Apart from Iraq, what on Earth did the French do?

[crona]

yup. It is Used by Britain (sort of) and Canada (Though they won't admit it)

[TKDietz]

Don't call me Francis.

[katz]

:) :)

[honeygrl]

"(what happened to the french kiss?)"

That's FREEDOM kiss.

[cyborg]

LOL... oh I understand now!

[irishtenor]

If it ain't American, I don't use it. At least I don't want to. You can't make me. After all, if you give them a centimeter, they'll take a kilometer.

[cardinal4]

Don't call me Francis.

Ok Francois..

[McGavin999]

They caused the war. If it hadn't been for them, the world would have presented a united front to Saddam and he would have eventually given in. As it was, France gave him the idea that they could stop the war. As long as Saddam beleived that he would never have given in. Because of their backstabbing, the war was the only way left to us.

The french will never be forgiven.

[AQGeiger]

Even the Stars and Stripes are in the French colours!!!

Correction. The French flag is in the same colors as the Stars and Stripes. The French flag was originally created in 1790. The American flag was adopted in 1777.

Get your facts straight before you post.

[Calvin Locke]

Food preparation. Fresnel lens. French corner reflectors. Pierre Curie was smart enough not to marry French.
Impressionist school of art. Ticklers. Laetitia Casta - oops - she became a Brit. Never mind.

Cheeses. Quite frankly, I can do with a half dozen or so.

Louis Pasteur.

[Fox on the Run]

I think I get your point. But first I've got to say a few things, some in response to what some of you said, some are mea culpas:
1) Australia has a perfectly fair, balanced and rich variety of local media outlets, some with a liberal touch, others with a more conservative touch. In addition we can always tune into international broadcasters like Fox News, and (dare I say) CNN.
2) OK I got the flag fact wrong. Mea culpa.
3) I probably need to do a bit more research on Jefferson
4) In regard to France in WWII , I'm wholly with you. But as for WWI, I don't think so. This will probably open another can of worms, but the US' role in WWI was not as great as you all suggest, from a purely military point of view. America didn't enter the war until late 1917. It was another one of those European wars, and the US didn't want to take part. It was only the actions of President WIlson (a self-confessed liberal) after the Lusitania ainking that got the US involved. What American intervention did was provide above all a massive psychological boost to the British and French (not to mention Australians, New Zealanders, Indians etc) troops. In pure military terms, the Allies had figured out how to defeat the Germans by the time the US declared war.
5) WWII was a similar story, it was only Pearl Harbour that got the US involved against Japan (and helping defend us, to which we will always be grateful). The only reason why FDR (yet another liberal) was able to get involved in Europe was because Hitler made a gross miscalculation and declared war on America following Pearl Harbour (and I will continue to spell my harbours, colours and criticises the Australian way, thank you very much), and action he did not have to do. Truman (yet another Democrat) spent all the US dollars on reconstructing Europe just as much to prevent the expanse of communism from Stalin as to genuinely rebuild Western Europe.
6) The US was not 'sold' on Vietnam by the French. They and many other Western governments (including Australia's) felt that to defeat Communism in all of SE Asia the Viet Cong must be stopped. That's the reason my own father was told when he was called up to be sent there.
7) I am a dinky-di/true blue (ie real) Aussie, and, nicknameBob, lunch was a typical Australian pizza - egg, bacon, onion and sausage.
8) I'm with you
9) irishtenor, the imperial system isn't even American
10) Having read your replies, I really am glad I'm not posting from France

Otherwise, thank you and good night.

[Tunehead54]

As for Islam, for centuries it continued its assaults on Europe through the East.

---

Huh! Same 'ol same ol'? Great post! Thanks.;-)

[Lancey Howard]

[albertabound]

At least we didn't shoot and kill American soldiers on the beaches of North Africa in WW2. Besides, our big guys got together the other day and buried the hatchet, so we don't have a dog in this fight anymore.

[Junior]

It's not the "American system." Americans didn't invent it. America just happens to be one of the last holdouts using the old European system of measurement. And, it's about 1.8 meters, not 2...

[Polybius]

Barbary Wars: Allegedly, they caused so much trouble to us with the Bey of Tripoli that, before we went to war with them, our legatee in Algiers had the French ambassador to Algiers publicly horsewhipped.

And, before there ever was a U.S..........

It's the 1500's and the power of Islam is on the rise. The Islamic armies of the Ottoman Empire have conquered the Balkans and have dreams of conquering Vienna and of invading Italy and conquering Rome itself which they called "The Red Apple". They boast that, like Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, they will turn St.Peter's itself into a Mosque.

Islamic fleets roamed the Mediterranean. Entire small cities on the coasts of Spain and Italy, such as Messina, were totally depopulated in Islamic naval raids where the able-bodied Christian men were hauled off as galley slaves, the younger Christian women, girls and boys were hauled off as slaves for the sex trade and the older Christian population was massacred.

Christendom fought back.

At Malta, the Knights of Malta (many of them French but pursuing a foreign policy totally independent of France) heroicly withstood a great seige that saved Malta and protected the Western Meditteranean from falling under the total naval control of Islam.

The naval forces of Spain, Venice, and the Papal States put their differences aside to join in The Holy League against Islamic aggression and were able to achieve the great naval victory at The Battle of Lepanto that crushed the Islamic fleet. Even Queen Elizabeth of England, who certainly had her differences with Spain, realized that Christendom had a common enemy and ordered English church bells to ring out in celebration of the victory at Lepanto.

And what was the French Government doing during these perilous years with the fate of Christendom itself in the balance?

In order to advance it's own interests at the expense of it's Christian neighbors, the French were allowing the Islamic fleet the use of the French naval base at Toulon in southern France during the Islamic fleet's raids into the Western Mediterranean.

The Fleets of Spain, Venice, the Papal States, and a Few Galleys Belonging to the Knights of Malta Destroy the Islamic Fleet at The Battle of Lepanto.............No Thanks to the Back-Stabbing French.

[ODDITHER]

I believe that the French people still suffer from hallucinations caused by ergot. Would that be Ergo their Ergot?

"Ergot, the fungus which frequently affected the grains that were used to make bread throughout Europe for many centuries, is well known for its hallucinogenic properties. In a modern case in France in 1951, over 100 people suffered from ergot poisoning after eating bread made from infected rye. Many of them suffered from hallucinations about being attacked by or turning into wild animals. Such poisoning could have been another cause for the development of the werewolf myth."

[A. Pole]

what did the French do?

I don't think French could have done much for a simple reason. If you look at this map of the world, they are barely visible if at all.

[BlueLancer]

Sorry, but, at the time of the creation of the US flag, the French flag was the Fleur-de-lilse (sp?) Gold lilies on a white background, not the tricolor.

If you have to go back over 200 years for any benefit from a country, I'd say that that "debt" has been well and truly repaid.

[Naspino]

The real question is what does history have to do with the present? The French are overwhelmingly electing officials that support the United Nations and the loss of sovereignty and power of the United States. They do this out of their own dislike of the United States and its policies. The French have assumed a position of obstruction in foreign affairs and their domestic life wreaks of socialism.

The people on this board despise socialism and the United Nation; ergo the dislike of France. I'm sure if they cast both off tomorrow and elected a conservative that all would be forgiven.