[jpsb]

"They actually fought well in the early days of the Great War."

The French soldiers fought as bravely and fiercely as anyone. But the French Generalship was terrible, English generalship only slightly better. Had Pershing been made supreme commander the war would have ended in 1917 with a German surrender. Loses on both sides were simply terrible. Frontal assaults on machine gun emplacements was the rule. At least at Gettysburg American generals learned not to frontally assault strong positions if it could be avoided.

[DuncanWaring]

Frontal assaults on machine gun emplacements was the rule.

Described by someone (Winston Churchill?) as "Young men trying to wear-out machine guns with their chests".

[null and void]

But the French Generalship was terrible

Fallout from the French Revolution.

They guillotined any Frenchman of exceptional intelligence or leadership skills.

Since then they've succeed only when lead by foreigners...