The Fall of France in the Second World War [electronic resource] : History and Memory /
Carswell, Richard.author.
This book examines how the fall of France in the Second World War has been recorded by historians and remembered within society. It argues that explanations of the fall have usually revolved around the four main themes of decadence, failure, constraint and contingency. It shows that the dominant explanation claimed for many years that the fall was the inevitable consequence of a society grown rotten in the inter-war period. This view has been largely replaced among academic historians by a consensus which distinguishes between the military defeat and the political demise of the Third Republic. It emphasizes the contingent factors that led to the military defeat. At the same time it seeks to understand the constraints within which France’s policy-makers were required to act and the reasons for their policy-making failures in economics, defence and diplomacy.
Chapter One: Introduction -- Chapter Two: Premonitions and Predictions -- Chapter Three: War and Waiting -- Chapter Four: Trauma and Treason -- Chapter Five: Divine Punishment and Decadence -- Chapter Six: Failures and Constraints -- Chapter Seven: Contingencies and Consequences -- Chapter Eight: Memory and Memorialisation -- Chapter Nine: Conclusions.
This book examines how the fall of France in the Second World War has been recorded by historians and remembered within society. It argues that explanations of the fall have usually revolved around the four main themes of decadence, failure, constraint and contingency. It shows that the dominant explanation claimed for many years that the fall was the inevitable consequence of a society grown rotten in the inter-war period. This view has been largely replaced among academic historians by a consensus which distinguishes between the military defeat and the political demise of the Third Republic. It emphasizes the contingent factors that led to the military defeat. At the same time it seeks to understand the constraints within which France’s policy-makers were required to act and the reasons for their policy-making failures in economics, defence and diplomacy.
World War, 1939-1945.
Great Britain-History.
France-History.
Europe-History-1492-.
Military history.
History of World War II and the Holocaust.
History of Britain and Ireland.
History of France.
History of Modern Europe.
History of Military.