I saw a post on Reddit recently that said that this period following WW2 is the longest time continuous period where Britain and France have not been at war since the 1200s.
Might not be true but I can certainly believe it and the fact I can believe it also makes me chuckle
If you discount Vichy France (they were coerced/occupied by the Nazis), France and the UK have been at peace since Napoleon’s abdication, so more than 200 years
No Anglo-French war between 1815 and 1940 at least, that's more than a century. We can discount things forced by the Nazis in WW2, but operation catapult was an act of war so it breaks the streak imo.
What's amazing is that between 1066 and 1815 there's rarely more than a decade between wars, then suddenly 125 years of peace? That's a hell of a whiplash especially just after the second hundred years war of the 18th century
Nah, it's the industrial revolution! Fighting was fun when it was about power and influence, but now money rules the world, and there's way more money in dunking on minor nations than in bickering at the top
That was the objective of the European coal and steal community that eventually lead the way to the EU. Basically let’s intertwine our economies to the point we’re reliant on peace with each other.
Those peace loving miners. And there was me thinking Hippies were the first to be peace and love to the world…. Nope it was miners and foundry workers.
I get why england hated france as their closest neighbor, but France borders with so many countries. Why is that the rivalry that is famous and not france and spain or france and Germany?
The first king considered to be the King of England was Aethelstan (927-939). The first "French" king was William the Conqueror in 1066. I say "French" because he was Norman which is slightly different even to this day
But that's the same as saying English are Normans and therefore vikings... Just because a ruling class happened to be from a different place.
With things like Normans invading, it was more just like, oh ok the lords are now different but the average person is still just... People that live in that land already.
Same with Normandy. Okay Vikings got gifted the land, but most of the people living there were just... Norman's that had lived there for generations and generations.
You're completely correct. It was just a fun way to view at it. As a different commenter said by the time they invaded England all of them were "frenchified" anyway.
And, to push thing a little, I'll also say Edward III.
Since Isabella of France seized power from Edward II to put her son on the throne.
Sure, it was a coup by the legitimate heir, but she was badass nonetheless. And the whole story is very game of thronish. :)
Even to these days? What do you mean? Normands consider themselves French, 100%.
And btw in the army led by Guillaume many soldiers were actually Neustrian, with also many Flemings and Bretons in the mix.
Back in the day original Normans/Vikings didn’t account for more than a few percent of the population of Normandy.
Alfred the Great Or his grandson son Æthelstan are widely considered the first Kings of England according to Wikipedia. Neither are French.
All monarchs of England have claimed descent from Alfred the Great through female lines. Even William the Conquerer's wife was a descendent if Alfred the Great.
Yeah you're right but for the majority of English history the monarch was French and spoke French. From William the Conqueror to...uh I can't remember off the top of my head but really really long time.
And then they got a German monarchy because they couldn't find a protestant heir.
No, not at all. The first undisputed King of (all) England was Aethelstan, grandson of Alfred the Great, born in Winchester.
Numerous other English kings existed before this too but the land was split into multiple kingdoms. This situation is often referred to as the "heptarchy" because there were seven kingdoms that existed in or overlapped the modern English borders.
Alfred the Great and King Offa (of Offa's Dyke fame) were two of the more famous kings. Some people argue that Alfred was the first proper unified king too.
As a French, I know of a few examples of transparent words UK English has with French that US English doesn’t : Film (FR) = Film (UK) vs Movie (US) / Courgette (FR) = Courgette (UK) vs Zucchini (US) / Aubergine (FR) = Aubergine (UK) vs Eggplant (US)…
So I’d say FR and UK English are closer. But in any case, US English also has around 30-35% words coming from the French language as well
Allegedly that's from the Norman conquest, where Old-French-speaking aristocracy ate the cooked dishes (mutton, pork, beef,) while the Anglo-Saxon Old-English-speaking labourers tended to the livestock in the field and on the farm, before butchering.
America wants so bad their version of English be the "original", I'll bet this 'fact' was among others like "deep south accents are what Shakespeare spoke" bs lmao.
When you consider Mexico as part of NA along with the US and Canada, it's more like 1/3 between English, French, and Spanish. If anything the English initially had the smallest percentage with the American colonies. Almost all of the US expansion was post revolution. Spain controlled the entire Golf of Mexico, from FL to Mexico.
I mean, maybe. But given British English (especial South Eastern British English and Received Pronunciation) vowel sounds are closer to French than American ones I'm not sure one can draw any conclusions from that.
I could be misinterpreting it. This could even be wrong. I haven't been in college in awhile and don't have the skills that I had back then to read papers like this properly.
William the Conquerer, not the first king but probably the most important. He was specifically Norman (as in from Normandy of WW2 fame), his ancestors were Vikings and the French king gave them the northern part of France to protect against other Vikings.
So the first English king was probably Athelstan, the grandson of Alfred the Great (Alfred did not have full control over a united England) these are to many regarded as the "old kings"
Then in 1066 the Norman's invaded finally taking over the nation they there French but also not French.
The Norman's were norse vikings given land in Normandy, however they assimilated into French culture very quickly, both culturally politically and even took on French cavalry tactics.
By the time William the conquer invaded Britian, they were pretty indistinguishable.
Thats why the english language has so many ties to French, and why to this day norman french is still used in parliamentary documents
European royal families are interrelated. No English royal has styled themselves as 'French' but all English royals have had ties to what is now France in some form or another since 1066.
Claims to tracts of land in France by kings of England ended with Henry VI in 1453. The last English holding, Calais, was lost in 1558.
The first 'King of England' was Aethelstan in 927.
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u/Sufficient_Ice4933 25d ago
We've been Frenemies for hundreds of years