Summary of Great French Surrenders

Undergraduate Historian ^ | R.McChristian

[COBOL2Java]

"Bonjour, you cheese-eatin' surrender-monkeys."

[Faeroe]

I personally prefer the term 'Cheese-eating surrender monkeys.' It seems to cover most of the bases of French politico-military history.

[no need for a name]

really? I thought they fought of the muslim incursion into europe during the 9th century without which you & would be speaking arabic..... but recently.......

[jlogajan]

Actually, as funny as it is to pick on the French, nearly every nation in Europe has surrendered at one time or other.

And we've all lost wars (US -- Vietnam, UK -- it's worldwide empire, etc.)

[StockAyatollah]

Do they have a lot of French in Wisconsin? I know they like chesse and are very liberal. Sounds like Frenchmen. Nuke'em!

[KC_Conspirator]

Thats not entirely accurate as every French victory is ommitted. For example, where is his famed battle at Austerlitz? At any rate, the French actually did not have such a defeatist attitude and unimaginative military until after Verdun in WWI.

[Timmy]

Hmmmmmm. Where would we be without the hard-fighting Admiral DeGrasse at Yorktown? How about Lafayette? And Napoleon was no pushover if I remember correctly.

[Calvin Coolidge]

This thing reads like Walter Mondale's summary of 'The Failures of the Reagan Years'. Every lost battle is spun into a cowardly defeat. Every won battle or war is omitted. Even WWI, where the French held off the German's initial assault, fought heroically against the brunt of their army for four years, endured unimaginable casualties; both civilian and military, and finally forced the Germans to sue for peace, is presented as a French defeat. It makes for a cute joke, but it is silly to mock French military history as a series of embarassments. Might as well mock the Germans' "cowardice" at Stalingrad or the Italian "surrender monkeys" at Cannae.

[Khurkris]

Perhaps a review of terms is in order. A signed treaty ending hostilities is much different that the typical French belly-up, weapons down, march to the sea and shell the hospitals as you leave the harbor surrender. "Cheese-eating surrender monkeys" is quite accurate.

HOWEVER, I do have respect for the Legion Etrangere, but they are a different type of monkey.

[GypsyBob]

Do they have a lot of French in Wisconsin? I know they like chesse and are very liberal. Sounds like Frenchmen. Nuke'em!

Birthplace of the GOP?!?!?! Bite your tongue:)

[Hootowl]

I don't think you can legitimately claim that the U.S. lost the war in Vietnam. We never suffered a battlefield defeat and our nation was never attacked and occupied. At worst, I think you could say we made a tactical (and ungraceful) retreat.

[clamper1797]

We didn't "lose" the Vietnam War ... we just quit fighting it. Most Vietnam Vets (including myself) are offended by that myth.

[jlogajan]

We probably didn't have to lose the Vietnam war. But we did lose it.

[balrog666]

And we've all lost wars (US -- Vietnam, ...

A better example would be (US - The War Between the States...

[clamper1797]

BRAVO SIERRA

[jlogajan]

Okay, you're the type that needs to think we won a glorious victory in Vietnam. Yes, yes, of course. And you are king of the universe -- and all the Hollywood starlets want to marry you -- and you may have already won the 10 billion dollar Publisher's Clearing House sweepstakes ...

The rest of us see that Vietnam fell into the enemy hands -- a defeat for us.

[Calvin Coolidge]

The German nation was never attacked or occupied in WWI, but the Germans still lost that war. Napoleon never suffered a battlefield defeat in 1812, but that campaign still must be regarded as a losing one. And of course, the British were never attacked or occupied during the American Revolutionary War, but they still lost that one. By the same token, America defined its war objectives in Vietnam as the establishment of a capitalist, democratic, Vietnamese state. We failed to achieve this goal, and by that definition 'lost' the war.

[clamper1797]

Did we sign a surrender? ...
are we or were we occupied by the North Vietnamese?
Do we now speak Vietnamese?
Do we all now live in communes?
Is our government now overseen by the Vietnamese?
We also pulled out of Bosnia (kinda) Does that mean we lost that "war" too. Losing a war requires surrender. If we wanted too we could have turned North Vietnam into a glass parking lot. Voluntarily pulling out of a conflict is not "losing" a war