Why is it that English and German are nearly interchangeable where French and English are not?

I’m just a Californian who is trying to learn some German and in my experience I have seen some fairly astonishing similarities between the two like the following:<br><br>Fahrschule - driving school<br><br>Rotkohl - redcabbage<br><br>Fussball - football<br><br>Biergarten - beer garden<br><br>Shiffskanal - ship canal<br><br>Strand - strand<br><br>Kreuz - cross<br><br>Erlaubnis - allowance<br><br>haus - house<br><br>apotheke - apothecary<br><br>Schiff - ship<br><br>Schlüssel - sleutel (I know that 1 is dutch but it was a good example)<br><br>Chef - chef<br><br>kein Problem (No problem)<br><br>Lebensmittelmärket - grocery store<br><br>Plakat - placat<br><br>Biegen - bend<br><br>Kuchen - cake<br><br>I could keep going on and on, I just don’t understand why they’re so similar and can you help clarify that for me? I know a lot of the words are likely from the Roman Empire but I don’t remember seeing many cognates like these in French.<br><br>Edit: thanks for all the information y’all have provided, it’s been very informative. I didn’t realize the complexity of the situation and I will look into the stuff some of you have recommended. Thanks again