One point is also that Hitler's goals were in the East (Lebensraum im Osten). It's unpopular to say it but his former intention was to avoid war with France and UK.
Those pushing an overarching liberal perspective would prefer to ignore Lebensraum, because it allows them to easier justify settler colonial projects like the United States and Israel.
@@robert9016 i don't know if it makes it only makes it easier to justify other colonial projects (not saying you meant that) but that it makes it easier to ignore these more recent crimes and not confront their similarities to older evils they decry
The same French fixation on colonial vestiges that led to later wars in Algeria and Indochina also led them to choose surrender to Germany to preserve their colonies.
Yes but I don't think even Elsass was that big of a deal for Hitler. The number one priority was to passify France and negate threat of creating a western front after invading Soviet Union. Even if Germany hadn't annexed Elsass, it could have taken what they wanted after conquering the east.
When you look at the losses France suffered in WW I - especially considering there were a LOT of people still alive who remembered it - one should be able to see their point in not wanting to go through that again, possibly on a much larger scale.
@kidd32888 there was no government to pay soldiers to keep fighting and the leaders would have had to decide to go rogue (like De Gaulle) A big part of the problem was that due to 1) fear of socialists meant they were kicked out of government (about 20% of the electorate were told their votes didn't matter) and 2) the directions from Moscow were for good socialists to oppose war with Germany (Molotov-Ribbentrop pact) meant that a not insignificant amount of French men saw the fall of the French government as a necessary step to make Socialist France a possibility. The might of the French resistance didn't kick into gear until after June 1941, when Germany invaded the USSR and good socialists/communists were supposed to take up arms and resist/fight/sabotage the German occupation. Before June 1941 the French resistance was much less substantial. Did they question why they ever agreed not to fight the Germans? Some did, but that's what ideological rigidity gets you.
I'd read something that if Great Britain and France had united it would have had a joint monarch/president head of state with each nation retaining their own governmental institutions. Also the plan was discussed after WWII!? What fun😂 Was this any more than a "Groot-Nederlands" fever dream?
The French wouldn't have lost if the British Expeditionary Force was not also beaten, were it not for Dunkirk they would have surrendered en mass. Henry the Fifth would have been fine as long as he was king of it all.
Hello Hilbekrt. I for one am in no doubt that you have been Hilbert, as in the chap who likes to do flag videos too. Anything in Vichy flag remind you of EU? I infer nothing by this, but some in Brussels might look at it as they consider the number of older British people who voted to leave. As for sinking French ships, the Royal Navy had centuries of practice and could not help it I reckon. Have you looked at British conquests of Syria and Madagascar from Vichy French control? I commented before how my RN dad was sent to help rescue French Indochinese after Japanese withdrawal from there.
The map at 12:51 does not cover the French Madate in Syria that was a legacy of WW1. I remember, from the coverage on the WW2 TH-cam channel, UK campaigns there to take control of Syria away from Vichy France.
Wrong, the sketch map is inaccurate, the Hitlerites occupied the Atlantic coast..The French armistice was similar to WW1. The Entente only ever occupied the Rhineland, not all the former German Empire, although the Alsace Lorraine changed hands once again.
Imagine annexing a territory which has a another majority and you build the whole territory full with bunkers and huge fortresses only to be punched in the face from the north.... twice
The Brits knew the Germans could not seize the French fleet intact and then man the ships and train enough crews. That is an apologist claim. They were more afraid of the ships being used against them when they did things the French objected to. Once the French fleet was destroyed or too damaged to fight, they could violate French waters, seize French ships, and seize French bases whenever they were needed. How long has it been and we are all parroting the same British lies?
People like you often forget that it wasn't just France that was defeated in the Battle of France, but also the British Expeditionary Force. Who then needed the French to cover their asses at Dunkirk to not get completely killed and captured. But I have yet to see anyone question the bravery of the British in WWII. Also, the French didn't stop fighting after the Fall of France. Not talking about the Resistance, that is mostly overhyped, but the Free French forces. They were vital in North Africa, such as in Bir Hakeim, where a handful of French forces held back a massive combined German and Italian force outnumbering them ten to one led by Rommel himself. That battle allowed the British an orderly retreat, which allowed them to prepare for El Alamein. And after D-Day, France had over 500k soldiers in the Western Front, being the 4th largest Allied army. The biggest tragedy of the French soldiers in WWII is that they died twice. They died once fighting under incompetent commanders using woefully outdated tactics and doctrine, and they died again, by having their sacrifice forever erased and shamed by armchair badasses like you. If you were a Frenchman in WWII, I bet you'd have held back the Blitzkrieg singlehandedly.
Divided governments and the increasing cost of bier in the Cote d’Azur are my main reasons why they surrendered their sovereignty to a better bier brewing country, oh and they stopped making fighter planes and tried to blame the British for their own demise… de Gaulle was the most ungrateful and selfish man ever..merci 🎚️
The Germans didn't "annex" France. They annexed the Sudetenland with the acquiescence of the Brits, French, and Italians, and Austria all on their own. The German Army invaded France and took territory by force.
One point is also that Hitler's goals were in the East (Lebensraum im Osten). It's unpopular to say it but his former intention was to avoid war with France and UK.
Those pushing an overarching liberal perspective would prefer to ignore Lebensraum, because it allows them to easier justify settler colonial projects like the United States and Israel.
@@robert9016 Who? Ian Kershaw, surely an indomitable liberal, writes extensively about Lebensraum.
The truth is often unpopular
@@robert9016 possible sockpuppet
@@robert9016 i don't know if it makes it only makes it easier to justify other colonial projects (not saying you meant that) but that it makes it easier to ignore these more recent crimes and not confront their similarities to older evils they decry
The same French fixation on colonial vestiges that led to later wars in Algeria and Indochina also led them to choose surrender to Germany to preserve their colonies.
Brits: You will be Brits too !!!
French: Don´t say that, that´s scary, I prefer to be German-occupied...
Only half occupied...
I think another important point is that France, besides the Elsass, was never a wargoal for Hitler. He always wanted to go east.
Yes but I don't think even Elsass was that big of a deal for Hitler. The number one priority was to passify France and negate threat of creating a western front after invading Soviet Union.
Even if Germany hadn't annexed Elsass, it could have taken what they wanted after conquering the east.
Useful and good information was added to me. Thank you for your good channel
that's an interesting one, I never really thought about it before
It is also worth noting that the Prussian German army werent very good at suppressing france in 1870 despite crushing the french armies in battle
Because Pétain
Great video man 🍻 your channel inspired me to start mine!
"We will be greeted as liberators!" -- Americans invading French North Africa.
When you look at the losses France suffered in WW I - especially considering there were a LOT of people still alive who remembered it - one should be able to see their point in not wanting to go through that again, possibly on a much larger scale.
What role played the occupied areas of northern France for Germanys war economy? Most of the industry was there. Was it still effective after 1940?
Hilbert likes the French Navy so much, he said it twice😂
I thought they did conquer all of France. This is new info to me.
Caesar didn't conquer all of Gaul.
They did but afterwards they occupied northern France while vichy france managed the south.
I believe there was one small indomitable village @@HS-su3cf
Technically no but de facto yes
@kidd32888 there was no government to pay soldiers to keep fighting and the leaders would have had to decide to go rogue (like De Gaulle)
A big part of the problem was that due to 1) fear of socialists meant they were kicked out of government (about 20% of the electorate were told their votes didn't matter) and 2) the directions from Moscow were for good socialists to oppose war with Germany (Molotov-Ribbentrop pact) meant that a not insignificant amount of French men saw the fall of the French government as a necessary step to make Socialist France a possibility.
The might of the French resistance didn't kick into gear until after June 1941, when Germany invaded the USSR and good socialists/communists were supposed to take up arms and resist/fight/sabotage the German occupation. Before June 1941 the French resistance was much less substantial. Did they question why they ever agreed not to fight the Germans? Some did, but that's what ideological rigidity gets you.
Even as an Essex boy the dream timeline is a successful Franco-British Union. This one currently sucks.
I'd read something that if Great Britain and France had united it would have had a joint monarch/president head of state with each nation retaining their own governmental institutions. Also the plan was discussed after WWII!?
What fun😂
Was this any more than a "Groot-Nederlands" fever dream?
I like better the 'have' instead of 'am'
cool video tho !
The brirish-French union is like canada but bigger
Lol he had to censor the thumbnail oof.
Not without Brits' concent, spoken or unspoken.
Slight edit in error at th-cam.com/video/JzU1GbnQ_CU/w-d-xo.htmlsi=C8MF0yFL0Ckbs0mP&t=534
Otherwise enjoyed your examination on Vichy France.
Short answer: money
because petain saved us
The French wouldn't have lost if the British Expeditionary Force was not also beaten, were it not for Dunkirk they would have surrendered en mass. Henry the Fifth would have been fine as long as he was king of it all.
9:13
So WWII started "January 1939" ?!
wtf
"Before the outbreak of war in Januari 1939" I guess I can see how you got that from it, but I thought it was pretty clear what he meant.
Why unlisted.
Hello Hilbekrt. I for one am in no doubt that you have been Hilbert, as in the chap who likes to do flag videos too. Anything in Vichy flag remind you of EU? I infer nothing by this, but some in Brussels might look at it as they consider the number of older British people who voted to leave. As for sinking French ships, the Royal Navy had centuries of practice and could not help it I reckon. Have you looked at British conquests of Syria and Madagascar from Vichy French control? I commented before how my RN dad was sent to help rescue French Indochinese after Japanese withdrawal from there.
What an odd little comment...
@warbler1984 I remembered the flag thing getting pointed out prior to the vote and thought I would mention it.
The map at 12:51 does not cover the French Madate in Syria that was a legacy of WW1. I remember, from the coverage on the WW2 TH-cam channel, UK campaigns there to take control of Syria away from Vichy France.
Wrong, the sketch map is inaccurate, the Hitlerites occupied the Atlantic coast..The French armistice was similar to WW1. The Entente only ever occupied the Rhineland, not all the former German Empire, although the Alsace Lorraine changed hands once again.
On the past perfect: It's a BrE versus NAmE thing. Feel free to ignore cross-pond squabbling.
In retrospect, and considering the current situation, it's so tragic that so many lives were ended between cultural cousins.
Not really since it doesnt mean anything
@martinondrus6344 what you said doesn't mean anything because it's incredibly vague
@@user-tm8jt2py3d not really since being cultural cousins doesnt mean anything in the real world. Clear enough for you?
@martinondrus6344 yeah you did better that time. But it's just some reddit brained nonsense, so it wasn't worth clarifying.
@@user-tm8jt2py3d sure, cause when you look at history being culturaly close means a lot
Imagine annexing a territory which has a another majority and you build the whole territory full with bunkers and huge fortresses only to be punched in the face from the north.... twice
The Brits knew the Germans could not seize the French fleet intact and then man the ships and train enough crews. That is an apologist claim. They were more afraid of the ships being used against them when they did things the French objected to. Once the French fleet was destroyed or too damaged to fight, they could violate French waters, seize French ships, and seize French bases whenever they were needed. How long has it been and we are all parroting the same British lies?
Who cares about the French who surrender so easily?
@@answerman9933 Trope detected, opinion immediately discarded
France surrender in WW2 was a complete embarrassment, and they deserve to be shamed forever for it
Nothing to be ashamed.
@@kidd32888 Spoken like a French.
People like you often forget that it wasn't just France that was defeated in the Battle of France, but also the British Expeditionary Force. Who then needed the French to cover their asses at Dunkirk to not get completely killed and captured. But I have yet to see anyone question the bravery of the British in WWII.
Also, the French didn't stop fighting after the Fall of France. Not talking about the Resistance, that is mostly overhyped, but the Free French forces. They were vital in North Africa, such as in Bir Hakeim, where a handful of French forces held back a massive combined German and Italian force outnumbering them ten to one led by Rommel himself. That battle allowed the British an orderly retreat, which allowed them to prepare for El Alamein. And after D-Day, France had over 500k soldiers in the Western Front, being the 4th largest Allied army.
The biggest tragedy of the French soldiers in WWII is that they died twice. They died once fighting under incompetent commanders using woefully outdated tactics and doctrine, and they died again, by having their sacrifice forever erased and shamed by armchair badasses like you. If you were a Frenchman in WWII, I bet you'd have held back the Blitzkrieg singlehandedly.
@@MikJ132 which part nothing to ashamed of you don't understand?
@@kidd32888 Responding to OP, not you
Divided governments and the increasing cost of bier in the Cote d’Azur are my main reasons why they surrendered their sovereignty to a better bier brewing country, oh and they stopped making fighter planes and tried to blame the British for their own demise… de Gaulle was the most ungrateful and selfish man ever..merci 🎚️
you should probably re-title the video to why germany didn't annex all of france
The Germans didn't "annex" France. They annexed the Sudetenland with the acquiescence of the Brits, French, and Italians, and Austria all on their own. The German Army invaded France and took territory by force.