signed an armistice with Nazi Germany, essentially surrendering most of the country over to

Hitler. Since then, France has been labeled by some, as militarily weak and prone to surrender.

So, let’s give it an actual look... how powerful is France?

The short answer is...very powerful. Despite only having around 230,000 active military

personnel, which is far less than other world powers like China, Russia, the US and India,

France still ranks 4th

politics and its advanced military technology.

As a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, France can exert veto

power, and are on equal footing with Russia, the US, China, and the UK. So, it would be

difficult

for a UN-backed coalition to move against France or its interests. France is also a

full NATO

member and a founding member of the European Union. And they hold a lot of influence over

the world’s economy. 14 African nations use a form of currency called the CFA Franc,

which

has direct ties to France’s national bank. AND the head of the International Monetary

Fund is

traditionally French. Plus, France has its own flourishing economy with strongholds in

every

business sector from energy to pharmaceuticals.

They also have an extremely advanced military, complete with nuclear subs, an aircraft

carrier, long-range nuclear missiles and estimated 15 military bases abroad, giving them an

international footprint akin to Russia’s. Adding to all of this is their robust military

industrial

complex: they’re the fifth largest weapons exporter in the world. And they saw a 30 percent

increase in weapons sales last year.

As we said at the top, France is very powerful, but there are also some indications

that their power may be diminishing due to budget cuts. They’ve cut roughly a third

of

their active military personnel since 2008. They also froze their core defense budget

at 31.4 billion gyros, in a time when other nations like China, India and Russia are

increasing theirs. They also abandoned some of their programs, like their plans to build

a new aircraft carrier, and a new class of amphibious vehicles. And they shrunk their

air force from 300 jets down to 225. Some experts say they don’t have nearly enough

transports or fueling planes to effectively deploy their troops. And according to The

Wall

Street Journal, “On paper they have roughly 230,000 men and women in uniform, but

only 30,000 are estimated to be deployable on six months notice.” The accusation is

that France isn’t putting enough financial resources into their armed forces, and as

a

result they’re becoming less effective.

on the National Power Index. Primarily because of its position in global

If you’d like to know more about the strengths of other world powers, like Russia,

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