User:Djwilms

Mon grand design

Today Wikipedia, tomorrow the world ...

I will shortly be publishing a full-length book on the Sino-French War of 1884-1885, which draws on both French and Chinese sources, and am presently contributing a series of related articles to Wikipedia. So far I have substantially rewritten the main article (Sino-French War) and edited/created a number of linked articles (Amédée Courbet, Bac Le ambush, Bac Ninh campaign, Battle of Bang Bo (Zhennan Pass), Battle of Fuzhou, Battle of Gia Cuc, Battle of Hoa Moc, Battle of Palan, Battle of Paper Bridge, Battle of Phu Hoai, Battle of Phu Lam Tao, Battle of Shipu, Battle of Zhenhai, Far East Squadron, François de Négrier, Henri Rivière, Keelung Campaign, Kep Campaign, Lang Son Campaign, Pescadores Campaign, Siege of Tuyen Quang, Son Tay Campaign, Tonkin Expeditionary Corps, Tonkin Flotilla and Zeng Jize). I have also begun to expand substantially the articles (some of them only stubs) on China's four regional fleets (Beiyang Fleet, Guangdong Fleet, Fujian Fleet and Nanyang Fleet), initially from a Sino-French War perspective. Eventually I hope to provide comprehensive coverage of these four fleets back to their establishment and up to and beyond the First Sino-Japanese War. I have also provided brief linking paragraphs to a range of related articles, including French Foreign Legion and Troupes de Marine.

I am presently in the process of rewriting or expanding the existing articles on Liu Yongfu, Black Flag Army, Tang Ching-sung, Feng Zicai and Japanese invasion of Taiwan (1895). I am hoping in the next few months to contribute several more substantial articles on the senior French military and naval commanders in the Sino-French War (e.g. Louis Brière de l'Isle, Charles-Théodore Millot, Marc-Edmond Dominé), the French conquest of Cochin China, Francis Garnier's Tonkin campaign in 1873 and the Vietnamese can vuong resistance movement after the Sino-French War. Eventually, I intend to contribute articles on each of the battles highlighted in bold type in my main Sino-French War article (with priority given to the battles of Nui Bop (4 January 1885) and Dong Dang (23 February 1885), and perhaps also do an article on Taiwan's coastal defences. This labour of love, however, might take some time. I will, of course, link all these articles to the main article.

I have worked on the (perhaps mistaken) assumption that I am one of the few people in the world who either knows (or cares) enough about the Sino-French War to be able to write authoritatively on it. If there are other enthusiasts out there, please get in touch. I would be delighted to hear from you. I would particularly welcome photographs of ships to complete the galleries for the various articles on the French and Chinese naval forces.

Some of these articles need more work, but others (particularly the main Sino-French War article) are pretty near complete, and I would welcome reviews of their quality and significance by readers. Most of them are at present stuck at the lowest level on the respective scales or still classified as stubs.

11 September 2008

Mes honneurs

		The High Culture Barnstar
		Awarded to Djwilms for his superlative work on the Sino-French war. Congratulations and keep up the great work! PHG (talk) 04:26, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

Mes projets

This user is a participant in
WikiProject China.

This user is a member of WikiProject France.

This user is a member of
WikiProject Military history.