“Truly, the collapse of the French military is one of the great, obvious mysteries of the ‘best-researched’ war in history.”
France was wracked by Communist-inspired Political and civil unrest in the years before the war, paving the way for the defeat that was to follow.
The violence and the political scandals of the far left led to the rise of fascism within France, along the lines of National Socialism, as an alternative to the Soviet-inspired Communists and radical Socialists (the “Popular Front”), while the “old-Line” right, warning about a new war on the horizon, was increasingly marginalized. It just wasn’t the message the sheep wanted to hear.
This led to political paralysis, and the inability to come to a consensus on anything, until the threat was standing directly in front of them.
SOUND FAMILIAR TO ANYONE??.
With possible rare exceptions, French politicians between the wars were despicable. It wasn’t just the commies and fascists.