153-791: 1915 1916 1917 1918 Associated articles The Great Retreat ( French : Grande Retraite ), also known as the retreat from Mons , was the long withdrawal to the River Marne in August and September 1914 by the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and the French Fifth Army . The Franco-British forces on the Western Front in the First World War had been defeated by the armies of
306-744: A French official to teachers in the department of Finistère , in western Brittany, included the following: "And remember, Gents: you were given your position in order to kill the Breton language". The prefect of Basses-Pyrénées in the French Basque Country wrote in 1846: "Our schools in the Basque Country are particularly meant to replace the Basque language with French..." Students were taught that their ancestral languages were inferior and they should be ashamed of them; this process
459-642: A chance to recover their strength and he reported that he would be ready to move again on 22 August. He asked permission to operate north of the Sambre against the Germans who were reported to be marching west against the British. Lanrezac lent the 11th Infantry Brigade (part of III Corps), but on 21 August Sordet's men were pushed out of Luttre and Pont-à-Celles , crossings on the Charleroi Canal north of
612-431: A comprehensive academic study entitled "The World's 10 most influential languages". In the article, Weber ranked French as, after English, the second-most influential language of the world, ahead of Spanish. His criteria were the numbers of native speakers, the number of secondary speakers (especially high for French among fellow world languages), the number of countries using the language and their respective populations,
765-503: A copy of the orders fell into German hands, which gave Bülow time to prepare. The attacks against the town by the XVIII Corps were a costly failure but the X and III corps on the right flank got forward and forced the Germans near Guise to fall back. The French attacked again during the morning of 30 August but the attacks were uncoordinated and repulsed; the Germans counter-attacked before noon. German infantry made slow progress through
918-572: A corps to the left flank in 5–6 days. On 17 September, the French Sixth Army attacked from Soissons to Noyon, at the westernmost point of the French flank, with the XIII and IV corps, supported by the 61st and 62nd divisions of the 6th Group of Reserve Divisions, after which the fighting moved north to Lassigny and the French dug in around Nampcel. The French Second Army completed a move from
1071-555: A foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050. French is the fastest growing language on the continent (in terms of either official or foreign languages). French is increasingly being spoken as a native language in Francophone Africa, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and
1224-598: A long distance raid, almost capturing von Kluck and First Army HQ at Vendrest . Sordet was one of fifty one French general officers who were relieved of their commands by Joffre in the first weeks of the war. Many were posted to the provincial garrison town of Limoges , and the verb limoger as a result still means "to be dismissed" in French; however, Sordet was appointed Inspector-General of Cavalry Depots with an office initially in Orleans and by April 1916, in Paris. He
1377-421: A mixed force of cavalry, infantry and artillery, which was repulsed until another attack at 10:45 a.m. and got round the western flank and advanced on an open area from Rond de la Reine to Croix de Belle Vue and filtered through gaps in the line of the 3rd Coldstream Guards, who fell back slowly, with the 2nd Grenadier Guards on the right. By 2:00 p.m. the British had retreated to the northern fringe of
1530-652: A period of prosperity and prominence among European nations. Richelieu established the Académie française to protect the French language. By the early 1800s, Parisian French had become the primary language of the aristocracy in France. Near the beginning of the 19th century, the French government began to pursue policies with the end goal of eradicating the many minorities and regional languages ( patois ) spoken in France. This began in 1794 with Henri Grégoire 's "Report on
1683-494: A relic of the old nominal case system of Latin longer than most other Romance languages (with the notable exception of Romanian which still currently maintains a case distinction), differentiating between an oblique case and a nominative case. The phonology was characterized by heavy syllabic stress, which led to the emergence of various complicated diphthongs such as -eau which would later be leveled to monophthongs. The earliest evidence of what became Old French can be seen in
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#17327728633911836-587: A second language. French is the second most taught foreign language in the EU. All institutions of the EU use French as a working language along with English and German ; in some institutions, French is the sole working language (e.g. at the Court of Justice of the European Union ). French is also the 16th most natively spoken language in the world, the sixth most spoken language by total number of speakers , and
1989-526: A second language. However it has also become a native language in a number of urban areas, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and the Democratic Republic of the Congo . In some North African countries, though not having official status, it is also a first language among some upper classes of the population alongside indigenous languages, but only
2142-941: A second one among the general population. In 2015, approximately 40% of the Francophone population (including L2 and partial speakers) lived in Europe, 36% in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania. French is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union . Of Europeans who speak other languages natively, approximately one-fifth are able to speak French as
2295-547: A variant of Canadian French , is spoken in parts of New England . Missouri French was historically spoken in Missouri and Illinois (formerly known as Upper Louisiana ), but is nearly extinct today. French also survived in isolated pockets along the Gulf Coast of what was previously French Lower Louisiana , such as Mon Louis Island , Alabama and DeLisle, Mississippi (the latter only being discovered by linguists in
2448-462: A weak infantry detachment and attacked with three dismounted squadrons, intending to charge with three more. The Germans eventually managed to disengage and withdraw behind a hill north of the woods; during the evening the British retired to the south. In a dense fog on 1 September, the British 1st Cavalry Brigade prepared to leave their bivouac and were surprised and attacked by the 4th Cavalry Division shortly after dawn. Both sides fought dismounted;
2601-437: Is 95%, and in the French collectivity of Wallis and Futuna , it is 84%. In French Polynesia and to a lesser extent Wallis and Futuna, where oral and written knowledge of the French language has become almost universal (95% and 84% respectively), French increasingly tends to displace the native Polynesian languages as the language most spoken at home. In French Polynesia, the percentage of the population who reported that French
2754-779: Is a Romance language of the Indo-European family . Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire . French evolved from Gallo-Romance , the Latin spoken in Gaul , and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl —languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French ( Francien ) largely supplanted. French
2907-472: Is a widespread second language among the Lebanese people , and is taught in many schools along with Arabic and English. French is used on Lebanese pound banknotes, on road signs, on Lebanese license plates , and on official buildings (alongside Arabic). Today, French and English are secondary languages of Lebanon , with about 40% of the population being Francophone and 40% Anglophone. The use of English
3060-489: Is also a working language in nonprofit organisations such as the Red Cross (alongside English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian), Amnesty International (alongside 32 other languages of which English is the most used, followed by Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Italian), Médecins sans Frontières (used alongside English, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic), and Médecins du Monde (used alongside English). Given
3213-430: Is among the top five most studied languages worldwide, with about 120 million learners as of 2017. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 16th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. French has a long history as an international language of literature and scientific standards and is a primary or second language of many international organisations including
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#17327728633913366-462: Is an official language in 27 countries , as well as one of the most geographically widespread languages in the world, with about 50 countries and territories having it as a de jure or de facto official, administrative, or cultural language. Most of these countries are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 54 member states which share
3519-652: Is enacted only in New Brunswick, where about one third of the population is Francophone. French is also an official language of all of the territories ( Northwest Territories , Nunavut , and Yukon ). Out of the three, Yukon has the most French speakers, making up just under 4% of the population. Furthermore, while French is not an official language in Ontario , the French Language Services Act ensures that provincial services are available in
3672-503: Is growing in the business and media environment. Out of about 900,000 students, about 500,000 are enrolled in Francophone schools, public or private, in which the teaching of mathematics and scientific subjects is provided in French. Actual usage of French varies depending on the region and social status. One-third of high school students educated in French go on to pursue higher education in English-speaking institutions. English
3825-404: Is known as Old French. The period of Old French spanned between the 8th and 14th centuries. Old French shared many characteristics with Latin. For example, Old French made use of different possible word orders just as Latin did because it had a case system that retained the difference between nominative subjects and oblique non-subjects . The period is marked by a heavy superstrate influence from
3978-469: Is often considered to be a useful skill by business owners in the United Kingdom; a 2014 study found that 50% of British managers considered French to be a valuable asset for their business, thus ranking French as the most sought-after foreign language there, ahead of German (49%) and Spanish (44%). MIT economist Albert Saiz calculated a 2.3% premium for those who have French as a foreign language in
4131-828: Is one of the official languages of such major international and regional courts, tribunals, and dispute-settlement bodies as the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights , the Caribbean Court of Justice , the Court of Justice for the Economic Community of West African States , the Inter-American Court of Human Rights , the International Court of Justice , the International Criminal Tribunal for
4284-576: Is taught in universities around the world, and is one of the world's most influential languages because of its wide use in the worlds of journalism, jurisprudence , education, and diplomacy. In diplomacy, French is one of the six official languages of the United Nations (and one of the UN Secretariat 's only two working languages ), one of twenty official and three procedural languages of the European Union , an official language of NATO ,
4437-553: Is the language of business and communication, with French being an element of social distinction, chosen for its emotional value. French is an official language of the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu , where 31% of the population was estimated to speak it in 2023. In the French special collectivity of New Caledonia , 97% of the population can speak, read and write French while in French Polynesia this figure
4590-483: Is the native language of about 23% of the Swiss population, and is spoken by 50% of the population. Along with Luxembourgish and German, French is one of the three official languages of Luxembourg , where it is generally the preferred language of business as well as of the different public administrations. It is also the official language of Monaco . At a regional level, French is acknowledged as an official language in
4743-492: Is the second-most spoken language (after English) in the states of Maine and New Hampshire . In Louisiana , it is tied with Spanish for second-most spoken if Louisiana French and all creoles such as Haitian are included. French is the third most spoken language (after English and Spanish) in the states of Connecticut , Rhode Island , and New Hampshire . Louisiana is home to many distinct French dialects, collectively known as Louisiana French . New England French , essentially
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4896-424: Is the sole official language in the province of Quebec , where some 80% of the population speak it as a native language and 95% are capable of conducting a conversation in it. Quebec is also home to the city of Montreal , which is the world's fourth-largest French-speaking city, by number of first language speakers. New Brunswick and Manitoba are the only officially bilingual provinces, though full bilingualism
5049-483: The 5th Division to conform and by nightfall II Corps had established a new defensive line, running through the villages of Montrœul, Boussu , Wasmes , Paturages and Frameries . The Germans had built pontoon bridges over the canal and were approaching the British positions in great strength. By nightfall on 24 August, the British had retreated to defensive lines on the Valenciennes–Maubeuge road. Outnumbered by
5202-764: The Aosta Valley region of Italy where it is the first language of approximately 50% of the population, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands . It is also spoken in Andorra and is the main language after Catalan in El Pas de la Casa . The language is taught as the primary second language in the German state of Saarland , with French being taught from pre-school and over 43% of citizens being able to speak French. The majority of
5355-462: The Aosta Valley region of Italy; and various communities elsewhere. French is estimated to have about 310 million speakers, of which about 80 million are native speakers. According to the OIF, approximately 321 million people worldwide are "able to speak the language" as of 2022, without specifying the criteria for this estimation or whom it encompasses. In Francophone Africa, it is spoken mainly as
5508-539: The Democratic Republic of Congo . There is not a single African French , but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages . Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth. It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years. Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries, but written forms of
5661-485: The European Union , French was the dominant language within all institutions until the 1990s. After several enlargements of the EU (1995, 2004), French significantly lost ground in favour of English, which is more widely spoken and taught in most EU countries. French currently remains one of the three working languages, or "procedural languages", of the EU, along with English and German. It is the second-most widely used language within EU institutions after English, but remains
5814-559: The Francien dialect is one that not only continued but also thrived during the Middle French period (14th–17th centuries). Modern French grew out of this Francien dialect. Grammatically, during the period of Middle French, noun declensions were lost and there began to be standardized rules. Robert Estienne published the first Latin-French dictionary, which included information about phonetics, etymology, and grammar. Politically,
5967-796: The German Empire at the Battle of Charleroi (21 August) and the Battle of Mons (23 August). A counter-offensive by the Fifth Army, with some assistance from the BEF, at the First Battle of Guise (Battle of St. Quentin 29–30 August) failed to end the German advance and the retreat continued over the Marne. From 5 to 12 September, the First Battle of the Marne ended the Allied retreat and forced
6120-877: The International Olympic Committee , the Council of Europe , the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , Organization of American States (alongside Spanish, Portuguese and English), the Eurovision Song Contest , one of eighteen official languages of the European Space Agency , World Trade Organization and the least used of the three official languages in the North American Free Trade Agreement countries. It
6273-626: The Oaths of Strasbourg and the Sequence of Saint Eulalia , while Old French literature began to be produced in the eleventh century, with major early works often focusing on the lives of saints (such as the Vie de Saint Alexis ), or wars and royal courts, notably including the Chanson de Roland , epic cycles focused on King Arthur and his court , as well as a cycle focused on William of Orange . It
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6426-563: The Râperie , were able to withdraw, under cover of the other two batteries of the XXVII Brigade. The 1st Army had attempted to trap British rearguards at Crépy and Villers-Cotterêts (Villers) but they had slipped away. Air reconnaissance revealed that British columns were moving south from the area south-west of Villers, south of Crépy and from Creil. On 31 August, German air reconnaissance saw British columns marching towards Villers and
6579-719: The Sixth Army . Maunoury was able to fall back behind the River Avre (29 August) because of the Battle of Guise . Sordet was under Maunoury's Sixth Army from 30 August to 1 September. Captain Lepic of Sordet's corps, reconnoitring northwest of Compiègne on 31 August, saw nine German cavalry squadrons ( Uhlans , some of whom had discarded their helmets, were wearing cloth caps and were pretending to be "Englisch" ) followed by an infantry column 15 minutes later. They were not making south for Paris but rather south-east for Compiègne,
6732-1012: The United Nations , the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization , the World Trade Organization , the International Olympic Committee , the General Conference on Weights and Measures , and the International Committee of the Red Cross . French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended primarily from Vulgar Latin ) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France. The language's early forms include Old French and Middle French . Due to Roman rule, Latin
6885-421: The cavalry arm. By August 1903, Sordet had been promoted to General de brigade and was given command of the 5th Dragoon Brigade, followed by command of 5th Cavalry Division in September 1907, 4th Cavalry Division in April 1910 and X Army Corps in May 1912. He was appointed a Knight of the Legion of Honour in July 1893, an Officer in July 1904 and a Commander in December 1912. In 1914, Sordet commanded
7038-455: The 1990s) but these varieties are severely endangered or presumed extinct. French is one of two official languages in Haiti alongside Haitian Creole . It is the principal language of education, administration, business, and public signage and is spoken by all educated Haitians. It is also used for ceremonial events such as weddings, graduations, and church masses. The vast majority of the population speaks Haitian Creole as their first language;
7191-430: The 1st Army and with the French Fifth Army also falling back, the BEF continue to retire. The I Corps retreated to Landrecies and II Corps to Le Cateau . The British suffered 1,642 casualties, the Germans 2,000. On the evening of 25 August, British II Corps commander General Horace Smith-Dorrien , ordered his corps to stand and fight to deliver a stopping blow to the Germans. The Allies set up defensive positions near
7344-573: The 1st Army enveloped the French from the west and then attacked on 1 September. The 2nd Army pursuit took only four guns, 16 machine-guns and c. 1,700 prisoners. On 31 August the Fifth Army continued the retreat to the Marne. Joffre used the railways which had transported French troops to the German frontier, to move troops back from Lorraine and Alsace, forming a new Sixth Army under General Michel-Joseph Maunoury , with nine divisions and two cavalry divisions. By 10 September, twenty divisions and three cavalry divisions had been moved west from
7497-454: The 1st Army headquarters assumed that troops in the Oise valley were British and those retreating towards Soissons were French. Kluck concluded that it would be impossible to trap the British but a pursuit towards Soissons might catch up with the French. The II Cavalry Corps was ordered to advance southwards, as it was assumed that the British had reached Villers. During the afternoon another air reconnaissance reported that many troops were seen at
7650-474: The 20th century, when it was replaced by English as the United States became the dominant global power following the Second World War . Stanley Meisler of the Los Angeles Times said that the fact that the Treaty of Versailles was written in English as well as French was the "first diplomatic blow" against the language. During the Grand Siècle (17th century), France, under the rule of powerful leaders such as Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV , enjoyed
7803-487: The Aisne and the Franco-British were following-up, collecting stragglers and equipment. On 12 September, Joffre ordered an outflanking move to the west and an attack northwards by the Third Army to cut off the German retreat. The pursuit was too slow; on 14 September the German armies had dug in north of the Aisne and the Allies met trench lines rather than rearguards. Frontal attacks by the Ninth, Fifth and Sixth armies were repulsed on 15–16 September, which led Joffre to begin
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#17327728633917956-410: The BEF at Mons. By 20 August, the Fifth Army had begun to concentrate on a 40 km (25 mi) front along the Sambre, centred on Charleroi and extending east to the Belgian fortress of Namur . On the left flank, the Sordet Cavalry Corps linked the Fifth Army to the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) at Mons . General Joseph Joffre ordered Lanrezac to attack across the Sambre but this attack
8109-399: The Battles of Morhange and Sarrebourg ( 14–20 August ) advances by the First Army on Sarrebourg and the Second Army towards Morhange. Château Salins near Morhange was captured on 17 August and Sarrebourg the next day. The German 6th and 7th armies counter-attacked on 20 August, the Second Army was forced back from Morhange and the First Army was repulsed at Sarrebourg. The German armies crossed
8262-422: The Belgian field army at the Battle of the Gete . Next day the Belgian army began to retire towards Antwerp, which left the route to Namur open; Longwy and Namur were besieged on 20 August. Further west, the Fifth Army had concentrated on the Sambre by 20 August, facing north on either side of Charleroi and east towards the Belgian fortress of Namur. On the left, the Cavalry Corps (General André Sordet ) linked with
8415-399: The British 4th Division to pull away that night. The liaison officer Victor Huguet gave Sordet even greater praise on 28 August, claiming that he had helped the entire British II Corps withdraw. Snow was highly critical of Sordet's conduct at Le Cateau, believing that he never intended to do more than demonstrate, but that the French Territorials and artillery on the left had helped protect
8568-399: The British artillery was mostly put out of action in the first few minutes but a gun of L Battery , Royal Horse Artillery kept up a steady fire for 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 hours, against a battery of twelve German field guns. British reinforcements arrived at around 8:00 a.m., when the German cavalry had nearly overrun some of the British artillery. Three British cavalry regiments assembled at
8721-526: The British flank. Snow wrote that there were not enough Germans to attempt to turn the British left flank until 3pm when 4th Division was already beginning to withdraw. Snow thought the guns which were heard that afternoon were more likely to belong to the Cambrai garrison. Snow also wrote that Sordet's guns opened fire at 6.30pm. Snow was wrong about this; in fact this was the time when Sordet broke off against German IV Reserve Corps, and his forces undoubtedly helped 4th Division to withdraw. Smith-Dorrien ,
8874-437: The British forces and caused a delay of an hour until 1am in the pullback of British II Corps . Sordet's corps was bivouacked between Walincourt and Esnes on the night of 25/6 "wet through and the horses dead beat". At the Battle of Le Cateau (26 August) Sordet's men were deployed on the British left. Sordet moved off south very early on 26 August. 1st Cavalry Division moved to Villers-Guilain, 14 miles south of Cambrai and
9027-421: The British left. The forces exchanged stirring messages via Colonel Edmonds , only for the French cavalry to withdraw immediately under shrapnel fire. Sordet, whose corps was by now incapable of fighting as a whole, formed a Provisional Cavalry Division under General Cornulier-Luciniere from the regiments which were still mobile, and placed it for two days at the disposal of Michel-Joseph Maunoury , commander of
9180-497: The British retreat continued south towards Paris , there were small, vigorous holding actions by various units of the British rearguard . The German 2nd Army commander General Karl von Bülow had ordered a rapid pursuit after the battles of 21–24 August against the French Fifth Army and the BEF. The 1st and 2nd armies were sent to the south-west to gain the left flank of the Allied line. The X Reserve Corps encountered "especially obstinate" resistance at Marbaix and Le Grand-Fayt. On
9333-445: The British retreat, observing that Messimy testified at the postwar Briey hearings that there were 25 to 30 million relevant documents for the period in the archives. Sir John French, worried at being cut off from the English Channel, visited Sordet at Avesnes on 24 August, and was informed that the Allied west flank was being defended by Territorial Army forces (reservists aged between 35 and 48) under Albert d'Amade at Arras and by
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#17327728633919486-510: The Canadian capital, is also effectively bilingual, as it has a large population of federal government workers, who are required to offer services in both French and English, and is just across the river from the Quebecois city of Gatineau . According to the United States Census Bureau (2011), French is the fourth most spoken language in the United States after English, Spanish, and Chinese, when all forms of French are considered together and all dialects of Chinese are similarly combined. French
9639-614: The Caribbean that are collectively referred to as the French West Indies , namely Guadeloupe , Saint Barthélemy , Saint Martin , and Martinique . French is the official language of both French Guiana on the South American continent, and of Saint Pierre and Miquelon , an archipelago off the coast of Newfoundland in North America. French was the official language of the colony of French Indochina , comprising modern-day Vietnam , Laos , and Cambodia . It continues to be an administrative language in Laos and Cambodia, although its influence has waned in recent decades. In colonial Vietnam,
9792-417: The Cavalry Corps marched westward behind the BEF retreat, to the south of Esnes where British 12th Brigade was. That day War Minister Messimy complained to Joffre that German cavalry were running amok in Belgium and that "Sordet, who has had very little fighting, is asleep. This is inadmissible." This was unfair criticism from a man who was soon to be forced to resign. That night Sordet's forces passed behind
9945-408: The Empire, this local elite had been slowly abandoning Gaulish entirely, but the rural and lower class populations remained Gaulish speakers who could sometimes also speak Latin or Greek. The final language shift from Gaulish to Vulgar Latin among rural and lower class populations occurred later, when both they and the incoming Frankish ruler/military class adopted the Gallo-Roman Vulgar Latin speech of
10098-427: The French forces, ordered Sordet to fall back on Landrecies on the next day, between the BEF and the Fifth Army. Lanrezac changed his mind an hour or so later and ordered Sordet to fall back to the BEF left as previously ordered. Later that day Lanrezac was informed that Joffre had taken direct command of Sordet with effect from 25 August, although GQG were not clear where he was. He brought his exhausted horses round
10251-428: The French into a disorderly retreat late on 23 August. The Third Army recoiled towards Verdun, pursued by the 5th Army and the Fourth Army retreated to Sedan and Stenay. Mulhouse was recaptured again by German forces and the Battle of the Meuse 26–28 August), caused a temporary halt of the German advance. Liège was occupied by the Germans on 7 August, the first units of the BEF landed in France and French troops crossed
10404-405: The French right flank and on 23 August, the Fifth Army began a retirement southwards to avoid encirclement. The Battle of Mons was a subsidiary action of the Battle of the Frontiers , the BEF attempted to hold the line of the Mons–Condé Canal against the advancing German 1st Army . During 23 August the Germans concentrated on the British at the salient formed by a loop in the canal. At 9:00 a.m.,
10557-412: The French right flank, held by I Corps (General Louis Franchet d'Esperey ). The French stopped the German advance and delivered a counter-attack. The Fifth Army was confronted by the German 3rd and 2nd armies from the east and the north. Before the Fifth Army could attack over the Sambre the 2nd Army attacked at the Battle of Charleroi and at Namur on 21 August. The 3rd Army crossed the Meuse and attacked
10710-442: The Frontiers and during Great Retreat of August 1914. Born on 17 May 1852 at Saint-Germain-du-Plain in the Saône-et-Loire department , the son of Claude Alfred Sordet and Marguerite Marie de la Blanche. Sordet was commissioned into the 57th Infantry Regiment as a second lieutenant in November 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War . In September 1871, he attended the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr and specialised in
10863-463: The German 4th Army and 5th Army advanced through the Ardennes on 19 August towards Neufchâteau. An offensive by French Third Army and Fourth Army through the Ardennes began on 20 August, in support of the French invasion of Lorraine. The opposing armies met in thick fog and the French mistook the German troops for screening forces. On 22 August the Battle of the Ardennes (21–28 August) began with French attacks, which were costly to both sides and forced
11016-663: The German IV Reserve Corps, which had moved into the area that morning. The French were stopped short of high ground north of Meaux. Overnight the IV Reserve Corps withdrew to a better position 10 km (6.2 mi) east and French air reconnaissance observed German forces moving north to face the Sixth Army. General Alexander von Kluck the 1st Army commander, ordered the II Corps to move back to
11169-752: The German armies to retire towards the Aisne River and to fight the First Battle of the Aisne (13–28 September) . Reciprocal attempts to outflank the opposing armies to the north known as the Race to the Sea followed from (17 September to 17 October). The Battle of the Frontiers is a general name for all of the operations of the French armies until the Battle of the Marne. A series of encounter battles began between
11322-530: The German attackers. The Munsters fell back to an orchard near Étreux and as night fell on the evening of 27 August, found themselves surrounded; having exhausted their ammunition, they surrendered. In the action at Ètreux, only four officers and 240 other ranks of the 2nd Munsters survived but the Battalion prevented German pursuit of the BEF I Corps, gaining valuable time for the BEF to escape. They were outnumbered at odds of over 6:1 and when finally defeated,
11475-535: The German border to the French centre and left and the balance of force between the German 1st–3rd armies and the Third, Fourth, Ninth, Fifth armies, the BEF and Sixth Army had changed to 44:56 divisions. Late on 4 September Joffre ordered the Sixth Army to attack eastwards over the Ourcq towards Château Thierry as the BEF advanced towards Montmirail and the Fifth Army attacked northwards, with its right flank protected by
11628-459: The German frontier. On 12 August, the Battle of Haelen was fought by German and Belgian cavalry and infantry and was a Belgian defensive success. The BEF completed its move of four divisions and a cavalry division to France on 16 August, as the last Belgian fort of the Position fortifiée de Liège surrendered. The Belgian government withdrew from Brussels on 18 August and the German army attacked
11781-495: The German, French and Belgian armies on the German–French frontier and in southern Belgium on 4 August 1914. The Battle of Mulhouse (Battle of Alsace 7–10 August ) was the first French offensive of the First World War against Germany. The French captured Mulhouse until forced out by a German counter-attack on 11 August and fell back toward Belfort. The main French offensive, the Battle of Lorraine (14–25 August) , began with
11934-484: The Germanic Frankish language , which non-exhaustively included the use in upper-class speech and higher registers of V2 word order , a large percentage of the vocabulary (now at around 15% of modern French vocabulary ) including the impersonal singular pronoun on (a calque of Germanic man ), and the name of the language itself. Up until its later stages, Old French , alongside Old Occitan , maintained
12087-490: The Germans attempted to cross four bridges over the canal at the salient. By the afternoon the British position in the salient had become untenable; to the east, units of the German IX Corps had begun to cross the canal, threatening the British right flank. At 3:00 p.m. the 3rd Division was ordered to retire from the salient, to positions a short distance to the south of Mons. A retreat was ordered towards evening by
12240-479: The Germans crossing the Meuse in order to march west through Belgium. Far from the opening weeks of war being marked by a "clash of cavalry" as predicted by prewar theorists, Sordet's three divisions failed to find any German troops until 8 August, when they encountered a security screen of German cavalry and machine-gun fire from Jägers around the northern group of armies near Liège and Namur and were unable to assess
12393-615: The I Cavalry Corps . General Joseph Joffre , the French Commander-in-Chief, believed that the main German thrust would be towards Verdun , but when Germany demanded passage of her troops through Belgium , he sent Sordet's corps into the Belgian Ardennes region to reconnoitre in force on 5 August. The Germans attacked the outermost Liège forts on 5 August. Three cavalry divisions under Sordet were to enter south-eastern Belgium on 6 August to reconnoitre
12546-604: The Lille garrison. Sir John asked Sordet to cover the British left, but Sordet initially asked to consult his own chain of command first. Sordet told Sir John that his horses were too tired to move, but he actually moved a long distance afterwards, a fact which Major-General Snow , commander of British 4th Division , later cited as evidence that Sordet is unlikely to have done much during the Battle of Le Cateau . At 10am on 24 August Lanrezac, concerned that Sir John French might be falling back on his lines of communication and away from
12699-599: The Meuse on 15 August, the first sign that they were coming further west than Joffre had anticipated. Sordet had been on the eastern side of the river. He made a brief attempt to attack the Germans from the south, but then crossed to the west bank at Givet and moved to a position northwest of Dinant . Sordet's men often covered 55 km (34 mi) per day, and at one point in August the 9th Cuirassiers covered 160 km (99 mi) in 48 hours. Unlike British cavalry who were trained to conserve their horses' strength by leading them whenever possible, French cavalry remained in
12852-600: The Ninth Army along the St. Gond marshes. The French First–Fourth armies to the east were to resist the attacks of the German 5th–7th armies between Verdun and Toul and repulse an enveloping attack on the defences south of Nancy from the north. The 6th and 7th armies were reinforced by heavy artillery from Metz and attacked again on 4 September along the Moselle. On 5 September the Sixth Army advanced eastwards from Paris against
13005-451: The Oise marshes amidst extensive artillery bombardments by both sides. By early afternoon, aircraft reconnaissance reports showed that the French had begun to withdraw and Bülow ordered a pursuit by small infantry parties with field artillery, while the main force paused to rest, due to exhaustion and to concern that the fortress of La Fère obstructed a general advance and should be masked, while
13158-490: The Sambre. On retiring, the corps was attached to the French Fifth Army during the Battle of Charleroi (21-3 August) and the Battle of Mons (23 August). By the end of 22 August, Lanrezac, commander of the Fifth Army, reported that Sordet's corps was "greatly exhausted" and that it had had to pull back, helping to open a gap of 16 km (9.9 mi) – enough for an enemy corps – between Fifth Army's left and
13311-917: The St Mihiel salient, south of the Verdun fortress zone. The main German effort remained on the western flank, which was revealed to the French by intercepted wireless messages. By 28 September, the Aisne front had stabilised; the BEF began to withdraw on the night of 1/2 October, the first troops arriving in the Abbeville area on 8/9 October. The BEF prepared to begin operations in Flanders and to join with British forces which had been in Belgium since August. Books Websites French language French ( français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] )
13464-530: The West Kent on the left flank. The 119th Battery of the XXVII Brigade RFA was about 100 yd (91 m) from the British line and fired 150 shells in five minutes, when the Germans had approached within 1,400 yd (1,300 m). By noon the British had fallen back and German cavalry patrols probed forward without infantry. On the right flank, the 2nd Duke of Wellingtons at a crossroads near
13617-476: The X Reserve Corps advancing towards Wassigny. Bülow had ordered the X Reserve Corps to continue its advance to the south-west, after the encounter at Le Grand-Fayt. The 2nd Royal Munster Fusiliers , had been ordered to hold its ground at all costs, in their first action in France. Less than a battalion strength, just three companies of the 2nd Battalion of the Munsters supported by a couple of field guns engaged
13770-488: The area east of the Meuse ( President Poincare and War Minister Messimy had wanted to send five corps, but this suggestion did not meet with Joffre's approval). Between 5 and 8 August Sordet's corps searched the country east of the Meuse as far as Liège, covering 180 kilometres (110 miles) in the last three days. They got within 9 miles of Liège, and also checked as far west as Charleroi , only to find no evidence yet of
13923-425: The armies on the left flank but the advance was too slow to catch the Germans, who ended their withdrawal on 14 September. The Germans had reached high ground on the north bank of the Aisne and begun to dig in, which limited the French advance from 15–16 September to a few local gains. French troops had begun to move westwards on 2 September, using the undamaged railways behind the French front, which were able to move
14076-460: The back of British Army and, in Spears' description, "that splendid little soldier never got rattled in the welter of contradictory orders he received", appearing on the British left on the evening of the 24th. Joffre wanted Sordet to reinforce d'Amade's three Territorial Divisions and the Lille garrison, which was now free to deploy after Lille had been declared an open city . On Tuesday 25 August
14229-456: The beginning of von Kluck 's great turning movement east of Paris. Sordet was then under the direct command of Joseph Gallieni , Military governor of Paris , from 1 September to 4 September. He crossed the Seine between Mantes and Melun on 3 September. He was then again placed under the command of Sixth Army from 5 September, and was ordered to collect his troops together by 7 September in
14382-569: The border and advanced on Nancy but were stopped to the east of the city. To the south the French retook Mulhouse on 19 August and then withdrew. On 24 August at the Battle of the Mortagne (14–25 August), a limited German offensive in the Vosges, the Germans managed a small advance, before a French counter-attack retook the ground. By 20 August a German counter-offensive in Lorraine had begun and
14535-654: The commander of British II Corps, thanked Sordet in his Order of the Day (29 August). In that document he wrote of the French on his left, especially the Territorials who had been engaging German troops further west, that "otherwise it is almost certain we should have had another corps against us on the 26th". However, Smith-Dorrien called the relevant chapter in his memoirs "Sordet's Tardy Help". In his original despatch (7 September) Sir John French wrote that Sordet gave no help and, according to General Snow, censured him. This
14688-584: The country near French-speaking Quebec, however, it is the foreign language more commonly taught. Vowel phonemes in French Andr%C3%A9 Sordet General Jean-François André Sordet (17 May 1852 – 28 July 1923) was a senior officer of the French Army . During the First World War his cavalry corps operated in close proximity to the British Expeditionary Force during the Battle of
14841-519: The demographic prospects of the French-speaking nations of Africa, researcher Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry wrote in 2014 that French "could be the language of the future". However, some African countries such as Algeria intermittently attempted to eradicate the use of French, and as of 2024 it was removed as an official language in Mali and Burkina Faso . Significant as a judicial language, French
14994-415: The east end of Néry and stopped the German attack with machine-gun fire, after dismounted German cavalry had got within 500 yd (460 m) and at 6:00 a.m. two squadrons of the 5th Dragoon Guards charged the German right flank. The 4th Cavalry Brigade arrived with an infantry battalion and began to envelop the northern flank of the 4th Cavalry Division, which was caught out when a delivery of ammunition
15147-475: The east end of the French line and took over command of the left-hand corps of the Sixth Army, as indications appeared that German troops were also being moved from the eastern flank. The German IX Reserve Corps had arrived from Belgium and on 16 September joined the 1st Army for an attack to the south-west with the IV Corps and the 4th and 7th Cavalry divisions, against the attempted French envelopment. The attack
15300-450: The eastern flank and met mounted cavalry near Moy; the 12th Royal Lancers forced the Germans to dismount with rifle fire and stampeded their horses. A squadron of mounted lancers got within 50 yd (46 m), charged and inflicted 70–80 casualties with swords and lances for a loss of five killed. The British gathered c. 30 wounded and estimated that the total German loss was 300 casualties. The Germans had expected to meet
15453-448: The economic power of the countries using the language, the number of major areas in which the language is used, and the linguistic prestige associated with the mastery of the language (Weber highlighted that French in particular enjoys considerable linguistic prestige). In a 2008 reassessment of his article, Weber concluded that his findings were still correct since "the situation among the top ten remains unchanged." Knowledge of French
15606-594: The elites primarily spoke French, while many servants who worked in French households spoke a French pidgin known as " Tây Bồi " (now extinct). After French rule ended, South Vietnam continued to use French in administration, education, and trade. However, since the Fall of Saigon and the opening of a unified Vietnam's economy, French has gradually been effectively displaced as the first foreign language of choice by English in Vietnam. Nevertheless, it continues to be taught as
15759-516: The first government authority to adopt Modern French as official was the Aosta Valley in 1536, while the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539) named French the language of law in the Kingdom of France . During the 17th century, French replaced Latin as the most important language of diplomacy and international relations ( lingua franca ). It retained this role until approximately the middle of
15912-866: The former Yugoslavia , International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea the International Criminal Court and the World Trade Organization Appellate Body . It is the sole internal working language of the Court of Justice of the European Union , and makes with English the European Court of Human Rights 's two working languages. In 1997, George Weber published, in Language Today ,
16065-551: The fronts of the VII Corps and X Reserve Corps on 31 August reported that the British were retreating south of the Aisne towards Crépy-en-Valois. The five Jägerbattalions of the II Cavalry Corps were sent towards Crépy on 1 September and encountered the 13th Brigade of the 5th Division, which began to retire at 10:00 a.m. A German attack began from Béthancourt, about 4 mi (6.4 km) from Crépy and mainly met
16218-583: The gap and by 8 September crossed the Petit Morin, which forced Bülow to withdraw the right flank of the 2nd Army. Next day the Fifth Army re-crossed the Marne and the German 1st and 2nd armies began to retire as the French Ninth, Fourth and Third armies fought defensive battles against the 3rd Army which was forced to retreat with the 1st and 2nd armies on 9 September. Further east the Third Army
16371-829: The gender of the corresponding word in Gaulish. The estimated number of French words that can be attributed to Gaulish is placed at 154 by the Petit Robert , which is often viewed as representing standardized French, while if non-standard dialects are included, the number increases to 240. Known Gaulish loans are skewed toward certain semantic fields, such as plant life ( chêne , bille , etc.), animals ( mouton , cheval , etc.), nature ( boue , etc.), domestic activities (ex. berceau ), farming and rural units of measure ( arpent , lieue , borne , boisseau ), weapons, and products traded regionally rather than further afield. This semantic distribution has been attributed to peasants being
16524-400: The gunfire only to come under heavy artillery and machine-gun fire. Abercrombie then ordered his force to retire on Le Grand Fayt, which locals had told him was clear of Germans, only to discover that Le Grand Fayt had been abandoned. Abercrombie and his men then came under heavy fire from Germans concealed in the village and the order was given to retreat through the surrounding fields. Despite
16677-404: The heavy German fire and the difficulty of communication in the close terrain, the retreat was carried out in an orderly fashion, although six officers and 280 men were reported as still missing on 29 August, including Abercrombie. By the evening the X Reserve Corps was still near Marbaix and Avesnes. The pursuit by the 2nd Army was ordered to continue on 27 August through Landrecies and Trélon, with
16830-454: The language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world. French is the second most commonly spoken language in Canada and one of two federal official languages alongside English. As of the 2021 Canadian census , it was the native language of 7.7 million people (21% of the population) and the second language of 2.9 million (8% of the population). French
16983-479: The language, although it has now given way to Tamil and English. A former French mandate , Lebanon designates Arabic as the sole official language, while a special law regulates cases when French can be publicly used. Article 11 of Lebanon's Constitution states that "Arabic is the official national language. A law determines the cases in which the French language is to be used". The French language in Lebanon
17136-612: The language. The Act applies to areas of the province where there are significant Francophone communities, namely Eastern Ontario and Northern Ontario . Elsewhere, sizable French-speaking minorities are found in southern Manitoba, Nova Scotia , Prince Edward Island and the Port au Port Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the unique Newfoundland French dialect was historically spoken. Smaller pockets of French speakers exist in all other provinces. The Ontarian city of Ottawa ,
17289-479: The last to hold onto Gaulish. The beginning of French in Gaul was greatly influenced by Germanic invasions into the country. These invasions had the greatest impact on the northern part of the country and on the language there. A language divide began to grow across the country. The population in the north spoke langue d'oïl while the population in the south spoke langue d'oc . Langue d'oïl grew into what
17442-534: The morning of 26 August 1914, the 2nd Connaught Rangers ( 2nd Division ) under Lieutenant-Colonel A.W. Abercrombie were covering the retreat of the British 5th Infantry Brigade from Petit Landrecies . Unknown to Abercrombie, by late morning the retreat had already taken place but the orders had not been received by the Connaught Rangers. Hearing the sound of rifle fire coming from near-by Marbaix , Abercrombie set off with two platoons of infantry towards
17595-420: The necessity and means to annihilate the patois and to universalize the use of the French language". When public education was made compulsory , only French was taught and the use of any other ( patois ) language was punished. The goals of the public school system were made especially clear to the French-speaking teachers sent to teach students in regions such as Occitania and Brittany . Instructions given by
17748-440: The north bank of the Marne, which began a redeployment of all four 1st Army corps to the north bank by 8 September. The swift move to the north bank prevented the Sixth Army from crossing the Ourcq but created a gap between the 1st and 2nd Armies. The BEF advanced from 6–8 September, crossed the Petit Morin and captured bridges over the Marne and established a bridgehead 8 km (5.0 mi) deep. The Fifth Army also advanced into
17901-652: The official use or teaching of French. It is spoken as a first language (in descending order of the number of speakers) in France; Canada (especially in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick); Belgium ( Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region ); western Switzerland (specifically the cantons forming the Romandy region); parts of Luxembourg; parts of the United States (the states of Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont); Monaco;
18054-534: The other main foreign language in the Vietnamese educational system and is regarded as a cultural language. All three countries are full members of La Francophonie (OIF). French was the official language of French India , consisting of the geographically separate enclaves referred to as Puducherry . It continued to be an official language of the territory even after its cession to India in 1956 until 1965. A small number of older locals still retain knowledge of
18207-471: The preferred language of certain institutions or administrations such as the Court of Justice of the European Union , where it is the sole internal working language, or the Directorate-General for Agriculture . Since 2016, Brexit has rekindled discussions on whether or not French should again hold greater role within the institutions of the European Union. A leading world language , French
18360-642: The region of Longjumeau - Brunoy , whilst the Provisional Cavalry Division moved east of Paris. In the space of a month, the corps had covered close to 1,500 kilometres (930 miles). On 8 September, during the Battle of the Ourcq (part of the First Battle of the Marne ), Sordet tried to envelop the northern flank of von Kluck's German First Army via the Bargny Plateau. His three divisions left their bivouacs around Nanteuil-le-Haudouin around dawn, approaching Lévignen . Sordet
18513-471: The rest largely speak French as a first language. As a French Creole language , Haitian Creole draws the large majority of its vocabulary from French, with influences from West African languages, as well as several European languages. It is closely related to Louisiana Creole and the creole from the Lesser Antilles . French is the sole official language of all the overseas territories of France in
18666-460: The right of the BEF. Together with the news which reached him at noon next day that Belgian 4th Division were evacuating Namur, this helped decide Lanrezac to pull back from his position at Charleroi. Sordet telegraphed to Lanrezac at 8 pm on the 23rd that Sir John French , commander-in-chief of the BEF, was pulling back to the Bavai - Maubeuge line (in fact this was a slight misunderstanding, as he
18819-447: The road from St. Quentin and were engaged by a party of cavalry with a machine-gun 0.5 mi (0.80 km) east of Cerizy supported by a section of Royal Horse Artillery. The party of cavalry was forced back but German attempts to enter La Guinguette Farm were repulsed. In the afternoon, two German cavalry squadrons advanced; the Germans dismounted and then their horses bolted, followed by the riders. The British immediately pursued around
18972-484: The saddle, causing saddle sores and the loss of many horses from exhaustion. Sordet's men had covered distances which, as Spears put it, "would have taxed even British cavalry", and yet he was under pressure to fulfil different roles. Sir John French wanted him to cover the assembly of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), whereas Charles Lanrezac wanted him to gather tactical intelligence and
19125-608: The same distance from 4 Division's left; it later moved forward to Cambrai. Sordet only moved up after receiving a message from Joffre timed 1pm ordering him not just to cover the British left flank but "to intervene in the battle with all the forces at [his] disposal". Spears wrote that after a march of 30 miles the previous day Sordet's artillery and cyclists attacked the flank of German forces attacking 4th Division, using their 75mm guns . Sordet's artillery fought from Séranvillers and Florenville south of Cambrai. Smith-Dorrien heard Sordet's guns around 4.30pm. Sordet's action helped
19278-429: The size of the German force. The reconnaissance had been, in historian Ian Senior's view, too early as half a million German infantry were still backing up the roads from Germany. After an exhausting march in August heat with little water, Sordet's men were back roughly where they had started by 10 August. After a rest on 10 August Sordet's forces were in constant movement between 11 and 18 August. The Germans crossed
19431-408: The survivors were congratulated by the Germans. The X Reserve Corps had continued its advance towards Wassigny and Étreux on 27 August, where the 19th Reserve Division reported that it had "scattered a British battalion". During the morning the 5th Cavalry Brigade moved to the west bank of the Oise about 2 mi (3.2 km) east of Cerizy ( Moÿ-de-l'Aisne ). Around noon German cavalry appeared on
19584-466: The total number of French speakers will reach approximately 500 million in 2025 and 650 million by 2050, largely due to rapid population growth in sub-Saharan Africa . OIF estimates 700 million French speakers by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa. In a study published in March 2014 by Forbes , the investment bank Natixis said that French could become the world's most spoken language by 2050. In
19737-502: The town; as I Corps had not arrived, Smith-Dorrien's right flank was unprotected. On the morning of the 26 August, the Germans attacked with two infantry and three cavalry divisions against a British force comprising three infantry divisions, an infantry brigade and a cavalry division. Of the 40,000 Entente troops fighting at Le Cateau, 5,212 men were killed or wounded, c. 2,600 troops were captured and thirty-eight British guns were lost. The Germans suffered 2,900 casualties. As
19890-626: The transfer of the Second Army west to the left flank of the Sixth Army, the first phase of the operations to outflank the German armies, which from 17 September to 17–19 October moved the opposing armies through Picardy and Flanders to the North Sea coast. On 10 September Joffre ordered the French armies and the BEF to exploit the victory of the Marne and for four days the armies on the left flank advanced against German rearguards. On 11 and 12 September, Joffre ordered outflanking manoeuvres by
20043-679: The two official languages—along with Dutch —of the Brussels-Capital Region , where it is spoken by the majority of the population (approx. 80%), often as their primary language. French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland, along with German, Italian, and Romansh , and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland, called Romandy , of which Geneva is the largest city. The language divisions in Switzerland do not coincide with political subdivisions, and some cantons have bilingual status: for example, cities such as Biel/Bienne and cantons such as Valais , Fribourg and Bern . French
20196-508: The urban intellectual elite. The Gaulish language likely survived into the sixth century in France despite considerable Romanization . Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the Vulgar Latin dialects that developed into French contributing loanwords and calques (including oui , the word for "yes"), sound changes shaped by Gaulish influence, and influences in conjugation and word order. Recent computational studies suggest that early gender shifts may have been motivated by
20349-485: The use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words. In Belgium, French is an official language at the federal level along with Dutch and German. At the regional level, French is the sole official language of Wallonia (excluding a part of the East Cantons , which are German-speaking ) and one of
20502-462: The village and that some might be captured. Kluck ordered the 1st Army to advance southwards with unlimited objectives. The 6th Division of the III Corps, crossed the Aisne at Vic on 1 September and engaged the 3rd Cavalry Brigade at Taillefontaine, about 5 mi (8.0 km) north-west of Villers and drove it slowly back towards the village. At 10:00 a.m. the 4th Guards Brigade was attacked by
20655-425: The village during hand-to-hand fighting. The British retreat began again at 6:00 p.m. and Villers was captured late in the night, after the British had retired to the south and south-west. By the end of the day the 1st Army headquarters had abandoned hope of cornering large British forces south of Verberie, Crépy-en-Valois and Villers. Joffre ordered a counter-attack by the Fifth Army on 29 August, at St. Quentin but
20808-536: The workplace. In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese . In English-speaking Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, French is the first foreign language taught and in number of pupils is far ahead of other languages. In the United States, French is the second-most commonly taught foreign language in schools and universities, although well behind Spanish. In some areas of
20961-402: The world's French-speaking population lives in Africa. According to a 2023 estimate from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie , an estimated 167 million African people spread across 35 countries and territories can speak French as either a first or a second language . This number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as
21114-417: Was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the ( Germanic ) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to the French colonial empire , there are numerous French-based creole languages , most notably Haitian Creole . A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French
21267-439: Was an exaggeration by Snow: in fact Sir John wrote that he sent Sordet an urgent message to support the retirement of the British left flank, but that Sordet was unable to intervene owing to the fatigue of his horses. But in his unreliable memoirs 1914 Sir John gave credit to Sordet, claiming that he had been ignorant of the assistance rendered by Sordet and d'Amade, and implying that Smith-Dorrien had misled him. By then Sir John
21420-432: Was cancelled and the corps was ordered to withdraw behind the right flank of the 1st Army. The 2nd and 9th Cavalry divisions were dispatched as reinforcements next day but before the retirement began, the French attack reached Carlepont and Noyon, before being contained on 18 September. The German armies attacked from Verdun westwards to Rheims and the Aisne on 20 September, cut the main railway from Verdun to Paris and created
21573-480: Was delayed just as it ran short. The Germans tried to remove the twelve field guns but lost many men to machine-gun fire and left eight guns behind. The 11th Hussars pursued the Germans for 1 mi (1.6 km) and took 78 prisoners. At 9:00 a.m., General Otto von Garnier heard reports that Crépy and Béthisy were occupied and broke off the engagement, to rally east of Néry; the 4th Cavalry Division then moved south via Rocquemont to Rozières. Air reconnaissance on
21726-423: Was dismissed by Joffre that day for having previously withdrawn his exhausted troops for rest and refitting. After the news filtered out that Sordet had been sacked (he was replaced by General Bridoux, formerly commander of 5th Cavalry Division), 1st and 3rd Cavalry Divisions attacked but gave up at dusk and returned to bivouacs to feed and water their horses. Over the next two days 5th Cavalry Division would conduct
21879-819: Was during the period of the Crusades in which French became so dominant in the Mediterranean Sea that became a lingua franca ("Frankish language"), and because of increased contact with the Arabs during the Crusades who referred to them as Franj , numerous Arabic loanwords entered French, such as amiral (admiral), alcool (alcohol), coton (cotton) and sirop (syrop), as well as scientific terms such as algébre (algebra), alchimie (alchemy) and zéro (zero). Within Old French many dialects emerged but
22032-522: Was forced back to the west of Verdun as German attacks were made on the Meuse Heights to the south-east but managed to maintain contact with Verdun and the Fourth Army to the west. German attacks against the Second Army south of Verdun from 5 September almost forced the French to retreat but on 8 September the crisis eased. By 10 September the German armies west of Verdun were retreating towards
22185-436: Was forestalled by the German 2nd Army on the morning of 21 August, which crossed the Sambre, establishing two bridgeheads which the French, lacking artillery, were unable to reduce. Bülow attacked again on 22 August with three corps against the entire Fifth Army front. Fighting continued on 23 August, when the French centre around Charleroi began to fall back. The German 3rd Army crossed the Meuse and launched an attack against
22338-400: Was gradually adopted by the inhabitants of Gaul. As the language was learned by the common people, it developed a distinct local character, with grammatical differences from Latin as spoken elsewhere, some of which is attested in graffiti. This local variety evolved into the Gallo-Romance tongues, which include French and its closest relatives, such as Arpitan . The evolution of Latin in Gaul
22491-582: Was just making inquiries about the possibility of doing so), and asked if he should "keep to [his] mission on its left". Edward Spears argued that this may have been the source for the "legend" that Lanrezac pulled back because the BEF was doing so. He wrote that in fact Lanrezac pulled back before receiving the message and answering it at 11.30pm. Barbara Tuchman disagreed, citing Lanrezac's later claim that he had "received confirmation" of Sordet's message. She also scoffed at Spears' claim that "no evidence" had been found to link Lanrezac's retreat to concern about
22644-517: Was keen to praise everybody but Smith-Dorrien, against whom he bore a grudge. On 27 August, GQG, which had again briefly lost contact with Sordet, ordered him to cover British left until the BEF had crossed the Somme , then remain around Saint-Quentin until given further orders. Snow later wrote that the only time he ever saw "the great Sordet and his cavalry" during the retreat was on 27 August, when he saw several squadrons two miles (3.2 km) to
22797-652: Was known in the Occitan-speaking region as Vergonha . Spoken by 19.71% of the European Union's population, French is the third most widely spoken language in the EU, after English and German and the second-most-widely taught language after English. Under the Constitution of France , French has been the official language of the Republic since 1992, although the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts made it mandatory for legal documents in 1539. France mandates
22950-647: Was retired from active service in February 1917 and posted to the reserve in April 1917. André Sordet was married in September 1888 to Blanche Marie Adèle Henriette Bergasse (1863–1939). They had four children; a son, Jacques (1889–1946), and three daughters, Marguerite (1892–1952), Yvonne (1895–1989) and Jeanne (1896–1969). Jacques Sordet fought as an infantry officer in the First World War and later became
23103-411: Was shaped by its coexistence for over half a millennium beside the native Celtic Gaulish language , which did not go extinct until the late sixth century, long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire . The population remained 90% indigenous in origin; the Romanizing class were the local native elite (not Roman settlers), whose children learned Latin in Roman schools. At the time of the collapse of
23256-437: Was the language they use the most at home rose from 67% at the 2007 census to 74% at the 2017 census. In Wallis and Futuna, the percentage of the population who reported that French was the language they use the most at home rose from 10% at the 2008 census to 13% at the 2018 census. According to a demographic projection led by the Université Laval and the Réseau Démographie de l'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie ,
23409-681: Was told by Joffre's deputy chief of staff Henri Berthelot on 17 August that this took priority. By 17 August, Liège having fallen, Sordet was ordered north of the Sambre by Joffre in a condition described by historian Barbara W. Tuchman as "shoeless". He was ordered to move up to Namur and Louvain to make contact with the remnants of Belgian Army to attempt to dissuade them from falling back on Antwerp . Grand Quartier Général (GQG) staff were unfairly angered at Sordet's "dilatoriness", even though his horses were too tired to do more than walk. Lanrezac demanded to Joffre on morning of 18th that he have use of Sordet's corps. Sordet's forces had now had
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