History Main / CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys

* ''Anime/IsabelleOfParis'' averts this, being set during the [[UsefulNotes/OttoVonBismarck Franco-Prussian war]] post-[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Sedan Battle of Sedan]]. While the French initially lost the battle to Prussia, Victor and Andréa are skilled military commanders who are willing to fight until their last breath, and Jules and the rest of the Parisians swear to take the Prussians on their own. The main character, Isabelle, works as a spy to help aid France and liberate Paris.

* ''Anime/IsabelleOfParis'' averts this, being set during the [[UsefulNotes/OttoVanBismark Franco-Prussian war]] post-[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Sedan Battle of Sedan]]. While the French initially lost the battle to Prussia, Victor and Andréa are skilled military commanders who are willing to fight until their last breath, and Jules and the rest of the Parisians swear to take the Prussians on their own. The main character, Isabelle, works as a spy to help aid France and liberate Paris.

* One episode of ''Series/SpinCity'' focused on the Mayor trying to get Paris to be New York's sister city.
-->'''Paul:''' Sir, do you really think you can take Paris?\\
'''Mayor:''' Why not? It's only been done by everyone who's ever tried.
* Al Bundy liked to make jokes like these on ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'', for instance noting how another character ran away "like a Frenchman from a cap gun."

* Jeremy Clarkson, one of the presenters of ''Series/TopGear'' is given to using the phrase "Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys" when he refers to the French. He'll also modify the phrase when appropriate; e.g., during the Val Thorens ice race the other drivers were "cheese-eating sideways monkeys."
* ''Series/UnhappilyEverAfter'': Mr. Floppy lists all the countries he'd like to nuke. Jack asks, "Can we kaboom France?" Floppy: "We don't have to -- France will surrender with a phone call."
* In one episode from the final season of ''Series/That70sShow'', Red and Kitty, having decided to move to Florida, are showing the house to a bunch of different families. Kitty mentions that a family with the last name Dubois is coming to view the house. Red, in his typical fashion, complains about it.
-->'''Red:''' Dubois? Kitty, I don't want Germans moving in here!\\
'''Kitty:''' I think they're French.\\
'''Red:''' Yes, and if they buy this house, they'll give it to the first German who knocks on the door!

* ''Series/AlloAllo'', the legendary sitcom, is all about the French resistance and how cowardly Rene, the main "hero", is, and mentions the French surrendering approximately once per two episodes. A majority of the French cast, however, don't fit the trope.
* The ''Series/BlackAdder'' series makes a few off-hand reference to this, but none quite as prominent as in ''Blackadder: Back & Forth'' [[spoiler: when the titular character travels through time to the Battle of Waterloo and has Napoleon portrayed as being strategically-inept, with another French soldier essentially stating that all of England's stereotypes of the French are quite true.]] Though apparently without UsefulNotes/TheDukeOfWellington leading the Brits, the French would have won, at least according to this series.
* Mike of ''Series/{{Spaced}}'' once attempted a one-man invasion of Paris with a stolen Chieftain tank. He only failed because he decided to stop off at [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks Euro Disney]] on the way.

* ''Series/TheBorgias'' subverts this to its fullest extent by presenting the French army as a pack of bloodthirsty, highly skilled warriors who've recently invented some extremely grisly war machines. The warfare among Italian cities, based largely on condottieri mercenaries, had an element of playacting as mercenary soldiers did their best to not suffer casualties so that they could collect their pay and go home to spend it. The French forces under Charles VIII that intervened in Italy at the end of 15th century, on the other hand, were a tough, warlike, and hard-fighting army supported by revolutionary artillery equipment and tactics.
* In 1990, ''Series/SaturdayNightLive''[='s=] "Weekend Update" followed up the news that Germany was reunifying with the line, "Believe me, a lot of countries are very nervous about this. France, for example, offered to surrender."
* Hilariously parodied by ''Series/{{QI}}'', in which a panelist calls Americans 'Burger eating invasion monkeys'. Naturally, given the nature of ''QI'', the show pointed out the rather impressive military history France actually has contrary to the stereotype.
* Subverted in ''Series/FatherTed''. Father Jack, who is undoubtedly ''not'' a coward, always stands for ''La Marseillaise'' and demands everyone else do so as well.

* Inverted in ''Series/DeadliestWarrior''. French warriors are always described and depicted as extremely badass, especially the French Musketeers who are described as crazy, fancy {{Chick Magnet}} medieval special forces, [[spoiler:and back up their description by destroying their Ming Warrior opponents by 670-230 in the simulation]]. Not to mention Joan of Arc and Napoleon Bonaparte, [[spoiler:who, respectively, [[UnderdogsNeverLose defeats William the Conqueror]], and loses against George Washington by a margin so close that any sane man would call it a tie]]. The French Foreign Legion are also shown as awesome, [[spoiler:even though the Gurkhas kick their asses. It also doesn't count as the French Foreign Legion is an ArmyOfThievesAndWhores made of men from all over the world; one of the experts brought in who was a former Legionnaire is an Australian.]]
* An honourable mention should go to the BBC documentary ''The World at War'' from 1973. 23 episodes covered the entire span of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, and episode three was titled ''France Falls''. This trope might as well ''be'' the title of that episode, because the narrative does little to hide the lousy French planning, the lack of unity before the war, or anything else. One scene shows archive footage of the many thousand French soldiers plainly walking away from the trenches, effectively surrendering. Because this series was a ''British'' production, the trope came in with force.

* The alliance between UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}} and UsefulNotes/{{France}} is discussed in Shakespeare's Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice between Nerissa and Portia:
-->'''Nerissa''': What think you of the Scottish lord, his neighbor?[[note]]England's neighbor.[[/note]]\\
'''Portia''': That he hath a neighborly charity in him, for he borrowed a box of the ear of the Englishman and swore he would pay him again when he was able. I think the Frenchman became his surety and sealed under for another.

* ''Videogame/TheSimpsonsGame'' has a level where Bart and Homer have to collect white flags in a French village during World War II. The villagers, of course, do nothing but run away from them, and a PA says things like "Make sure your flag is white, not off-white or eggshell or creme" and "By surrendering now, we will encourage our allies to fight even harder". The game is also the Trope Namer.
* ''VideoGame/Disgaea2CursedMemories'': Tink has a French accent (at least in the US dub). He is also a womanizing DirtyCoward... and a frog.[[note]]The French having acquired the nickname of "Frogs" for eating them.[[/note]]

* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'': Zig-zagged. The Spy class is stereotypically French with [[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail an outrageous accent]], and his "Meet The" video portrays the RED Spy as a MagnificentBastard who seduced [[YourMom the BLU Scout's mother]] and single-handedly eliminated just about every member of the BLU team. Most of the other classes' domination and revenge taunts insult him for being a sneaky coward whose only skill is ChronicBackstabbingDisorder -- which accurately, if insultingly, summarizes how you're supposed to play the Spy. However, only the Soldier invokes the trope directly: some of his lines refer to the Spy as a 'rifle dropping coward' and white flags.

* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty3'': [[ViolentGlaswegian Corporal Keith]] remarks that the French are only good at "kissin' and surrenderin'" and [[MajorlyAwesome Major Ingram]] calls the French [[LaResistance Resistance]] an "oxymoron". The game itself completely averts this trope. The British [[ElitesAreMoreGlamorous SAS]] fight alongside French resistance members who are very capable and courageous themselves and save the lives of the British soldiers several times.

* ''VideoGame/{{Odium}}'': Thiery Trantigne is a coward, to the point where he screams in panic how they're all going to die even when facing the most pathetic of monsters. He also once expresses disgust at the thought of risking his life for a teammate.
* ''VideoGame/TheSims3'': One of the books you can buy in the French holiday town is "The White Flag of Victory".

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfTanks'': Expect a lot of jokes about this if French tanks are on the field in the beginning of the battle, that is before the actual battle happens. After this it's subverted to some degree: the later French tanks are some of the fastest on field and thus the first to engage enemies, often soon enough those didn't expect fire and are nowhere near cover, not to mention they can dish out a lot of damage in short time, killing you [[{{Pun}} before you can even say cheese]], but lacking armor for their speed and firepower, they will surrender fast if you so much as point your gun at them.

* ''VideoGame/GalacticCivilizationsIIDreadLords'': You will be called this trope by name if you don't refuse another empire's attempts to extort money from you.

* ''VideoGame/HeartsOfIron'':
** ''VideoGame/HeartsOfIronII'' covers World War 2, where, as noted in the trope description, France surrendered to the Germans early in the war. Consequently, France is typically steamrolled by Germany in short order.
** ''VideoGame/HeartsOfIronIII'': France is usually defeated by Germany within a few weeks, as they lack the industrial capacity, leadership, and manpower to stand up to Germany without a skilled player taking the reigns. In the 1940 start, ''they don't even have medium armor divisions''.
** ''VideoGame/HeartsOfIronIV'': France starts the game off with a spirit called "Disjointed Government", which among other debuffs[[note]]said other debuffs are -50% political power gain and -10% stability[[/note]], halves the surrender threshold of France[[note]]said threshold is when the country surrenders; most nations require you to take the majority of the country before they'll capitulate[[/note]], meaning that if any other country takes Paris and a few other cities, France will surrender - which is easier than you might think, since the game has [[DeathFromAbove Paratroopers]], and they only require a few seconds of air superiority to take off. On historical the French AI will avoid removing this spirit[[note]]in part due to the fact that the democratic path requires France to wait a full year after taking a certain focus before they can take the one that removes the spirit[[/note]], but if the French AI goes down a path that has France change ideologies or France is controlled by a player, France can avert this trope.

* Frog from ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'': "We surrender! ''There!'' How's that? Does that take care of your hunger to disparage others for some 'larfs?'"

* Brought up in ''WebVideo/{{Unskippable}}'' for the opening cutscene of ''VideoGame/Onimusha3DemonSiege'', where modern day Paris gets attacked by [[TheLegionsOfHell some kind of overwhelming invading monster force]], killing hundreds. Played with when the boys say something along the lines of
-->"I'd make a France surrendering joke here, but I'm not sure anyone else would do any better."
* From ''Blog/ThingsMrWelchIsNoLongerAllowedToDoInAnRPG'':
-->1555. No matter how well I roll on my intimidate check, [[DefiedTrope France won't surrender]].

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGtd0KkOvG4 Tiberium ecstasy]] is a C&C Tiberian Dawn parody. Nod takes over France. Counts of the stereotypes:
** Guess what, they surrendered again (next mission location was France, and it was not under GDI territory)
** The part where it shows videos of things, it shows an APC driver surrendering, and one of the GDI (suspected) soldiers saw that the apc had guns. They ran away after the APC driver surrendered.
** The main team that was supposed to get money went to a town, and wanted to get money from a church building. The french person was lying about money, after one of them suggested to burn the french person, the final words for the unfortunate person was, "I SURRENDER."
** Another french person went and shot the Nod soldiers, and ran after the flame trooper found out the person was shooting.
* In the fanfiction [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4078106/1/ Egg Belly]], our favourite couple -- Konoka and Setsuna -- go out for dinner at Mahora Town's French restaurant. Ku Fei sneaks in to get a picture, steals the waiter's uniform ''and moustache'', gets discovered, and -- in the words of the author -- "'Uh... time for me to be French again... I surrender!'" wailed Ku Fei, turning about in the finest tradition of the French military and dashing for an alternate escape route- i.e. the window."

* The website Albino Blacksheep has [[http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/text/france.html the Complete Military History of France]].
* ''WebSite/{{Cracked}}'': The article [[http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_1170_22-shocking-statistics-that-change-how-you-see-world_p3/ 22 Shocking Statistics that change how you see the world]] attacks the real-world basis for this trope, and shows that in the last 2000 years, France has won more than twice as many major wars as they have lost, and they don't consume as much cheese as Greece. However, this runs into ArtisticLicenseHistory as it includes military victories from before France came into existence as a nation-state. Italy's military history looks alot more impressive if you count the ancient Romans.
* ''Literature/SkippysList'' has examples:
-->''20. Must not taunt the French any more.''

* ''Alerts to Terror Threats in 2011 Europe'', attributed to Creator/JohnCleese, contains the following paragraph:
-->The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from “Run” to “Hide.” The only two higher levels in France are “Collaborate” and “Surrender.” The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France’s white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the country’s military capability.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' had a loving couple from France being hit by a water balloon due to Timmy's terrible aim. Their response? "We surrender!"
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/EarthwormJim'', Bob the Goldfish builds a [[EvolutionaryLevels De-evolution Ray]], and decides to test it first on the [[PlanetOfHats Planet of Easily-Frightened People]]:
-->'''Easily-frightened people:''' We surrender! Please don't hurt us!\\
'''Bob the Goldfish:''' You people give up quicker than the French!
* ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic'': When a food fight breaks out at the United Nations School, a stray food projectile accidentally hits the French table, and the french kids immediately surrender, despite not even taking part in the fight.

* The original ''Anime/CodeGeassAkitoTheExiled'' followed this trope (along with promoting stereotypical French snobbishness) with the entire European cast (outside W-0). Then the dub, by applying actual French accents to said characters, made it that much worse.

* In one ''[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Simpsons]]'' comic, Hank Scorpio was able to conquer France with nothing more than a cheese-melting laser. Note that the Laser was really only able to melt cheese and nothing else.
** There's another Simpsons comic where Bart and Milhouse are walking through a museum exhibit on "The Military History of le French". All it contained were statues of [[UsefulNotes/TheHundredYearsWar French knights,]] UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte, and [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII French Army soldiers]], all cowering and waving white flags.
* Parodied and mocked in Creator/GarthEnnis' ComicBook/TheBoys. One of the gang, Frenchie (who also averts the FrenchJerk trope) is accosted in a bar by an American boozehound who mocks Frenchie for France's surrender in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and how he should be grateful to the Americans for rescuing him. Frenchie turns around and asks him if that guy even knows the divisions and generals who actually fought in the Battle of France and did ''the actual liberating'', making fun of Americans for living in reflected glory without knowing the names of the real heroes.

* In one ''ComicBook/{{Punisher}}'' storyline that involved, among other things, an illegal black-ops operation [[spoiler:selling arms including nukes]] and the return of the Russian [[spoiler:who has breasts now thanks to the hormonal treatments that were part of the process that revived him after Frank decapitated him]], there is one French air force colonel who is treated like crap throughout the storyline. Nearly everyone he meets on Grand Nixon Island says that they "hate the French" though they don't give any concrete reasons; they just hate them. To be fair, everyone who says this is a bad guy. Also, the French officer [[spoiler:is the only other major character to survive other than Frank, and Frank even lets him leave with the credit for bringing down the operation, i.e., dropping a French nuke on Grand Nixon Island and killing all the aforementioned French-hating bad guys, including their boss General Kreigkopf. He ends up becoming known as a hero and gets promoted to general.]]
* Pointed out in Creator/WarrenEllis' ''ComicBook/{{Crecy}}'' that the French at the time were the BadassArmy and the English were this trope (speculated to be parsnip eating surrender monkeys). 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). With AnnoyingArrows (annoying as they kill the fuck out of so many [[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail silly French kniggits]] that they eliminate the ''concept'' of knighthood).
-->'''William of Stonham:''' But these French, the ones running the country and riding after us, are not the cheese-eating surrender monkeys you know. These are the real French, vicious bastards with an inbred sense of entitlement to whatever they see. They've been a frightening, dangerous presence in Europe for hundreds of years. I mean, there's a reason why so many English towns have French names.
* Bucky of ''ComicStrip/GetFuzzy'' is known to give rants to this effect.
** Other characters get their shots in too:
--->'''Rob''': Off he ran, faster than a French border guard with new track shoes and a coupon for cigarettes.
* An ''Arlo and Janis'' comic discussing the origins of Cinco de Mayo ended with a shot at the French. The next day, Jimmy Johnson [[http://arloandjanis.com/?p=814 apologized for it on his blog.]]

* From the pages of Franchise/{{Batman}} Annual, when Bruce Wayne tells the head of the Police Nationale that he wants to set up a Batman in Paris, he responds thus:
-->Police Chief: An American billionaire wishes to set up a private franchise of masked vigilantes in the country of...What was the term? "Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys"?
* In ''{{Comicbook/Fables}}'', the Big Bad Wolf talks smack about the French:
-->'''Cinderella:''' Not overly fond of the French, are we?\\
'''Bigby Wolf:''' I'm not fond of anyone who makes ingratitude a point of national pride. Then again, they're not so much a nation as an unwashed rabble, glued together by an overabundance of cheeses.
* ''Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'': [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] by Guy Gardner's response to a French General's request for help in "Wonder Woman and Justice League America".
-->'''Guy:''' It sounds like you want us to do your job for you. It figures, you being French and all.
* The ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' villain Warp gets a lot of mockery over his nationality:
** In ''ComicBook/JokersLastLaugh'':
--->'''Joker:''' That'll do with the strong-arm stuff, Frenchie. After two world wars, everybody knows that you guys are all talk and no action.
** And again in the ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis: Villains United'' special:
--->'''Dr. Psycho:''' Now, you're certain you can do this, yes? We're talking about Earth's molten core here, not out to the bistro for croissant and a quick surrender.
* ''ComicBook/AltHero'': Invoked and defied by Jean-Michel Durand. When Captain Europa's appearance causes some of the Paris protesters to lose heart, Durand tells them it's time the French fought back instead of fleeing all the time. Despite being physically outmatched, he faces and ''beats'' the Captain, inspiring the nationalists to rout their Antifa opposition.

* In author [[Creator/AAPessimal A.A. Pessimal]]'s ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' series, allusions are made to Discworld history and the sheer number of times "Quirm" has had to, er, arrive at ''understandings'' and ''accomodations'' with its larger and more martially expansive neighbours in "Überwald" and its allies. these have necessarily involved a certain ''collaborative'' component. Just to make the analogy clearer, the action of the Discworld, both in canon and in Pessimal's fanfiction, covers the years 1990-2010. The last time Quirm had to arrive at a mutual understanding with Uberwald was in the Discworld time period 1940-44....
* ''Fanfic/ErikaTheRadical'' zig-zags this trope in the second 'season'. The French-themed schools of BC Freedom-Maginot issues a joint challenge to the German-themed Kuromorimine, which prompts relentless jokes about this trope from the the latter's team members and engineers. A small, but significant number of French Alliance troops even defect to Kuromorimine to settle personal scores, essentially recreating the [[HistoryRepeats Vichy-Free French split]]. During the match however, Kuromorimine proceeds to eat their words when the French Alliance puts up a very stiff resistance during the match, with sudden circumstances forcing Erika to order a ''retreat'', the first in recent Kuromorimine history.
* ''Fanfic/HagridAndTheSkoolgurlz'' calls the trope out by name when the band goes to Paris.
* ''Fanfic/OriginStory'': After a diplomatic incident involving the illegal arrest of a French ambassador (namely, a Ben Grimm that absolutely refused to be part of the ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' and moved to France, and upon his return to the U.S. had his diplomatic immunity disregarded by SHIELD and thus was put in jail for being an unregistered super), President UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush specifically points out that while they might joke about how the French are weak sisters, everyone knows that the ''truth'' is that a war between France and the United States would most likely end up in a PyrrhicVictory for the US. It's also noted that, for all the snideness, French martial prowess is so widely respected that most of the words in the English language relating to warfare and military matters are in fact borrowed from French.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Films -- Live Action]]
* ''Film/OceansEleven'': "They got enough armed personnel to ''occupy Paris''!... OK, bad example."
* ''Film/JohnnyEnglish'' contains a fair amount of French bashing, because the main villain of the movie is French. At one point a British radio host asks his listeners to call him and say what they like about the French. He doesn't receive a single phone call.
-->"In my opinion, the only thing the French should be allowed to host is an ''invasion''."

* ''Film/ThePatriot'': Technically inverted with Major Jean Villeneuve (a composite character representing, among others, the UsefulNotes/MarquisDeLaFayette) fighting alongside the Americans (interestingly he shares a last name with the French admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, who lost the Battle of Trafalgar, although this may not have been intentional). That being said, the revolutionaries bemoan the lack of French assistance throughout the film, though French forces show up with the very end of the film and help them win the Battle of Yorktown.
* In ''Film/MarsAttacks'', the French President joyfully calls the American President to announce that he has signed a peace treaty to end the war. [[spoiler:The American President is forced to listen to his dying screams.]]
* In ''Film/GIJoeRetaliation'', the President of the United States [[spoiler:really Zartan in disguise]] forces the major world powers to abandon nuclear weaponry. When he triggers their missiles simultaneously, France's representative is first to disarm their warheads albeit only doing it after they attempted to leave first in disgust until the President threatened to launch. He's also the last to launch them. In this case, we can [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation argue]] he's just the less willing to have a nuclear disaster.
* ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'': Inverted, where the English knights depend heavily on the strategy "RUN AWAY!"
* ''Film/TheSorrowAndThePity'': The TropeMaker is discussed. It is noted that France was the only one of the several countries that Hitler conquered to make a formal peace with UsefulNotes/NaziGermany. While all of the other countries in Hitler's Europe had governments-in-exile in London, France did not. This left de Gaulle and the Free French in an awkward position and undercut their ability to contribute to the the anti-Nazi war effort.
* ''Film/{{Dunkirk}}'' features both aversions and a subversion. The French soldiers aren't given much screen time, but they're shown holding the line in the prologue as Tommy escapes to the beach and Commander Bolton mentions several times that the soldiers and tanks are keeping the Germans from getting into the city. The subversion comes when [[spoiler:"Gibson" is revealed to be a French soldier impersonating a Brit. Save for Tommy, the British soldiers who got inside the trawler consider him as a coward for taking the clothes and identity of a dead soldier, but the truth is, he's just as desperate to leave the beach as they are, and British soldiers are embarked in priority over French ones. "Gibson" also saved the group's life the night before when the ship they embarked on was sunken by a torpedo, opening them the door as they were trapped inside and drowning.]]
* ''Film/TheBattleOfAlgiers'' averts it for most part and justifies it when it happens. The leaders of [[LaResistance the FLN]] know that they can't defeat the French by [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilised playing nice]]. In turn, [[GeneralRipper Colonel Philippe Mathieu]] recognises that the rebels' brutality serves a strategic purpose and responds with [[ColdBloodedTorture brutal tactics]] of his own. Although the French do give up on Algiers, it is not until after the rebellion in the cities has been defeated and a [[WarIsHell terrible cost in blood has been extracted]].
* ''Film/CatchMeIfYouCan'': Inverted. The French police actually seem very gung-ho about shooting Abagnale on sight. In fact, the French in general have a sense of national pride at least as intense as the [[EagleLand American one]]. As such, they're pretty incensed that an American ConMan like Frank thinks nothing of stealing their money and embarrassing them.
%%* ''Film/TheMenWhoStareAtGoats'': The private military contractors in Iraq tell French-military jokes.%%ZCE. Meaning what?

* ''Website/TheOnion's'' book "Our Dumb Century" discusses the French in its UsefulNotes/WorldWarII articles: They surrender after a "Valiant Ten-Minute Struggle," then after Pearl Harbor, then again after Nagasaki.
** In fact, pretty much every war that's mentioned in the book includes a headline somewhere on the page reading "France Surrenders." Even if France isn't involved.
* This stereotype is often cited by sarcastic ''Literature/HarryPotter'' fans who note the discrepancy between Fleur Delacour's reputation and credentials and [[FauxActionGirl her actual on-screen performance]]. Creator/CleolindaJones [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] hers in the ''Movies in Fifteen Minutes'' summary of ''Goblet of Fire''.
-->'''Obligatory French joke:''' And the French champion has surrendered her egg right out from under the Welsh Green!

* Complaints about the French were so common during the time United States troops were stationed there in World War II that this [[http://www.e-rcps.com/gripes/ pamphlet]] was written.
* To quote Creator/MarkTwain's ''Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc'':
--> "When have French soldiers won a victory? Scotch soldiers, under the French flag, have won a barren fight or two a few years back, but I am speaking of French ones. Since eight thousand English-men nearly annihilated sixty thousand Frenchmen a dozen years ago at Agincourt, French courage has been paralysed. And so it is a common saying today, that if you confront fifty French soldiers with five English ones, the French will run."
* In Creator/JohnRingo works mentioning the French, at times he has kind words to say about their soldiers (like the ones that kicked ass in the expeditionary forces of the ''Literature/LegacyOfTheAldenata''), but ''never'' about their political leadership.
* This trope is explicitly {{defied|Trope}} by the French in ''Literature/WorldWarZ'', with [[RedshirtArmy disastrous results]]. The French felt that, after nearly a century of military humiliations (UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar Indochina]], Algeria), they needed to win a triumphant victory against the zombies in order to restore the nation's honor, and sent waves of soldiers into the Parisian catacombs to kill the quarter-million zombies down there. The reclamation of Paris was one of the bloodiest battles of the Zombie War.
** The other common target of this trope, the Italians, get less page-time, but they apparently managed to hold most of northern Italy and kept enough of their infrastructure to be able to export food and weapons (the air rifles the French use are explicitly of Italian make).
* Invoked explicitly in Creator/TuckerMax's book ''I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell''
--> "You fucking cheese-eating surrender monkey. I thought someone stunk around here. So if I start speaking German can I push you around and take all your stuff? Those hairy fucking stink-bags would be speaking Kraut right now if it wasn’t for us, and they aren’t the least bit appreciative. I hope they all fucking die, and your frog-sympathizing ass with them.”
* Downplayed in Literature/HoratioHornblower. The French are often portrayed as less ''competent'' than British (which they were; too many of the officers of the old Bourbon navy were decapitated) but not as less brave.
* Played with in the Mitch Rapp series by Creator/VinceFlynn. While the French intelligence service often is mentioned as a valuable ally to the main characters several times throughout the series, in ''Consent to Kill'', a character (albeit a German villain) laments the decline of France and attributes this to the nation's supposedly withering martial abilities.

* ''Literature/WorldWithoutEnd'': Subverted with an English character who goes off to France to fight in the Hundred Year's War. When he comes back after a successful campaign, his family gleefully engages in some trash talk about French courage and martial valor. But he immediately cuts that off and points out that the French he fought were every bit as brave as the English and fought ferociously -- he attributes the success of the English to superior weapons and tactics.

* ''VideoGame/PunchOut'': Glass Joe both plays this trope straight and inverts it. Played straight because he has a record of one win and 99 losses. Inverted in that despite his record, he refuses to surrender (retire), and he'll gladly go through a fight until his [[WarmUpBoss inevitable defeat]]. This also applies to his student, Gabby Jay, who has the exact same record as him. His only victory was against Glass Joe.

* Similarly: If the French had a Statue of Liberty, it would have both hands up.[[note]]The Statue of Liberty was actually donated to the US by France in 1875, designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, and was on par with the French national symbol Marianne, a personification of French Republican ideals.[[/note]]

%%* ''Literature/SkippysList'' has examples:%%ZCE
%%-->''20. Must not taunt the French any more.''

[[folder:Traditional Games]]

--->'''Man 1:''' Did you know that there have [[CriticalResearchFailure never been any French Military Victories]]?\\

** ''VideoGame/HeartsOfIronIII'': France is usually defeated by Germany within a few weeks, as they lack the industrial capacity, leadership, and manpower to stand up to Germany without a skilled player taking the reigns. In the 1940 start, ''[[CriticalResearchFailure they don't even have medium armor divisions]]''.

** There's another Simpsons comic where Bart and Nelson are walking through a museum exhibit on "The Military History of le French". All it contained were statues of [[UsefulNotes/TheHundredYearsWar French knights,]] UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte, and [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII French Army soldiers]] waving white flags.

Generally speaking, the ''concept'' that contributes to the perception of this trope was how swiftly France was overrun by German forces in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, and from the 1940s to the 1970s were subject to several disasters in their military campaigns, losing large colonial wars in Indochina (to a ''much'' weaker force than the Americans faced years later) and Algeria, as well as being strong-armed into withdrawing from Egypt. Of course, the truth is always more complicated. Historically, France has been the prominent battleground of just about every major European war, and they lost more men in combat during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI than any other nation except Russia and Germany, while being the strongest Allied army for most of it. And then, of course, there's the Revolutionary and Napoleonic period -- from the 1790s to 1815, France became a military powerhouse, culminating in the French Empire, under a certain UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte, controlling a large swathe of Western Europe and turning Italy and Spain into client states, requiring ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolutionary_and_Napoleonic_Wars everyone else in Europe]]'' to team up to have a chance of beating them. The idea of France always surrendering might even be NewerThanTheyThink, perhaps only beginning with [[OnceDoneNeverForgotten how quick they surrendered to Nazi Germany]] during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.

** In the story of UsefulNotes/JoanOfArc, Homer remarks "Victory? We're French! We don't even have a word for it!!" [[note]] [[DontExplainTheJoke The English word "victory"]] [[YouShouldKnowThisAlready actually comes from the French "victoire."]] [[/note]]

* ''Fanfic/OriginStory'': After a diplomatic incident involving the illegal arrest of a French ambassador (namely, a Ben Grimm that absolutely refused to be part of the ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' and moved to France, and upon his return to the U.S. had his diplomatic immunity disregarded by SHIELD and thus was put in jail for being an unregistered super), President UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush specifically points out that while they might joke about how the French are weak sisters, everyone knows that the ''truth'' is that a war between France and the United States would most likely end up in a PyrrhicVictory for the US.

->''"Our foes, the French, it is said, are better lovers than they are fighters. This is true, lads; [[BestialityIsDepraved ask any goat, pig or other farmyard animal.]]"''

->''"Our foes, the French, it is said, are better lovers than they are fighters. This is true lads, [[BestialityIsDepraved ask any goat, pig or other farmyard animal.]]"''
-->-- '''English General''', ''VideoGame/Medieval2TotalWar''

* The original ''Anime/CodeGeassAkitoTheExiled'' followed this trope UpToEleven (along with promoting stereotypical French snobbishness) with the entire European cast (outside W-0). Then the dub, by applying actual French accents to said characters, made it that much worse.

The Anglophone [[NationalStereotypes stereotype]] that France sucks at war and surrenders at the drop of a hat... and needs the Anglophone countries to save them!

It is unknown when exactly this stereotype first arose. France was UsefulNotes/England's, and later the UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom's, oldest and most frequent enemy, which certainly contributed to a negative view of the French in general in the Anglosphere from the Middle Ages onwards. The term itself was coined by writer Ken Keeler on an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' in 1995. This trope is also so widespread because it jibes with that ''other'' major negative stereotype Anglophones have about the French -- that they're [[UnfortunateImplications effeminate]].

It is unknown when exactly this stereotype first arose. France being [[UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom England's, and later the United Kingdom's]] oldest and most frequent enemy certainly contributed to a negative view of the French in general in the Anglosphere from the Middle Ages onwards. The term itself was coined by writer Ken Keeler on an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' in 1995. This trope is also so widespread because it jibes with that ''other'' major negative stereotype Anglophones have about the French -- that they're [[UnfortunateImplications effeminate]].

It is unknown when exactly this stereotype first arose. The term itself was coined by writer Ken Keeler on an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' in 1995. This trope is also so widespread because it jibes with that ''other'' major negative stereotype Anglophones have about the French -- that they're [[UnfortunateImplications effeminate]].

* ''Series/StarTrekPicard'': Picard again. Early on in season 2, when [[spoiler:a Borg queen transports aboard the ''Stargazer'' and begins to assimilate the entire fleet (which has been [[NiceJobBreakingItHero enhanced with Borg tech]]), Picard uses his reinstated admiral credentials to activate self-destruct. [[spoiler:He only survives because Q intervenes and transports him and his associates to an alternate universe.]]

** The film opens with a French unit during the Indochina War ambushed by Vietminh troops, though it's [[ZergRush overwhelmed through surprise and sheer numbers]] rather than any lack of courage. The Vietminh commander orders his soldiers [[ObligatoryWarCrimeScene not to take prisoners]] so no more French will be sent.

* In one ''ComicBook/{{Punisher}}'' storyline that involved, among other things, an illegal black-ops arms selling operation [[spoiler:arms including nukes]] and the return of the Russian [[spoiler:who has breasts now thanks to the hormonal treatments that were part of the process that revived him after Frank decapitated him]], there is one French officer who is treated like crap throughout. Nearly everyone he meets says that they "hate the French" though they don't give any concrete reasons; they just hate them. To be fair, everyone who says this is a bad guy. Also, the French officer [[spoiler:is the only other major character to survive other than Frank, and Frank even lets him leave with the credit for bringing down the operation. He ends up becoming known as a hero and gets promoted to general.]]

* ''VideoGame/PunchOut'': Glass Joe both plays this trope straight and inverts it. Played straight because he has a record of one win and 99 losses. Inverted in that despite his record, he refuses to surrender (retire), and he'll gladly go through a fight until his [[WarmUpBoss inevitable defeat]].

* ''Videogame/TheSimpsonsGame'' has a level where Bart and Homer have to collect white flags in a French village during World War II. The villagers, of course, do nothing but run away from them. The game is also the Trope Namer.