Vichy France, or the Vichy regime are the common terms used to describe the government of France from July 1940 to August 1944. This government, which succeeded the Third Republic, officially called itself the French State (L'État Français), in contrast with the previous designation, "French Republic." Marshal Philippe Pétain proclaimed the government following the military defeat of France by Nazi Germany during World War II and the vote by the National Assembly on July 10, 1940. This vote granted extraordinary powers to Pétain, the last Président du Conseil (Prime Minister) of the Third Republic, who then took the additional title Chef de l'État Français ("Chief of the French State"). Pétain headed the reactionary program of the so-called "Révolution nationale", aimed at "regenerating the Nation."
Vichy France had legal authority in both the northern zone of France, which was occupied by the German Wehrmacht, and the unoccupied southern "free zone", where the regime's administrative center of Vichy was located. The southern zone remained under Vichy control until the Allies landed in French North Africa in November 1942. Recent research by the historian Simon Kitson has shown that, in spite of extensive state collaboration, Vichy led an ultimately unsuccessful campaign to preserve the sovereignty of this southern zone by arresting German spies.
Pétain and the Vichy regime willfully collaborated with the German occupation to a high degree. The French police and the state Milice (militia) organized raids to capture Jews and others considered "undesirables" by the Germans in both the northern and southern zones.
The legitimacy of Vichy France and Pétain's leadership was challenged by General Charles de Gaulle, who claimed to instead represent the legitimacy and continuity of the French government. Following the Allies' invasion of France in Operation Overlord, de Gaulle proclaimed the Provisional Government of the French Republic (GPRF) in June, 1944. After the Liberation of Paris in August, the GPRF installed itself in Paris on August 31. The GPRF was recognized as the legitimate government of France by the Allies on October 23, 1944.
With the liberation of France in August and September, Vichy's officials and supporters moved to Sigmaringen in Germany and there established a government in exile, headed by Pétain, until April 1945. Many of the Vichy regime's prominent figures were subsequently tried by the GPRF and a number were executed. Pétain himself was sentenced to death for treason, but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.
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