The Maginot line in the international relation context of the

interwar period.

Lilly Larsen
History 1510

The Maginot line in the international relations context during the interwar period.

The Maginot line, was a line of military defense that ran from La Ferte to the Rhine

River. This was to stop German from entering and attacking France after World War 1.

International relations are Political science concerned with the relationship between

nations but mostly foreign policies. During the interwar period, the interwar period is the

time between World War 1 and World War 2, 1918 to 1939. I will address the Treaty of

Versailles, World war two, for what caused all this and then how it failed to work with the

German blitzkrieg. The relationships of the counties during that time, What the Maginot

line did, and didn't do. And what was life liking in the interwar period with all the great

depressions.

To start at looking at the Maginot line we must start with World War 1, World War

1 started in 1914 and lasted to 1918 with the assassination of Franz Ferdinand the
archduke of Austria-Hungary. The empire of Austria-Hungary was upset about the death

of this archduke so they threatened Serbia, where the assassin was from. When the

Russian government hears of this they are upset Serbia is a close ally. So, they

threaten Austria-Hungary, then goes to the German government asking for an alliance if

Russia does attack, that they will have help their side. Slowly all the other countries get

involved due to alliances. One of the things that started World War 1 was a intense

nationalism culture that was all over the place.

Germany was trying to invade France during World War 1 but got stuck in the

Belgian and French areas, this created trenches of which millions will die in. World War

1 was the start to modern warfare, showing how little effort can be taken to kill

thousands. New inventions such as tanks planes and mustard gas. All of those

inventions will lead to a ton of deaths. Photograph, will showing the true horrors of the

war to the people, radios will start telling people about the war almost daily, it was the

most communication in history at that point of time that civilization had to the front lines.

This caused fear to everyone who listen or saw what was going on at the front and saw

how many bodies piled up and what conditions the soldiers were living in. The

devastations after will be difficult for everyone, some Villages in Belgium and France will

completely have disappeared, France will have suffered more 1.4 million deaths, 4

million wounded, in the whole war about 8.5 million were killed.

When the war end, and the German forces surrendered, the allied forces will

have gathered at a conference called the Treaty of Versailles. At this conference the
big three decided to toss all the blame of the war onto Germany, make them pay for

the war that will take them 92 years to pay back, and they made sure that their economy

is wrecked, army destroyed, and some of German land will be taken and given to other

counties or made into new ones, majority of Germany was torn apart, and thrown into

the worst depression in history. This will be the Britain and Frances revenge on

Germany. I actually care a lot about the Treaty of Versailles in my personal opinion this

one peace treaty caused two wars: World War two and Vietnam, and I would like to

expand on this idea of the Treaty of Versailles.

The Treaty of Versailles, was unfair and put the German people in a horrible

situation, the Germans were forced to sign it, even if when they surrender to the

fourteen-point plan which was fairer than the treaty that France and Britain forced on to

the German government and it people, America will not sign the Treaty of Versailles, in

trade president Wilson will get the League of Nations. It they had to choose between a

wheelbarrow or the money in it they would just take the wheelbarrow. The inflation at

this time was crazy. In the year 1933 about 6 million Germans will be unemployed. So

when a man named Hitler comes in talking about how they could get Germany on its

feet again, and parents wouldn't have to see their children starve, The people threw

their vote to Hitler, little did they know what will happen in the future, what effect it will

have on people's lives for centuries.

I said that the treaty of Versailles will start two wars, and this is only a matter of

opinion but in Vietnam there was a guy named Ho Chi Minh, he lived in France in the

year 1918 when he hear about the Treaty of Versailles, he wanted to got to the signing
for two reason one of them was to see how democracies handle affairs such as world

war 1, the other was to ask American delegates to speak for the Indochinese. When the

Americans delegates wouldn't let him in or speak out for the Indochinese people, he

heads to Russia there he learns about communism. Then he was told to heads back to

Vietnam and he tells the people of this form of government. This will lead to Vietnam

war, where it is the north vs the south of Vietnam and the two sides will support two

major political parties of the time, Communism and Democracy. Ho Chi Minh wanted

democracies but after being denied forced him to choose another form of government.

so, Vietnam will at least have some form of government. You can tell by Ho Chi Minhs

quote It was patriotism, not communism, that inspired me.

The Treaty of Versailles had already torn a hole into Germany, and with the great

depression, every nation was drowning and struggling to stay afloat in this horrible

economic crisis. World War 1 has caused people to be overly paranoid about another

war breaking out, this started to put a strain on international relations. Russia was

getting a new government so they were down. France, Britain, and Canada where trying

to fix all the damages that hurt their population, also their economy dropped just like

Americas. Globalization was pushed to the corner of majority of nations focus. Your

nation comes first.

The term international relations showed up in the 20th century, this is one of the

first times in history that we could communicate with other countries, so fast and

effectively. The 20th century will also carry the bloodiest war, either we got to involved

or too little involved. Both getting to involved and not enough, was humans struggle for
years, both have been proven. Maybe if the world was looking at germane, helping, or

at least keeping an eye on the government, that World War 2 could have been avoided.

The time in between World War 1 and World War 2 was called the interwar

period. This is the time of history where every country fell apart economically. The

United States of America, was no different, having one of the worst parts of the great

depression from having so much power then falling, cause the great shock we know of

today it also it happened so suddenly no one knew what to do or what happened.

During the interwar period, many people were jobless unable to provide income

for the family leaving a lot of people unhealthy. There are multiple accounts of people

with college degrees who couldn't get a job, jobs that always have openings, because

the companies couldn't afford to have that position filled. There is a famous photo of a

women trying to sell her kids that she couldn't provide for she hides her face as she

cries he kids are sitting on the stair in front of her with a sign that read kids for sale. Just

as a human that sounds like a situation I know that I could ever face, or anyone for that

matter it would be so hard, to give up your whole world, your own children, so that at

least they could have some food in their tummies. This is the situation of life that many

people were forced to live.

During the interwar period, when the Great Depression was happening you also

have the dust bowl. The dust bowl was the Midwest where all the farms where and the

earth was very loose, since there were no trees, it was flat land, and with soil that was

very light. So, when the wind picked up it would care these particles of dust in the air,
the dust bowl lead to many people getting sick with pneumonia. This type of pneumonia

was caused because, the dirt that was floating around in the air when the wind blew

was making it into people's lungs and killing them. With the economy, the dust bowl and

getting back on its feet America had its hands full, just like the majority of the world did

at this time. The people were scared that a war would break out again, so much fear

was in the world.

The fear that another war will start was in every nation. France was no exception

to this, many high ranking military leaders in France feared that Germany would want to

seek revenge on the punishment. They had lost so many people and buildings to this

bloody war. So, they built the Maginot line as. It was constructed in the interwar period,

around the 1930s, and was named after the French minister of war Andre Maginot. This

was what they had planned as defense to anyone who tried to invade from the mainland

of Europe, they were mostly afraid of Germany. It was concrete shelters used as

observation points, and the Maginot line even had anti-tank guns and machine guns

that were in turrets and out on top of structures. There's was barbed wire to stop foot

soldiers. The Maginot line was built to be very sturdy and the largest artillery.

The soldiers or workers, would walk around inside the tunnels that were in the

Maginot line, some people have said it was like a glorified trench. The trench tactic

worked a little in world war one it was good enough to keep the Germans out for the
most part and in the end, they did win the war. Trench warfare would seem like the was

a good idea, if something works why change it right? a defensive barrier or strategy

that inspired false sense of security - Merriam- Webster. When World War 2 broke out

the Maginot line will not do anything, so to the average person it is seen as a failure. It is

also very easy to see how people would have believed that it would work.

To put this in an American perspective even if it sounds weird but this is how it

would have felt, its like if Mexico tried to invade us, we share a border, now imagine

that they also have more population than us, even if as a country we a geographical

bigger than Mexico. So, when Mexico losses the first try at an invasion everyone is

paranoid, and worried that they will try to take over again, because it almost happened

what will stop them from invading again? We lost a lot of people and town because of it.

So, to build a line in between that is full of guns and soldiers to defend ourselves, It

doesn't sound that bad of a plan, it's for sure not great but it's better than having 18 year

old out there defending us with not form of sure cover. If the line was not made then we

would only have soldiers out there defending us, with the guns and tanks but a physical

line that would pose as an obstacle. It makes sense and you can see why this Maginot

Line would be seen as a military advancement How the Maginot Line failed was

because the Germans didn't even go thru that way when invading in World War 2.

When the Germans started to invade France in 1944, the Germans would go

through Belgium, Ardennes forest to be exact, the section of the Maginot Line around

Belgium was a little weaker, the section of the line around German held the most
defense. The Ardennes forest was told to be impassable, so when they when threw the

forest to get to France no one knew that that was goanna happen. There German

commanders had planned to attack on the German and French border, but when it was

decided that the Maginot line was to formidable to attack directly, so they when threw

Belgium. When Germany invaded Belgium, they started with bombs then moved in

taking fort Eban Emael, an important fort in Belgium. After that they focused on carving

a road through the Ardennes forest, in about 3 day they made it. Germany then move

into France. They moved very fast and effectively due to radios. Germany started to

take France as fast as it could, and was succeeding in doing so. The Blitzkrieg tactic

proved to be effective when used on Poland so they used it for the invasion of France.

General Maxime Weygand -There is nothing preventing the enemy reaching Paris. We

were fighting on our last line and it has been breached. I am helpless, I cannot

intervene. This is an interesting quote, it says that we have done as much as we can.

But also, you end up helpless. This is Weygandt way of saying that Germany will win

but we can't do anything to stop it, he tells people that the battle is done Germans have

already one won

When the invasion of France was over the Germans started to strongly occupied

the northern said of France, leaving the Italians so help them watch the south side. The

south side of France was a little more relaxed than the north side, who had a set times

to be inside. France just like Poland had rebels who would give information to English or

Americans anyone who could be trusted with it. The war will continue and the Maginot

Line will be a problem when the Allies liberate France, but it will be not noticeable.
 I believe that the Maginot Line was really not that important it was made for one

thing that didn't really do much for in the world. It causes more harm than anything. It

was harder kicking Germans out of France, but there is the question of what if the

Germans decided to go through the German and French borders would the Maginot line

stopped them? The inter war periods were horrible, with people starving people dying,

dust storm raging, almost everything that could go wrong went wrong. How at the end of

World War 1 treaty of Versailles will cause so much problems for Germany, and how

this will give Hitler a little help on gaining power, slowly but surely. The reason why

people were so afraid at this time of history, and that this will affect the world's

international relationships.

This is an important thing to study so that way we can learn by being wrong, so if

we need to we can build a good defense up. The Maginot line when down for a few

reasons one was that Germany's army when threw Belgium. So, my thought on it is that

for how history turned out to be it was a fail, but to the Maginot line could have stopped

the Germans maybe.it a mystery if it would have work and that why makes it interesting,

it a mystery!
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