When you sucker punch people struggling to rebuild after the first fucking war that killed millions of people, you aren't really playing on a level playing field
Eh, the French should have knocked out Germany in October 1939.
See, they declared war on Germany to defend Poland. An attack on Germany would have presented the Nazis with a two front war, crippling them. A drive on Berlin would likely have worked. The entire Wehrmacht was in Poland, only a few troops were along the border with France. Punching through them, there would have been little between the French army and Berlin but open countryside. There would have been a coup and regime change, and the new government would have sued for peace.
But no, turns out the entire alliance with Poland was a lie. A bluff. Sure, France launched an "offensive" - which they quickly abandoned. The French were paid back in their own coin when this betrayal came back to bite them, hard. After ridiculing Poland for surrendering in five weeks, France surrendered in six.
I heard a fairly convincing, if not well backed, theory once that the conservative French military command purposely threw the war against the Germans because the French government was increasingly moving leftwards and they'd rather be puppets under Germany for a bit than let capital be threatened in any way. If the French had stalemated the Germans during the initial blitz for just a few weeks Germany's economy and war machine would've collapsed from cannibalizing itself.
this and related 'french didnt want to win' theories are bullshit
talking about a government that rounded up commies and put them in concentration camps at the onset of war, being unacceptably left-wing. and the price arch-conservative french generals would pay for being rid of such a government is extreme national humiliation, the loss of alsace-lorraine & military occupation.
people don't seem to understand is that like the Germans & the Soviets, the Germans & the French (and Czechoslovaks & Poles) had irreconcilable disputes that overshadowed any but the most short-term cooperation. Conservatives can agree on a lot but they are not internationalists, they want their territory, they want their 'face' and 'honor', they want revenge for historical grievances.
And capitalists are basically licking your boot trying to profit as much as they can from your rise to power while trying to placate the populace into believing that a world war won’t happen
When you sucker punch people struggling to rebuild after the first fucking war that killed millions of people, you aren't really playing on a level playing field
Eh, the French should have knocked out Germany in October 1939.
See, they declared war on Germany to defend Poland. An attack on Germany would have presented the Nazis with a two front war, crippling them. A drive on Berlin would likely have worked. The entire Wehrmacht was in Poland, only a few troops were along the border with France. Punching through them, there would have been little between the French army and Berlin but open countryside. There would have been a coup and regime change, and the new government would have sued for peace.
But no, turns out the entire alliance with Poland was a lie. A bluff. Sure, France launched an "offensive" - which they quickly abandoned. The French were paid back in their own coin when this betrayal came back to bite them, hard. After ridiculing Poland for surrendering in five weeks, France surrendered in six.
I heard a fairly convincing, if not well backed, theory once that the conservative French military command purposely threw the war against the Germans because the French government was increasingly moving leftwards and they'd rather be puppets under Germany for a bit than let capital be threatened in any way. If the French had stalemated the Germans during the initial blitz for just a few weeks Germany's economy and war machine would've collapsed from cannibalizing itself.
this and related 'french didnt want to win' theories are bullshit
talking about a government that rounded up commies and put them in concentration camps at the onset of war, being unacceptably left-wing. and the price arch-conservative french generals would pay for being rid of such a government is extreme national humiliation, the loss of alsace-lorraine & military occupation.
people don't seem to understand is that like the Germans & the Soviets, the Germans & the French (and Czechoslovaks & Poles) had irreconcilable disputes that overshadowed any but the most short-term cooperation. Conservatives can agree on a lot but they are not internationalists, they want their territory, they want their 'face' and 'honor', they want revenge for historical grievances.
And capitalists are basically licking your boot trying to profit as much as they can from your rise to power while trying to placate the populace into believing that a world war won’t happen