The Fall of France 1940

The shocking, virtually instantaneous collapse of French forces in the spring of 1940 was one of the most dramatic turning points, not just in the course of World War II, but in the entire 20th century.

France's defeat opened the way to four years of Nazi occupation in Western Europe and made possible the escalation of Hitler's genocidal war in the East.

This text offers a critical perspective on a momentous event more often studied for its causes than its consequences.

The main focus is on the French experience of the war, but this experience is framed within the larger context of France's - and Europe's - protracted mid-20th-century crisis.