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.
The French, mindful of their historical place in the history of European affairs took thier own path subsiequently to the Berlin Blockade. Wishing to make their way to being taken as a major player in the Nuclear Age, they undermined the efforts of the US in the cold war to an extent that made our alliance in the NATO pact a difficult one at times.
We need to remember that France was the true birthplace of "the left" and its history, while tied with ours in many ways in the American Revolution and in WWI, is filled with a completly different heritage of liberty.