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To Lose A Battle : France 1939 Essay

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World War I and World War II seem to end the same for France, being over powered and taken over by an incoming force and having to rely on their allies to save them. Horne explores a more in-depth look at Germany’s invasions of France and its lower countries in May 1940. He illustrated the numerous mistakes and missed opportunities committed by France and their allies in the beginning stages of World War II. To Lose A Battle: France 1940 is the final book in a trilogy of books recounting the final stand by France in World War II. The Fall of Paris and The Price of Glory are the books that precede To Lose A Battle: France 1940. The Fall of Paris looks at how the collapse of France in 1870 had an impact on France and the rest of world; The …show more content…

However, that didn’t stop university and academic specialists from using his work to educate their students with his considerable writing appeal. He had an uncommon gift for bringing alive places, people, sounds, and sometimes even smells in his description of the battles in France. Horne captures the personalities of the argumentative French politicians and their mistresses, while senior commanders were suffering breakdowns and control of their armies was being lost. Horne adds to the picture that France was the fountainhead of Europe; others would rush to their side if ever the worst were to happen. Horne suggests that this unspoken and shared assumption of everyone in the French government led to his or her inaction at the start of World War II. France’s army had ambitious generals who had learned to play the parade of government officials against each other to win promotions, without truly earning those rankings. They just told the ministers what they wanted to hear. Horne’s book has a long catalogue of errors committed by the French which start at the very top. France had a revolving door of Prime Ministers between the end of World War I and the start of World War II. The senior politicians who struggled for power all seemed to do whatever was best for their careers at the time and didn’t think in the long term. French cabinet members were hoping for there to be no

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