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Politics : Right Wing Extremist Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ilaine who wrote (3967)	2/2/2001 3:38:32 PM
From: Lazarus_Long	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 59480

In some sense the Maginot Line was a success. When the Germans invaded France in 1940, they did not go through the Maginot Line, they did an end run around it. Why was there an open end? (ie., why was the line not completed so that it completely enclosed the land borders of France?) I've read 2 explanations: 1. The French ran out of money. If this is true, it has to be called a failure. If a defensive system is so expensive that the nation employing cannot carry it to the point that it actually defends, then that nation should never have started it. It should have spent the money on something useful. 2. The French did not want to alarm or offend their ally the Belgians by building the line along their border (which was what was required to complete it.) The Belgians could have interpreted to mean either the French did not trust them, or that they would sacrifice them to the Germans and hide behind their defensive line.

To: Ilaine who wrote (3967)	2/2/2001 4:13:38 PM
From: Mr. Whist	Respond to of 59480

Re: "A number of old fortifications (along the Maginot Line) have now been turned into wine cellars, a mushroom farm and even a disco. A few private houses are built atop some of the blockhouses, and, yes, a number of the owners are German." Didn't the U.S. government sell off some of the old Minuteman ICBM silos in the Dakotas to farmers? I guess there's not a whole lot one can do with a huge multimillion-dollar hole in the ground.

To: Ilaine who wrote (3967)	2/3/2001 12:33:01 AM
From: TH	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 59480

CB, I stand corrected. The Maginot Line was probably not the best idea. Key assumptions turned out to be flawed. It did slow the Germans down a bit. There were no tanks when the Great Wall was built. I do not know about the Antionine Wall. I will agree that it is a thing of beauty. Had the French had the time and resources to extend it all the way, it might have been much more effective. It might have even reduced the war by a couple of months, but probably not. HAGO TH