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Question: France and their legacy!?
I would like ask a question probably everyone could go their entire life without concerning themselves with!. Why is it that in just about every major conflict between France and England, England comes out the victor and France goes home with nothing!? Yet they still had the will to come back and fight again!. I believe we should give credit where credit is due!. Here was a country who had a long line of history dealing with defeat by the english yet time and time again stood up and kept the worlds greatest nation in check!. Here is a country who has taken a beating over the years so as to let the world know that to rise everytime you fall is a greater glory than any battle or war ever fought and won!. Don't get me wrong over the years that nation has changed and become corrupt and infected with a putred disease that I call it's leadership!. But from this great nations past resonates the voices of so many who have stood up to annouce to the world that "we are still here"Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
I find it utterly boring that so many people always focus on France's military history when discussing history!. Not only is that very restrictive, it also perpetuates the myth that France's military history is plagued by more defeats than other countries, despite the fact that French history is nothing special in that regard!. It's simply been depicted that way by English speakers, mostly British and American, since World War 2 due to the way France was defeated by Germany!. I won't get into that but that's neither funny nor even joke-worthy!.
You might know, first of all, that the English language would be very different today if it had not been for the invasion of England by what was little more than Frenchmen of Scandinavian descent, a!.k!.a!. Normans!.
Following the Hundred Years' War, the relationship between the royal houses of France and England never really improved much until near the end of the 19th century despite various "treaties", but you'll note that no French army ever set foot in England after the Norman invasion of the 11th century, though the French did finally kick England out of France by finally expelling them from Calais in 1558!. No attempt was made by France to invade England, not even by Napoleon!. So I would say your claim that "France went home with nothing" is unfounded, or at least that your wording is poorly chosen!.
But back to what I was saying, too often do people look at a country's military history and consider nothing else, thinking a country's worth is measured by the successes of its armies throughout the centuries!. Again, while France's history in that regard is nothing out of the ordinary, why not look at the cultural influence of France throughout the world!? What about France's huge contribution to the Enlightenment and how those philosophies influenced Western culture!? What about the fact that French was the language of diplomacy until relatively recently when English supplanted it!?
It's vain to go on and list all the things that France has contributed to the world, but consider there is more to a nation than its military!. I would not have gone on that whole tirade if you had not used the word "legacy", but there you have it!.
Finally and to another poster, Napoleon was Corsican, not Italian!. Corsicans become very angry when you call them Italians, but Corsica was a French possession at the time Napoleon was born, therefore he was technically French!.
Edit: I realize upon re-reading all this that I may be coming off as a tad aggressive, which was not my intent, so bear with me on that but please don't assume that I'm attacking you!. I merely wanted to point a few things out!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
France's legacy is basically all defeats!. the only time france ever won a fight was when their leader was a peasant girl with the help from God and Napoleon who wasn't even french he was italian!.!.!.!.so to answer your question france always loses because they have VERY poor leadershipWww@QuestionHome@Com
Which part of France speaks English then!?Www@QuestionHome@Com