[econjack]

I once saw an ad on eBay for a WWI French army rifle. I can't remember the exact wording, but it was essentially:

For Sale: French WWI infantry rifle. Never fired, dropped once.

[bigdaddy45]

I really don’t see the humor. The trenches of WWI were horrific, and the slaughter unimaginable. Really easy to laugh at these poor sods from the luxury of your house.

[Jolla]

My father in law never saw his grandfather he died at Verdun

[NorthMountain]

For Sale: French WWI infantry rifle. Never fired, dropped once.

People who make that "joke" reveal their catastrophic ignorance of The Great War.

[Alter Kaker]

France had as many soldiers die in four years in World War I as the US has lost in every single war we have fought from the Revolution to the present combined.

And since France is much smaller than the US it was a much larger percentage of their population - almost 5% of the total population died, which is a huge percentage of military aged males. You do what you want but i would not make that joke.

[pierrem15]

"On August 22, 1914, during the Battle of the Frontiers, five separate French armies engaged the German invaders independently of each other. Across all those battlefields, on that single day, 27,000 French soldiers lost their lives protecting their country."

I think they only laid down their arms when deceased.

[sloanrb]

The Complete Military History of France

* Gallic Wars - Lost. In a war whose ending foreshadows the next 2000 years of French history, France is conquered by of all things, an Italian (Julius Caesar).

* Hundred Years War - Mostly lost. Saved at last moment by schizophrenic teenaged girl, who inadvertently creates The First Rule of French Warfare: “France’s armies are victorious only when not led by a Frenchman.”

* Italian Wars - Lost. France becomes the first and only country to ever lose two wars to the Italians.

* Wars of Religion - France goes 0-5-4 against the Huguenots

* Thirty Years War - France is technically not a participant, but manages to get invaded anyway. Claims a tie on the basis that eventually the other participants started ignoring her.

* War of Devolution - Tied. Frenchmen take to wearing red flowerpots as chapeaux.

* The Dutch War - Tied

* War of the Augsburg League/King William’s War/French and Indian War - Lost, but claimed as a tie. Three ties in a row induces deluded Frogophiles the world over to label the period as the height of French military power.

* War of the Spanish Succession - Lost. The War also gave the French their first taste of a Marlborough, which they have loved every since.

* American Revolution - In a move that will become quite familiar to future Americans, France claims a win even though the English colonists saw far more action. This is later known as “de Gaulle Syndrome”, and leads to the Second Rule of French Warfare: “France only wins when America does most of the fighting.”

* French Revolution - Won, primarily due the fact that the opponent was also French.

* The Napoleonic Wars - Lost. Temporary victories (remember the First Rule!) due to leadership of a Corsican, who ended up being no match for a British footwear designer.

* The Franco-Prussian War - Lost. Germany plays the role of drunk Frat boy to France’s ugly girl home alone on a Saturday night.

* World War I - Tied and on the way to losing, France is saved by the United States.

* World War II - Lost. Conquered French liberated by the United States and Britain just as they finish learning the Horst Wessel Song.

* War in Indochina - Lost. French forces plead sickness, take to bed with the Dien Bien Flu

* Algerian Rebellion - Lost. Loss marks the first defeat of a western army by a Non-Turkic Muslim force since the Crusades, and produces the First Rule of Muslim Warfare; “We can always beat the French.