BREAKING NEWS: France Might Win a War (Cote d'Ivoire)

Thats doubtful.. The only reason to why it happened in part of Germany is because that was the end war agreement in the UN deciding the "management" of Germany in it being rebuilt..sSubZerOo

[QUOTE="sSubZerOo"]Thats doubtful.. The only reason to why it happened in part of Germany is because that was the end war agreement in the UN deciding the "management" of Germany in it being rebuilt..Lonelynight

[QUOTE="Samurai_Xavier"]

[QUOTE="fidosim"]Thoughts? Are we entering a new era in which France actually wins wars? Is Ragnarok upon us?

MetallicaKings

when are people going to realize that its only acceptable to bash the U.S. on these forums? ripping on any other country is ignorant and intolerant...apparently.

[QUOTE="Lonelynight"][QUOTE="sSubZerOo"]Thats doubtful.. The only reason to why it happened in part of Germany is because that was the end war agreement in the UN deciding the "management" of Germany in it being rebuilt..Franko_3

American and embarrassed and ashamed about this thread.Mephers

Because only Americans make jokes at France's expense.

[QUOTE="raynimrod"]

The ignorance in this thread is astounding. France is one of the most militarily successful nations on the planet, unlike the US which hasn't ever won a war on its own and has a terrible habbit of doing nothing until the last minute when they finally mop up.

Read number 5 for a bit of insight. Do any of you actually know whythe French had to surrender in WWII? I'll hazzard a guess at no.

I'd suggest some of you research a bit of history.

sSubZerOo

Its pretty comedic too.. If Great Britain was landlocked to Europe they would have been steam rolled by the Germans just like the French were..

France was ultimately defeated through their own arrogance and fatal tactical decisions. Hitler divided his army into 3 groups. one would appear to be attacking the Maginot line whose true purpose was to hold up as many allied soldiers as possible, Another would provide a distraction by violating the neutrality of Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg and the third would move through the Ardennes Forest to the north of the Maginot line. The allies focused almost their entire force to holding the Maginot line and attacking the army group moving through Holland and Belgium which left the Army group passing through the Ardennes Forest almost completely unopposed. This was partly due to the belief that the Ardennes Forest would be impenetrable, which was clearly wrong as Hitler managed to get 50 Infantry and 7 Panzer tank divisions through and stormed France over a completely unprotected border. After being totally surrounded the French had very little choice but to surrender or face massive casualties in an un-winnable battle and the rest of the allies and the BEF retreated to Dunkirk and then back to Britain.

If Hitler didn't halt the advance just kilometres short of Dunkirk then he could have easily wiped out the entire British Expeditionary Force cornered there but for whatever reason he let about 338,000 soldiers escape. If they had been wiped out then the British would most likely have been defeated fairly quickly. Which would have left Germany free to invade Russia with only one front opened. Hitler may have also succeeded in convincing Japan to attack Russia at the same time and if the result was Russian defeat then the USA would have been in a position where it faced the full force of Germany and Japan with very few allies left to help.

Honestly, does it really matter. People act all macho and proud if their country won some conflicts, but what does that really mean for you? Doesn't make you, personally, any tougher. If france won all its wars or lost all of them, that doesn't really matter in the present.

I dunno where everyone got the idea that France can't fight a war, but it's just completely wrong. They weren't ready for WWII, but they were the biggest allied contributor in WWI, Napoleonic Francesingle handedly took on every single Great Power in Europe and defeated six different coalitions over 30 years before they finally lost for good, they took out England in the Hundred Years' War, and Charlemagne took over all of Northwestern Europe. France actually has a pretty good record in wars, they just got beaten pretty badly a few times.

Hardly "breaking news". The French have a tradition of being one of the world's most successful military powers.

gotta love the Americans having a go at the French.

hello! if it wasn't for France the 13 colonies would have lost to the British!

France bankrupted themselves supporting the Americans and their military support was crucial to the American victory.

CwlHeddwyn

pffft...
Americans bashing the French, nothing new in this thread.

Some people get so angry, it's just a bit of tongue in cheek French bashing take a joke people. angrules23

France has won many wars.

[QUOTE="sSubZerOo"]

[QUOTE="raynimrod"]

The ignorance in this thread is astounding. France is one of the most militarily successful nations on the planet, unlike the US which hasn't ever won a war on its own and has a terrible habbit of doing nothing until the last minute when they finally mop up.

Read number 5 for a bit of insight. Do any of you actually know whythe French had to surrender in WWII? I'll hazzard a guess at no.

I'd suggest some of you research a bit of history.

mattisgod01

Its pretty comedic too.. If Great Britain was landlocked to Europe they would have been steam rolled by the Germans just like the French were..

France was ultimately defeated through their own arrogance and fatal tactical decisions. Hitler divided his army into 3 groups. one would appear to be attacking the Maginot line whose true purpose was to hold up as many allied soldiers as possible, Another would provide a distraction by violating the neutrality of Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg and the third would move through the Ardennes Forest to the north of the Maginot line. The allies focused almost their entire force to holding the Maginot line and attacking the army group moving through Holland and Belgium which left the Army group passing through the Ardennes Forest almost completely unopposed. This was partly due to the belief that the Ardennes Forest would be impenetrable, which was clearly wrong as Hitler managed to get 50 Infantry and 7 Panzer tank divisions through and stormed France over a completely unprotected border. After being totally surrounded the French had very little choice but to surrender or face massive casualties in an un-winnable battle and the rest of the allies and the BEF retreated to Dunkirk and then back to Britain.

If Hitler didn't halt the advance just kilometres short of Dunkirk then he could have easily wiped out the entire British Expeditionary Force cornered there but for whatever reason he let about 338,000 soldiers escape. If they had been wiped out then the British would most likely have been defeated fairly quickly. Which would have left Germany free to invade Russia with only one front opened. Hitler may have also succeeded in convincing Japan to attack Russia at the same time and if the result was Russian defeat then the USA would have been in a position where it faced the full force of Germany and Japan with very few allies left to help.

While I don't believe arrogance had anything to do with it, this just furthers our point that they didn't surrender just for the hell of it. They were completely surrounded and because of the allies' tactical mistakes and the Germans' clever foresight, large areas of the country were poorly defended. Had they fought on instead of surrendering, they would have lost and more people would have died - that's all.

[QUOTE="Lonelynight"][QUOTE="sSubZerOo"]Thats doubtful.. The only reason to why it happened in part of Germany is because that was the end war agreement in the UN deciding the "management" of Germany in it being rebuilt..Franko_3

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/world/africa/12ivory.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

I don't know if anyone has been following the situation in the Ivory Coast over the last month or so, but France has recently intervened militarily in a civil war that has been developing in its former colony. The former President, Laurent Gbagbo, lost an election deemed by the international community to be legitimate, but refused to hand over power to his successor. This turned into a shooting war between the elected successor, Alassane Ouattara,his supporters and the French military on one side, and Gbagbo and his loyalists holed up in Abidjan on the other.

Well today Gbagbo was captured and arrested, which seems to signal the beginning of the end for his loyalist forces. Although French troops didn't actually take part in his arrest, they did provide military support which allowed the rebels to do so; which means that the French could, theoretically, claim this as a military victory.

Thoughts? Are we entering a new era in which France actually wins wars? Is Ragnarok upon us?

fidosim

Anyone else find it ironic that France is using military force in both Libya and Ivory Coast, but back in 2003 they were so critical of the United States for going to war in Iraq?

France is starting to show some backbone. Impressive.

theyve won wars before..

no one jsut ever gave them credit for them or bothered to right it down..

the french stopped an alien invasion o.o

It's funny how before WWII France was considered one of the largest and strongest military powerhouses in the world. Apparently no one cares how many wars you've won in the past, once you surrender to Hitler you're a bunch of pansies for life. yabbicoke

well he royally pwned france he deserved the surrender folks forget the lengths he went to to defeat them he waged war on a completely different country just to fight the french on his terms and then insulted them by having them surrender on the same train car that the germans had surrendered to the allies back after ww1

France has won many wars.

psn8214

[QUOTE="psn8214"]

France has won many wars.

Nibroc420

You Also have the 4th crusade in which French and Venetian troops nearly destroyed the Roman Empire (You may call it Byzantium too). In fact, not alot of armies very recently won wars without help, the US hasn't won a war on it's own since the US-Spanish war. Britan hasn't won a war by itself since the Boer war (iirc). The last war the Japanese won by themselves was the Russo-Japanese war iirc

lordreaven

You Also have the 4th crusade in which French and Venetian troops nearly destroyed the Roman Empire (You may call it Byzantium too). In fact, not alot of armies very recently won wars without help, the US hasn't won a war on it's own since the US-Spanish war. Britan hasn't won a war by itself since the Boer war (iirc). The last war the Japanese won by themselves was the Russo-Japanese war iirc