Assignment Cover Sheet
Student Name: Innes Duke
Student No: z5157525
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Course Code: ZHSS1201
Course Name: ZHSS1201 The Second World War: Axis Ascendant
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Date Due: 26/04/2017
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Why Did France Fall in Six Weeks?
At the start of World War II, France was considered one of the Great Powers of the world. After the nation’s victory during World War I, France claimed many territories for its empire, spread throughout Eastern Europe and Africa. Despite the previous military victory and superiority, the German Wehrmacht and Panzer divisions were able to invade and defeat the French in just six weeks. This essay will analyse the numerous factors involved in this invasion, such as the effectiveness of the new German Panzer divisions, the importance of misleading tactical stratagem and the difference in efficiency and effectiveness of both the German and French chain of command, and will then evaluate the findings in order to establish a sound understanding and knowledge of this highly controversial event.
German victory in France and, more specifically, Sedan, was largely due to the new Panzer divisions and German tanks that had been manufactured. These divisions, as well as the new German strategy, had been designed for maximum mobility and lighting attacks. President Franklin D. Roosevelt commented on this new turn in strategic warfare on the 16th of May, 1940, remarking that “motorized armies can now sweep through enemy territories at the rate of 200 miles a day.”[footnoteRef:1]. This new form of warfare promoted and complimented a fast, highly manoeuvrable force with the capability of launching attacks via the element...
