Re: [FH] FSE

Roger Burton West schrieb:
> On Wed, May 29, 2002 at 07:42:16AM -0400, Indy wrote:
> >I have always been bothered by how 90+% of the [more 
> > vocal] people look at the FSE as a French-only group,
> 
> Well, it does sometimes seem to be the pick of the 
> "European nations which Anglophones tend to regard as a bit of a
military 
> joke" list. 

I guess the joke depends on the period you are looking at: 

> Start with the French; fair enough. 

Louis XIV, Napoleon

> Then the Italians, 

Rome, the Middle Ages and early Renaissance

> the Spaniards, (OK, they had Harriers for a while), 

The Reconquista, Conquista and Renaissance periods

> the Portugese, 

The colonial empire, and the Napoleonic Wars

> the Greeks... 

Classical Greece, 
the Byzantines (Hi John!), though is a somewhat complex issue.

Even the Germans (not to mention the Italians) acknowledged that they
fought well in WWII. They just didn't have the ressources to fight the
Reich.

> none of them is really a country to make someone brought 
> up with the British or American military traditions pay much 
> attention. 
> 
> Which is of course psychologically useful... :-)

If you are an Anglophone ;-)

Greetings