Pétain, (Henri) Philippe

Pétain, (Henri) Philippe (b. 24 Apr. 1856, d. 23 July 1951). French marshal and Nazi collaborator Born in the Pas-de-Calais region and educated at a Dominican college, he graduated from the Military Academy of Saint-Cyr and was commissioned into the infantry in 1878. He was promoted to colonel in 1912, and rose rapidly during World War I, becoming general in 1915 and the commander of the 2nd Army. He became a national hero as the defender of Verdun (1916–17), and became Commander-in-Chief of the French army in May 1917. He fought successfully against Abd al-Krim, and served as inspector-general of the army 1922–31. He was Minister of Defence in 1934 and subsequently retired, but in 1939 he was appointed ambassador to Spain. He was recalled to serve as Deputy to Prime Minister Reynaud in May 1940, and became the last Prime Minister of the Third Republic on 17 June 1940 following Reynaud's refusal to sue for peace against the Germans.

Pétain concluded an armistice with the Germans which left him in control of two-fifths of French territory, which he proceeded to govern from the spa town of Vichy. On 10 July 1940, the National Assembly transferred to him all executive and legislative powers. Initially, he hoped to gain concessions from Germany in return for his collaboration, such as the return of French prisoners of war. He was also eager to secure for France a special place in the German world order which he believed to be the inevitable consequence of the war. As Germany became increasingly defensive against the Allies, he hoped that France would take a pivotal role in negotiating a compromise peace. He was forced by the Germans to retreat across the Rhine to Sigmaringen in 1944, and surrendered to the French authorities in April 1945. He was sentenced to death, though the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

The role of Pétain in the Vichy regime has been very controversial. He was the octogenarian leader who gave the government its credibility, but there is general agreement that some of his deputies, notably Laval, were the main culprits of Vichy. At the same time, rather than being an unpolitical patriot who stepped in to save his country, he had been dallying with shady right-wing figures for years in order to win political power. Through giving credence to the regime, he was greatly responsible, amongst others, for his government's persecution of Jews and the sending of French people to forced labour in Germany.