| France... 10:41 - May 27 with 400 views | Kropotkin123 |
Following on from Keno's post about British battles...
France is often percieved as cowardly when it comes to wars. But the reality is they got smashed in WW2 because the German's went through neutral countries, where France had not made sufficient defenses and they were I'll prepare technically and financially to have a drawn out war.
They put up over a million soldiers, many times greater than ours at the same time. They didn't have a sea around them to cover their inadequate preparation. They continued to fight back with one of the largest resistance movement s (circa 250k). They also suffered the biggest initial losses.
Many people just remember this war and don't realise that France has been involved in the most wars in Europe and had the most battle victories.
With this in mind, what are the most significant French battles? |  |
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| France... on 10:42 - May 27 with 393 views | footers |
I think I'm right in saying the French are the most victorious nation in terms of military conflicts. Far from being the cheese eating surrender monkeys the Americans made them out to be. |  |
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| France... on 10:55 - May 27 with 342 views | Lamp |
This is correct. It's also likely that if the French had invaded following the remilitarisation of the Rhineland they would have beaten the Germans who weren't quite ready to be the military machine they eventually became.
In terms of battles you can hardly look past Austerlitz |  | | |
| France... on 11:00 - May 27 with 332 views | Steve_M |
- Austerlitz. Napoleon's moment of true glory before hubris lead him to Russia.
- Sedan. The final defeat of Napoleon III's foolish attack on Prussia and the final affirmation of the latter's rise and this the unification of Germany.
- Verdun. von Falkenhayn thought he could bleed the French army dry but it, after enormous casualties on both sides, it was the German army that was severely weakened. Verdun was also why the Somme made sense strategically, to relieve pressure on the French army, if not tactically.
- Algeria. More emotive, although under researched, than Vietnam because it was closer to France and seen as part of the mother country rather than a mere colony. A traumatic, futile attempt to hold back the tide of self-determination which nearly tore France apart but also, once de Gaulle had withdrawn France from Algeria, allowed France to become a more modern country. |  |
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| France... on 11:30 - May 27 with 295 views | Keno |
oddly what happened in 1940 was a repeat of 1914
1914 happened in the way it did cos of what happened in the Franco-Prussian war of the 1870's when I believe the Prussians got to Paris.
France built defences to stop an 'straight' attack again and in effect the Germans sidestepped those defences with The Schlieffen Plan on 1914 and refined it the Mannstein plan in 1940 |  |
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| France... on 11:49 - May 27 with 272 views | HighgateBlue |
| France... on 10:42 - May 27 by footers |
I think I'm right in saying the French are the most victorious nation in terms of military conflicts. Far from being the cheese eating surrender monkeys the Americans made them out to be. |
Like any good gamblers, they've always picked their battles. |  | | |
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