View source for Philippe Pétain

{{short description|French general (1856–1951)}}
{{redirect|Le Maréchal|the mathematician|Claude Lemaréchal}}
{{EngvarB|date=January 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Page numbers needed|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Philippe Pétain
| birth_name          = Henri Philippe Bénoni Omer Joseph Pétain
| image               = Philippe Pétain 1941 Portrait photograph.jpg
| caption             = Pétain in 1941
| office              = [[List of heads of state of France#French State (1940–1944)|Head of the French State]]
| term_start          = 11 July 1940
| term_end            = 20 August 1944
| primeminister       = {{ubl|Himself|[[Pierre Laval]]}}
| predecessor1        = [[Albert Lebrun]] {{awrap|([[President of France|President]])}}
| successor1          = [[Charles de Gaulle]] {{awrap|(Chairman of the [[Provisional Government of the French Republic|Provisional Government]])}}
| office2             = [[Prime Minister of France]]
| term_start2         = 16 June 1940
| term_end2           = 18 April 1942
| predecessor2        = [[Paul Reynaud]]
| successor2          = Pierre Laval
| president2          = Albert Lebrun<br>Himself (as Head of State)
| deputy2             = {{ubl|[[Camille Chautemps]]|[[Pierre Laval]]|[[Pierre-Étienne Flandin]]|[[François Darlan]]}}
| office3             = [[Deputy Prime Minister of France]]
| primeminister3      = Paul Reynaud
| predecessor3        = Camille Chautemps
| successor3          = Camille Chautemps
| term_start3         = 18 May 1940
| term_end3           = 16 June 1940
| office4             = [[Minister of State#France|Minister of State]]
| office5             = [[Ministry of War (France)|Minister of War]]
| primeminister5      = [[Gaston Doumergue]]
| term_start5         = 9 February 1934
| term_end5           = 8 November 1934
| predecessor5        = [[Joseph Paul-Boncour]]
| successor5          = [[Louis Maurin]]
| office6             = [[Chief of Staff of the French Army|Chief of the Army Staff]]
| term_start6         = 30 April 1917
| term_end6           = 16 May 1917
| predecessor6        = [[Robert Nivelle]]
| successor6          = [[Ferdinand Foch]]
| birth_date          = 24 April 1856
| birth_place         = [[Cauchy-à-la-Tour]], France
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|1951|07|23|1856|04|24|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Île d'Yeu]], France
| module              = {{Infobox |child=yes |headerstyle=background:lavender; |header1=Criminal conviction
{{Infobox criminal | child = yes | conviction = [[Treason]] | criminal_penalty = [[Capital punishment in France|Death]]; commuted to [[life imprisonment]]}}}}
| spouse              = {{marriage|[[Eugénie Pétain|Eugénie Hardon]]|14 September 1920}}
| signature           = Signature Philippe Pétain.svg
| allegiance          = {{ubl|[[French Third Republic]]|[[Vichy France]]}}
| branch              = [[French Army]]
| serviceyears        = 1876–1945
| rank                = [[Divisional general]] (revoked)
| battles             = {{ubl|[[World War I]]|[[Rif War]]|[[World War II]]}}
| mawards             = {{ubl|[[Marshal of France]]|[[Military Medal (Spain)|Military Medal]]}}
| president3          = Albert Lebrun
| president5          = Albert Lebrun
| president6          = [[Raymond Poincaré]]
| primeminister6      = [[Alexandre Ribot]]
| 1blankname6         = [[Minister of War (France)#Third Republic|Minister of War]]
| 1namedata6          = Paul Painlevé
| alongside4          = [[Édouard Herriot]], [[Louis Marin (politician)|Louis Marin]]
| termstart4          = 1 June 1935
| termend4            = 4 June 1935
| primeminister4      = [[Fernand Bouisson]]
| office10             = [[List of ambassadors of France to Spain|Ambassador of France to Spain]]
| termstart10          = 9 March 1939
| termend10            = 18 May 1940
| predecessor10        = [[:fr:Eirik Labonne|Eirik Labonne]]
| successor10          = [[François Piétri]]
| president10          = Albert Lebrun
| primeminister10      = [[Édouard Daladier]] <br> Paul Reynaud
| 1blankname10         = [[Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (France)#Third Republic|Minister of Foreign Affairs]]
| 1namedata10          = [[Georges Bonnet]] <br> Édouard Maladier <br> Paul Reynaud
| office7             = [[Grand Quartier Général (1914–1919)|Commander of the ''Grand Quartier Général'']]
| termstart7          = 16 May 1917
| termend7            = 20 October 1919
| president7          = Raymond Poincaré
| primeminister7      = Alexandre Ribot <br> Paul Painlevé <br> [[Georges Clemenceau]]
| 1blankname7         = [[Minister of War (France)#Third RepublicThird Republic|Minister of War]]
| 1namedata7          = Paul Painlevé <br> Georges Clemenceau
| predecessor7        = [[Robert Nivelle]]
| successor7          = ''GQG dissolved''
| office8             = [[2nd Army (France)#World War I|Commander of the 2nd Army]]
| president8          = Raymond Poincaré
| 1blankname8         = [[Minister of War (France)#Third RepublicThird Republic|Minister of War]]
| 1namedata8          = [[Alexandre Millerand]] <br> [[Joseph Gallieni]]
| termstart8          = 21 June 1915
| termend8            = 1 May 1916
| 2blankname8         = [[Chief of Staff of the French Army#Third Republic|Chief of Staff]]
| 2namedata8          = [[Joseph Joffre]]
| predecessor8        = [[Noël Édouard, vicomte de Curières de Castelnau|Noël Édouard]]
| successor8          = Robert Nivelle
| office9 = [[:fr:6e division d'infanterie (France)#Les chefs de la 6e division d'infanterie|Commander of the 6th Infantry Division]]
| president9 = Raymond Poincaré
| termstart9 = 31 August 1914
| termend9 = 20 October 1914
| predecessor9 = ''Military unit created''
| successor9 = [[Charles Jacquot]]
| 1blankname9 = [[Minister of War (France)#Thire Republic|Minister of War]]
| 1namedata9 = Alexandre Millerand
| 2blankname9 = [[Chief of Staff of the French Army#Third Republic|Chief of Staff]]
| 2namedata9 = Joseph Joffre
}}
'''Henri Philippe Bénoni Omer Joseph Pétain''' ({{IPA|fr|filip petɛ̃|lang}}; 24 April 1856 – 23 July 1951), better known as '''Marshal Pétain''' ({{langx|fr|link=no|maréchal Pétain}}, {{IPA|fr|maʁeʃal petɛ̃|}}), was a French military officer who commanded the [[French Army]] in [[World War I]] and later became the head of the [[Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy|collaborationist]] regime of [[Vichy France]], from 1940 to 1944, during [[World War II]].

Pétain 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'''" ({{langx|fr|le lion de Verdun|links=no}}). After the failed [[Nivelle Offensive]] and [[1917 French Army mutinies|subsequent mutinies]], he was appointed Commander-in-Chief and succeeded in restoring control. Pétain remained in command for 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 {{lang|fr|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 the government was at [[Bordeaux]]. The government then resolved to sign armistice agreements with [[Nazi Germany]] and [[Fascist 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 the southeast of France and which collaborated with the [[Axis powers]]. After Germany and Italy [[Case Anton|occupied all of France]] in November 1942, Pétain's government worked closely with the [[German military administration in occupied France during World War II|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 was "successively banal, then glorious, then deplorable, but never mediocre".

Pétain, who was 84 years old when he became Prime Minister and later Head 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.

==Early life==
Pétain was born into a peasant family in [[Cauchy-à-la-Tour]], in the [[Pas-de-Calais]] department, northern France, on 24 April 1856.<ref name=Atkin-2014>{{cite book |title=Pétain |last=Atkin |first=Nicholas |author-link=Nicholas Atkin |year=2014 |orig-date=1998 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1317897972 |oclc=881571631 |series=Profiles In power |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bW_XAwAAQBAJ}}</ref>{{page needed|date=October 2024}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.culture.gouv.fr/LH/LH280/PG/FRDAFAN83_OC17V022.htm|title=Birth certificate of Pétain, Henri Philippe Benoni Omer|last=Government of the French empire|website=culture.gouv.fr|language=fr|access-date=13 April 2020}}</ref> He was one of five children of Omer-Venant Pétain (1816–1888), a farmer, and Clotilde Legrand (1824–1857), and was their only son.<ref name=Atkin-2014/>{{page needed|date=October 2024}} 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 [[French Revolution of 1848|Revolution of 1848]].<ref name=Atkin-2014/>{{page needed|date=October 2024}} One of his great-uncles, a Catholic priest, Father Abbe Lefebvre (1771–1866), served in the ''[[Grande Armée]]'' during the [[Napoleonic Wars]].<ref name=Atkin-2014/>{{page needed|date=October 2024}}

Pétain's mother died when he was 18 months old, and he was raised by relatives after his father remarried.<ref name=Atkin-2014/>{{page needed|date=October 2024}} 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]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Baussan |first=Charles |date=1918 |title=Marshal Petain |journal=Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review |volume=7 |issue=28 |pages=584–595 |issn=0039-3495}}</ref> In 1875, with the intention of preparing for the [[Saint-Cyr Military Academy]], Pétain enrolled in the [[Dominican Order|Dominican]] college of Albert-le-Grand in [[Arcueil]].<ref name=Atkin-2014/>{{page needed|date=October 2024}}

==Early military career==
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]],<ref name=Atkin-2014/>{{page needed|date=October 2024}} the elite light infantry of the French Army. Thereafter, he alternated between staff and regimental assignments.

[[File:Philippe Pétain jeune officier.jpg|left|thumb|Pétain in the 1880s]]

Pétain's career progressed slowly, as he rejected 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'',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6249355k/f3.image.r|title=Ecoles militaires|date=1 April 1904|access-date=16 November 2020|website=gallica.bnf.fr|last=Government of the French Republic}}</ref> and following promotion to lieutenant-colonel was promoted to professor on 3 April 1908.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6276218v/f8.image.r|title=Service des ecoles militaires|date=5 April 1908|access-date=16 November 2020|website=gallica.bnf.fr|last=Government of the French Republic}}</ref> He was brevetted to colonel on 1 January 1910.<ref name="colonel"/>

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 War|Rif campaign in Morocco]]. As [[colonel]], he was given command of the 33rd Infantry Regiment at [[Arras]] on 25 June 1911;<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6391632r/f24.image.r|title=Ministère de la guerre|date=28 June 1911|access-date=25 September 2021|website=gallica.bnf.fr|last=Government of the French Republic}}</ref> a young lieutenant, [[Charles de Gaulle]], who served under him, later wrote that his "first colonel, Pétain, taught (him) 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.<ref>{{citation |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YiZRC8bsOuoC&pg=PA461|title=The United States in the First World War: an encyclopedia |author=Anne Cipriano Venzon, Paul L. Miles|chapter=Pétain, Henri-Philippe|year=1999 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0815333531 }}.</ref>

==First World War==
{{more citations needed|section|date=July 2017}}<!--first two sub-sections have no references-->

===Beginning of war===
[[File:Philippe Pétain circa 1915.jpg|thumb|Pétain in 1915. [[Autochrome]] portrait by [[Jules Gervais-Courtellemont]]]]
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 {{ill|Pierre Peslin|fr}}, who had taken his own life.<ref name="gendbrig"/> He 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 [[Second Battle of Artois|Artois Offensive]], in July 1915 he was given command of the [[Second Army (France)|Second Army]], which he led in the [[Second Battle of Champagne|Champagne Offensive]] that autumn. He acquired a reputation as one of the more successful commanders on the Western Front.

===Battle of Verdun===
{{main|Grand Quartier Général (1914–1919)}}
Pétain commanded the [[Second Army (France)|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 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!"{{snd}}in this case meaning French field artillery, which fired over 15 million shells on 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 (France)|Second Army]] at Verdun in May 1916.<!-- There are sources that say otherwise, other sources say that it is not clear who first used the term but that both used it, there is also a text by a military painter, Maurice Dubois, who says that when he was painting near the front Petain said it. --> At the very end of 1916, Nivelle was promoted over Pétain to replace [[Joseph Joffre]] as French [[Commander-in-Chief]].

===Mutiny===
{{main|1917 French Army mutinies}}
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 [[Chief of the Defence Staff (France)|Commander-in-Chief]] of the entire French army, replacing [[General Nivelle]], whose [[Nivelle Offensive|Chemin des Dames offensive]] failed in April 1917 and thereby provoked widespread mutinies in 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.<ref>{{cite book|author=Nicola Barber|title=World War I: The Western Front|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y82WHKm2QBYC&pg=PA53|year=2003|publisher=Black Rabbit Books|page=53|isbn=978-1583402689}}</ref>  The mutinies were kept secret from the Germans and their full extent and intensity were not revealed until decades later. Gilbert and Bernard find multiple causes:

<blockquote>The immediate cause was the extreme optimism and subsequent disappointment at the [[Robert Nivelle|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.<ref>Bentley B. Gilbert and Paul P. Bernard, "The French Army Mutinies of 1917", ''Historian'' (1959) 22#1, pp. 24–41.</ref></blockquote>

Pétain conducted some successful but limited offensives in the latter part of 1917, while the British carried out an [[Battle of Passchendaele|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 the tanks and the Americans."){{sfn|Mondet|2011|p=159}}

===End of World War I===
[[File:Foch Pershing Petain and Haig.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Pétain, [[Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig|Haig]], [[Foch]] and [[John Pershing|Pershing]] in 1918]]

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 [[Georges Clemenceau|Clemenceau]] claimed he heard Pétain say ''"les Allemands battront les Anglais en rase campagne, après quoi ils nous battront aussi"'' ("the Germans will beat the English 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?" [[Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig|Haig]] recorded that Pétain had "a terrible look. He had the appearance of a commander who had lost his nerve". Pétain believed – wrongly – that [[Hubert Gough|Gough]]'s [[Fifth Army (United Kingdom)|Fifth Army]] had been routed like the Italians at [[Battle of Caporetto|Caporetto]].{{sfn|Farrar-Hockley|1975|pp=301–302}} At 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 the [[Aisne (river)|Aisne]], as the French Army commander (Humbert) ignored Pétain's instructions to [[defence in depth|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 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.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}} [[Armistice of 11 November 1918|On the day of the armistice]], Pétain wanted to continue offensive operations into Germany to prevent another war but was overruled by Foch.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-07-15 |title=Hero of Verdun: Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain |url=https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/hero-of-verdun-marshal-henri-philippe-petain/ |access-date=2023-12-26 |website=Warfare History Network |language=en-US}}</ref>
After the war ended Pétain was made [[Marshal of France]] on 21 November 1918.<ref>Tucker, S. C. (2009) ''A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East'', ABC-CLIO, California, p. 1738.</ref>

==Interwar period==

===Respected hero of France===
[[File:Мундиры маршалов Франции - Петэна, Фоша, Жоффра.JPG|thumb|Uniforms of [[Marshal of France]] (Pétain, Foch, Joffre) at [[Les Invalides]].]]

Pétain ended 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 [[Marshal's baton|baton]] of [[Marshal of France]] at a public ceremony at [[Metz]] by President Poincaré on 8 December 1918.<ref>Williams, 2005, p. 204.</ref>{{failed verification|date=October 2023}} 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 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 [[Edmond Buat|Buat]] and [[Marie-Eugène Debeney|Debeney]]), with Pétain holding the vice chairmanship until 1931.<ref>Williams, 2005, p. 212.</ref><ref>Atkin, 1997, p. 41.</ref> Pétain 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 [[1919 French legislative election|November 1919 elections]].<ref>Williams, 2005, p. 217.</ref>

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, the Finance Minister, [[Frédéric François-Marsal|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 a line of forts along the frontier with Germany, and their report was put forward 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.<ref>Williams, 2005, pp. 217–219.</ref>

===Rif War===
{{main|Rif War}}
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]], the new army manual entitled ''Provisional Instruction on the Tactical Employment of Large Units'', which soon became known as 'the Bible'.<ref>Williams, 2005, p. 219.</ref> On 3 September 1925, Pétain was appointed sole Commander-in-Chief of French Forces in [[Morocco]]<ref>Williams, 2005. p. 232.</ref> to launch a major campaign against the [[Rif Republic|Rif]] tribes, in concert with the Spanish Army, which was successfully concluded by the end of October. He was subsequently decorated in [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]] by King [[Alfonso XIII]] with the Spanish ''[[Medalla Militar]]''.<ref>Williams, 2005, pp. 233–235.</ref>

===Vocal critic of defence policy===
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 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 the Army was still too large.<ref>Williams, 2005, p. 244.</ref>

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 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.<ref>Williams, 2005, p. 247.</ref> Pétain had based his strong support for the Maginot Line on his own experience of 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 [[Philippe de Gaulle|eldest son]] after the Marshal, although it is more likely that he named his son after his family ancestor Jean Baptiste Philippe de Gaulle,<ref>A Certain idea of France The life of Charles de Gaulle, Julian Jackson, p. 58.</ref> before finally falling out over the authorship of a book he had said he had ghost-written for Pétain.

===Election to the ''Académie française''===
[[File:Pétain-Baschet-mai 1940-A.jpg|thumb|1926 painting of Maréchal Pétain]]

In 1928, Pétain had supported 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.<ref>Williams, 2005, pp. 250–252.</ref> His first report on air defence, submitted in July that year, advocated increased expenditure.<ref>Williams, 2005, pp. 253–254.</ref> 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 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 the spirit of the [[Geneva Disarmament Conference]].<ref>Williams, 2005, p. 257.</ref>

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''&nbsp;– 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 the [[Free French]].

===Minister of War===
Political unease was sweeping the country and, [[6 February 1934 crisis|on 6 February 1934]], the Paris police fired on a group of [[Far-right leagues|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 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 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 the government for further funds for the army.<ref>Williams, 2005, pp. 260–261, 265.</ref>

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 [[Alexander I of Yugoslavia|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 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'".<ref>Williams, 2005, p. 266.</ref>

===Critic of government policy===
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.<ref name=paxton>Paxton, Robert O. (1982). ''Vichy France: Old Guard and New Order, 1940–1944'', pp. 36–37. Columbia University Press. {{ISBN|0-231-12469-4}}.</ref> Now, however, he refused to continue in Flandin's short-lived government as Minister of War and stood down – in spite of a direct appeal from Lebrun himself. At this moment an article appeared in the newspaper ''[[Le Petit Journal (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).<ref>Williams, 2005, pp. 268–269.</ref> Although ''Le Petit Journal'' 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 [[Monarchism in France|monarchist]].<ref name="jackson2001">{{cite book|title=France: The Dark Years, 1940–1944|publisher=Oxford University Press|author=Jackson, Julian|year=2001|pages=[https://archive.org/details/france00juli/page/124 124–125, 133]|isbn=0-19-820706-9|url=https://archive.org/details/france00juli/page/124}}</ref>

He remained on the ''Conseil superieur''. Weygand had been at the British Army 1934 manoeuvres at [[Tidworth Camp]] in June and 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<ref>Philippe Pétain, "La securité de la France aux cours des années creuses", ''Revue des deux mondes'', 26, 1935.</ref> 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 [[Luftwaffe|air force]] and a week before the announcement that Germany was increasing its army to 36 divisions. On 26 April 1936, the [[1936 French legislative election|general election results]] showed 5.5&nbsp;million votes for the [[Popular Front (France)|Popular Front]] parties against 4.5&nbsp;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 [[French Communist Party|largest communist party]] in Western Europe), and on those who allowed Communists intellectual responsibility. He said that France had lost faith in her destiny.<ref>Anthony Adamthwaite, ''Grandeur and Misery: France's Bid for Power in Europe 1914–1940'' (London: Arnold, 1995), p. 182.</ref> Pétain was now in his 80th year.

Some argue{{who|date=July 2020}} 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 the Versailles Treaty there seemed no urgency for vast expenditure until the advent of Hitler. It is argued{{who|date=July 2020}} 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 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, 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 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 Dassault|Marcel Bloch]]), each with its own models.

==Battle of France==

===Return to government===
[[File:Pétain-mai 1940-A.jpg|thumb|right|Pétain in May 1940]]
In March 1939, Pétain was appointed French ambassador to the newly recognized Nationalist government of Spain. Pétain had taught 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."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1939/03/03/archives/petain-appointed-envoy-to-burgos-83yearold-hero-of-verdun-to-go-to.html|title=Petain appointed envoy to Burgos|date=3 March 1939|work=The New York Times|access-date=5 April 2019}}</ref> When World War II began in September, Daladier offered Pétain a position in his government, which Pétain turned down. However, after [[Battle of France|Germany invaded France]], Pétain joined the new government of [[Paul Reynaud]] on 18 May 1940 as [[Deputy Prime Minister of France|Deputy Prime Minister]]. Reynaud hoped that the hero of Verdun might instill a renewed spirit of resistance and patriotism in the French Army.{{r|jackson2001}} Reportedly Franco advised Pétain against leaving his diplomatic post in Madrid, to return to a collapsing France as a "sacrifice".<ref>John D. Bergamini. ''The Spanish Bourbons''. {{ISBN|0-399-11365-7}}. p. 378.</ref>

By 26 May, the Allied lines had been shattered, and British forces had begun [[Dunkirk evacuation|evacuating at Dunkirk]]. French commander-in-chief [[Maxime Weygand]] expressed his fury at British retreats and 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.<ref>Eleanor M. Gates. ''End of the Affair: The Collapse of the Anglo-French Alliance, 1939–40''. p. 145</ref> 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 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."{{citation needed|date=September 2013}}

On 5 June, following 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.<ref>Lacouture, 1991, p. 190.</ref> By 8 June, Paris was threatened, and the government was preparing to depart, although Pétain 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." {{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}.

===Fall of France===
On 10 June, 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 [[Brittany|Breton]] redoubt, to which Weygand replied that it was just a "fantasy".<ref>Griffiths, Richard, ''Marshal Pétain'', Constable, London, 1970, p. 231, {{ISBN|0-09-455740-3}}.</ref> 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 [[Operation Michael|March 1918]], and repeated Clemenceau's words: <blockquote>I will fight in front of Paris, in Paris, and behind Paris. </blockquote>To this, Churchill subsequently reported, Pétain replied quietly, and with dignity that he had in those days, 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 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.<ref>Lacouture, 1991, p. 197.</ref>

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 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 a draft proposal to the cabinet where he spoke of <blockquote>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. </blockquote>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.<ref name=lacouture201>Lacouture, 1991, p. 201.</ref>

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 the same restaurant as Pétain; he came over to shake his hand in silence and they never met again.<ref name=lacouture201/>

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.<ref name=atkin82-6>Atkin, 1997, pp. 82–86.</ref> Pétain was sent to speak to Weygand (who was waiting outside, as he was not a member of the cabinet) for around fifteen minutes.<ref name=williams325-7>Williams, 2005, pp. 325–327.</ref> Weygand persuaded him that Reynaud's suggestion would be a shameful surrender. Chautemps then put forward a 'fudge' proposal, an enquiry about terms.<ref name=atkin82-6/> The Cabinet voted 13–6 for the Chautemps proposal. [[Admiral Darlan]], who had been opposed to an armistice until 15 June, now became a key player, agreeing provided the French fleet was kept out of German hands.<ref name=williams325-7/>

===Pétain replaces Reynaud===
On Sunday, 16 June 1940, [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|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 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.<ref name=atkin82-6/>

That afternoon, 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 of France|President]] [[Albert Lebrun]]'s later recollection, no formal vote appears to have been taken at Cabinet on 16 June.<ref name=lacouture204-5>Lacouture, 1991, pp. 204–205.</ref> The outcome of the meeting is uncertain.<ref name=atkin82-6/> 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.<ref name=lacouture204-5/>

Lebrun reluctantly accepted Reynaud's resignation as Prime Minister on 17 June, Reynaud recommending to 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:<ref>Lacouture, 1991, pp. 206–207.</ref>

*Pierre Laval as Minister of Foreign Affairs (this appointment was briefly vetoed by Weygand)
*Weygand as Minister of Defence
*Darlan as Minister for the Navy
*Bouthillie as Minister of Finance

==Head of the French State==
{{Conservatism in France|Politicians}}

===The armistice of 1940===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H25217, Henry Philippe Petain und Adolf Hitler.jpg|thumb|left|Pétain meeting Hitler at [[Montoire]] on 24 October 1940; [[Joachim von Ribbentrop]] on the right, Hitler's interpreter, [[Paul Schmidt (interpreter)|Paul Schmidt]], in the centre.]]

A new Cabinet with Pétain as head of government was formed, with [[Henry du Moulin de Labarthète]] as the [[Cabinet Secretary]].<ref>Jérôme Cotillon, [http://www.cairn.info/revue-historique-2002-2-page-353.htm ''"Un homme d’influence à Vichy: Henry du Moulin de Labarthète"''], ''Revue Historique'', 2002, issue 622, pp. 353–385.</ref> At midnight on 17 June 1940, Baudouin asked the Spanish Ambassador to submit to Germany a request to cease hostilities at once and for Germany to make known its peace terms. At 12:30&nbsp;am, Pétain made his first broadcast to the French people.

"The enthusiasm of the country for the Maréchal was tremendous. He was welcomed by people as diverse as [[Paul Claudel|Claudel]], [[André Gide|Gide]], and [[François Mauriac|Mauriac]], and also by the vast mass of untutored Frenchmen who saw him as their saviour."<ref>Griffiths, 1970.</ref> General de Gaulle, no longer in the Cabinet, had arrived in London on 17 June and made [[Appeal of 18 June|a call for resistance from there on 18 June]], a call that was heard by comparatively few.

Cabinet and Parliament still argued between themselves on the question of whether to retreat to North Africa. On 18 June, [[Édouard Herriot]] (who would later be a prosecution witness at Pétain's trial) and Jeanneney, the presidents of the two Chambers of Parliament, as well as Lebrun said they wanted to go. Pétain said he was not departing. On 20 June, a delegation from the two chambers came to Pétain to protest at the proposed departure of President Lebrun. The next day, they went to Lebrun himself. In the event, only 26 deputies and 1 senator headed for Africa, among them those with Jewish backgrounds, [[Georges Mandel]], [[Pierre Mendès France]], and the former Popular Front Education Minister, [[Jean Zay]].<ref>Webster, Paul. ''Pétain's Crime''. Pan Macmillan, London, 1990. p. 40, {{ISBN|0-333-57301-3}}.</ref> Pétain made a broadcast again to the French people on that day.

[[File:La-terre-elle-ne-ment-pas-marechal-petain.jpg|thumb|Pétain greets a French peasant farmer in a poster, produced in the context of the [[cult of personality]] created in the first years of the Vichy regime]]
On 22 June 1940, France signed an [[Armistice of 22 June 1940|armistice at Compiègne]] that gave Germany control over the north and west of the country, including Paris and all of the Atlantic coastline, but left the rest, around two-fifths of France's prewar territory, unoccupied. Paris remained the ''de jure'' capital. On 29 June, the French government moved to [[Clermont-Ferrand]] where the first discussions of constitutional changes were mooted, with [[Pierre Laval]] having personal discussions with President Lebrun, who had, in the event, not left France. On 1 July, the government, finding Clermont too cramped, moved to [[Vichy]] at Baudouin's suggestion, the empty hotels there being more suitable for the government ministries.

===Constitutional change===
The [[National Assembly of France|Chamber of Deputies]] and [[Senate of France|Senate]], meeting together as a "[[French Congress|Congrès]]", held an emergency meeting on 10 July to ratify the armistice. At the same time, the draft constitutional proposals were tabled. The presidents of both Chambers spoke and declared that constitutional reform was necessary. The Congress voted 569–[[The Eighty (Vichy France)|80]] (with 18 abstentions) [[French Constitutional Law of 1940|to grant the Cabinet the authority to draw up a new constitution]], effectively "voting the Third Republic out of existence".<ref>Griffiths, 1970, p. 248.</ref> Nearly all [[French historians]], as well as all postwar French governments, consider this vote to be illegal; not only were several deputies and senators not present, but the constitution explicitly stated that the republican form of government could not be changed, though it could be argued that a republican dictatorship was installed. On the next day, Pétain formally assumed near-absolute powers as "Head of State".{{Refn|group=note|Given full constituent powers in the [[French Constitutional Law of 1940|law of 10 July 1940]], Pétain never promulgated a new constitution. A draft was written in 1941 and signed by Pétain in 1944, but never submitted or ratified.<ref>{{cite book |last=Jackson |first=Julian |editor=Edward G. Berenson  |editor2=Vincent Duclert  |editor3=Christophe Prochasson |translator=Arthur Goldhammer |title=The French Republic: History, Values, Debates |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n_eDj7dNMfwC&pg=PA67 |access-date=20 July 2020 |year= 2011 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-0801-46064-7 |oclc=940719314 |page=67 |chapter=7. The Republic and Vichy}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Beigbeder |first=Yves |title=Judging War Crimes and Torture: French Justice and International Criminal Tribunals and Commissions (1940–2005) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JEywCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA140 |year=2006 |publisher=Martinus Nijhoff/Brill |location=Leiden |isbn=978-90-474-1070-6 |page=140 |oclc=1058436580 |access-date=20 July 2020}}</ref>}}

[[File:Flag of Philippe Pétain, Chief of State of Vichy France.svg|thumb|right|Flag of Philippe Pétain as Head of State]]
Pétain was reactionary by temperament and education, and quickly began blaming the Third Republic and its endemic corruption for the French defeat. His regime soon took on clear authoritarian{{snd}}and in some cases, fascist{{snd}}characteristics. The republican motto of ''"[[Liberté, égalité, fraternité]]"'' ("Freedom, equality, brotherhood") was replaced with ''"[[Travail, famille, patrie]]"'' ("Work, family, fatherland").<ref>Shields, James (2007). ''The Extreme Right in France: From Pétain to Le Pen'', pp. 15–17. Routledge. {{ISBN|0-415-09755-X}}.</ref>  He issued new constitutional acts which abolished the presidency, indefinitely adjourned parliament, and also gave him full power to appoint and fire ministers and civil service members, pass laws through the [[Council of Ministers of France|Council of Ministers]], and designate a successor (he chose Laval).  Though Pétain publicly stated that he had no desire to become "a Caesar",<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19450616&id=z6kWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IyMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2250,77656&hl=en 'Not a Caesar,' Petain asserts] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312055023/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19450616&id=z6kWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IyMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2250,77656&hl=en |date=12 March 2016 }}. [[Associated Press]], 16 June 1945.</ref> by January 1941, Pétain held virtually all governing power in France; nearly all legislative, executive, and judicial powers were either ''de jure'' or ''de facto'' in his hands. One of his advisors commented that he had more power than any French leader since [[Louis XIV]].{{r|jackson2001}}  Fascistic and revolutionary conservative factions within the new government used the opportunity to launch an ambitious programme known as the "''[[Révolution nationale]]''", which rejected much of the former Third Republic's secular and liberal traditions in favour of an authoritarian and paternalist society. Pétain, amongst others, took exception to the use of the term ''revolution'' to describe what he believed to be an essentially conservative movement, but otherwise participated in the transformation of French society from "Republic" to "State". He added that the new France would be "a social hierarchy... rejecting the false idea of the natural equality of men."<ref>Mark Mazower: ''Dark Continent'' (p. 73), Penguin books, {{ISBN|0-14-024159-0}}.</ref>

The new government immediately used its new powers to order harsh measures, including the dismissal of republican civil servants, the installation of exceptional jurisdictions, the proclamation of [[Vichy anti-Jewish legislation|antisemitic laws]], and the imprisonment of opponents and foreign refugees. [[Censorship in France|Censorship]] was imposed, and [[freedom of expression]] and [[freedom of thought|thought]] were effectively abolished with the reinstatement of the crime of "felony of opinion". Pétain was always aware of civil discontent over Vichy rule.

On 24 June the British government stated that France had broken its agreement with the United Kingdom. At the beginning of the war it had been agreed that neither the United Kingdom nor France would make a separate peace.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Reynaud |first=Paul |title=In the Thick of the Fight |publisher=Cassell & Co |year=1955 |location=London |translator-last=Lambert |translator-first=James}}</ref><sup>:559</sup> The United Kingdom was prepared to release France from the agreement, providing the French fleet sailed forthwith to British harbours or to a neutral country, so it was out of reach of the Germans, pending negotiations<ref>{{Cite book |last=Holroyd-Doveton |first=John |title=Maxim Litvinov}}</ref><sup>:367</sup>. Notwithstanding the agreement between the United Kingdom and France and in complete disregard of her obligations to the United Kingdom, France allowed her fleet to fall into Germany's hands<ref name=":0" /><sup>:537</sup>. Further, Reynaud agreed with the United Kingdom that if peace was made with Germany, German airmen who were prisoners of war would be sent to the United Kingdom<ref name=":0" /><sup>:497</sup>. Again, the Pétain government did not honour this pledge and the German airmen, many of whom had been shot down by the RAF, were returned to Germany<ref name=":0" /><sup>:497</sup>.

In a radio address to the country on 12 August 1941, Pétain stated:<blockquote>"From several regions of France, I have felt an ill-wind rising for some time... the authority of my government is contested... a genuine malaise is gripping the French people".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Paxton |first=Robert |title=Old Guard and New Order 1940–1944 |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2001 |page=226 |language=en}}</ref></blockquote>The regime organised a "''Légion Française des Combattants,''" which included "Friends of the Legion" and "Cadets of the Legion", groups of those who had never fought but were politically attached to the new regime. Pétain championed a rural and reactionary France that spurned internationalism. As a retired military commander, he ran the country on military lines.

===State collaboration with Germany===
Within months, Pétain signed antisemitic ordinances. This included the [[Law on the status of Jews]], prohibiting Jews from exercising numerous professions, and the [[Law regarding foreign nationals of the Jewish race]], authorizing the detention of foreign Jews. Pétain's government was nevertheless internationally recognised, notably by the U.S., at least until the German [[Case Anton|occupation of the rest of France]]. Neither Pétain nor his successive deputies, Laval, [[Pierre-Étienne Flandin]], or Admiral [[François Darlan]], gave significant resistance to requests by the Germans to indirectly aid the Axis powers.

When Hitler met Pétain at [[Montoire]] in October 1940 to discuss the French government's role in the new "European Order", the handshake he offered to Hitler caused much uproar in London, and probably influenced the United Kingdom's decision to lend [[Free France]] naval support for their [[Battle of Gabon|operations in Gabon]].<ref>Jennings, Eric T. [https://books.google.com/books?id=PUzzCQAAQBAJ  ''Free French Africa in World War II''], p. 44.</ref> Furthermore, France even remained formally at war with Germany, albeit opposed to the Free French. Following the British attacks of July and September 1940 ([[Attack on Mers-el-Kébir|Mers-el-Kébir]], [[Battle of Dakar|Dakar]]), the French government became increasingly fearful of the British and took the initiative to collaborate with the occupiers. Pétain accepted the government's creation of a collaborationist armed militia (the ''[[Milice]]'') under the command of [[Joseph Darnand]], who, along with German forces, led a campaign of repression against the French resistance ("[[Maquis (World War II)|Maquis]]").

[[File:William D. Leahy and Philippe Pétain, 1942, NH 89478 (25159321993).jpg|left|thumb|Pétain and his final meeting with the departing American ambassador [[William D. Leahy]], 1942]]
Pétain admitted Darnand into his government as Secretary of the Maintenance of Public Order (''Secrétaire d'État au Maintien de l'Ordre''). In August 1944, Pétain tried to distance himself from the crimes of the ''Milice'' by writing Darnand a letter of reprimand for the organisation's "excesses". Darnand sarcastically replied that Pétain should have "thought of this before".

Pétain's government acquiesced to Axis demands for large supplies of manufactured goods and foodstuffs, and also ordered French troops in the [[French colonial empire]] (in Dakar, Syria, Madagascar, Oran, and Morocco) to defend sovereign French territory against any aggressors, Allied or otherwise.

Pétain's motives are a topic of wide conjecture. [[Winston Churchill]] had spoken to Reynaud during the impending fall of France, saying of Pétain, "... he had always been a defeatist, even in the last war [World War I]."<ref>[[Winston Churchill|Churchill, Winston S.]] ''The Second World War'', Vol. 2, p. 159.</ref>

On 11 November 1942, German forces invaded the unoccupied zone of Southern France in response to [[Allied landings in North Africa]] and Admiral Darlan's agreement to support the Allies. Although the French government nominally remained in existence, civilian administration of almost all France being under it, Pétain became nothing more than a [[figurehead]], as the Germans had negated the pretence of an "independent" government at Vichy. Pétain however remained popular and engaged in a series of visits around France as late as 1944, when he arrived in Paris on 28 April in what Nazi propaganda newsreels described as a "historic" moment for the city. Large crowds cheered him in front of the [[Hôtel de Ville, Paris|Hôtel de Ville]] and in the streets.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://mediaclip.ina.fr/en/afe86002717-marshal-petain-visits-the-paris-area.html|title=Marshal Pétain visits the Paris area|website=INA MediaClip|language=en|access-date=2024-06-14}}</ref>

===Exile to Sigmaringen===
[[File:Sigmaringen Schloss BW 2015-04-28 17-37-14.jpg|thumb|[[Sigmaringen Castle]] in southern Germany housed Vichy and other collaborationist exiles in 1944 and 1945 after the [[Liberation of France]]]]
{{Main|Sigmaringen enclave}}

On 17 August 1944, the Germans, in the person of [[Cecil von Renthe-Fink]], "special diplomatic delegate of the [[Führer]] to the French Head of State", asked Pétain to allow himself to be transferred to the northern zone.{{sfn|Aron|1962|pp=41–42}} Pétain refused and asked for a written formulation of this request.{{sfn|Aron|1962|pp=41–42}} Renthe-Fink renewed his request twice on the 18th, then returned on the 19th, at {{nobr|11:30}}, accompanied by General [[Alexander Neubronn von Eisenberg]], who told him that he had "formal orders from Berlin".{{sfn|Aron|1962|pp=41–42}} The written text was submitted to Pétain: "The Reich Government instructs the transfer of the Head of State, even against his will".{{sfn|Aron|1962|pp=41–42}} Faced with the Marshal's continued refusal, the Germans threatened to bring in the Luftwaffe to bomb Vichy.{{sfn|Aron|1962|pp=41–42}} After having requested the Swiss envoy [[Walter Stucki]] to bear witness to the Germans' blackmail, Pétain submitted. When Renthe-Fink entered the Marshal's office at the [[Hôtel du Parc]] with General Neubronn "at 7:30 p.m.", the Head of State was supervising the packing up of his suitcases and papers.{{sfn|Aron|1962|pp=41–42}} The next day, 20 August 1944, Pétain was taken against his will by the German army to [[Belfort]].

Following the [[liberation of France]], on 8 September 1944, Pétain and other members of the French cabinet at Vichy were relocated by the Germans to the [[Sigmaringen enclave]] in Germany, where they became a [[government-in-exile]] until April 1945. Pétain, however, having been forced to leave France, refused to participate in this government and [[Fernand de Brinon]] now headed the "government commission".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=nCE_2I4vyZkC Pétain et la fin de la collaboration: Sigmaringen, 1944–1945], Henry Rousso, éditions Complexe, Paris, 1984.</ref> In a note dated 29 October 1944, Pétain forbade de Brinon to use the Marshal's name in any connection with this new government, and on 5 April 1945, Pétain wrote a note to Hitler expressing his wish to return to France. No reply ever came. However, on his birthday almost three weeks later, he was taken to the Swiss border. Two days later (26 April 1945) he crossed the French frontier.<ref>Griffiths, 1970, pp. 333–334.</ref>

==Postwar life==

===Trial before the High Court===
<!-- Trial of Philippe Pétain redirects here -->
[[File:Procès Pétain.jpg|thumb|Pétain during the trial]]
The provisional government, headed by de Gaulle, placed Pétain on trial for [[treason]], the trial taking place from 23 July to 15 August 1945. Dressed in the uniform of a [[Marshal of France]], Pétain remained silent through most of the proceedings after an initial statement that denied the right of the High Court as it was constituted to try him. De Gaulle later reflected upon the proceedings: <blockquote>Too often, the discussions took on the appearance of a partisan trial, sometimes even a settling of scores, when the whole affair should have been treated only from the standpoint of national defence and independence.<ref>Charles De Gaulle, ''Mémoires de guerre'', vol. 2, pp. 249–250.</ref></blockquote>
[[File:Fort du Portalet.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Fort du Portalet]] in the Pyrenees]]
At the end of Pétain's trial, he was convicted on all charges, including ''[[indignité nationale]]''. The jury sentenced him to death and confiscation of his property. Due to his advanced age, the court asked that the sentence not be carried out. De Gaulle, who was President of the [[Provisional Government of the French Republic]] at the end of the war, commuted the sentence to life imprisonment on the grounds of age.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Philippe Pétain {{!}} WWI Hero, French General & Vichy Leader {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Philippe-Petain |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> After his conviction, the court stripped Pétain of all military ranks and honours, not including the distinction of Marshal of France.<ref>{{cite book | last = Varaut | first = Jean-Marc| author-link = Jean-Marc Varaut | url=https://www.cairn.info/le-proces-petain--9782262010911-page-381.htm | isbn=9782262010911 | title=Le Procès Pétain (1945–1995) | chapter=XVI – le délibéré, le verdict et la grâce | series=Hors collection | year=1995 | pages=381–387 | publisher=Perrin }}</ref>{{better source needed|reason=The wording in the source has permitted edit-warring at this article regarding 'Marshal of France'. See Talk.|date=September 2023}}

Fearing riots at the announcement of the sentence,{{clarify|reason=Because of the death sentence being shelved, or because he was convicted?|date=August 2024}} de Gaulle ordered that Pétain be immediately transported on the former's private aircraft to [[Fort du Portalet]] in the [[Pyrenees]],<ref>Williams, 2005, pp. 512–513.</ref> where he remained from 15 August to 16 November 1945. The government later transferred him to the Fort de Pierre-Levée citadel on the [[Île d'Yeu]], a small island off the French Atlantic coast.<ref name="marechal-petain.com">{{Cite web|url=http://www.marechal-petain.com/versionanglaise/prisonnier.htm|title=The World's Oldest Prisoner|author=Association Pour Défendre la Mémoire du Maréchal Pétain (A.D.M.P.)|year=2009|publisher=Marechal-petain.com|access-date=21 November 2011|archive-date=4 November 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091104072408/http://www.marechal-petain.com/versionanglaise/prisonnier.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Imprisonment===
Over the following years Pétain's lawyers and many foreign governments and dignitaries, including [[Mary of Teck|Queen Mary]] and the [[Edward VIII|Duke of Windsor]], appealed to successive French governments for Pétain's release, but given the unstable state of [[French Fourth Republic|Fourth Republic]] politics, no government was willing to risk unpopularity by releasing him. As early as June 1946, U.S. president [[Harry S. Truman]] interceded in vain for his release, even offering to provide political asylum in the U.S.<ref name=williams520>Williams, 2005, p. 520.</ref> A similar offer was later made by the Spanish dictator General [[Francisco Franco]].<ref name=williams520/>

Although Pétain had still been in good health for his age at the time of his imprisonment, by late 1947, he suffered from memory lapses.<ref name=williams523/> By January 1949, his lucid intervals were becoming fewer and fewer. On 3 March 1949, during a meeting of the {{Interlanguage link|Council of Ministers of France|fr|Conseil des ministres (France)}}, many of its members, "self-proclaimed heroes of the Resistance", in the words of biographer [[Charles Williams, Baron Williams of Elvel|Charles Williams]], had a fierce argument about a medical report recommending that he be moved to [[Val-de-Grâce]] (a military hospital in Paris), a measure to which [[Prime Minister of France|Prime Minister]] [[Henri Queuille]] had previously been sympathetic. By May, Pétain required constant nursing care, and often suffered from hallucinations, e.g. that he was commanding armies in battle, or that naked women were dancing around his room.<ref>Williams, 2005, pp. 527–528.</ref> By the end of 1949, Pétain was suffering from severe cognitive impairment, with only occasional moments of lucidity. He was also beginning to suffer from heart problems and was no longer able to walk without assistance. Plans were made for his death and funeral.<ref>Williams, 2005, pp. 528–529.</ref>

On 8 June 1951, [[President of France|President]] [[Vincent Auriol]], informed that Pétain did not have much longer to live, commuted his sentence to confinement in hospital; the news was kept secret until after the [[1951 French legislative election|elections on 17 June]], but by then, Pétain was too ill to be moved to Paris.<ref>Williams, 2005, p. 530.</ref>

===Death and burial===
[[File:Sépulture de Philippe Pétain (Éduarel, 30 octobre 2016, vue 3).jpg|thumb|Grave of Pétain on Île d'Yeu.]]
Pétain died in a private home in {{Interlanguage link|Port-Joinville|fr}} on the Île d'Yeu on 23 July 1951, at the age of 95.<ref name="marechal-petain.com"/> His body was buried in a local cemetery (''Cimetière communal de Port-Joinville'').<ref name=paxton/> Calls were made to relocate his remains to the grave prepared for him at [[Verdun]].<ref>Dank, Milton. ''The French Against the French: Collaboration and Resistance'', p. 361.</ref>

Surrounded by [[thuja]]s and [[cypress]]es, the simple white granite slab topped with a wooden cross is in front of the west wall of the cemetery, facing away from the sea in the opposite direction to the 1,700 other tombs, a positioning linked to the fact that he was convicted of ''[[Indignité nationale]]'',<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.francetvinfo.fr/societe/guerre-de-14-18/11-novembre/il-y-en-a-meme-qui-viennent-defequer-dessus-sur-l-ile-d-yeu-l-encombrante-tombe-du-marechal-petain_3431283.html|title=Il y en a même qui viennent déféquer dessus : sur l'île d'Yeu, 'l'encombrante' tombe du maréchal Pétain|trans-title=There are even some who come to defecate on it: on the island of Yeu, the 'cumbersome' tomb of Marshal Pétain|first=Raphaël|last=Godet|date=8 May 2019|access-date=12 December 2024|work=francetvinfo.fr|language=French}}</ref> a sanction which did not prevent him from being buried in his military uniform and that the mention of Marshal of France was engraved in black capital letters.

In February 1973, Pétain's coffin housing his remains was [[Theft of Philippe Pétain's coffin|stolen]] from the [[Île d'Yeu]] cemetery by extremists who demanded that President [[Georges Pompidou]] consent to its re-interment at [[Douaumont ossuary]] among the war dead of the [[Battle of Verdun]]. Police recovered the coffin a few days later, and it was ceremoniously reburied with a presidential wreath on the Île d'Yeu where it had been buried before.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Vichy: An Ever-present Past |author1-last=Conan |author1-first=Eric |author2-last=Rousso |author2-first=Henry |year=1998 |publisher=University Press of New England |location=Hanover, NH |isbn=978-0874517958 |page=21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=svjEWDsVMlEC&pg=PA21 }}</ref>

A small museum glorifying Pétain, the Historical Museum of the Île d'Yeu, displays writings and personal items of Pétain, such as his deathbed, his clothes and his cane. The museum is not publicized and rarely opens, according to its manager, to "avoid trouble".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Méheut |first=Constant |date=10 September 2022 |title='Glorious' Hero or 'Deplorable' Traitor? Pétain's Legacy Haunts French Island |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/10/world/europe/france-petain-grave-legacy.html |access-date=10 September 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

===Eponymy===
[[Mount Pétain]], nearby Pétain Creek, and Pétain Falls, forming the Pétain Basin on the [[Continental Divide]] in the [[Canadian Rockies]], were named after him in 1919,<ref>{{Cite bcgnis|id=7022 |title=Pétain, Mount}}</ref> while nearby summits were given the names of other French generals ([[Mount Foch|Foch]], [[Mount Cordonnier|Cordonnier]], [[Mount Mangin|Mangin]], Castelnau and [[Mount Joffre|Joffre]]). The names referring to Pétain were removed in 2021 and 2022, leaving the features unnamed.<ref name="HeraldRescind">{{cite web|url=https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/after-calgarians-efforts-nazi-collaborators-name-removed-from-alberta-b-c-peak|title=After Calgarian's efforts, Nazi collaborator's name removed from Alberta–B.C. peak|work=Calgary Herald|date=4 July 2022|access-date=6 July 2022|last=Kaufmann|first=Bill}}</ref>

[[File:Petain Street Pinardville Nov 2019.jpg|thumb|Pinardville, New Hampshire, November 2019.]]
[[Hengshan Road]], in [[Shanghai]], was "Avenue Pétain" between 1922 and 1943. There is a Petain Road in [[Singapore]] in the Little India neighbourhood. [[Pinardville]], a traditionally French-Canadian neighborhood of [[Goffstown, New Hampshire]], has a Petain Street dating from the 1920s, alongside parallel streets named for other World War I generals, [[John Pershing]], [[Douglas Haig]], [[Ferdinand Foch]], and [[Joseph Joffre]].

===New York Canyon of Heroes===
On 26 October 1931, Pétain was honored with a [[List of ticker-tape parades in New York City|ticker-tape parade]] down [[Manhattan]]'s [[Canyon of Heroes]]. In 2017, the New York City Mayor's Office considered removing the sidewalk ribbon denoting the parade for Pétain, given his collaborationist government in World War II.<ref>[http://www.nypress.com/local-news/20170830/monumental-battle-rages-over-monuments/3&template=mobile Monumental battle rages over monuments.  New York Press, August 30,2017 ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224035207/http://www.nypress.com/local-news/20170830/monumental-battle-rages-over-monuments/ |date=24 December 2018 }} Accessed 17 February 2018.</ref>

==Personal life==
Pétain was a bachelor until his sixties and known for his womanising.<ref name=Atkin-2014/>{{page needed|date=October 2024}} After World War I Pétain married his mistress, [[Eugénie Hardon]] (1877–1962), on 14 September 1920; they remained married until the end of Pétain's life.<ref>Williams, Charles, ''Pétain'', London, 2005, p. 206, {{ISBN|978-0-316-86127-4}}.</ref> After rejecting Pétain's first marriage proposal, Hardon had married and divorced [[François de Hérain]] by 1914 when she was 35. At the opening of the Battle of Verdun in 1916 Pétain is said to have been fetched during the night from a Paris hotel by a staff officer who knew that he could be found with Eugénie Hardon.<ref>Verdun 1916, by Malcolm Brown, Tempus Publishing Ltd., Stroud, UK, p. 86.</ref> She had no children by Pétain but already had a son from her first marriage, [[Pierre de Hérain]], whom Pétain strongly disliked.<ref name=williams523>Williams, 2005, p. 523.</ref>

== Military ranks ==
{| class="wikitable"  style="width: 100%"

|-
! Cadet
! Sub-lieutenant
! Lieutenant
! Captain
! Battalion chief
! Lieutenant colonel
|-
| align="center" width="15%" | [[File:French Army (sleeves) OR-1.svg|40px]]
| align="center" width="15%" | [[File:French Army (sleeves) OF-1a.svg|40px]]
| align="center" width="15%" | [[File:French Army (sleeves) OF-1b.svg|40px]]
| align="center" width="15%" | [[File:French Army (sleeves) OF-2.svg|40px]]
| align="center" width="15%" | [[File:French Army (sleeves) OF-3.svg|40px]]
| align="center" width="15%" | [[File:French Army (sleeves) OF-4.svg|40px]]
|-
! 1876<br>15 August 1945 (after degradation for [[war crime]]s)
! 1878
! 12 December 1883<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6224397t/f2.item.r|title=Armée active: nominations et promotions|date=13 December 1883|access-date=16 November 2020|website=gallica.bnf.fr|last=Government of the French Republic}}</ref>
! 1889 (brevet)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6249429f/f2.image.r|title=Armée active: mutations  |date=10 April 1889|access-date=16 November 2020|website=gallica.bnf.fr|last=Government of the French Republic}}</ref><br>12 July 1890 (substantive)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6437945v/f4.image.r|title= École Supérieure de Guerre |date=18 November 1890|access-date=16 November 2020|website=gallica.bnf.fr|last=Government of the French Republic}}</ref>
!12 July 1900<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6249513x/f4.image.r|title=Armée active: promotions et nominations|date=13 July 1900|access-date=16 November 2020|website=gallica.bnf.fr|last=Government of the French Republic}}</ref>
!23 March 1907<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k64169739/f3.image.r|title=Armée active: nominations et promotions|date=25 March 1907|access-date=16 November 2020|website=gallica.bnf.fr|last=Government of the French Republic}}</ref>
|-
! colspan="6" style="background: lightsteelblue"|

|-
! Colonel
! Brigade general
! Divisional general
! Divisional general holding higher command
! Marshal of France
|-
| align="center" width="15%" | [[File:French Army (sleeves) OF-5.svg|40px]]
| align="center" width="15%" | [[File:French Army (sleeves) OF-6.svg|40px]]
| align="center" width="15%" | [[File:French Army (sleeves) OF-7.svg|40px]]
| align="center" width="15%" | [[File:French Army (sleeves) OF-8 (unofficial).svg|40px]]
| align="center" width="15%" | [[File:French Army (sleeves) OF-10.svg|40px]]
|-

!1 January 1910 (brevet)<ref name="colonel">{{cite web|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6250088d/f10.image.r|title=Tableau d'avancement|date=30 December 1909|access-date=16 November 2020|website=gallica.bnf.fr|last=Government of the French Republic}}</ref>
!30 August 1914<ref name="gendbrig">{{cite web|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6393973b/f4.image.r|title=Armée active: nomination|date=18 December 1914|access-date=16 November 2020|website=gallica.bnf.fr|last=Government of the French Republic}}</ref>
!14 September 1914
!20 April 1915<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k63541746/f7.image.r|title=Armée active: nominations et promotions|date=22 April 1915|access-date=16 November 2020|website=gallica.bnf.fr|last=Government of the French Republic}}</ref>
!21 November 1918<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6370740s/f4.item.r|title=Ministère de la guerre|date=22 November 1918|access-date=25 September 2021|website=gallica.bnf.fr|last=Government of the French Republic}}</ref>
|-
|}

==Honours and awards==

===French===
[[Marshal of France]]: 21 November 1918 (the sole award retained following his trial in 1945)

''Following honours and decorations withdrawn following conviction for high treason in 1945:''<ref name="leonore"/>
* Grand Cross of the [[Légion d'honneur]]: 24 August 1917;<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6336992z/f3.image.r|title=Ministere de la guerre|date=25 August 1917|access-date=16 November 2020|website=gallica.bnf.fr|last=Government of the French Republic}}</ref> Grand Officer: 27 April 1916;<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6351526k/f4.image.r|title=Ministere de la guerre|date=29 April 1916|access-date=16 November 2020|website=gallica.bnf.fr|last=Government of the French Republic}}</ref> Commander: 10 May 1915;<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6346458g/f14.image.r|title=Ministere de la guerre|date=16 June 1915|access-date=16 November 2020|website=gallica.bnf.fr|last=Government of the French Republic}}</ref> Officer: 6 October 1914;<ref name="leonore">{{cite web |url=https://www.leonore.archives-nationales.culture.gouv.fr/ui/notice/293575 |title=PETAIN, Henri Philippe Benoni Omer|website=[[Base Léonore]] |publisher=Government of the French Republic |access-date=23 September 2023}}</ref> Knight: 11 July 1901.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6261150w/f55.image.r|title=Tableaux de concours pour la Legion d'Honneur 1901|date=16 June 1915|access-date=16 November 2020|website=gallica.bnf.fr|last=Government of the French Republic}}</ref>
* [[Médaille militaire|Military Medal]] (6 August 1918)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6384672x/f2.image.r|title=Ministere de la guerre|date=7 August 1918|access-date=16 November 2020|website=gallica.bnf.fr|last=Government of the French Republic}}</ref>
* [[Ordre des Palmes académiques|Academic Officer (Silver Palms)]] (23 December 1909)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6260921m/f54.image.r|title=Ministère de l'instruction publique et des beaux-arts|date=1 January 1910|access-date=25 September 2021|website=gallica.bnf.fr|last=Government of the French Republic}}</ref>
* [[Croix de guerre 1914-1918 (France)|Croix de guerre 1915]]
* [[1914–1918 Inter-Allied Victory medal (France)]]
* [[1914–1918 Commemorative war medal (France)]]
* [[Order of the Black Star]]: Pétain received the Order of the Black Star (Ordre de l'Étoile Noire) from the French colonial administration.
* [[Croix de Guerre 1939–1945]] although the medal is gifted by [[Free France]] Forces for fighting with the [[allies]] against the [[Axis power|Axis]],  Pétain created a decoration of the same name, characterized by a black and green ribbon and gifted for fighting with Axis forces against the allies.

===Foreign===
*[[Order of the White Eagle (Serbia)|Grand cross of the Order of the White Eagle]]: During World War I, Pétain was honored with the Order of the White Eagle. The Serbians awarded it to him because of his support of the Serbian forces.
* [[Military Medal (Spain)]]

==See also==
* [[Battle of France]]
* [[1917 French Army mutinies]]
* [[Historiography of the Battle of France]]
* [[Hôtel du Parc]]
* [[Vichy France]]
* [[Government of Vichy France#Vichy governments|List of ministers in Vichy France]]

== Explanatory notes==
{{notefoot}}

==References==

=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Cited works ===
<!--{{sfn|Aron|1962|loc=career & trial}}-->
* {{cite book |last=Aron |first=Robert |title=Les grands dossiers de lh́istoire contemporaine |trans-title=Major issues in contemporary history |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L88fAAAAMAAJ |chapter=Pétain: sa carriere, son procès |trans-chapter=Pétain: his career, his trial |year=1962 |publisher=Librairie académique Perrin |location=Paris |oclc=1356008}}
* {{cite book| last1=Farrar-Hockley | first1= General Sir Anthony | title=Goughie | publisher= Granada| year=1975| location=London| isbn=0246640596}}
* {{cite book |first=Arlette Estienne |last=Mondet |title=Le général J. B. E. Estienne – père des chars: Des chenilles et des ailes |trans-title=General J. B.E. Estienne – Father of tanks, Caterpillars and Wings |year=2011 |publisher=Editions L'Harmattan |isbn=978-2-296-44757-8}}
* Fenby, Jonathan. ''The General: Charles de Gaulle and the France He Saved'' (2010) {{ISBN|978-1-847-39410-1}}
* Lacouture, Jean. ''De Gaulle: The Rebel 1890–1944'' (1984; English ed. 1991), 640 pp

==Further reading==
Among a vast number of books and articles about Pétain, the most complete and documented biographies are:

* Richard Griffiths, ''Pétain'', Constable, London, 1970, {{ISBN|0-09-455740-3}}
* Herbert R. Lottman, ''Philippe Pétain'', 1984
* Guy Pedroncini, ''Pétain, Le Soldat et la Gloire'', Perrin, 1989, {{ISBN|2-262-00628-8}} (in French)
* [[Nicholas Atkin]], ''Pétain'', Longman, 1997, {{ISBN|978-0-582-07037-0}}
* [[Charles Williams, Baron Williams of Elvel|Charles Williams]], ''Pétain'', Little Brown ([[Time Warner Book Group]] UK), London, 2005, p.&nbsp;206, {{ISBN|978-0-316-86127-4}}

===Reputation===
* Von der Goltz, Anna, and Robert Gildea. "Flawed saviours: the myths of Hindenburg and Pétain". ''European History Quarterly'' 39.3 (2009): 439–464. {{doi|10.1177/0265691409105061}}.
* Szaluta, Jacques. [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/019165999290119W "Marshal Pétain and French nationalism: The interwar years and Vichy"]. ''History of European Ideas'' 15.1–3 (1992): 113–118. {{doi|10.1016/0191-6599(92)90119-W}}.
* Vinen, Richard. [https://www.historytoday.com/archive/vichy-petains-hollow-crown "Vichy: Pétain's Hollow Crown"]. ''History Today'' (June 1990) 40#6 pp.&nbsp;13–19.
* Williams, Charles. ''Petain: How the Hero of France Became a Convicted Traitor and Changed the Course of History'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005).  {{ISBN|978-1403970114}}.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Philippe Pétain}}
{{wikiquote}}
{{Wikisource|Adolf Hitler's Letter to Marshal Petain Announcing Complete German Occupation of France}}
{{Wikisource|Adolf Hitler's Letter to Marshal Petain Announcing Decision to Occupy Toulon}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20091014132852/http://www.academie-francaise.fr/immortels/base/academiciens/fiche.asp?param=555 Article on Philippe Pétain by the Académie française]
* {{PM20|FID=pe/013466}}

{{S-start}}
{{s-mil}}
{{s-bef
| before = [[Robert Nivelle]]
| rows = 2
}}
{{s-ttl
| title = [[Chief of Staff of the French Army|Commander-in-Chief of the French Army]]
| years = 17 May 1917 – January 1920
| rows = 2
}}
{{s-aft
| after = Himself
| as = Vice President of the Superior War Council
}}
{{s-aft
| after = [[Edmond Buat]]
| as = Chief of Staff of the Army
}}
{{s-bef
| before = Himself
| as = Commander-in-Chief
}}
{{s-ttl
| title = [[Conseil supérieur de la guerre|Vice President of the Superior War Council]]
| years = January 1920 – February 1931
}}
{{s-aft
| after = [[Maxime Weygand]]
}}
{{S-off
}}
{{s-bef
| before = [[Paul Reynaud]]
}}
{{s-ttl
| title = [[Prime Minister of France]]
| years = 1940–1942
}}
{{s-aft
| after = [[Pierre Laval]]
}}
{{s-bef
| before = [[Albert Lebrun]]
| as = President
}}
{{s-ttl
| title = [[List of Presidents of the French Republic|Head of the French State]]
| years = 1940–1944
}}
{{s-aft
| after = [[Charles de Gaulle]]
| as = Chairman of the Provisional Government
}}
{{S-reg|}}
{{s-bef
| before = <br>[[Albert Lebrun]] and<br>[[Justí Guitart i Vilardebó]]
}}
{{s-ttl
| title = [[List of Co-Princes of Andorra|Co-Prince of Andorra]]
| years = 1940–1944
| regent1 = [[Justí Guitart i Vilardebó]]
| years1 = 1940
| regent2 = [[Ricard Fornesa]] (acting)
| years2 = 1940–1943
| regent3 = [[Ramon Iglesias i Navarri]]
| years3 = 1942–1944
}}
{{s-aft
| after = <br>[[Charles de Gaulle]] and<br>[[Ramon Iglesias i Navarri]]
}}
{{s-ach|rec}}
{{Succession box
| title = The oldest current head of state
| years = 11 July 1940 – 19 August 1944
| before = The King of Sweden<br>[[Gustaf V]]
| after = The King of Sweden<br>[[Gustaf V]]
}}{{succession box
| title = [[List of oldest living state leaders|Oldest living state leader]]
| years = 25 July 1949 – 23 July 1951
| before = [[Guillermo Tell Villegas Pulido]]
| after = [[Pedro Lascuráin]]
}}
{{S-end}}

{{FrenchMarshals}}
{{Presidents of France}}
{{Heads of government of France}}
{{Académie française Seat 18}}
{{Vichy France}}
{{Holocaust France}}
{{Franco-Spanish conquest of Morocco}}
{{French far right}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petain, Philippe}}
[[Category:Philippe Pétain| ]]
[[Category:1856 births]]
[[Category:1951 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century heads of state of France]]
[[Category:20th-century princes of Andorra]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of France to Spain]]
[[Category:Anti-Masonry in France]]
[[Category:Anti-Protestantism]]
[[Category:Antisemitism in France]]
[[Category:Antiziganism in France]]
[[Category:Catholicism and far-right politics]]
[[Category:Deputy prime ministers of France]]
[[Category:École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr alumni]]
[[Category:Expelled members of the Académie Française]]
[[Category:Far-right politics in France]]
[[Category:Foreign recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (United States)]]
[[Category:French anti-communists]]
[[Category:French fascists]]
[[Category:French Army generals of World War I]]
[[Category:French military personnel of the Rif War]]
[[Category:Ministers of war of France]]
[[Category:French Morocco]]
[[Category:French nationalists]]
[[Category:French people of Flemish descent]]
[[Category:French people who died in prison custody]]
[[Category:French politicians convicted of crimes]]
[[Category:French people convicted of war crimes]]
[[Category:French prisoners sentenced to death]]
[[Category:French Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Heads of government convicted of war crimes]]
[[Category:Heads of state and government who were later imprisoned]]
[[Category:Heads of state convicted of war crimes]]
[[Category:Heads of state of France]]
[[Category:Holocaust perpetrators in France]]
[[Category:Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George]]
[[Category:Knights Grand Commander (Senangapati) of the Order of Rama|Philippe Petain]]
[[Category:Marshals of France]]
[[Category:Para-fascists]]
[[Category:People from Pas-de-Calais]]
[[Category:People of Vichy France]]
[[Category:Prime ministers of France]]
[[Category:People convicted of indignité nationale]]
[[Category:Prisoners sentenced to death by France]]
[[Category:Prisoners who died in French detention]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army)]]
[[Category:Romani genocide perpetrators]]
[[Category:World War II political leaders]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)]]
[[Category:Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint-Charles]]
[[Category:19th-century French military personnel]]
[[Category:Vichy French war criminals]]