• oce 🐆@jlai.lu
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    18 days ago

    As a French, the fact that no white flag was mentioned in these comments like it would have inevitably on reddit shows the quality of the chaps in here.

    • Etterra@lemmy.world
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      17 days ago

      France has shown themself to be made of much sterner stuff in the last couple decades then the stereotypes and jokes like to make out. I mean that’s not going to stop the English from making fun of France, but they still have nobility like this was 1650 or something.

      • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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        17 days ago

        The French have always been pretty strong. I don’t know what history you read, but they’ve pretty consistently had one of the strongest militaries in the world. Sure, they surrendered quickly on WWII, but the people kept fighting even then when their government was occupied. They were one of the first nations to aid the United States also and have always been pretty active.

        Is this all good? Idk. Besides resisting the Nazis after the occupation, I would very much argue much of this is bad (or at best self-serving). It’s nation-state shit. It’s never out of marality. They’re strong though.

        • Etterra@lemmy.world
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          17 days ago

          I said it was a stereotype. Overcoming that popular stereotype has been a lot harder than actually having a good military. And demonstrating that you have a good military is different than having one at all. Right or wrong, in the minds of many Americans they didn’t start seeming strong until after 9/11.

      • rottingleaf@lemmy.zip
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        17 days ago

        France has shown themself to be made of much sterner stuff in the last couple decades

        WDYM? France has been participating in plenty of undeclared, unofficial and gray zone wars practically since WWII till now.

        the stereotypes and jokes like to make out

        These change with time. Most of European history the stereotypic image of French people was much tougher than that of Germans.

        After 1971 - yeah. Interwar - no. After that - again yes.

        EDIT: 1871

    • Drivebyhaiku@lemmy.world
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      18 days ago

      Liberté, égalité, fraternité. The Americans learned it from you lot. Might do them well to remember.

        • Noblesavage@lemmy.world
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          17 days ago

          Yep, you’re right. After a quick search, it looks like the American Revolution started in 1765, and the French Revolution started in 1789.

          However, I know French policies and political development had a profound impact on the ideas central to liberal democracies, as it could also be said of American policies and political development.

    • lengau@midwest.social
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      17 days ago

      Fun fact: the white flag of surrender became widely known in Europe because people were surrendering to the French.