[2ndDivisionVet]

Are there any credible historians that would argue with him?

[Wizdum]

Germany held a piece of France in WW1. If America had not entered into the lines when it did, the German Michael offensive might have had more success. The French had been bled dry after a mutiny and Verdun.
Britain couldn't help the French, they had been depleted at the Somme and Flanders. The Germans knew they had to break through before the weight of 1 million Americans hit the trenches.
American units such as the American 369th Infantry regiment(black)fought along side the French.

That was WW1.

WW2, the French surrendered......in the same railcar used for the Armistice in WW1... to the advancing Nazi's and were subjugated as the Vichy French until June 6th, 1944.

So, yeah....the US has saved the French butt.....twice and wound up taking over for them in VietNam after they surrendered.....again

[simpson96]

bookmark

[shalom aleichem]

The man is always speaking truth to power

[ssaftler]

When you get right down to it, France hasn’t “won” a war since 1789, and that was only because it was an internecine conflict!

[shanover]

If the U.S. stayed out of Wilson’s WWI folly, The Central Powers would have won and history much different and no WWII as we know it now. I think America would have to fight eventually even if we did not save France’s butt in WWI.

[ro_dreaming]

And, the United States of America would not exist without France, who backed us in our independence from the United Kingdom. So, we paid them back.

[I want the USA back]

That is true.

[Sam Gamgee]

Certainly not the second. FDR was part of the war before official declaration, providing material support to Russia. Without that support Russia would likely have fallen, thus Germany would keep its hold on France.

For the first, well the forces were in stalemate. Russia leaving the war could have been argued the turning point for the Allies.

[hinckley buzzard]

Well, they were indeed defeated in WW II. As for WW I, the German Army was all on French soil when the war ended, so... who knows.

[stevem]

Are there any credible historians that would argue with him?

What am I missing here?

Before the US began her war on the Nazis, France was already defeated. They had a bunch of puppets we can refer to as Vichy acting as administrators.

[robowombat]

Perhaps not WW 1 but why DeGualle was so perpetually angry at the ‘Anglo-Americans).

[ClearBlueSky]

He's 1000% right and the French know it. They had some who resisted but the majority were appeasers. They didn't get the moniker-cheese eating surrender monkeys for nothing.
And before I am accused of being anti-French, my grandparents came from the South and North of France in the 1700's. My dad fought there in WW2 and would have loved to have visited ancestral places but couldn't. He always said later that the only bad thing about France itself was that it is full of French people. Guess he didn't see the irony or maybe our ancestors were tougher.

[Alas Babylon!]

I think the President is referring to the 1914-1918 France, as in the Great War, War to End All Wars (LOL), or, as we now call it, World War I.

[ought-six]

France WAS defeated by Germany in 1940, and in just six weeks!

[Crucial]

It’s pretty obvious the Germans would have defeated the British and the French without America. Even with America’s help, it’s not like the Germans were resoundly defeated. The war was never taken to Germany.

[joma89]

Um...France was defeated in WW II and was occupied for 4 year or so by their Germany vanquishers.

Operation Overlord in 1944 started the liberation process which took over a year to accomplish.

JoMa

[Blood of Tyrants]

The Germans DID defeat the French. And without the US Marines heroic stand Belleau Wood, they would have taken Paris and probably defeated the French in WWI as well.

[SoFloFreeper]

France WAS defeated. We rescued them.

[morphing libertarian]

suggests?

[DouglasKC]

“Suggested”?? They had already lost for crying out loud.