the balance of power into international relations for the first time. For most of the 17th century France dominated as a European super power. Britain, France's greatest opposition, had just recently emerged as a new superpower in the 1680's along with Austria and the Dutch Republic after victories in the 9 years’ war (McKay & Scott, 1983). Concurrently the king of Spain, Charles II, was nearing his deathbed with no heir to the Spanish throne.
Napoleon's first major mistake was made in March of 1808, when Napoleon intervened in a dispute between the present king of Spain and the king's son. He placed them both in prison and put his own brother on the throne. The people of Spain did not take too kindly to this act and so began a bloody war that was not defined by major battles, but by guerrilla warfare that kept a large number of French troops occupied to keep control of the country. French troops would end up executing hundreds of Spaniards who were thought to be resisting French power. Britain saw an opportunity to weaken Napoleon's empire by landing 13,000 troops on the coast of Portugal, where they made their way up along Spain's coastline.