The fall of France and Vichy, 1940
In May-June 1940 Germany overran France in six weeks. Blitzkrieg - Panzer divisions and Stuka dive-bombers - bypassed the Maginot Line through the Ardennes, while French commanders clung to First World War thinking. About 338,000 troops escaped from Dunkirk, leaving their heavy equipment behind. France surrendered in June 1940 and split into a German-occupied north and a collaborationist Vichy south under Marshal Petain, which aided Nazi policies including deporting Jews.
Battle of Britain, Barbarossa, Stalingrad
Hitler could not invade Britain: the RAF won the 1940 Battle of Britain with radar and fighters, and the German navy was too weak to cross the Channel, so Sea Lion was abandoned. In June 1941 Barbarossa invaded the USSR, breaking the 1939 Nazi-Soviet Pact - driven by Lebensraum and by grain and oil - but stalled before Moscow. At Stalingrad (1942-43) the encircled German Sixth Army surrendered in February 1943, the turning point ending German offensives in the east.
Drawn from real examiner reports.
Describing events, not explaining why
Candidates describe the German advance, Dunkirk or the Battle of Britain at length without turning it into explanation. On "why France was defeated" or "why Germany failed to conquer Britain", name the specific factor - poor French leadership, or German air power - and explain its impact step by step, rather than narrating the campaign. Develop two or more factors separately.
Digest, General exam technique (Paper 1): candidates describe what happened instead of explaining why a factor caused the outcome.
Arguing only one side of a judgement
On a "how far" question, weak answers argue one side and simply assert a verdict. For "how far was the Battle of Britain the reason Germany could not invade Britain", develop the air factor (the RAF denied Germany air superiority) AND the naval factor (Germany's navy was too weak, with too few landing craft, for a Channel crossing), then judge which mattered more.
Digest, General exam technique (Papers 1, 2): Part (c) answers often argue only one side without weighing which is stronger.
Sea Lion was never actually launched
Some candidates imply Germany invaded Britain by sea and was beaten. In fact Operation Sea Lion was only planned: it was postponed as the Luftwaffe lost the Battle of Britain, then cancelled when Hitler turned east in 1941. No invasion fleet crossed the Channel - the battle that stopped invasion was fought in the air. Do not confuse a planned event with one that happened.
Digest, General exam technique (Papers 1, 4): chronology errors - confusing planned-but-cancelled events with events that actually occurred.
The navy mattered, not just the RAF
Answers on why Britain was not invaded often credit the RAF alone. The RAF victory in the Battle of Britain was crucial, but Germany's navy was independently too weak, with too few purpose-built landing craft, to guarantee a safe crossing against the Royal Navy even without RAF interference. A full answer weighs both the air and the naval/logistical factors.
Vichy France vs occupied France
After the 1940 surrender France was split into two zones. The north and west were under direct German military occupation; the south was governed by the nominally independent Vichy government of Marshal Petain (with Pierre Laval), which collaborated with Germany. Do not treat all of France as simply "occupied" - the Vichy zone had its own collaborationist French government.
Nazi-Soviet Pact vs Barbarossa
These are often muddled. The Nazi-Soviet Pact (1939) was a non-aggression agreement between Hitler and Stalin that let Germany avoid a two-front war. Operation Barbarossa (June 1941) was Hitler breaking that same pact by invading the Soviet Union. One is an agreement; the other is its betrayal two years later.
Myth: Germany was beaten at sea in 1940
Germany never launched Operation Sea Lion: it was planned, postponed as the Luftwaffe lost the air battle, then shelved when Hitler turned east in 1941. No invasion fleet was beaten at sea - the battle that stopped invasion was fought in the air. A second error treats Barbarossa as ONLY ideological (Lebensraum): strategy mattered too - seizing Soviet grain and oil.
Digest, General exam technique (Papers 1, 4): chronology/causation errors - confusing planned-but-cancelled events with ones that actually happened.
Build two causal strands, then judge
For "How far was [factor] responsible?" build two separate strands - the named factor (e.g. weak French leadership and the static Maginot Line) and an alternative (Blitzkrieg, or Germany's weak navy) - each with detail, then judge which mattered more, not just restate both.
Use content with provenance in sources
For source questions here (a 1940 speech, poster or extract on Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain or Vichy), use the content with provenance and likely purpose - not "it's propaganda so it's unreliable." A biased source is still useful evidence of the viewpoint it represents.
Match the command word and dates
Match the command word: "Describe" (a) wants brief accurate points; "Explain why" (b) wants developed reasons, not narrative; "How far" (c) wants both sides and a judgement. Keep strictly within the dates named and do not drift into events after the cut-off.
Between 1940 and 1943, the war in Europe swung dramatically. Germany conquered most of Western Europe in weeks, then failed to invade Britain, then invaded the Soviet Union and won huge early victories - before its defeat at Stalingrad turned the tide of the entire war.
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