I am talking about the jokes that are made about the French Army or France in general, with regards to military matters.
I know that during World War 2 France surrendered more quickly then it was expected, but from what i know, France has had quite a lot of military success throughout it's history. Was the situation worsened for their reputation, by them losing their colonial empire, even though every other colonial power lost theirs as well?
Thank you!
maybe its a bit late but i have time so i'll answer, in 2003 the US attacked irak and france refused to follow because they knew it would only cause problems, the US politics enraged at france's refusal to follow explained this to the public not as a political choice but as an cowardly one: that we were afraid of war, stupidity, lack of history knowledge and the british always trying to cause us problems on whatever occasion they get helped the joke to spread and become a false stereotype
WW2 vietnam and algeria are just excuses people use to justify their jokes but they usually have absolutely no or few knowledge of what really happened in these wars