Learn History on Your Schedule.
Fête de l'Etre suprême, by Pierre-Antoine Demachy. Complaints about the "creaking stiffness" of the highly-organized event did not bode well for the success of Robespierre's pet "religion". (Wikimedia Commons) On this day in 1794, French lawyer Maximilien Robespierre proposed an idea for a new state religion in France. Known as the Cult of the Supreme…
Popular unrest in Algiers during the Algerian War. (Magnum Photos) On this day in 1962, representatives from the French government and the Algerian Front de Libération Nationale (FLN) signed a ceasefire agreement in Évian-les-Bains, thus ending the Algerian War. A result of Algerian frustrations with the French colonial administration, the conflict exploded in 1954 as…
Marguerite Durand. (Jules Cayron) On this day in 1897, French activist Marguerite Durand founded La Fronde, a feminist newspaper based in Paris. Unlike most publications of the time that targeted women, Durand's paper covered more "masculine" topics: politics, sports, philosophy. Referring to the 1648 Fronde (slingshot) uprisings against French monarchy, the paper was run entirely…
Eisenhower talks with 101s Airborne paratroopers prior to their jump into France. (Wikimedia Commons) 1943 was a turning point in WWII. Axis (German, Italian and Japanese) forces had been pushed out of North Africa, Allied forces were marching their way into mainland Italy and the Soviet Red Army had finally eliminated the German 6th Army…
Viet Minh fighters raise their flag over French positions at Dien Bien Phu. (source: Wikimedia Commons) On March 13th, 1954, the Battle of Dien Bien Phu began between the French Far East Expeditionary Forces and members of the communist Viet Minh (guerilla fighters). The battle was the climax of the First Indochina War (Indochina being…
ASAP History 