Welcome back to the third article of The Randomizer!
I suppose you might be wondering what the title means. Well
I'll give you three points:
1.
French = France. Duh.
2.
1940 = The second year of World War II
3.
Derping Sessions = One of the nominations for
the award for best fuck-up of the 20th Century :D
But I digress.
When you were at school, you knew about the basics of World
War II like when it started, what Britain did during the war, How America got
involved into the war and how the ever popular stereotypical evil Nazis got
their asses kicked by the Soviet Union (communist Russia or the Galactic
Empire, take your pic) and how Hitler committed suicide.
And hopefully, you knew that France got metaphorically
kicked in the balls and asked for an armistice six weeks after Germany first
invaded. SIX weeks. Soooo, what were France doing at the time? Well the short
version would be like a French person owning a pub, going outside to have a fag
and coming back in only to find a German and his buddies had taking over the
place and replacing all the French beer like Pelforth and Fischer Tradition
with the evil German beers of Erdinger and Weihenstephaner (I've tried the
latter, it's not actually bad J).
But if you want to know the long version, stick around and
I'll tell you some big factors, some of them from the years before World War
II, into how France fell to Nazi Germany.
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Let's start in the 1919 and the year that probably was
considered, at the time, Germany's worst nightmare. Why here you ask? Because
this was very, very, VERY important and is part of the long list of causes to
how World War II started in the first place, leading of course to France's
fall.
And it started with the Treaty of Versailles, which probably
should have been called 'The Treaty of Revenge, Mother-f***ers!'
France had been beaten over forty-five years previously in
the Franco-Prussian war and lost its own territory of Alsace-Lorraine to the
newly made German state. I remember a quote made from 'The Great War'
documentary: 'Think of the motherland as your second mother, as she weeps and
suffers over the children they have torn from her bosom'. There was a deep
resentment against Germany as you might expect. And with their victory of the
First World War, France was keen to make sure Germany would be crushed and
never rise as a major power again.
All the French peoples anger and craving for revenge were
poured into France's prime minister for the Treaty, Georges Clemenceau. He knew
the French mentality had suffered greatly during the war: They were the ones
that the Western front was built on when invasion occurred and possibly lost
the most troops on the allied side in terms of death or disabled from gas or
otherwise, 1.5 million killed in combat. Clemenceau made it his policy to
destroy Germany with the Treaty and make sure France's revenge would be as sweet
as apple pie.
You'd imagine they deserved every right to cripple Germany
into submission. As a person who has a great interest in history, I'd have to
disagree and will show this as how the French's extreme mindset would eventually
come to bite back with ferocious intent.
Looking at the Treaty of Versailles, there are a few major
points that need to be brought up:
1.
Germany is responsible for her and her allies
cause of damage done to the Allies.
Now this was quite obviously bullshit. Yes, Germany was
responsible in some ways of causing the damage, but it wasn't entirely their
fault that the war started, nor did they cause all the destruction. The main
spark for World War I was always attributed to the old Austrian-Hungarian
Empire's subsequent aggression against the nation of Serbia for the shooting of
the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophia. After that, every country
fell like dominoes into war: Austria-Hungry declared war on Serbia, Russia
(allied with the Serbs) declared war on Austria-Hungry, Germany (allied with
Austria-Hungry) declared war on Russia, and France (allied with
Austria-Hungry.....nah I'm kidding : ) they were allied with Russia) declared
war on Germany (in which they predicted Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill series as
well! Should've got reparations for that!)
It was basically because Germany was seen as the greater foe
of the main players: France, Great Britain and USA. We probably didn't give
much of a crap about Austria-Hungry, Turkey, Bulgaria or any other
German-allied country. Germany seemed always to bear the brunt of the Allies,
and mostly to an extent France's, subtle polite bullying.
2.
Germany was to pay for the damage caused by the
war, with a figure set for a later date.
Again, this was due to polite bullying and possibly being
childish. Germany were probably buggered financially by their own admission,
but asking them to pay for the entire war is really pushing it. About two years
after the declaration of payment to the allies, the figure was set at £6,600
million (£6.6 billion pounds), which in effect outraged the Germans. But from a
French point of view, they were probably very happy to receive their share of
the dough. Though we must remember that France wanted their revenge. And they
were getting it handed to them on a plate. But as I will reveal soon, the
relationship between the two countries would disintegrate badly.
3.
German territory was to be broken up and given
to other countries.
Now in one sense, some of this was partly right with
Alsace-Lorraine given back to France. One territory that would prove to have
big ramifacations in future was Upper Silesia, Posen West Prussia being given
to Poland, newly created as an independent state once more. Prussian troops in
the past had captured Polish territory and made it part of their own kingdom.
So this was pretty much giving Poland its own land back with free access to the
sea. (while the city of Danzig was made into a free city). However, this broke
Germany effectively into two pieces as the country still maintained a piece of
land further to the east, the Province of East Prussia.
On the other hand, there were some lands that were given to
Germany over 100 years before in a separate treaty called The Congress of
Vienna, only to be nicked from under their nose. The first is that the
territory of Eupen-Malmedy was taken from Germany and given to Belgium. Now it
can be argued that Germany did destroy parts of Belgium during the war and
probably did deserve giving something to them, but in another way it was given
to Germany in the first place in said congress. It's quite difficult who to
side for.
Another piece of land that was placed under the League of
Nations management was The Saarland. This was an area littered with coal mines
and was looked after by Morrocco. Seriously. Morocco. Definately not France.
Honest!!
Oddly enough, not all the lands were forcibly taken from
them. Some lands had referandrums to vote if they to be part of another
country. For example, Northern Schleswig voted to be part of Denmark, breaking
away from Germany.
With territory, it is a mixed of logical and surreal
reasoning and makes it more difficult because there are both good points and
bad. I would say that Germany shouldn't have lost a lot of territory it did
lose, but I understand that the politics at the time would have made it
inevitable.
4.
German military was weakened substantially
This was a crushing blow to Germany. Her army was reduced to
100,000 men. Compare that with how many men they had in the First World War and
you'd be thinking 'the hell?'. No airforce was allowed, 6 navy ships allowed,
no submarines and the Rhineland was commissioned a de-militarized zone (where
no weapon was allowed in this area). So in effect, it was an attempt to make
dead sure Germany could not declare war against the Allies. It was helpful to
France so that they could feel at least a little bit safer from quashed German
ambitions.
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Now that we've established the Treaty of Versallies, We
shall be delving a little bit into some points of the history of both France and
Germany during the inter-war period.
Needless to say, it wasn't a good relationship. Sort of like
sibling rivalry over who owned the house whenever mum and dad weren't around.
But I think we can be kind and let the younger sibling have its say. So let's
start off with Germany:
Germany's major points during the Inter-war period.
1)
The Occupation of the Rhur
In 1922, the German government failed to pay its instalment
of reparations. This was due to the defaulting (not fulfilling obligations) of
different shipments of coal and timber. So what did France do?
a)
Said to Germany: "Hey don't worry about it,
you need to relax and pay it back soon as you can, ok?"
b)
Said "Well this is highly annoying. You
will pay it back by this date and no extensions good gentlemen!"
c)
Said, "Fuck this, we're taking over"
The answer.
Come on, it's France! They weren't going to bake a cake and
send it in hoping to let bygones be bygones. (Though it might've been tasty at
least).
On 11th January 1923, France took over the region
of the Ruhr to force the payments to come through and keep Germany obligated to
Versailles. The Germans in the area resisted tenaciously against the French,
going on strike and beginning a passive resistance to not attack the French
soldiers. How odd. Germans not attacking Frenchman. It's like a cat deciding to
ignore the mouse when it's blatantly stealing the cheese.
Both countries suffered different consequences as a result.
Germany suffered because of its passive resistance, in that the government
decided to pay the worker's salaries by printing more money. You can see where
this is going, as hyperinflation increased rapidly in Germany and wrecked its
own economy, making their currency worthless. France suffered by being seen as
the aggressor, probably taking advantage of its rival and expelling 150,000
workers from the area, replacing them with Frenchmen whom would help in getting
the reperation money.
This incident does show how extreme the French were willing
to go when it came to Germany, especially since it was three/four years after
Versailles had been signed. I even read that at least over 130 people were
killed in the resistance against the French. But the Germans were just as
stubborn and their pride resulted in their near collapse of economic structure.
If anything, stubbornness is shown as a great nationalist factor with these two
at the time, and probably would have gone further if not for one certain
individual, which forms part of my next point.
2)
Gustav Stresemann
Stresemann was in effect, Germany's saviour of the Ruhr
crisis. Made foreign minister in 1924, he accepted a restructured method of
Germany's reperation payments called the 'Dawes Plan' and managed to obtain an reconciliation
with the Allies and sign the 'Locarno Treaties' in 1925. These treaties
established no attacks or wars between Germany, France and Belgium, fixed the border
boundaries between them and allowed Germany to become a member of the League of
Nations, which at first banned the country because it was Germany. Duh.
In a way, Stresemann
partly reversed the humiliation of Versaillies and got Germany accepted back
into the European Community. His time as foreign minister greatly helped the
country through a nightmare situation and at least possibly gain some leverage
in making Germany a stronger country then it was during its hyperinflation and
Ruhr crisis. Unfortunately, Stresemann would become ill over the course of the
next four years and finally died of a stroke in 1929. What made his death more
inconvenient was it occurred about four weeks before the Wall Street Crash,
plummeting the world into 'The Great Depression'.
3)
The Nazi Party
And now we entered into Germany's beginnings of its darkest
period. With the onset of 'The Great Depression', Charlie Chaplin was seen as a
figure destined to turn Germany's fortunes around and create a sense
of......Chaplin? sorry I meant Oliver Hardy. No wait....hang on I read it
somewhere......erm......just rummaging through my paperwork here.......ah here
we go. Hitler. Now we're on the right track.
In their despair, the German turned to Hitler who was seen
as the next Jesus Christ of Germany. I say Jesus Christ, he was affectively a
tit with the messiah complex of Robert Mugabe. But I digress, Hitler quickly
become popular with his policies of wanting to destroy the Treaty of
Versailles, lowering the numbers of the unemployed people, and of course blame
the Jews for Germany's problems. Because obviously it's the best way to go,
blaming the Jews for everything.
However in November of 1932, Hitler's voting strength was
waning as he lost 2 million votes. Those Jews again eh?. But then in January
1933, Hitler was offered power by the former World War I general, and president
Paul von Hindenburg. The government thought they could control Hitler and even
suggested 'We are hiring him'. (clap, clap, clap) The second nomination for
Best Fuck-up of the 20th century.
Hitler did act on his promises, and directly disobey the
Treaty of Versailles, along with creating more jobs, creating an alliance with
the army and of course, blamed the Jews. Still a way to go apparently. Never
tried it personally. Don't see the fun in it.
So that's a few important things of Germany's side of
things. Now the older sibling will get it's chance to speak and possibly be
more mature. Pfft, yeah right:
A few points with France.
1)
Divisions
Political divisions arose between Werewolves and Vampires,
or less known in the Twilight world as the Left and Right. The Left consisted
of communists, socialist politicians and those interested in destroying facism
in their homeland, rather than their idealology out into the world. The Right
grouped people who loathed Communists, read Le' Daily Mail and possibly feared
the threat of a Marxist revolution akin to Russia. According to 'The World at
War' documentary series, they were even prepared to accept dictatorship. Going
further, they made the old war hero and saviour of Verdun, Marshal Phillppe
Petain as the icon against the communists.
In the French elections of 1936, things intensified when the
Popular Front (consisted of leftist parties) won and the overall leader Leon
Blum became Prime Minister. However in just over a year, he was forced to stand
down due to differing factors, one of which involved the Spanish Civil War,
being fought between the republic and the fascist leader, Franco. Leaders came
and went in the never-ending cycle of French politics.
2)
Military structure
France's military organisation is interesting in that it
never seemed to evolve. Like a Pikachu unless you gave it a Thunder Stone.
Unfortunately there are no Thunder stones in France. Military books looked into
the tactics used during the First World War, did not improve on using the tank
and airplane in their army even though they helped expand them into warfare,
and went back to using railways and horses. From this view, it looks the French
were expecting a similar experience of the First World War.
Their own Head of the Army, Maurice Gamelin, never even left
his own headquarters and was never asked to stand down to make way for someone
younger due to his war record. Adding to this, his long-term plan was simply to
wait. Wait until at least he could match the Germans in terms of soldiers and
weapons. Must've been his favourite word at the time: Wait. I'm sure Hitler's
favourite word at the time was Blitzkreig. We'll be coming back to Gamelin a
few more times I reckon.
One thing the French did invest in was the Maginot Line. A
series of fortifications lining along the French borders against Germany to the
east, provided the Germans came towards them in that direction. However, it
didn't stretch far enough to at the least, protect France's defensive measures,
going at 87 miles long. 250 miles short of the channel. They tried to expand
it, but by the time they were invaded, it was nowhere near finished.
Looking at the military side of things, it's fair to say
that France had taken an underground defensive strategy, unwilling to take the
Germans head on when it came to face them in battle. If they had been expected
a war akin to twenty years before, they were ignoring how their old enemy had
rapidly changed into something more than a stronger country: a war-machine.
Germany had practically been re-built as a vengeful destructive country, bent
on righting its wrongs. France had effectively not bothered to keep up the pace
with its rival, focusing on its own internal struggles. When war came, it would
be very different from the first war, no matter how deluded the French were.
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1939
Germany invades Poland. Britain and France simultaneously
declare war.
For all its defensive strategies, France actually made one
offensive in the Saar, advancing into German Territory. With the bulk of
Hitler's forces in Poland, you'd have thought that France would gain the upper
hand in a war to the west. And for a time they did, however with little
bloodshed and resistance. Austra wrote that: "Despite its aggressive
beginning, however, the French probe into the Saar evolved into such a
leisurely stroll that German soldiers and officials were able to collect their
belongings and depart well in advance of Gamelin's legions". So it seems
the so-called offensive was really a walk in the park, with public benches next
to minefields. I wouldn't suggest letting the kids run around if I were you.
So why didn't the French capitalize on this effort? Austra
suggested that: "The French, however, were unaware of the favourable
balance of forces. Furthermore, the French were generally unsupportive of
another European war, and the morale of the army was at an all-time low".
It seems the French did not fully understand how more superior they were at
this war-malarky business, at least at the beginning. If they had continued
further on, who knows what would have happened. But if we are to take the idea
that the French did not want to see another war and how bad army morale was,
then we can possibly see that patriotism did not fill these men's hearts as
much as it did over twenty five years ago in 1914.
In the end, before Poland disappeared off the map of Europe,
French soldiers were ordered to retreat from Germany back towards the Maginot
Line. One general, Henri Giraud, saw the opportunity to try and bring the war
to the Germans, but nothing came of it. Even Germany's own, General Siegfried
Westphal stated that "...German forces on the so-called western front could
stand no more than one or two weeks".
I can see how the French would not want to go to war if it
was not in their main interests due to not wanting another war. But despite
that, I think this was the first mistake that French top brass made. In not
attempting to take on the Germans in the war at this point of time when their
focus was elsewhere, The French gained bugger-all essentially except possibly a
few biscuits and cattle. If there was one word to sum up the French Army or
possibly France as a whole, it could be 'Fear'. Fear is a strong emotion in
times of war and unfortunately for them, it did more than break their backs.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
May 1940.
The Phoney War was about to be disrupted.
The Germans thought of a way to try and circumnavigate the
Maginot Line to finally invade France. There was one place they could go
through: the Ardennes. Thought impenetrable by the French, Gamelin placed his
worst divisions here, thinking that the Germans would never be able to get
through the deep woodland and narrow roads. 'The World at War' documentary
stated that "reports had been pouring in that nearly 50 Wehrmacht
divisions were on the move - reports that the French chose to ignore. They even
learned the date of the attack, but still did nothing. As Gamelin put it, they
preferred "to await events". Their waiting was almost over".
This, to me, is absolute foolhardiness at its finest hour. If
there were reports of Wehrmacht making their way north, it's something to
seriously be considered, not to be set aside on the table. Even learning the
date of the attack should at least prompt some action. I think this was due to
the strong belief that the Germans would not try to attack through the deep
forest area at all. What could they do instead?
Well, they pulled it off. When the Germans invaded Belgium
and Holland, Gamelin sent his best troops up towards Belgium with the
expeditionary force from Britain in tow. However unbeknownst to him, The
Germans had laid a trap. The panzers had penetrated the Ardennes forest and
reached the River Meuse by the third day of the attack. The French blew up the
bridges, except for one in case the river could be lowered enough for the
Germans to cross over easily.
Gamelin simply did not believe that the Germans would be
able to mount full scale crossings of the river for at least another few days.
Yet the Germans did manage just that as well on the forth day, defeating the
French pillboxes easily and sapping up bridges on the river for the tanks,
motorbikes and cars to pass through unscathed. Then the trap was sprung: German
forces took a swing up north and isolated the French/Britain forces in Belgium.
The French, in folly, thought Germany would try to attack Paris, so pulled
troops back to defend it. But this only helped the Germans secure more
bridgeheads.
So what did Gamelin do to sort this problem? Nothing! Except
he chose to dismiss at random 20 of his front-line generals. He probably
included himself on that list, because in the end he himself was sacked for his
massive FAIL, and replaced by 73 year old General Weygand. Marshal Petain then
became Deputy Prime Minister. Before leaving for France, he had told Franco
"My country has been beaten. This is the work of thirty years of Marxism".
Erm........how? Unless Socialist governments had been voted into power for that
length of time, you are just being a grumpy sod because the French army had
their ass handed to them.
Despite a last ditch defensive by the French, The Germans broke
through and marched to capture Paris. Marshal Petain had now become Prime
Minister and asked the Germans for an armistice. And hence France was defeated
in six weeks, and Hitler won an Xbox achievement for them in a shorter amount
of time than the Germans in the First World War.
Now came Germany's revenge for 21 years of hurt:
1)
The Armistice was to be signed at the spot where
the 1918 armistice took place: In the same train carriage where Foch accepted
the German surrender beforehand. Soon after the 1940 armistice was signed,
Hitler ordered the site to be destroyed. The train carriage itself was taken to
Berlin. Germany was half-way avenged.
2)
For Paris, humiliation came in parade form. The
German victory parade followed the same route as the French route after they
had won the First World War.
And so here ends over 20 years of history. France had
capitulated backwards and Germany had avenged herself onto her foe. The fall
was complete.
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One thing I had thought at the start of this particular blog
was that France had deserved to get an ass kicking in the first place, due to
their extreme measures during the drawing up of Versailles. On one hand, they
still do. Because they had suffered badly under Germany in the First World War
and loss of territory before that, the mindset was at the time to break Germany
and make sure they can never rise again. But as they became overly aggressive
such as the case in the Occupation of the Rhur, it only served to swell up
pride in German citizens, not breaking their spirit. On the other hand however,
they didn't deserve so much of a beating, because they had been looking for
revenge themselves in the First World War since they had lost Alsace-Lorraine
in the 1870 against a unifying German state. In addition, Germany had probably
become hypocritical since they lost their own territory and complaining about
that, even though they had taken Alsace-Lorraine for their own. It's
understandable the French wanted Germany to suffer, but they took things too
far with the Ruhr Occupation and to a major extent, the Treaty of Versailles.
However, the German took things too far themselves in their
occupation of France. In 1944, a SS officer was being held in Oradour sur
Vayres. A battalion of the 2nd SS Panzer Division confused this
place with a village called Oradour sur Glane. It was there that 642 men, women
and children were massacred and the village razed to the ground. This was no
act of revenge, but an exercise in cold-blood.
So in the end, both France and Germany were always as bad as
each other, trying to destroy each other with national pride in hearts and
victory in mind. But maybe when it comes down to it, Pride is a factor that can
sting just as hard as losing family, because then you will have lost more than
the war, you have lost part of yourself.
