France\'s Decision to Enter World

France's Decision To Enter World War Two

The French generals understood that an attack on France by the Nazis was imminent but that Hitler had no interest in attacking the Maginot Line head-on and that the Nazis would simply bypass the fortifications by invading Belgium and Holland.

That left France (and her ally, Britain) with two very unattractive choices. Their first choice was to send troops into Belgium and Holland before any Nazi attack on those countries, in effect, initiating a hostile occupation of their own, given that Belgium and Holland were still neutral countries and that neither would cooperate explicitly with Britain and France out of fear of provoking Hitler if he had not already decided to invade their nations.

France and Britain's second choice was to wait for Hitler to attack Belgium and Holland before sending in troops to counter the Nazi offensive. In addition to losing momentum by allowing Nazi troops to establish themselves in the Low Countries before responding, this would also mean that the eventual battles would be much closer to French population centers. Because of the political implications of invading sovereign Belgium and Holland, the French decided on the second option of waiting for the impending Nazi attack on Belgium.

Italy's Decision to Enter World War Two

When the Nazis easily defeated Poland in the fall of 1939, Italy actually considered playing a role in the postwar peace negotiations.

Italy remained closely aligned with Germany despite resentment over the infamous non-aggression pact with Russia and the Assistance that Germany provided Russia in Finland. In face-to-face discussions between Mussolini and Hitler, the former informed the latter that Italy could not commit to a prolonged war but would assist Germany once Germany's western offensive proved successful; and Italy could only commit to that with three of four months of lead time.

Hitler made sure to court Mussolini further by providing updates throughout his progress in the Nazi conquest of Denmark and Norway and Mussolini decided that Italy would enter the war once Germany had achieved its western objectives and after having destroyed the principal defenses of France.