Is France the most successful military power in European history ?

S

Sun tuz grandpa

Joined Feb 2022
11 Posts | 1+
Clipperton Island
sparky said:
Henry II spend his time putting out brush-fire against his authority , so did pretty much everybody else
the king had the priviledge to call the lords and their retainers to him to fight a war ,they might choose to come or not
great lords had the right to rebel and did it often , they had their own money and justice often several in various part of their holdings
at the time a king reign was more a ceremonial position in a loose confederation of powerful land owners

The term refer to a rather vague heraldic device , their proper designation is the Angevin Kings
their shield was the lion of the north with a second lion for Normandy and a third for England
Henry was a Frank from the house of Anjou , he cared very little about England
his son Richard heart was in Aquitaine , he fought and bled for it , hardly ever setting foot on English soil
both spoke "French" to call them English is a wide stretch , "france" was the isle de France , the area around Paris region which was the holding of the Capetian kings
Click to expand...
Yes I heard about that. Richard barley cared about England and cared more about his French holdings.
 
sparky

sparky

Joined Jan 2017
11,739 Posts | 5,015+
Sydney
1645150849551.png

Coat of arms of William the bastard duke of Normandy , and coat of arms of the province of Normandy
under the first Angevin king , a third one was added
one should note the Geules (red) background , French heraldry call them " leopards " but that is an Heraldry technicality , lions is the common term
there is some reference that at a twig of Genet was wore on the helmets of the house of Anjou as a sign of recognition during battle
this was common , having no uniforms and few tabards , the soldiery could see who they were fighting with and genet plants are quite easy to obtain
up to the 17th century and the adoption of uniforms , wearing a color or distinctive mark was normal practice
the dutch armies wore orange cloth while at the battle of the Boyne the Irish wore the French White while William's wore green twigs
in no way was this used by the Angevin to describe their family , it was a later invention
 
sparky

sparky

Joined Jan 2017
11,739 Posts | 5,015+
Sydney
MAGolding said:
Calling Henry II a Frank is anachronistic
Click to expand...

Yes I know
since most of Christendom noble families traced their root to the Merovingians but were definitely not French some term has to be found
they all spoke a Frankish common tongue , it was a sign that one spoke ot a well bred knight
Latin was for the church and learned men
the common tongue was very regional , unwritten , sometimes barely understandable for people not raise locally
 
SSDD

SSDD

Joined Aug 2014
5,549 Posts | 582+
India
Last edited:
Don't know if most successful or not,

but was probably most aggressive nation in Europe, till emergence of Nazi Germany.

I however think, given intensity and scale, defeat in 7 Years war and In Napoleonic Wars can be compared to defeat of Germany in World Wars.
 
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seneschal

seneschal

Joined Oct 2015
1,888 Posts | 445+
California
What everyone seems to forget is that even after the Napoleonic Wars. the French army was still considered to be the best in Europe until the F-P War. Before 1870 the French Zouave was reputed to be the finest and most feared infantry in the world, a reputation well deserved.
 
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johnincornwall

johnincornwall

Joined Nov 2010
14,406 Posts | 4,143+
Cornwall
Yet they lost the whole of India and the whole of North America on the odd battle or two. Pretty unsuccessful there.
 
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