In 1938, France joined Great Britain in an attempt to appease Nazi aggression. France signed the Munich Pact and helped give Germany "permission" to invade the Sudeten territories of Czechoslovakia. It was soon clear that this attempt at appeasement failed.

After Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, France declared war.

France's war against Germany did not last long. On June 22, 1940, France surrendered to Germany.

France was occupied by the Germans until 1944. June 6 of that year was D-Day. A massive Allied force invaded the beaches of Normandy.

Through the summer and fall, the Allies pushed eastward through France towards Germany. In August, Allied troops also landed in the South of France.

By the end of the war, about 350,000 French soldiers had been killed, and almost a half million French civilians had died.