[rimmont]

"Let me add, though, to jump to Waterloo and miss 1798 to 1807, when French armies (after 1800, under Napoleon) utterly obliterated the rest of Europe's finest, is simply silly."

Yes, this was the great period of glory for France. So much of the monumental aspect of Paris is centered on monuments to this period. It lasted about as long as the expansion period of the Third Reich.

[LS]

I agree, it was brief. But it was also real, and cannot be simply glossed over. Nor can Martel's success.