What was the Maginot Line? Explain in your own words why France and Britain were reluctant to go on the offensive vs. Germany

Answer 1

In order to understand what the Maginot Line was and why France and Great Britain remained on the defensive in Europe from the time they declared war on Nazi Germany in September, 1939 to May, 1940, when the Germans launched their attack on France, Belgium, and Holland, one has to understand the attitudes of the leaders, as well as most of the people, of these nations during the 'Interwar Period' (from the end of World War I in November, 1918 to the outbreak of World War II in Europe in September, 1939), when the Maginot Line was constructed.

To understand this, one must understand the impact that World War I (1914-1918) had on France and Great Britain. During World War I both France and Great Britain has suffered millions of casualties in battles on the 'Western Front' that, until the summer of 1918, failed to drive the German invaders out of northern France and Belgium. For the French in particular, the German occupation of a northern portion of the country resulted in the temporary loss of resources located specifically in this area - coal, iron ore, factories, resources that were desperately needed for the French war effort.

Even though the armies of France and Great Britain, with the help of troops from a dozen other nations - included the United States - ultimately broke through the German defenses on the Western Front, forcing the Germans to begin to retreat out of occupied Belgium and northern France in the summer of the last year of World War I, the cost in lives and wealth for the victorious French and British was crippling. The fighting on the Western Front in World War I appeared to prove that launching attacks - conducting offensive operations - was less likely to succeed (and, whether successful or not, would be very costly) than defending positions against an attack - conducting defensive operations.

It was this conclusion, reached by most of the political and military leaders in both France and Great Britain, that led to the adoption of primarily Defensive based strategies. In particular, the French sought to prevent a second German invasion and occupation of northern France by constructing, at great expense, a line of sophisticated fortifications along the French border with Germany. Named after the French Minister of War, Andre Maginot, the 'Maginot Line' of fortifications was intended, not only to stop a German attack, but also to inflict such heavy casualties on the German Army that, having been fatally weakened, the French and British Armies would eventually be able to conduct a successful counterattack without suffering the enormous numbers of dead and wounded that they had suffered in World War I.

This is why, when the governments of France and Great Britain went to war with Nazi Germany after Germany launched an invasion of neighboring Poland (to whom France and Great Britain had pledged their support), the French and British forces, instead of immediately launching an invasion of Germany, remained almost exclusively on the defensive between September, 1939 - when they declared war on Germany - and May, 1940 - when Germany launched its invasion of France, Belgium, and Holland.

Did the Maginot Line work? The answer is both 'Yes' and 'No'. Because of the presence of the Maginot Line, the Germans chose not to attempt to invade France by launching an attack across the French-German border. In this sense, the Maginot Line accomplished what its builders intended it to achieve. In the larger sense, though, the Maginot Line failed to protect France from a German invasion. The Maginot Line ONLY defended the shared French-German border. There was no Maginot Line along the border that was west of the French-German border. Here, France shared a border with neutral countries of tiny Luxembourg and with Belgium. The Germans disregarded these countries neutrality and invaded them anyway. German mechanized forces drove through neutral Luxembourg and into France. In other words, instead of trying to fight their way through the Maginot Line, the Germans simply went around it!