Trivia

Step-son: Pierre de Hérain.

Following the Fall of France in June 1940 he agreed to lead a nominally-independent French government. It was commonly known as the Vichy regime. After Germany and Italy occupied and disarmed France in November 1942 his regime was reduced to being a mere puppet of the Axis.

Tried after World War II, he was condemned to death but his sentence was changed to life imprisonment in view of his age and World War I service. Elected unanimously to the Académie française in 1929, he was banned as a consequence of this death penalty and his seat was left empty till his death.

After the armistices with Germany and Italy he agreed to lead France's government in July 1940 as he felt it was better to have some self-rule during the occupation, rather than direct rule from Berlin.

The Vichy government was initially overwhelmingly popular in France, and it remained quite popular in the spring of 1944. Petain and Pierre Laval ensured France remained neutral throughout the occupation, despite heavy pressure from Germany and Italy to join the Axis. It was the return of the forced laborers in winter of 1945-46 which saw Petain's reputation collapse.

At 84 years of age he became France's oldest ever head of state on 11 July 1940.

He helped prevent France declaring war on the UK following the attack on Mers-el-Kébir on 3 July 1940, and resisted attempts by Hitler and Mussolini to get France to join the Axis later in the war.