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Henri-Philippe-Bénoni-Omer-Joseph Pétain b. 24 Apr 1856, Cauchy-à-la-Tour, Pas-de-Calais |
| Title: | Chef de l'État français (Head of the French State) |
| Term: | 11 Jul 1940 - 20 Aug 1944 |
| Chronology: | 11 Jul 1940, assumed the functions of Chef de l'État français, assumption declared in the Constitutional Act No. 1 (see note) |
| 20 Aug 1944, ceased to exercise the functions of the head of state with leaving Vichy [1] |
| Biography: | |
A son of a prosperous farmer; educated at Jesuit and Dominican colleges; studied at the Ecole militaire de Saint Cyr (1876-1878); commissioned second lieutenant (1878); promoted to lieutenant (1883); continued education at the Ecole Supérieure de Guerre (1888-1890); promoted to major (1890), captain (1890); taught at the Ecole Supérieure de Guerre (1901-1910); promoted to colonel (1910), brigadier general (1914), major general (1914), lieutenant general (1914), general (1915); led successful defense of Verdun against the Germans (1916); headed the General Staff (1917); made commander-in-chief of the armies of the North (15 May 1917); made Marshal of France (1918); nominated vice president of the High Council of War (1920-1931) and general inspector of the army (1922); elected to the Académie française (1929; excluded in 1945); served as minister of war (9 Feb 1934 - 8 Nov 1934) and minister of state (1 Jun 1935 - 7 Jun 1935), ambassador to Spain (1939-1940); following the German invasion of France in 1940, was appointed Vice President of the Council of Ministers (18 May 1940 - 16 Jun 1940) and minister of state (18 May 1940 - 16 Jun 1940); President of the Council of Ministers (16 Jun 1940 - 18 Apr 1942); concluded armistice with the Germans (22 Jun 1940);established government in Vichy (2 Jul 1940); assumed full legislative and executive powers as Chef de l'État français (11 Jul 1940); established a Fascist-oriented government notorious for collaboration with the Nazi Germany; after the Allies landed in France, was forced by the Germans to leave Vichy for Belfort (20 Aug 1944), and eventually was taken across the French-German border (7 Sep 1944); arrived to Sigmaringen, Germany (10 Sep 1944), then went to Switzerland, but returned to France (26 Apr 1945) to stand trial for treason; was found guilty and sentenced to death (15 Aug 1945); sentence was commuted to life imprisonment; was imprisoned on Île d'Yeu, an island off the coast of Vendée, where he died. Biography source: [2] |
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| Sources and notes: | |
| [1] | Before leaving Vichy, Pétain received the diplomatic corps in audience and delivered to them a message addressed to Adolf Hitler, which ends with "I raise a solemn protest against this act of force, which makes it impossible for me to continue to exercise my prerogatives as Head of the French State." Before leaving French territory (7 Sep 1944), he addressed to Hitler another statement and protest, in which he declared that he "remains in the impossibility of exercising the functions of Head of the French State..." |
| [2] | "Histoire de Vichy", by Robert Aron (Monaco: A. Sauret, 1974). |
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