"We surrender" Said the French

[yaik7a]

I reckon it's only there because the yanks had to liberate their arses in WW2, then were repaid in snootiness.

I hear the phrase "cheese-eating surrender monkey" was first coined by Willy in the Simpsons.

No Canadians and birtish and the french ristance liberated and could have done it with out
the americans by going therw italy

 

[WelshWizard]

Since napoleonic times, the French have shown a resolve significantly weaker than that of many other European nations.

French admirals fled the royal navy at almost every opportunity for a fleet engagement in the napoleonic wars, and when they couldn't get away, they fought until their reslove inevitably gave way and they struck their colours.

Yes as the French did so poorly under Napoleon, its not like he turned an isolated and surrounded country around at all is it? Really your example is just silly, oh no they did not do so well at sea, well maybe not but did you have a look at their track record on the ground at that time? Or how poorly off France was before Napoleon took over? Really he worked wonders with what he had.

I was using the naval example to illustrate the point that the French lacked resolve when put under pressure. How is my naval example silly?

Sure Napoleon did well with the French army with his superb grasp of military tactics (Incidentally, he wasn't much of a strategist however: the invasion of Egypt was a colossal blunder, superseded in strategic disaster only in his terribly timed invasion of Russia), but that doesn't change the fact that the French sailors of the time were heavily prone to striking their colours rather than fight on when the pressure came on.

 

[Supreme Unleaded]

I would have to beg to differ, the French have one of the best military groups in the world The French Forin Legeon, now yes, the word Forin may make it sound like theres no french in it. But it takes the best troops from everywhere in the world (including france) and sends them into battle as one of the most organised groups I've ever seen, and since it's all under French rule, you can't say the french afraid.

Edit: now that I think of it i think im thinking of a different military group, sorry im wrong.

 

[timmytom1]

What did they do in World War 1?
(Surrender)

The history books disagree with you on that one lado

 

[Worsle]

Since napoleonic times, the French have shown a resolve significantly weaker than that of many other European nations.

French admirals fled the royal navy at almost every opportunity for a fleet engagement in the napoleonic wars, and when they couldn't get away, they fought until their reslove inevitably gave way and they struck their colours.

Yes as the French did so poorly under Napoleon, its not like he turned an isolated and surrounded country around at all is it? Really your example is just silly, oh no they did not do so well at sea, well maybe not but did you have a look at their track record on the ground at that time? Or how poorly off France was before Napoleon took over? Really he worked wonders with what he had.

I was using the naval example to illustrate the point that the French lacked resolve when put under pressure. How is my naval example silly?

Sure Napoleon did well with the French army with his superb grasp of military tactics (Incidentally, he wasn't much of a strategist however: the invasion of Egypt was a colossal blunder, superseded in strategic disaster only in his terribly timed invasion of Russia), but that doesn't change the fact that the French sailors of the time were heavily prone to striking their colours rather than fight on when the pressure came on.

Yes as the fact France was week nation surrounded by enemies at the start of the Napoleonic was was not pressure at all? Maybe his navy was not the best and Napoleon was not perfect but as a country France was seen as easy pickings before Napoleon came on the scene and turned it around so the idea there was no resolve in that sort of situation is silly.

Or the idea that no resolve was needed to have WW1 happen in your own country. That and really there are a lot of point in WW1 where a mutiny really would have been the smartest option.

 

[Sulu]

What did they do in the 100 Year's War?
(Narrowly beat out the British... then surrender)

What did they do in World War 1?
(Surrender)

What did they do in World War 2?
(Surrender)

<url=http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/text/france.html>See here, for a comprehensive list.

They didn't surrender in World War 1

Correct and the Americans did very little in that war. It was a Franco-British victory

 

[Lordkeppington]

Well the french only lost in waterloo due to various armys arrayed against them; The prussians the English and the spanish, not exactly a fair fight that anyone can with with just a few hundred troops.

though what everyone seems to forget is duering the german occupation of franch in world war 2 there was alot of french resistance despite the goverment giveing up.

 

[Skeleon]

The french are well known to fight to the last algerian.

And the British liked their Indian soldiers and whatnot, what's your point?
It makes sense to use your colonies not only for ressources but also manpower.

 

[Worsle]

What did they do in the 100 Year's War?
(Narrowly beat out the British... then surrender)

What did they do in World War 1?
(Surrender)

What did they do in World War 2?
(Surrender)

<url=http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/text/france.html>See here, for a comprehensive list.

They didn't surrender in World War 1

Correct and the Americans did very little in that war. It was a Franco-British victory

To be fair I would say the American intervention covered up the problems caused when we let Italy join on our side. Hang on thinking about it why are we not making fun of the Italians? Their record in WW1 and WW2 and the years around it is terrible, I mean really really terrible bt they don't get much sick about that. Really why not?

I reckon it's only there because the yanks had to liberate their arses in WW2, then were repaid in snootiness.

I hear the phrase "cheese-eating surrender monkey" was first coined by Willy in the Simpsons.

No Canadians and birtish and the french ristance liberated and could have done it with out
the americans by going therw italy

Whaa?
The French resistance (While brave, Idealistic etc) could not have played a much more major role in the liberation of france, regardless of how hard it had tried. And alone the British and Canadians would not have stood a mayflys chance in hell of beating the Germans.

Without American aid, Britain would have starved.
I hate to say it, as a Brit, but although the Americans may have turned up late, without them we would all be speaking German right now.

I am not getting into this tired old debate but have you heard of the Free French? Or Charles de Gaulle for that matter. The resistance was not the only contribution France made in the later stages of WW2.

 

[rasmusernst]

Damn and blast! I was just about to post that! Still hilarious though.

 

[LockHeart]

Oi, retard, explain why most of our language is based on the French brought over by the normans.
Or somehow explain why the normans, with there own language, spoke French in court.

Might want to calm it with the names mate, we like civilised discussions round here.

You say most of our language, but if you actually look at many of the everyday words we use you'll find that the vast majority of our language has Germanic origins, i.e. Anglo-Saxon.

There's also the point that the Normans enforced French-usage in court to try and stamp out Saxon culture: if they could suppress the language, the people's biggest link to the old order would be gone.

 

[Sulu]

They didn't surrender in World War 1

Correct and the Americans did very little in that war. It was a Franco-British victory[/quote]

To be fair I would say the American intervention covered up the problems caused when we let Italy join on our side. Hang on thinking about it why are we not making fun of the Italians? Their record in WW1 and WW2 and the years around it is terrible, I mean really really terrible bt they don't get much sick about that. Really why not?
[/quote]


I agree with this as well. The Italians are much worse at warfare than the French! The Africa campaign of WW2 saw the Italians pushed back by British forces, so the Germans had to help out. They then switched sides and got invaded by Germany.
Did they not pull a similar stunt in WW1?

Short answer, at least France doesn't switch sides - shame on you Italy! SHAME!

 

[Lordkeppington]

Since napoleonic times, the French have shown a resolve significantly weaker than that of many other European nations.

French admirals fled the royal navy at almost every opportunity for a fleet engagement in the napoleonic wars, and when they couldn't get away, they fought until their reslove inevitably gave way and they struck their colours.

Yes as the French did so poorly under Napoleon, its not like he turned an isolated and surrounded country around at all is it? Really your example is just silly, oh no they did not do so well at sea, well maybe not but did you have a look at their track record on the ground at that time? Or how poorly off France was before Napoleon took over? Really he worked wonders with what he had.

Indeed the french ground forces at the time did incrediblely well, as a french collum could make short work of anything the british or spanish could throw at them. Well apart from cannons but cannons generaly broke most formations..

 

[WelshWizard]

I would have to beg to differ, the French have one of the best military groups in the world The French Forin Legeon, now yes, the word Forin may make it sound like theres no french in it. But it takes the best troops from everywhere in the world (including france) and sends them into battle as one of the most organised groups I've ever seen, and since it's all under French rule, you can't say the french afraid.

The French Foreign Legion is comprised primarily of men wishing to start their lives over, for whatever reason. Very few of its recruits are garnered from other military units from within France or other nations - rubbishing your assertion that "it takes the best troops from around world". Hell, the FFL training lasts just 15 weeks, less than half the duration of the British Royal Marines training - a genuinely elite corps. The FFL are just regular soldiers.

 

[Random Argument Man]

As I would say in french: À quoi bon se battre? Je préfère la paix, mon vin et le sex.

 

[AWC Viper]

I would have to beg to differ, the French have one of the best military groups in the world The French Forin Legeon, now yes, the word Forin may make it sound like theres no french in it. But it takes the best troops from everywhere in the world (including france) and sends them into battle as one of the most organised groups I've ever seen, and since it's all under French rule, you can't say the french afraid.

French citizens are not allowed to join the legion but they get around it by saying they are from a French speaking nation ie Canada. also the legion is a mercenary force. it was comprise up of AWOL soldiers from the other nations who were seeking fame and fortune but instead were forced to fight for France (rip off)

 

[WelshWizard]

Indeed the french ground forces at the time did incrediblely well, as a french collum could make short work of anything the british or spanish could throw at them. Well apart from cannons but cannons generaly broke most formations..

The peninsula wars would suggest that wasn't so. I mean, the only reason the French were able to beat the Spanish so easily when their support was wavering in 1807/8 was by stabbing them in the back. Once the British arrived in Portugal in earnest, the French army was soon backtracking.

 

[AWC Viper]

why do we rip on the French so much anyway?. they have hot women and umm.......hot women, and the gays apparently started there. yeah i see now. don't worry

 

[Donbett1974]

Short answer in WWII the French had a nasty habit of surrendering ship to the German when they could have destroyed them. It got so bad that the English started to destroy French ship they knew would be surrendered.