Francois Bruntz wrote:
>
> Despite the two world wars I don't think that French people consider
> Germany to be our greatest enemy (this is of course my own opinion),
> Germany is a neighbour and since the Europe construction it is our
> greatest ally. No, our "greatest enemy" (these are only words, I
> don't want you to think that I'm really serious!) is Great Britain...
D'accord. In Germany, there's a very strong movement to keep friends
with the French. There are a lot of links from the time of Napoleon, and
the Saxon Confederation. In northern Germany, they still say "Tuess" for
"Auf Wiedersehen", which comes from "a Tu".
> This can be surprising for North American people (US and Canadian)
> but there is a big problem between French and British people, we had
> to ally with Great Britain sometimes but it was only because we had
> to, not because we wanted to.
The 'Entente Cordiale' was a shattering break from nearly 1000 years of
continuous antagonism. And _possibly_ a temporary abberation. Certainly
there are people in the Elysee and Whitehall who think so!
> I don't know why there is such a behaviour between our two countries.
Well, it all started with a Scandinavian-descended bloke called
William.... Sorry, Guillaume.
> In France, we think that Great Britain slows the European
> construction in order to keep all its privileges (GB doesn't want
> Euro in order to keep the �, etc...).
Of Course! Why do you think they joined the EU! EFTA wasn't providing
much competition, so they ditched that and are now Undermining From
Within.
> In Great Britain, during this last week and after the death of
> princess Diana at Paris, we watched a lot of reports at TV where some
> English people accused the FRENCH photographers (not all the
> photographers) then France (!!!) to have killed their princess...
TV Cinq? Funny, because neither Sky nor ITV nor BBC has such comments
(at least, not in any programs that reached here). Frankly, the public
grief is so deeply felt that blaming any Nation would be ... tacky.
Unworthy. Irrelevant.
TV5 on the other hand appears to be in an orgy of finger-pointing and
witch-hunting. At least, that's what my limited command of Francais
tells me (there are no subtitles).
> I hope that one day there will a Federal European Union as the United
> States or Canada where all our countries will be in peace and will
> forget the past...
The two are incompatible, mon Cher. Forgetting the past means we make
the same mistakes again.
> It's finished, you can stop crying... ;o)
Merci. :)
> Napoleon is great dilemma for our historians...
> There were a lot of good things about Napoleon and a lot of bad
> things. It's ridiculous to compare him to Hitler (there was no
> genocide during the Empire), he only had means to conquer Europe when
> all the other countries couldn't (but wanted to).
I must respectfully disagree. Considering what happened in Spain, a
comparison with Hitler is apt. What Hitler did in the Ukraine, Napoleon
did in Spain. Sending "Hit Squads" to foreign lands to kill exiled
political opponents was another invention of his. (OK, the Romans did it
all the time, but it was Buonaparte who revived the custom after 2000
years..).
The man was a ruthless revolutionary, who betrayed the Revolution and
shot most of his political rivals, a model followed by Josef
Vissarionich Dzugashvili.
He also invented a sweeping reform of the legal system, one with many
good points, and provided the inspiration for a United Europe.
It would be interesting to find out what Historians will say about
Hitler in the year 2120. Will he be remembered for Auschwitz or
Autobahns?
As for a Tactician? Very Good, one of the best the world has ever seen.
And almost as brilliant a Strategist. The Napoleonic Division and Corps
organisation is still followed today.
--
aebrain_at_... <> <> How doth the little Crocodile
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Received on Thu Sep 11 1997 - 09:19:41 UTC