 There are several reasons why France was excluded from talks at this stage, the main being that the collapse of France almost overnight in 1940, from which it was still in tatters until at least 1944 (although the effects were felt for much longer), destroyed its great power image.It’s decisive defeat by the German army made it difficult to deny that France was simply no longer the political and military power it had once been.This, along with France's relatively limited contribution to the war effort thus far, meant that, at least in the eyes of the ‘Big Three’,  France no longer deserved, a place at the top table of the new international organisation.