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Post Napoleon, the French have always managed to really suck at warfare and tactics. For example, how they were very easily beaten in the Franco-Prussian war, they were completely pathetic. Then comes WWI. So...You know a very obvious path in which any would-be invading force would be coming from....But don't think to put up a crap ton of defenses beforehand? Yes, I know after WWI they eventually wisened up (how it took them this long just shows how incompetent and inept they were) but even THEN when they made the Maginot Line they didn't take it all the way and the Germans....just easily went around it. The hell? Were all their generals and military advisors just really all that stupid not to see the very obvious weak point?
And even during WWI the only reason they weren't invaded was due to Britain and other allies including the U.S. Surely after the Franco-Prussian war they would've at least figured out they should be spending as much time, money and effort to set up as many defenses as they can while also spending as much as they can to continually modernize and mass-produce as many weapons, tanks, aircraft etc. Then come WWII and you're seriously telling me after WWI no one thought "Hey, we and Germany still have a very tumultuous relationship, we need to get as many spies in Germany as possible to see what they're up to"? Then when eventually invaded by Germany they were easily taken over. Heck, even when the whole thing with Libya was going on and were being bombed France complained how they were very much lacking bombs and such. The heck? Despite being a very wealthy nation they can't even make enough bombs?
Doesn't seem as if post-Napoleon they ever ended up learning anything even to this day. Sure they managed to go out and colonize a lot of other places but only those that were very weak and weren't nearly as technologically advanced. They're basically like the bully that's really sad and pathetic and only picks on people with disabilities such as people in wheelchairs, lacks limbs and and has cerebral palsy. Kind of sad how the only battles/wars France can win is when they're fighting people that basically just have sticks and stones. Put them up to any other advanced country that have military leaders that actually know what they're doing and they're very easy to defeat.
Poor leadership. The courage of the French fighting man is never in question (despite some poor jokes out there).
It is all a matter of poor leadership at the top. the Maginot line is one example, but another form WWII is that they produced more fighters than pilots to fly them. Just bad decision making.
Or how they used the Mitrailleuse as an artillery piece instead of infantry support in the Franco-Prussian war, would be another.
Post Napoleon, the French have always managed to really suck at warfare and tactics. For example, how they were very easily beaten in the Franco-Prussian war, they were completely pathetic. Then comes WWI. So...You know a very obvious path in which any would-be invading force would be coming from....But don't think to put up a crap ton of defenses beforehand? Yes, I know after WWI they eventually wisened up (how it took them this long just shows how incompetent and inept they were) but even THEN when they made the Maginot Line they didn't take it all the way and the Germans....just easily went around it. The hell? Were all their generals and military advisors just really all that stupid not to see the very obvious weak point?
And even during WWI the only reason they weren't invaded was due to Britain and other allies including the U.S. Surely after the Franco-Prussian war they would've at least figured out they should be spending as much time, money and effort to set up as many defenses as they can while also spending as much as they can to continually modernize and mass-produce as many weapons, tanks, aircraft etc. Then come WWII and you're seriously telling me after WWI no one thought "Hey, we and Germany still have a very tumultuous relationship, we need to get as many spies in Germany as possible to see what they're up to"? Then when eventually invaded by Germany they were easily taken over. Heck, even when the whole thing with Libya was going on and were being bombed France complained how they were very much lacking bombs and such. The heck? Despite being a very wealthy nation they can't even make enough bombs?
Doesn't seem as if post-Napoleon they ever ended up learning anything even to this day. Sure they managed to go out and colonize a lot of other places but only those that were very weak and weren't nearly as technologically advanced. They're basically like the bully that's really sad and pathetic and only picks on people with disabilities such as people in wheelchairs, lacks limbs and and has cerebral palsy. Kind of sad how the only battles/wars France can win is when they're fighting people that basically just have sticks and stones. Put them up to any other advanced country that have military leaders that actually know what they're doing and they're very easy to defeat.
To be fair they only 'sucked' against the Germans who are really, really good at war. If Britain or the US shared a border with Imperial Germany they would have trouble with them too. The last paragraph is also quite inaccurate - the French had no trouble defeating Mussolini's army when they attacked near the end of the Battle of France.
The French fought very well in WW1. France entered WW1 with a population and manpower disadvantage of nearly 2-1 against Germany. Both countries conscripted the maximum number of able bodied troops from their pools of manpower. The French simply could not match the German troop numbers, so their pre-war planning was reliant on being augmented by the British Expeditionary Force. Despite initial German success, the French checked and reversed the German advance at the First Battle of the Marne. From there it was a war of attrition. The French held their own despite taking heavy losses and losing nearly an entire generation of young men. They hardly fought poorly as you suggest.
Before and during Napoleon's reign, France was the largest, most powerful nation in Europe. Germany didn't exist yet and was a bunch of smaller states. By 1870, Germany united and surpassed France in terms of population size, economics, and industry. France meanwhile was stagnant during much of the latter 1800's. They were surpassed by Germany, Britain, and the United States on the world stage. The Franco-Prussian War was certainly a catastrophe for France, but also a coming out party for Germany.
Don't get me started on WW2. The French planners did a poor job. First, France failed to develop an air force equivalent to that of Germany's Luftwaffe. Second, they envisioned WW2 being fought just like WW1, where static troops manned trenches. Third, the Dyle Plan called for half of their units to advance forward into Belgium allowing them to be cut off and encircled. Yes it was a terrible plan. The Maginot Line itself was very strong. The problem was it did not extend along the entire border to the English Channel.
You also overlooked the Crimean War during the mid-1800's where a joint Franco-British Army defeated the Russians.
Last edited by SoundAdvice4U; 03-21-2020 at 08:00 PM..
There is something to the OP. France was usually the military superpower of Europe from the time of Charlemagne until the Seven Years War when Britain began to replace them for good, and then Germany did the same. (The 100 Years War is a notable exception.)
I think it had to do with the switch from an agricultural to an industrial economy. Historically France's strength lied with its abundant fertile farmland, which permitted a large population and a large tax base.
The industrial revolution devalued farmland strategically.
I am not speaking of tactics, which I am unfamiliar with. Rather of I am speaking of strategic power projection, which is a mixture of military skill and peacetime wealth.
France was well known as a declining power in the early 19th century. It was one of the first countries to see a steep decline in its birthrate, in the late 19th century.
There is something to the OP. France was usually the military superpower of Europe from the time of Charlemagne until the Seven Years War when Britain began to replace them for good, and then Germany did the same. (The 100 Years War is a notable exception.)
I think it had to do with the switch from an agricultural to an industrial economy. Historically France's strength lied with its abundant fertile farmland, which permitted a large population and a large tax base.
The industrial revolution devalued farmland strategically.
I am not speaking of tactics, which I am unfamiliar with. Rather of I am speaking of strategic power projection, which is a mixture of military skill and peacetime wealth.
France was well known as a declining power in the early 19th century. It was one of the first countries to see a steep decline in its birthrate, in the late 19th century.
This is true. Napoleon's reign came at the pinnacle of French power. I don't think France declined so much as it stagnated and did not grow at the same rate as other industrial powers from the mid-1800's onward. Britain, Germany, and the United States surpassed France in population, economics, and industrialization. France did have a low birth rate comparable to today's advanced countries that was unusual for its time.
Even so, by the time of WW1 and WW2, France was still able to field huge armies. In WW2 on paper they were the strongest army in the world pre-invasion. There are a myriad of reasons why they got their butts kicked in WW2. I will refrain from going into it.
Allow me to sum up the French Military fight prowess.
Franco-Prussian war.... Failure
WWI.... failure.
WWII... unmitigated failure.
Syria... Failure
Indo-china... failure.
Algeria... Failure.
There I just summed up many books on modern French history.
Where have they even "broke even", let alone won?
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