The Maginot Line: The History of the Fortifications that Failed to Protect France from Nazi Germany During World War II (Unabridged) The Maginot Line: The History of the Fortifications that Failed to Protect France from Nazi Germany During World War II (Unabridged)

The Maginot Line: The History of the Fortifications that Failed to Protect France from Nazi Germany During World War II (Unabridged‪)‬

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"We could hardly dream of building a kind of Great Wall of France, which would in any case be far too costly. Instead we have foreseen powerful but flexible means of organizing defense, based on the dual principle of taking full advantage of the terrain and establishing a continuous line of fire everywhere." - Andre Maginot

As the power of Nazi Germany grew alarmingly during the 1930s, the French sought means to defend their territory against the rising menace of the Thousand-Year Reich. As architects of the most punitive measures in the Treaty of Versailles following World War I, the French government made natural targets for Teutonic retribution, so the Maginot Line, a series of interconnected strongpoints and fortifications running along much of France's eastern border, helped allay French fears of invasion. The popular legend of the Maginot Line portrays the frontier defenses as a useless "white elephant" project that was prompted by a gross misapprehension of warfare's new realities in the mid-20th century and quickly overwhelmed by the forceful advance of the German blitzkrieg. English idiom today invokes this vision of the Maginot Line as a metaphor for any defensive measure strongly believed in but actually useless. Indeed, usages such as "Maginot Line mentality," describing an overly defensive, reactive mindset, perpetuate the legend. As a French author and military liaison with the British, Andre Maurois, wrote about his disillusionment with the defensive line he originally enthusiastically supported: "We know now that the Maginot line-complex was a dangerous disease of the mind; but I publish this as it was written in January, 1940."

GENRE
Geschiedenis
VERTELLER
CF
Colin Fluxman
TAAL
EN
Engels
DUUR
01:31
u. min.
UITGEGEVEN
2015
24 juni
UITGEVER
Charles River Editors
GEPRESENTEERD DOOR
Audible.com
GROOTTE
74,9
MB