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.
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.
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.
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.