Chiefs of the French State
1940 - 1946: Philippe Pétain [1]
1946 - 1952: Joseph Darnard [2]
1952 - 1955:
1955 - 1964:
1964 - 1971:
1971 - 1977:
Proclamation of the 4th Fourth Republic
President of the Fourth Republic
1977 - XXXX:
[1] Appointed President of the Council of Ministers to negotiate an armistice with Germany Petain took the opportunity the purge the French State of the taint of Secularism and Liberalism. The new French State (or at least the southern part under his control) would become increasingly authoritarian and a semi-willng client of the Reich.
Upon the defeat of the Soviet Union in 1942 Petain increasingly pressed Hitler to return the northern parts of mainland France to his control. Hitler was reluctant while the UK was still officially at war with Germany but with the conflict stalemated their was an agreement for a return of control at the end of 1945. Certain conditions were agreed including a cap on the French armed forces, a permanent German garrison in key strategic areas and a quota of French males to be "guest workers" in the Reich for the next decade. Petain was prepared to pay nearly any price to have a reunited France and signed the new treaty.
Feeling his work was done upon the return of the North and feeling his age Petain resigned his position at the beginning of 1946 and passed the Presidency to his successor.
[2] Darnard had been a soldier, a French fascist before it was mainstream, and the founder of the Milice, but the biggest reason he got the presidency was he wasn't Pierre Laval, a man with many enemies and who was irking the Germans. The two men would glare at each other over the government tables as they continued to keep France on an even keel, which meant further purges of people who didn't fit Nazi ideology, further crackdowns and Milice on every doorstep (or so the propaganda went), and a construction of an independent French military force. Darnard liked Nazi ideas but didn't like Germans, and dreamed of reclaiming the colonies lost to the Free French.
It's possible Darnard could have tried to retake Francophonic North Africa, a weak point in the Free French Empire, in 1951 - however, that was when Laval attempted a coup. After three days of confused fighting in Paris, Darnard emerged triumphant but a chunk of his government & civil service were dead or in camps. (This had been exactly what MI6 and SOE wanted - it would emerge in the 1980s that they had assisted Laval, lying to him Britain would come to terms if he was in charge, with the assumption he'd lose but distract Darnard from his reconquest.) The chaos and resulting economic slump was embarrassing, and in early 1952 the German ambassador suggested maybe someone better should be President, and Darnard 'resigned' to 'spend time with his family'.
1940 - 1946: Philippe Pétain [1]
1946 - 1952: Joseph Darnard [2]
1952 - 1955:
1955 - 1964:
1964 - 1971:
1971 - 1977:
Proclamation of the 4th Fourth Republic
President of the Fourth Republic
1977 - XXXX:
[1] Appointed President of the Council of Ministers to negotiate an armistice with Germany Petain took the opportunity the purge the French State of the taint of Secularism and Liberalism. The new French State (or at least the southern part under his control) would become increasingly authoritarian and a semi-willng client of the Reich.
Upon the defeat of the Soviet Union in 1942 Petain increasingly pressed Hitler to return the northern parts of mainland France to his control. Hitler was reluctant while the UK was still officially at war with Germany but with the conflict stalemated their was an agreement for a return of control at the end of 1945. Certain conditions were agreed including a cap on the French armed forces, a permanent German garrison in key strategic areas and a quota of French males to be "guest workers" in the Reich for the next decade. Petain was prepared to pay nearly any price to have a reunited France and signed the new treaty.
Feeling his work was done upon the return of the North and feeling his age Petain resigned his position at the beginning of 1946 and passed the Presidency to his successor.
[2] Darnard had been a soldier, a French fascist before it was mainstream, and the founder of the Milice, but the biggest reason he got the presidency was he wasn't Pierre Laval, a man with many enemies and who was irking the Germans. The two men would glare at each other over the government tables as they continued to keep France on an even keel, which meant further purges of people who didn't fit Nazi ideology, further crackdowns and Milice on every doorstep (or so the propaganda went), and a construction of an independent French military force. Darnard liked Nazi ideas but didn't like Germans, and dreamed of reclaiming the colonies lost to the Free French.
It's possible Darnard could have tried to retake Francophonic North Africa, a weak point in the Free French Empire, in 1951 - however, that was when Laval attempted a coup. After three days of confused fighting in Paris, Darnard emerged triumphant but a chunk of his government & civil service were dead or in camps. (This had been exactly what MI6 and SOE wanted - it would emerge in the 1980s that they had assisted Laval, lying to him Britain would come to terms if he was in charge, with the assumption he'd lose but distract Darnard from his reconquest.) The chaos and resulting economic slump was embarrassing, and in early 1952 the German ambassador suggested maybe someone better should be President, and Darnard 'resigned' to 'spend time with his family'.