Robert O. Paxton's classic study of the aftermath of France's sudden collapse under Nazi invasion utilizes captured German archives and other contemporary materials to construct a strong and disturbing account of the Vichy period in France. With a new introduction and updated bibliography, Vichy France demonstrates that the collaborationist government of Marshal Pétain did far more than merely react to German pressures. The Vichy leaders actively pursued their own double agenda―internally, the authoritarian and racist "national revolution," and, externally, an attempt to persuade Hitler to accept this new France as a partner in his new Europe.
Author(s): Robert O. Paxton
Publisher: Knopf
Year: 1972
Language: English
City: New York
Tags: World War II, France, Vichy
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Acknowledgments
Prologue: Summer 1940
I / The French Quest for Collaboration, 1940–1942
Pierre Laval and the Paris Connection
The “New Policy” September–December 1940
The Meaning of December 13
The Cold Shoulder: Flandin and Darlan
Darlan’s Grand Design
Darlan’s Fall and Laval’s Return: April 1942
II / The National Revolution
Competing Visions
An Answer to Decadence
Moral Order: The Church
Moral Order: Education and the Young
Moral Order: The Family
France for the French
The State: Liberty and Authority
Return to the Soil
Escape from Class and Competition: Corporatism in Power
From Persuasion to Constraint: The Emerging Police State
The National Revolution and Fascism
Photo Insert
III / The Collaborators
Ins, Outs, and Notables
The French Civil War: 1934–37
The Revenge of the Minorities
Experts
Traditionalists
The Left at Vichy
IV / Collaboration—1942–44: Between Liberation and Revolution
Threats to the Social Order—1; Resistance
Threats to the Social Order—2: Second Front
Last French Bids for Collaboration: 1942–43
1944: The Dream of Peaceful Transition, the Nightmare of Civil War
V / A Balance Sheet: The Legacy of Vichy
Breaks and Continuities
Vichy and French Society
Was Vichy a Lesser Evil?
Profits and Losses
A Moral Balance Sheet
Appendix A: The War Question of January 1942
Appendix B: Glossary of French and German Abbreviations
Bibliographical Note
A Note About the Author
