Why was France involved in World War 2?

Answer 1

They declared war on Germany the day after Germany invaded Poland in September of 1939. Their strategy was a defensive one so they deployed their army along their border with Germany and waited for the Germans to attack. the Germans took full advantage of the French (and British) passivity and took all the time they needed to get ready. For months absolutely nothing happened. Finally the Germans were ready and they attacked in May of 1940. The french army was outflanked, out maneuvered and outfought. Paris fell and the French capitulated. The Germans occupied the northern two thirds of France until 1942 when they occupied the rest of it in response to the Anglo American invasion of French North Africa.

They provided the battlefields.

They formed resistance groups all over France as well as the Maquis. Those who escaped to Britain at Dunkirk and later, joined the Free French Forces, some in the battle of Britain fighters, some in the 1st F. F. Army fighting in Libya with the Long-Range Desert Group. Under Leclerc who in Feb. 1941 led an epic 570 mile march to capture Kufra a vital group of 5 Oases in central Libyan desert. He later led his forces in the south of France,in 44-45 he directed winter operations in Alsace and eventually led his troops into Germany and Austria. Now a Maj.-Gen. he received the formal surrender of Paris. The Free French fought in many Theatres of the war.

Much of France joined with Nazi Germany. This fact is usually sugar coated as not to offend our French friends. But the truth is Vichy French forces killed many American soldiers as they landed in North Africa at the begining of American participation in WWII. There were even French SS troops fighting to the death in Berlin as the Allies finished off the Nazis. Also French sent thousands of Jews off to their deaths in the East under Hitler. This part of history should be taught along side of the "French Resistence" stories.

France was beaten very quickly by Germany in about six weeks in May and June of 1940. After that France was occupid by German troops for most of the rest of the war and the French was modelled on that of Germany and was very friendly toward Germany although France never actually signed a peace treaty with Germany, thus they were still technically at war, and France never went to war against the allies. France was liberated from the Germans by british and American troops in 1944.

They also helped the allies with the "Resistance" networks, against German troops (sabotage,intelligence,...)

Mostly as an occupied country. Although there was a resistance movement that spread across the entire country and they helped the allies whenever they could

France is/was a major country so it is not easy to summarize their role in WWII. I will make a few points:

Military - in 1939 it was widely assumed that the French Army was the finest in the world. Their army was large - about 5mm including all reserves. They were well equiped with tanks and planes. They had extensive fortifications on the eastern border. Trying to avoid the massive casualties of WWI the French decided to sit tight and wait on the Germans to move, then counterattack. They misjudged the German attack and counterattacked too far north. The Germans cut off the cream of the French army and quickly overran the rest of the nation.

About half the country was occupied by German troops, mainly in order to secure the continent from British invasion. The south part of the nation was independently run until 1944, called the Vichy republic.

Many French cooperated with the German occupiers or just tried to get along best they could under difficult economic circumstances. French industry manufactured many of the goods used by the German army including a large part of their trucks. Many French civilians were conscripted by the Germans into forced labor units, some being sent to factories in Germany.

Some French joined the underground and tried to make it difficult on the German army. While highly publicized after the war, the efforts of the French underground were minor pin pricks compared to the major war efforts of other nations. The underground did supply some useful intelligence at different times to the Allies.

Overseas, the Frenchman DeGaule took gradual leadership of the scattered French forces. He became the spokesperson for the French people, at least the one the Allies listened too. After the war, riding high in popularity, he became leader of the French nation.

After Normandy in June 1944, France was quickly liberated from the Germans. The German counteroffensive in the 'Battle of the Bulge' was an attempt to reoccupy most of France before they could mobilize their army against Germany. It failed and the French army then added to the Allied forces that completed the conquest of Germany.

After the war, the French took retribution on the Germans by forcing many to work in hideous conditions in coal mines and other forced labor. About 20% of the German nation (Rhineland and other portions) were occupied by the French army.

France tried to permanently seize territory from Germany but was defeated in referendums. Additionally about a million ethnic Germans were forced to leave France.

France went on to loose their empire in varies wars including Algeria and Vietnam. They developed atomic weapons in order to ensure that they would be difficult to occupy by larger powers in the future.

Answer 2

They declared war on Germany a couple of days after it invaded Poland. Then there was a period they called the "phony war," in which nothing happened on the border between France and Germany for about 7-8 months, because France's strategy was heavily defensive so they weren't going to move till Germany moved, and Germany was busy building up its strength and fighting elsewhere--overrunning Poland, and later invading elsewhere such as Denmark & Scandinavian countries.

Then in the spring of 1940 Germany attacked, and outmaneuvered the French decisively by going through a region that was considered impassable & so hadn't been defended; most of the French army ended up trapped behind enemy lines and taken prisoner, very few were left in the way of the German army, and the German army overran France with remarkable speed. (This phase of the war, and the strategy of great speed and overwhelming force the Germany used for it, was called blitzkrieg, German for "lightning war.) Before the German army could get all the way to the south coast of France, the French gov't sued for peace and signed an armistice.

According to the armistice agreement the Germans occupied the northern half of France, while the southern half was "free" and under its own government, based in the city of Vichy and therefore known as the "Vichy government". It was essentially a puppet government, and also had to pay heavy taxes to Germany to pay for the occupation of the north.

For the rest of the war the French military activities were restricted to the resistance and the "Free French." There were several networks of resistance, some of whom did things like assassination and sabotage and others were more like spies, focusing on getting intelligence on the Germans to provide to England & the Allies. The Free French were an army of French people who gathered in exile (mostly England) under general De Gaulle, who went to England after being fired from the French army for refusing to accept the armistice. These "Free French" formed themselves into an army that was equipped and armed by Great Britain and the U.S., and participated in D-Day and the liberation of France.

The role of France in the WW2 was very little. The 14th June 1940, the axis invade France.

They, along with the United Kingdom, declared war on Germany in 1939 when Germany invaded Poland. However, they did very little to assist Poland, and Germany wound up conquering it.

After the Polish conquest ended in October 1939, there was a long period known as the "Phoney War" or "Sitzkrieg" (German for "sitting war") where neither side did much militarily. There was some fighting, mainly out at sea, but on land there was very little going on until Germany invaded Norway and Denmark in April 1940. Then in May 1940 Germany launched an invasion of France and the Low Countries which was successful. France was defeated in a few weeks and their government surrendered.

France was subsequently split into two parts. The main part, which included the Atlantic coastline and most of northern France, was directly ruled by Germany. The remaining southern part was set up as an independent France, ruled by a World War I hero named Philippe Petain; this country is commonly referred to as "Vichy France", after the city of Vichy, which served as its capital. While supposedly independent, Vichy France agreed to do whatever Germany ordered them to do, and in return, Germany would allow them to remain mostly independent. At the end of 1942, Germany became worried about Allied armies that were invading North Africa (which is very close to southern France), so they went against their promise and took control of Vichy France too.

During this period of Vichy and then German rule, a French general named Charles De Gaulle created a rebel group called the Free French, who continued a guerrilla war against German occupation. In 1944, when the Allies invaded France at Normandy, the Free French provided valuable assistance. By the time the war ended, the Free French army was one of the largest armies in the European war.

Once France was liberated, the Free French became the new leaders of their country and General De Gaulle, now an almost legendary hero, went on to be a major political power until the end of the 1960's. Petain and his Vichy government were arrested and put on trial for treason as "collaborators" because they had helped the Nazi occupiers. Petain was stripped of most of his military honors and imprisoned until he died a few years later. Others, like Pierre Laval, were not so lucky and were executed.

Answer 3

The French did not play a huge role in World War Two. When war broke out in 1939, with Hitler invading Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany. However, France did not draft up plans for attacking Germany. In 1940, Hitler turned his attention to France.

On May 10th, German soldiers overran Belgium and the Netherlands. Within a month, the British men in France were trapped in the city of Dunkirk. In a massive program, all sorts of vessels from battleships to fishing boats came out and rescued them. But back to France. The French armies were basically gone by this time. Nazi soldiers marched into Paris without opposition.

From there, the Nazis raced south. However, from Marsielle on the Mediterranean coast to Lyons in the north, a Vichy French nation sprung up. In 1942, Vichy France, and its territories in Africa were seized by Hitler. From then on until 1944 and D-Day, when Britian invaded and liberated France, pretty much nothing happened.

Answer 4

Because Germany invaded them. Countries tend to fight back when they get invaded.