Why is france so weak?

[Tamasin]

France was conquered due to incompetent leadership, not because they had too few soldiers.

[「SHAORUNE」]

Because they cant really reproduce what the germans did irl, like suprise blitzkrieg through the arden when you and the AI know exactly what going to happen. So they just nerf France to keep the game balance.

[Janos Hunyadi]

Napoleonic France is quite good, Belgium/Holland are a lot more defensible than the french border (assuming you ave annexed them), though I find UK more use as an ally/puppet than annexed.

[AutisticWeeb12]

i think the french army was weak cuz they were still proud in their victory in WW1 and their army hasnt moved on for a while. They still used horses, they dispached messages using motorbikes instead using a radio and troops were rarely inspected

[vanWeerden-27-]

The lack of land doctrines hurts them a lot.

[SGT Spack 7]

Originally posted by MrAnimeLover12:

i think the french army was weak cuz they were still proud in their victory in WW1 and their army hasnt moved on for a while. They still used horses, they dispached messages using motorbikes instead using a radio and troops were rarely inspected

france lost because thier tactics were completely countered mainly due to luck/incompetence
they were prepared for static warfare and a repeat of the 1915 plan.
the french commander in chief maurice gamelin was nowhere near the front line he was at some chateux without even a phone to tell him what was going on at the front line so the french armies already dubious leader was not able to command his armies.
the french were stupid in the fact they left their defensive lines to defend part of belgium resulting in the cutting of the allied armies and dunkirk etc it was a stupid tactic to try and defend belgium which resulted in heinz guderians plan to attack throught the ardennes to be much easier
the french even ignored their OWN reconnaissance planes informing them of massive armour columns advancing through the ardennes had this been listened to the german attack could have been stopped easily with air support as they were all clogged in the forest however it was ignored.
the french army was the MOST advanced and well equipped in europe they lost to a weaker power because of thier own hubris and incompetence.

[Crazed Possum]

Originally posted by von Hühnerstall:

France was conquered due to incompetent leadership, not because they had too few soldiers.

It's not easy by any means but you can make them strong.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2290736465


https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2290736695

[SClark92]

France had a fractured and very unstable political system, which meant it lurched from government to government.

Its first world war allies, the UK and the USA were happy to support reductions in German reparations but gave France no leeway on its debts to them. When the UK and USA stopped supporting the Franc after the war its value plummeted.

Its attempts to build alternative alliances in Eastern Europe fell foul of the divisions and rivalries between those Eastern European states, and France's lack of ability to support those allies either militarily or economically.

The army's institutional memory of the first world war was not of the successful advances made in 1918 using early tanks and aircraft but focused on the heroic but static defence of Verdun in 1916 (hence Petain's popularity).

The losses of the first world war hastened a demographic decline relative to Germany and by 1939 France's population was smaller, at around 40 million, and older than Germany's 60m. They very much did have less manpower to draw on.

This is pretty well reflected by France's starting position in-game. What is unrealistic are focuses which get rid of these focuses in a very short space of time and with very little drawback.

But France is still much easier now than it used to be. Build Little Entente > Combine with Allies > War over Sudetenland and Germany will fold before Italy joins.

[voncloft]

Originally posted by MrAnimeLover12:

i think the french army was weak cuz they were still proud in their victory in WW1 and their army hasnt moved on for a while. They still used horses, they dispached messages using motorbikes instead using a radio and troops were rarely inspected

oversimplified lol

[TheSaboteur]

France will Leeroy Jenkins themselves against Italy and lose all their manpower and equipment. That's what I've seen most of the time.

[General WVPM]

If you're interested in the real history, check out TIK's video about it on youtube or the world war two channel's videos.

The game cant recreate germany's luck and skill, so they nerfed france.