Preview

Why did France Fall so Quickly in 1940?

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1432 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Why did France Fall so Quickly in 1940?
Why France Fell so Quickly in 1940
In 1940 France was invaded by Nazi Germany. The Germans swept through eastern France and had conquered the country within a month. This essay explores how the Germans won so decisively in 1940 and what went wrong for the allies. I have found that the main points accounting to the fall of France was the excellent German planning, the poor French leadership, superior German tactics and French “defeatism”.
In 1940 an attack on France by the Germans was imminent. On 10th May 1940, the Germans attacked. The French had built a line of strong fortifications on the Franco-German border called the Maginot Line. This was supposed to be an impregnable wall which the Germans could not get through. Instead, the Germans skirted round the north of the wall through a weakly defended region called the Ardennes. This was a rugged, mountainous forest which the French thought was impassable which is why they placed their weakest, worst troops there. This idea led to them placing troops in Belgium where they thought the Germans would attack from, just like in 1914. Meanwhile, the German plan, drawn up by Erich Von Manstein, called for the Germans to break through the Ardennes region and then head north, cutting off Allied troops in Belgium, a bit like a reverse Schlieffen Plan. This was a clever move by the Germans as they realised the Allies would be expecting an attack through Belgium and so used the element of surprise to catch them off guard. The Germans were supposed to take three days to cross the Ardennes but it only took them three hours. The Germans had to cross a single weir over River Meuse which was undefended and could have seriously hindered German advances if it was manned. The Germans stormed north and reached the English Channel in eleven days, facing little resistance along the way. This showed that the Allies were caught so off guard by the Germans that there was little they could do to stop them. The troops in Belgium did

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    It was one of the biggest turning points in the war; some say that this began the beginning of the end of half the war. Before the invasion of Normandy, the allies had to deceive the Nazis. Dwight D Eisenhower deserves a lot of credit for his role in the invasion. He tricked the Nazis into believing Pas-De-Calais was going to be the landing spot to start the invasion. Eisenhower and his troops went as far as deploying fake equipment, transmitting fake signals, and using a fake army. Once the allies had convinced the Nazis that the troops would be deployed in Pas-De-Calais, their next move was to deploy the actual troops in Normandy on June 5,1943. However, bad weather delayed their original plans by a day. On June 6, 1943 the allied troops were ready to surprise the Nazis. The allies successfully deployed 156,000 troops on June 6, and by June 11 they had 326,000 troops (both according to history.com). The Nazis were unprepared, their renowned commander Rommel was out on family leave during the invasion. So, Adolf Hitler commanded the Nazis instead; this proved to be fatal. Hitler was hesitant when choosing to make military moves. This led to the allies capturing Normandy and Cherbourg, a port. With 800,000 troops in Cherbourg, the allies continued their march down France. By August, the allies drove all of the Nazis out of Northeastern France. Because of this, Germany would no longer be able to build troops in order to…

    • 1971 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    history dunkirk coursework

    • 2135 Words
    • 9 Pages

    May 1940. Germany had attacked France, Belgium and Holland. Within six weeks all three countries had surrendered. Germany’s success lay at the feet of a new and successful war technique: Blitzkrieg. This was the fast and overwhelmingly successful invasion of a country using tanks, air craft, artillery and infantry all working together communicating by7 radio. The BEF (British Expeditionary Force) was sent to help in France in 1939 at the start of the war, but was caught up in disaster, retreating from the German Front back to France and eventually the beaches of Dunkirk. On the 27th of May Winston Churchill (PM) ordered the Royal Navy to retrieve and evacuate as many of the BEF as they could. For seven days the British soldiers waited on the beaches of Dunkirk. It was believed only 30,000 would return. However thanks to small boats from the British public, by June 4th Navy was able to rescue nearly 338,000 men. It was described as “A miracle of deliverance” By Churchill himself. These men would be core in the army for the next five years and help to win the war. Without them all would have been lost. Therefore the evacuation itself could be argued a triumph. However as Churchill said “wars are not won by retreats no matter how glorious” and the amount of equipment and men left behind was enormous. And for those reasons it has been argued either side since 1940. In this essay I’ll be evaluating sources that support the interpretation that Dunkirk was a triumph and sources that contradict that statement. First of all sources that support this interpretation.…

    • 2135 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In this essay, we will focus on the development of the events on The Western Front where Germany faced France. All the powers had thought and planned their war strategy very accurately.…

    • 1335 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    As the dust settled in Europe, collaborators were hung, sent running naked down the streets or imprisoned, while the resistance set out to define post-war Europe. The illusion of a clear distinction between Hitler’s henchmen and enemies shaped the psychology, language and power structures that are still present today. Collaboration and resistance, as categories of human behaviour, gained their historical relevance from the weight they carried after the war, rather than the limited part they played in bringing the conflict to an end. In reality, the decision to collaborate was, as choices always are, the individual’s response to his or hers perceived alternatives. It existed within every stratum, and along the entire scale of what is considered good and evil. It came in endless variations, and due to as many motivations. I will, however, argue that self-interest was the most important motivating factor. To avoid exaggerated emphasis on those in charge, I will return to the so called horizontal collaborators, who were often the first to be punished. Not only are their stories as personal as they can get, but their motivations can, with a tiny bit of imagination, be applied to every chunk of society. Also, in order to remain focused on the driving force behind collaboration, I will base my argument on the most crucial motivating factors: self preservation; the dissatisfaction with previous institutions; the common enemy; internal conflict; ideological similarities; and self-interest.…

    • 2547 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Good planning and leadership alone would not win this impending attack. Allied deception tactics would also aid the efforts of the Americans, British, and Canadians. Adolf Hitler and many other German leaders believed the assault would come in the Pas de Calais…

    • 1346 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Dreyfus affair shook France, and Europe, greatly affected French politics and jeopardized France’s future. The significance of the affair on French politics from 1894-1906 was to be colossal. The affair triggered many movements that were dormant and waiting for such commotion to appear. With hindsight we can deduce that the Dreyfus affair was not the start of a political battle but an event that precipitated the final battle where the fate of the French republic would be decided. During this investigation we will be analyzing the various affects the Dreyfus Affair had upon politics in France, from the years 1894 to 1906. To present an elaborate and in-depth analysis of the question posed, primary and secondary sources will be used, including French and English sources. I have chosen to investigate the Dreyfus Affair as I have noticed that its importance is beginning to fall into oblivion. The French population has now almost forgotten how different their lives would be if the Dreyfus Affair had taken a different turn. Reducing the importance of the affair has gradually occurred due to authors that have only briefly overlooked it in French history schoolbooks.1 Thus, in total defiance to these inaccurate and neglectful historians, I have set out to prove that this affair was not minor, not insignificant and that it was a colossal event that shaped French politics of the 20th century. Even today, it is possible to perceive how the Dreyfus Affair acted upon politics in the later parts of the 20th century. We can see how the French collaboration with Nazi Germany during Vichy France was directly related to the Dreyfus Affair. This collaboration was the revenge of the nationalist right-wing elements that had failed to overthrow the government. An even more pertinent example of the continuing repercussions of Dreyfus Affair was the dishonourable discharge of Colonel Paul Gaujeac (head of French military archives) in February 1994 after submitting a…

    • 3917 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    France’s influence was powerful among the other G8 member nations and its leadership within the European Union was highly valued. Many important French allies like Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Belgium considered the French people’s position because their own population was so heavily influenced by the public opinion of…

    • 1457 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    D Day Failure Essay

    • 939 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Like in any “what if” scenario, nobody knows exactly what would have happened if D-Day at Normandy in World War II had failed. Stephen E. Ambrose attempts to wrap readers’ minds around the idea in his article D Day Fails. One of the most surprising aspects of a D-Day failure is that it still does not necessarily result in a Nazi victory. Moreover, the failure of the attack on Normandy would bring up a Soviet Union victory or, even worse, a time where there is a completely communist Europe. A D-Day failure would have drastically altered the U.S. Pacific campaign, and even would have halted, or at least redirected, the dropping of the atomic bomb.…

    • 939 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Band Of Brothers

    • 1337 Words
    • 6 Pages

    army. “And he wandered into the woods, found a barn and slept for a couple of days.” [Shimmin] Apart from the early American confrontations with the German assault, there is also the absence of the actual weather conditions in which the real battle was fought, such as cold weather and snow; there is no trace of snow at all in the major tank battle scene. Hitler launched a massive offensive into the Ardennes woods of Belgium, which caught allied forces by surprise. “There are many kinds of victory. For the German Army to survive, for us to remain in uniform - that is our victory.” [Smith] The series does realistically capture some major aspects of the battle, representing how inexperienced American replacement troops positioned in the Ardennes were initially overpowered and how confused the situation…

    • 1337 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Battle of Dunkirk

    • 3571 Words
    • 15 Pages

    After the Phoney War, the Battle of France began in earnest on 10 May 1940. To the east, the German Army Group B invaded and subdued the Netherlands and advanced westward through Belgium. In response, the Supreme Allied Commander—French General Maurice Gamelin—initiated "Plan D" which relied heavily on the Maginot Line fortifications. Gamelin committed the forces under his command, three mechanised armies, the French First and Seventh and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) to the River Dyle. On 14 May, German Army Group A burst through the Ardennes and advanced rapidly to the west toward Sedan, then turned northward to the English Channel, in whatGeneralfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein called the "sickle cut" (known as "Plan Yellow" or the Manstein Plan), effectively flanking the Allied forces.[3]…

    • 3571 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Operation Neptune Violations

    • 4692 Words
    • 19 Pages

    Normandy was isolated as of 7 June. The telephone network in the invasion area was put out of order and beginning June 20, the railway lines of France were rendered inoperable, except in the Rhone Valley where the line Marseilles-Lyon was kept open by the Germans despite heavy engagements with [partisan] units.... Although the German local reserves were able to reach the front area despite resistance action... marked delays were achieved against the movement of strategic reserves. The French claim to have delayed up to 12 divisions for 8 to 15…

    • 4692 Words
    • 19 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Now that Hitler had gained access to France through Belgium he was able to attack France while avoiding the Maginot defence Line. Under Mussolini, Italy also joined Germany's attack on France and declared war. Despite the French having just as many troops as the Germans, the reason for their defeat was that they had poor communication between their army and air force, and, instead of keeping the tanks together like the Germans, they split them up between the infantry divisions. There was also a general division in France between those wanting to sue for peace with Hitler and those…

    • 1641 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    When Germany invaded France through Belgium, it's armies took more than 2 weeks to pass over Belgium and reach the border of France due to very strong resistance from Belgian Army. This delay gave enough time to Britain to land it's armies on West Cost of France. Germany had planned under Schlieffen Plan to march to Paris both from Eastern and Western sides but due to British Forces on the Western Side, Germany could move towards Paris only though the Eastern Side. Although Germany made good progress initially and it's army reached within 20 miles from Paris, it could not capture Paris because they faced joined armies of France and Britain at Marne. The battle at Marne was very crucial because it halted the advance of German army. The German Army was tired due to August heat and they…

    • 862 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Ww1 Notes

    • 11190 Words
    • 45 Pages

    The plan relied on large numbers and an unexpected, rapid attack. It expected that the Russians would take 8 weeks to mobilise, France would be defeated in 6 weeks and that Belgium would offer no resistance.…

    • 11190 Words
    • 45 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Wwii German Failure

    • 1851 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Backing to the year 1933, National Socialist Adolf Hitler became the leader of Germany and began a massive rearming campaign. This worried France and the United Kingdom, who had lost much in the previous war, as well as Italy, which saw its territorial ambitions threatened by those of Germany. Hitler was convinced that fate had chosen him to rescue a humiliated nation from the shackles of the Versailles Treaty, from Bolsheviks and Jews. Thus he wanted to wage war in order to recover Germany. Eventually, in 1939 with the German invasion of Poland, the World War II’s European battleground began.…

    • 1851 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays