"Failing fast" was hardly an intentional decision on the part of France. In fact, one of the principal reasons why Germany was able to so quickly overwhelm Fran

"Failing fast" was hardly an intentional decision on the part of France. In fact, one of the principal reasons why Germany was able to so quickly overwhelm France was precisely because France was still preparing for the last war, i.e. trench warfare. Related to that, after the fall of France, the British Cabinet was intensely split between those on the side of Churchill who believed that the UK should "never surrender", and those on the side of foreign secretary Lord Halifax (and initially Chamberlain) who believed that the UK should offer peace terms with Germany to avoid a crushing defeat [0]. Had Chamberlain not changed his mind and Halifax's view had prevailed, one could argue that the UK would have chosen to "fail fast" and thus avoided the Blitz and much further suffering of its people—but at what cost? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_cabinet_crisis,_May_1940 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_cabinet_crisis,_May_1940