Those treacherous French
Had their advice not been spurned, over 1500 American servicemen would still be alive today, as well as perhaps a hundred thousand Iraqis.
Right wing pundits usually forth at the mouth when they discuss France, and damn her (*) for her supposed ingratitude for American help in both World Wars. They conveniently ignore the fact Americans would be bowing and scraping to some English Duke if it weren't for French assistance during the American Revolution (more French soldiers than Americans participated in the battle of Yorktown, even if the French commander Rochambeau refused the British surrender and insisted George Washington was the only one eligible to receive it). When it is acknowledged at all, it is ascribed to French perversity and its realpolitik desire to stymie England.
This ignores a simple reality: if France had been following realpolitik, her best course of action would have been to cut a deal with England to recover her Canadian colonies in exchange for non-intervention or even positive assistance with quelling the uprising. The reason why France threw in her lot with the Americans lies mostly with the French's tremendous admiration for Benjamin Franklin and his skill in turning French sympathy for American freedom fighters into concrete military and financial help. The cost of aid to the Americans bankrupted the always shaky French treasury, and directly led to the financial crisis that sparked the French revolution twenty years later. In a very real way, Louis XVI put his neck on the line for the United States, and lost.
Another thing worth mentioning is that in the Treaty of Paris of 1783, the King of England actually had the gall to sign the treaty of Paris as "King of Great Britain, France and Ireland", echoing the Plantagenet claim to the throne of France. You would think Joan of Arc would have put paid to that...
Disagree with the French if you must, but do not besmirch the integrity of America's oldest ally.
(*) I am following Shakespeare's usage in using the feminine gender for France...
Right wing pundits usually forth at the mouth when they discuss France, and damn her (*) for her supposed ingratitude for American help in both World Wars. They conveniently ignore the fact Americans would be bowing and scraping to some English Duke if it weren't for French assistance during the American Revolution (more French soldiers than Americans participated in the battle of Yorktown, even if the French commander Rochambeau refused the British surrender and insisted George Washington was the only one eligible to receive it). When it is acknowledged at all, it is ascribed to French perversity and its realpolitik desire to stymie England.
This ignores a simple reality: if France had been following realpolitik, her best course of action would have been to cut a deal with England to recover her Canadian colonies in exchange for non-intervention or even positive assistance with quelling the uprising. The reason why France threw in her lot with the Americans lies mostly with the French's tremendous admiration for Benjamin Franklin and his skill in turning French sympathy for American freedom fighters into concrete military and financial help. The cost of aid to the Americans bankrupted the always shaky French treasury, and directly led to the financial crisis that sparked the French revolution twenty years later. In a very real way, Louis XVI put his neck on the line for the United States, and lost.
Another thing worth mentioning is that in the Treaty of Paris of 1783, the King of England actually had the gall to sign the treaty of Paris as "King of Great Britain, France and Ireland", echoing the Plantagenet claim to the throne of France. You would think Joan of Arc would have put paid to that...
Disagree with the French if you must, but do not besmirch the integrity of America's oldest ally.
(*) I am following Shakespeare's usage in using the feminine gender for France...
posted by Fazal Majid at 8:41 PM
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