In June 1940, Marshal Philippe Petain was made the prime minister of France. Petain arranged an armistice and agreed to German military occupation of more than half of France. The capital had moved to Vichy and the regime had become known as the Vichy regime. Petain became chief of state in July and stayed in this position until 1944 when France was liberated by the allies. By 1945 Petain was condemned to death for treason. This new government was supported and disliked by many people.
There were many resistors to the new government created by Petain. Charles de Gaulle, the head of the Free French Movement, described France to now be a slave to the enemy (Document 3). The men who constitute the French government were bullied into humiliating negotiations with the enemy, which ultimately ended with the french acting as a slave to the Germans. A French cartoonist, Jean Pennes, drew this servitude by drawing Petain carrying Hitler on his back (Document 4). The caricature showed the amount of power Hitler had over Petain and France. Furthermore, in September of 1943, a French resistance leader told people in a radio broadcast that it was their…show more content… Obviously, being the one who created it, Petain was in favor of this new government. Petain had made an announcement stating that it was time for the army to cease fighting and surrender to the Germans (Document 1). This surrender was to be seen as a way to relieve France of suffering, A couple months later, due to the weakness of the government Petain felt a new order was necessary for France (Document 2). Petain reveals in July of 1945 that by making the Vichy regime he was able to keep France living (Document 10). He claimed that the Armistice was able to save France and ensure that part of France would remain free and intact. Even though the people of France might have been unhappy with the government put in place, they were able to
