The Wars of Louis XIV; the Franco-Dutch War, the War of the League of Augsburg, and the War of the Spanish Succession, they were the main combatant on one side and won. Franco-Dutch War, England was on the French side but did not participate in the war very much. The League of Augsburg, France was entirely alone, except for the Scottish and Irish Jacobites, who were next to worthless, and yet won. In the Spanish Succession, a Frenchman succeeded to the Spanish throne, and got all of the Spanish Americas, so, yeah, victory.
They won the Thirty Years' War, under Cardinal Richelieu, before that time, as well, in which THEY were the help to the losing side. They also won the War of American Independence. This counts because, unlike commonly believed in the United States, the American Independence War was, to the French and British, only a continuation of the continued Franco-British Wars.
Napoleon did some @$$-kicking, but we already all know of him. The French also held their own during World War I before the UK actually started getting to France, though did not win. They did have several flops in the 19th century, such as the War of the French Intervention, in which the MEXICANS kicked them back to France (with some US help at the end, though it was embroiled in the US Civil War for most of the war). Also, the Franco-Prussian War.
However, on the whole, France has proven a strong, powerful nation, which deserves respect for at least their historical power. It was two wars, WW2 and Vietnam, that got them the reputation, mostly undeserved, that they have now. And those were both, not because of their armies being inferior, surrendering easily, or other such stereotypes, but because of major strategic errors (um...why point the cannons in a direction the Germans didn't come the FIRST time!!! They came through Belgium the first time, gorrammit! Put cannon on the Belgian border. DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
