Vichy France Timeline of Events

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Vichy France

Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...

Timeline of Events

1940

6.16.1940

World War II: Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain becomes Premier of Vichy France.

7.5.1940

World War II: the United Kingdom and the Vichy France government break off diplomatic relations.

7.10.1940

World War II: the Vichy government is established in France.

7.11.1940

World War II: Vichy France regime is formally established. Henri Philippe Pétain becomes Prime Minister of France.

1942

4.18.1942

Pierre Laval becomes Prime Minister of Vichy France.

7.16.1942

Holocaust: Vel' d'Hiv Roundup (''Rafle du Vel' d'Hiv''): the government of Vichy France orders the mass arrest of 13,152 Jews who are held at the Winter Velodrome in Paris before deportation to Auschwitz.

1945

7.31.1945

Pierre Laval, the fugitive former leader of Vichy France, surrenders to Allied soldiers in Austria.

10.15.1945

World War II: The former premier of Vichy France Pierre Laval is shot by a firing squad for treason.

1999

10.22.1999

Maurice Papon, an official in the Vichy France government during World War II, is jailed for crimes against humanity.