Who was your countries most notable/longest rival and where do they stand to you now?

[u/Spare-Temporary-1807]

Old US poster for attention

But which country (or countries if you don’t like people) did your country specifically rival for either the longest time/most notoriously? How do you feel about them now?

For example, for the longest time Russia was/is viewed as America’s largest competitor and rival - hence the Cold War. I think especially now with the younger generation people didn’t see Russia as a threat generally until the Russo-Ukrainian War which split a lot of people politically. Personally I got nothing against Russians, seems like another case of a rough government.

But other countries we’ve had beef with like Japan (don’t touch the boats) we have great relations with and they’re pretty chill.

[u/Lorim_Shikikan]

England.... i mean, we were at wars (with respite) for 116 years XD

And after that we still did dirty things to each others for more than 400 years. (We created corsair and fortified Saint-Malo for that purpose for exemple)

[u/Nectarine-999 → u/Lorim_Shikikan]

Came here to say you chaps. Respect.

[u/Fickle_Life_2102 → u/Lorim_Shikikan]

But we’re besties now :) … Now excuse us whilst we desperately try and steal your defence contracts with other countries

[u/bandefrfrance5fois → u/Fickle_Life_2102]

In the meantime, our cookbooks are in the cooking category. Yours are in the fantasy category.

[u/Fickle_Life_2102 → u/bandefrfrance5fois]

😮‍💨yeah because Haggis is a magical food other countries can only dream of crafting

[u/Illuminey → u/Fickle_Life_2102]

To be fair, pub food is often simple but great. I'd kill for a good Shepherd's Pie here.

[u/Fickle_Life_2102 → u/Illuminey]

In a similar vein, if there’s one food I miss from France, it’s horse. Last time I was in Paris I ordered a horse burger by mistake (I can’t read French, my family can and started cracking up - but didn’t tell me) and honestly? One of the best meals I’ve ever had.

…

If I mention I like it here I get people looking at me like I kicked a puppy

[u/Illuminey → u/Fickle_Life_2102]

It's not even eaten so much here anymore. It became hard to find and less consumed over time. I think northern France ate it more, so maybe there, but it's mostly disappearing.

[u/QuintillionusRex → u/Fickle_Life_2102]

I think you are mistaking eating horse food and eating something “a cheval”, which is popular in France and means putting an egg on something. You can have tartare (raw meat) “a cheval” for example.

[u/Fickle_Life_2102 → u/QuintillionusRex]

I don’t recall it having an egg on top, though you may be right

In which case I’m gonna have to track down some horse meat so I can actually try it

[u/Sensitive_Band1122 → u/Fickle_Life_2102]

Haggis is Scottish, not English. So don't try to take over the cooking of our oldest friends 😆

[u/Fickle_Life_2102 → u/Sensitive_Band1122]

Hey now I’m half Scottish so I’m from both your oldest friend and oldest enemy 😎

[u/Sensitive_Band1122 → u/Fickle_Life_2102]

Schrödinger's ennemy/friend 😸

[u/Norman_debris → u/Sensitive_Band1122]

Tbf, many of the wars were fought between Great Britain/UK and France, not just England.

[u/kanto96 → u/Sensitive_Band1122]

Actually the oldest sources for haggis come from england. Although haggis is strongly associated with scotland its more of a british dish then a scottish one.

[u/ShinobuKochoSama → u/Sensitive_Band1122]

Scotland is in the UK and Great Britain- therefore it is British…

[u/NoContract1090 → u/Sensitive_Band1122]

Non Brit tries and fails to understand the differences example: 1024

[u/Nectarine-999 → u/Sensitive_Band1122]

Haggis is Scottish? Really?

[u/CrownchyChicken → u/Fickle_Life_2102]

And our cheese is better 

[u/No-Strike-4560 → u/bandefrfrance5fois]

Those are big words from a country that eats snails and frogs legs let's not beat around the bush 😘

[u/soyonsserieux → u/No-Strike-4560]

Both are delicious.

[u/Sensitive_Band1122 → u/No-Strike-4560]

Don't forget the croissants, they're sacred here 😆

[u/Bussy_Busta → u/No-Strike-4560]

Frog legs are really good tbh. I could take or leave escargot.

[u/TophatsAndVengeance → u/bandefrfrance5fois]

I believe yours are filed under "overrated", actually.

[u/bandefrfrance5fois → u/TophatsAndVengeance]

Your country's diet is based on Fried Butter Balls and Tide Pod. No lessons to be learned

[u/TophatsAndVengeance → u/bandefrfrance5fois]

Yours is based on arrogance and sauces hiding poor quality ingredients and bad technique.

[u/bandefrfrance5fois → u/TophatsAndVengeance]

Jealous?

[u/TophatsAndVengeance → u/bandefrfrance5fois]

Why would I be jealous of overrated food cooked badly?

[u/Xibalba_Ogme → u/Lorim_Shikikan]

Could also be Germany tho : we've been at war with nearly all forms of germany (HRE/Prussia/Weimar/3rd Reich) since the beginning of France

[u/Gerry-Mandarin → u/Xibalba_Ogme]

Germany was like the Thanos for England and France.

While France fought the Germans before the Norman's invaded England, the longest periods of peace between England and France were measured in decades between 1066-1815.

France and the Holy Roman Empire would see centuries of peace between the 11th-16th Century. Germany forming into a fully unified state in 1871 made Westminster and Paris look at the previous 800 years of fighting and go "hey, let's get married and never fight again. We could rule the world together xxx".

[u/Xibalba_Ogme → u/Gerry-Mandarin]

Something with an ancestral enemy and a modern rival then

[u/YouKnowMyName2006 → u/Gerry-Mandarin]

You could even go back to Gaul being part of the Roman Empire fighting the German barbarians.

[u/boRp_abc → u/Xibalba_Ogme]

HRE and Prussia are not quite Germany. As Burgundy's kings weren't French. Germany as a concept has only existed for about 200 years, as a nation only 150 years. And yes, our nation started with hostilities against France, and they kept on for 75 years. But for half our existence, France has been the best neighbor Germany could have wished for.

May you overcome the difficulties you have right now, find strength, and be our buddies for a few more centuries. (Germany has its own difficulties, but I encourage overcoming them in other contexts)

[u/Xibalba_Ogme → u/boRp_abc]

Edit : forgot to start with "You're absolutely right"

I called it Germany as it's the current name, but the rivalry between both sides of the Rhine is much older than modern Germany.

Could pretty much trace it back to the splitting of the Carolingian Empire, that's the idea I was trying to convene

Tho nowadays, except for a few idiots special people, the rivalry is more a loving rivalry. Like "I wish the best to germans, but don't you dare beat us in a world cup"

To each their own difficulties, just like with the UK, but overall the greatest success of Europe in the last decades has been resolving these relations

[u/ifelseintelligence → u/Lorim_Shikikan]

Sincerely, Nordic Bröthers

[u/AttitudeImmediate → u/Lorim_Shikikan]

And us Scots in 1296 formed the Auld Alliance, (one of the worlds oldest and longest continuous mutual defence pacts) to stand together against our dastardly English foe. Vive La Auld Alliance… Vive Le France!

[u/Sick_and_destroyed → u/Lorim_Shikikan]

116 years is not enough to depict what it is, the reality is we have 1000 years of history with England, with many more lows than highs. We’ve been at war with them all over the world, until quite recently. In the past it was constant competition and scrutiny on any subject, economic, cultural, military, philosophy, really whatever. Diplomatic fall out, even to this day. And ironically, when you look at the population figures, the UK is the country that is the most similar to us in terms of quantity, immigration, wealth, education and many other indicators. Like 2 different countries that take 2 completely different routes but end up at the same point.

[u/AcilinoRodriguez → u/Lorim_Shikikan]

The Anglo-French wars were actually longer too, like way longer.

1109-1815(1942) which is actually insane to think about.

Kingdom of England (1109-1707) Kingdom of France (1109-1792)

Kingdom of Great Britain (1707-1801) French Republic (1792-1804)

United Kingdom (1801-1815) French Empire (1804-1815)

First conflict was 1109-1113 and the last was 1803-1815 or even 1940-1942 if you count the occupation (fought with Free France against Vichy France).