France during World War II:Events that occurred

France during World War II:Events that occurred

French and Britain declared war on Germany during World War II after the Poland Invasion in September 1939. In the spring of 1940, Germany attacked France, which led to the demoralizing of the France army in June. This period, between 1940 and 1945saw  a competition between Vichy France and the Free French Forces controlled by General Charles for the control of the empires overseas.  The results were so devastating, and the western democracies which were helping France; the United States and England did not know how to act. France gets involved in World War II during the year 1938 when it joined Great Britain in an attempt to overthrow the Nazi aggression. The effort did not succeed as Germany went ahead and invaded Poland, which provoked France into declaring war. During this time, France was under the government of Vichy until when defeated by Germany leading to surrender to the Marshal Philippe Petain of the Nazi German. This paper is about the French participation in world War II.  This paper discusses the role of France in the War after World War II and what contributed to their involvement in the war.

France during World War II played various roles and included; First, declaring war. The military history of France did cover three periods during World War II. The first one was from 1939 to 1940 when France merged with Great Britain in fighting Nazi Germany. The French military believed that it was well equipped to overthrow Nazi aggression. Nazi Germany created increasingly aggressive territorial demands and threatened of starting a war if they were not met. Germany aggression seized Austria and all of Czechoslovakia in 1938 and 1939, respectively. Britain did not want to lose some of the territories, thus failing to meet the Nazi’s demand. The disagreement resulted in the clashing of Nazi Germany and Britain which resulted in Germany invading Poland on one September 1939. The invasion occurred after Germany signed a nonaggression pact with the USSR. The attack angered the French leading to the launching of World War II in Europe. The French played a significant role in declaring World War II, which increased territorial conflicts. Declaring war meant that France did not recognize Nazi Germany but honoured Great Britain. When France went to war, the Nazi German felt threatened as France had one major ally, Great Britain. Great Britain had a significant army in fighting and was recognized for employing effective tactics in the battle. This motivated France into declaring the war. The alliance would enable France into fighting Nazi Germany and move the resources that they were struggling to secure.

Various events led to world War II. France had no interest in taking part in World  War II after World War I, but the aggression of Hitler and the Nazi pushed France to the wall. Hitler took full control of Germany in 1933, leading to dictatorship with hostility towards the treaty of Versitalities and Jews.  Hitler employed some diplomatic methods that made reasonable demands but was threatening to go to war if the demands were not met. Hitler used a lot of aggression in these demands. When his demands were met, he went ahead to make the new demand. This aggression worked in favour of Hitler as Germany pulled out of the League of Nations and rejected the Versailles treaty.

The violation of the Treaty did not make the French happy.  At this time, France could not act because of political instability.  Hitler made demand s after another, and this made him grow Germany very strong to win any war. Germany broke the Munich Agreement in March 1939, Germany troop invaded Prague declared independence. This ordeal created chaos and French, and  British could not make any more appeasements;. Thus, they declared war on Germany. France witnessed the defeat by Germany, leading to cutting ties with some allies. During the France war declaration, France was in a strong bond with Great Britain and also developed some relationships with Italy. Initially, the France government did not focus on stopping the Invasion of Poland but on preventing Nazi Germany from threatening the peace of the nation. Nazi Germany increasingly was becoming a significant threat to the order of Nations. With the win of France during World War I, France was courageous of defeating Nazi Germany. France did not succeed in World War II and was forced to surrender into Germany as a way of seeking peace. After the German invasion of Poland, France was defeated, thus forcing the British to cut off the links. This led to the Germany occupation, which enabled the recruitment in liberated France for enlarging the French armies. The enlargement helped the allies in fighting the axis during World War II.

From July 1940, only the Northern part of France was occupied by the Germany Army as the was allowed to govern itself. Vichy France was in collaboration with Germany. During the war, the whole of France was controlled by Germany. Occupied France was the territory controlled by France. Occupied France was subjected to slavery and more labour. The Vichy was not ass oppressed by the Nazi as North France since they were in collaboration with the Nazi and were not in support of the Nazi oppression. France during World War II was on the side of stopping the Nazi aggression. It did collaborate with Great Britain, which was aiming at succeeding Nazi Germany. It was on the bottom of Great Britain till when Germany occupied them. During the Allied invasion of the Axis North Africa, Vichy French refused to cooperate with the Allied forces and started fighting them. It also failed to recognize the 1940 surrender treaty, which made Nazi Germany angry and sought to occupy France. In World War II, the chief Allied powers were Great Britain (1940-1944), the Soviet Union(June 1941 and the United States on December 8, 1941). This is the order in which France was siding during World War II. Also, China. France stands during World War II depended on particular objectives as well as the desire to overthrow what government for a specific purpose. For example, when it was siding with Allied power Great Britain, it desired to defeat Nazi Germany.

The significant battles involving France include the following;  Battle of France. The Fall of France is a war that happened in 1940 when German invaded France and defeated them, including the Allied forces which led to conquering France. On June 10, 1940, Italy entered the war and invaded France over the Alps. German forces started the Fall Rot on June 5, 1940, which led to British evacuating and French divisions. German air superiority and armoured mobility led to the collapse of the French army and the French government agreeing to meet them. The negotiations took place on June 18th when the two, France and Germany decided to meet and end the hostilities. On June 22nd,  the France and Germany signed an agreement known as Second Armistice at Compiegne which led to the German occupying the north and west coasts as well as their hinterlands. France in this battle was defeated.

The battle of France created other conflicts which include; First, the battle of Sedan. Germany defeated France, and it lasted from May 12-15 1940. German Army A intentionally crossed Meuse river intending to capture Sedan and push northwards towards the Channel coast and successfully they were able to trap the Allied forces thus expelling the British from the continent and destroyed the French army. Second,  La Horgne battle. On May 13^th the Guderian’s Korps was in the process of breaking out the Sedan bridgehead between the French IXth and IInd armies. It ended on 15^th when Germany defeated them. Third, Battle of Montcornet. The Colonel Charles de Gaulle led the French 4e Division cuirasses into attacking the German-held village with over 200 French tanks. The French did succeed in driving off the Germans but later had to retreat due to insufficient support. Fourth, the Battle of Arras. French using tanks to force German armoured force back but they lost. Also, the battle of Franche created; Siege of Calais, Battle of Lys, Siege of Lille, Battle of Abbeville, Battle of Dunkirk, Operation Paula, Battle of Ponte-de-I’Arche, the Italian invasion of France, Battle of Saumur. Dieppe Raid is another major battle on August 19, 1942, when France was trying to overthrow German who had occupied the port of Dieppe. The battles of 1944-1945 including; Operation Dingson, Invasion of Normandy, Normandy landings, Sword Beach, Operation Dragon, Liberation of Paris, Saint-Nazaire Pocket, Allied advance from Paris to the Rhine, Liberation of Nice, Siege of la Rochelle and Colmar Pocket. The information on these battles presents the significant events that led to the defeat of France by Germany. It also shows the allies who supported both parties and their roles in the war.

Germany invaded France during the 1940s when they crossed the Meuse river. French believe the tanks were impassable thus failing to deploy army around the areas. The Germans Army groups passed through the Ardennes; mobile operations. When they arrived in France, the German forces employed the tactic known as ‘sickle stroke’ to make the France surrender. The invasion lasted from May 10- June 25, 1940. German troops were victorious in defeating the Allied forces through the use of well-organized operation and mobile routes. Also, their superiority in using air attacks and the effective deployment of the armed forces, thus making French army weak.

During World War II, Nazi occupiers and Vichy government collaborated to deport the French and foreign Jewish refugees to the concentration camps. It caused a Holocaust that killed 25% of the French Jewish population. The Holocaust in France causes deportation and persecution of Jews both belonging to France and not. As a result of an agreement between Vichy France and Nazi occupiers. The deal was in favour of Nazi to gain independence over the unoccupied areas. The deportation was initially supposed to happen to the older adults, but the police officers mixed it, and families were separated. Nazi and collaborationist officers received heavy critics, especially from the Roman Catholics leading to protest in the hope of securing French Jews. The protest restored peace, and the French Jewish acquired citizenship.

In conclusion, France citizens started conducting guerilla actions and protests against the German and those supporting them, hoping to liberate France. On August 25, 1944, the German forces surrendered, leading to freeing of France and a new government was formulated. The France liberation created independence and a free nation. France within a short period regained its economic stability through the use of longer working hours, productivity gains and currently, it’s a significant economic power in the world. The information on the events before, during and after the war is essential as it shows the position of France in the war. The idea behind this paper is to show that the French had no interest in taking part in this war at first but got in the middle because of Hitler’s aggression. French fought bravely in the world war II as long as that appeared to make sense.

 Works Cited

Diamond, Hanna. Fleeing Hitler: France 1940. Oxford University Press, 2008

Jackson, Julian. The fall of France: The Nazi invasion of 1940. Oxford University Press, 2004.

Rosbottom, R. C. (2014). When Paris went dark: The city of light under German occupation, 1940-1944. Hachette UK.

T.R. Christofferson & M.S. Christofferson, France during World War II: from defeat to liberation (No. 10). New York: Fordham Univ Press, 2006), pg. 33