why did the maginot line cause the loss of france
Battle of France During the 1930s, the French had built the Maginot Line, fortifications along the border with Germany. The line was intended to deter a German invasion across the Franco-German border and funnel an attack into Belgium, which could then be met by the best divisions of the French Army. A war would take place outside of French territory avoiding a repeat of the First World War.[16][17] The main section of the Maginot Line ran from the Swiss border and ended at Longwy. The area immediately to the north was covered by the heavily wooded Ardennes region.[18] General Philippe Pétain declared the Ardennes to be "impenetrable" as long as "special provisions" were taken. If so, he believed that any enemy force emerging from the forest would be vulnerable to a pincer attack and destroyed. The French commander-in-chief, Maurice Gamelin also believed the area to be safe from attack, noting that it "never favoured large operations". French war games held in 1938, with the scenario of a German armoured attack through the Ardennes, left the military with the impression that the region was still largely impenetrable and that this, along with the obstacle of the Meuse River, would allow the French time to bring up troops into the area to counter an attack.[19]
France in the American Revolutionary War But France was a colonial rival of Britain, and while arguably being Europe's most prestigious nation, France had suffered humiliating defeats against the British during the Seven Years' War - especially its American theatre, the French and Indian War - only years earlier. France was looking for any way to strengthen its own reputation whilst undermining Britain; helping the colonists gain independence looked like the ideal way to do so. The fact that some of the revolutionaries had fought France in the French- Indian war scant years earlier was expediently overlooked. In fact, the French Duc de Choiseul had outlined how France would restore their prestige from the Seven Years' War as early as 1765, saying the colonists would soon throw the British out, and then France and Spain would unite and fight Britain over naval dominance.[9]