My friend and I are having a competition to see who can learn the most about the history of France from the beginning of the 10th century up until the start of WWI. Do you guys have any suggestions; like what events I should focus on or books, podcasts, documentaries, websites, movies, basically anything that will help me learn more about France during this time period?
If you ever need any help, I can help you for a majority of French history from 1648 till 1914, but beyond that I would recommend looking at the book list, we have a lot of books on various parts of French history and I personally wrote the section on the Revolutionary & Napoleonic era, although I have yet to find a balanced history of the Revolution.
I would focus on the first and second French Empire; so roughly the 1531 claim on Saint Alexis in Brazil all the way until World War One; but of course I am biased towards my own fields.
What level of material are you looking for? Academic or just general?
Do you speak/read french? If so we can probably recommend French sources as well.