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Vichy France

French State
État Français
Client state of Germany (1940–42)
Puppet government of Germany (1942–44)
1940–1944
Flag Cartouche of the French State
Motto
"Travail, Famille, Patrie"
"Work, Family, Fatherland"
Anthem
"La Marseillaise" (official)

"Maréchal, nous voilà!
Marshal, here we are!  (unofficial)
The French State in 1942:
  •   French State
  •   French State, German military occupation zone
  •   French protectorates
The gradual loss of all Vichy territory to Free France and the Axis. Click on map for color legend
The gradual loss of all Vichy territory to Free France and the Axis powers. Legend.
Capital Vichy (de facto)
Parisa(de jure)
Capital-in-exile Sigmaringen (1944–45)
Languages French
Government One-party fascist republic
Chief of State
 •  1940–1944 Philippe Pétain
Prime Minister
 •  1940–1942 Philippe Pétain
 •  1942–1944 Pierre Laval
Legislature National Assembly
Historical era World War II
 •  Second Compiègne 22 June 1940
 •  Pétain given full powers 10 July 1940
 •  Operation Torch 8 November 1942
 •  Case Anton 11 November 1942
 •  German retreat Summer 1944
 •  Disestablished 1944
 •  Capture of the Sigmaringen enclave 22 April 1945
Currency French franc
Preceded by
Succeeded by
French Third Republic
Provisional Government of the French Republic
a. Paris remained the formal capital of the French State, although the Vichy government never operated from there.
b. Although the French Republic's institutions were officially maintained, the word "Republic" never occurred in any official document of the Vichy government.

Vichy France (in French, Régime de Vichy) is the common name of the French State (État français) headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. In particular, it represents the southern, unoccupied "Free Zone" (zone libre) that governed the southern part of the country.

From 1940 to 1942, while the Vichy regime was the nominal government of France as a whole, Germany militarily occupied northern France. Thus, while Paris remained the de jure capital of France, the de facto capital of southern, "unoccupied" France was the town of Vichy, 360 km to the south. Following the Allied landings in French North Africa in November 1942, southern France was also militarily occupied by Germany and Italy. The Vichy government remained in existence, but as a de facto client and puppet of Nazi Germany. It vanished in late 1944 when the Allies occupied all of France.

After being appointed Premier by President Albert Lebrun, Marshal Pétain ordered the French Government's military representatives to sign an armistice with Germany on 22 June 1940. Pétain subsequently established an authoritarian regime when the National Assembly of the French Third Republic granted him full powers on 10 July 1940. At that point, the Third Republic was dissolved. Calling for "National Regeneration", the French Government at Vichy reversed many liberal policies and began tight supervision of the economy, with central planning a key feature. Labour unions came under tight government control. The independence of women was reversed, with an emphasis put on motherhood. Conservative Catholics became prominent. Paris lost its avant-garde status in European art and culture. The media were tightly controlled and stressed virulent anti-Semitism, and, after June 1941, anti-Bolshevism.


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