Battle Of France Essay

The purpose of this paper is to study the Battle of France, the events that ultimately formed the situation and, through analysis, offer a plausible alternative to the outcome of events. The battle known as the Battle of France or the Fall of France developed into a one sided en-gagement and a cheap victory for Germany. Their success was mainly due to France’s en-trenchment in decades old tactics and the psychological cost that they had endured during the previous war. Despite superior numbers and better logistics, the French allowed themselves to be beaten. The leadership refused to apply analysis to the situation and therefore was unable to adjust to the pace set by the Germans as they plowed through the country. Furthermore, key as-sumptions

He had long heard the axiom that “The heart of France lies between Brussels and Paris” (Tuchman, 1962). However, because of provisions in the Austro-German alliance, that path was closed and Belgium was declared a neutral area. As he was not going to let an “un-important obstacle” such as Belgian neutrality stand in the way of German success he decided to attack (Tuchman, 1962). His plan was based on the Battle of Cannae. He envisaged an envel-opment of the French army and their ultimate destruction. The plan called for the majority of German troops to engage the French by way of a strong right wing, which would swing around the enemy and push her into the waiting German reserve on the eastern frontier of Tannenburg. His weak left wing would lure them into the snare and keep them occupied until the trap closed. One of the many issues marring his plan was the assumption that Belgium would not put up a resistance. They would pursue political action and Germany would be free to advance on her timeframe to encircle the French Army. Russia, who would be obliged by the Austro-German alliance to come to the aid of Belgium, would take no less than six weeks to mobilize. To their chagrin, neither assumption proved correct. In the end, Germany would fall prey to slight changes to the plan after the retirement of Schlieffen resulting in a slow static conflict and trench