I am curious as to how the Rumor started that the French are "*******"?

Show all answers

Rillifane

Mainly because people are ignorant and don't know history very well.

The modern day French are the descendants of Charlemagne. It was Charles Martel who turned back the invading Moslem armies at he battle of Tours and saved Europe from the plague of Islam.

France battled England for over a century, eventually emerging victorious and driving the English from the continent of Europe.

For centuries thereafter, France was either the dominant military power in Europe or at war with whomever was its rival for the title of dominant power.

With the rise of Napoleon, France defeated every nation in Europe with the exception of the English, safe on their island. True, Napoleon was eventually defeated but it took his enemies six tries to do it. Eventually he was beaten but only by a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and several dozen German states.

Towards the end of the 19th century, France was confronted by the newly unified German empire and defeated in the Franco-Prussian War. Even after the defeat of their armies by the Prussians, Parisian civilians continued to resist the invaders.

Thereafter they fought two more wars against the Germans.

In World War One they were on the winning side but suffered 1,897,800 killed. The Americans, who profited selling arms to both sides, finally came in at the very tail end of the war and suffered 117,465 killed. In terms of percentage of population, French loses were FORTY EIGHT times American casualties.

In World War Two, the French had still not recovered from the first World War and had no reliable allies on the continent. Attacked by both Germany and Italy and with a Fascist Spain at their back they were defeated as their only militarily significant ally, the English, fled the continent leaving the French on their own. Despite their quick military defeat they suffered 562,000 killed during the war as compared to 418,500 Americans. In percentage terms they suffered FOUR times the number killed as did America. The Germans installed a collaborationist government (as they also did in, among other places, Belgium, Norway, and the Netherlands) but the French, under the leadership of DeGaulle continued to fight. French troops fought against Rommel in North Africa and, at Bir Hakim, saved the allied forces from envelopment and defeat. Free French forces were side by side with the British and Americans in the Normandy invasion.

In the post world war era, in Indochina, the French were defeated, just as the Americans would be. But even in that war the French showed astonishing courage. When the forts at Dienbienphu were surrounded by the Vietminh and the the defenders facing certain death, French soldiers continued to volunteer to parachute into the beseiged forts and did so right up until they were overrun by the communists.

But, of course, the type of morons who attack French courage are too busy shooting off their mouths to bother to crack a book and find out the truth.

AgnesY

One way is through posting like this...

...generalizations are common and widespread, best not to indulge nor encourage it in any way.

WISE OWL

Rillifan has given you a superb answer which demonstrates that the French do not deserve the bad press they are given. However you asked how it started and this is why.

The rumour that French are supposed to be "cowards" (to use the actual term often used) began when the French government decided there was no evidence that Iraq had any weapons of mass destruction, and therefore refused to go to war on flimsy pretexts which actually were covering the fact that it was Iraq's oil that was the prize covetted.
This caused friction that was aired in the media, exploited by some, and was satirised in the press.
What was a joke in a cartoon took enormous proportions. In 1965, in the cartoon series The Simpsons, "Groundskeeper Willie", the ignorant school janitor, was shown teaching French, due to budget cuts, dressed in a striped jumper and a beret. In a heavy Scottish accent, he greeted the class with "Bonjourrrrrrrrr, yah cheese-eatin' surrender monkeys!" According to the DVD commentary for the episode, the line was "most likely" written by Ken Keeler. This caught on because it was funny and has been used ever since by Americans to insult the French. Other nations also saw the sense in not invading Iraq and refused to go there too, but have escaped the opprobrium.
It is only when international observers went to look for the weapons of mass destruction and did not find any that people realised how pointless it was to open that can of worms, but it was too late for the French who continue to be insulted by ignorant or mischievious people.
One has to remember that France was invaded and occupied no less than three times by Germany in 1870, 1914 and 1940 and also had to fight in Indochina and Algeria, suffering masses of casualties in all those conflicts.
Any country that had to fight so much within one hundred years is justified in not wanting to interfere in other people's countries. However the French do contribute to NATO and for instance serve in Afghanistan side by side with other nations, a fact that is commonly ignored by many. They also participate in peace keeping operations wherever they are taking place. French doctors were the founders of "MÃ©decins sans frontiÃ¨res" and are putting their lives on the line all over the world. The French have demonstrated countless times their bravery in all spheres of life, but sadly there are people who prefer to ignore this to blow their own trumpet, strut on the home stage whilst actually letting others do the dirty work, and who vilify foreigners for the fun of it. Now I call that cowardly!

PS. By the way , the French did not "create" the English. The Anglo -Saxons lived in England well before the Norman conquest.
If you are interested in the history of France there are plenty of facts on the net and you can even get a good potted history on Wikepedia by simply googling "France".

Chantal D.

No the French have the strenght what many countries don't have.
They come together and strike when there are problems, and they don't give up till the problem is solved.
Many countries should take a example and stand up for their rights.

dr cinoque

moi je dis que les anglosaxons sont des grossiers personnages

led-zep

Because they didn't support Bush in his invasion of Iraq due to a potential threat of nuclear weapons. Six years later, many Americans are still too damn stubborn to admit that the French were right about Iraq being a pointless war. Other than catching Saddam, the country is still extremely unstable, has cost the United States $600 Billion, and resulted in almost 5000 casualties.

Btw look up Lafayette on wikipedia, if it were not for this french general, the Patriots might not have won the revolutionary war. Thus, Americans could still be speaking with a British accent to this day had France not intervened at the battle of Yorktown in 1781.

Oh and to those answering the question with phrases like "cuz they are *******", before you answer another question on yahoo answers, go back to high school and get an education.

Zacharia

define pu$$ies$

Pete

The French are known to have surrendered wars.

The Ch0sen 0ne

We had to bail them out in WW1 and WW2

Captain Epic

Cuz they dress like girls. They act gayish. And they invented 1 sport........biking. And every year an american beats them. They say, "How can this be he must be on drugs." So they test and test and test and finally say, "Aha! we have found it! He has testosterone. That gives him an advantage!"

ms tiff.

because they act so gayyy..

eskimo_babe135

because they are!!!!!!!!!!

Enter Your Message or Comment

User Name:
User Email:
Post a comment: