Stop saying the French are COWARDS in WAR! | Simple History | History Teacher Reacts
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- čas přidán 5. 07. 2024
- Have you fallen into the misconception that the French are cowards when it comes to war? THAT IS WRONG! Simple History break it down for you and Mr. Terry adds to it!
Original Video: • Stop saying the French...
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My country, The Netherlands, surrendered after 6 days in WW2, but the province I live in, Zeeland. Did surrender 2 days later, because there were French troops stationed there. Even though the Dutch were low on morale the French kept fighting defending Dutch soil. Even though the country already surrendered. Only reason they retreated is because the Dutch surrender. Maybe not a significant event, but even in the world war where the French got the bad rep they were still some of the bravest and strongest people. Big resistance and also the only reason why the British could retreat from Belgium aswell.
I'm French and I grew up in the netherlands. I'm always sad when hearing dutch people joking about france during ww2 when a part of our soldiers went until Bréda and tried to defend it. Glad to see a dutch knowing history
@@drschnaps8081 I love history so I always feel like French get more hate than they deserve. I love French history. I mean we were integrated in all large French empires, but I feel like we never were mistreated much by the French historically. The Franks also lived in parts of the Netherlands originally :D As a Dutch person I think we should trashtalk the Brits and Germans more they have shown way more hostility historically speaking in my opinion than anyone else ever did while the French are usually allies.
It is just the US BS that just spread to the Netherlands. People should stop taking that over so easily
@@Kuon002 definitely agree with you!
By the way where are you living in the Netherlands?
@@drschnaps8081 yes like I mentioned I live in Zeeland
Fun fact : if the surrender flag is white, it's because in middle ages the English surrendered to the French during some battle and to make them understand it, they put a flag with French color on it (which was white from monarchy at that time) to tell them they weren't opposing anymore
To me it kinda feels like it symbolizes that the universal country you surrender to is France and I think it's badass
lmfao really
it didn't happened with Algeria or any muslim country so maybe Great britain and Germany surrender to the france but that's it
A war hero, Leo Major, well known in Nederland, is French Canadian, the one-eyed Rambo
@@ivra6345 ?????????? he said the english not algeria
@@ivra6345gros seum côté afrique du nord on voit bien
I'm a Romanian living in Québec, and I always defended the French. They won the most wars in history.
Nous avons le plus grand nombre de batailles gagnée, pas guerre, mais c'est extrêmement gentil de ta part 👍
@@ynandroid7238ouais ta raison. J'ai mélangé les deux. Ça reste tout de même très impressionnant.
Et n’oublions pas que nous avons réellement eu une armée qu’ à partir de 1970.
Avant c’était la mobilisation, on te file un uniforme moisi un fusil de 1886, et demmerde toi avec çà. Les Pétain et autres avaient commencé leurs carrières en 1870 et 1914. Le service militaire, une bouffonnerie pour les humoristes.
La 2ème guerre mondiale était pour nous la 3ème en fait.
Aujourd'hui les Marines viennent en France pour prendre des leçons (sans blague), alors laissons les se marrer.
Paix et sanrté à toi mon ami !@@mars4105
Et le plus de batailles perdues car nous avons participés à un nombre record de ces dernières. Malheureusement les haters jouent dessus.
In 1940, dozens of thousands french soldiers gave their life to protect the English retreat in Dunkerke. German offciers were impressed by the tenacity of the French in the desperate battles around dunkerke, they fought till the end.
They gave their life to save soldiers from an ally country but they are the one who received the bad reputation of white flag guys...
Strange, but common perception has often nothing in common with real history.
My grandfather was one of a french soldier captured by the german there. Was kept in a camp in terrible conditions for years there. Walked on foot from Germany to France and soon died after that
Did you see Nolan's film: "Dunkerque"? That is all that is needed to understand why the skewed perception of historical facts. This is deliberate. Orchestrated. Political.
And not to mention that the UK army / leaders decided not to allow the french soldiers to retreat to the UK with them when leaving dunkirk if what I read was correct, even though we were allied.
@@maxxie84 I remember the same, so... It does frustrate me when i read all sort of things nowadays.
*Dunkerque
I always thought that the "French are cowards and surrender" trope is just cope for the fact that France has the most military victories of any country.
Pretty sure it started as a way to humiliate us after we refused going to Iraq in 2003. But I like your explanation too !
Actually, France has the higher number of victories on battlefield in the world, but that's mostly because France is the bloodiest country in the world, taking part in an incredible amount of war and conflicts. But if you look at the ratio victory/loss over history, it's not that impressive.
France still have more victories than defeats, they still are among the most efficient military forces of history, but only speaking of the number of victory tends to forget this point.
Even with a 30% of victory, a country involved in 150 battles will have more victories than another involved in only 35, no matter the percentage of victory for the second one.
That's not going against your point though; it's kinda akward to say that a country with such a bloodthirsty history always avoid conflicts. But I needed to remind this.
@@Dextroyer77Nah, the British at least have been making fun of the French since they got so quickly overrun in WWII
@@Dextroyer77 true!
@@Akhernatosyou remind nothing, liar.
French have also best global ratio about winning wars and particularly outnumbered.
There was 53 major wars in European History. France were belligerants in 49 of them.
On last 800 years, out of 185 battles made, French win 132 of them, losing only 43 for 10 indecisive battles.
Seems pretty good ratio to me, due to, i rewrite it again here, most of the time, France faced numerous coallitions superior numerically in men.
As a Brit, I have nothing but respect for the French military. Even though our two countries were enemies for a lot of history, we were allies for a lot of it too from the Crimean War to the World Wars
French soldiers are and always have been brave on the battlefield and shown great courage. Never forget the fallen
Vive La France and God save the King 🇬🇧♥️🇲🇫
Yet there's a Custody battle over the two former Commonwealths both countries found U.S and Canada
@@SuperClappy1984 I have no reason to hate or feel contempt towards the French. It's been more than 150 years since our countries have fought each other. Any of our ancestors who fought in those wars are so distant from us now and are long dead. Our generation and even our great great grandparents' generation have grown up being friends with the French. Why should I have to hate them?
Nice comment....
Aaaand the last sentence is a critical fumble, what a shame, guillotine for you, nothing personal.
@@SuperClappy1984 ... yes... but today, those feelings are mostly reserved for rugby games! ...and, lately, French teams have not been doing so badly, especially against the team with the rose!
@@SuperClappy1984 why say that we are neighbor and didn't fight each other in a very long time (except in sport maybe) bringing back old grudges like that only help our mutual enemies (like Russia probably).
I have many english friend with whom I often joke about our past trouble but we never have animosity toward eachother
As a Frenchman who had COUNTLESS arguments about this : thank you.
As a Frenchman too, yes Thanks to him because he was very kind knowing that we are somehow kinda cowards people compared to our neighbours or to other part of the planet.
Don't forget that the French soldiers saved the British army at Dunkerke. They stopped to fight because of the lack of ammunition. Some considere this event as the first victory against Germany even it was a retreat. This kind of information are in historical books not in commercial movies.
Dunkerque*
@@Nickel1147 During operation Dynamo aka evacuation of Dunkerque 117 Royal navy ship sunks and 121 French navy ships sunks .
French soldiers did more casualty to German army in a week at Dunkerque then all Allies in a month during the battel of Normandy in 1944 .
Get your facts straight .
@@Nickel1147 Both my grand fathers fought in this war , one flew a lancaster , the other was a pow , one grandmother was part of resistance ; is that enough ? France won the hundred years war . At waterloo 80 000 k french were againt 70 000 brits + 50 000 k prussians .
Brits only put the final blow to an army that were previously destroyed by russians austrians and prussians .
In my first thread i didn't say anything derigatory . but i think you totally missed the point of the video .
At Dunkerque there was one french soldier against 20 germans and not only they stood they ground but they counter attack ! Did you wish to fight there ? ( that comes from general von rumsted who led germans troop there )
@@Nickel1147 you can add the battle of Patay as worst defeat when 200 french cavalry +1 000 man at arms that arrived later on defeat 6 000 brit soldiers . ( including 3 000 elite archer )
you are welcome anytime .
@@Nickel1147 you salty i'm not . Calling french soldier coward and so and so .
Read my thirst thread i didn't said anything derigatory , just a reminder that without the bravery of the french army operation Dynamo would have failed . just like without Bir Hakeim there is no Alamein in 1942 .
Read what Churchill said about Molinié last stand in Lille for instance ...
"« These Frenchmen, under the gallant leadership of general Molinié, had for four critical days contained no less than seven German divisions which otherwise could have joined in the assaults on the Dunkirk perimeter. This was a splendid contribution to the escape of their more fortunate comrades of the BEF »
France AND United Kingdom lost the battle of France .
I'm Pretty sure if someone propose to modern day brits a chance to fight on the D day or to fight at Waterloo , most will choose to fight France ; as if french are worst then nazis .
The myth of "French can only surrender" was really popularized in the aftermath of France refusal to follow the US-led invasion of Irak in 2003 based on - even Colin Powell admitted it - false proof of NBC weapons and facilities in Irak. Hell, they even rebranded french fries as liberty fries, ffs.
There's a fact that the one criticizing the french army just being able to surrender regularly overlook, and the movie Dunkirk has reinforced that fallacy : It was the French and Belgian soldiers who held the resistance in the Dunkirk area, nearly no british soldier participated in that defense as they were busy fleeing by boat. That's why, of the 48000 allied dead and the 34000 prisoners taken, almost all were french or belgian. And by the way, the British started their retreat toward the sea without telling their french and belgian allies, they were the one leaving the fight, and they were able to do so only thanks to the fact that the french and belgian soldiers hold the line when they retreated.
British soldiers did take part, my grandfather for one. But he was also first in line to defend the French against accusations of cowardice, because he was there and saw how bravely they fought.
Stop lying you clown, British troops did take part in the defence, you are basically just saying and implying what this video is all about.
@@ffotograffyddhe didnt say no brits took part in the defence. He basically said that almost none did. Obviously there was some brits who partaked in the defence but the defenders were, in the great majority french and belgium
@@CCC-nf3bk Of course, because it was happening in France and Belgium… but you are rather playing down the British contribution. Over 390,000 personnel were serving with the British Expeditionary Force by May 1940.
@@ffotograffydd
They quite deserve it.
The British were the very first to drop their gun and run away.
Sometimes it make me think it was planned from the beginning to let Germany won against France and then wait for the US to defeat Germany.
Then no one in Europe can stand against the "anglo-saxon empire", 1 stone 2 birds.
Thanks de Gaulle, it never happen.
There have been 53 major conflicts in Europe. France was a belligerent in 49 of them, and the United Kingdom in 43. Of the 185 battles that France has fought over the last 800 years, its armies have won 132 and lost 43, leaving only 10 battles undecided, giving the French military the record for victories in Europe and therefore in the world. Kisses from France
and a german general said "at dunkirk the french are very strong and we lost a lot of man"
I noticed that under virtually any English-speaking video about France products or history, there is a bunch of people making sure we all know about their anti-French obsessions. This is literally racist, based on nothing but sterotypes, but it is widespread.
spent 11 years in the French Foreign Legion, and I can surely say, I'll choose the French Military over most others any day
USMC: 😂😂😂😂😂😂
@@wuxiagamescentral worked with the USMC already, not as bright as one would expect
@@Just4FC USMC: *eating crayon* we blow shit up not other guys
@@wuxiagamescentral you also kill more of your own soldiers than the enemy does
@@Just4FC you basically proving my point. The enemy can't kill us. Only we can kill us
That coward reputation is probably due to France's refusal to take part in a war with Irak. In fact, it was not out of cowardice that this was refused, but because it was out of the question to go to war for unfounded reasons (and France was right about it).
Some people (especially Americans) continue nowadays to call French coward because of this, and it's deeply unfair now we know that Irak wasn't doing what US accused them of.
Indeed you are right, it was called frenchbashing and the USA instigated it after France’s refusal to go to Irak.
As a Frenchman, i feel hurt when i hear those unfair stereotypes. Thank you so much for setting the record straight.
the french have mastered the art of surrender
As a French man, I thank you for your video, you’re in a better position to restore our image and the respect for our French soldiers who gave their life for our country.
It’s hilarious how one war defines a country that has one of the richest military history in the world.
In fact, this reputation comes after our former president Jacques Chirac (1995-2007) refused to join the USA in the war against Irak. Since then, USA propaganda machine is working.
@@Blerkk_ No it's a misconception ....It's MUCH older than that ...Anglo saxon countries as well as a part of Germany are protestants , France is( was) christian ....
The financial ruin post Louis the XIVth really took it's unraveling in freemason Benjamin Franklin accosting Quiberon asking the king for help in the americas , which achieved to ruin the finances of Louis the XVIth , added with all of the "enlightened gang" who were basically a gang of foreign paid influencers , paid to liberalize the country to " improve the finances" by freeing the cross border exchanges , which permitted the English to flood the country with tons of poorly produced goods ( most made by kids ) which put everyone out of work , added with the liberalization of the commerce of grain which made the price of bread skyrocketing , which in turn provoked the revolution ( you could argue that the French Revolution was the first "colored" revolution the anglo saxons attempted with success )
Thanks to USA doing an international French bashing propaganda because we refused to help them in a disgusting oil war.
@@Blerkk_USA are the worst septic tank in the history of earth. They are far from being in a position to be condescending.
@@Blerkk_ Sad for them, as they're loosing momentum to china...
and instead of rallying behind themselves...
They do things like that...
the day before yesterday it was the french, yesterday it was trump and germany...
Who knows who it's gonna the next time...
German are more forgiving than french... but even them may not come back at some point.
If the usa keep going, it's just accelerating its own downfall as the 1st power in this world...
And in the end the USA is gonna be to be alone.
Au nom de mes grands parents, de mes ailleux, et de mon pays, merci à toi de rétablir cette vérité.... Vérité que malheureusement aujourd'hui, même certains français ont tendance à oublier .
Dieu merci certaines personnes font l'effort de la rechercher . Tu as ma profonde considération pour en faire partie.
Encore merci à toi pour ton honnêté et ton travail.
God bless you
Pfff qu'est-ce que ça peut te faire?
@@goku445 Ta réaction est totalement incompréhensible...
@@elricsharko430 qu'est-ce que ça peut te faire ce que pensent les autres ? Et qu'est-ce que ça change dans ton quotidien?
Rien.
@@goku445 Je comprends ce que tu veux dire, quand un étranger me dit que les "Français sont que des froussards"... j'en ai rien à foutre car je connais la vérité, je connais l'histoire de mon pays et l'Histoire du monde. Toutefois, c'est vrai que c'est un peu frustrant de voir l'image de nos soldats ternie comme cela, je pense avant tout à eux.
@@user-th8uw9vn9f Tu en vois souvent des étrangers qui disent ça? C'est un 'meme' sur Internet née en 2003 avec la 2e guerre en Irak.
Par ailleurs, politique..., les soldats sont de pauvres bougres manipulés quel que soit leur pays d'origine par les classes dominantes.
Faut transcender ces idées obsolètes nationalistes.
“The business of the French is war and they do their business.” -Rudyard Kipling
As the grand-daughter of a former soldier in the french Resistance ( in Brittanny), I'm happy you talked about them. The few stories he had the courage to share, made me see WWII in a different angle. The one that gave me the most chills was when he entered a mill, and behind was a scared 17 ish yrs old German soldier ( grandpa was 17), his commander just said " it's him or you, make a choice". he made a choice, with both German and him tears in their eyes.
All the stories I heard of fellow soldiers during WWII, they were scared, didn't know what they were doing ( the young ones).
Thank you for clearing this up, all countries are coward for different reasons, at some point of time.
Reminds me of my paternal Grandfather. He escaped an execution, he lied about his age, so he could join the army, he went to North Africa, then in Provence, for "Operation Dragoon".
He never surendered. He choose to fight so the family he wanted to have would not live under nazi tyranny.
A tous nos anciens qui ont eu le courage de risquer leur vie dans ce conflit. On devrait en prendre de la graine, tiens.
As a french, I first just want to thank you for this video.
If you come to visit France once, you'll just have to notice that in EVERY town, every city there's a monument to the dead on which appear dozens of names for each war since 1870. Sometimes just by reading those names, we understand that entire families have been decimated. Fathers, brothers, sons, nephews, uncles. All dead at the front.
In 1940, almost 60 000 french soldiers died in 6 weeks. To me it didn't look like a cowards army's casualties :)
If we lost the battle of France, it was because of the command and the defensive doctrine of the politics, traumatized by the losses of the first world war. De Gaulle had understood this as early as 1934, but no one had listened to him.
Anyway, thanks again for your great job and friendly greatings from France !
And we also have to remember that those names are the one we retrieve. There is countles french soldiers fallen in battle and their names are not writen on those monuments because we didn't find their bodies after ward. That's why we have the toumb of the unkwon soldier below the arc of triomph, it's to remember the ones who falls and were not retreived.
I remember visiting a village in Vercors that was absolutely erased by the Luftwaffe during WW2, out the 3000 houses, 7 were still standing and one was untouched at all
The memorial to the dead includes so many names that there's three memorials next to eachother
@@MarImpObsc you probably speak about Vassieux-en-Vercors. There is also Oradour sur Glane which was a real massacre of the all population
A war hero, Leo Major, well known in Nederland, is French Canadian, the one-eyed Rambo
Merci enfin quelqu'un qui reconnais également que DE GAULE avait prévenu tous le monde que la guerre a venir se ferait avec des chars et non des bunker ! Qu'il avait demander des groupes blindé en nombre et pas dispersé, soutenue par une aviation en un point donné et pas juste refaire une ligne comme en ww1 ...
Merci pour ce rappelle, car je suis presque sur que les ressources en blindés accompagné d'une infanterie et soutenue par une artillerie que nous possédions aurait pu casser l'attaque ou bloquer l'attaque des Ardennes. Bien sur, pas sans mal et sans perte, mais le paris des allemand aurais échoué et l'armé n'aurait pas eu à reculer jusqu'à dunkerque. Un nouveau Verdun ou une nouvelle ligne aurait pu être stabilisé. Les allemand n'était pas prêt en ressource à refaire une guerre de position.
C'était un paris stratégique pour les allemand, il on réussis leurs paris par leur capacité à ce déplacer rapidement. On peut rajouter l'incompétence des généraux vieillard, qui n'on pas su s'adapter au tactique plus moderne des chars en masse.
Merci à toi pour le rappelle.
Et vive le générale DE GAULE
Who ever says french are cowards, should visit Verdun. I became proud of the French as a Belgian ha. But its truly impressive what sacrifice the french made. In the English speaking Internet most is told from a British perspective, which also contributes to the image people have of the french. Anyway, Ils ont mon respect!
Il suffit de visiter l'ossuaire de Douonmont pour comprendre....
@@christopheb.6121 C’est vrai, la ville est encore mort 😂. Rien d’atmosphère la, même samedi soir.
Even the Belgians had their sacrifices: Ypres, Mons, Antwerp and La Lys. If they had surrendered in hours, Dunkirk couldn't happen. They gave time to the French and British.
Thank you soooooooo much for that man !! My great-grandfather was in Verdun, was injured twice and fought until the end of the war. Both my grandfathers fought and were prisoners in working camps for four years during WWII. You have no idea how that stereotype annoys me each time I hear it.
I'm french and I'm proud of my country, my history and my ancesters. My great grand-father and my great-great grand-father died during WW1 defending our soil, families and liberty. One grand father was in the French resistance during WW2 giving infos to the british about german military facilties for future bombings. Gestapo tried to catch him, some of his friends had been caught and died. My other grand father had to stay strong after being made prisoner for five years to come back home after victory. Thanks for this video, really. I'm tired to see the lack of history knowledge.
one of my grand fathers was deported by the Nzi. one of my grand mothers was raped by Gi's.
As a French, I thank you - and this video - for clearing the sterotypes!
I find it odd that we have that reputation to mainly Americans (and the Brits, but for them it's normal, we're forever frenemies xD) considering that we were the ones helping them in the War for Independence, just saying... Did they forget that? x)
Or did the fact that we refuse to help in 2003 was enough for them to turn a blind eye in that little piece of history? Because World War 2 was an awful conflict in Europe to everyone. France wasn't the only one that got that treatment because of the crazy German mustache guy in power.
Not to mention that even after we "surrendered" De Gaulle and others military said "SCREW YOU I'M GONNA RESIST THEM ANYWAY" which ended up with Paris' liberation if I'm not mistaken.
I am both a bit offended and found it funny at the same time we have this reputation, not gonna lie. But it was an interesting learning session I guess xD
I'm french too and had no idea about this stereotype until 1-2 years ago, and when I realised how "famous" it was I lost so much respect for americans. Literally one of the biggest memes for french "surrender white flag" etc, knowing the suffering french went through during this war, including some of my ancestors, it made me fucking angry. And the fact that it's something that happened decades ago makes it extremely cringe whenever they bring it up, it's like we'd make nazi jokes with every german we meet. Seems extremely dumb to me and comes from some one sided hatred. Anyways they want to hate us so we should do the same.
“To be an enemy of America can be dangerous, but to be a friend is fatal.”
- Henry Kissinger
@@naevaarnould8803 I'm not French, but I don't think you should stoop to their level of lies and dishonesty. Telling the truth and exposing their hoaxes is quite enough.
As a brit I can confirm we know your not cowardly. I think where a lot of the insults come from is the fact we have been enemies for so long and you had stereotypes on both sides so of course that's gonna be a thing.
Also during ww2 and the battle of Dunkirk us brits got criticised for not helping enough even though the brits would also point out the ignorance of the French leaders at the time is also just as bad. Both nations under estimated the Germans and thought they wouldn't do what they did or at least they would fail at it. But both were proven wrong
It doesn't take much to be satisfied. As a French, I don't feel at all honored to be called as bloodthirsty and murderous as those stupid Americans...
It took all of Europe six times to defeat Napoleonic France
Nah it took them that many times to beat Napoleon not France let’s not get it twisted.
nah 😂 it took Napoleon (a Corsican) to mess up by going to Russia, and yeah, it was more about Napoleon than France at the end
Only took britain once to defeat napoleonic france.
@@bigenglishmonkey You did not look at history lol. Napoleon crushed europe 2 times and he had just 2 defeat compared to like countless defeat on the english side.
@@Luck-or5ci check again.
Napoleon defeated the coalitions, not once was britain nocked out, it was constantly at war with him, and they only fought directly once, and that was Waterloo.
Napoleon never defeated britain, but britain defeated napoleon.
What many people forget is that the Maginot line worked perfectly on the Italian line during WW2. The Italians took a huge beating ! The French soldiers had to surrender because the armistice was signed.
Anyway, thank you for this video!
Algeria won and take my country back
@@wassim.dz.2010Yes, that was a good thing, colonization is a crime.
But the facts in the video still stand.
L'algérie a perdu militairement mdrr@@wassim.dz.2010
La ligne Maginot n' a pas été prise par les allemands dans son ensemble les combats ont continué même après l armistice du 22 juin c'est le maréchal Pétain qui a lui-même ordonné la fin des combats qui prit fin le 2 juillet !!
" les soldats français sont des lions dirigés par des ânes"
@@wassim.dz.2010 no you lost. You got independance because the US and the UN were pressuring for decolonization, therefor => referendum.
I don’t understand how the country that has won the most wars in history can be considered as coward
Probably the most inaccurate stereotype of all time.
It's more propaganda than stereotype imo
@@synkaan2167 as a french, I noticed this big hype on french being cowards just after we refused to intervene in Irak.
And I swear that is when I started to see more and more or those.
@@SloulDesTucs Yes it all came with the French veto, the freedom fries and all this shit lol.
Worse thing is that the american lied to everyone but 20 years later people just remember the propaganda about the French 😅
its ok for me, I prefer to be underestimated, its an advantage in some cases
A GI and Navy Seals from the 2000s while fighting in Arab countries said that the bravest and most tenacious soldiers were the French.
They said that the US military gave 8 hours to carry out a mission with an impressive technology... if the time was exceeded, they returned. They were amazed to see that the French soldiers went through with their missions with 5 times less technology than the US even if it took several days.
Israeli commandos (Shayetet 13) also said that the French commandos were among the best.
Woah I didn't know that ^^
Some of the French commando units are among the most competent and most respected in the world by other military units in the know.
They're efficient, as tough as it comes, they're highly trained and competent, they don't have a chip on their shoulder, and they don't brag in dick-measuring contests.
They just get the job done.
Mais nous devons augmenter notre budget militaire.. nos intérêts grandissant à l'étranger et les multiples conflits nous y obligent..
@@45Shameek augmenter le budget ok mais surtout éviter les bourbiers
@@nikola6527 chaque conflit est un bourbier en soit
Merci pour cette explication, la rumeur des " soldats français lâche" ma toujours rendu fou, sachant le nombre de français mort lors des toute nos guerres. Super video !
The French military has actually the most amount of Battles wind with 1115 victories .
It's funny because I never heard the Memes until after Sept 11 2001. I assumed it was because France refused to commit major forces against an ally's (US) enemy. I would not have thought the events of WWII were cowardly.
There was also the quote from the Simpsons "Cheese eating surrender monkeys" and the meme grew from 2001 onwards because of Chirac's refusal to participate in Dubya's war in irak. That's when America went all Murica and censored "French" for "Freedom" (the original restaurant that did it still does it to this day), basically tried to sully the French image in the interests of the war. At that point it's like americans had completely forgotten everything France did for in the foundation of the USA, the indochina/vietnam wars, the french resistance etc.
? People have been roasting them *since* it happened in WWII
@@adarkwind4712 Clearly not.
@@shakya00you can say that but they absolutely have been roasted by most major military’s about WWII. I’m not saying they called them cowards but yeah that got harped on immediately. It’s what happens when you lose *that* badly *that* quickly.
@@adarkwind4712 Proof of what you say ?
According to the last studies, the Germans lost a little more than 50.000 KIA during the battle of France. The French lost approx 65.000 KIA. For one of the worst defeat ever suffered by any Nation, that's a very honorable ratio. When the French were able to improvise a defensive position (Stonne, the Somme, Dunkirk, Lille, the Ailette River, ...), the Germans suffered.
To be fair the British troops did help during the Battle of France, and without their marine transport and a big number of civilian boat we could not have evacuate after the defeat
@@alexandre069 No one will ever deny the help of the British.
You forgot the destruction of around 45 % of the Luftwaffe who was in a weak position for the battle of Britain, in spite of what the English claimed.
@@antoinemozart243 Très juste. J'ai omis (par volonté de synthèse) de mentionner les faits d'armes de nos MS.406 et autres D.520 ;)
@@antoinemozart243 Et ca marche aussi pour els Panzer Division qui pont perdu environ la moitié de leurs Chars.
Les Allemands ont fait un All-in , le Blitzkrieg est certes très impressionnant et efficace ( quand ca passe ) mais c'est aussi incroyablement couteux en matériel.
As a French, I really appreciate the fact that you spread our bravery
As a nation of warrior, the French history is basically Games of Thrones, games of power with great royals family placing they kids as pions of a big chess game, spying, historical and big conflicts involving hundred thousands of soldiers, we almost had our Jon Snow in the person of Joan of Arc
Thanks for your work here 🙌🙌
When your kings are called "the Hammer", " the Great", "the Strong", "the Belligerent", "Augustus" (after the Roman emperors), "the Lion", "the Hardy", "the Victorious", and "Sun King", you know you have some great battle stories to tell! Though, there have been a "lazy" or two in between, and also a "fat" one if I recall correctly....
Louis VI " le gros " the fat one 😅😊
He was also known as the"Brawler" because that dude was OFTEN fighting
Napoleon alone had a massive list of incredible marshals.
Just one crazy example; His Martial Devout commanding 3rd core with 28,000 troops ran head long into Prussias main army of around 60,000 by sheer chance while planning to meet up with Napoleon.
He not only held his position but when he saw the Prussians were hesitating to commit their reserves, he counter attacked and the Prussias including King Frederick turned their backs and fled the battlefield.
Routed, Devout and 3rd core restlessness chase lead them directly into Berlin.
When news hit Napoleon that Devout had defeated the main Prussian army alone he refused to believe it until actually confirmed.
By just 33 days from the onset of war with Prussia, a military might suffered 20,000 dead, lost around 800 artillery batteries and 250 standards.
Mostly due to the work of just one French martial and his overly courageous troops.
And I don't even think Davout was the bravest of Napoleon's marshals, he was really a safe player compared to Murat orLannes (that I personally like the most)
Lasalle was an outstanding horseman: at the head of the hussars of his "Infernal Brigade", he distinguished himself in almost all of Napoleon's campaigns. The horseman was killed at Wagram in 1809 after leading a life of honor, glory and attachment to his Emperor. "It only takes a stroke of the pen to create a prefect, but it takes twenty years to make a Lasalle" said Napoleon about the hussar
@GuillaumeT96 Murat essentially suffers the opposite issue of Devout, dives into the fighting too often but it saved the army or parts of the army more than once. Lannes is a badass, gets injured and discharges himself from the hospital the day of the next battle.
its just unfortunate that the ones to ultimately inherit his legacy in military development was the prussians later on
Yep, Devout, Murat, McDonald (he had scottish roots) and many other french marshals were great military leader too!
*France* : have more military victories than any countries on Earth
*People*: ok, let start counting from 1940
Not people, but a few muricans.
This all started when France refused to join the illegal US in Irak in 2003. The US under GW Bush started a massive propaganda program to discredit the French.
and talk about the American lie about iras war ??????
Depuis 1940 la France n'a rien gagné 🤣😂(je suis français) elle a perdu en Indochine et a perdu en Algérie 😂🤣
@@m.m5108donne une guerre coloniale gagnée par le pays colonisateur à partir du 20e siècle
@@m.m5108 La France n'a perdu aucune bataille en Algérie.
Même au Vietnam, une seule bataille perdue sans engagement du contingent...
I am french, and the best argument i say to people saying "french surrender" meme, is that Fance, througout its entire history, won the most battles in the world ! (1115 to be exact) and also that France helped a LOT to the USA Independance. Usually, after that, those people are quiet =)
Great video mate,
a french history lover
French History Teacher here: One of the reason that my country surrendered in 1940 is the fact that our allies did retreat or surrender before us. If we won WWI, it's because British and Belgians fought alongside France during all the conflict ! (Yes the Belgian Army fought on French soil because their entire country was occupied) In 1940, Belgium surrendered too fast and trapped French troops in Ardennes and Netherlands, The British (400 000 mens) retreated without telling French armies. Without specify that some militaries and leaders were kind of sympathisers of Hitler's ideologie and antisemitism. A plan was made to unite France and Britain as one country to continue the fight but before it acted, Philippe Petain became President and was a defeatist and nazi sympathiser and negotiate armistice against the will of the country and capacities ( Biggest dreadnought and cruiser fleet of his time, an army as the size of germany and colonies to fight from).
History proves times and again that French soldiers fight like lions, with resilience, bravery as well as craftiness... They are not always well commanded, though, which explains defeats such as Agincourt or, much more recently the 1940 Battle of France.
Also let's not forget that Free France troops fought alongside the allies on ALL fronts (including alongside the Soviets, or in the Pacific... although the French contribution in the Pacific was pretty anecdotic to say the truth). In particular, the French aviation regiment Normandie-Niemen received the highest honors from the Soviets, and were bloody feared by the Luftwaffe. They have monuments in their honor in several russian cities.
NB: I am not French, just an amateur of military history...
Even the Vichy France fought in the pacific against the Japan and its allies who wanted to annex its colonies. Although this tend to be forgotten because, well... They were amongst the bad guys...
@@tankinatorfr I am not talking of the Vichy France troops stationed in Indochina, which collaborated with the Japanese... although not without frictions (there were indeed some fighting also between Vichy and Japanese troops).
I am obviously referring to the Free France troops of De Gaulle, some of whom fought in the Pacific alongside the allies.
As early as September 1st, a referendum was organized in Tahiti, and the vote was crystal clear: 5564 in favor of De Gaulle vs 18 for Marshall Pétain. The New Hebrids and New Caledonia joined De Gaulle and the allies at approximately the same time. Do notice that this took place 16 months BEFORE Pearl Harbor!
"Le ralliement des Établissements français de l'Océanie (actuelle Polynésie française) à la France libre intervient le 2 septembre 1940. Il marque l'entrée de la colonie dans la Seconde Guerre mondiale et en fait une des toutes premières à se placer sous l'autorité du général de Gaulle. Ce ralliement suit celui des Nouvelles-Hébrides le 22 juillet 1940 et précède celui de la Nouvelle-Calédonie le 19 septembre 1940."
In 1944 on 5 millions allied troops on western front more than 1 million were french.
I completely agree with you, but, you can't say that Free France was anecdotic, it's wrong, they did not the job the soviets or the americans made that's for sure, but they played a big role in North Africa, Italy and Western Europe. "We cannot lose the support of the free french forces" this is what two americans politicians said to Roosevelt in 1944.
@@LOeuffy We absolutely agree. I only said that the engagement of Free France troops IN THE PACIFIC theater was anecdotic... and it was, but not so on other fronts. They also played an important role on the Eastern front. I had the privilege to know Roland de la Poype, who fought in the Normandie-Yemen squadron, alongside the Soviet airforce... and who was one of only two French to get directly from Stalin the title of Hero of the Soviet Union... amusing for a French count! From what I was told, many in the Soviet high command opposed giving an aristocrat their highest distinction... but Stalin insisted. I never checked whether this last anecdotal fact is true, but so was I told by another friend of his. Monuments commemorating the Normandie-Yemen squadron still exit in several Russian cities, and Roland was received in Russia as an honored guest.
Actually the 'joke' about french cowardice has been created by the Hawks during the 2nd Irak war when french governement, and public opinion, did not support the war and even criticized it. So to downside it, they created this joke, arguing that actually France did not want to participate because they were cowards...they created also the 'freedom' fries...:)
Lol, the joke long-predates this. It was a thing throughout the second half of the 20th century, most famously popularized by the Simpsons during the episode "Round Springfield".
Malheureusement, les premiers à avoir pensé que les français étaient lâches étaient les français eux-mêmes. Que ce soit des civiles ou des pétainistes.
Le premier livre affirmant que les français sont des lâches est français et est sortie durant la seconde guerre mondiale, il s'appelle "Nos mitrailleuses n'ont pas tiré".
@@josephkrengel French bashing definitely increased (and its an understatement) after 2001-2003. As a Frenchman, I had never experienced French bashing on the internet before 2003, despite having conversations with foreigners online long before that, and then, it was everywhere, non stop.
The laughing stock after World War II was the Italians, not the French, and most of the jokes you hear today about the French army are, in fact, old jokes made about the Italian army.
Kinda funny, as USA never offered help to the two world wars untill they were dragged in. Too bust chewing on freedom fries
@@flamma9034 it's a totally French trait lol. if they listen to us we live in hell lol
Thank you for the work. As a french, recently interested in History, I thank you for this video. It's well documented and made simple to understand. Thank you very much!
Thanks for this Terry! Means a lot!
My brother once asked what happened to all the brave French soldiers and my answer was, "Between the American Revolution, the Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars, the various colonial wars, WWI, and WWII, there's your answer."
they literally invented chivalry! no way theyre cowards...
As a french, im happy u did this video, thx
A tenacious theory to discredit them, but the real ones know.
Thank you for your video
I'm Thaï and I live in Metz (France), the city has such a huge war history (during the past 150 the region was taken and lost by Germany and France in 1871, then 1918, then 1940, then 1944) it's really unfair to say these people were cowards since some parts of the department of Moselle weren't taken by the Germans until after Paris had fallen (the Maginot Line and the Bitche Citadelle - yeah that's the name of the city, it's located east of Moselle and please don't make puns on it). They usually agreed to leave the places with their equipment and joined the southern part of the country, then reached North Africa or England for the most of them.
As a History enthusiast, I can't imagine not thinking about this past each time I'm in the streets of this city. For instance, some public places still have marks of shells or bullets on their walls (especially the Palais de Justice were you can see these on both fronts, east and west and guess who shot each one). Behind the statue of Lafayette (who came here to recruit volunteers to fight against Britain in the U.S.) you can see a blast mark just next to a window where nowadays the Moselle Court of Appeal takes its decisions.
I'm sorry for my bad English, I'm learning the best I can.
I wish to thank you for this video and every other video you make, I love History and you Sir are a great teacher. Thank you : )
Cheers from Metz!
Hey fellow lorrain !
I have some familly in Moselle. And I visited many Ligne maginot ouvrage (Museum and urbex). I'm very happy to see a foreigner living there and being interested in something else than Paris. Hope you enjoy living there.
@@drschnaps8081 I enjoy it, people are nice and there are 3 countries nearby (Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium) so there's this interesting "micro-world" feeling, I like it. And I sometimes go shopping in Germany because they have stuff I can't find in France and vice-versa). It's also quite amazing that a region that had suffered so many wars since even before the Romans came here can be so peaceful. I don't know I love the region, it's not what people from Paris believe (rainy and depressing). To be honest, each time I talk to a Parisian, he/she thinks that the only goal of people outside Paris is to come live in Paris the whatever reason. So bizarre ^^
By the way, you're nickname is a word a sometimes hear in the city (Schnapps) :D
@@21innocentbystander Another Messin :) I thought I'd be the only girl from the area to comment that's why I felt it was like a duty to open my mouth in the comment section :D As people say in Saint Symphorien: "Ici c'est Metz!" ("Here it's Metz" for non-French speaking readers) : )
ça fait du bien que quelqu'un remette les pendules à l'heure de temps en temps
Tout a fait!
"quand tu as des amis comme les USA, tu n as pas besoin d ennemi"
Nous francophone connaissons la véritable France 🇧🇪❤️🇨🇵
Americans forget that it was the French who won the war of of independence. French admiral De Grasse was key in planning the battle of Yorktown and defeated the British fleet in the Battle of Chesapeake. Comte de Rochambeau landed in Rhode Island and marched his troops from there down to Yorktown joining with Washington in New York. Those two joined Lafayette's forces to defeat the British. That was the last of the many battles the French fought in the war in support of the Americans. Some of those battles were overseas against British interests far and wide.
If you want to watch an accurate film on the French résistance, try L'armée de l'ombres (army of shadows) both the director and the writer were in the résistance and updated the script accordingly.
Honestly the "ha ha, France surrender" jokes feel at the very least a bit unfair to the 92 thousand French soldiers who bravely fought and died during the German invasion in May 1940.
The simple truth is that in that initial phase EVERYONE got steamrolled by Germany. Wehrmacht made it all the way to gates of Moscow before getting bogged down by supply issues.
France didn't have the English Chanel like the British nor the vast expanse of land like Russia, nor were they safely across the ocean like America.
And one thing that doomed them from the onset, more so than even the geography, was all the political nonsense going on in France for the next 20 years after the end of The Great War.
French soldiers were just as brave and well trained as they ever were, the NCO's were just as ready and willing to lead as ever, but the general public and the higher up decision makers didn't want another protracted conflict that'd see hundreds of thousands, if not millions of their young men die like the last time. Is that really such a bad thing? Not wanting your sons and brothers and husbands and fathers to go on another wholesale slaughter? Hindsight is a hell of a thing...
It is indeed very unfair to all of those brave soldiers.
But what's even worse is the fact that the "haha france surrender" wasn't even a thing after WWII.
This idea was pushed by the US government in 2003, when the french refused to join the US in the invasion of Irak.
Hell they even officially renamed the french fires to "freedom fries" at that time.
It’s usually Americans who make remarks about french “cowardice” and their “willingness to surrender” ignoring the fact that the American military record since World War Two (Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan) hasn’t actually been stellar.
The American Military Record since forever is crap.
They never won a war in History.
😂
Forgot Korea , for me it's even more insulting than Vietnam or Afghanistan
you also have some british who live in the past and never miss an opportunity to diminish the French lol
Let's also not forget that their Military History has proven them to be the WORST gunners in the world by pounding either their own soldiers or allied troops!
Remember Hastings (1066) against the Brits, and Marignan (1515) against the italians. Great victories.
Merci pour cette mise au point Historique Terry.👍
After the french bashing campaign in 2005, I had some US coworker came in france, they were all about jokes and such, then I proposed to make them visit the first weekend the normady battleground and explain them that the cities were rebuild not because of the german but because of the US bombing and artillery strikes, the Falaise emplacement also di strike them ...
Then after that we did the WWI battle ground, starting with Bois Belleau, then the rest of all the battlefield, in some you still can see the Yperite canister and also explain the no-go zone because of the remaining of normal and chemical exploded ordance still there, when the saw the "death hazard sign" all other places they were astounded, then I explained them that Frence on it"s metropolitan part and enjoy the longest peacetime ever since 1945, before it was at least 1000 years of different war. And on top on showing common sense not to go in Irak French people were not found to go to war litely as we have reminder of what war brings in the aftermath, not just a bombed military harbor in the pacific and two tower down, the whole part of your country no livable after more than a century, part of your country marked for more than centuries, village, cities wype from existance..; And we also be kinda tired of war, it's not being a coward, We see all around Paris also destruction of its liberations, Machine gun pepered wall, historical plate on the whole where someone died for our freedom, historical plate with a long list of name of deported people, etc. everyday you have everywhere the aftermath of recent war in each village, in each city, and for my luck they did discovered a 250kg bomb buried on a nearby airforce base they were unable to disarmed, they did blow it, our nearby building did rocked quite heavy, and said "it was only one bombed, now imagine hundreds of those falling from the sky on your country, you won't be eager to try again, least on other people"
and despite those bombing french are still maintaining a massive commemoration monument(and cemetery) for the D-Day's American soldiers dead there. How many monuments for the french dead helping for the independance of the US ?
It's not fair to discuss about history or geography with an average american. They have no idea what they talking about and considering the current status of the american education system, even on university campus, you can actually feel the cold coming from the cosmic void they have between their ears. It's truly staggering and concerning for the first world power. In 2003, after the De Villepin's speech at the UN, they were told to bash frenchs for their positions against the war in Irak and they followed the US propaganda like good little prairie dogs.
They are simply filling their ignorance with arrogance, nothing more.
een thge friggin nazis were not as barbaric as american, the dumb cowboys just wanted to blow shit up, so any town will do
@@MugenNoZenko don't forget the rapes by GI's on normandy farm girls. It's been declassified. The US considered France as a hostile territory that's why they bombed us and raped our grandmas. To be fair, at some point the US comandment made it stoped and hung the rapists (many black soldiers) , so the catholic french girls stopped reporting the rapes to avoid being responsible for their death. Us government did'nt do the same thing in Germany , they were mass rapes and torture. So you might understand why the french might be a litle uneasy with americans, especialy when they keep humiliating us about it. The humiliation should stop now, our grandmas have paied a high enough price for being invaded by the nazis. And we all grew up with the name of the hundred of dead soldiers per village in those ugly wars. We all have generational trauma about it. Thank you.
Well done for taking the time to show and explain to them. You must have removed a veil and helped them think and research for themselves, and that's something.
As a french, Thank you ! It gets old after a while....
Coward
not if you're from England
not if you're from England
@@hectorlagos8937 lol fair !!
Hey, Frenchman...
Thanks for helping fend off the royal navy during our Revolution.
Thank you for that video, it really means a lot .. I am French, my great grandpa was a prisoner of Nazi, and my grandpa was 16yo in the resistance, with my great grandma that helped Jewish with other women and delivering weapons to the resistance in the Jura in France… I got some unpleasant comments, rarely, but still just by saying i am french under some videos, and exclusively from Americans .. i repeat that is very rare comments, but i always wonder why that kind of comments pop up once in a while, often young people, and i am wondering if its the Teacher’s fault or parent’s fault maybe talking trash about a part of the history but that very nice to you to talk about what really happened
Oh and i never heard any Brits or other European country talking trash about France by the way
Merci de défendre l’honneur de nos combattants tomber au combats 🙏
As a French person, I had no idea that we had a reputation abroad for being cowardly. I even find it frightening, especially as France actually has the most glorious military history of all.
C'est par rapport à la retraite de 1940.
Et aussi le refus d'envahir l'Irak en 2003 qui a ravivé ce cliché auprès de certains anglophones.
@@jeremylefevre2451 surtout par rapport a l'Irak en vrai
Putain bah il serait temp de sortir de ta grotte cousin, ca fait 50 ans quon se fait insulter et tu débarque toi
I am happy for you that you have been spared that as it really is quite unfair. I'm English and I will happily tease about the French propensity to surrender (just as the French will tease us about our cuisine) ... but it's not true.
We English know better than anyone that it's not true given that our two nations spent centuries beating each other up for one reason or another. I have never looked at the numbers so it'd be interesting to research just what the Win/Loss ratio is but I am certain that the French army has been victorious far more often than it has had to admit defeat.
The problem to be contended with is not only the abrupt collapse of resistance in WWII but also the subsequent collaboration - it's that which has left such a bitter aftertaste for so many decades since. That and De Gaulle's ungrateful arrogance.
The French had allies in those trenches too :)
Americans like to forget that they waited 3 years before joining in (though their president and military helped behind the scenes...)
Yet some fought very well, just check the Harlem Hellfighters ...
@@lazyshoggyyeah and they fought under french colours because the US did not want to got to war
@@princessapplestrach6327 I think you mistook them for others. Harlem Hellfighters were regular US army but they fought with french stuff (helmets, weapons and such) at the beginning because they were black and so the US army didn't take them seriously ; the French on the other hand were very happy to have them fight alongside them, they were the first US soldiers they decorated with the Croix de Guerre, individually and with their regiment.
Maybe you were referring to the La Fayette squadron ?
@@lazyshoggy nope at the start of the war they were fighting under the french army then later were reintegrated in the US Army when they joined the fight in 1917 IIRC
@@princessapplestrach6327 The 369th infantry regiment arrived in France in January 1918, how could they be fighting in France at the start of the war ?
Love your passion. You show great respect. Even if they fight, soldiers from all the countries have respect for each other.
In memory of French people that had to fight, thank you 😊
There were lots of everyday heroes nobody talks about that contributed in hard times. My great-grandfather was working for the train company, he was putting explosives on Nazi trains carrying equipment.
There are brave people everywhere and all deserve respect 😊
« French are cowards » was mega coping coming from the Brits, and was born from fear. The smaller British expeditionary corps was steamrolled by the German blitz through the Ardennes. And got themselves trapped EXACTLY like the french forces did.
But to keep morale high after the evacuation in Dunkirk, the Brits HAD to find a spin where their soldiers didn’t lose, but all was the fault of France. And since France was effectively split in Twain : metropolitan northern French occupied, southern French « kinda free » under collaborationist Petain and Laval, it was an easy blame shifting on france.
Even though French soldiers died EN MASSE to defend the Dunkirk perimeter and allot the Brits to withdraw to England.
It takes a special kind of wilful idiot to call french soldiers cowards.
We can be defeated. But vengeance is a dish served cold ; and french colonial forces striked back with the commando Kieffer and foreign legion, not to mention the resistance.
Resisting when your country is occupied takes more balls that fighting with superior firepower.
Anyway. Nowadays a french surrender joke says nothing about france. But it says a lot of derogative things about the guy trying such a joke 🤷♂️
We can forgive Churchill for needing a spin to save face and keep the moral of their troops high, that we can chuckle along.
But some folks unironically blurbing that as if it was « fakt » deserve a good kick in the balls.
Post scripture : nowadays, France carries over 6 hundred hydrogen nukes on about 7 nuclear submarines, roaming around the globe. So, cowards or not, if some idiot tries to take beef with France expecting that we cave in might end up with their country turned to radioactive slag.
4 sous-marins lanceurs stratégiques et à peu près 250 armes nucléaires (dont des armes tactiques à fission type bombe A). Même si le commentaire est assez vrai, il ne faut pas tomber dans un chauvinisme exacerbé quand même 😉
This is the epitome of cope. We Brits sent our Grandfathers to defend Belgium and France twice. We should have sided with the Kaiser.
1940, France had the largest army and tanks fielded. It's not Britain's fault France got conquered.
But I am glad we left Dunkirk
@@Germanic_Brotherhood Do you even KNOW why England sided with france against Germany in ww1 ? Other than « boo france bad » ?
I've always respected the French Military. And I have fiercely defended them ever since I studied French history at University. Its obviously WWII which earned them their reputation, but looking below the surface, you get a whole different perspective of France's involvement in WWII. The Maginot line was impressive and should have stopped the Germans, in fact it did. The two weaknesses were the Ardennes which was considered naturally impenetrable and the Belgian border which was left undefended on the Belgian request. That Germany broke through was unexpected and was not just the failure of France, but of Belgium and Britain too. Then at Dunkirk, Britain fled, leaving behind brave French soldiers defending their rear, even though they knew the British were abandoning them. Can't say i'd have been as willing to risk my life so that my friends could abandon me. France continued to fight until it was clear they stood alone and could not win. And yet, the Resistance fought on, the Free French fought on, the Algerian colonies fought on. France did not just roll over, they carried on the fight, despite Churchill trying to keep France out of the way. And when France was liberated, they re-joined the war and they won it. France won WWII, even though most people think of them as losers due to the occupation. I remember learning all of this in Uni and thinking how could you accuse France of cowardice. And ever since then, I just keep seeing more and more examples of bravery and success. Most recently, I've been learning about the Napoleonic Wars and Jesus Christ, how can you say they were cowards when they took on what seems like the whole of Europe and kept winning. It's actually upsetting that Austria was defeated so many times but France took mercy, allowing Francis to keep coming back again and again. And when Napoleon faces one loss, the European powers immediately resort to exiling him. Maybe Napoleon could have won, once and for all, if he showed the same lack of mercy for Francis and removed him from power immediately after the first victory.
the French fortress soldiers of the Maginot line were in fact never defeated, they surrendered (2 days after the capitulation) on the orders of the French Government to the Germans who had been besieging them since the beginning of the war...
Hence the honors paid by the Germans to his troops.
After the battle of Dunkirk several germans generals like Von Küchler or Rommel admitted that the French with this resistance had made them lose the war because they had allowed the English expeditionary force to withdraw to their island by sacrificing themselves. 55,000 French soldiers were then taken prisoner Yet they were conscripts from the contingent, therefore workers, peasants, employees and not war professionals.
@@olivierheral5582 It is also vastly underestimated how high a price the Germans paid to take France. They lost a huge amount of planes and tanks which probably cost them the war as well in the long run. 100k French soldiers paid the price for it.
Basically, the french defeat had 3 factors :
-the Belgians denying france to fortify their border because it was percieved as abandoning them to die.
-The Werhmacht officers, hungry for glory, down right disregarding their orders to stop and stabilize their gain and rushing forward causing mass panic in the allies' lines.
-the British going on a full rout at the first sign of encirclement, leaving behind supplies, equipment, and of course allies, with no warning or concertation...
Notice that none of these are tied to the French themselves.
La seconde guerre mondiale la guerre d'Indochine et la guerre d'Algérie depuis la fin de la première guerre mondiale la France n'a eu aucune victoire dans une guerre....
@@pierre-mariecaulliez6285mwai c'est vrai que flipper derrière un mur pendant que les allemands sont occupés avec les polonais c'est pas de leurs fautes mwai.... négliger l'aviation et injecté trop d'argent dans un mur qui n'a pas servi et surtout ne pas protéger correctement le couloir des invasion depuis l'empire romain c'est a dire les Ardennes c'est aussi de la fautes des autres ????mwai
Thx for that video and your work man.
I’m French with English and Russian origins and my father, my grandfather and his father were all Legionnaires - 1st BEP and 2nd REP afterwards.
I can converse calmly and respectfully with any British person, who are often very cultured and open-minded. The French had their zone of occupation in West Berlin after the war and were generally appreciated - the facetious will say especially by German women. I can talk calmly with a German guy, in respect and it’s often very interesting. Same for Dutch. Same for Spanish and Italian even it’s more rare.
The French have always got on very well with the Russians and I would argue, subjectively, that our natural friends are the British and the Russians. The Russians are very fond of France - and what a surprise that is, despite the inane sanctions decreed by our vassalized pro-NATO elites.
On the other hand, I see time and again that the problem lies with the Americans (no joke… ?!), who win more victories with their debilitating Soft Power and Hollywood than with their army. The Americans have never won a war on their own and in fact, apart from Grenada and Panama (which were more digestive strolls than wars), the Americans have nothing to boast about. The French won the battle of Algiers, fought very well at Dien Bien Phu (and even General Giáp told journalists that between the French and the Americans, the French fought much better).
The Americans today take the British for their poodles and that hurts my heart. The Americans bombed Dresden and obviously consider Germany to be the 52nd American state on European soil - besides, the European Union is a scam designed to destroy the sovereignty of the European nations, a nation without sovereignty is no longer a nation and the European countries are no longer full-fledged nations with the prerogatives inherent in that respect.
The Americans started the First World War in 1917 - after the 3rd half, the facetious will still say, well after Hypres, the Somme and Verdun.
The Americans came to Normandy in 1944, even though the war had clearly been over since 1943 and Stalingrad, just so that Stalin wouldn't extend his zone of influence as far as Brest.
It's true that the GIs were brave in Vietnam. But no more so than the French Expeditionary Corps in Indochina.
Every time there's bullshit about the French, it comes from the Americans.
"The French are dirty". This rumour stems from the fact that when the Americans landed in Normandy, they stole soap from women and children, in defiance of the laws of war and the respect established between two allies.
"French women are easy. There were more rapes (therefore without consent) in 6 months of American presence than in 5 years of German occupation.
Not to mention the deleterious role of the NSA (which even listens in on former German Chancellor Merkel's conversations, what respect for its vassal) and the CIA all over the world, Blackrock and Goldman Sachs, Soros and Bernays, Woke movement... you are the scourge of Humanity. I hope you don't surrender to General Fentanyl. And I'm not even talking about Hiroshima and Korea, which you divided in defiance of thousands of families and cultural, territorial and logical considerations... please, Yankees: go home and stay to home. Thanks in advance.
What a complete message.
Thank you for writting this, I completly agree that the hollywood picture we get is very distant from the reality.
Thank you very much for your father and grandfather service in la Legion. I feel also very fond of Russia and can't deny the friendship the two countries have build since then. I feel so ashamed that we "had" to take war again Russia, risk to lose centuries of respectful relationship over the Americano-European / Western world comedy.
An especially thanks to u guys to recreate the veracity about french people, that's pretty cool :). From a french guy
If you were to take the number of battles each country was involved in and divide that by the number won by said country then you will find that the French army is the single most winning army of all nations in all of history.
Thanks to Napoleon in fact (54 battles won)
@@olivierheral5582 as a french, Napoleon is nothing to be prood of. He was a stupid jerk that only wanted to make money. He destroyed many many lives, families, nations just out of cupidity. Plus he was not that great a leader, this is a myth, most of his "victories" were politicians sneaky manoeuvres like weddings here and there, corruptions, all this got proven.
@@olivierheral5582 Napoleon carried a bit yeah
It's sad that what was started by the Americans who were pissed at us for refusing to go to war in Iraq has become such a popular meme that people actually believe it...
Loved the video !
specially when we know now that this war in irak was a huge mistake, and that the Bush Administration was liying like hell. French were actually very courrageous to say "NO" to US...
Ofc they say that , their country has no history
@@Killeuracrthey have some history, its just their own culture isolated them to the outside world making many americans forget that their continent is called the new World for a reason and they only started getting relevant as a country to the Global World after their massive industrialisation and population increase thanks to Immigration a century after their humble beginning, while prior they were litteraly seen as a minor power to be used to troll the Brits, and if memory serves well even the bloodiest conflict they ever had on their soil the Civil war which traumatised the whole country was litteraly just a mild European conflict in comparison, especially at that time
Irak war is a shame
wrong, french have been having that tag for generations
Even if I don't really like history your react is really good because you added interesting informations instead of just sitting in front of a video
Thanks for this video and the job put on it.
I don't think it's fair to say the French capitulated without giving the Germans as hard a fight as they could during WW2. We have to remember just how heavy their losses in WW1 had been, which likely had a dramatic impact on their ability to train and equip soldiers in WW2 - they were economically and generationally destroyed during WW1.
The French faced the same problems many nations did, as the video touched upon, of facing an entirely new way of waging war - they were the first to really experience Blitzkrieg - they did not gain the benefit of outside hindsight that their allies did. In the face of new styles of rapid strike warfare, while still recovering from the damage of WW1, the fact the French even had a resistance that was as successful as it was is a testament to the strength and tenacity of the French in the face of adversity. I think people don't really understand the concept of assymetric warfare well enough to comprehend that this was what the French did throughout WW2. With inferior equipment and manpower, they turned to the only form of warfare left open to them, and they were shockingly successful at it.
That is something to admire, and to learn from - we admire the Polish with their garage guns and cavalry in WW2, and the Ukrainians against the Russians in this current war, why can't we admire the French for showing that same grit, and sly cleverness during WW2?
POLAND would like to have a word with you about that 1st to experience Blitzkrieg and oh yeah getting it from both sides people forget Uncle Joe Stalin jumping in to help Uncle Adolph.
@@danielbackley9301 I stand corrected - you're right, Poland experienced it first - the French experienced it without sufficient time after that to create a tactical and logistical solution for the new tactics they were facing.
@@KidarWolf French doctrine played a huge part in the defeat, since many of the issues in the French army were directly or indirectly due to doctrine. It was not tailored for fast-paced warfare, it did not encourage officers to improvise, and it made the French extremely slow. Doctrine probably is the most critical factor in explaining French defeat in 1940.
The number of troops and equipment was similar , except planes.
Yes, we should obviously consider the French defeat in the Battle of France. (Although many people forget the Britain was also defeated in the Battle of France).
But that wasn't the end of the war. Vichy signed an armistice with Germany, but France continued to fight. French troops, as an integral part of the United Nations forces*, played their part in the fight though Italy, the liberation of France and the invasion of Germany.
(* Read, for example, Eisenhower's order of the day for D-Day: "The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man". Not all UN peacekeepers have worn blue helmets).
The white flag come from the enemies of France, at the time of Louis 14, who used to surrender to France by waving the color of the French king ( Louis 14), which was the white color.
yes
I'M FRENCH ! Dunkerque battle we saved britain army ! read the letter of the german general who was chocked by us ^^ when we protect we are invincible^^
Thx to be well informed about our history dude.... it makes me happy^^
Merci à vous ça fait du bien de voir ça ! :D
I'm half belgian, half french and this video litterally got me to tears when we got to the topic of World Wars, so much lives were lost over nothing, so much potential in arts, sciences, lost forever, down the drain in the name of hate and stupidity.
The French can only surrender is mostly another "American urban legend". I can say it as an fellow european. Sadly the English has starting being "Americanized" in this regard to. What I refer to is the uninformed historical statements and political statements the last 10-15 years in the UK.
So surrendering to Hitler after only 6 weeks is also myth😂😂
@@baha3alshamari152
You have no knowledge of military strategy, tactics, history or anything relating to the subject.
Once the frontlines gets encirled and enemy armies breach through your lines and spill inside of your country, your armies can only fight loosing battles after loosing battles whilst being slaughtered through disadvantageous positions until finally you either surrender or die.
There were no notable episode of mass surrendering or desertion within the French army until the official declaration of surrender. In fact throughout those weeks the french army struggled with all its might and inflicted massive casualties on german forces (and most notably on the luftwaffe)
It was the French army who protected the British Expeditionary Force’s mass retreat in Dunkirk.
WW2 was lost because mistakes were made and assumptions about the ardennes were too quickly believed, it does not make the french people idiotic or cowardly, it just meant that France lost.
It's not an urban legend, it's plain and simple propaganda designed to humiliate us after we refused to partake in the war in Iraq in 2003.
@@baha3alshamari152go watch the video again before commenting
@@baha3alshamari152 As if they didn't loose many men because of WW1 ( a war they actually won).
Also have you heard about the resistance, clearly people who are not forced but decide to fight for their country are cowards compared to brave people who always fight in land that are very distant to their country
my great uncle Marie-Aristide Pariat died in 1917 at the Chemin des Dames battle. He recieved a postmortem decoration for his courage.
Hello, thank you for this video. I'm French and I'm proud of my country. All countries have their faults and their strengths, which have shaped their history. It's easy to criticise when the war is over. We mustn't forget that if the Allies won, it was thanks to the efforts of everyone, including the French, especially in the Resistance. Finally, I can never thank enough all those people who sacrificed themselves, whatever their nationality. Great video and thank you.
The Hundred Years' War was actually a French victory - albeit a costly one.
And in some ways it's a feudal french civil war (Plantagenet vs Valois)
Funny you mention this as the other day I was talking about how the Dutch made things difficult for the Nazis when they invaded and the person responded "unlike the French." I will be honest, I figured it was in reality untrue but didn't have first-hand knowledge about the goings on in France aside from major events so I truly thank you for this video.
I would suggest that any country the somewhat regularly burns itself to the ground and kills its leaders is probably fairly decent in war as well. Rome pretty much had to just annex "France" (wasn't France at the time), and the culture of the annex just flooded and rapidly changed Rome. Hitler just got really fucking lucky in crushing France. France was not expecting that kind of attack from Germany after WWI, and just didn't have time to reasonably respond. What a lot of history classes leave out is the outright civil dissent from the French that made Allied recapture of France far easier than it should have been.
The French, historically, do not like authoritarian regimes. Likely because they've had and killed quite a few of them. I mean, look at people mocking France for rioting over 2 more years of working (even though that's not entirely what the protests and riots were about). But even if that were the case, you gotta respect France for regularly telling their elites to eat a dick and die.
@@NarpytheCrimeDogthe French don't like Authoritarianism until they're tired of being without Authoritarianism.
They're basically a Leeds fan. Happy until the moment something bad happens then they're all up in arms overthrowing the order
You’ve obviously never heard of the French Resistance!
@@ffotograffydd have you heard of the French Communist Party?
@@wuxiagamescentral Yes, mate, I have a degree in Modern European History. What’s your point?
Thank's for this video my friend !
Merci pour cette vidéo mon ami !
as a french ex soldier and grandson of two soldiers who fought during WW2 , thank you
"He who looks at the history of France is dizzy" - Victor Hugo -
The French Resistance during Nazi occupation needs to be talked about more. Some absolutely amazing stories of courage!
It is overrated
Germany could've ww2 had they left USSR alone
Yes, but it is not a complete story.
As a part of the war, it was just one resistance. It might have some qualities that other lacked but talking about one without the context of the others feels unfair.
As part of french history, it should be contrasted to collaborators (some estimates put them on equal size at the beginning of the occupation).
@@randomguy6680 The problem with the French Resistance is that it was also very much a mixed bag. Some were truly excellent, others were little more than bandits and thieves, while still others regularly turned in agents sent to help them for the cash rewards the Germans offered, still others did little more than talk until they were liberated, then started shaving the hair of every woman who had slept with the German, and many who had not...
So the story of the French Resistance is a complex one, and unfortunately it is one that is occasionally cowardly, despicable and treacherous.
Not trying to say that they did no good work, they did, just saying that not every Resistance Cell was equal....
@@randomguy6680 OP comment didn't say to talk ONLY about Résistance but to talk MORE about it. We already talk a lot about collaborators in history class, we're still very ashamed today about what collaborators and the Vichy government of that time did
@@blobyeol27i72 The collaboration and the resistance are (imo) two sides of the same coin. Hence why it would seem biased to me to see a video about one that does not even mention the other (and that describes most videos on the subject I saw).
As for the subject being taught enough in classrooms, it is a french-centric argument which I would grant for a french video. You could argue that the Vichy regime is infamous enough however I was thinking about the individual colaboration, not the state one (I am at fault for not making this point clear enough).
Merci du fond du cœur. C'est vraiment blessant pour la mémoire de nos ainés que de savoir que cette idée circule encore dans le monde.
Thank you for putting proper History and facts back in their own tracks.
people who actually believe those cliches are americans or brits, not exactly the brightest of the shelf...
hello, I'm French, and thank you for your video, for telling our story, our grandparents fought for France, they did it for the love of the country and if we had to do the same today I don't would not hesitate, we are not heroes but we are not cowards either and I am proud to be French, of our history and of our army! 👍
France has many heroes and many victories . If you are French as you say you should visit Verdun and all the monuments. Invalides etc .
Thanx from France ! I've seen so many videos on youtube saying frenchs are cowards, (mostly, i think, for political reasons), but it still hurts...
Thank you guys
Happy to hear this from a US view. Big thanks to support our History 😉
From France ⚜️😉
I say it for a joke, but thank you Mr. Terry to explain THAT THE FRENCH ARE NOT COWARDS when it comes to BRUTAL fighting in war and battles. The memes are funny, but people might actually believe it and I thank you and simple history for clearing this myth, I have nothing but respect for the french people and they're military (plus I'm thinking of joining French Foreign Legion)
VIVE LA FRANCE!
Merci à toi de vouloir intégrer la légion, et de défendre notre pays, nos valeurs, mais aussi de te battre avec et pour tes futurs frères d’armes
@@jbdrages9423 J'ai l'impression que c'est ma carte de visite, je sais parler français, je veux servir pour pouvoir faire quelque chose qui vaut la peine d'être vécu dans ma vie, faire quelque chose qui pour le pays qui a révolutionné l'Europe et mon pays. Alors aux Français, merci.
It's probably good we have that reputation so that they underestimate us anyways.
@@Biiiiird Couldn't agree more.
Merci beaucoup 👍🏻
Nice helmet by the way !
As a French, i didn't know we had such a bad reputation like that.
Thank you for this reacting video. I'm glad to see that our courage is not forgotten for some of you guys :) Thanks a lot !
But i think, every country had their own courage acts, we just have to learn them and respect.
I didn't know it also. I guess that is an American point of view
my great grandfather died in belgium to defend belgium and france. His wife was a widow at 28 and never remarried. She had a hard grudge against the Germans until her death in the 90s. Being insulted by arrogant and ignoramuses was difficult in France…
Mine too.Mount Kemmel, april 1918, his body never been recovered...
I have been saying this for the longest time, I don't understand how people think the French could ever possibly be cowards.
Hollywood propaganda cause we didn't want to go to iraq.
Hitler is so scary i give up ,please take Paris and other cities but don't kill me 😂😂😂
@@baha3alshamari152 learn your lessons kiddo, you need it to actually have a brain
@@baha3alshamari152my little brother of 5 years is more mature than you, insane
@@baha3alshamari152you type of people piss me off so ignorant on Frances history look more on why france fell into germany
Merci pour les précisions!
Thank you for this video.