Vichy provided limited protection to native French Jews, but it adopted repressive measures on its own from 1940 to 1942, including property confiscation, dismissals from government service, and exclusions from professions and higher education. In September 1944, following the Allied invasion of Fortress Europe, the entire Vichy Cabinet was removed to Sigmaringen in Germany where they became a Government-in-Exile. Between the wars he was to hold a number of prominent posts including Inspector-General of the Army, Minister of War, and Minister of State. Indeed, the willingness of the French High Command to sacrifice the lives of their men in such a manner so soon after the trauma of Verdun astonished them especially when it was clear there would be no breakthrough. With the whole of France now occupied any pretence towards independence came to an end. A 58-year-old colonel at the start of battle in 1914, Pétain … Despite the increasingly frantic efforts to stem the German tide by the end of May 1940, the British Expeditionary Force was being evacuated from the beaches at Dunkirk. But Laval's successors were unacceptable to the Germans and Laval was restored. Tried in France after the war, Pétain was found guilty and condemned to death. Though Jews had a better life in France than they experienced in other Nazi-occupied or Nazi-controlled countries, the Vichy government interned thousands of foreign Jews under primitive conditions, and as many as three thousand Jews may have died in camps under French control. His rousing speeches—which included a 1775 speech to the Virginia legislature in which he famously declared, ...read more, Leader of the Whig party and five times an unsuccessful presidential candidate, Henry Clay (1777-1852) played a central role on the stage of national politics for over forty years. A. The Reader’s Companion to Military History. On 24 October 1940, a reluctant Petain was persuaded by his egregious Prime Minister Pierre Laval to attend a meeting with Adolf Hitler at Montoire. The Camp itself was administered by French Officials and guarded by French soldiers. Soldiers Committees were formed and representatives elected from among the ranks. The “savior of Verdun” cannot escape blame for these actions. Hindsight is great 75 years after the fact, but in June 1940, there weren’t too many options. It was mutiny, Officer’s orders were ignored and some were even shot at and many taken prisoner. Others made greater contributions in structuring and preparing French forces for the next war. Soon, Pétain assumed plenipotentiary powers as Head of State. Upon gaining power, Pétain's regime rapidly dismantled liberal institutions and adopted an authoritarian course. Though Pétain later claimed that he had been playing a “double game,” the harshest evidence of his having accepted German influence is his government’s anti-Jewish measures. Pétain, a veteran of the first world war who took the helm of the collaborationist French state in his mid-80s, was tried by Charles de Gaulle's provisional postwar … When the assault was launched on 16 April 1917, the Germans were ready and waiting. Delayed by bad weather the assault finally began on 21 February 1916 with a ferocious artillery barrage that not only obliterated the French outer-defences but appears to have caught them totally unawares causing confusion, bewilderment, and no little panic. Tried for his actions at the end of World War II, Pétain was sentenced to death before his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. They would occupy the front-line positions but they would not fight and those units marching towards the front were berated for doing so and bleated at like sheep. Other French leaders, including Foch, frequently criticized Pétain for his pessimism and caution, but he nevertheless established a particularly strong relationship with the American commander, General John J. Pershing. ‘Pétain saved my life,’ he began, eager to tell me that for him the armistice of 1940 meant that he was not going to be killed in battle. Germany quickly defeated the French in World War 2 because the French had lost so many men from World War 1, and the French could not take on the dominating military power of the Germans. His tenure, from March 4, 1841, to April 4, 1841, is the shortest of any U.S. president. He was becoming an irritant to the Government and in 1939 he was appointed Ambassador to Franco’s recently established fascist regime in Spain where it was thought he would receive a more appreciative audience for his views. On 11 November 1942, in response to the Allied invasion of North Africa the Germans occupied the whole of France this despite Petain ordering that French forces resist the Allies in all of France’s colonial possessions which they did with vigour before the Commander in North Africa, Admiral Darlan, who was assassinated not long after, ordered that they lay down their arms. A 58-year-old colonel at the start of battle in 1914, Pétain earned acclaim for stopping the Germans at the Battle of Verdun and assumed command of the French forces in 1917. Disinclined to engage in the high-flown rhetoric of patriotism and sacrifice to exhort every last effort from his troops so favoured by others (for example the phrase ‘They Shall not Pass’ with which he is so closely associated was in fact coined by his successor Robert Nivelle who had no such qualms) he was viewed by those under his command as a soldier’s soldier, someone who cared for his men, shared their hardships, and would not squander their lives. By September 1939, France was once again at war with Germany. It worked and the obdurate Petain, despite his popularity with the army, was forced to step down to be replaced by Ferdinand Foch who became the Commander-in-Chief of all Allied armies on the Western Front. Harrison, who was born into a prominent Virginia family, joined the ...read more. German losses were barely any less and attacked on the Somme and by the Russians in the East by the battles conclusion it was not the French Army that was being bled white. July 2016; Authors: ... Pétain as he was portrayed in a similar light to Hitler and Mussolini as being a man who had . Petain's acceptance of the "principle" of collaboration meant that he had put a finger into the machine. The Army High Command and Petain in particular, insisted that all was lost. He must have known that this would mean his being put on trial for his life but he remained adamant. Petain did little to rein them in, if indeed he ever wanted to. In December 1940, Pétain dismissed his vice-premier, Pierre Laval, for his policy of close Franco-German collaboration. Pétain — who was in his mid-80s when he took the top Vichy post — was tried and sentenced to death for collaboration after the war. Pétain meeting Hitler in October 1940. Yet in July 1945, he was sentenced to death for betraying the country he had spent his life in the service of, and he would forever become associated with the word – collaborator. That he did not want to put the whole hand into it was proved by his dismissal of Laval, guilty of hav-ing pursued a policy of voluntary collaboration with excessive zeal and dangerous concessions. n the meantime, General Erich von Falkenhayn, Commander-in-Chief of the German Army, had been busy devising a strategy to break the deadlock of the Western Front. The German assault eventually petered out and Foch was to order a series of brilliantly executed counter-attacks, in which Petain played his part, that were to lead to the general advance that would bring the war to its conclusion. By 1914, Laval had entered politics as an elected extreme left-wing deputy from Aubervilliers. On 30 October 1940, Pétain made state collaboration official, declaring on the radio: "I enter today on the path of collaboration." Now many on the Far-Right believed they had carte-blanche to impose their views on the population as a whole. In 1903, he established the Ford Motor Company, and five years later the company ...read more, The West Point-educated Henry Slocum was made a lieutenant colonel in the 27th New York Volunteer Regiment when the Civil War broke out in April 1861. In 1876, he joined the French Army attending the St Cyr Military Academy where he controversially refused to adopt the accepted French military philosophy of elan, or the furious full-frontal assault, insisting instead that – ‘firepower kills.’ It was perhaps an indication of a difficult character for his career in the army was steady rather than spectacular and his rise through its ranks painfully slow; in the spring of 1914 at the age of 58 having at last made the rank of Colonel and with little prospect of further promotion he bought a house and decided to retire. "use strict";(function(){var insertion=document.getElementById("citation-access-date");var date=new Date().toLocaleDateString(undefined,{month:"long",day:"numeric",year:"numeric"});insertion.parentElement.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(date),insertion)})(); FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. Severely wounded in the First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas), he recovered in time to lead Union troops in 1862’s Peninsula ...read more, One of the most renowned kings in English history, Henry V (1387-1422) led two successful invasions of France, cheering his outnumbered troops to victory at the 1415 Battle of Agincourt and eventually securing full control of the French throne. Vichy France (July 1940–September 1944), France under the regime of Marshal Philippe Petain, from France’s defeat by Nazi Germany to its liberation by the Allies in World War II. of 65 million- Nazis send in 30,000 troops to rule over France, French collaboration needed for Nazis to maintain control over France Peasants fearful of dem. Your email address will not be published. Their time would come he told his men but for now they would hold what they had as he set about reorganising the defence; the one narrow road to Verdun from the town of Bar-le-Duc fifty miles away he kept open and in constant use as troops were rotated in and out of the front line every two weeks as the endless columns of trucks carrying ammunition, supplies, and the wounded to and from Verdun soon earned it the title the Voie Sacree, or Sacred Road. In accordance with the Armistice terms France was divided into three zones, northern and western France including the Atlantic coast was to be occupied by the Germans whilst a small strip of land beside the Alps was allocated to the Italians to placate Mussolini. The senseless slaughter of Nivelle’s offensive proved the final straw, the French soldier had simply had enough and they refused to leave their trenches. Henri Philippe Petain was born on 24 April 1856, in Cauchy-a-la-Tour in the Pas-de-Calais region of France, the son of a farmer from whom he inherited the traits of caution, stubbornness, and the stoical fatalism common to the French peasant. Petain established a Fascist-oriented government that became notorious for its collaboration with the Third Reich. Pétain and his entourage saw the defeat of France and the collapse of the Third Republic as a chance to wipe out the legacy of permissiveness and decadence represented by the left-wing Popular Front government of the 1930s and the French Revolution. Petain, a stubborn, phlegmatic, essentially humourless, reactionary set in his ways blamed the Third Republic for the moral decay of France and feared a Communist takeover. But he would also impose discipline where required and examples of the more recalcitrant would be made of even if publicly of the 629 men who were subsequently tried and sentenced to death by Court Martial only 20, those who had actually fired upon their Officers, were executed. On 15 August, he was found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. Despite his demotion Petain had a good war, and in 1919 he received his Marshal’s baton and such was his apparent popularity that he was persuaded, against his better judgement, to stand for the Presidency of the Third Republic, but he lost heavily. Indeed, many within the Government were eager to facilitate the Germans in any way they possibly could. For the remainder of the war, Pétain remained in command of French forces, though General Ferdinand Foch leaped over him to become supreme commander of Allied forces. At first the Government insisted that his tombstone should read “No Profession”, but they later relented and it was inscribed with “Marshal of France”. Charles de Gaulle, the Head of the Provisional Government, and still formally a member of Petain’s Staff, commuted the sentence to life imprisonment on the grounds of his advanced old age and previous services to France. image caption Petain (L) accepted a Nazi collaboration deal with Hitler in October 1940 Previously only researchers and journalists could see some archives, with special permission. Prior to the outbreak of the war France had been a hotbed of fascist propaganda, and Far-Right organisations such as Action Francaise and the Croix de Feu had been prominent, active, and responsible for much of the violence on the streets. France was in danger of being split in two and the armies in the north in danger of being cut-off and surrounded. Beginning the war as an obscure fifty-eight-year-old colonel in command of an infantry brigade, he rose quickly in rank, assuming command of the Sixth Division in September 1914, the Thirty-third Corps in October, and the Second Army in June 1915. Because he had little choice. Petain's actions during World War II resulted in a conviction and death sentence for treason, which was commuted to life imprisonment by Charles de Gaulle. On the day of his 90th birthday he was driven across the border into France. His portrayal in three of ...read more, King Henry VIII (1491-1547) ruled England for 36 years, presiding over sweeping changes that brought his nation into the Protestant Reformation. M ost French people ‘did nothing’ because that was the safest course of action. He offered to grant full British citizenship to all Frenchmen and absorb both countries into one if only they would continue to fight. Nonetheless, he slowly restored the French Army’s morale even if he now doubted their ability to fight and certainly to take the offensive. France was divided into two zones: one under German military occupation and one left to the French in … It was not "collaborating." Many of these Jews were incarcerated in the most appalling conditions in the Velodrome at Drancy that was used as a transit camp. What did Hitler promise Pétain? Henri-Philippe Pétain (1856-1951) was a World War I French general who was later imprisoned for treason. Spurning the opportunity to take the initiative in the coldest winter for decades the poorly paid French soldiers froze in their trenches with nothing to do. On 14 June, Paris was occupied. While working as an engineer for the Edison Illuminating Company in Detroit, Henry Ford (1863-1947) built his first gasoline-powered horseless carriage, the Quadricycle, in the shed behind his home. Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. In October Pétain launched an attack on the fortress of La Malmaison in the Chemin des Dames, near where Nivelle’s offensive had failed, and successfully seized this dominating piece of terrain. © 2021 A&E Television Networks, LLC. Although it was not their intention to do so it appeared the Germans were on the verge of capturing Verdun and achieving a great victory. Petain, yes, collaborated with the Nazi, and the Vichy Regime did very awful and atrocious things. When the General Election of 1936 returned a Left-Wing Popular Government, Petain believed it meant the death of France. On 22 June, France surrendered. Laval was born in the Auvergne region of France and never forgot his roots in the working-class region or as mayor of Aubervilliers, a north-eastern Paris suburb. Ruling with German approval, Petain's government passed anti-Semitic laws, rounding up French, Spanish and Eastern European Jews for … Though the French suffered huge losses, Pétain’s careful husbanding of his troops avoided even greater bloodshed. When in March 1918, the Germans launched Operation Michael, their big push to win the war, they adopted new tactics that included short but intensive artillery barrages, the extensive use of poison gas, and specially trained storm-troopers some armed with flamethrowers – they quickly broke through the British front-line. Arrested upon his return he was tried for treason on 25 July 1945. Three days later, broadcasting from Bordeaux where the French Government had been forced to flee, Petain announced to the French people that he would be seeking armistice terms. Why did the Vichy regime collaborate with the Germans from 1940 to 1944? Despite Haig’s protestations however, Petain refused to budge. Q. Pétain’s job was to get France out of the war and he did. Between 1914 and 1940, Laval would hold dozen… The Vichy regime also rounded up foreign Jews in the unoccupied zone and handed them over to the Germans. He was a gifted orator and major figure in the American Revolution. He then doubled their rations and granted extended home leave to those who had been the longest on the front-line. After Charles de Gaulle commuted the sentence to life imprisonment, he was confined on the [Icirc]le d’Yeu, where he died on July 23, 1951, at the age of ninety-six. Robert Nivelle was brash, outspoken, and confident that despite the exhaustion of the French Army following the prolonged struggle at Verdun his planned assault on the German held Chemin des Dames Ridge would succeed where all others had failed. Placed upon the Reserve List his retirement proved short-lived and upon the outbreak of war with Germany he was recalled to the colours where following a purge of the higher-echelons of the French Army by its Commander-in-Chief Joseph Joffre the promotion he had so long yearned for at last materialised and by early 1916 he was General of the Second Army stationed near the fortress town of Verdun – he proved to be a competent and respected if cautious and unimaginative commander. So when the Germans began rounding up French Jews for transportation to the Concentration Camps in August 1941, French Officials were enthusiastic participants. Nine years later, he was elected mayor of Aubervilliers and did not relinquish that role until shortly before his arrest in 1944 by the Nazis. As the dust settled in Europe, collaborators were hung, sent running naked down the streets or imprisoned, while the resistance set out to define post-war Europe. Petain, by now 89 years of age, refused to co-operate any further. He held a series of top military posts in subsequent years, becoming chief of state after Germany’s invasion in 1940. Though the French failed to break through German defensive lines, Pétain’s after-action report identified shortcomings in French methods and provided important ideas about future operations. France between the wars was hopelessly politically divided and Governments came and went with alarming alacrity, Left and Right clashed on the streets of Paris and other major cities, and there appeared to be no middle-way. The Liberal Republicanism and the socialism it spawned had been responsible for the dilution of the French fighting spirit. The misconception that the Vichy Regime was the … It was proclaimed by Marshal Philippe Pétain following the military defeat of France and the July 10 vote by the National Assembly to grant extraordinary powers to Pétain, who held the title of President of the Council. Why Did Macron Say France Should 'Offer Homage' to Nazi Collaborator Petain? He had long blamed the Third Republic for the corruption and moral decay that had blighted French society. https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/henri-philippe-petain. Unlike so many of Hitler’s other Quislings, Petain was not a fascist who had a craving for power for its own sake, but he was a bigoted Right-Wing Reactionary, set in his ways, who misguidedly believed that by collaborating with Hitler he could maintain the dignity of France. At midnight on 15 June 1940, Baudouin asked the Spanish Ambassador to submit to Germany a request to cease hostilities at once and for Germany to make known its peace terms. The Right-Wing press agreed and began to openly declare for a dictatorship, and their preferred candidate for the role was, Philippe Petain. The Catholic Church was raised in status and expected to take a more active role in society, all criticism of Nazi Germany was forbidden, and a massive campaign of propaganda was undertaken to persuade people of the benefits of the new/old France. Of the 75,000 French Jews who were transported to Auschwitz very few ever returned. Even the usually implacable French Premier Paul Reynaud felt obliged to contact his British counterpart Winston Churchill to tell him that all was lost and France beaten. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! In January 1943, the Milice, a brutal Right-Wing Militia, was formed under the Command of the fascist Joseph Darnand, whom Petain was to appoint Secretary for the Maintenance of Public Order. He died in prison at IIe d’Yeu on 23 July 1951, aged 95. As a result of his failure at Verdun in July 1916, Von Falkenhayn had been sacked and so also in December of that same year General Joffre was removed as Commander-in-Chief of the French Army to be replaced not by in most people’s minds his obvious successor Philippe Petain but the more emollient and belligerent General Nivelle who had, he said, a plan to win the war. Holland and Belgium were quickly overrun and the French Commander, General Gamelin, committed the bulk of his army to France’s northern frontier to meet what he believed would be the German’s main thrust. The third phase was the most lenient toward the suspected Nazi assistants, and it included the trials of Philippe Pétain, who was charged with treason in 1945, and the French novelist Louis-Ferdinand Céline, who supported the Axis forces and wrote anti-Semitic pamphlets during the war. Meanwhile, in Paris the Government was undecided what to do as preparations were made to evacuate the city. Henri-Philippe Pétain (1856-1951) was a World War I French general who was later imprisoned for treason.

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