Vichy France - Overview

Overview

Further information: World War II, Events preceding World War II in Europe, and Causes of World War II

Vichy France was established after France surrendered to Germany on 22 June 1940, and took its name from the government's administrative centre of Vichy, in central France. Paris remained the official capital, to which Pétain always intended to return the government when this became possible.

In 1940, Marshal Pétain was known mainly as a World War One hero, the victor of Verdun. As last Prime Minister of the Third Republic, Pétain, a reactionary by inclination, blamed the Third Republic's democracy for France's quick defeat. He set up a paternalistic, semi-fascist regime that actively collaborated with Germany, its official neutrality notwithstanding. The Vichy government cooperated with the Nazis' racial policies.

It is a common misconception that the Vichy Regime administered only the unoccupied zone of southern France (named "free zone" by Vichy), while the Germans directly administered the occupied zone. In fact, the civil jurisdiction of the Vichy government extended over most of metropolitan France. Only the disputed border territory of Alsace-Lorraine was placed under direct German administration, and (despite another common misconception) even these lands were never formally annexed by Germany. Similarly, a sliver of French territory in the Alps was under direct Italian administration from June 1940 to September 1943. Throughout the rest of the country, civil servants were under the authority of French ministers in Vichy. René Bousquet, the head of French police nominated by Vichy, exercised his power directly in Paris through his second-in-command, Jean Leguay, who coordinated raids with the Nazis. German laws, however, took precedence over French ones in the occupied territories, and the Germans often rode roughshod over the sensibilities of Vichy administrators.

On 11 November 1942, the Germans launched Operation Case Anton, occupying southern France, following the landing of the Allies in North Africa (Operation Torch). Although Vichy's "Armistice Army" was disbanded, thus diminishing Vichy's independence, the abolition of the line of demarcation in March 1943 made civil administration easier. Vichy continued to exercise jurisdiction over almost all of France until the collapse of the regime following the Allied invasion in June 1944.

Until 23 October 1944, the Vichy Regime was acknowledged as the official government of France by the United States and other countries, including Canada, which were at the same time at war with Germany. The United Kingdom maintained unofficial contacts with Vichy, at least until it became apparent that the Vichy Prime Minister, Pierre Laval, intended full collaboration with the Germans. Even after that it maintained an ambivalent attitude towards the alternative Free French movement and future government.

The Vichy government's claim that it was the de jure French government was challenged by the Free French Forces of Charles de Gaulle (based first in London and later in Algiers) and subsequent French governments. They continuously held that the Vichy Regime was an illegal government run by traitors. Historians have particularly debated the circumstances of the vote granting full powers to Pétain on 10 July 1940. The main arguments advanced against Vichy's right to incarnate the continuity of the French State were based on the pressure exerted by Laval on deputies in Vichy, and on the absence of 27 deputies and senators who had fled on the ship Massilia, and could thus not take part in the vote.