1 definition by francoishyde
France, among history, has been a great country and in some ocasions, the very great country of its time... By the time of the 17th century, France was the leading country of Europe under the reign of Louis the 14th, and then, under the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte, who declared himself emperor of France, and settled France's domination over Europe ( a part from England, which was under total embargo from the continent). A big part of the political tensions between United States and France was the importance of Charles de Gaulle, general who then became president from 1958 to 1969. De Gaulle managed to make the french interests prevail on the international theater, quitting the OTAN military command or supporting arab countries at the beggining of the Near-East problems. France, today, suffers the crisis of being a "Close to the top country and not "The one". However, I'm french and i'm not frustated about my country not being the leader of the world. But a little thing remains pushing me to think that i'm french, a little better than the others. (but that's a pretty international feeling...)
As an sad example, Jean Marie le Pen, leader of the french nationalist party, uses symbols (such as speeches made on historical locations of the 1789's Revolution) to give his audience the rememberance of France's greatness and superiority (where, in his very own point of view, minorities were dealt with authority)
by francoishyde November 2, 2006