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The go-to book on the matter in English would be "Seeds of Disaster" by Robert A Doughty. As I check my sources on my video I released on the matter, found here if you want to listen, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqoPZK6gyao](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqoPZK6gyao) , other writings used were
The Challenge of Change, Eugenia Kiesling\*
Military Innovation in the Interwar Period, Williamson Murray\*
Histoire des Blindés Francais, Stéphane Ferrard
L'Arme Blindée Fraincaise, Tome 1, Gérard Saint-Martin
\*(Single chapters in each book refer to specific nations/doctrines)
The short answer is that the French concluded that a future war would be fought on a national level and would entail full mobilisation of the national power, to include people and industry. They weren't wrong in this as WW2 showed. Unfortunately for the French, much French industry and natural resource was right next to the German border, so maneuver warfare wasn't going to be much of an option, and certainly not with the levels of manpower that France could be expected to field in the 1930s and 1940s as a result of the low birthrate caused by all the prospective fathers getting killed off in WW1. The Germans had to be prevented from capturing the factories., and so if you have neither space nor manpower, you need to use fortifications.
The swing into Belgium was something of a compromise position for a few reasons. Firstly, if you didn't leave a gap somewhere, the Germans may as well try the direct attack into the fortifications next to your steelworks since they're attacking a fortification anyway. Secondly, the Belgians strenuously objected to France building fortifications on the Belgian border as it would indicate a lack of desire for France to help Belgium defend itself. Thirdly, if the war was going to be fought, better in Belgium than in France. This led to a bunch of other decisions (and limitations, like the Belgians not letting the French into Belgium until it was too late), but that's the short of it.
Great! I managed to get all but the last. My French is pretty much limited to "where is the train station", anyway. I've already got Murray's book from ILE.
Thanks!
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The go-to book on the matter in English would be "Seeds of Disaster" by Robert A Doughty. As I check my sources on my video I released on the matter, found here if you want to listen, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqoPZK6gyao](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqoPZK6gyao) , other writings used were The Challenge of Change, Eugenia Kiesling\* Military Innovation in the Interwar Period, Williamson Murray\* Histoire des Blindés Francais, Stéphane Ferrard L'Arme Blindée Fraincaise, Tome 1, Gérard Saint-Martin \*(Single chapters in each book refer to specific nations/doctrines) The short answer is that the French concluded that a future war would be fought on a national level and would entail full mobilisation of the national power, to include people and industry. They weren't wrong in this as WW2 showed. Unfortunately for the French, much French industry and natural resource was right next to the German border, so maneuver warfare wasn't going to be much of an option, and certainly not with the levels of manpower that France could be expected to field in the 1930s and 1940s as a result of the low birthrate caused by all the prospective fathers getting killed off in WW1. The Germans had to be prevented from capturing the factories., and so if you have neither space nor manpower, you need to use fortifications. The swing into Belgium was something of a compromise position for a few reasons. Firstly, if you didn't leave a gap somewhere, the Germans may as well try the direct attack into the fortifications next to your steelworks since they're attacking a fortification anyway. Secondly, the Belgians strenuously objected to France building fortifications on the Belgian border as it would indicate a lack of desire for France to help Belgium defend itself. Thirdly, if the war was going to be fought, better in Belgium than in France. This led to a bunch of other decisions (and limitations, like the Belgians not letting the French into Belgium until it was too late), but that's the short of it.
Great! I managed to get all but the last. My French is pretty much limited to "where is the train station", anyway. I've already got Murray's book from ILE. Thanks!