The French corner : Joan or Napoleon or Louis XIV

[Richelieu]

Either me or Colbert. The others are only Front men.

[Jon Shafer]

Have I already posted in this thread? Wow, I surprise myself. I've voted at least.

Nappy all the way. No one can compare to him. When I think of France's golden age, the first guy I think of is Napoleon.

[GhengisFarbâ„¢]

Originally posted by Trip
Have I already posted in this thread? Wow, I surprise myself. I've voted at least.

Nappy all the way. No one can compare to him. When I think of France's golden age, the first guy I think of is Napoleon.

When I think of French, the first thing I think of is French Vanilla.

When I think of Napoleon, the first thing I think of is ice cream. Or is that Neapolitan? What the heck does Neapolitan mean?

Oh well, maybe its just lunchtime.........

[Wulfram]

I rank them like this

Louis XIV - At least he's French. Henry IV was probably a better King though.
Napoleon - Corsican, but at least he ruled the French, and was a highly successful megalomaniac.
De Gaulle - Too modern for my tastes
Joan - Never ruled her country
Charles - A German who wanted to replace a Greek as Roman Emperor.
Clovis - Some German guy

[Alanus]

Originally posted by Wulfram
I rank them like this ...

Thanks for your attention in reviving this thread. Note that from a French perspective, Clovis and Charlemagne are definitely part of the French history that we have been taught at school. Have we been cheated by the Germans ?

[Alanus]

Originally posted by Wulfram
I rank them like this ...

Thanks for your attention in reviving this thread. Note that from a French perspective, Clovis and Charlemagne are definitely part of the French history that we have been taught at school. Have we been cheated by the Germans ?

[Solomyr]

so i haven't read this whole thread, but i sure hope someone has pointed out that they probably chose Joan for POLITICAL reasons. how many significant women leaders have there been throughout histroy? nto so many. i think they were streching to get some females and some color (celopatra) in the leader heads. oh well. IMHO, Napoleon should be the french leader, but y'all have to admitt, Joan is far easier on the eyes.

[TacticalGrace]

Originally posted by Kramerman


Noooooooo!! its true. Its considered something like "indecent exposure" through most of the year and in most places.

Land of the free? apart from some really repressive laws, perhaps.

Even in the supposed uptight English sunbathe topless. Sometimes women sunbathe topless in the city parks.

[ThaddeusAlexander]

I gotta go with Joan of Arc. Napoleon didn't do much more than step on people's back to gain power and then run around and attack Europe. I think thats been done before.

I think firaxis made a good choice because Joan of Arc reversed the tides of a war that could have potentially made France a vassal state for England.

Although maybe if she didn't exist and France did lose the war against England then Napoleon might have started an uprising and driven out the english rule Whats great about civ3 is WE CAN DO THAT

Anyway, I voted Joan of Arc. I did enough studying of French history at university and she's no worse than any other choice, and far better than Napoleon whom seems to be #1 on this poll. Besides, I think Firaxis needed another female, but thats a whole other discussion.

Cheers
~Thadalex

PS I think french should be industrious and religious, especially if Joan of Arc is in command

[Shadowstrife911]

Louis XIV because he brought about the "Enlightenment" era in France, he supported French culture and knowingly showed it off at Versailles to impress foreign dignitaries. He also took lots of power away from the elitist nobility who could often be a great source of conflict for a nation, by turning nobles against one another instead of against the King - he secured his position. He also restructured the army, soldiers had to swear fealty directly to the Crown instead of to their Lord. Supposedly during his reign, the French army transformed from a ragtag milita of 50,000 to a professional army of 250,000 + (according to this history textbook i have... numbers might be inaccurate.)


Although Napoleon would also be a good choice...

[gsmoove23]

C'mon, no Charlemagne? and call them Franks. If not at least Louis. The guy was a leader and he did it with style in true french tradition.

[gsmoove23]

Besides, Napolean was an anomaly. How could you not go for somebody called the Sun King

[Vercingetorix]

Considering that the Franks were actually Germanic tribes, I wouldn't consider them to be very "French." Of course, by my handle over here, you can guess who I voted for, even though Caesar opened a can of whoopass on the Gauls (although defeating 250,000? C'mon Caesar, that's a bit much...)

Anyways, Joan of Arc does provide the French with a sort of nationalist-identity foundation, and while Charlemagne does the same thing, he was actually Germanic.

Sooooo...what's my point?

Oh hell, make it Napoleon. No French ruler had more of an international or (arguably) domestic impact than he did.

[Athitis]

Sure, I think Nappy is a good idea, but after watching the movie "Joan of Ark: The messenger" I strongly support Joan! Just give her better eyes and more hair!

Or even better, gives us up to three leader portrairs to choose from.

[Jon Shafer]

Originally posted by GhengisFarb
When I think of French, the first thing I think of is French Vanilla.

When I think of Napoleon, the first thing I think of is ice cream. Or is that Neapolitan? What the heck does Neapolitan mean?

Oh well, maybe its just lunchtime.........

Neapolitan refers to something from Naples, which is in Italy. Lest, Neapolitan Pizza, and also crappy Neapolitan soldiers during the Napoleonic Wars. You see, it all comes together.

As far as Napoleon stepping on people's backs to gain power, do you have anything to back this up? Napoleon was in his early 20s when promoted to a brigadier general in northern Italy for helping to save the Revolution from Austrian troops. From there his brilliant successes brought him great fame, which brought him political success as well (and we know how rare that is ). While Nappy didn't exactly follow the standard mayor-governor-senator-president path to the top, his rise to emperor was all of his own doing. He represents France in its greatest period of all time. Never before and never since the early 19th century has France dominated the world like it did.