France...yet another post!

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I've been doing a little thinking about all the France bashing lately, and I wanted to give them a little praise. Although contrary most of the time, France has given the U.S. some great things over the years:

Statue of Liberty
Louisiana (what a bargain too! Only $15 million!)
Croissants
Cajuns (and their fantastic cooking)
Le Marquis de LaFayette (Face it folks, without France, we'd still be an English colony!)
crepes
1/6 of ME!
Marcel Marceau (okay...I'm kidding about this one)


So remember, without France, and their influence...the U.S. would be a much different place. Plus, we'd have no one to poke fun at except ourselves!

 

You forgot the declaration of human rights 1789.

http://www.parisur.com/declaragb.htm

liberté, egalité et fraternité

Liberty, Equality and fraternity

 

Without France aiding the American patriots, the US would never have existed. France at that time would do anything to opose the british. Regarding the American judicatory system. Almost all of the world's laws are based on the law book written by Napoleon Bonaparte himself. Napoleon's greatest work influenced American laws also.

 

I wouldn't be so quick to take credit for the American Legal System...It's kind of messed up!

 

Don't forget that there'd be no Cinco de Mayo without the French, either!

 

I thought that was Mexican...

 

erm... excuse me, but the French didn't show up until the war of independance was nearly over. The Americans kicked the British out all by themselves. They were with their backs against the Atlantic, when the French decided to show up and have a piece of the cake, so they don't deserve any credit for that.

The French have fought many wars with the British, and basically they got their asses kicked most of the time.

 

Without the French, we wouldn't have my favorite scene from Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail!

"I wave my privates in your aunties face"

 

Cinco de Mayo celebrates a victory of 4,500 ragtag Mexican troops over a force of 7,000 of Napoleon's finest. Of course, he came back a year later with 33,000 and conquered the capital, but that didn't last long, either.

 

Not really. Luisiana has Code Civil as its civil code and perhaps there has been some indirect influence on penal laws, but nothing more. But it's sir Belly who's an American lawyer, not I, so torment him with questions, not me

Bull****.

La Fayette (no need to introduce), von Steuben (army training), (JP) Jones (navy), Kosciuszko(engineering), Pulaski (cavalry)... none of them was American and they're only the most renowned ones. Apart from those great individuals: money, money and money - without which no war lasts for long. Plus diplomatic support - actually all major powers in Europe exercised pression on England to grant independence to the colonists (actually Paris wasn't chosen exclusively for being a neutral ground ).

 

THE Luisiana Purchase.

It was a heck of a lot more than just piddly little Louisiana. And the French ended up hating Napolean, too. It's kind of mixed on that one.

The statue of liberty is hot. I'd hit it. Definately every night, but most likely mornings too; my mojo is strong where she's concerned. I'd definately put out with all my talents. But let it be known; she's French, but she sure as heck isn't Parisian. She's from the country.

Other than that, I definately do appreciate all the things France has done for us. And they have done a lot.

But times change. The same people that hooked us up when we really needed it have passed on, and a new generation is there. We hooked them back up in WW2. I don't know if that settles the score or not, but I generally consider it even.

It's not like we're severing all ties with France because they harshed us, or anything. We're just look at all the other countries we haven't really given a chance. It's definately something that needs to be done, and once again France has hooked us up and given us leave to be free. Although, I don't feel indebted for it, though...

 

And not to forget the French fleet. Without the interferrence through the French fleet, the British would have had an easy time, getting support over the atlantic. And without the threat of beeing attacked at various other places, the British army would have had a lot more troops at their proposal to crash their enemy.

Of course, as you know Rallymama, Napoleon the III, not to be confounded with the little man from Corsica, who was in the end beaten by an Durch-Austrian-British-Preussian-Russian alliance.

And that famous battle Waterloo, which Napoleon the I actually was winning, until ..... Prussians ???? Prussians ????? Where did they come from. They were supposed to be 2 days away !!!!!!!!

 

Not only two days away, they were considered to be beaten as well. And as field marshal Blücher rambled after the battle: "Had I had more light cavalry there would have little been left of the frenchman ... #@*$%! " Who's Wellington?

Great things France brought to germany:
They unified germany from a littered carpet or tiny realms to a nation, they brought with them the code civil. They brought french to my town Cologne, where local slang still has quite a couple of french words, and, most important, the liaision (but I don't know if we had that already ). De Gaulle - he and Adenauer evenatually managed to turn the archenemies from 1805 till 1945 into friends. After reunification germany gained the cover of France's "nuclear umbrella", just in case.

Great things France brought to the world:
The ideals of the french revolution Croissants (but don't get me wrong, you still get the best in france) ; Louis Pasteur; Gauloise ; haute couture (just mind chanel) and style generally; great movies (that one's only for europeans as the US only know the (poor) US remakes ) ; the french paved medieval Paris for a complete new-built one (the one from the movies) and the 2CV - a car on one ever will forget who's had the fun driving in it with 4 people, fast and in a turn and much much more ...

 

To expand on Ragusa's list...

Debussy, Monet, the whole left-bank scene, Victor Hugo, Honore de Balzac, Brillat-Savarin, Chateau de Rothschild wines, Jean-Pierre Rampal, the can-can, Le Cordon Bleu, Sartre, Camus, Voltaire, de Tocqueville, Auguste Escoffier, Asterix comics, Maurice Ravel...

 

renault and citroen and peugeot... ooops, sorry, the list was supposed to be good things.

nevermind

 

To keep Rally's list going:
Renoir, Cezane, Stendahl, Alexander Dumas, Michel de Montaigne, Marcel Proust, Rousseau, Descrates, Hector Berlioz...

[ May 06, 2003, 06:20: Message edited by: Chandos the Red ]

 

French kissing! Sorry, I know this is a serious topic. I couldn't help myself.

Yago,

I think a better translation would be: Liberty, Equality and Brotherhood. I know it doesn't rhyme but I don't think France can take credit for frat boys and their parties.

 

What have you people got against the French. Much more good for the world than USA would or could ever do. They haven't done one bad thing for the world (that i know of) except for ww1/2, but other than thoses they aint done anything wrong.

 

Sorry, but he's Swiss. But Jean Calvin was born in France. So, the main reformator is French. Protestants are a French product.

Simone de Beauvoir and Jeanne d'Arc.

At Charlie: I wasn't aware that fraternity had some hidden meaning in English. Thanks.

[ May 06, 2003, 09:35: Message edited by: Yago ]

 

Yago,
hmm, how about Martin Luther?

Martin Luther
Leader of the great religious revolt of the sixteenth century in Germany; born at Eisleben, 10 November, 1483; died at Eisleben, 18 February, 1546.

John Calvin
This man, undoubtedly the greatest of Protestant divines, and perhaps, after St. Augustine, the most perseveringly followed by his disciples of any Western writer on theology, was born at Noyon in Picardy, France, 10 July, 1509, and died at Geneva, 27 May, 1564.

On 31 October 1517 Luther was first when he nailed his 95 theses to a soon-te-become-famous church door, Calvin was 8 years old at that time