Why French pre-dreadnoughts pursued unusual solutions

What is your view of French pre-dreadnoughts?

Their unusual designs reflected a land power trying to offset British naval numbers through technology.

France was primarily a land power and had to devote enormous resources to continental warfare. Its navy still faced the numerical superiority of the Royal Navy and therefore searched for technological leverage. Torpedo boats and unconventional pre-dreadnought features were attempts to offset numbers rather than mere eccentricity. The ships may look unusual, but their experiments make more sense as answers to a strategic and fiscal imbalance.