As I understand, perhaps as a consequence their refusal to participate in 2003 Iraq, there has been a general rebranding of history and running joke that the French army tends to surrender fast and fight weakly. The basis for this are the quick defeats in WW2 and 1870 and the defeats in Indochina and Algeria. Of course, not everybody believes it and some will go as far to the other side as to say France had the most military victories in Europe since the medieval era. So would anybody be so kind to provide an anchoring source to link when this debate comes up, it would be great. How did France compare it to the military contenders of the times ? Has France seen a decline in military in the past centuries or is it just a misconception ?