ABSTRACT
Previous chapters have discussed Faisceau and CDF/PSF plans for a renovated French nation and state, which in many respects resembled similar initiatives under the authoritarian Vichy regime, born in the aftermath of the decisive German victory in June 1940. Wasting little time following the Nazi triumph, right-wing luminary and First World War hero Marshal Philippe Pétain formed a non-parliamentary government, and signed an armistice with the victors who divided the nation into a German-occupied north and a sovereign French southern zone. Under Vichy’s watchful eye, various ministries and organizations began a transformation of French politics, economy, and society according to the dicta of the extreme right-wing National Revolution, a catch-phrase used to differentiate Pétain’s new order from the decadent, parliamentary Third Republic.
