ORIGINAL: statjunk
Strange the the French would be the first to create a weapon! I guess first to create but last to use....
Tom
The French were also the first to field a modern, smallbore smokeless-powder rifle, the 8mm Lebel. They were at least three years ahead of other countries with this development. In addition, beginning with Napoleon I, the French were the world's leader in advanced field artillery technology, vis the lightweight "Napoleon" 12-pound gun/howitzer such as used in the War between the States, and up to the famous "French 75" and their 155mm "Grand Puissance" field pieces of WWI....
What happened to France was that the Germans killed off most of the decent ,brave Frenchmen in the Franco-Prussian War and WWI, leaving nothing but the sick, lame and lazy as breeding stock. (Just the same as killing off all the decent bucks in a deer herd!) The results of this are obvious today. And I think the Krauts are suffering from a similar problem today, as ismost of the rest of Continental Europe. Makes it easier for the Jihadists to take over.....