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==Introduction==
In September 1939, the Nazi War Machine invaded Poland and World War II began. France was Allied with Britain against Nazi Germany in 1939. The French army was in theory as strong as the Germans, it had a vast Empire and a sophisticated arms industry. It had established a series of fortifications in the east of the country, known as the Maginot Line, which was designed to keep German forces out of France. France looked more than capable of matching the Germans and had a strong ally in Britain and its Empire. However, in a period of weeks in the late Spring and Early Summer of 1940, France was to suffer a humiliating defeat and was occupied by Nazi Germany. The reasons for this include a divided French political elite, poor French military tactics and a superior German army with better tactics. [[File:French Priosners.jpg|thumbnail|200px|-French Prisoners, 1940]]
==Background==
France had been fearful of Germany ever since the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. In this war, the Prussians had quickly defeated the French and occupied much of the country. In World War I, The Germans had come very close to defeating the French and without allied assistance the country would have once again been occupied by the Germans. Despite, being among the victors in WWI the French still dreaded the Germans and they were vociferous in their demands that Germany was neutralized during the negotiations on the Versailles Treaty. The French initially led by Prime Minister Clemenceau, adopted a hard line towards the Germans in 1918-1919. There was a thaw in the Franco-German relationship in the mid-1920s and there was hope of a genuine rapprochement between the two greatest powers in continental Europe. However, the Great Depression and the rise of Hitler meant that the French were suddenly faced with a potentially aggressive regime in Germany. The French adopted a diplomatic policy of appeasement and sought to placate Hitler by offering him concessions, such as allowing him to re-militarize the Rhineland. The French took no chances and began to prepare their defences. The French devoted a huge level of resources to the construction of the Maginot Line. This defensive line was named after a French Defence Minister. The French constructed a long line of fortifications along their eastern border with German. It stopped at the Belgian border. The French stationed all their forces behind the Maginot Line and adopted a defensive posture. In September 1939, the French with the British declared war on Germany. For a period of some months, there was little or no activity and this was the period known as the ‘Phoney War’. However, in the Spring of 1940, the Germans’ went on the offensive. The Battle of France lasted only 46 days, from the German invasion on the 10th of May to the surrender of France on the 25th of June 1940. Paris fell to the Germans on the 14th of June, after the virtual collapse of the French Army and the French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud, resigned on the 16 June. His successor, Marshal Philippe Pétain, began negotiations to end the war. The German army approximately suffered 157,000 casualties in the invasion of France. The Allies lost over twice as many men, with 360,000 casulaties. A further two million were captured. Some 300,000 British and French troops escaped the Germans after being evacuated by naval forces at Dunkirk. The Germans occupied the majority of France – in the south of France, the Vichy Regime established a semi-autonomous political entity, and still controlled the majority of the French Colonies <ref>Bond, Brian Britain, France and Belgium, 1939–1940. (London, Brassey's, 1990), p.178</ref>
[[File:Stuka file.jpg|thumbnail|200px|-Stuka dive bomber, 1940]]
==Superior German Army and tactics==
The German army developed the Blitzkrieg tactics. This was a tactic based on high-speed and mobile attacks on the enemy’s weak points and it proved devastating in France<ref> Bond, p. 111</ref>. The German victory was founded on a plan developed by the great military strategies, General Erich von Manstein. He adopted the Schlieffen Plan that was used so nearly successful in WW I <ref> Bond, p. 117 </ref>. However, rather than advance on a broad front through Belgium, the Germans focused two-thirds of their forces, including most of their tanks, in the Ardennes region of Belgium. This area was weakly defended, as they believed that the terrain was unsuitable for tanks. When the Germans did attack through the Ardennes they caught the French and their British allies by surprise. French believed it was impassable to tanks. Having successfully made their way into France, German forces then employed a tactic known as the ‘sickle stroke’. Sweeping across the northern plains of France at great speed, they divided the French and British forces into two parts. The British army was left isolated in Belgium and the French were left to bear the brunt of the German forces <ref>Blatt, Joel, The French Defeat of 1940: Reassessments (Providence, RI, Berghahn, 1997), p. 111</ref>.
The German army was much superior to the French and the British. Hitler had built up the Germany army and in particular the air force (Luftwaffe). The Germans had developed superior weapons. In particular, they had developed superior aircraft such as the Stuka dive bomber and the Messerschmitt ME fighter plane, that wreaked havoc on the allies <ref> Blatt, p. 117</ref>. The Germans placed a great deal of emphasis on mobile and armoured warfare. They had superior tanks, such as Panzer Mk iv, which easily overcame the allies in almost every tank engagement in the Battle of France. It must be remembered that although the German army was superior to the French in many ways, that this did not mean that the Fall of France was inevitable. [[File: Eric Von Manstein.jpg|thumbnail|200px|-Eric Von Manstein.jpg 1940]]
==French Tactics and Equipment were Poor==
