The face of France - June 1940 In the spring of 1940, what was arguably the world's most advanced outpost of liberal democracy at the time, and the principal guardian of the cultural heritage of the enlightenment, came to an ignominious end at the hands of one of history's most ignoble forces ever - Nazi Germany.
William L Shirer's The Collapse of the Third Republic recounts how it was that this proud nation went from Europe's strongest power and undisputed victor over Germany a scant 20 years earlier, only to so quickly and totally crumble to the same foe during the early days of World War 2.
Rooted to the Past
Most people's sense of France's defeat in 1940 assumes that there is little more to know than that a superior army defeated an inferior one. Yet as Shirer begins to dig beneath that surface impression and examine the facts in more detail, a much different image begins to emerge.
William L Shirer's The Collapse of the Third Republic recounts how it was that this proud nation went from Europe's strongest power and undisputed victor over Germany a scant 20 years earlier, only to so quickly and totally crumble to the same foe during the early days of World War 2.
Rooted to the Past
Most people's sense of France's defeat in 1940 assumes that there is little more to know than that a superior army defeated an inferior one. Yet as Shirer begins to dig beneath that surface impression and examine the facts in more detail, a much different image begins to emerge.
The old student greeted by the young mentor What Shirer's authoritative account clearly reveals is that the France of 1940 was definitely not that of 1918. The earlier France had been one largely united and enthusiastically supportive of her effort to withstand the onslaught of Imperial Germany. In 1918, the French (for the most part) stood as one in defense of France, and the principles represented by the Republican government entrusted with her defense. But by 1940, this was no longer the case.
Crushed from Within
France had become bitterly divided in the inter-war years over the type of society best suited to guide her coming out of the turbulent period of World War 1. Many still harbored visions of a return of the monarchy which had intermittently held state power since the great revolution of 1789. Others openly sought the adoption of the then ascendant Italian and German authoritarianism that seemed to many in France to be the future of a united Europe.
Crushed from Within
France had become bitterly divided in the inter-war years over the type of society best suited to guide her coming out of the turbulent period of World War 1. Many still harbored visions of a return of the monarchy which had intermittently held state power since the great revolution of 1789. Others openly sought the adoption of the then ascendant Italian and German authoritarianism that seemed to many in France to be the future of a united Europe.
The face of collaboration These social & political currents were combined with a military leadership whose strategic vision of defending France was still rooted in the principles of 1914, not 1940. Shirer demonstrates how France's military forces in 1939 were every bit the equal of Germany's - but the French general's vision of how to use that force lagged far behind that of her aggressive neighbor.
The military mind of Hitler is usually viewed today as he was in 1945, somewhat deranged and delusional. But in 1939, he was wise enough to listen to his young guns - such as Rommel - and adopt their vision of modern war strategies, while France held tight to the views of the aged commanders of twenty years before. The difference between the two approaches would become evident to all during that spring of 1940.
What Shirer's book illustrates in great detail is that it was the combination of internal disorder and rancor, along with an unbreakable attachment to anachronistic military doctrines that created the perfect recipe for disaster and defeat.
A Battle Lost - Not a War
Few are willing to admit it today, but in those dark days after the fall of France in 1940, the overwhelming majority of the French population stood firmly behind the call of Marechal Petain's Vichy government to accept not just military defeat - but national subjugation. But not all French did so.
The military mind of Hitler is usually viewed today as he was in 1945, somewhat deranged and delusional. But in 1939, he was wise enough to listen to his young guns - such as Rommel - and adopt their vision of modern war strategies, while France held tight to the views of the aged commanders of twenty years before. The difference between the two approaches would become evident to all during that spring of 1940.
What Shirer's book illustrates in great detail is that it was the combination of internal disorder and rancor, along with an unbreakable attachment to anachronistic military doctrines that created the perfect recipe for disaster and defeat.
A Battle Lost - Not a War
Few are willing to admit it today, but in those dark days after the fall of France in 1940, the overwhelming majority of the French population stood firmly behind the call of Marechal Petain's Vichy government to accept not just military defeat - but national subjugation. But not all French did so.
The face of resilient France - June 18th, 1940 One voice alone - almost literally - refused to accept the loss of the Battle of France as the end of the war and the struggle for French national independence and democracy. It was the voice of Charles de Gaulle.
And as the defeatist French generals & politicians met in Vichy to snuff out the life of her democratic institutions and bend to the will of Adolf Hitler - one voice of resilient defiance was heard (admittedly by few) declaring that that fight was - indeed - not over.
While virtually none of his harried and humiliated countrymen supported him at that precise moment - the young (by French military standards) tank commander sat in a London radio studio and declared that the war was not lost - and that he would stand with all who shared that view to continue the resistance to the snuffing out of the light of French republicanism and national independence.
At France's darkest hour - one hand held aloft the flame of hope. One voice refused to accept - let alone embrace - darkness. One voice rejected despair, and called for even more resolve.
And though few knew it on that day - it was France's finest hour. Heroism had survived the onslaught.
And as the defeatist French generals & politicians met in Vichy to snuff out the life of her democratic institutions and bend to the will of Adolf Hitler - one voice of resilient defiance was heard (admittedly by few) declaring that that fight was - indeed - not over.
While virtually none of his harried and humiliated countrymen supported him at that precise moment - the young (by French military standards) tank commander sat in a London radio studio and declared that the war was not lost - and that he would stand with all who shared that view to continue the resistance to the snuffing out of the light of French republicanism and national independence.
At France's darkest hour - one hand held aloft the flame of hope. One voice refused to accept - let alone embrace - darkness. One voice rejected despair, and called for even more resolve.
And though few knew it on that day - it was France's finest hour. Heroism had survived the onslaught.
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