Greatest French contributions to the world ?

What is/are France's greatest contribution(s) to the world?

  • French cuisine

    Votes: 3 100.0%
  • French wines

    Votes: 2 66.7%
  • Cheeses (1000+ varieties, e.g. Comté, Brie, Camembert, Roquefort, Boursin...)

    Votes: 2 66.7%
  • The hot air balloon, the airship & the parachute (all French inventions)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Scientists (Lavoisier, Pasteur, Becquerel...)

    Votes: 2 66.7%
  • Philosophy (Descartes,Voltaire, Rousseau, Camus, Sartre...)

    Votes: 1 33.3%
  • French literature (Hugo, Dumas, Verne, Balzac, Flaubert, Zola, Proust...)

    Votes: 2 66.7%
  • Painting (Renoir, Cezanne, Gauguin, Monet...)

    Votes: 1 33.3%
  • Photography (invented by N. Niepce)

    Votes: 2 66.7%
  • French Cinema (including invention of the cinema)

    Votes: 2 66.7%
  • Classical music (Bizet, Debussy, Rameau, Saint-Saens...)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Modern music (Aznavour, Piaf, Vartan, Hallyday, Gainsbourg, Goldman...)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Constitutional separation of State and Religion

    Votes: 2 66.7%
  • The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

    Votes: 2 66.7%
  • The metric system

    Votes: 2 66.7%
  • Modern Olympic Games (initiated by Pierre de Coubertin)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • French fashion, perfumes & cosmetics (Hermès, Chanel, Dior, Chloé, Guerlain, Lancôme, YSL...)

    Votes: 1 33.3%
  • French cars (Renault, Peugeot, Citroën, Bugatti...)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • The TGV (high-speed train)

    Votes: 1 33.3%
  • Other (please specify)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    3
Constitutional separation of State and Religion for me as it shaped our lives as they are now. Thank God we are not under Christian taliban rule anymore...
 
Gothic art which was initially called Opus Francigenum (French work)
 
The ignorance à propos de la chanson francophone est trop =)

Raphaël Haroche,
Mylène Farmer, Joyce Jonathan, Indochine, BB Brunes, Daphné,Kenza Farah, Diam's, Axel Tony , La Fouine, Maître Gims, Sexion d'Assaut.

Are some good exponents of the contemporary French music and gracefully many of them sont fiere d’être musulman aussi .
 
Tu puedes hablar en frances?
 
Oui ,Je parle couramment le français , and thanks to the Italian influence in Argentina ,their language es completamente inteligible con nuestro lunfardo.
 
Why is the menage a trois not listed? ;)

Probably because the French didn't invent the practice - they just invented the name by which it's usually referred to these days. And a menage a trois sounds quite fun but often isn't in practice, IMO. For me, one woman at a time is preferable.
 
hi, :cool:

I am also a fan of French fashion, but I used to wear Italian fashion when I was a teen and througout my early 20s. What can I say I was a Benetton fan.

:relief:

A lot of us wince when we look back at our teenage years and think of some of the things we did.
 
I was tempted to say that wine was France's greatest contribution to the world, but the fact is that the French didn't invent wine, they simply make some of the best in the world (and some really mediocre plonk). But I actually think think that the idea of the separation of church and state was one of the greatest and most important contributions to the modern world. Right up there with haggis.
 
THE most capital is also the one that is the most unnoticed: Access to school to the general population. (Charlemagne)
As prior to this, only the nobles and the Laic where allowed education. Imagine the world if most do not know to read and write.....NOTHING will ever been achieved.
 
THE most capital is also the one that is the most unnoticed: Access to school to the general population. (Charlemagne)
As prior to this, only the nobles and the Laic where allowed education. Imagine the world if most do not know to read and write.....NOTHING will ever been achieved.

It isn't a French contribution considering that Charlemagne was a German/Walloon born and raised in Belgium (Liège) who lived most of his life either in Belgium or right across the German border in Aachen.

Besides, Charlemagne only authorised ordinary people (peasants, artisans) to go to school if they wanted to. There was no universal education in Carolingian times. That's a myth. There were very few schools, and those who joined were usually destined for a career in administration.

In that regard it does not really differ from the situation in ancient China, Greece or Rome, among others. All had schools and relatively high literacy levels among the elite (e.g. Roman patricians). The Chinese have been remarkably egalitarian (meritocracy) when in came to access to education since the Qin and Han dynasties.
 
Historic architecture:

 
France's greatest contribution to the world? Er... me?

More seriously, quite a number of "little things" were invented in France, which did not revolutionize science but brought elements of comfort to our daily lives : the pencil, the stethoscope, the brassiere, the sewing machine, the concrete mixer, canned food... They don't compare with the greater discoveries referred to upthread, but they deserve to be mentioned.
 
Last edited:
Arnaud Beltrame 18 April 1973 – 24 March 2018
- Hero - Lieutenant colonel in the French National Gendarmerie.
160px-Arnaud_Beltrame.jpg

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnaud_Beltrame
 
I have added a new poll as the old one got deleted during the move from vBulletin to Xenforo.
 

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