In this assignment, I am aiming to answer this question by looking at the long and short term causes of France's defeat. These include France's economic and political status, the preparations for war which Britain and France made and failed to make, Germany's military tactics and also the influences of generals such as Gamelin and Manstein. It could be said that an important long term cause of this defeat was WW1. When the Versailles Treaty was signed, it dictated that Germany could only have a very small army of 100,000. This meant that the German soldiers were more talented...
defeat was the lack of a strong leader and the unstable political situation, which lead to lack of preparation and poorly motivated troops. The Germans had a competent and inspiring leader who later made mistakes but at this point got nearly everything correct.

It is fair to say that the defeat of France at this point was a major shock. Poland had been expected to fall as had Belgium and Holland but the French army was respected and powerful. The fact that the Germans could destroy it so easily showed what an unstoppable force they were at this point.