Don't forget the French assistance in the American Revolution...and somehow people keep forgetting Napoleon conquering continenal Europe and his worldwide empire.
A lot of country's leaderships can be assused of stupidity and cowardice in WWII, not realizing how fast and quickly Hitler would and could strike. Britain had Neville Chamberlain seeking appeasement, the U.S. was isolationist and watched country after country fall in Europe without getting involved because they wanted to keep to themselves (they did send the early Lend-Lease though).
The French had the bad luck of being the WWI opponent that Germany wanted to stop paying reparations to and also next-door. The Maginot line was, like much of war technology in the 20th century, a decade behind modern times and modern techniques. Just as WWI taught European armies that what was once "glorious" warfare over land with brightly dressed infantry and calvary charges was now useless against artillery and machine guns, how the battleship arms race was rendered moot by the appearance of aircraft carriers (Bismarck anyone?) - the maginot line was a fortification that couldn't stand up to the advancements of mobile armour and modern tactics. When you live nextdoor to your enemy who can attack by surprise, you are likely to get steamrolled unless your forces are just as mobile and just as fast.
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