In the early 1934, scandal rocked the French political world. The Stavisky Affair was a financial and political scandal that shook France in 1934. Serge Stavisky sold huge quantities of worthless bonds. He had connections with many people who held responsible positions. He had cheated investors out of millions of francs and he had allegedly been protected by a number of politicians, including several leading Radicals. It has never been determined whether Stavisky committed suicide in order to avoid arrest or was murdered to prevent himself from revealing his political connections. Extremists accused the Radical Socialist government of corrupt deals with Stavisky and forced its resignations. Daladier, the new premier, had to use force to repress bloody riots staged in Paris in February 5, 1934, but soon after, he also had to resign. The affair had unfortunate effect of not only the Radical Socialist party, but also parliamentary democracy in general. France’s government was proven to be politically corrupted.
France lacked outstanding leaders and the Great Depression undermined the already shaky political structure of the Third Republic. Nonetheless, this was not the only problem that France was facing. One of the reasons why France had to surrender the war was because they were not prepared. Apart from the Marginot line, they had no good strategy for preparing their country for war. Because France lost many of its army members after fighting in World War One and also in many other battles, it was not ready to fight in World War Two. Therefore, they were considered to be war weary. They faced many harsh defeats in the past decades and they were not willing to fight in another war, nevertheless, they ended up having no option. France had a large army, but they simply were not prepared.
Apart from having a corrupted government, economic and army problems, France had another reason why it had to surrender so soon. France had expected to fight along a stationary battlefront and had built the Maginot Line along the eastern border of France for its defense. Thus, the Germans were able to avoid assaulting the Maginot Line directly. Attacking in May 1940, the German forces were well into France within five days and they continued to advance until May 24, when they stopped near Dunkirk. By early June, the German forces had cut the Line off from the rest of France and the French government was making overture for an armistice. As France neared collapse, Italy declared war on France and Great Britain on June 10.
As the Germans advanced, the French government fled from Paris in confusion. The Prime Minister resigned and was replaced by a retired army general, Pétain, who signed an armistice with the Germans. The French army was but to pieces and in June 1940, France surrendered.
