ABSTRACT
Тhe disarray of the Third Republic Ьу the time of the armistice would Ье hard to overstate. It is enough simply to enumerate the options that the Reynaud government was forced to consider in the first weeks of June: а desperate last stand in Brittany; а bifurcation of the regime, with some officials crossing to North Мпса to form а government-in-exile while others stayed behind to [асе the Germans; а union with Britain, in which the two governments and parliaments would Ье consolidated into опе and the two peoples would adopt а соттоп citizenship for the duration of the war. At this point, Hider's long-term plans were unclear, as was the future course of the war, though the probability of а total German victory seemed strong. While there was а natural tendency still to think in terms of prior ехреп ences ofinvasion and defeat (1870 in particular), the mounting evidence of the Nazi regime's ruthlessness and limidess ambitionjustified more extreme apprehensions about what defeat might теап. The ultimate fear was that it would lead literally to the end of France - finis Franciae.
