KruskDaMangled wrote:Historically and currently, the French are not cowards. One government that surrendered and then some collaborators for a few years were. The current French government and the ones recently have been reasonable, if resolute and assertive.
Before that? France could be outright pugnacious and bellicose when it came to international policy. Which it could get away with because it was comparatively large and powerful for a European country (it still is, I guess when it comes down to it. It's GDP is very respectable and it has a large population) and it was pretty good at fighting. Of course, it could never go very far east because the Holy Roman Empire/Germanies were there, and the other directions because of natural barriers/the people there were pretty tough, too.
Then everyone got really good ships and used all the stuff they'd been using to TRY and take each other over or have petty spats over succession of which cousin (of everyone, it would be weird at that point in European history for a given heir to not be distantly related to everyone involved) got which throne to take over a lot of the world and hold it till very recently.
Always remember that there would be no America without French help during the American Revolution and that the Germans spent most of the last 2000 years being ruled by French and Italian kings.