Saw a post on leddit earlier with a comment saying "They nearly took over the world once. France, let that sink in..."
Are there actually people who legitimately think that France is, and always has been, a bunch of baguettes with white flags sticking out of their helmets whenever they were at war? How far does this type of ignorance go in the general public?
Yes.
Broad and wide-reaching.
/thread
The failings of modern education. These idiots trigger me almost every day. I'll never make it
you gotta go back
I didn't know the general timeframe of Napoleon (I thought he was in the 1600's) or that the French Revolution was a thing until I was in 12th grade
Something like that, you could just google. Hopefully, with this coming generation, more teachers will advocate for supplementary googling outside of class. I cant stand any more "hur dur don't invade Russia in the winter!" or "hur dur the actual flag of France is the white flag!" or "hur dur his name was /Genghis Khan/"
Most people know literally nothing about history beside WW2
And this one is only well known because Americans (current cultural superpower) keep obsessing over it due to it being their only glorious moment ever
What most Americans don't realize is that they have literally zero military tradition compared to literally everyone else. Therefore, they have to latch onto their "best" moment. Don't get me wrong, Band of Brothers was cool, but that's it. We're babies compared to pretty much literally everyone else
Even then, money is the most important factor in war, so yeah...
This is the most anglo post i've ever seen on this board
Thanks retarded right wing burgerfat memes!
Everyone enjoying their Freedom Fries?
Not nearly as much as I'm enjoying the knowledge that in less than a century, Germany forever destroyed France's reputation & relevance.
It's crazy how much those military traditions are doing for them now
>younger nation has less military tradition than old world countries
WHAT A MIND BLOWING CONCLUSION
Funny how our non-existent military tradition has created the most professional military in history.
To be honest, most European countries will cease to exist soon anyway
>most professional military in history.
>Only fights riff raff in the middle east
No. you're not even the most professional military today. that award goes to either switzerland or israel.
>proceeds to lose to various peasant guerillas
b-but muh ww2 guys
The only things the US military has going for it are the technological edge and the absurd budget, which go hand in hand.
Are you seriously this dumb?
...
hey autistic man have dost thou knoweth what a joke is?
>most
>professionnal
>force
>in history
It's not even top five right now.
Even in the context of World War 2, surely the French Resistance would have counted for something?
I'm not sure if it's the most professional, but the US military is certainly the most powerful.
The biggest air force in the world is the US Air Force. The second biggest air force in the world is the US Navy. The US Navy is also the biggest navy in the world by a large margin. It may or may not have the world's largest nuclear stockpile, different estimates vary, and the US military is number one in terms of reach, with the most satellites and the most bases located all over the world. Their also number 1 in technology.
France under Autocratic government = best nation in the world
France under republican government = the joke that never ends.
Democracy not even once.
Bonapartism when?
Yes. People don't usually consider any event prior to the Second World War. France cemented their reputation for being flag waving surrender monkeys in 1940. Also, because of France's refusal to participate in the Iraq many Americans where re-introduced to the stereotype again.
Historically France was a pretty big military power. Today they are one of the only European powers that utilize their military to protect their interests.
Being Americans, you would figure that we would appreciate our first ally more.
What about world war one? Or the revolutionary wars?
world war 1 saw the french so butfucked that their soldiers refused to attack anymore, at verdun the french lost more men then the germans while the germans were the one on the offensive, without the british the french would have certainly lost the war and in the revolutionary wars they were under an autocratic regime
the thing with france is that it was never really good at fighting, they regularly lost against much smaller armies, it always had one advantage, it was huge with a huge population and conscription made it into a massive beast in the napoleonic wars untill napoleon overplayed his hand and lost a million soldiers in russia and after the unification with germany it suddenly wasn't at all the biggest landpower in europe anymore
Of course on average democracies don't have an advantafe against autocracies in war dum dum. Using war to mention a nation's worth is exactly the kind of thinking autocrats like and use because beyond war democracies on average have a more functional society in everything else since they are more likely to have civil societies and rule of law
>while the germans were the one on the offensive
"I don't know anything about Verdun" the post.
The greater part of Verdun revolved around the French trying on the course of some months to recapture Fort Vaux and Fort Douaumont which had been seized in surprise offensives when the battle had started.
Eh, the argument you're mustering that France wielded an advantage with their population is a bit without weight as the HRE, Italian Kingdoms and such could more than compete with them on that metric. What really was there for France to excel in warfare was that it was the kingdom founded by a tribe of strong martial principes (the renowned Frankish heavy cavarly which everyone imitated) and that it experienced centralization early on whereby the need for professional army in France withered with the Kings of France now able to summon armies loyal to only them, which was proto-conscription to some degree and enabled them to draw positives from their population.
That said, in answer to you asserting that they were regularly undone by smaller forces, I can't really remember of any occasions where that was what came to trespass, except for the first phase of the HYW where foraging parties under the Black Prince would put entire French armies to their knees.
>revolutionary wars
>invaded by every European country AND have two rebellions raging inside France AND one in Saint Domingue
>still win
t. butthurt fuck
>they regularly lost against much smaller armies
They sometimes lost against smaller armies, and so did every nation with an extensive history of warfare (Spain, Britain, Russia, prussia, China...etc)
>it always had one advantage, it was huge with a huge population
How to spot the ignorant cretin who spouts memes
France indeed had the biggest total population in Europe for a long time, but unfortunately, total population and size of armies were barely linked until the invention of total war in the 20th century
France often saw itself fighting against coalitions or nation that had a smaller total population than them, but they still ended up outnumbered on the battlefield because said coalitions/nations had a much greater percentage of their total pop enlisted in their army (pic related, an exemple of it among many others)
Your comment on the total pop proves you lnow nothing about warfare in past centuries
>and conscription made it into a massive beast in the napoleonic war
France was outnumbered in most of major Napoleonic battle
You're confusing with the French Revolutionary Wars (1792-1802) which is one opf the few wars in which France was truly saved by its large population
The coalition they were facing was this time so huge they had twice the total pop of France, but France could afford to use mass conscription while the opposing monarchies couldnt (because they feared their own people) and France was thus able to match the coalition numbers nevertheless
>untill napoleon overplayed his hand and lost a million soldiers in russia
France didnt even have a million men there
They had 685,000 out of which "only" 550,000 were French
Meanwhile, the Russians had 900,000 men at peak...
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