The 40 most popular french war & politics TV shows, ranked. Click any show for ratings, reviews, trailers, and where to watch.


Has Fallen
2024 · FR
A protection officer and an MI6 operative team up after a terrorist attack. They suspect a mole as they race to thwart a larger conspiracy threatening Paris.


A French Village
2009 · FR
The stories of the people of Villeneuve, a fictional subprefecture, in the Jura, in German–occupied France during the Second World War.


Apocalypse: The Second World War
2009 · FR
A six-part French documentary about the Second World War composed exclusively of actual footage of the war as filmed by war correspondents, soldiers, resistance fighters and private citizens. The series is shown in color, with the black and white footage being fully colorized, save for some original color footage. The only exception to the treatment are most Holocaust scenes, which are presented in the original black and white.


Parliament
2020 · FR
Samy, a young parliamentary assistant, arrives in Brussels after the Brexit referendum. He is not fit for the job. Samy doesn't know much about European institutions and he hopes to get away with it thanks to his cleverness…


No Man's Land
2020 · FR
Dive into the depths of the Syrian civil war through the eyes of Antoine, a young Frenchman, in search for his estranged, presumed to be dead sister. While unraveling the mystery, piece by piece, Antoine’s journey crosses paths with adventurers and anarchists, spies and innocent victims, and provides a unique look on the tragic events in Syria, and the way they affect the entire world.


XIII: The Series
2011 · FR
After a plot to kill the president of the USA an agent with lost memories tries to recover his life and memories. Others use him to cover up some dirty business involving high ranking officials from the CIA and the White House.


Marie Antoinette
2022 · FR
Marie Antoinette is just a teenager when she leaves Austria to marry the Dauphin of France. At Versailles, under the complex rules of the French court, she suffers from not being able to live her life the way she wants, under pressure to continue the Bourbon line and secure the Franco-Austrian alliance.


Women at War
2022 · FR
France, 1914. The destinies of four women intersect : Marguerite, a mysterious Parisian prostitute, Caroline, propelled to the head of the family factory, Agnes, Mother Superior of a requisitioned convent and Suzanne, a feminist nurse.


Apocalypse: The Rise of Hitler
2011 · FR
Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) was a mediocre who rose to power because of the blindness and ignorance of the Germans, who believed he was nothing more than an eccentric dreamer. But when the crisis of 1929 devastated the economy, the population, fearful of chaos and communism, voted for him. And no one defended democracy. As the dictatorship extended its relentless shadow, the leader claimed peace, but was preparing the Apocalypse.


Napoleon
2002 · FR
A masterful soldier, tactician and statesmen, Napoleon Bonaparte's courage and love for his country sees him rise from an unpaid general consumed with ambition to the most powerful man in Europe, then his fall, and exile.


Kabul
2025 · FR
Kabul, August 14, 2021. The Taliban are at the gates of the city, and France prepares to evacuate its embassy. But the sudden fall of Kabul the next day rushes all the plans. French, Italian, German, American diplomats and the police must improvise the evacuation of hundreds of Afghans and refugees to the airport. While chaos reaches the city, the Afghans will soon have only two choices: to kneel or to run away.


Carlos
2010 · FR
The story of the Venezuelan Ilich Ramirez Sanchez known as "Carlos", who was, for almost twenty years, one of the most wanted terrorists in the world.


Exterior Night
2022 · FR
Italy, March 16, 1978. Aldo Moro, president of Christian Democracy, the ruling party, is kidnapped by the extreme left-wing terrorist gang Red Brigades. While the criminals put him on trial and condemn him, the Italian government and Pope Paul VI pull their twisted strings to save his life.


Carême
2025 · FR
Witness the rise of the world's first celebrity chef, Antonin Carême, and his descent into espionage in Napoleon-era France—where manipulation is king. With his gifts for gastronomy and seduction, he becomes the perfect weapon in a fight for power.


Napoleon: The Russian Campaign
2015 · FR
This docudrama revisits one of the most astounding military campaigns and defeats in history, Napoleon's attempted invasion of Russia.


Dark Hearts
2023 · FR
The French Special Forces are deployed in Iraq, on the eve of the battle of Mosul, in October 2016. The members of this commando have the mission of finding and exfiltrating the daughter and the grandson of an important French Emir of Daesh who captured and who will cooperate with them only on this condition.


The Line
1978 · FR
The series follows a group of Allied pilots who crashed in occupied territories during WWII. A network of civilians and Resistance fighters, "La Filière", is in charge of helping them pass from France to Spain so they can avoid capture.


Spin
2012 · FR
The President of the French Republic, visiting Saint-Etienne in the Loire, in a striking plant dies, victim of a bomb attack. The political world is agitated: early presidential elections to be held within the next thirty-five days. There is no doubt that Philip Deleuvre, the prime minister, will run for the Elysee. But what few people know is that the leader of the government knows more things he claimed. This state causes lie back to business Kapita Simon, a former communications adviser (spin doctor) of the late president. Anxious to preserve the honor of his deceased friend and some form of political ethics, the man of the shadows has now set a goal: to find a candidate who will be able to beat Deleuvre.


Les Misérables
2000 · FR
Set against the background of the French Revolution and based on Victor Hugo's classic novel this is the story of Jean Valjean who is sent to prison for stealing a loaf of bread and is released after nineteen years. He meets and cares for a beautiful but poverty-stricken young girl named Fantine who has daughter Cosette. After Fantine's death Valjean brings Cosette up but he is haunted by Javert - a policeman whose search for Valjean has become an obsession.


Apocalypse: World War I
2014 · FR
Colorized historical footage in ascending order of World War 1. Not only the relatively known Flanders and France battles, but also the generally unknown Italian-Austrian, German-Polish-Russian, Japanese-German, Ottoman Empire- Allied and African German Colonies, and other unknown or forgotten fronts and battles.


La Maison des bois
1971 · FR
During the Great War, in a small rural French village far from the front, a gamekeeper and his wife take in children displaced by the war.


Totems
2022 · FR
Set in 1965 in the midst of the Cold War, Totems follows a French scientist, Francis Mareuil, as he begins working as a spy. While working for the French Secret Service and the CIA, Mareuil meets Lyudmila Goloubeva, a pianist forced to work for the KGB. A romance blossoms between them but neither can be sure what is an expression of their true feelings, and what is the fruit of political shenanigans.


History of the World
2020 · AU
It's about human history, how humans shaped the world we live in. A history through cultures and civilizations - from early Mesopotamia to the industrial revolution. Documentary series from various european production company’s like BBC, SVT, NRK, DR, ARTE, Covering serveral topics of war, Persons Like Cleopatra, Hitler, George Washington, etc


Sentinelles
2022 · FR
In the Mopti region of Mali, Lieutenant Anaïs Collet's section, deployed as part of Operation Barkhane, is dedicated to tracking down terrorists. However, an ambush rekindles tensions between the military and the Malian population.


Apocalypse: Never-Ending War (1918-1926)
2018 · FR
November 11, 1918. The world emerges from the most horrific conflict ever known. While leaders of the victorious countries design a new world order, traumatized societies struggle to find their footing. In the aftermath of war the Russian, German, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires fall apart, currencies fluctuate wildly, and vast numbers of refugees flee misery. Before long, age-old hatreds, fears, and resentments resurface and drive the world to the brink of a new apocalypse.


Resistance
2014 · FR
In occupied France, 17-year-old Lili encounters war before love, and joins the Resistance. Through the interconnecting destinies of its teenage heroes, Resistance tells the story of young people going to any lengths to defend their country.


Clash of Futures (1918-1939)
2018 · FR
From the armistice of 1918, which marked the end of the First World War, to the declaration of war in September 1939, the beginning of the Second World War: an era during which there was an aspiration to create a new world, prosperous and at peace, but which provoked a new tragedy, seen through the destinies of thirteen people who were both actors and witnesses of the upheavals of the so-called inter-war period.


The Long War: Iran, Israel, USA
2020 · FR
Today, Israel and the United States are Iran's enemies par excellence. Their reconciliation seems impossible. Is the history of these three countries the chronicle of a war foretold, delayed for decades but inevitable?


Les Semailles et les Moissons
2001 · FR
No overview available


Apocalypse: The Fall of Hitler
2023 · FR
Summer 1943: Hitler engages in a decisive battle in Kursk to win the war in the East. This is without counting on the pugnacity of the Red Army and the Allied intervention in the West. Month after month, the noose tightens on the Nazi tyrant who refuses to admit defeat and precipitates his country in its fall.


Dates That Made History
2018 · FR
Historian Patrick Boucheron revisits the most important dates in history through the prisms of memory and collective imagination.


The Anatomy of a Moment
2025 · FR
Madrid, Spain, February 23, 1981. A group of Civil Guards storm into the Congress of Deputies and terrorize those present by firing shots into the air. Only three men remain unmoved: Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez; Vice President Manuel Gutiérrez Mellado; and Santiago Carrillo, leader of the Communist Party.


In the Shadows
2024 · FR
César Casalonga wins a France presidential election primary for his party. But that victory was rigged. Helped by Paul Francoeur and Marylin, before the press or his opponents find out, César Casalonga must disentangle the conspiracy.


The Long, Long Holiday
2015 · FR
In September 1939, Colette and Ernest are welcomed by their maternal grandparents in a fictional village named Grangeville, near Dieppe in Normandy. The short vacation becomes semi-permanent when their father goes off to fight, following the mobilization of France to fight the invading German Army, and the poor health of their mother, required to leave to be treated for tuberculosis in a sanatorium in Switzerland. The two little Parisians discover life in the countryside during wartime, including occupation, Resistance, deprivation, but also life with friends.


The Accursed Kings
1972 · FR
It is the start of the 14th century and Philip IV the Fair reigns supreme over France. His three sons would rule after him. Isabelle, his only daughter, is married to King Edward II of England. Under Philip's reign, France is great but its people are unhappy. Only one power dares to stand up to him: the order of the Knights Templar. When the last Grand Master of the Temple, Jacques de Molay, is burned at the stake, he curses Philip and so begins a dark period, full of blood and violence, death and tears ...


The Real War of Thrones
2017 · FR
In the turbulent formative centuries of early Europe, power-hungry family dynasties fought for domination of the continent.


Mitterrand confidentiel
2026 · FR
No overview available


Woke
2017 · FR
Describes everyday life in a Lyon LGBT centre, examining the initial political, emotional and sexual life of a man who recently came out as gay.


Apocalypse: Stalin
2015 · FR
The rise of Stalin, from his early beginning as a bankrobber to the cold-blooded leader of the Soviet Union.


Iron Curtain: Life Under Soviet Occupation
2024 · FR
How did the Soviet Union impose its communist ideology on the countries of Central and Eastern Europe after World War II? The story of how, from 1945 until the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, these countries were gradually subjected to the totalitarian Soviet yoke.
French television has moved from a broadcast-dominated tradition into a strong export position, particularly in crime and spy drama. The results tend to be shorter-run and more cinematic than Anglo-American equivalents.
War and political series use serial length to show process: campaigns, negotiations, and institutions grinding forward. The genre works best when it's interested in systems rather than just speeches.