* 1781 – American Revolutionary War: British and French ships clash in the Battle of Fort Royal off the coast of Martinique.

In 1796, during the French Revolution and three years after the declaration of war between France and Great Britain, Étienne-Gaspard Robert met with the French government and proposed the use of mirrors to burn the invading ships of the British Royal Navy.

* Several US Navy ships have been named the or the, the latter being a French translation of his penname " Poor Richard ".

On 28 November Teach's two ships attacked a French merchant vessel off the coast of Saint Vincent.

Hume reinforced his crew with musket-armed soldiers and joined up with HMS Seaford to track the two ships, to no avail, though they discerned that the two ships had sunk a French vessel off St Christopher Island, and reported also that they had last been seen " gone down the North side of Hispaniola ".

When Nelson's fleet arrived off Egypt on 1 August and discovered Brueys's dispositions, he ordered an immediate attack, and his ships advanced on the French line.

Trapped in a crossfire, the leading French ships were battered into surrender during a fierce three-hour battle, while the centre was able to successfully repel the initial British attack.

With Brueys dead and his van and centre defeated, the rear division of the French fleet attempted to break out of the bay, but ultimately only two ships of the line and two frigates escaped, from a total of 17 ships engaged.

Within a week Bonaparte had resupplied his ships, and on 19 June his fleet departed for Alexandria in the direction of Crete, leaving 4, 000 men at Valletta under General Claude-Henri Vaubois to ensure French control of the islands.

Although he now had enough ships to challenge the French fleet, Nelson suffered two great disadvantages: he had no intelligence regarding the destination of the French, and no frigates to scout ahead of his force.

Striking southwards in the hope of collecting information about French movements, Nelson's ships stopped at Elba and Naples, where the British ambassador Sir William Hamilton reported that the French fleet had passed Sicily in the direction of Malta.

He instructed his naval commander, Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys D ' Aigalliers, to anchor in Alexandria harbour, but naval surveyors reported that the channel into the harbour was too shallow and narrow for the larger ships of the French fleet.

The French ships were spaced at intervals of and the whole line was long, with the flagship Orient at the centre and two large 80-gun ships anchored either side.

However, he had made a serious misjudgement: there was enough room between Guerrier and the shoal for an enemy ship to cut across the head of the French line, allowing the unsupported vanguard to be caught in a crossfire by two divisions of enemy ships.

Brueys ' dispositions had a second significant flaw: the 160 yard gaps between ships were large enough for a British ship to push through and break the French line.

At 14: 00 on 1 August, lookouts on HMS Zealous reported the French anchored in Aboukir Bay, its signal lieutenant just beating the lieutenant on HMS Goliath with the signal, but inaccurately describing 16 French ships of the line instead of 13.

The French initially reported just 11 British ships, as Swiftsure and Alexander were still returning from their scouting operations at Alexandria, and so were to the west of the main fleet, out of sight.

By 16: 00, Alexander and Swiftsure were also in sight, although some distance from the main British fleet, and Brueys gave orders to abandon the plan to remain at anchor and instead for his line to set sails, although Blanquet protested the order on the grounds that there were not enough men aboard the French ships to both sail the ships and man the guns.

This was a slow and difficult course, and French trade suffered from the many mistakes of the new group of traders.

While swimming at Juan-les-Pins on the French Riviera, July 1, 1928, he suffered a heart attack and died.

The reputation of the French army also suffered badly.

The French suffered too: Admiral Brueys on Orient was severely wounded in the face and hand by flying debris during the opening exchange of fire with Bellerophon.

Without their best general and his veterans, the French suffered a series of defeats and it was not until Bonaparte returned to become First Consul that France once again held a position of strength on mainland Europe.

During the French occupation, Eindhoven suffered again with many of its houses destroyed by the invading forces.

Against Eugene's advice Amadeus insisted on engaging the French at Staffarda and suffered a serious defeat – only Eugene's handling of the Savoyard cavalry in retreat saved his cousin from disaster.

After World War I, the French film industry suffered because of a lack of capital, and film production decreased as it did in most other European countries.

Richard's younger brother John, who succeeded him, was not so fortunate ; he suffered the loss of Normandy and numerous other French territories following the disastrous Battle of Bouvines.

The French population suffered much from these wars.

It has been argued that the difficult conditions the French population suffered during the Hundred Years ' War awakened French nationalism, a nationalism represented by Joan of Arc ( 1412 – 1431 ).

The French king at the time of Joan's birth, Charles VI, suffered bouts of insanity and was often unable to rule.

As part of the fierce diplomatic competition in Ankara in the spring and summer of 1939 between von Papen on the one hand, and on the other the French Ambassador, René Massigli, and the British Ambassador, Sir Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen, to win the allegiance of Turkey to either the Axis or the Allies, Ribbentrop suffered a major reversal in July 1939 when Massigli was able to arrange for major French arms shipments to Turkey on credit, to replace the weapons the Germans refused to deliver to the Turks.

The city, previously under threat from the French, was no longer in danger as Charles VIII had suffered defeats.

In the far north, the English on several occasions sent fleets to raid French settlements and destroy fishing stages on Newfoundland, but suffered the loss of St. John's in 1708 / 9 after the French made an overland march from Plaisance.

French doctors also said that Arafat suffered from a blood condition known as disseminated intravascular coagulation, although it is inconclusive what brought about the condition.

" When he did finally begin pulling away, British leaders interpreted it as a retreat: " the French van suffered most, because it was obliged to bear away.

Haiti was required to pay an indemnity of 150, 000, 000 francs to France in order to atone for the loss suffered by the French slave owners.

However the Prussians resisted strongly, and the French suffered 86 casualties to the Prussian 83 casualties.

The 20 French and Bavarian battalions in Ramillies, supported by Irish dragoons and a small brigade of Cologne and Bavarian Guards under the Marquis de Maffei, put up a determined defence, initially driving back the attackers with severe losses.

Both ships were soon fighting enemies much more powerful than themselves and began to take severe damage: Captain Henry Darby on Bellerophon missed his intended anchor near Franklin and instead found his ship underneath the main battery of the French flagship, while Captain George Blagdon Westcott on Majestic also missed his station and almost collided with Heureux, coming under heavy fire from Tonnant.

Such tactics were successfully used by the French, for example, at the Battle of Friedland, when sixty-six guns fired a total of 3, 000 roundshot and 500 rounds of grapeshot, inflicting severe casualties to the Russian forces, whose losses numbered over 20, 000 killed and wounded, in total.

French troops were landed in order to restore order, which was achieved only after severe damage to the town.

With a large expedition that eventually included 40 000 European troops, and receiving help from white colonists and mulatto forces commanded by Alexandre Pétion, a former lieutenant of Rigaud, the French won several victories after severe fighting.

In the following decade, French neurologist Guillaume Duchenne gave a comprehensive account of thirteen boys with the most common and severe form of the disease, which now carries his name — Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

After a series of setbacks that includes a severe frost in 1956 and several vintages in the 1960s lost to rot, French authorities in Bordeaux banned new plantings of Merlot vines between 1970 and 1975.

Part of the rationale for the Maginot Line stemmed from the severe French losses during the First World War, and their effects on French demographics.

Having been imposed by a foreign power, and relying on French troops to survive, the Helvetic Republic was highly unpopular and encountered severe economic and political problems and uprisings.

The French van also took a beating, although it was less severe.

De Grasse gave signals for the van to move further ahead so that more of the French fleet might engage, but Bougainville, fully engaged with the British van at musket range, did not want to risk " severe handling had the French presented the stern.

Although encountering severe fire, a massed cavalry charge split the Boer defences on 15 February, opening the way for French to enter Kimberley that evening, ending its 124 days ’ siege.

Suffering a severe shortage of officers following the capture of most of the professional French army at the Siege of Metz and the Battle of Sedan, naval officers were taken from their ships to officer the hastily assembled gardes mobiles or French reserve army units.

While French losses were proportionally severe, the smaller but better protected Spanish trade suffered the least and it was Spanish privateers who enjoyed much of the best allied plunder of British trade, particularly in the West Indies.

This war also proceeded disastrously for the Stadtholder's forces, and in the severe winter of 1794 / 95 a French army under general Charles Pichegru, with a Dutch contingent under general Herman Willem Daendels, crossed the great frozen rivers that traditionally protected the Netherlands from invasion.

On 27 August, Leopold and King Frederick William II of Prussia, in consultation with émigrés French nobles, issued the Declaration of Pillnitz, which declared the interest of the monarchs of Europe in the well-being of Louis and his family, and threatened vague but severe consequences if anything should befall them.

In keeping with the Schlieffen Plan, the Germans withdrew slowly while inflicting severe losses upon the French.

Religious persecution in France became severe when King Louis XIV issued the Edict of Fontainebleau in 1685, which revoked the Edict of Nantes, that had given substantial rights to French Protestants.

Franckel and Moro-Giafferi, however, took the view that if Grynszpan was allowed to claim that he had shot vom Rath with such a motive, this would result in his certain conviction and possibly take him to the guillotine ( despite his being a minor ), since French law took a severe view of political assassination.

Papon was stripped of all his decorations ; under French law, people convicted of severe crimes cannot be members of the Legion of Honour.

A few hours later, as Dayan was on the roof of the building using binoculars to scan enemy Vichy French positions on the other side of the river, they were struck by a French rifle bullet fired by a marksman from several hundred yards away, propelling metal and glass fragments into his left eye and causing it severe damage.