COMMENTARY | There's an old political cartoon that featured a Swiss Army Knife, with all kinds of gadgets sticking out from it. Underneath, it showed the French Army Knife, with one thing sticking out: a white flag of surrender.
Joking aside, France appears on the verge of withdrawing from yet another foreign engagement. This time, the French leaders are threatening to pull out of Afghanistan after several of their military trainers were gunned down by an Afghan trainee. Often times, it has little to do with the bravery of the French military soldier. It has more to do with French politics, electoral concerns, and an increasing public intolerance of blood.
Folks forget that, at one point, the French were a military superpower, going toe-to-toe with the British for global supremacy. It's hard to remember the exploits of Louis XIV, their naval victory near Yorktown that sealed American independence (and all those soldiers that helped seal off Cornwallis), and Napoleon's near dominance over Europe across a pair of decades.
But as democracy came to France, so did military setbacks. France needed to be rescued during World War I. They were overrun by the Germans in World War II, and failed in Vietnam and Algeria. Even when authoritarianism came back, the fortunes of the country did not fare so well, during the era of Napoleon III and the Vichy French.
The reasons aren't as clear as one might think. It has less to do with the weakening of the French military resolve. It has more to do with political incompetence.
In the case of Napoleon III, it was a failure of leadership. The French people were unwilling to fight hard for a Nazi puppet state. But in other cases, it had more to do with a broken political system. The French Third Republic mismanaged both World Wars so badly with failed a combination of political generals with poor tactics (human wave charges) and planning (Maginot Line).
In Vietnam and Algeria, the French soldiers fought hard. But they were put in a no-win situation by the French Fourth Republic, a near carbon copy of the Third Republic. This government had a chaotic parliamentary system where the specter of a government collapse due to the presence of unstable coalitions that would undermine the war effort was always present. Political figures, fearful of their jobs, pulled the plug on plans to do what it took to win, leaving their military high and dry. No wonder the French military was in a near mutiny by the end of the Algerian campaign.
With Charles DeGaulle and the French Fifth Republic (which was based upon a presidential system of government), stability returned to the country. The French performed well in the Persian Gulf War, and contributed to NATO operations in East Europe and beyond, including Afghanistan.
But the old electoral instability seems to have returned to hamper military operations. President Nicholas Sarkozy, facing multiple opponents, dismal approval ratings, a downgraded economy, and an election in three months, seems to have his feet frozen by the deaths of these French military advisers. It is the same situation as it was for French politicians before they prematurely withdrew from their conflicts in previous years.
Observers are sure to say Sarkozy is doing the smart thing for his reelection bid. But after a few decades of restoring French military pride during the Fifth Republic, those efforts are about to go down the drain, returning the impression that it doesn't take much to beat the French. Their politicians and nervous public are pulling out their "French Army Knives."
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