(My answer in Quora)
No, the Free French with immense Allied support emerged on the victorious side of WWII. France give or take some hair raising moments was also on the right side of the winning divide during the Cold War. Having said that the French were humiliated in the 1950s in its struggle to maintain control of French Indochina (check out the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954) and suffered defeat (somewhat self-inflicted) in the Algerian War (1954–1962).
Nevertheless France did secure victory for Chadian forces in its war against Libya (1978–1987) and helped defeat Islamist insurgents in Mali (2013–2014) during Operation Serval. France in Alliance with Britain and Israel defeated the Egyptians tactically in the Suez Canal War (1956) but like its Allies was lulled into a strategic ‘defeated’ by the US who feared the broader ramifications of a direct war with the Soviet Union at the time.
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