The Maginot Line Explained

[@linusholmstrom876]

The line worked exactly as intended. It allowed France with minimal forces to direct german attacks toward Belgium, which allowed the french to focus most of their forces on a smaller front and fight their war on someones else's territory. Unfortunately for the french the belgians canceled the their alliance which meant France couldn't station troops there forcing them to rush forces through Belgium upon war being declared, causing a lot of confusion in the french forces. Which meant they couldn't respond to unexpected attacks such as the attack through the Ardenne forest as well as one might hope. The Ardenne forest wasn't completely undefended but defended by a small force only intended to hold an enemy force long enough for reinforcement to arrive. The german attacks succeeded because of the confusion in the french forces and because the french didn't expect the main attack to come through the Ardenne.

[@Nasox]

in Short: "you maybe outsmarted me but i outsmarted your outsmartnes "

[@mathy1799]

The French were prepared for an invasion trough the Ardenns, and had a motorized division in reserve to plug any gap. What they did not expect was the German invasion of the Netherlands (which had been neutral in WWI and was an important source of import for Germany). The allied command sent the reserves to plug the gap between the Belgian redoubt at Antwerpen and fortress Holland, leaving the Maginoline without backup.

[@Dhjaru]

The thing that really ruined the maginot line was belgium declaring neutrality.

[@Diggnuts]

Leave it to the bloody Belgians to fuck everything up again.

[@NoNameAtAll2]

Leave it to UK and France to allow germans to militarize Rhineland

[@chillaxo9863]

@@NoNameAtAll2 how could you stop them When your population is against war You oversimplifie the action way to much

[@NoNameAtAll2]

@King how could Belgium not declare neutrality? when your allies just gave free territory to enemy for maneuver to fight on your land instead of enemy's -you- Dhjaru and Diggnuts oversimplify the action way too much And you didn't get my comment.

[@chillaxo9863]

@@NoNameAtAll2 fuck

[@TheSquishey]

I'm the French soldier at 9:40 haha

[@buggi_ecchy]

as the holy crusader who sent you their picture I do in fact appreciate my appearance in this video.

[@carzo_5937]

Tx

[@thisisabadname7599]

The maginot line's fatal flaw..... They didnt finish it

[@guilhemane]

They did finish it

[@thisisabadname7599]

@@guilhemane if a defensive structure is built to stop an invading force It ain't finished if you can just go around it

[@LEFT4BASS]

Actually, the French expected the main fight to happen in Belgium, and the Maginot line was meant to divert the Germans through Belgium, where the French and Belgians would hold along the River Meuse and Albert Canal. But when Germany demilitarized the Rhineland and France and Britain didn’t do anything about it, Belgium left the alliance, which left them wide open to attack. If Belgium hadn’t left the alliance, they would have had nearly complete fortifications. The Ardennes being left unguarded is a lot of what destroyed the French though.

[@Valandix]

@@LEFT4BASS We didn't let the Ardennes unguarded, as I know the Chasseurs Ardennais and some civilian millitias did a better job in the Ardennes than entire divisions of french professionals

[@LEFT4BASS]

You’re right actually. If I remember right, the Ardennes was guarded lightly based on the assumption the Germans wouldn’t attack through it.

[@randomstuffc.j.o1408]

The maginot was supposed to be bypassed, as French defense rely on the Belgians not leaving them

[@zintosion]

I believe both France and UK seriously underestimated Germany Also would you consider doing a video about the forgotten war? AKA the Korean war?

[@HamisGood12]

I haven’t heard the term forgotten war can someone please elaborate?

[@absolutshadow876]

Kings and Generals has a good video on it. Cold War is working up to it.

[@ismokevodka]

@@HamisGood12 It's the name for the Korean War since it was between WW2 and The Vietnam War making it "forgotten" in the eyes of Americans

[@charlesuzozie5747]

@@ismokevodka yeah and the 2nd Korean war is even more forgotten than the 1st one since it happened during Vietnam which the media focused on.

[@Jodonho]

How did they design the Maginot Line against nuclear bombs which didn't exist for another ten years?

[@HistoryScope]

It wasn't designed for it, but it was build so well that it was able to withstand it.

[@scotcarr3390]

Funny thing about the Maginot Line - it certainly would've protected France's borders if Germany stuck to its previous tactics. Tanks WERE a game changer in WWI, but if one compares the 1st generation of them in the countries who used them, they had glaring weaknesses as well. The Line would've been a great blockade & made good use of the 1st tanks design flaws, but Germany wasn't playing w/the old rules. A good documentary that covers all of France's strengths & vices is the episode "France Falls" in the Thames TV documentary series "The World At War". Compared to today (if was broadcast in the '70s), it looks dated as Hell, but we're talking about WWII here. And Fremantle Films, the company who made the home video available, did a complete restoration a few years ago for the Blu-ray release. Not only does it look & sound fresh, it has the strength of having the major players in the war giving contemporary interviews. Almost allot them are dead now - Anthony Eden (Lord Avon), James. Stewart (yes, the old Hollywood star - he was also a legit hero), Albert Speer, Karl Doenitz, Traudl Junge, I could go on - so seeing & hearing them give their perspectives is oddly compelling.

[@mitchellmdl7278]

Excellent video again!! Well done!

[@abdelrahmanwael2551]

"damn Belgians..." uhhh gekolosinieert i guess

[@Valandix]

B O Z E H O L L A N D E R

[@tommyvercetti9434]

France: Considers that Germany's humiliation will create another war. Also France: pushes the most humiliating terms of the Versailles Treaty

[@mathy1799]

The Versailles treaty was nothing compared to the peace Germany tried to impose on the former Russian Empire. And even with the treaty and reperations, the situation in post-wwi Germany was beter than that in former occupied France and Belgium. Sure, Germany does not deserve full blame for the war, but they did deserve blame for going scorged earth in the last few months of the war and all the other horrible things they did to France and Belgium.

[@baddriversofmoosejaw8681]

Great video. I've been thinking for some time now. The French should've taken lessons from the Russians. If you've heard of the defences the Russians set up before The Battle of Kursk. They set up anti-tank ditches, minefields and fake guns. They also set up their anti-tank ditches in a checkerboard pattern, which were C-shaped with anti-tank guns and machine guns. The ditches were linked through trenches, similar to World War 1. These trenches could be crossed by tanks, but the guns and anti-tank ditches would force the German tanks to go through narrow gaps, instead of in a long line, which made it easy to slow them down. They talk about this in the series: Generals At War. The episode about The Battle of Kursk is here on KZbin if you haven't seen it.

[@baddriversofmoosejaw8681]

@@generalnoob2530 I'm aware of that. Anti-tank ditches and minefields were nothing new. My other point was, that's a lot cheaper and less time-consuming than building concrete bunkers all along the French/German border. If they had done it that way instead, they could've built a bigger army and had more of a chance. Of course, the Maginot Line not extending through the Ardennes was a big mistake. Clearly, the French underestimated the Germans. Also, the fact that the French, British and Canadians combined had more tanks than the Germans during the battle and had the French-built tanks that were fast and had radios like the German and British tanks the 2 could've formed a pincer after the Germans came through the Ardennes, thus cutting them off from supplies and reinforcements. That was a big mistake on the German's part. It took until 1942, before they had their auto industry making their tanks, hence why they didn't have as many as they really needed and couldn't afford to take heavy losses like the Allies and the USSR. They originally had their tanks produced by their heavy equipment industry, which was not based on assembly line production, that could produce dozens per day. Their tanks were also not built to be easy to repair.

[@baddriversofmoosejaw8681]

@@generalnoob2530 Something else is that the Germans originally planned to come through Belgium and the Netherlands, just like in World War 1. The invasion happened months later than originally planned. It was postponed 29 times because they couldn't figure out how to get past the Allies. A German general named Erich von Manstein objected to going through Belgium. He said, ''That's what the Allies expect. It will bog down in trench warfare.'' He instead proposed going through the Ardennes but was overruled, because the other Generals thought that would be impossible. Manstein then got invited to a lunch with Hitler and presented his plan directly to him. Hitler accepted and that's exactly what happened. And as well all know, it worked.

[@dbz9393]

Roman empire and France: Germans in forests? What could go wrong come on

[@vereinfacht8967]

“France suffered the most damage from WW1” Russia and Germany: Yeah sure buddy

[@rambo8wradio]

Take a look at casualties compared to population size of those countries. (Serbia, Ottomans and Romania seem to have suffered larger percentrage of losses btw.) The war on eastern front was more maneuver oriented, in France front would leave moon landscape.

[@HistoryScope]

Germany wasn't even invaded :D

[@shh4437]

Your videos are amazing. You deserve more subscribers.

[@birbmam]

I like how i am in both a suit and a red shirt and am basically right next to myself in the corner

[@birbmam]

also the guy after me when your showing off all the people who got drawn looks like keanu reeves

[@matttucker3]

Hey man I just want to say awesome video guys you’re channel is amazing!!

[@HamisGood12]

Happy new year I am in Australia so compared to most of the world I am in the future and great video guys as always.

[@whoareyou1034]

This guy is living in 2020 while we are living in 2019.

[@HamisGood12]

Simple Person 2020 is good and just so you know it can only get better then what it is like in 2019.

[@themightysovietunion7563]

@@whoareyou1034 not anymore

[@evosioa2944]

Oooooh boy, y’all were very wrong

[@queenjaylavii]

​@@HamisGood12yikers

[@SmokeDimi]

I really hate the way you explained invasion of France on 5:35 animation because it didn't happen like that. Army group attacking Maginot line as a diversion was correct but the other two groups were misrepresented. You had to show one German army group advancing through southern Holland and northern Belgium. Then you show French and British troops rushing north to stop them before they reach French border and only then you show German advance through Ardennes forest and their rush to the sea. By doing it this way you can show how main force of French army was surrounded and beaten into Dunkirk pocket. French forces in northern France were not ill equipped. They were the best France had to offer and they were better equipped than the German Army. I find your lack of knowledge on the subject very disturbing although the main subject (Maginot line) is covered pretty well.

[@buk3295]

Jesus this has some significant inaccuracies. French built Maginot line on Belgian border as well as the Greman one and their plan of defence included attack through Belgium (Germans did it first time and they could do it again). They had their best forces in Belgium when they got encircled and thats why Paris fell almost wihount fight.

[@SelfProclaimedEmperor]

The maginot line along the Belgian border was much weaker than the main maginot line. Had they fully extended the line at full strength, the Germans would not have breached the border.

[@adi-kr6sh]

love your channel, salute from spain!!!

[@uriulrich4918]

I regularly stroll around the Maginot line and the fortifications on the German side. I'm glad, that as a German I'm not met with a fierce resistance when doing so.

[@KatInHerKat]

Could you do a video about the German settlement of seized lands during WW2? I feel like the actual progress the Germans made towards fulfilling their goal of the war is often overlooked, and could use a healthy dose of awesome YT content

[@naapalm82]

No poll… I vote the Dreyfus affair.

[@HistoryScope]

The video hasn't gone public yet

[@rizonzzz9986]

History Scope what have I come across a latter maybe or something or sinister....

[@Ray-gv7mr]

@@HistoryScope Dreyfus is innocent.

[@Yanramich]

France suffered the most damage in WW1 *Laughs in Russian and Serbian*

[@louisgantengsedunia4597]

Everybody gangsta till the germans use gustav to destroy da MAGINOT LINE

[@cucumber623]

it was a great fortification it just had one minor flaw, you could walk around it

[@SelfProclaimedEmperor]

Only if you're a dishonorable country willing to invade neutral countries.

[@tetraxis3011]

@@SelfProclaimedEmperorWar is not fair.

[@SelfProclaimedEmperor]

@@tetraxis3011 it's not, that's why when your dishonorable actions cause the whole world to end up at war with you, you can't complain when you inevitably lose lol

[@It_is_I_Rogal_Dorn]

"A good offense is a good defense." -Rogel Dorn.

[@Evandarlingisdaddy]

What in the warhammer 40l is this

[@pratyushmanchandia5287]

thank you, this was very helpful.

[@Zekrom569]

Well basically it was like a firewall with a huge variety of open (and vulnerable) ports. Or like a security gate without a fence around the whole perimeter of the property.

[@arkad6329]

This makes one wonder, if nuclear weapons are now the “new Maginot”, and being used to deter aggression as Maginot line once did; what will be the next “Belgium”? Sooner or later Nuclear Weapons will be outdated. I just want to know how.

[@noisemarine561]

The iron dome, a defensive system that uses missiles to intercept other missiles within a certain proximity. I believe Israel and Us have started developing it.

[@memnonmemnonidis4712]

@@noisemarine561 Dont the Israelis already use the iron dome? i believe i heard so in the news during their last conflict with the Palestinians.

[@noisemarine561]

@@memnonmemnonidis4712 Yes they do

[@gamerbros5671]

Showed this video to my grandpa and he was shocked.

[@tommyoutof6018]

4:37 I just wanted to ask since I’m taking notes, how would you spell what it’s called?

[@cherrydonut4219]

Germany evading the line like my dad evading child support

[@ORELIANVS]

"France was still depending heavily from the Maginot line" why do we still have this stereotype on 2020?

[@ey6713]

But no body have a stereotype on us when we Lost a war against Canada because of our owne winter

[@F.R.E.D.D2986]

You do realize that the marignot line was meant to push Germany In Belgium because better to fight a war there instead of home

[@petartoshkov2076]

France: Now they can never get trough here it has bunkers which can withstand nuc... Germany: Hippity hoppity trough Belgium I go to make the French my property

[@christopherseelig1636]

If the French revised the flaw in the plan as early as 1927 why did they do nothing about it? They did not even just expand?

[@nandinhocunha440]

It cost alot of money and I believe it almost bankrupt France.

[@Napsssy]

I was actually thinking about the Maginot line for like two weeks but was a bit too lazy to make my research, thank you for ableing me to become more lazy

[@HistoryScope]

Procrastination has saved you once again.

[@itsblitz4437]

Magniot Line seems to speak a lot and the purpose is somewhat similar to the US and their view on security, especially after 9/11. Well this is metaphorically speaking anyway.

[@tommyoutof6018]

3:06 I’m just marking where I’m up to cuz I’m taking notes to learn ;-;

[@Ansset0]

2.9 bln franks in 1930 was around 0.83 percent of France GDP. You definitely messed up with calculations. By comparison, that would represent today about 40percent of annual military budget in France. Not some 173bln euro, ffs.

[@bryantmcintyre3323]

What was the economic effects of building the line

[@TheMrPeteChannel]

Jobs.

[@cerium5754]

This is where legends cried.

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

Germany went around that expensive effort because of course they did

[@darrenblack5541]

I read somewhere else that France had initially planned with Belgium to extend maginot line along the Belgian Germany border.But didn't after Belgium declared neutrality and didn't continue it in French soil to prevent the Belgian people from thinking they had been abandoned.Don't know whether it is true or not

[@Valandix]

Since I'm Belgium, I will answer that one; There were talks of extending to incorporate our forts system (Eben-Emael, various citadels,...) and expanding it in the Maginot line between the Governement and France; But since 1935, we did see France as weak and the UK caring little, and we decide to take the shot to be neutral and hoping we'll not be attacked. Remember that the Rape of Belgium wasn't so long ago

[@darrenblack5541]

@@Valandix great everyone back in 1935 already had spoiler to the war

[@SelfProclaimedEmperor]

@@Valandix That's a stupid idea, if the Germans already invaded you once when you were neutral, what made the Belgians think neutrality would work this time?

[@Makem12]

I don't think that the Maginot line was a failure per se, but was not long enough. Had France extended the line, even halfway, to the Baltic Sea and Mediterranean Sea, I find it fairly plausible that France could have held on for several months instead of several weeks. Any thoughts on this assessment?

[@mitchverr9330]

First, I assume you mean the English Channel, Atlantic or North sea, not the Baltic sea which is on the other side of Germany. As for the other front with Italy, wasnt needed, nor was it needed on the Swiss front (if Germany was insane enough to go to war with them to try and get through, the allies could funnel troops in to help them). The line originally reached the atlantic, its just that part of the line was in Belgium following the natural defencive line of rivers through that country, the fact Belgium withdrew from the mutual pact means the French army was not allowed to move into Belgium to man that half of the line before the war happened and take up positions, leaving the entire region open for the Germans to overrun the tiny Belgian army. France didnt want to build along the Belgian front because 1) it basically says "screw you belgium" and 2) the front is on Frances immediate border, and eastern France is naturally where much of the capability to fight a war exists in france, they cant just relocate where the iron and other natural resources exist ^^.

[@Makem12]

@@mitchverr9330 that was extremely enlightening. Thank you

[@SelfProclaimedEmperor]

If the Maginot line were extended to the English Channel, the French wouldn't just hold out for months, they would hold out indefinitely, France would never fall, and eventually the allies would push into Germany and defeat them.

[@ThreeNinjaDucks]

7:41 ur dawning implies that if the stupid Maginot line didn't exist we would have laser weapon

[@HistoryScope]

I highly doubt people would think we'd go from ww1 weapons to gauss cannons (that's what I drew). I placed it to show the point, albeit in an over the top manner

[@ThreeNinjaDucks]

History Scope i got ur point it was more of joke question and bad faith critics but thanks for the response love you videos

[@nightsurvivor3673]

How about a video on the 1989 European Revolutions? Lookin' for a banger when it gets to Romania...

[@HistoryScope]

It looks like that will be the 2nd next video, based on the poll. I will cover Romania too.

[@conorhogan7353]

Now imagine me in the maginot line, sitting on a mine in the maginot line, now it's turned out nice again the army life is fine!

[@WatermelonDog202]

French tourists wondering where all of the ammunition and weapons in the maginot line went after i traveled there (they said it was left to decay)

[@jamesrobsonza7752]

The line worked exactly as planned, however the French armed forces failed to understand how quickly it could be bypassed. This led to the French army being surrounded in Belgium as the Germans easily defeated the ill equipped French forces sent to defend the Ardennes. With the main French army taking pre-emptive positions in Belgium, the Germans were now closer to mainland France than the French army and were caught by surprise. The Germans then pushed hard to the coast trapping the French army and forcing it to surrender and they nearly got the British too but they escaped at Dunkirk. With German forces in the French heartland and fast approaching Paris and the French forces defeated and the British in a bleak position post Dunkirk, France had no choice but to surrender

[@alextoso100]

Almost every KZbinr that makes a video on this topic fail to explain the bigger picture, including this video. The entire point was to force the Germans in to Belgium, better to fight your enemy in another country than in your own. So technically the line did it’s job. Histograph has a fantastic video on the fall of France where he explains the lines usefulness better than most.

[@alextoso100]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y2WQnWODgtCJjrM

[@andreasgonatas951]

Your video has 1 huge gap on why the Maginot line failed. France had a defensive pact with Belgum to extend the Maginot line all the way into the Ardennes of Belgium. This crucial part is what could have made the Maginot line a viable statergy. It's when the Belgiun king dishonered this agreement with France when he paniced with the possible prospect of a similar situation during the first WW were Belgium would be devastated by a possible German occupation, much like the situation in France with the Trench warfare. The situation would have been completly different if France would have been able to fully deploy their statergy and being able to deploy a large portion of their forces in the Ardennes in Belgium. Germany would most likely not been able to breach the defensive position on their border with France and Belgium. France would have had an easy time to deploy their troops on all fronts in case of a German attack.

[@Valandix]

It wasn't only the king but also most part of the gov' and parliement, it was more worth it to get out of the agreement when you consider the point of view of the belgian situation. And yes, sorry that they didn't want Rape of Belgium 2 : Angry Hans Bangaloo, and yes and no, the french millitary stationing in Belgium would push the population even more against the war and France. Anyway, why would Magninot would suceed when the fortress tactics was proven inneffective?

[@SelfProclaimedEmperor]

@@Valandix The maginot line was better than the Belgian forts, because the French forts supported each other with Artillery fire. Fort Eben Emael was lost to paratroopers, a French fort cannot be lost like that because if paratroopers land on a french fort, the 2 other forts on its flanks would rain artillery fire on the fort, killing all the paratroopers while doing no damage to the underground fort.

[@zozozelollipop]

How did the maginot line was able to whistand nuclear power when it didn't existed at the time of the maginot line?

[@apleknight411]

It could survive nuclear hellfire? first time i’ve ever heard that.

[@reidwallace4258]

I mean, if you use a loose definition of survive. The underground areas of the fortifications were in some cases sealed, hardened and deep enough under ground that low yield early nukes might have been survivable at the deepest levels. The gun positions and the like were certainly not as likely to survive, and the lack of understanding of the dangers of nukes, fallout and the like, would have likely rendered their advantages moot anyway as nobody would know the safe seeming dust was their worst nightmare... but yeah, some of the bunkers had places you might have been able to ride out a nuke, we aint talking norad here tho.

[@xeanderman6688]

0:08 i suppose that was after the WW2, right?

[@ThePJDurham]

Happy to be a test subject lol

[@emil.jansson]

What if they spread out the line with the Belgian border?

[@Putseller100]

Is it possible that the only reason it failed was there were too many troops guarding the line. I don't remember exactly the number but many more French divisions were behind the line than Germans were opposed to it. I want to say it was the high 50's for the French and about 40 German divisions. Being a strong defensive position this basically defeated the purpose, less troops are needed behind the line than the enemy forces opposed to it. Had France taken say 10 divisions away from the line and placed them in the rear as reserves there would have been troops to reach Sedan during that critical time May13-14. There still would have been plenty of defenders behind the line in case the Germans attacked it.

[@mikesaporitojr3313]

So I live in America and if I wanted to go to Europe and visit the line which is the closest fort museum to my way in?

[@googleiscool2037]

it's a shame that all of that funding and building over years of hard work of the most advanced defense at the time just to get encircled.

[@Storming360]

The line was great defense but they weren't ready for Belgium betraying them and go neutral.

[@samarkand1585]

Bleh, you failed to explain how the Maginot line was planned from the start to be a part of a bigger defensive network involving Belgium, and how its sudden neutrality ruined it, you did mention the Ardennes being the weakpoint that was used for the breakthrough, but if anything, it really only tells that the line should have just been extended a bit, not that it wasn't worth it, second, you mention supposedly "harmful" consequences of the line building, but without providing any actual fact, exemple, or testimony to it. What weapons didn't get developed? What alliances did it cause them to neglect? Who warned them about the flaws of the plan? Surely, if you said that, it means that during your researches you found actual evidence for it, right? Why not include them? You made your video go just past 10 minutes by pointlessly dragging on your fancy fort illustrations and by talking about what the line became after the war, but you couldn't have the time to talk about that? All in all, a woefully incomplete video

[@Putseller100]

These are good points you bring up. For instance weapon development was hardly impacted, any new weapons that were developed during the period would be obsolete by 1939. I don't know how alliances had anything to do with the line construction. In fact Britain wasn't to helpful during this period and that showed france they were on their own.

[@tremorlok6659]

The video states that Germany’s economy was much larger than France in 1918. I’ve always been led to believe that Germany was broke after the war. Does anyone have any suggestions on resources that might clear that up for me or better explain the nuance?

[@alexburke1899]

Germany was broke in 1919, the war ended I think November 1918 and they were forced to sign the treaty of Versailles. They had to give up a bunch of territory and cede foreign colonies as part of the treaty. They were also slapped with reparations that they spent decades paying off and the Great Depression was worldwide in 30’s. I’m sorry I don’t know of a resource to recommend I guess just the treaty of Versailles is best place to start. I’m not sure but I don’t think Germany surrendered due to financial issues although it could have been. I think it was more a shortage of everything else like food, supplies and properly trained soldiers.

[@PigWarfare]

Can we get some more war stuff!? Love it!

[@nananthapadmanabhanpillai1091]

The line extended into the italian and belgian border aswell

[@franlpk9587]

Oh France and Germany. What is it with you guys? Always fighting

[@matthewlui1004]

Maginot was very right about a future invasion. Unfortunately, no one was convinced enough that the line should extend to the sea and stop relying on Belgium when it is not their puppet state. Besides, why didn't the troops at the Maginot line retreat and regroup. I get the Maginot line is an important fortification, but you still lost.

[@mitchverr9330]

They didnt get the chance really, by the time that the main german thrust made it through, it was effectively "lost" so to speak do to 1 single major problem, the French commands lack of capacity to coordinate. Effectively this boiled down to not having radios to tell people to move quickly and at times taking days to launch counter attacks. Funny enough though, the Maginot line troops held out well, there was a plan to try and retreat and reform, a couple in fact which were working in tandem, the problem was the French government giving up completely and Vichy forces taking over. The plans were 2 seperate works. Plan 1 iirc De Gaulles plan was for a general retreat order to all French forces still fighting to Britanny, where they would dig in like ticks heavily armed and prepared and force the Germans to come at them or risk the allies building momentum and numbers to turn them, interesting plan and if it didnt work out, the French could retreat to the UK via the very big ports in the region. The government ordered the army to surrender and there was little to no way to get word past the government to the men in the field/Maginot. Plan 2 I forget who was in charge of this plan, but it was to fight from Africa, with government and military officials falling back to North Africa to take over the forces there and to attempt to press the war from abroad, the problem was the local leadership in North Africa decided to follow the Vichy orders of arresting them all when they arrived and gave up on fighting the Germans. Also, not relying on Belgium to be a puppet, relying on them to realise being neutral means sod all to the Germans.

[@abdelrahmanwael2551]

More like the magi NO line eyyyyyy

[@wouterbijleveld6711]

What are your sources?

[@guilhemane]

Nice video. But I don't like how you treat the gap in the line as an ignorant move. They didn't extend the line across the Belgium border because Belgium had it's own line of defences and due to their alliance a prepared defense in Belgium would be feasible. As long as they were able to deploy troops in Belgium *in advance*. When Germany positioned troops in the rheinland and France and Brittan didn't react, the Belgium king felt cheated. He dropped their alliance, ruining the french plan. The Maginot line was only a part of a larger defense plan. That was torn apart when Belgium dropped the alliance due to French and British attitudes of appeasement towards Nazi Germany.

[@Nasox]

In Short: France small Brain

[@lordmiraak8991]

5:20 says the dutchman

[@ShadyAli17]

Why didn't Germany go through Luxembourg instead of Belguim as Luxembourg is obviously smaller in armed forces and smaller in size so it would be easier and quicker to use it to pass to France compared to Belguim?

[@HistoryScope]

Because the Maginot Line was also placed along the Luxembourg border.

[@souviendra]

Please list your sources. Thank you.

[@karwan6385]

Maggot line.

[@chillaxo9863]

Why didn't they extend it?

[@HistoryScope]

Because it was too costly, belgium didn't want it on their border, and France didn't think it was necessary

[@deathshot7623]

Great video Can you simplyfy operation market garden and why is it a Failed

[@HistoryScope]

No. I don't want to focus too much on WW2. There are other, better KZbin channels who have already covered that topic indepth.

[@HistoryScope]

I just checked. The Armchair Historian made a video on it. I suggest looking up his video as he's usually pretty good.

[@deathshot7623]

@@HistoryScope thx for your channel suggestion and your opinion on the matter

[@Amitdas-gk2it]

TY 😊

[@rileyduwa4984]

Tactical scope

[@me67galaxylife]

for something called history scope you're citing a lot of myths

[@reidwallace4258]

I know this is kinda the superhero showdown of history questions, but history nerd to history nerd... Could the Germans have broken the line if they had tried? If things had gone according to the french plan, do you think their fortifications were heavy enough to halt or turn back the German war machine? Or at least hold out the planned 3 weeks or however long it took to counter attack? Or do you think all the static defenses in the world would have been outmaneuvered and outgunned by the blitz? I know a situation where any general, even fucking Hitler, knowingly threw men at a planned defense when flanking it is an option is kinda unrealistic, but humor me? How would that fight have gone, to your mind?

[@HingerlAlois]

The French plan was to fight in Belgium... The Maginot Line was supposed to divert the attack to the north where French and Belgian troops were supposed to stop the German attack. It was actually also the initial German plan to attack through Belgium just like during WW1, the attack through the Ardennes wasn’t the initial plan of the German high command. A German airplane crash landed in Belgium in January 1940 (Mechelen incident) aboard the airplane were significant parts of the initial German plan which the Belgians then also shared with the French and British. The attack through the Ardennes was the idea of von Manstein, he managed to convince Hitler to choose this plan instead of repeating pretty much the same WW1 attack which the high command favored...

[@SelfProclaimedEmperor]

Considering the forts of the maginot line can withstand nuclear bombs, attacking it head on would simply not work. You cant destroy the forts, and if you try to move past them without knocking them out, they have interlocking fields of fire with the forts on its flanks, killing your men with machine gun fire, artillery fire, and the German tanks would not get through due to several layers of anti tank rails, anti tank ditches, and moats, not to mention the forts could disable tanks with artillery, and the forts also had heavily armored turrets with anti tank guns in them, to pierce the panzer's and knock them out.

[@DeepakKumar-ts1re]

Why didn't the Belgians develop a defensive strategy against the Germans when French were their allies?

[@HistoryScope]

As far as I know, they did. But Germany was too powerful.

[@DeepakKumar-ts1re]

@@HistoryScope Thanks for the informative video and quick reply!

[@2nddelta169]

Hi History Scope, Awesome Video. Why didn't the French extended the Maginot line to the English Channel?

[@HistoryScope]

It cost too much and they thought that Belgium was too difficult to get through. The Maginot Line was meant to prolong an invasion long enough so that the French army could mobilise. The ardennes, they thought, served that purpose well enough. Belgium was also an ally, meaning that France could deploy in Belgium in time to further halt a German invasion. Belgium was also strongly opposed to a border fortification on their border. But when Belgium became neutral, france decided to extend the Maginot Line all the way to the English channel... But it was too little too late.

[@LikeUntoBuddha]

Politics and stupidity.

[@trueslav7430]

France didn't suffer the most the crown goes to Serbia

[@LucidFL]

THE POINT WAS TO FORCE GERMANY TO GO THROUGH BELGIUM

[@HistoryScope]

OKAY! NOW PLEASE STOP SHOUTING AT US!

[@gooddog2001]

Who in France opposed building this line and why?

[@maxitrodlgd9638]

i think its bc of the cost of the Maginot line

[@curiousbengali6607]

Happy New Year. You used the wrong GERMAN flag at 6:59 .

[@HistoryScope]

I know. That's on purpose.

[@curiousbengali6607]

@@HistoryScope why??

[@FxTR22]

you said that the magino line would even survival a nuclear blast. This is bit just trown in without any much explanation. also you said that it widthstanded the german artilery barage, is that even any reason to say so since it already would, as you say it, withstand a nuclear blast? This is bit off in your telling Oo Please bit more concrete details on this.

[@CallOfDuty-Warzone]

Thanks to the invention of chainsaws

[@oletoustrup8572]

I find it highly unlikely that they had any form of nuclear attack in mind when they build that line in the 30ies.

[@brianamo3393]

Yet they listened to other countries and didn’t complete the border

[@harrison6082]

7:31

[@mrpilkington9710]

Goldbricking french builders

[@AdriLeemput]

5:23 Zeg dat maar tegen de protestanste leiders in de revolutie van 1830 :)

[@ffarkasm]

Building the Maginot Line was as pointless as building the second Death Star.

[@SelfProclaimedEmperor]

Not true, Germany had far more men than France, fortifications were needed to even the odds and make the Germans suffer much higher casualties than France. The only problem is France should have extended the Maginot line to the English channel.

[@ffarkasm]

@@SelfProclaimedEmperor Maybe the second Death Star was more relevant too.

[@SelfProclaimedEmperor]

@@ffarkasm Neither structure was irrelevant to their respective factions.

[@mr.hamstar2211]

france wouldve felt very dumb hahaha so sad

[@ALNYTheGreatScientist]

Lmao why didn’t the French just do Extend the Maginot Line it’s right in the army subtree free level 2 forts smh my head.

[@SelfProclaimedEmperor]

I usually build lvl 8 forts on the border with Belgium, then use the national focus extend the maginot line to add the extra 2 forts and get lvl 10 forts, since the last 2 forts are the hardest to build.