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ORIGINAL: Marc2b

I had a grand-uncle who flew a fighter plane in WW2, got shot down and spent several weeks with the French Resistance being smuggled, via farms and safe houses, to the coast before being picked up and brought back to England (and eventually returning to the skies over France).

When the whole anti-French/"the French are cowards" nonsense began after 9/11 he was livid about it, telling anyone who would listen that "some of the bravest people I ever met were French." At one family reunion he was asked, "yeah, but aren't the French all snooty?" His reply: "yes they are, but once you learn to accept that about them, they can be a really fun people to party with. It's really easy to get along with the French, just compliment their wine and ask them for advice on how to make love to your woman. They'll love you."

By the way, rumors that there is now a French side to the family, that I have French cousins, are... unconfirmed.

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ORIGINAL: Marc2b

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Actually, it's my personal experience that there are far more Americans that dislike the French rather than the other way around. The French are too busy loving themselves to bother disliking anyone .

I had a grand-uncle who flew a fighter plane in WW2, got shot down and spent several weeks with the French Resistance being smuggled, via farms and safe houses, to the coast before being picked up and brought back to England (and eventually returning to the skies over France).

When the whole anti-French/"the French are cowards" nonsense began after 9/11 he was livid about it, telling anyone who would listen that "some of the bravest people I ever met were French." At one family reunion he was asked, "yeah, but aren't the French all snooty?" His reply: "yes they are, but once you learn to accept that about them, they can be a really fun people to party with. It's really easy to get along with the French, just compliment their wine and ask them for advice on how to make love to your woman. They'll love you."

By the way, rumors that there is now a French side to the family, that I have French cousins, are... unconfirmed.

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ORIGINAL: pahunkboy

I think too much was made- over the tiff per the French.

The French had more influence on the early days of the US then we forget.   Had it not been for the French influence- the US might have never broke with England.   Alot of territory also was purchased from the French in establishing the US.

So it is a culture that can not be easily dismissed.

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1941 expedition

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ORIGINAL: vincentML

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ORIGINAL: HandSolo

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ORIGINAL: AnimusRex

Nevermind that Nate Silver at 538.com calculated you have about a 1 in 10 million chance of being involved in a terrorist attack

Did he graduate kindergarten? Everybody in the US was involved in a terrorist attack eight years ago.

Depends on your definition of involved. I saw an auto accident on television. To what degree was I "involved?" Not so much.

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ORIGINAL: LadyEllen

Barbarossa was launched in 1941 as I recall, albeit a few weeks late - which proved very important indeed as it meant the Germans and their friends (Italians, Hungarians, Romanians) didnt make Moscow before winter closed in, as the plan had required.

E

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ORIGINAL: Lucylastic

Popeye: Maybe you should have them all wear yellow stars...yanno to make it easier for profiling?







Edited to add....yes Im being just a little sarcastic. 

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ORIGINAL: ThatDamnedPanda

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ORIGINAL: LadyEllen

Barbarossa was launched in 1941 as I recall, albeit a few weeks late - which proved very important indeed as it meant the Germans and their friends (Italians, Hungarians, Romanians) didnt make Moscow before winter closed in, as the plan had required.

E

Mid-June, actually. June 20 or 22, if I recall correctly. It was a month later than planned, and that month is probably what cost them victory. Hitler had meticulously studied Napoleon's invasion of Russia in order to avoid making the same mistakes, but wound up making the most important one all over again. Right down to the date, in fact. Napoleon launched his own invasion of Russia in the last week of June - 23 or 24, I believe.

Of course, the fundamental difference was that Napoleon never intended to fight his way all the way to Moscow in the first place - he expected to meet and destroy the Russian army early in the campaign. The Russians wouldn't cooperate, however, realizing they had no chance of winning that battle. So they fell back, forcing Napoleon to extend his supply lines much longer than he'd expected would be necessary. He couldn't sustain a contested advance all the way to Moscow, and by the time he got there he had less than a quarter of his army remaining.

But still, the lesson was there for Hitler to have learned. Unfortunately for him, the Soviets were the ones who learned it, not him.

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ORIGINAL: HandSolo

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ORIGINAL: vincentML

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ORIGINAL: HandSolo

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ORIGINAL: AnimusRex

Nevermind that Nate Silver at 538.com calculated you have about a 1 in 10 million chance of being involved in a terrorist attack

Did he graduate kindergarten? Everybody in the US was involved in a terrorist attack eight years ago.

Depends on your definition of involved. I saw an auto accident on television. To what degree was I "involved?" Not so much.

Did you pay for the repair of the cars?

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Plus, Napoleon Bonaparte was actually Corsican, not French.

Tell a Corsican person that they're French, and wait for the TNT to fly.

So, Napoleon's defeat was actually a Corsican defeat, which, by extension, makes it an Italian defeat.

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ORIGINAL: Moonhead

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ORIGINAL: pahunkboy

I think too much was made- over the tiff per the French.

The French had more influence on the early days of the US then we forget.   Had it not been for the French influence- the US might have never broke with England.   Alot of territory also was purchased from the French in establishing the US.

So it is a culture that can not be easily dismissed.

They gave you that nice statue for Ellis Island as well, didn't they?

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ORIGINAL: SL4V3M4YB3

9/10 wars are ultimately decided by numbers rather than strategy apparently, technology also plays a part but numbers are the crucial thing.

You can only lose through strategies for example you don't want to be caught in a quagmire. I have war-proofed my home by building quagmires all around the perimeter.

Now that I have demonstrated my war talk can I have that empty spot on Fox news as a military analyst, I want job security and this seems to be a sector with future growth potential.