Have an extensive history of military might, from rampaging barbarian hordes, to a continent-conquering emperor, to a foreign legion famed as being one of the most badass fighting forces in the world, and nobody bats an eye. But get embarrassingly outflanked one time, and you never hear the end of it!
explanation since the comm isn't History Memes this time
“rampaging barbarian hordes” – the Gauls
“continent-conquering emperor” – Napoleon
“foreign legion” – the French Foreign Legion
“embarrasingly outflanked” – the failure of the Maginot Line in WWII
Copied from my earlier comment elsewhere:
explanation since the comm isn't History Memes this time
One post that I read somewhere else on fedi was in the lines of, you can’t reasonably think French are cowards, they made snails into fine cuisine.