Mary, Jean-Yves L'inexorable défaite Mai-Juin 1940

After 45 days of fighting in which heroism, cowardice, incompetence and improvisational spirit were equally evident on the French side, France had reached the end of its ordeal. These are the causes of this seemingly inexorable defeat of France in May/June 1940, from the most obvious reasons to those that only become apparent when the circumstances of the time are closely analysed. Point by point, the background to the rapid French defeat in the 1940 Western campaign is set out.

The disappointment of the French with the outcome of the Treaty of Versailles, the arrogance of years of occupation in the Rhineland, the illusion of the Locarno Treaty, the choice of the defensive as a military means against the fearful adversary Germany, the passivity in the face of the German resurgence and the lack of reaction on the part of France in connection with the Munich Agreement in 1938, all this could only lead to an ill-prepared and badly managed entry into the war in September 1939. When Germany began its Western campaign on 10 May 1940, the French military lined up mistake after mistake, adding to the German successes. Caught in the vortex of the German breakthrough in the Ardennes, the French high command was at no time to have the opportunity to reverse the course of events, and the disastrous news was to follow like a Greek tragedy.