Why do some people simply mouth the idiocy "France lost two wars"? They soundly defeated the von Schliefen plan. In 1914 France had 10 times as many men in uniform as did the US. 8 and a half million men served in the French Army in the first war. Total casualties for the French from 1914-1918 were 4 and a half million wounded including more than 1 million dead - 50% battle casualties. By comparison, the US suffered about 180,000 battle deaths from 1917-1918. France lost as many men in WW1 as the US has lost in all its wars combined. This may be why in 1940 they were simply exhausted as a people and unprepared to deal with Germans again.

And oh, they don't sneer at anyone except self-righteous yokels like some people from that Ohio river city where it's all but illegal to be black after dark. France is a wonderful, tolerant place filled with smart, courageous people, and thankfully will stay that way regardless of what Americans think about it. They are rightfully contemptuous of a government that touts itself a defender of freedom and then installs congential idiot/tinhorn tyrants like Bush at the helm.

-drl