From Triumph to Catastrophe: France"s Military-Political Defeat in 1940 and Its Origins

The military-political collapse of France in the summer of 1940 was one of the turning points of the Second World War, which predetermined its course and thereby influenced the future of the entire European continent. The reasons for the crushing defeat of the French army, which since 1918 was considered one of the strongest in the world, and the subsequent falls of the Third Republic, to this day cause disputes among historians. Did they follow from the whole course of the socio-political and economic development of France after the First World War? What was primary - a military defeat or political crisis of French society that did not find answers to the challenges of the era? What role did individual historical figures play in these dramatic events - Eduard Daladier, Paul Reino, Philip Peten, Charles de Gaulle? In this book, an attempt is made to give answers to these questions. The focus of the authors is the French external and defense policy of the interwar period. The first section of the book is devoted to the analysis of its origins and contradictions. The second section concerns the direct participation of France in the Second World War. For a comprehensive study of the problem, an extensive body of sources and recent literature is attracted.
The book will be interesting to both the historians and the widest circle of readers