Postwar French defence politics centred on the Maginot Line because fortified positions around Verdun and elsewhere had appeared to work during the First World War. Once land fortification dominated political discussion, forces and operations outside that framework became harder to justify. Public understanding followed the same debate, making aircraft carriers look peripheral even when they offered real maritime utility. A comparison with Cold War concentration on the central European front shows how one dominant scenario can pull procurement attention away from other regions and services.
Chapter · 42:31-44:03
The Maginot Line's budget gravity
French land-defence politics pulled attention and money toward the Maginot Line, leaving naval aviation outside the main defence debate.