Was France too complacent shortly before WW One and underestimate the strength of Germany?

Answer 1

Far from it. After 1871 and the Prussian Victory at Sedan, the French pursued a policy of 'Revanche' - Revenge against Germany. For their own part, the German Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck, aware that France was hostile towards Germany, pursued a policy that would enable Germany to alienate and isolate France in the International community.

However, the succession of Kaiser Wilhelm II as German Emperor changed Von Bismarcks strategy for isolating Europe. Withdrawing from the Three Emperors League with Russia and Austria, Wilhelm II failed to renew the Reinsurance Treaty with Russia. Wilhelm instead pursued a closer military alliance with Austria-Hungary and Italy.

For their part, the French developed closer relations with Russia and England - resulting in the Entente and a formal recognition that Germany presented a danger to the security and stability of Europe. Confident that the military alliance with Russia had enabled France to encircle Germany in any future war, the French did not see the ugly reality of how unprepared Russia truly was for a future war.

The feeling of hostility towards Germany blinded France to the political-military realities. The hatred was so strong that every one and anyone suspected of having pro-German sympathies was the victim of french hatred of germans. A classic example of this was the Dreyfus Affair.

The French confidence that the Russians would overrun Germany by the sheer size of ther armies also blinded France to the earlier lessons of the Franco-Prussian War that the German miltiary machine had modernised under the reforms of Von Motlke.

While the French counted on a million plus Russians crossing over the border and invading Germany - the French did not realise that any Russian mobilisation would take weeks if not months. The German modernisation utilised the railway system to have German troops in Paris in a matter of days!

The French, confident that they could repel a frontal German attack in the future, completely underestimated the possibility that the Germans would attack France not head on - but from the North through Belgium. As a result, the French built a wall of fortresses along the French-German border such as at Verdun, which they believed would be able to halt any German advance.

What the French didnt count on was that the Germans, aware of the French desire for revenge, had set up their own invasion plans in the event of war - the Schlieffen plan - in which German troops would invade Belgium and then march south and take Paris.

The French never in their wildest dreams believed that the Germans would invade France through Belgium and violate Belgian neutrality.

The French were not complacent but they were blinded by the desire for revenge to the harsh geopolitical realities that Russia was in no shape for a total war - a fact that shoudl have been made evidentby the Russo-Japanese war of 1905.

Answer 2

No, France was ready and knew it would be a tough fight. What the allies did not foresee was that Germany would strike with overwhelming force through Belgium, a neutral country, to penetrate France to the very far west. Germany so gambled on this strategy that they took a chance leaving themselves bare in the center where they could expect the French to advance.

Answer 3

it wasn't only France. The whole world was caught pants down. Hitler was one sly sonofab****.