Great at science

>get steamrolled embarrassingly easily in the last major global war
>its only "faults" are things like being too trusting or too willing to forgive

>what

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glorious_Revolution
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Fifth_Republic

>inb4 not a real republic
>inb4 doesn't realize that the Dutch republic also had a ceremonial monarchy

It's genuinely been since like the 1600s since France was an impressive country.

Ever since like Abraham Darby, Isaac Newton, and William of Orange, it's been an Anglo world.

I'm not trying to bait or shitpost, it's just reality.

>imblyign

>great at science
granted though not noticably more than any other european nation
>great at arts
granted
>great at philosophy
no
>great at military
having twice the manpower of your opponent isn't really being great at military
>its only "faults" are things like being too trusting or too willing to forgive
literally allied with the ottomans

And flaccid.

>England is a republic
>Napoleonic France wasn't impressive
>I'm not trying to bait or shitpost

lmao ok buddy

>flash in the pan that lasts less than a single generation
>impressive
>country ruled by civilian representatives elected by the citizen body
>not a republic

And then they overcompensated by becoming Marxists and SJWs.

>not great at philosophy
Literally founded Scholasticism and Enlightenment, the only two philosophical accomplishments since the Greeks that aren't complete wankery. The founder of modern philosophy is a Frenchman.

Although France also excels at complete wankery, see post-structuralism.

>having twice the manpower of your opponent isn't really being great at military
That's like saying you can't be a good fighter if you're more muscular.

>literally allied with the ottomans
Making the tough choices in order to save Europe from being fully swallowed by the Habsburg ogre, another good point.

Even without extending the definition of republic to such nonsense, there were already republics all over Italy centuries earlier, not to mention in ancient times. How is that even an achievement of any sort? The "Glorious Revolution" was an aristocratic coup that let Britain get conquered by a foreign ruler, it's absolutely pathetic.

And France was the main political power until 1815. Cultural until WW2.

>having twice the manpower of your opponent isn't really being great at military

When you're alone against half the continent, the little manpower advantage you would have had in a 1vs1 war against another country soon disappears

Yeah, I forgot how the French were the first to start rediscovering Greek and Roman art

>oh wait, that was Italy

Well, at least they were the first to establish republics

>oh wait, Italy

Well, they were the first unified nation-state under a republic, right?

>nope, the Dutch and kind of the Poles

They invented modern contract law, at least

>Dutch and British

Constitutional law?

>British

None of those things are even relevant achievements, might as well go "b-but France didn't invent peanut butter!"

>republics aren't relevant
>constitutions aren't relevant
>Newtonian physics isn't relevant
>calculus isn't relevant
>steam engines aren't relevant
>blast furnace ironworking isn't relevant
>railroads aren't relevant
>steamships aren't relevant

At least you guys made a bunch of good cheese.

That makes you the real winners.

Cool story bro
Meanwhile, France invented vaccination, automobiles, helicopters and nationalism
And half of English language's vocabulary too

>That just sounds like a lot of butthurt.
Your primary source of fame is terrorist attacks.

lmao

>republics aren't relevant
Not really. Absolute monarchy is a superior system to aristocratic republic.

>constitutions aren't relevant
Those are ancient. Although it was Rousseau who theorised a constitution as a social contract between a sovereign people and its leaders, not just a charter between nobles or merchants.

>blast furnace ironworking isn't relevant
That's ancient.

>railroads aren't relevant
Literally just putting an automobile (French invention) on rails. Wow much invention.

>Newtonian physics isn't relevant
Jean Buridan.

>calculus isn't relevant
Nicolas Oresme.

>steam engines aren't relevant
Denis Papin

>steamships aren't relevant
Claude de Jouffroy

>unitedstates jizzrag/cannon fodder
>is becoming new damascus
>entire country barely rivals several u.s. city's gdp
>clings to dead peasant culture to larp as though their lives still have meaning
>are targetted for terror by isis instead of isreal/us/sauds because they are, again, cuck cannon fodder

Try harder m8.

What has that got to do with history?

>revanchism
>being too trusting or too willing to forgive
Pick one and only one

Revanchism is a meme. It was a minority movement that never held power or influenced policy, and the 1914 diplomatic cables show clearly that France did everything in its power to prevent war, short of giving in to ludicrous German demands of handing over several cities. Revanchism was just blown out of proportion after the war in order to paint France as equally responsible for WW1 as Germany and to make "nationalism" the real culprit.

>revanchism

german/germaboo meme

>t. Frog revisionists
Revanchism directly influenced French policy in the before, during and after WWI. Don't kid yourselves.

Then post one example, because that shit never happened.

>Versailles
>the formation of the Entente
>Clemenceau in general
Are you stupid?

>Versailles
Revanchism caused France to go ridiculously easy on Germany after the war? lol ok then

>the formation of the Entente
France trying to get out of diplomatic isolation and form alliances is revanchism?

>Clemenceau in general
Dude I don't think Clemenceau's birth was caused by revanchism.

>Elsass Lothringen, control of the Saar and massive reparations
>easy on Germany
You really are a frog.

>France trying to get out of diplomatic isolation and form alliances is revanchism?
France forming alliances with the exact stated goal to their allies of the return of Elsass Lothringen IS revanchism, I hate you tell you.

>Dude I don't think Clemenceau's birth was caused by revanchism
That's a nice red herring.

>whaaa they forced us to give back the land we had stolen in the previous war, that's not fair
lmao how much of a delusional naziboo can you be? You sound completely ridiculous with your butthurt "Elsassene Lothrhtrhgningnen" btw.

>France forming alliances with the exact stated goal
The stated goal was to defend from German aggression, which the following events completely vindicated.

You're thinking of bloomery ironworking.

>finally establish that stays in power
>French fifth republic

What is third republic ?

>Elsass Lothringen, control of the Saar and massive reparations

If you call giving back small ass Alsace, getting occupied for 10 years and reparations that were cancelled as soon as economical crisis started harsh, I wonder how you'll see Post-WW2 peace....

For the reminder, it had Germany lose much more lands than Alsace, the rest was divided in two entities, and the lot was occupied by the Soviets until the 90s and is still occupied by the US to this day.
And surprise.....Germany didnt chimp out again
Looks like a harsher Versailles would have worked better after all

Got its ass kicked by an enemy much weaker than them because they couldn't trust their own military, or run a competent military command.

>You really are a frog.

The BBC agrees though
Are they frogs too?

Yeah, a "much weaker" enemy that had a bigger army and a more advanced equipement (not denying how shitty the French leadership was though)

The French actually had more and better tanks, and more infantry during the Battle of France.

Not even shitposting, the French defeat was largely inflicted at the hands of Chamberlain and Daladier.

Especially the part where they waited four fucking days to do anything about the armored push through the Ardennes.

Pacifism doesn't get nearly enough shit as it deserves, with regards to WW2.

Actually Clémenceau wanted to go harder than that on germany (annexing left bank of the rhine and such) but the english didn't want france to be too powerful on the continent so they refused.

Also wilson was raving about freedom about and such and wanted to get money out of germany so he opposed it too.

So yeah Versailles was going easy on germany

>stays in power for 50 years
>got defeated in a war by germany like 3/4 of europe so it wasn't a real republic

right

The better tanks thing is a myth. Yes French tanks were "more modern", but they were slower than German tanks, which in that war was all that mattered. Also Daladier was no longer in power by the time the Germans invaded, Reynaud was.

The issue was a failure in preparation more than in the actual military decisions in 1940. That said the core problem behind that was the crippling instability of the French government throughout the 30s, with most governments lasting barely a few weeks, making any long term military strategy or modernising military policy impossible.

It failed.

If a building tips over in a slight wind, it's safe to say that it was a poor structural design.

Germany invaded with less men and less equipment, and won anyway because the Third Republic was a fatally flawed entity.

>and more infantry

This part is wrong though
France and Britain combined had 3,300,000 troops, Germany alone had 3,350,000 troops

The French had some really nice medium tanks.

Like, I'd definitely take S35s over Panzer 1s and 2s.

k

but u wrong tho

French tanks were better than German tanks when fighting each other, nearly all French tank casualties were a result solely from artillery.

Wait, I'm a retard

Nigga your pic literally has the exact same numbers he posted.

Yeah but that's kind of useless when you can't even catch up to the Germans.

Which was only the case because the French military was run by a 70 year old fossil.

you forgot corsica

those regions seem to be cucked to death tho

>The French actually had [...] more infantry during the Battle of France.

>Germany invaded with less men and less equipment,

When will these meme stop?
Is it that hard to fucking check?
Why are there so many exaggerations on that battle when it's already pretty pathetic the way as it is?
It's like those who reduce the 45 days France lasted to "one week"

To be fair, Italians are barely even people, let alone soldiers.

The only regions that have any chance of possibly seceding are New Caledonia and maybe Guyana, and even for them it's very unlikely.

To say that the French invented the automobile is rather disingenuous, given that the first motorcar (which really allowed for the development of the modern automobile) was invented by an Austrian Jew.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_automobile

Cugnot's automobile was the very first
Everything after is improvement, not invention

Fun fact: London actually had steam powered bus systems in the mid 19th century before they banned it because muh noise.

French people are the best looking too.

Nice try, but that picture is from Mayotte

Brits look pretty great too

And Cugnot's was not an improvement upon Verbiest's design?

Cugnot's was an actual automobile, not a toy
The first ever built

>sexiest shape

I have to confess france's shape is the only reason I dont want them to annex Wallonia. It would look like shit.

But did he invent it? Or just take an existing model and make it bigger?

That got me wondering, if you "free" Normandy and Aquitaine, wouldn't they just have to join the United Kingdom? The British crown still has a very valid claim on them after all, and I say that as a Normand.

>hurr durr why is Mayotte so black

>anglo republic
>literally 2 and a half people allowed to vote.

Tons of descendants of royals would have a better claim than the windsors

France did go ridiculously easy on Germany. Foch wanted to outright annex everything west of the Rhine to deprive them of any significant industrial capacity forever, but the government decided to take the middle ground and merely weigh them down with war reparations. Foch of course is known for saying, in 1919, "This isn't peace; it's an armistice for 20 years."

People like to take that quote out of context by saying he was implying that they were being too harsh on Germany and so it would spark another war.

yes, modesty is indeed one of the countless virtues of the french people.

>The BBC agrees though
>Anglo propaganda medium agrees

color me surprised. saying that the treaty of 1871 was harsher is a blatant lie.

>Revanchism caused France to go ridiculously easy on Germany after the war?

The French couldn't push through their demands, it had nothing to do with them being lenient, they just weren't powerful enough.

fuck off adolf

What was the context?

>great at science
>great at arts
>great at philosophy
>great at military
>great at basically everything
>sexiest shape
>sexiest flag
>always fights on the side of good
>its only "faults" are things like being too intelligent or helpful

Is Britain history's Mary Sue?

That the cause of WW2 was solely due to the French pushing the treaty of Versailles and making it too harsh on the Germans, and that the "armistice for 20 years" refers to that belief.

>That the cause of WW2 was solely due to the French pushing the treaty of Versailles
This is ridiculous. If the French were "pushing" the Versailles treaty, they would have stopped Germany when it stopped to pay the reparations, militarized, annexed Austria and the Sudetenland. France did none of that.

It's obvious to anyone who compares the two treaties. The BBC somehow thinks that France having to hand over Alsace-Lorraine was harsher than Germany having to hand over Alsace-Lorraine, terrtitory in the East and North as well as all colonial posessions. The German army was cut down to a pitiful size due to Versailles, the French army was kept intact after 1871; the French seized the coal rich Saar area after WWI; the German merchant fleet was confiscated after WWI; the 1871 treaty demanded a sum that France was able to pay after three years while Versailles scheduled heavy payments for 80 years to come; reparations were cancelled due to the great depression but the sum (between 20-60 bn gold marks depending on source) was much greater than the amount that was payed by the French after 1871.

I think the argument is that the Versailles treaty helped revanchist movements to gain power in Germany

WW1 lasted 4 years and was fought on the french soil, while Germany wasn't invaded. In 1870, the war still happened in the french soil and Germans still asked for reparations.
>the 1871 treaty demanded a sum that France was able to pay after three years
And Bismarck didn't like it at all. He was sure France was out of the game and was surprised they managed to pay so quickly. They were talks in Germany for a preventive war against France in 1875, but when Alexander II said he wouldn't tolerate that Germany backed down. If you can't understand that Germany did everything in its power to make sure France would never be a relevant power after 70, you need to read more book.

The right question would be : what kind of peace would have been suitable for Germans then ? Any loss of territory would have helped a revanchist movements sinceafter the war the german high command created the "stab in the back" myth.
Versailles wasn't bad itself, the fact western powers didn't move when Germany was clearly violating the treaty lead to WW2.

Compare the sum in GDP%

>The right question would be : what kind of peace would have been suitable for Germans then ?

A peace according to Wilson's 14 points, meaning that territory is ceded only after referendums. Reparations that can be paid off within a couple of years;

>Any loss of territory would have helped a revanchist movements

Probably, but the question is whether these movements would have garnered this much support if there had been a peace that was more agreeable to the German public.

>WW1 lasted 4 years and was fought on the french soil, while Germany wasn't invaded.

Yes, the context was completely different but if we're just looking at the treaties it's rubbish to say that 1871 was harsher.

Btw, East Prussia was invaded in 1914/15 but the damage obviously doesn't compare to France.

In 1870, the war still happened in the french soil and Germans still asked for reparations.

That war was unambiguously started by France, though.

>Germany did everything in its power to make sure France would never be a relevant power after 70

What they did was much less than the restrictions imposed on Germany; France kept its army, its fleet and all its colonial possessions and thus stayed a great power.

Can we have a thread about France without butthurt german, jealous british and surrendering french?

Maybe on the day we have a thread about England without butthurt french, jealous french, and surrendering french.

The same way we can have 999 threads on how shitty the Holy Roman Empire/German Empire/Current Germany is from your Froggy ass?

Butthurt and jealous, we need a surrendering french now.

i've always liked france desu even as a brit

French here, not surrendering though

You forgot completely obsessed and buttblated Brits
Fuck off nazi

Good lad

I like how we great Europeans Powers spend our time nagging and play-fighting with each other.
Best tsundere relationships to be honest lads, one forged by numerous murderous and haunting wars and constant negative propaganda about each others during peace time.