Introduction:

World War II was one of the biggest wars in history, involving several great powers in the world from both the Allied Powers and the Axis Powers. Much has been said about wartime strategies, the combatants actions on the battlefield and at home. One aspect of the war that has not received as much attention is the German occupation of France through the puppet Vichy government. In France: The Dark Years, 1940–1944, Julian T. Jackson works to uncover this history of occupation. In the book, Jackson outlines how Germany maintained their rule, why some in France acquiesced to that rule and others resisted, and finally why this history has remained less studied than other chapters in the story of the war.

Historical Context:

The German occupation of France explores the question of how one power controls another. From 1940–1944, France’s acquiescence to German rule first happened through military power, then the corruption of the French government. From the initial German invasion of France in June of 1940, the Franco-German Armistice divided France into two zones: one occupied by the German military, and one unoccupied (Unit 5 Reader). In 1942, German authority in France was complete through the military occupation in the northern two-thirds of France. The German military strategically designed this occupation to: one, control the most violent outbreaks of rebellion in the country, as the French Resistance was mostly active in northern France; and two, to completely surround and isolate France from around the sea, to cut off any and all potential aid from Great Britain and America. Occupation in France was one of the biggest victories for Germany, as France was no longer a sovereign state, but a fear-controlled state eventually run by German control.

Ensuing the occupation began the slow, calculated game of controlling of the French government. Originally a democratic parliamentary republic, known as the Third Republic, the French government converted into an authoritarian regime due to a vote by the parliament in Vichy France. Key figures in the parliament include Philippe Pétain: the marshal of France, and Pierre Laval: the minister of state, and the main progressor of the Vichy regime. Laval, in particular, collaborated with the Nazis into integrating with the new French regime, claiming to protect and serve the country’s best interests (Unit 5 Reader). During the Vichy years, Laval privately engaged with the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, and used his political influence to serve the interests of the Nazis. Marshal Pétain merely became a figurehead in the Vichy regime while Laval carried out Hitler’s wishes. The parliament collaborated with the Nazi programs of oppression and genocide, and even took the initiative to identify and deport thousands of French Jews to German death camps (Unit 5 Reader). As a result, Vichy France was wholly under German control.

Before the Vichy regime, however, there was a lot of political unrest and displeasure with the Third Republic government. These internal divisions within France allowed Germany to align with the French fascists who were eager to destroy the Third Republic and, thus, conveniently transition into a new regime. This Vichy regime allowed Germany to have full control of the French government, influencing political actions and affairs, which led to control over the citizens. While not everyone agreed with the new Vichy government, there was hardly any huge resistance towards German authority in France; in fact, most people went about their normal and daily lives, waiting for the fortunes of war to change. Other citizens chose to cooperate with the collaborators and the victorious Germans while some chose to join the underground Resistance, and still, some French fled to England to establish a Free French movement under Charles de Gaulle (Unit 5 Reader). Ultimately, the French citizens as a whole were not able to make a unified decision together about the Vichy regime, especially with a corrupted government that sent them equally mixed signals of preservation and harm. Vichy France could maintain its rule over citizens through the use of fear, as well as tactical shows of power. For instance, the Vichy government imposed rules against freedom and individualism in France, even banning the popular slogan “Freedom, Equality, Fraternity” ((Unit 5 Reader)). As the Vichy government established more laws in France for citizens to follow, the fear increased and French passivity became more prominent. Germany settled more comfortably into French society, and their propagating presence allowed the Germans to assume even greater control of France. This puppet regime in France lasted for four years before the Allied Powers built up, attacked, and liberated France in 1944.

Book Review:

Julian T. Jackson, through his book of France: The Dark Years, 1940–1944, tried to recover the fully-fleshed out history of Vichy France during World War II, as well as the impacts afterwards. As Jackson felt that scholars may have overlooked the Vichy years, he personally made it his mission to give life and narrative to France’s history that might have been forgotten otherwise. After all, the liberated French government did try to erase its horrid history from 1940–1944, when the country was under German occupation. However, Jackson takes care to diligently showcase and dive into every moment of the Vichy years — from the start of the attack to the finish, and afterwards. He included the good, the bad, and, of course, the ugly parts of France’s past, which did include sending hundreds of French workers as slave laborers to Germany, as well as the infamous deportation of French Jews to Nazi death camps. Ultimately, the liberated France government — still struggling to manage its land and citizens — was ashamed of its actions under German control, and attempted to continue the French history from the year 1940. While Laval and Pétain, the puppet leaders of the Vichy era, were convicted and sentenced for treason against France in 1945, France’s government took a long time to own up to mistakes made during the German occupation. Jackson writes about the recovery process of Vichy France’s history, as well as the impacts of trying to erase the dark side of France’s past in 1940–1944. Jackson writes about this, in part, because he felt like other books were missing the full coverage of the Vichy years, and he had wanted to deeply understand all of the specifics of the France during Nazi-occupation and how that era affected France afterward.

Evaluation:

In France: The Dark Years, 1940–1944 Julian T. Jackson expertly accomplishes his purpose of the book so that readers can learn the precise and all-encompassing history of Vichy France. Right from the preface and introduction of the book, I was led right into a summary and explanation of Vichy France, and it left me craving for more — more detail, more context, more explanations of what happened, and more. Consequently, it is fair to say that my initial impressions of this book was thoroughly fascinated and intrigued into the history of Vichy France. From my perspective, the book did answer the question of how Germany occupied and controlled France for so long with extreme rebellion, and I have a better understanding of how the Vichy government influenced the French citizens, and I feel more empathetic towards the thoughts and feelings of French citizens under the Vichy regime. Looking back, all of the citizens must have been courageous, living on the edge of life — in constant fear of Nazi Germany’s next step in French govenrment. Ultimately, this book on Vichy France taught me valuable lessons and knowledge about war, occupation, and strategic control of another country. Even though I have no connections to France at all, except for the seven-and-a-half years I learnt the French language in grade school, I found Jackson’s book extremely compelling and engaging — even if it is about France’s most ashaméd history; and this novel, indeed did in fact, sate my curiosity of the dazzling, yet disturbing, dark ages of France.

Works Cited:

Jackson, Julian. France: The Dark Years, 1940–1944. New York, Oxford University Press, 2003.

Palmer, R. R., Joel Colton, and Lloyd S. Kramer. A history of the modern world. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2002.