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103-796: Suspected of a bomb attack in the National Assembly , Jeune Nation was dissolved by official decree during the May 1958 crisis . The organization nonetheless survived through the 1960s under the shape of several other nationalist organizations, primarily the Federation of Nationalist Students (1960–1967), the Organisation Armée Secrète (1961–1962), Europe-Action (1963–1966), Occident (1964–1968) and L'Œuvre Française (1968–2013), all established by former Jeune Nation members. Jeune Nation's founder, Pierre Sidos , joined

206-568: A direct appeal from Lebrun himself. At this moment an article appeared in the newspaper Le Petit Journal , calling for Pétain as a candidate for a dictatorship. 200,000 readers responded to the paper's poll. Pétain came first, with 47,000, ahead of Pierre Laval 's 31,000 votes. These two men travelled to Warsaw for the funeral of the Polish Marshal Piłsudski in May 1935 (and another cordial meeting with Göring). Although Le Petit Journal

309-839: A draft proposal to the cabinet where he spoke of the need to stay in France, to prepare a national revival, and to share the sufferings of our people. It is impossible for the government to abandon French soil without emigrating, without deserting. The duty of the government is, come what may, to remain in the country, or it could not longer be regarded as the government. Several ministers were still opposed to an armistice, and Weygand immediately lashed out at them for even leaving Paris. Like Pétain, he said he would never leave France. The government moved to Bordeaux on 14 June, where French governments had fled German invasions in 1870 and 1914. By coincidence, that evening in Bordeaux, de Gaulle dined in

412-409: A few events like the commemorations of Robert Brasillach 's death or the events of 6 February 1934 allowed to take place. The group was known for their violent street attacks, especially on communist sympathizers. On 9–10 October 1954, a commando led by Sidos carjacked a van transporting issues of the communist newspaper L’Humanité Dimanche , then destroyed them and assaulted the driver who died

515-426: A few months later as a result of his injuries. Hoping to calm down the situation, Sidos sent a letter to the newspaper Le Monde a few days later to "formally disapprove of the individual violence committed in recent times". In March 1958, Jean-Marie Le Pen testified at the trial of four Jeune Nation militants accused of being involved in the murder. During demonstrations organized held on 8 November 1956 to denounce

618-616: A former Bezen Perrot member. During his internment, Sidos began to write about druidism and the Celtic Cross, which he described as the allegory of the "walking sun and universal life" in his prison notes. Sidos has stated that he was looking for a simple emblem to reproduce, unlike the eagle or the wild boar used by fascist groups at that time. Since its 1949 revival by Jeune Nation, the symbol has become popular among far-right movements in France and beyond in Europe. Jeune Nation formed

721-518: A key player, agreeing provided the French fleet was kept out of German hands. On Sunday, 16 June 1940, President Roosevelt 's reply to President Lebrun's requests for assistance came with only vague promises and saying that it was impossible for the President to do anything without Congressional approval. Pétain then drew a letter of resignation from his pocket, an act which was certain to bring down

824-603: A line of forts along the frontier with Germany, and their report was tabled on 22 May 1922. The three Marshals supported this. The cuts in military expenditure meant that taking the offensive was now impossible and a defensive strategy was all they could have. Pétain was appointed Inspector-General of the Army in February 1922, and produced, in concert with the new Chief of the General Staff, General Marie-Eugène Debeney ,

927-525: A monthly magazine in January after financial and readership difficulties. Articles were written by Jacques Ploncard d'Assac , Henry Coston , Pierre-Antoine Cousteau , and Tixier-Vignancour, among others. Joined by the young François d'Orcival , Pierre Poichet and Georges Schmeltz (known as "Pierre Marcenet") in September 1959, the last issue of the magazine Jeune Nation was seized four months later by

1030-440: A new army to "educate the youth", the expropriation of housings formerly possessed by "expelled métèques [wogs] deemed undesirable", an Italian fascist -like corporatist unionism , the "elimination of stateless capitalism and effortless incomes" and the founding of a state led by a "selected and politically educated" elite. Jeune Nation was however less vichyst than other contemporary nostalgic movements whose main raison d'être

1133-773: A new name to the Police Prefecture on 7 October 1958, and publicly relaunched as "Parti Nationaliste" by Pierre Sidos and Dominique Venner during a congress attended by around 600 people on 6–8 February 1959. The new organization was designed by Venner as a coordination structure for all French far-right movements via a Comité d’Entente (Entente Committee). It was dissolved only four days later on 12 February 1959 following violent protests against Prime Minister Michel Debré in Algeria. Both Venner and Sidos were eventually arrested, respectively in April 1961 and July 1962, after

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1236-513: A patriotism reduced to the boundaries of the nation-state—promoting instead a pan-European nationalism . Venner also abandoned the myth of the coup de force ("power grab") and asserted that a political revolution would not be able to happen before a cultural one, which could be reached only via the public promotion of nationalist ideas until they achieve majority approval. National Assembly (French Fourth Republic) Vacant (32) The National Assembly ( French : Assemblée Nationale )

1339-476: A revised plan and the commission then proposed two fortified regions. The Maginot Line , as it came to be called, (named after André Maginot the former Minister of War) thereafter occupied a good deal of Pétain's attention during 1928, when he also travelled extensively, visiting military installations up and down the country. Pétain had based his strong support for the Maginot Line on his own experience of

1442-783: A rich bonapartist and a friend of Pierre Taittinger , former leader of the Jeunesses Patriotes . She accepted to fund the movement, called at that time "La Jeune Nation", which held its first presentation on 22 October 1949 in Pajot's apartment. In 1952, they published a monthly magazine, Peuple de France et d'Outre-mer ("People of France and Overseas France"). The movement also tried to establish links with other nationalist right-wingers abroad, with Sidos traveling to London to visit fellow groups. They were soon joined by other nationalists like Albert Heuclin, Jean Marot, Jacques Wagner and Jean-Louis Tixier-Vignancour . On 23 March 1950,

1545-432: A small and faithful army, with a revolutionary general staff ready to seize power and rule as a military junta when their moment has come. Labeling themselves the "successors of those of 1934 " and targeting young people in their recruitment, Jeune Nation was joined in 1956 by Dominique Venner , then 21, whose later opposition to Sidos marked a generational and ideological shift between the young " euro-nationalists " and

1648-542: A strategic reserve of sixty divisions; now, there were none, and the British ought to be providing divisions to aid France. Making Paris into a ruin would not affect the final event. At the conference Pétain met de Gaulle for the first time in two years. Pétain noted his recent promotion to general, adding that he did not congratulate him, as ranks were of no use in defeat. When de Gaulle protested that Pétain himself had been promoted to brigadier-general and division commander at

1751-872: A week before the announcement that Germany was increasing its army to 36 divisions. On 26 April 1936, the general election results showed 5.5 million votes for the Popular Front parties against 4.5 million for the Right on an 84% turnout. On 3 May Pétain, was interviewed in Le Journal where he launched an attack on the Franco-Soviet Pact, on Communism in general (France had the largest communist party in Western Europe), and on those who allowed Communists intellectual responsibility. He said that France had lost faith in her destiny. Pétain

1854-702: The Grande Armée during the Napoleonic Wars . Pétain's mother died when he was 18 months old, and he was raised by relatives after his father remarried. He attended the Catholic boarding school of Saint-Bertin in the nearby town of Saint-Omer , where he was an excellent student, showing an aptitude for geography and arithmetic . In 1875, with the intention of preparing for the Saint-Cyr Military Academy , Pétain enrolled in

1957-604: The 1946 legislative election led to a " tripartisme " dominated by the Communists , the Socialists and the Popular Republican Movement , that ended up with the step down of communist ministers from the government in 1947. The electoral law of 9 May 1951 introduced a voting system based on affiliations: it combined proportional representation with the possibility for the ballots to join forces in

2060-694: The Aisne , as the French Army commander (Humbert) ignored Pétain's instructions to defend in depth and instead allowed his men to be hit by the initial massive German bombardment. By the time of the last German offensives, Gneisenau and the Second Battle of the Marne , Pétain was able to defend in depth and launch counter offensives, with the new French tanks and the assistance of the Americans. Later in

2163-609: The Char B1 bis ). Modern infantry rifles and machine guns were not manufactured, with the sole exception of a light machine-rifle, the Mle 1924 . The French heavy machine gun was still the Hotchkiss M1914 , obsolete when compared to the new automatic weapons of German infantry. A modern infantry rifle was adopted in 1936 but very few of these MAS-36 rifles had been issued to the troops by 1940. A well-tested French semiautomatic rifle,

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2266-595: The Dominican college of Albert-le-Grand in Arcueil . Pétain was admitted to Saint-Cyr in 1876, beginning his career in the French Army . Between graduating in 1878 and 1899, he served in various garrisons with different battalions of the chasseurs , the elite light infantry of the French Army. Thereafter, he alternated between staff and regimental assignments. Pétain's career progressed slowly, as he rejected

2369-686: The Free French . Political unease was sweeping the country and, on 6 February 1934 , the Paris police fired on a group of far-right rioters outside the Chamber of Deputies, killing 14 and wounding a further 236. President Lebrun invited 71-year-old Doumergue to come out of retirement and form a new "government of national unity". On 8 February, Pétain was invited to join the new French cabinet as Minister of War, which he only reluctantly accepted after many representations. His important success that year

2472-765: The Third Republic , became the National Assembly. Philippe P%C3%A9tain Henri Philippe Bénoni Omer Joseph Pétain (24 April 1856 – 23 July 1951), better known as Philippe Pétain ( French: [filip petɛ̃] ) and Marshal Pétain (French: Maréchal Pétain ), was a French general who commanded the French Army in World War I and later became the head of the collaborationist regime of Vichy France , from 1940 to 1944, during World War II . Pétain

2575-529: The colonial empire , racism , antisemitism , and advocated violent actions to overthrow the regime. They also dismissed political parties , communism , liberal democracy and what they saw as its embodiment, namely the United States . Their political agenda was the establishment of an "authoritarian and popular, national and social State," similar to the Révolution nationale of Vichy France :

2678-581: The " Voie Sacrée " to bring a continuous stream of artillery, ammunition, and fresh troops into besieged Verdun also played a key role in grinding down the German onslaught to a final halt in July 1916. In effect, he applied the basic principle that was a mainstay of his teachings at the École de Guerre (War College) before World War I: " le feu tue! " or "firepower kills!" – in this case meaning French field artillery, which fired over 15 million shells on

2781-506: The "nostalgic neo-Petainists of Pierre Sidos ." If they were largely inspired by the ideologies of fascist Italy and Vichy France , Jeune Nation began at that time to break with the collaborationist circles that had been protecting them since Sidos' prison time. As Gaullists and former resisters were joining their ranks in the context of the Algerian war, Sidos banned any evocation of the period 1933–1945 among its militants, with only

2884-524: The Army was still too large. On 5 December 1925, after the Locarno Treaty , the Conseil demanded immediate action on a line of fortifications along the eastern frontier to counter the already proposed decline in manpower. A new commission for this purpose was established, under Joseph Joffre , and called for reports. In July 1927 Pétain himself went to reconnoitre the whole area. He returned with

2987-547: The Art of Command". In the spring of 1914, he was given command of a brigade (still with the rank of colonel). By then aged 58 and having been told he would never become a general, Pétain had bought a villa for retirement. Pétain led his brigade at the Battle of Guise (29 August 1914). The following day, he was promoted to brigade general to replace brigade general Pierre Peslin  [ fr ] , who had taken his own life. He

3090-601: The Assembly: from only one Senegalese representative in the Third Republic , black deputies were 21 in 1946 and 30 in 1958, the year of the founding of the Fifth Republic. The Constitution of 1946, adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 29 September 1946 and approved by referendum on 13 October 1946, led to the creation of a new bicameral parliament. The lower house, named Chamber of Deputies under

3193-505: The Battle of the Marne in 1914, he replied that there was "no comparison" with the present situation. De Gaulle later conceded that Pétain was right about that much at least. On 12 June, after a second session of the conference, the cabinet met and Weygand again called for an armistice. He referred to the danger of military and civil disorder and the possibility of a Communist uprising in Paris. Pétain and Minister of Information Prouvost urged

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3296-584: The British Government offered joint nationality for Frenchmen and Britons in a Franco-British Union . Reynaud and five ministers thought these proposals acceptable. The others did not, seeing the offer as insulting and a device to make France subservient to the United Kingdom, as a kind of extra Dominion. Contrary to President Albert Lebrun 's later recollection, no formal vote appears to have been taken at Cabinet on 16 June. The outcome of

3399-537: The Conference, Ferdinand Foch was appointed as Allied Generalissimo , initially with powers to co-ordinate and deploy Allied reserves where he saw fit. Pétain eventually came to the aid of the British and secured the front with forty French divisions. Pétain proved a capable opponent of the Germans both in defence and through counter-attack. The third offensive, "Blücher", in May 1918, saw major German advances on

3502-525: The English (sic) in open country, then they'll beat us as well"). He reported this conversation to President Raymond Poincaré , adding "surely a general should not speak or think like that?" Haig recorded that Pétain had "a terrible look. He had the appearance of a commander who had lost his nerve". Pétain believed – wrongly – that Gough 's Fifth Army had been routed like the Italians at Caporetto . At

3605-571: The Finance Minister, François-Marsal , announced that although Pétain's proposals were excellent they were unaffordable". In addition, François-Marsal announced reductions – in the army from fifty-five divisions to thirty, in the air force, and did not mention tanks. It was left to the Marshals, Pétain, Joffre, and Foch, to pick up the pieces of their strategies. The General Staff, now under General Edmond Buat, began to think seriously about

3708-511: The French Army philosophy of the furious infantry assault, arguing instead that "firepower kills". His views were later proved to be correct during the First World War. He was promoted to captain in 1890 and major ( chef de bataillon ) in 1900. In March 1904, by then serving in the 104th Infantry, he was appointed adjunct professor of applied infantry tactics at the École Supérieure de Guerre , and following promotion to lieutenant-colonel

3811-499: The French Army. They involved, to various degrees, nearly half of the French infantry divisions stationed on the Western Front. Pétain restored morale by talking to the men, promising no more suicidal attacks, providing rest for exhausted units, home furloughs, and moderate discipline. He held 3400 courts martial ; 554 mutineers were sentenced to death but over 90% had their sentences commuted. The mutinies were kept secret from

3914-528: The French government over the peace terms, it was Pétain who, in January 1920, was appointed Vice-Chairman of the revived Conseil supérieur de la Guerre (Supreme War Council). This was France's highest military position, whose holder was Commander-in-Chief designate in the event of war and who had the right to overrule the Chief of the General Staff (a position held in the 1920s by Pétain's protégés Buat and Debeney ), and Pétain would hold it until 1931. Pétain

4017-575: The French not to sign an armistice, saying that if French ports were occupied by Germany, the United Kingdom would have to bomb them. Spears reported that Pétain did not respond immediately but stood there "perfectly erect, with no sign of panic or emotion. He did not disguise the fact that he considered the situation catastrophic. I could not detect any sign in him of broken morale, of that mental wringing of hands and incipient hysteria noticeable in others." Pétain later remarked to Reynaud about this statement: "your ally now threatens us." On 5 June, following

4120-592: The Germans and their full extent and intensity were not revealed until decades later. Gilbert and Bernard find multiple causes: The immediate cause was the extreme optimism and subsequent disappointment at the Nivelle offensive in the spring of 1917. Other causes were pacifism, stimulated by the Russian Revolution and the trade-union movement, and disappointment at the nonarrival of American troops. Pétain conducted some successful but limited offensives in

4223-467: The Germans during the first five months of the battle. Although Pétain did say "On les aura!" (an echoing of Joan of Arc, roughly: "We'll get them!"), the other famous quotation often attributed to him – "Ils ne passeront pas!" (" They shall not pass "!) – was actually uttered by Robert Nivelle who succeeded him in command of the Second Army at Verdun in May 1916. At the very end of 1916, Nivelle

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4326-541: The MAS 1938–39, was ready for adoption but it never reached the production stage until after World War II as the MAS 49 . French artillery had not been modernised since 1918. The result of all these failings is that the French Army had to face the invading enemy in 1940 with the dated weaponry of 1918. Pétain had been made Minister of War in 1934, but could not reverse 15 years of inactivity and constant cutbacks. French aviation entered

4429-543: The President that he appoint Marshal Pétain in his place, which he did that day, while the government was at Bordeaux . Pétain already had a ministerial team ready: Defunct Defunct A new Cabinet with Pétain as head of government was formed, with Henry du Moulin de Labarthète as the Cabinet Secretary . At midnight on 17 June 1940, Baudouin asked the Spanish Ambassador to submit to Germany

4532-698: The Soviet military intervention in the Hungarian Uprising , Jeune Nation stormed and partly set to fire the headquarters of the Communist Party in Paris. In the midst of protests at place de l'Étoile in April 1954, they mauled Prime Minister Joseph Laniel and Minister of Defense René Pleven , and on 25 November 1957 Jeune Nation organized a violent protest in front of the American embassy to denounce arms exports towards Algeria. Jeune Nation

4635-519: The Spanish Medalla Militar . In 1924 the National Assembly was elected on a platform of reducing the length of national service to one year, to which Pétain was almost violently opposed. In January 1926, the Chief of Staff, General Debeney, proposed to the Conseil a "totally new kind of army. Only 20 infantry divisions would be maintained on a standing basis". Reserves could be called up when needed. The Conseil had no option in

4738-514: The Spanish dictator Francisco Franco "many years ago at France's war college" and was sent to Spain "in the hope he would win his former pupil away from Italian and German influence." When World War II began in September, Daladier offered Pétain a position in his government, which Pétain turned down. However, after Germany invaded France , Pétain joined the new government of Paul Reynaud on 18 May 1940 as Deputy Prime Minister . Reynaud hoped that

4841-592: The Versailles Treaty there seemed no urgency for vast expenditure until the advent of Hitler. It is argued that while Pétain supported the massive use of tanks he saw them mostly as infantry support, leading to the fragmentation of the French tank force into many types of unequal value spread out between mechanised cavalry (such as the SOMUA S35 ) and infantry support (mostly the Renault R35 tanks and

4944-448: The War in 1939 without even the prototype of a bomber aeroplane capable of reaching Berlin and coming back. French industrial efforts in fighter aircraft were dispersed among several firms ( Dewoitine , Morane-Saulnier and Marcel Bloch ), each with its own models. In March 1939, Pétain was appointed French ambassador to the newly recognized Nationalist government of Spain. Pétain had taught

5047-501: The Western Front. Pétain commanded the Second Army at the start of the Battle of Verdun in February 1916. During the battle, he was promoted to Commander of Army Group Centre, which contained a total of 52 divisions. Rather than holding down the same infantry divisions on the Verdun battlefield for months, akin to the German system, he rotated them out after only two weeks on the front lines. His decision to organise truck transport over

5150-418: The ban of its organ Le Soleil in 1990, L'Œuvre Française founded in early 1994 in new magazine named Jeune Nation . L'Œuvre dissolved by official decree on 24 July 2013 along with its youth movement, "Jeunesses Nationalistes", the website was re-activated by nationalist militants Yvan Benedetti and Alexandre Gabriac, with the copyright "1958–2013 Jeune Nation". The Federation of Nationalist Students (FEN)

5253-628: The beginning of the Algerian War , Pierre Sidos announced the official birth of the movement "Jeune Nation" under its final name. Tixier-Vignancour, opposed to violent actions, soon left the group to create his own organization, the Rassemblement National Français . Jeune Nation held its first congress on 11 November 1955, when they adopted the Celtic cross as their emblem. Dismissing mass parties, Sidos aimed at creating

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5356-526: The cabinet to hear Weygand out because "he was the only one really to know what was happening". Churchill returned to France on 13 June for another conference at Tours. Baudouin met his plane and immediately spoke to him of the hopelessness of further French resistance. Reynaud then put the cabinet's armistice proposals to Churchill, who replied that "whatever happened, we would level no reproaches against France." At that day's cabinet meeting, Pétain strongly supported Weygand’s demand for an armistice and read out

5459-484: The common civilization and destiny of the white race". Pierre Sidos was the chief ideologue and leader of Jeune Nation. His brother François served as the president, and Jean Malardier as the treasurer. The leadership team was called the conductoire . The group used the Celtic Cross as their symbol, which may come from an initiation to Celtic esotericism Sidos received in prison in 1946–1948 from Marcel Bibé,

5562-418: The counting and distribution of votes. This system was intended to give a stable majority to the government, as well as to reduce the influence of the Communist Party and the Rally of the French People in the parliament. By creating the French Union , the 1946 constitution allowed a rising number of black deputies from French West Africa , French Equatorial Africa and French West Indies to be elected in

5665-489: The creation of an independent air force removed from the control of the army, and on 9 February 1931, following his retirement as Vice-Chairman of the Supreme War Council, he was appointed Inspector-General of Air Defence. His first report on air defence, submitted in July that year, advocated increased expenditure. In 1931 Pétain was elected a Fellow of the Académie française . By 1932 the economic situation had worsened and Édouard Herriot's government had made "severe cuts in

5768-510: The defence budget... orders for new weapons systems all but dried up". Summer manoeuvres in 1932 and 1933 were cancelled due to lack of funds, and recruitment to the armed forces fell off. In the latter year General Maxime Weygand claimed that "the French Army was no longer a serious fighting force". Édouard Daladier 's new government retaliated against Weygand by reducing the number of officers and cutting military pensions and pay, arguing that such measures, apart from financial stringency, were in

5871-455: The defense of the French empire 's survival against the growing decolonization movement. Released earlier from prison on 4 August 1948, Sidos quickly contacted his brothers François et Jacques to help him work on his project. In 1949, the final structure of the organization had been designed but the Sidos brothers lacked money, and far-right sponsors were not abundant in the immediate post-war. Pierre then requested assistance from Jeanne Pajot,

5974-406: The fall of Dunkirk, there was a Cabinet reshuffle. Reynaud brought into his War Cabinet as Undersecretary for War the newly promoted Brigadier-General de Gaulle , whose 4th Armoured Division had launched one of the few French counterattacks the previous month. Pétain was displeased at de Gaulle’s appointment. By 8 June, Paris was threatened, and the government was preparing to depart, although Pétain

6077-408: The fascist Parti Franciste in 1943 at 16 years old, the minimum required age. His father, François Sidos, was executed in 1946 for his involvement in the Vichy paramilitary Milice . Pierre avoided a harsher sentence since a minor at the time of the events and was convicted to five years in jail. The time he spent serving his sentence comforted the political convictions he had built before and during

6180-447: The government (he had persuaded Weygand to come to Bordeaux by telling him that 16 June would be the decisive day). Lebrun persuaded him to stay until Churchill’s reply had been received. After lunch, Churchill's telegram arrived agreeing to an armistice provided the French fleet was moved to British ports, a suggestion which was not acceptable to Darlan, who argued that it was outrageous and would leave France defenseless. That afternoon,

6283-445: The government for further funds for the army. During this period, he repeatedly called for a lengthening of the term of compulsory military service for conscripts from two to three years, to no avail. Pétain accompanied President Lebrun to Belgrade for the funeral of King Alexander , who had been assassinated on 6 October 1934 in Marseille by Vlado Chernozemski , a Bulgarian nationalist from IMRO . Here he met Hermann Göring and

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6386-419: The government left Paris for Tours. Weygand, the Commander-in-Chief, now declared that "the fighting had become meaningless". He, Minister of Finance Paul Baudouin , and several other members of the government were already set on an armistice. On 11 June, Churchill flew to the Château du Muguet, at Briare , near Orléans , where he put forward first his idea of a Breton redoubt, to which Weygand replied that it

6489-399: The government was at Bordeaux . The government then resolved to sign armistice agreements with Germany and Italy. The entire government subsequently moved briefly to Clermont-Ferrand , then to the town of Vichy in central France. It voted to transform the French Third Republic into the French State , better known as Vichy France, an authoritarian puppet regime that was allowed to govern

6592-451: The group was officially declared to the Prefecture of Police , but it remained publicly unknown for several years. In 1954, two events changed the destiny of Jeune Nation: the end of the First Indochina War on July 20, and the beginning of the Algerian War of Independence on November 1. The movement experienced a sudden fame and membership rose after the return of military personnel from south-East Asia. On 11 November 1954, ten days after

6695-408: The group's analysis of society, their doctrine stating that "fighting against [France's] decadence [meant] fighting against the [democratic] regime". Jeune Nation also referred to the achievement of a "second revolution", the first one being that of 1940 and evidently not that of 1789 . They also envisaged the construction of Europe "from Narvik to Cape Town" and "from Brest to Bucharest", "founded on

6798-421: The hero of Verdun might instill a renewed spirit of resistance and patriotism in the French Army. Reportedly Franco advised Pétain against leaving his diplomatic post in Madrid, to return to a collapsing France as a "sacrifice". By 26 May, the Allied lines had been shattered, and British forces had begun evacuating at Dunkirk . French commander-in-chief Maxime Weygand expressed his fury at British retreats and

6901-529: The issue of an arrest warrant on 24 January 1960 for "recreating a disbanded league" and "compromising State security". They were convicted on 19 June 1963 to a suspended 3-year jail sentence and a 2,000 Fr fine. The bi-monthly magazine Jeune Nation , launched on 5 July 1958 to serve as an ideological organ for the rebirth of the group, was not affected by the new dissolution of February 1959. The periodical, which violently attacked Charles de Gaulle as far as publicly calling for his assassination, had turned into

7004-442: The latter part of 1917, while the British carried out an offensive at Passchendaele that autumn. Pétain, instead, held off from major French offensives until the Americans arrived in force on the front lines, which did not happen until the early summer of 1918. He was also waiting for the new Renault FT tanks to be introduced in large numbers, hence his statement at the time: J'attends les chars et les Américains ("I am waiting for

7107-420: The meeting is uncertain. Ten ministers wanted to fight on and seven favoured an armistice (but these included the two Deputy Prime Ministers Pétain and Camille Chautemps , and this view was also favoured by the Commander-in-Chief General Weygand). Eight were initially undecided but swung towards an armistice. Lebrun reluctantly accepted Reynaud's resignation as Prime Minister on 17 June, Reynaud recommending to

7210-455: The most significant part of civil members in the pro-colonial paramilitary group Organisation Armée Secrète (OAS), founded in 1961. If they tried to import the OAS structures into Europe (via OAS-Métro), they never managed to spread the armed insurrection outside of Algeria. Pierre Sidos created Occident in 1964, but broke with the group in 1965–1966. He then founded L'Œuvre Française in 1968, and remained its leader until 2012. Following

7313-450: The new army manual entitled Provisional Instruction on the Tactical Employment of Large Units , which soon became known as 'the Bible'. On 3 September 1925, Pétain was appointed sole Commander-in-Chief of French Forces in Morocco to launch a major campaign against the Rif tribes, in concert with the Spanish Army, which was successfully concluded by the end of October. He was subsequently decorated, at Toledo , by King Alfonso XIII with

7416-517: The police on 28 January 1960. The three students then decided to found on 12 April 1960 the Federation of Nationalist Students (FEN). Initially favourable to the project, Sidos eventually opposed the euro-nationalist stance introduced by Venner and adopted by the FEN. He broke with the latter in 1964 to create Occident . Jeune Nation defended anti-parliamentarianism , corporatism , the French army and

7519-533: The report. After the autumn manoeuvres, which Pétain had reinstated, a report was presented to Pétain that officers had been poorly instructed, had little basic knowledge and no confidence. He was also told by Maurice Gamelin that, if the plebiscite in the Territory of the Saar Basin went for Germany, "it would be a serious military error" for the French Army to intervene. Pétain responded by again petitioning

7622-666: The rest of the war and emerged as a national hero. During the interwar period , he was head of the peacetime French Army, commanded joint Franco-Spanish operations during the Rif War and served twice as a government minister. During this time he was known as le vieux Maréchal ("the Old Marshal"). On 16 June 1940, with the imminent Fall of France and the government desire for an armistice, Prime Minister Paul Reynaud resigned, recommending to President Albert Lebrun that he appoint Pétain in his place, which he did that day, while

7725-567: The role played by the forts during the Battle of Verdun in 1916. Captain Charles de Gaulle continued to be a protégé of Pétain throughout these years. He even allegedly named his eldest son after the Marshal, although it is more likely that he named his son after his family ancestor Jean Baptiste Philippe de Gaulle, before finally falling out over the authorship of a book he had said he had ghost-written for Pétain. In 1928, Pétain had supported

7828-459: The same restaurant as Pétain; he came over to shake his hand in silence and they never met again. The Assembly, both Senate and Chamber, were also at Bordeaux and immersed themselves in the armistice debate. At cabinet on 15 June, Reynaud urged that France follow the Dutch example, that the Army should lay down its arms so that the fight could be continued from abroad. Pétain was sympathetic. Pétain

7931-764: The southeast of France and which collaborated with the Axis powers . After Germany and Italy occupied all of France in November 1942, Pétain's government worked closely with the Nazi German military administration . After the war, Pétain was tried and convicted for treason . He was originally sentenced to death, but due to his age and World War I service his sentence was commuted to life in prison. His journey from military obscurity, to hero of France during World War I, to collaborationist ruler during World War II, led his successor Charles de Gaulle to declare that Pétain's life

8034-672: The spirit of the Geneva Disarmament Conference . In 1938, Pétain encouraged and assisted the writer André Maurois in gaining election to the Académie française – an election which was highly contested, in part due to Maurois' Jewish origin. Maurois made a point of acknowledging with thanks his debt to Pétain in his 1941 autobiography, Call no man happy  – though by the time of writing their paths had sharply diverged, Pétain having become Head of State of Vichy France while Maurois went into exile and sided with

8137-470: The straitened circumstances but to agree. Pétain disapproved of the whole thing, pointing out that North Africa still had to be defended and in itself required a substantial standing army. But he recognised, after the new Army Organisation Law of 1927, that the tide was flowing against him. He would not forget that the Radical leader, Édouard Daladier , even voted against the whole package, on the grounds that

8240-626: The tanks and the Americans.") The year 1918 saw major German offensives on the Western Front. The first of these, Operation Michael in March 1918, threatened to split the British and French forces apart, and, after Pétain had threatened to retreat on Paris, the Doullens Conference was called. Just prior to the main meeting, Prime Minister Clemenceau claimed he heard Pétain say "les Allemands battront les Anglais en rase campagne, après quoi ils nous battront aussi" ("the Germans will beat

8343-687: The two men reminisced about their experiences in the Great War. "When Göring returned to Germany he spoke admiringly of Pétain, describing him as a 'man of honour'". In November, the Doumergue government fell. Pétain had previously expressed interest in being named Minister of Education (as well as of War), a role in which he hoped to combat what he saw as the decay in French moral values. Now, however, he refused to continue in Flandin's short-lived government as Minister of War and stood down – in spite of

8446-483: The unfulfilled promise of British fighter aircraft. He and Pétain regarded the military situation as hopeless. Colonel de Villelume subsequently stated before a parliamentary commission of inquiry in 1951 that Reynaud, as Premier of France, said to Pétain on that day that they must seek an armistice. Weygand said that he was in favor of saving the French army and that he "wished to avoid internal troubles and above all anarchy". Churchill's man in Paris, Edward Spears , urged

8549-540: The war regarded "without a doubt, the most accomplished defensive tactician of any army" and "one of France's greatest military heroes" and was presented with his baton of Marshal of France at a public ceremony at Metz by President Poincaré on 8 December 1918. He was summoned to be present at the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on 28 June 1919. His job as Commander-in-Chief came to an end with peace and demobilisation, and with Foch out of favour after his quarrel with

8652-484: The war, and Pierre Sidos began to imagine "Jeune Nation" during prison time. Discredited by earlier European far-right experiences, French nationalist parties scored poorly in elections from the fall of fascism in 1945 until the rise of the Front National in the 1980s. Neo-fascists groups nonetheless saw in the immediate post-war new reasons to swing into action, mainly the fight against communist expansion and

8755-502: The year, Pétain was stripped of his right of direct appeal to the French government and requested to report to Foch, who increasingly assumed the co-ordination and ultimately the command of the Allied offensives. On the day of the armistice , Pétain wanted to continue offensive operations into Germany to prevent another war but was overruled by Foch. After the war ended Pétain was made Marshal of France on 21 November 1918. Pétain ended

8858-556: Was "successively banal, then glorious, then deplorable, but never mediocre". Pétain, who was 84 years old when he became Prime Minister and later Chief of State, remains both the oldest person to become the head of government and the oldest person to become the head of state of France. Pétain was born into a peasant family in Cauchy-à-la-Tour , in the Pas-de-Calais department, northern France, on 24 April 1856. He

8961-531: Was admitted to the Saint-Cyr Military Academy in 1876 and pursued a career in the military, achieving the rank of colonel by the outbreak of World War I. He led the French Army to victory at the nine-month-long Battle of Verdun , for which he was called " the Lion of Verdun " (French: le lion de Verdun ). After the failed Nivelle Offensive and subsequent mutinies , he was appointed Commander-in-Chief and succeeded in restoring control. Pétain remained in command for

9064-583: Was appalled by what he had seen. Addressing the Conseil on the 23rd, Pétain claimed that it would be fruitless to look for assistance to the United Kingdom in the event of a German attack. On 1 March 1935, Pétain's famous article appeared in the Revue des deux mondes , where he reviewed the history of the army since 1927–28. He criticised the reservist system in France, and her lack of adequate air power and armour. This article appeared just five days before Adolf Hitler 's announcement of Germany's new air force and

9167-607: Was conservative, Pétain's high reputation was bipartisan; socialist Léon Blum called him "the most human of our military commanders". Pétain did not get involved in non-military issues when in the Cabinet, and unlike other military leaders he did not have a reputation as an extreme Catholic or a monarchist . He remained on the Conseil superieur . Weygand had been at the British Army 1934 manoeuvres at Tidworth Camp in June and

9270-552: Was created in 1960 by former Jeune Nation students after the publication of a "Manifesto of the Class of '60" where they committed themselves to "action of profound consequence", as opposed to "sterile activism", thus breaking with the street insurrection previously advocated by Jeune Nation. Dominique Venner launched his nationalist magazine Europe-Action in 1963 and aimed at removing "old ideas" from nationalism and fascism, such as anti-parliamentarianism , anti-intellectualism or

9373-464: Was dissolved on 15 May 1958 by an official decree of Jules Moch , then Minister of the Interior , two days after the putsch of Algiers and the beginning of the May 1958 crisis . The group was involved in the troubles of May 13 in Algeria, and had been suspected of a bomb attack that occurred on February 6 in a lavatory at the National Assembly . The association was regardless declared again under

9476-487: Was encouraged by friends to go into politics, although he protested that he had little interest in running for an elected position. He nevertheless tried and failed to get himself elected President following the November 1919 elections . Shortly after the war, Pétain had placed before the government plans for a large tank and air force, but "at the meeting of the Conseil supérieur de la Défense Nationale of 12 March 1920,

9579-615: Was given command of the 6th Division in time for the First Battle of the Marne ; little over a month later, in October 1914, he was promoted yet again and became XXXIII Corps commander. After leading his corps in the spring 1915 Artois Offensive , in July 1915 he was given command of the Second Army , which he led in the Champagne Offensive that autumn. He acquired a reputation as one of the more successful commanders on

9682-573: Was in getting Daladier's previous proposal to reduce the number of officers repealed. He improved the recruitment programme for specialists and lengthened the training period by reducing leave entitlements. However, Weygand reported to the Senate Army Commission that year that the French Army still could not resist a German attack. Marshals Louis Franchet d'Espèrey and Hubert Lyautey (the latter died suddenly in July) added their names to

9785-573: Was just a "fantasy". Churchill then said the French should consider "guerrilla warfare". Pétain then replied that it would mean the destruction of the country. Churchill then said the French should defend Paris and reminded Pétain of how he had come to the aid of the British with forty divisions in March 1918 , and repeated Clemenceau's words: I will fight in front of Paris, in Paris, and behind Paris. To this, Churchill subsequently reported, Pétain replied quietly, and with dignity that he had in those days,

9888-416: Was now in his 80th year. Some argue that Pétain, as France's most senior soldier after Foch's death, should bear some responsibility for the poor state of French weaponry preparation before World War II. Others say that Pétain was one of many on a large committee responsible for national defence, and interwar governments frequently cut military budgets. In addition, with the restrictions imposed on Germany by

9991-589: Was one of five children of Omer-Venant Pétain (1816–1888), a farmer, and Clotilde Legrand (1824–1857), and was their only son. His father had previously lived in Paris , where he worked for photography pioneer Louis Daguerre , before returning to the family farm in Cauchy-à-la-Tour following the Revolution of 1848 . One of his great-uncles, a Catholic priest, Father Abbe Lefebvre (1771–1866), served in

10094-435: Was opposed to such a move. During a cabinet meeting that day, Reynaud argued that before asking for an armistice, France would have to get the United Kingdom permission to be relieved from their accord of March 1940 not to sign a separate cease-fire. Pétain replied that "the interests of France come before those of the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom got us into this position, let us now try to get out of it." . On 10 June,

10197-407: Was promoted over Pétain to replace Joseph Joffre as French Commander-in-Chief . Because of his high prestige as a soldier's soldier, Pétain served briefly as Army Chief of Staff (from the end of April 1917). He then became Commander-in-Chief of the entire French army, replacing General Nivelle , whose Chemin des Dames offensive failed in April 1917 and thereby provoked widespread mutinies in

10300-652: Was promoted to professor on 3 April 1908. He was brevetted to colonel on 1 January 1910. Unlike many French officers, Pétain served mainly in mainland France, never French Indochina or any of the African colonies, although he participated in the Rif campaign in Morocco . As colonel , he was given command of the 33rd Infantry Regiment at Arras on 25 June 1911; a young lieutenant, Charles de Gaulle , who served under him, later wrote that his "first colonel, Pétain, taught (him)

10403-462: Was sent to speak to Weygand (who was waiting outside, as he was not a member of the cabinet) for around fifteen minutes. Weygand persuaded him that Reynaud's suggestion would be a shameful surrender. Chautemps then put forward a 'fudge' proposal, an enquiry about terms. The Cabinet voted 13–6 for the Chautemps proposal. Admiral Darlan , who had been opposed to an armistice until 15 June, now became

10506-762: Was the lower house of the French parliament under the Fourth Republic , with the Council of the Republic being the upper house . It was established by the Constitution of 1946, dissolved by the Constitution of 1958 and replaced with a new chamber bearing the same name. The institutional nature of the parliamentarian Fourth Republic has been described as a source of political instability by historians and jurists. The proportional voting system of

10609-469: Was the defence of the memory of Philippe Pétain . The movement tried to launch a revolutionary fight outside of the parliamentary system in order to overthrow the Fourth Republic , which was according to them "the only hope for nationalism". Jean Malardier, adherent of Jeune Nation and former LVF member, described the group as "aspiring and devoting the whole of itself to the national insurrection". The ideas of "democracy" and "decadence" were interwoven in

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