Have an extensive history of military might, from rampaging barbarian hordes, to a continent-conquering emperor, to a foreign legion famed as being one of the most badass fighting forces in the world, and nobody bats an eye. But get embarrassingly outflanked one time, and you never hear the end of it!
explanation since the comm isn't History Memes this time
“rampaging barbarian hordes” – the Gauls
“continent-conquering emperor” – Napoleon
“foreign legion” – the French Foreign Legion
“embarrasingly outflanked” – the failure of the Maginot Line in WWII
There was the loss in WWII, but there was also the loss of all their colonies after WWII. Some of them they fought for and lost like Vietnam and Algeria. The reputation of the French for losing wasn’t accurate, but it also wasn’t based on nothing.
Copied from my earlier comment elsewhere:
explanation since the comm isn't History Memes this time
One post that I read somewhere else on fedi was in the lines of, you can’t reasonably think French are cowards, they made snails into fine cuisine.
There was the loss in WWII, but there was also the loss of all their colonies after WWII. Some of them they fought for and lost like Vietnam and Algeria. The reputation of the French for losing wasn’t accurate, but it also wasn’t based on nothing.