Why didn't France attack Germany in 1939?

We are in the summer of 1939. In Europe, Germany was seen as a huge threat to world peace. On the 23rd of August, Germany made a deal with the Soviets. This pact between these two historic rivals shocked the Allies, but Great Britain and France didn't know much about the fact that these documents included instructions on how Eastern Europe will be divided between them. It was about the countries that existed between the two powers, and one of them was Poland. Poland feared a German invasion, and the Allies promised that they would declare war if Poland would be attacked. The invasion started on the morning of the 1st of September. On September 3rd, 1939, the UK and France declared war on Germany, but nothing major happened. Just a tiny invasion in the province of Saarland. But not a full-scale offensive in order to stop the Germans. Why did this happen? Before trying to answer this question, we want to give special thanks to our sponsor, War Thunder. War Thunder is a free-to-play military vehicle combat online game. By playing, you can fight with millions of players worldwide. What we love about this game is that by downloading and playing it, you can get in touch with history. Why? Because it has an incredible arsenal of more than 1,500 historically accurate playable tanks, aircraft, helicopters, and ships from the 1930s to the 1990s. You can fight massive combined armed battles on over 80 major battlefields from World War II to the end of the Cold War. The game is available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Join the battlefield for free by using the link in the description below. By doing so, there is a free bonus for you. You will get access to your choice between a premium tank, aircraft, or ship, and a three-day account boost. Link in the description. On September 3rd, 1939, when the UK and France declared war on Germany, both Polish people and government officials became enthusiastic, hoping massive support from their allies. On the streets, there were spontaneous demonstrations of support for the French and British allies. Some people expected again a conflict on two fronts. Thus, Germany would be forced to withdraw some of their troops. But nothing major happened. One reason could be unpreparedness. Neither France nor Great Britain were prepared for an upcoming conflict, and they were not looking forward for another one. Before this, there were some settlements between Germany, Great Britain, France, and Italy that permitted German annexation of the Sudetenland in western Czechoslovakia, where about three million people in the Sudeten area were of German origin. It became known in May 1938 that plan was made for the occupation of Czechoslovakia. Neither France nor Britain felt prepared to defend Czechoslovakia. However, both were anxious to avoid a military confrontation with Germany at almost any cost. After this event, the German officials doubted that Chamberlain, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, had the stomach to go to war in defense of Poland. And that's why Germany went on a full-scale offensive in the east. At this point, Germany gambled its chance. They believed that the allies will not declare war, and even after they did, the big hope was that they will not attack. And that's what happened. Another reason, the hope for peace. Judging what happened, we can assume that France and Great Britain hoped until the last second to avoid again a new great conflict. But the invasion of Poland should have been the end of these hopes. Here the problem probably was the immaturity of both French and British governments. The French especially tried so hard to avoid war. There was some defeatism among the French, while on the other side, the society was pushed to fanatism and militarism. The memories from the Great War of how France suffered a long-lasting conflict, the impact on the economy at the time, plus the indecision of its government to take profit from a huge opportunity to defeat Germany in the first phase of the war, made France a victim after some months. Those two first weeks could have changed history, but the moment was lost and Poland couldn't resist against two big opponents. Then the realization, by the middle of September, that the Polish armies were so badly defeated and that the Germans would soon be able to move their superior forces to the west, created a fear of German superiority in arms and in the air. Also, the French government had insisted from the start that the British air force should not bomb targets in Germany for fear of reprisal on French factories. This bad decision greatly affected the morale of soldiers in both camps, France being seen as a weak country with no sense of action by the German authorities. This mistake will lead to the conquest of France by German troops eight months later, due again to poor decisions. This has created some jokes about the French army, but these jokes are not true. The problem was not in the French army or with the ordinary French soldier, but with the weak decisions and strategies put in place by the government. The Allies considered it madness for Germany to attack France, given its strong ally, the United Kingdom, also having a large army and some huge defense structures on the Maginot Line. That is why they preferred the defense of their own country and did not consider a major attack on Germany. To a certain extent, Germany was underestimated. Even if an Allied offensive would have been poorly prepared, the Allies would have had a huge advantage against the Germans. Germany had only 23 divisions on the Western Front, while the Allies had 110 divisions, and those German divisions were poorly equipped compared to those in Poland. The French had 4 to 1 advantage in artillery, and the Germans hardly had any planes there. A German general declared that Germany would easily be defeated in 1939 if the Allies helped the Poles. The bulk of manpower as well as nearly all mechanized units and Luftwaffe were used against Poland. If we did not collapse already in the year 1939, that was due only to the fact that during the Polish campaign, the approximately 110 French and British divisions on the West were held completely inactive against the 23 German divisions. Another German general stated that if the French had attacked in full force in September 1939, the German army could only have held out for one or two weeks. In 1939, both France and Britain were massive colonial powers. Facing two of the most powerful countries in the world would seem like a bad idea. And the British and French thought this would stop the German expansion and threatened to go to war if Poland would be invaded. Also, the Allies thought that the USSR posed a significant threat to Germany. And due to different ideology and the hatred between these regimes, a non-aggression pact seemed highly unlikely. After making a pact with the Soviets, the British and French were indeed surprised. But they still tried to call for peace, sending Germany an ultimatum and waiting for their reply. However, after the devastating First World War, Britain and France had kept at peace, so all their equipment was in storage. It took weeks for France to mobilize their artillery. The British had gotten new Spitfires to use instead of their Hawker Hurricanes. But had not swapped the planes, as war did not seem imminent. It seems that they didn't see a new world conflict coming, and they just focused on their own defense. By the time they got the stuff together, they realized none of their planes could even reach Poland without refueling. After the Soviets invaded from the east, it was clear that it was impossible to defend Poland. France then readied for the invasion of the Tsar land in Germany. But their commanders believed that the war would be fought like World War I. With stationary forces, they did invade the Tsar, but the French were half-hearted. There was no intention to go in a full-scale war, and the offensive failed to reach its objective. Once Poland fell, the German troops strengthened the front line and forced the French to retreat on their initial defensive position. They will never attack again. And after 8 months, France will be invaded by Germany. They will capitulate only after 46 days. We would like to give special thanks again to War Thunder for sponsoring this video. Also, don't forget to download the game by using the link in the description. Thank you so much for watching. See you next time.