Vichy Regime Impact to France - Essay Example

This was an attempt to ward off the Germans in invading France again. However, after Germany attacked Poland on September 1, 1939, France together with Britain declared war on Germany on the next day. Hence, the beginning of World War II. In May 1940, the Maginot Line proved to be futile as it failed to serve the main purpose of its construction. Germans defeated the French army on June 1940 and occupied Paris, the capital of the Third Republic (McDonald, 2000).In response to Germany’s occupation to Paris, France asked for an armistice with Germany.

On the said armistice France agreed that three-fifths of the country would be controlled directly by Germany, thereby called the Occupied zones. On the other hand, the remaining sections of the country or the Unoccupied zones were put under the monocratic rule of vice-premier Henri-Philippe Petain. Following, Petain’s appointment as head of the government, was the relocation of the capital in Vichy, a town in central France (see Figure 1 below). Thus, the new government was established, which was called the Vichy Regime (France Between, 1999).

This government took effect for four (4) years from 1940 to 1944, under the leadership of the two (2) distinguished individuals. Later on, this regime was referred by historians as a “pro-German French puppet government” or “shameful political regime”.The first two years of the Vichy Regime, ruled by Henri-Philippe Petain, focused on National Revolution or which it preferred to call as “national reconstruction”. During the period, the government encouraged a rather conservative and rural image for France.

It enjoyed active and passive support from different sectors. It envisioned France possessing features which were somehow similar to traditional features of the glorious days of France in the past.