Defense attention was a scarce resource. Competing views of Belgium, isolation, fortification, and the likelihood of another war made the Maginot Line the organizing issue in French defense politics. When nearly every strategic debate revolves around one land-defense project, naval aviation struggles to gain funding or sustained intellectual attention even though future wars will not remain confined to one problem. A service can understand other threats and still neglect them when one politically dominant project absorbs the entire argument.
Notable Point · 1:08:14-1:11:10
The Maginot Line crowded out naval aviation
The Maginot Line absorbed money and political attention, leaving carrier aviation outside France's central defense argument.