Yup, I finally got the nerve. It’s time for Baguette land. Their early surrender may make them look useless, but they played a large role in the war…
France after WW1 was a strange state. Its industrial areas were heavily damaged and its male population mutilated. France was in shambles but they had won. After the war the roaring 20’s did hit France, and they did see a boom in areas such as culture and even economically. Paris was a center of music, art and theater at this time. Even if the country had mostly rebuilt pretty quickly, the economy was still not exactly perfect and the political scene was almost as hellish as modern France. The large Right and even larger left wing slugging it out. This caused many problems and a political deadlock. Politics shifted from left to right, and the government was still almost bankrupt after the war, needing to rely on loans to survive. France has a large colonial empire, which it attempted (and failed) to assimilate, all while exploiting it and using many of its colonies men in the French army. Germany was heavily punished by France, and many restrictions with war reparations were forced on their former adversary, causing discontent in Germany. Unlike many other countries women did not gain suffrage in this time, and France was still living off the glory of winning The Great War.
Eventually the Great Depression hit France, causing turmoil. The French economy which was already garbage went to complete shit, and chaos hit the nation. Political division and some violence took place, loans and reparations from Germany were taken, but it did not prevent France from falling further into chaos. Xenophobia prevented migrant workers like the flood of educated Jews fleeing Adolf Shitlers reign of terror, which would have helped the economy and gave support against population decline. While the Great Depression in France was not as insane as other countries, it still had its effect and did not help the country through the 30’s.
Then the Year 1936 came. All these internal issues basically remained, but France still had an extremely powerful and advanced army, along with the Maginot, built to force the Germans through Belgium, keeping fighting away from France and reducing manpower needed to defend the country. This would help levitate the German population advantage over France. But still, just like the UK, France did not want to repeat World War One. They joined in on appeasement, and if there was one thing the divided country could agree on, it was that war should be prevented. So they (mostly, there were some incidents but nothing major) didn’t bat an eye as Shitler stopped paying reparations, remilitarized the the Rhineland, and took Austria. They joined in the Munich conference, letting Germany gobble up the Sudetenland. This was seen as a great compromise for peace, and very popular. Germany took things a tad bit too far though, and eventually took the rest of Czechoslovakia as well. France and the UK, which had been re-aligning together as Germany got more aggressive, decided that enough was enough. They correctly guessed that Germany would invade Poland, and promised to declare war if they did. It happened.
I should mention the French military. Before the war it was considered among the greatest on Earth (far better than in HWW…) with a decent Air Force (although weaker than the RAF or Luftwaffe) pretty good navy, and strong army. Their tanks like the Char B and D’S, FT tanks, AMC’s, and more were top of the line. France was the second largest tank producer behind only the Union. Their army was mostly conscripts, often equipped with weak weaponry. Their fleet was strong, but it was not super important in the land war France was about to fight. The real issue was the way the army was lead and its doctrine. The French military was top down; you had to follow orders, and deferring from them was not acceptable. Radios were not used, information was often still transported by vehicles like motorcycles. The way the Air Force was structured was strange and made sorties less consistent. Kinda like if patrols in the game sometimes did less damage or didn’t even do anything. Thanks to the government being broke, military funding was lower at times, helping make the army less effective. The way the army was structured simply did not work well, and it’s leadership kinda sucked. It helps explain what is about to happen.
Although they had declared war, the allies didn’t really help Poland, a minor French offensive into Germany was launched but it was weak and quickly repelled. These months of 1939, known as phony war took place as Germany could not attack France, and France themselves were too scared to move in. Meanwhile the allies mostly let the USSR wreak havoc in Poland and Finland, as there was little they could do. The British blunder when defending Norway sort of strained relations, and the BEF numbered in the hundreds of thousands in comparison millions of French forces. Eventually the Germans attacked, through the Benelux, like last time… maybe allies tactics about a repeat of ww1 were right… but wait! France’s slow reaction time due to forces needing to wait for orders to be approved and having no radio, along with the ww1 inspired tactic of spreading your (especially armored) forces out led to a successful German attack through the seemingly impassible Ardennes forests. The Germans almost get themselves cut out though, and it gave enough time for the BEF (and some French forces as well) to heroically abandon France, while the French army covered their retreat. The best of the allied forces were lost though, and Germany would end up quickly sweeping though France, taking Paris. It all happened in just one summer month. There were some ideas to keep France in the fight, like a Franco-British Union, but they were in vain. France would have to surrender, as fighting to the bitter end was pointless and would probably lead to Germany wreaking the country.
A surrender was signed in the same place the Treaty of Versailles was signed the first time, and it was humiliating. Many restrictions once placed on Germany, like only a 100k man army and an occupation zone taking all of Northern France. A collaboration government lead by Philippe Pétain, a WW1 war hero was made in Vichy, known as the French State. They would help the Nazis in many of their war crimes, sending Jews over and spreading Nazi ideology. The British were not happy with the Vichy French, and Churchill decided to sink French ships to prevent the Germans from getting them.
This provoked the Vichy French to fight against the allied powers, and they launched raids against Gibraltar while collaborating more with their puppet master. Germany meanwhile did some funny things, like stealing French art, changing the exchange rate of the German and French currency to around 1-20, rounding up people they didn’t like, and other forms of humiliation and oppression. Still, much French resistance took place, with many different organizations resisting the Germans by staging Assassinations, launching Raids against German forces, and gaining intel for the allies. Outside of France, a French general named Charles de Gaulle railed some French forces to fight the Germans and Vichy, and the Free France (later named Fighting French in 1942) government fought in practical every major European front, Even a bit in the USSR.
France after WW1 was a strange state. Its industrial areas were heavily damaged and its male population mutilated. France was in shambles but they had won. After the war the roaring 20’s did hit France, and they did see a boom in areas such as culture and even economically. Paris was a center of music, art and theater at this time. Even if the country had mostly rebuilt pretty quickly, the economy was still not exactly perfect and the political scene was almost as hellish as modern France. The large Right and even larger left wing slugging it out. This caused many problems and a political deadlock. Politics shifted from left to right, and the government was still almost bankrupt after the war, needing to rely on loans to survive. France has a large colonial empire, which it attempted (and failed) to assimilate, all while exploiting it and using many of its colonies men in the French army. Germany was heavily punished by France, and many restrictions with war reparations were forced on their former adversary, causing discontent in Germany. Unlike many other countries women did not gain suffrage in this time, and France was still living off the glory of winning The Great War.
Eventually the Great Depression hit France, causing turmoil. The French economy which was already garbage went to complete shit, and chaos hit the nation. Political division and some violence took place, loans and reparations from Germany were taken, but it did not prevent France from falling further into chaos. Xenophobia prevented migrant workers like the flood of educated Jews fleeing Adolf Shitlers reign of terror, which would have helped the economy and gave support against population decline. While the Great Depression in France was not as insane as other countries, it still had its effect and did not help the country through the 30’s.
Then the Year 1936 came. All these internal issues basically remained, but France still had an extremely powerful and advanced army, along with the Maginot, built to force the Germans through Belgium, keeping fighting away from France and reducing manpower needed to defend the country. This would help levitate the German population advantage over France. But still, just like the UK, France did not want to repeat World War One. They joined in on appeasement, and if there was one thing the divided country could agree on, it was that war should be prevented. So they (mostly, there were some incidents but nothing major) didn’t bat an eye as Shitler stopped paying reparations, remilitarized the the Rhineland, and took Austria. They joined in the Munich conference, letting Germany gobble up the Sudetenland. This was seen as a great compromise for peace, and very popular. Germany took things a tad bit too far though, and eventually took the rest of Czechoslovakia as well. France and the UK, which had been re-aligning together as Germany got more aggressive, decided that enough was enough. They correctly guessed that Germany would invade Poland, and promised to declare war if they did. It happened.
I should mention the French military. Before the war it was considered among the greatest on Earth (far better than in HWW…) with a decent Air Force (although weaker than the RAF or Luftwaffe) pretty good navy, and strong army. Their tanks like the Char B and D’S, FT tanks, AMC’s, and more were top of the line. France was the second largest tank producer behind only the Union. Their army was mostly conscripts, often equipped with weak weaponry. Their fleet was strong, but it was not super important in the land war France was about to fight. The real issue was the way the army was lead and its doctrine. The French military was top down; you had to follow orders, and deferring from them was not acceptable. Radios were not used, information was often still transported by vehicles like motorcycles. The way the Air Force was structured was strange and made sorties less consistent. Kinda like if patrols in the game sometimes did less damage or didn’t even do anything. Thanks to the government being broke, military funding was lower at times, helping make the army less effective. The way the army was structured simply did not work well, and it’s leadership kinda sucked. It helps explain what is about to happen.
Although they had declared war, the allies didn’t really help Poland, a minor French offensive into Germany was launched but it was weak and quickly repelled. These months of 1939, known as phony war took place as Germany could not attack France, and France themselves were too scared to move in. Meanwhile the allies mostly let the USSR wreak havoc in Poland and Finland, as there was little they could do. The British blunder when defending Norway sort of strained relations, and the BEF numbered in the hundreds of thousands in comparison millions of French forces. Eventually the Germans attacked, through the Benelux, like last time… maybe allies tactics about a repeat of ww1 were right… but wait! France’s slow reaction time due to forces needing to wait for orders to be approved and having no radio, along with the ww1 inspired tactic of spreading your (especially armored) forces out led to a successful German attack through the seemingly impassible Ardennes forests. The Germans almost get themselves cut out though, and it gave enough time for the BEF (and some French forces as well) to heroically abandon France, while the French army covered their retreat. The best of the allied forces were lost though, and Germany would end up quickly sweeping though France, taking Paris. It all happened in just one summer month. There were some ideas to keep France in the fight, like a Franco-British Union, but they were in vain. France would have to surrender, as fighting to the bitter end was pointless and would probably lead to Germany wreaking the country.
A surrender was signed in the same place the Treaty of Versailles was signed the first time, and it was humiliating. Many restrictions once placed on Germany, like only a 100k man army and an occupation zone taking all of Northern France. A collaboration government lead by Philippe Pétain, a WW1 war hero was made in Vichy, known as the French State. They would help the Nazis in many of their war crimes, sending Jews over and spreading Nazi ideology. The British were not happy with the Vichy French, and Churchill decided to sink French ships to prevent the Germans from getting them.
This provoked the Vichy French to fight against the allied powers, and they launched raids against Gibraltar while collaborating more with their puppet master. Germany meanwhile did some funny things, like stealing French art, changing the exchange rate of the German and French currency to around 1-20, rounding up people they didn’t like, and other forms of humiliation and oppression. Still, much French resistance took place, with many different organizations resisting the Germans by staging Assassinations, launching Raids against German forces, and gaining intel for the allies. Outside of France, a French general named Charles de Gaulle railed some French forces to fight the Germans and Vichy, and the Free France (later named Fighting French in 1942) government fought in practical every major European front, Even a bit in the USSR.
CarKing the 6th of the Abrahamic Caliphate
