All this endless French bashing because they finally stood up to somebody – us. 
That just ain’t fair.
[quote=“SHARLEE”]
CS you owe us respect for having fought for your independance[/quote]
Screw that. You did damn little fighting and it sure wasn’t for our independence…it was simply to try and screw the Brits. The Deerfield Masscre is much more typical of Franco-American relations.
[quote]The people of Deerfield, Massachusetts, didn’t know what danger lurked just outside their little village before dawn on February 29, 1704. Yet dozens of them had only hours to live. For most of the rest, it would be the worst day they would ever witness.
The harsh weather that had hampered their progress from New France now became a friend to the French and Indians. Drifts of snow pressing against the walls of the fort had created ramps that allowed a few of them to clamber over the 12-foot-tall barriers. Once inside, they opened the main doors of the fort for their comrades. The killing of the townsfolk of Deerfield had begun.
As bloodcurdling war whoops echoed through the cold early morning air, attackers burst into the home of Reverend John Williams, the village’s most prominent citizen. He had been marked for capture, not death. Two of his young children weren’t so fortunate: John Jr., age 6, and Jerusha, a six-week-old baby who couldn’t even hold up his head, were murdered before his eyes. The children’s nursemaid, a black servant named Parthena, also was slaughtered.
Outside, a massacre raged. Seventeen homes were put to the torch. One family of five smothered to death in their cellar as a fire burned above them. The inhabitants of a single dwelling, the brick home of Benobi Stebbins and his family, put up a fierce resistance. For several hours, the aggressors laid siege to it, but their numbers dwindled as members of their party quit the fort to lead captives away. At about nine in the morning, help arrived. Reinforcements from the nearby towns of Hadley and Hatfield managed to push the French and Indians beyond the walls of Deerfield, but had to break off their pursuit when they clashed with a larger enemy force that already had left the village.
When the men returned to the smoldering town, they surveyed the magnitude of the disaster. Nearly 300 people had gone to sleep in the village the night before, but only 133 of them remained. Forty-four residents had been killed, including ten men, nine women, and twenty-five children. Five soldiers garrisoned at the fort lost their lives, as well as seven men from Hadley and Hatfield, for a total of 56 fatalities. Another 109 people had been herded off as captives.[/quote]
nationalreview.com/comment/m … 040833.asp
americanheritage.com/article … 1_82.shtml
The British have several hundred thousand dead buried in France. That should win some respect.[/quote]
This is a bad start for mutual respect…[/quote]
You should cut CS a bit slack here. His memory of history is rather let’s say … selective. Either that or could be he never heard about the 100 Years War or the Seven Years War and maybe thinks Napoleon is just a cognac. Probably also thinks the French and Indian war happened somewhere between Indo-China and India. Given the constant rivalry between England and France over colonies back then though, one could easly confuse which of their inestments they were fighting over in any specific instance.
That asides one thing I remember about the French it was one of the very few nations close to Germany which had the guts to declare war on them in WWII. Only other one I can remember is Great Brittan.
Sure, there have been others who declared war on Germany. Later … When things were already a downhill battle for the Allies in Europe (i.e. after the turn of 1942/43) … And always from a very save distance … (like Argentinia, Paraguay, Peru or Turkey all in 1945).
Others (e.g. the U.S.S.R. or U.S.A.) never ever came around to declare war on Germany at all.
Given the close proximity to Germany … one hardly can get any closer than bordering next to it … and that France had not commit itself to a militaristic society as Germany had done, this showed quite some elan to me.
The other thing I remember about the French is, that if-a-young-democracy-gets-hijacked-by-radicals-who- then-go-as-far-as-terminating-a-certain-class-of-their-society- as-well-as-any-other-opposition-along-with-it-even-inventing-new-techniques -to-do-so-in-a-faster-semi-industrial-fashion-and-a-leader-then-emerges-from -amids-the-turmoil-who-first-turns-East-to-conquer-his-backward-small- neigbour-there-gets-into-serious-trouble-with-a-certain-Island-Nation-of-Europe- and-is-also-not-on-too-good-terms-with-his-other-Western-neighbour-turns-on- that-Western-neighbour-then-to-trash-it-(rather-fast-but-in-return-gets-a- resistance-movement-that-will-drag-on-till-the-place-is-liberated-again)- still-can-not-convince-the-Island-Nation-to-just-give- in-so-decides-to-just-seal-up-Europe-along-its-coasts- and-next-you-see-him-to-attack-another-Eastern-nation-of-Europe- which-just-happens-to-be-so-big-it-reaches-all-the-way-over-to-China- was-rather-dashing-successes-at-first-but-then-bogs-down- in-the-winter-overextends-his-great-armies- getting-gobbled-up-in-the-vast-lands-of-Eastern-Europe-his-gang-presses- allies-turn-on-him-the-Albions-landing-in-his-back-finally-and-in-the-end-a- coalition-of-nations-overcome-him-after-engaging-Europe-for-several-years-in- war …
… then they burry him in the Les Invalides and put pictures of him in the Louvre.
Well, seems selective memory is not just a thing of CS. 
[quote=“games”]
You should cut CS a bit slack here. His memory of history is rather let’s say … selective. Either that or could be he never heard about the 100 Years War or the Seven Years War and maybe thinks Napoleon is just a cognac. Probably also thinks the French and Indian war happened somewhere between Indo-China and India. [/quote]
Ya think???
Nonsense. They stood up against Nazi Germany in 1939 (see above post).
Oh well, saw your other post meanwhile. Sorry for the crossover.
Somehow that post about the French and Indian War contradicts your lofty French-British-comrades-in-arms picture though. What was your issue again with SHARLEE’s post?
Tell us about it…they died fighting for your freedom.[/quote]
And not at all to … how did you put it … “simply to try and screw the Germans?”
It only seems respect can only be won during wars for some hre.
I was talking of day to day respect
[quote=“SHARLEE”]It only seems respect can only be won during wars for some hre.
I was talking of day to day respect[/quote]
That can only be earned by not backstabbing your friends.
Dr Zoidberg, exactly what i m saying; war is again the only way to win respect for some here.
No! Well not me at least, I have nothing but the utmost respect for Italians.
HG
I wasn’t talking about war in my last post, I was talking about not backstabbing your friends. In other words, be a friend to your friends.
I respect the French for being French and having the ability to say Non to the US occassionally which my lame country seems incapable of doing 
I wasn’t talking about war in my last post, I was talking about not backstabbing your friends. In other words, be a friend to your friends.[/quote]
Are you talking about the Iraq WAR ?
Anyway much have been said on this on this forum.
As there has been much said about Abu Ghraib etc etc
Not backstabbing your friends could mean not doing any of the following:
Selling arms to a country with which one of your friends is at war (a la Exocets to Argentina during the Falklands War).
Supporting a rogue state your friends are trying to bring to heal so you can make a quick buck (can you say Iraq?).
Withdrawing militarily from an alliance, but remaining in it politically, just so you can bugger it up for those who are committed to it (hello NATO).
Interfering in a friendly country’s internal affairs by supporting separatists within that country (vive le Quebec libre!).
Deploying your fleet in the Gulf of St. Lawrence during a scecession referendum in Quebec under the guise of visiting St Pierre and Michelon (1995).
As I said in my post about my feeling reg my country I do not always agree with the foreign policy or even house policy
The only thing I m sure I agree with is the anti Iraq War
Which ever way you look at it, that’s still only 1 mirage that was lost due to mechanical failiure. So the odds are still slightly in favour of the mirage.
[i]…crashed in the Taiwan Strait about 55 kilometres west of Huayu islet at Ma-Kung. The accident happened at 14:30 hours due to engine surge while conducting tactical manoeuvre training. Ships and helicopters were used to find the crew, Major Chin-Sung Wen and a student Captain Chia-Cheng Chan. But the search was hampered by strong winds and waves and was in vain. The loss was Taiwan