WWI Factions: The French Army

Faction: The French Army

The First World War

In January 1914 the French Army had 47 divisions.

The strength of the army consisted of 777,000 French and 46,000 colonial troops, in 21 regional corps.

French troops were deployed within France and along the eastern frontier as part of ‘Plan 17’ which was a strategy devised by General Ferdinand Foch and General Joseph Joffre for the invasion of Germany.

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Credit:

Narrator:

Chris Kane

Animation:
Daniel Turner

Artwork:
Daniel turner

Music Credit

Ross Bugden- 'Drive'

‘Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License’.

Source:

Pictures: Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)

[plottwist]

There's close to zero french village -even among the small ones; without a WWI memorial with names of some of their children dead in the war

[Simplehistory]

The French Uniform used at the start of the war was a relic of the 19th century, with its bright blue and red colours.

[petergray]

To put French casualties in perspective: In August of 1914 France had a population of around 36 million, with a military age male population of around 10.5 million. That meant a Frenchmen of military age had a 1 in 8 chance of dying on the battlefield, and a 2 in 5 chance of being wounded. Because of demands of the wartime economy, the French Army never had more than 3.6 million men under arms at a given time, and conscripted at parity, using conscripts to replace casualties on a 1:1 ratio.

[kryoruleroftheninthcircleo]

France: *fights bravely and effectively in all wars*

Zoomers: “Lol, they surrender.”

[limesauce]

The french deserves more credit than they get in ww1

[altarion]

For the people who speak of WW2, know that the germans said this : "The british are ready to fight until the last french".

[jolynecharlesjoh]

Americans: *talking shit about French army*
Me: America = British territory without France

[Mandragora]

Respect to glorious France greetings from Lithuania

[teamgrahou-lachaineduswag]

France has participated in 50 of the 125 major European wars fought since 1495, and in 168 battles fought since 387 BC, they have won 109, drawn 10 lost 49: this makes France the most successful military power in European history - in terms of number of battles fought and won

[typicalchineseguy]

Stop mocking the French for surrendering lol, they are now having one of the most powerful armies on Earth. On the exterior, they may be looking weak but once your country get into a war with them, they might bite your own to dead. Heck, even Germany are now having a weaker military than the French.

[skiteufr]

It is sad to see that most americans and british have very low historical knowledges and sum up French war record to WW2 and 1940
Moreover when WW1 was pretty much the opposite for France and they fought with bravery
In fact, France bore the brunt of the fighting for 4 years, got more casualties than the UK and US together, covered 800 kms of frontline out of 950 (720 after the American arrival), fought in all the decisive battles (1st Marne, Ypres battles, Verdun and Somme in the same time, defeated the last German spring offensive, 2nd Marne...), equipped the americans with tanks and rifles etc
The French did not win the war by themselves but they were certainely the ones contributing the most to defeat the Central powers in the western front and in the Balkans.
And I know most people joke with it, but France is one of the most warring nation ever, having fought and won the most battles and wars in European history.
The armies of France, from Louis XIV to Napoleon, were known to be the plagues of the continent...

[itsfrediguess]

“THeY ALwAYs SURrENdER!”

Me: you never heard of verdun

[jimhughon]

The brave comrades in France have been forgotten

[danieltobin]

"By 1918, 40% of the French troops on the Western Front were artillerymen."

Napoleon would be proud.

[thomaspunt]

"Ha, all the French do is surrender."
WW1: Am I a joke to you?

[CesarGarcia-ndxz]

Best uniforms of WWI
1.- Deutschland
2.- France
3.- Italy

[themememeister]

And I’m proud of the French, one o the best armies in ww1

[SuperPrussia]

While I’m not a fan of French history or culture I do have an immense amount of respect for the people who died to defend themselves. The French army is World War I was truly legendary

[ThatOneRussianTank]

The battle of Verdun is legendary thanks to them.

[leroiarouf]

France crated the first modern tank used by all allied nation in ww1 the Renault FT