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Why France, the major European continental victor in 1918, suffered total defeat in six weeks at the hands of the vanquished power of 1918 only two decades later remains moot. Why the stunning reversal of fortunes? In this volume thirteen prominent scholars reexamine the French debacle of 1940 in interwar perspectives, utilizing fresh analysis, original approaches, and new sources. Although the tenor of the volume is critical, the contributors also suggest that French preparations for war knew successes as well as failures, that French defeat was not inevitable, and that the Battle of France might have turned out differently if different choices had been made and other paths been followed.
"This stimulating and valuable collection ... does a superb job of demonstrating the intricacies of this acutely troubling problem." · H-Diplo
"This excellent volume of essays ... the editor and publisher are to be congratulated on a valuable and handsome volume." · The Journal of Military History
"... makes available a rich offering of the latest research on the defeat of 1940." · The International History Review
Preface
Joel Blatt
Introduction
Joel Blatt
Chapter 1. Strategy and Scapegoatism: Reflections on the French National Catastrophe, 1940
Nicole Jordan
Chapter 2. Marc Bloch and the drôle de guerre: Prelude to the "Strange Defeat"
Carole Fink
Chapter 3. Martyr's Vengenance: Memory, Trauma, and Fear of War in France, 1918-1940
Omer Bartov
Chapter 4. Domestic Politics and the Fall of France in 1940
William I. Irvine
Chapter 5. Edouard Daladier: The Conduct of the War and the Beginnigns of Defeat
Elisabeth du Réau
Chapter 6. The Missed Opportunity: French Refugee Policy in Wartime, 1939-1940
Vicki Caron
Chapter 7. Prelude to Defeat: Franco-Soviet Relations, 1919-1939
Michael Jabara Carley
Chapter 8. France and the Illusion of American SUpport, 1919-1940
William R. Keylor
Chapter 9. In the Eye of the Beholder: The Cultural Representation of France and Germany by The New York Times, 1939-1940
Robert J. Young
Chapter 10. Reflections on France, Britain and the Winter War Prodrome, 1939-1940
John C. Cairns
Chapter 11. "Fighting to the Last Frenchman"? Reflections on the BEF Development to France and the Strains in the Franco-British Alliance, 1939-1940
Martin S. ALexander
Chapter 12. French Defeat in 1940 and its Reversal in 1944-1945: The Deuxième Division Blindée
Philip Farwell Bankwitz
Chapter 13. The Trauma of 1940: A Disaster and its Traces
Stanley Hoffmann
Bibliography
Index