HUMOR: The Complete Military History of France

Status
Not open for further replies.

dev_null

Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2002
Messages
1,338
Location
Austin TX
Note for the humor impaired: everybody picks on somebody... get over it.

  • Gallic Wars - Lost. In a war whose ending foreshadows the next 2000 years of French history, France is conquered by of all things, an Italian.
  • Hundred Years War - Mostly lost, saved at last by female schizophrenic who inadvertently creates The First Rule of French Warfare; "France's armies are victorious only when not led by a Frenchman."
  • Italian Wars - Lost. France becomes the first and only country to ever lose two wars when fighting Italians.
  • Wars of Religion - France goes 0-5-4 against the Huguenots
  • Thirty Years War - France is technically not a participant, but manages to get invaded anyway. Claims a tie on the basis that eventually the other participants started ignoring her.
  • War of Devolution - Tied. Frenchmen take to wearing red flowerpots as chapeaux.
  • The Dutch War - Tied
  • War of the Augsburg League/King William's War/French and Indian War - lost, but claimed as a tie. Three ties in a row induces deluded Frogophiles the world over to label the period as the height of French military power.
  • War of the Spanish Succession - Lost. The War also gave the French their first taste of a Marlborough, which they have loved every since.
  • American Revolution - In a move that will become quite familiar to future Americans, France claims a win even though the English colonists saw far more action. This is later known as "de Gaulle Syndrome," and leads to the Second Rule of French Warfare; "France only wins when America does most of the fighting."
  • French Revolution - Won, primarily due the fact that the opponent was also French.
  • The Napoleonic Wars - Lost. Temporary victories (remember the First Rule!) due to leadership of a Corsican, who ended up being no match for a British footwear designer.
  • The Franco-Prussian War - Lost. Germany first plays the role of drunk Frat boy to France's ugly girl home alone on a Saturday night.
  • World War I - Tied and on the way to losing, France is saved by the United States. Thousands of French women find out what it's like to not only sleep with a winner, but one who doesn't call her "Fraulein." Sadly, widespread use of condoms by American forces forestalls any improvement in the French bloodline.
  • World War II - Lost. Conquered French liberated by the United States and Britain just as they finish learning the Horst Wessel Song.
  • War in Indochina - Lost. French forces plead sickness, take to bed with the Dien Bien Flu.
  • Algerian Rebellion - Lost. Loss marks the first defeat of a western army by a Non-Turkic Muslim force since the Crusades, and produces the First Rule of Muslim Warfare; "We can always beat the French." This rule is identical to the First Rules of the Italians, Russians, Germans, English, Dutch, Spanish, Vietnamese and Esquimaux.
  • War on Terrorism - France, keeping in mind its recent history, surrenders to Germans and Muslims just to be safe. Attempts to surrender to Vietnamese ambassador fail after he takes refuge in a McDonald's.
The question for any country silly enough to count on the French should not be "Can we count on the French?" but rather "How long until France collapses?"
 
Ouch, that stings! I'm laughing so hard it hurts. That from a frog many times removed. :eek:
 
Can anyone else please post more insults about the french?

I love tearing up the french.

Anyone want to come over and watch some Monty Python??:D
 
The French did not win the American Revolution. They spent so a lot, got a little, and embraced an ideology (freedom and liberty) that was utterly incompatibly with their form of government creating their own revolution. Tie.

You neglected to mention that in WWI, the US suffered higher casualty rates from both trench foot via muddy French ground and VD via nasty French whores than from German bullets. This gives rise to the third rule of French warfare "The best people to hurt are your allies, because they won't fight back."
 
Now, there's a lovely topic, all in keeping with the High Road principles...:rolleyes:

You forget the French contributions to the humanity...a scientific approach to chemisty (and eventually, smokeless powders), first truly popular photographic process (and photographic aerial recoinnissance)...tried to think of more but came up short. Anyone care to help me defend the indefensibles?
 
Hey, I got some French "wins" for ya! The invasion of England in 1066 was roaring success. It is a bit tainted in that the Normans were in many cases off-spring of Norwegian Vikings.

In fact the Normans conquered quite a bit, and they were downright nasty.

And another one. The French defeated the Muslim army that invaded France in the 8th century. This one is a bit tainted to. The French were commanded by Charles (the Hammer) Martel, who was Frankish king. The Franks were originally of German descent.
 
Don't make fun of France,
You mentioned french defeats and forgot her victories?
What about the USA?
Only 200 years of civilisation, remember that the french helped you fight the english thus giving your independence.
Don't forget that you're not invincible. Vietnam is a remembrance.

LRRPS.
 
I remind people that the first word of this entire thread is, and I quote, "HUMOR."

Are all the French-bashing threads factual? Of course not.
Does that detract from their humor for some? Of course not.
Might some find that un-PC? Sure.
Should that stop us...?

You forget the French contributions to the humanity...a scientific approach to chemisty (and eventually, smokeless powders), first truly popular photographic process (and photographic aerial recoinnissance)
Chemistry, which began in the MiddleEast, was developed in France, Germany, and England, and much of the advancement in the last century has been here in the US. Fox-Talbot was an Englishman, Daguerre was French, Leitz was German, Eastman was American... and then there are the advancements by the Japanese... How much French film have you used lately, in how many French cameras?

But I digress...

...tried to think of more but came up short.
Well, that speak volumes, doesn't it? ;)


Oleg, "your house, your rules." If we are to only say nice things about the snobby backstabbing socialists who want to blackmail us into taking their position on Iraq by refusing to help Turkey in clear violation of their NATO agreements, just let me know and I'll be as nice as I can be. :D

-0-
 
Smokeless (nitrocellulose) powder was invented by the DuPonts, Americans of French descent, not Frenchmen. The first time it was used in combat was against the French by the Germans in the Franco-Prussian War. I believe the Germans developed it independently though.

Harkening back to the days of Anton Lavoisier is not going to carry a lot of weight with me. Once again you are saying that France was a world power 200 years ago when it was ruled by a Corsican dictator. Incidentally most French science is directly attributable to military research grants made by Napoleon himself.

To be fair we fought against Britian and indirectly for France in the Napoleonic Wars (War of 1812). France still lost. For that matter most of the people fighting for France in the Napoleonic Wars were not French either.
 
The French make some VERY good food.

But firearms? Chaut-chaut (sp?), MAS-36, 46, etc......

BTW, I think French fries and French toast are inventions of the USA. Like pizza. French kissing? Who knows?

Fun "history lesson". More!
 
In addition to all their other sterling qualities, let us not forget that the French manufacture perhaps the finest Automobile ever made. I refer of course to the fabulous "RENAULT"
 
Wasn't Lebel the first rifle using smokeless powder? The Germans were only the firs tto use bolt actions of indifferent performance (i.e. Martini beat Dreyse, IMO).
 
I'll take my Krag-Jorgenson over a crate of Lebels, merci beaucoup. :p

JPM70535, you misspelled "Citroen." Glad to help. :evil:

-0-
 
Oleg, I stand corrected. Veielle (sp?), a frenchman, invented the first smokeless powder. It wasn't modern "cordite" powder though and was fairly weak.

The US patent for smokeless powder is held by one of the DuPonts though, I've visited the estate his family built with the proceeds :)
 
"Smokeless (nitrocellulose) powder was invented by the DuPonts, Americans of French descent, not Frenchmen."

Incorrect.

The Du Ponts spearheaded smokeless powder in America, but the first successful smokeless rifle powder was developed by Paul Vieille about 1885.

"It wasn't cordite and was fairly weak."

Poudre B and Cordite were actually very similar in performance. Cordite was double-based -- nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine -- while Poudre B was single based, nitrocellulose only.

There's a good article on the Du Ponts in the Spring 1998 issue of Invention & Technology magazine.
 
tried to think of more but came up short. Anyone care to help me defend the indefensibles?

Lots of good art, literature, music, etc. came out of France. If the U.S. were ever in a trans-Atlantic tiff with the French people over whether a new Iraqi painter was any good, I'd side with the French ;)

Bridget Bardot

The Statue of Liberty

Does giving Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Samuel Becket, etc. a place to write count?

The average flying speed of an African swallow while carrying a coconut.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top