I heard a fairly convincing, if not well backed, theory once that the conservative French military command purposely threw the war against the Germans because the French government was increasingly moving leftwards and they’d rather be puppets under Germany for a bit than let capital be threatened in any way. If the French had stalemated the Germans during the initial blitz for just a few weeks Germany’s economy and war machine would’ve collapsed from cannibalizing itself.
this and related ‘french didnt want to win’ theories are bullshit
talking about a government that rounded up commies and put them in concentration camps at the onset of war, being unacceptably left-wing. and the price arch-conservative french generals would pay for being rid of such a government is extreme national humiliation, the loss of alsace-lorraine & military occupation.
people don’t seem to understand is that like the Germans & the Soviets, the Germans & the French (and Czechoslovaks & Poles) had irreconcilable disputes that overshadowed any but the most short-term cooperation. Conservatives can agree on a lot but they are not internationalists, they want their territory, they want their ‘face’ and ‘honor’, they want revenge for historical grievances.
