France Doesn’t Surrender. S Words For 500, Alex
So, when do you suppose the last duel with swords was fought in France to avenge a slight? 1799? 1850? 1923?
Try: 1967. During some sort of parliamentary dustup, Rene Ribiere got called a name and was told to shut his let-them-eat-cakehole by Gaston Defferre, the mayor of Marseille. Ribiere demanded satisfaction. Swords! Deffere didn’t demur. Rene got to thinking about it, perhaps, and offered to grind the edge off his sword, but Gaston wasn’t having any of that. Gaston showed Rene that Marseille isn’t Paris by a long shot, and sliced his challenger from the City of Lights a couple times to show him his bouche shouldn’t write checks his epee can’t cash.
I assume after 1967 everyone just got drunk and punched each other outside the men’s pissoir, or put French toilet paper in the offender’s bushes, which would likely kill them.