Europe unites in hatred of French

I do understand JustWonders I just want to know the statistics: how
many people à country were questioned, and sorts like that. Any
legitimate article would supply such sources to underline their accuracy,
don't you think.

Well, Mr. Samuel actually refers to a poll, a published survey, and a 'study'. However, he does not reference the name of the poll/survey/study.

Those interested in a detailed look at the findings might want to research further. I merely found the article amusing and worthy of posting for the amusement of others

Yes, but let's not get into technicalities

Anyway - everybody pretty typically accuses other countries of being undesirable things - the bigger and more important and powerful a foreign country is in one's neighbourhood the more one tends to project all evil onto it.

One reason why almost everyone is so critical of the US.

Lol - and it needs a control.

What, I wonder, would the same folk have said about the US, or Russia, or Japan?

If they had been asked about Australia they would have assumed Austria was meant - one of the benefits of obscurity....

The raprochement of the French and the English went through several stages. After the 1815 Vienna conference, Europe assumed that France was hobbled, and that the re-imposition of monarchy would tame the beast. But one result was the creation of the "Holy Alliance" of Prussia, Austria and Russia, and it was a very reactionary alliance. England and France began to drift toward each other as a result of more or less liberal attitudes they took toward European politics in contrast to the extremist conservative views of the Holy Alliance. Both sides supported the Spanish liberal governments of the Isabellistas against the Carlists. Palmerston, certainly one of the more conservative figures in English parliamentary history, was a genius at the international conference, and despite his conservatism, had the wisdom to see how the policies of the Holy Alliance would eventually lead to a Red revolution--he worked very efficiently with the French throughout his tenure at the foreign office to defuse dangerous situations in Europe. The socialist uprisings of 1848, so brutally repressed by the Holy Alliance and in particular by Austria, confirmed Palmerston's estimate. After the 1851 coup which Louis Bonapart engineered to put himself on an Imperial throne as Napleon III, the Holy Alliance became alarmed at a resurgent France. Russia had become more conservative still, under Nicholas I (one Tsar, one Russia, one Church--the Chechens really loved that last bit). France decided to court the Turks as a counter-balance to Russia, and to spread their influence in Asia Minor and North Africa. In large measure, Napoleon III was responsible for the 1853 Russo-Turkish War in which the English and French fought as allies.

When Bismark finally erected his German Empire, the first enemy became France. On a flimsy pretext, they attacked and defeated Napoleon III. Which did not mean that the French had surrendered. The Prussians found it necessary to beseige Paris. Eventually, the Germans forced reparations on France of 700,000,000 gold francs. They thought it would cripple France for generations to come--the French knuckled down and paid off the reparations in under three years.

Thereafter, the French and English, cordially despising one another as they had done for centuries, were driven into one another's arms by real politik. When Willie II became Kaiser, he never missed an opportunity to bully the French. The English never missed an opportunity to stick a foot out and trip the dull-witted German foreign policy.

The alliance of France and England after the end of the First Empire is one of the biggest "odd couple" stories in European diplomatic history. And it also made perfect sense from a real politik point of view.

Yeah, what he said!

Set - I'm sure that's exactly what those participating in the Ecole's survey were thinking when they gave their answers

Although not entirely accurate, that is very close to the truth.

The Spanish see them as "cold, distant, vain and impolite"

I can personally attest to the above statement as quoted from the article

It's a long story, but suffice it to say it was a dark and stormy night in gay Paree and involved a rather famous restaurant (rumored to be a favorite haunt of Hemingway), and a rather dashing and handsome Spaniard seated at a table near mine

The Spaniards will tell you anything you want to hear for
a good....oh never mind!

I'll need to see your 'source' for that

Que?
I am speaking from experience JustWonders.
Unfortunately, there was not time for testimonials

This Henry Samuel is of course entitled to his opinion. That does not mean he is speaking for the population of several countries.
It looks more like the rant of someone who hates the French, nothing more.
It would be interesting to see an actual poll done in Europe about attitudes towards the French.
I personally have nothing against the French, although they are a complex group. Having lived there for almost five years, I like most of them and dislike some. Just like any other country, they have good and bad representing them.
To dismiss them all and call them names is almost racist.