History Main / CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys

* Peter Milligan and Mike Allred's run on {{X-Force}} had the title team's former manager try and create a new superhero group based around various absurd Captainethnics including a French member who appeared to be an actual monkey whose mutant power was knowing exactly the right moment to surrender. The teams backers actually call the manager out on what ridicules stereotypes all the superheroes are. The French monkey showed up in a later story line and was revealed to be an American agent with the job of creating Anti-French sentiment but he went native because of his love of “Cheese and wine”

* MarvelComics has the unfortunate distinction of being home to a villainous mutant of French descent whose mutant power is to always know the best opportunity to run away. His code-name? Surrender Monkey.
** Surprise! They try to fix this by retconning him to be not at all French. Nor a mutant.

However in two of these cases, France had less manpower and industrial resources to draw upon than its adversary. During World War I, Germany had nearly twice the population of France, most of whom were men that could be drawn upon for military service. When World War II came about, the population of France had declined further while Germany's was now over twice as large. It is also to be remembered that France shares a border with Germany, while the British are separated from the continent by several hundred square miles of sea. And, in the case of WorldWarII, the Maginot Line (the "impenetrable" barrier along the German border) was bypassed when the Germans thundered through Belgium and around to France. The first World War has also caused the French population to become more and more pacifist during the 20s and the 30s, hence the successives governements were forced to implement the purely defensive military doctrines that led to the building of the Maginot line and to the really bad strategy used in 1940.

However in two of these cases, France had less manpower and industrial resources to draw upon than its adversary. During World War I, Germany had nearly twice the population of France, most of whom were men that could be drawn upon for military service. When World War II came about, the population of France had declined further while Germany's was now over twice as large. It is also to be remembered that France shares a border with Germany, while the British are separated from the continent by several hundred square miles of sea. And, in the case of WorldWarII, the Maginot Line (the "impenetrable" barrier along the German border) was bypassed when the Germans thundered through Belgium and around to France. The first World War has also caused the French population to become more and more pacifist during the 20s and the 30s, hence the successives governements were forced to implement the purely defensive military doctrines tht lead to the building of the Maginot line and to the reaally bad strategy used in 1940.

However in two of these cases, France had less manpower and industrial resources to draw upon than its adversary. During World War I, Germany had nearly twice the population of France, most of whom were men that could be drawn upon for military service. When World War II came about, the population of France had declined further while Germany's was now over twice as large. It is also to be remembered that France shares a border with Germany, while the British are separated from the continent by several hundred square miles of sea. And, in the case of WorldWarII, the Maginot Line (the "impenetrable" barrier along the German border) was bypassed when the Germans thundered through Belgium and around to France.

** Or Utah. The Canadian version would be Juno. Or it would be, if we Canucks weren't far too polite for it.

* One of Antoine's traits in ''[[Series/SonicTheHedgehog Sonic SatAM]]'' was being the butt of French jokes. "We surrender!" His personality in general is a bit wimpy and cowardly.

* Most English school children will learn about the 100 years war in history class sooner or later. The Hundred Years War is an object lesson that sometimes [[WrittenByTheWinners History Is Written By the Losers.]] Battles won by the French such as Patay ("the bloody hunt", 1429), Formigny (1450), and Castillon (1453) are conveniently forgotten, as is the reign of Charles V (1364-1380), whose strategy of avoiding major battles and concentrating on skirmishes and sieges succeeded in driving the English almost completely from the continent. By the way, Joan of Arc first took part in the war in 1429, was captured in 1430 and executed in 1431, so her "leadership" lasted less than two years.

* Averted in the "Ming Warrior vs. Musketeer" episode of ''DeadliestWarrior'', where [[spoiler:the Musketeers defeated the Ming Warriors 674 times out of a possible 1000]].

** Right, because only a coward would run away from a ''giant pissed-off lizard''.

[[caption-width-right:319:[-Admit it, you actually [[SchmuckBait went and did a search]], didn't you? You have to use the "[[http://lmgtfy.com/?q=french+ military+ victories&l=1 I'm Feeling Lucky]]" button instead.-] ]]

The French suck at war. At least, if you ask American and British popular culture, especially over the last, oh, fifteen years.

* According to [[TakeThatMe Benzaie]], this is true. [[ThatGuyWithTheGlasses The Nostalgia Critic]] actually calls him a "surrender monkey" during the brawl.

* Pointed out in WarrenEllis' ''Crécy'' that the French at the time were the BadassArmy and the English were this trope. This comic is about The Heavily Outnumbered English Army giving France one of the most one-sided {{Curb Stomp Battle}}s in History (guess who lost). SoYeah.

* ''AxisPowersHetalia'' -- Sort of a ZigZaggingTrope for [[AnthropomorphicPersonification Francis]] -- It's an EdutainmentShow that brings up the stereotype for humor, but doesn't really show it because the "edu" is more about culture and politics than military strategy, remarkable for a WWII strip. In the webcast, when England makes fun of him, he responds by pointing out Napoleon and Joan of Arc (England: "Look! He's depending on a girl!") and is promptly caught by surprise by Germany still dreaming about his glory days. However, the Renaissance is the other main storyline, and the trope ''is'' [[InvokedTrope invoked]] because the Italian wars were not France's finest hours.

** Funnily enough, when in 2003 the German government, German media and the German populace massively opposed Bush's Iraq war, no-one dared call the Germans "surrender monkeys".

** Though France certainly had more tanks and better ones than the Germans, it is not a lack of skill that caused them to fail. The French (and the British!) treated tanks mostly like infantry support - they had basically prepared to fight WW1 all over again. However, these scattered tanks stood little chance against Germany's massed panzer divisions. Therefore when tank battles occurred, they were certainly outgunned but they almost always had superior numbers.

** Though France certainly had more tanks and better ones than the Germans, it is not a lack of skill that caused them to fail. The French (and the British!) treated tanks mostly like infantry support - they had basically prepared to fight WW1 all over again. However, these scattered tanks stood little chance against Germany's massed panzer divisions. Therefore when tank battles occurred, they were certainly outgunned by they almost always had superior numbers.