Changes

==20th century==

==20th century==

[[World War I]] (1914–18) brought great losses of troops and material. In the 1920s, France established an elaborate system of border defenses (the Maginot Line) and alliances to offset resurgent German strength. Unfortunately for France that defense was based on the trench warfare of World War I and provided a poor plan for the [[Blitzkreig]] tactics that the Germans had developed. France was defeated early in [[World War II]] when it was quickly overrun by [[Nazi Germany]] and was occupied in June 1940. In July, the country was divided into two: one section being ruled directly by the Germans, and a second controlled by the French ([[Vichy France]]) and which the Germans did not occupy. German and Italian forces occupied all of France, including the "Vichy" zone, following the Allied invasion of North Africa in November 1942. The "Vichy" government largely acquiesced to German plans, namely in the plunder of French resources and the forceful deportations of tens of thousands of French [[Jews]] living in France to [[concentration camp]]s across Europe, and was even more completely under German control following the German military occupation of November 1942. Economically, a full one-half of France's public sector revenue was appropriated by Germany. After 4 years of occupation and strife, Allied forces liberated France from Germany control in 1944.  

[[World War I]] (1914–18) brought great losses of troops and material. In the 1920s, France established an elaborate system of border defenses (the Maginot Line) and alliances to offset resurgent German strength. Unfortunately for France that defense was based on the trench warfare of World War I and provided a poor plan for the [[Blitzkreig]] tactics that the Germans had developed. France was defeated early in [[World War II]] when it was quickly overrun by [[Nazi Germany]] and was occupied in June 1940. In July, the country was divided into two: one section being ruled directly by the Germans, and a second controlled by the French ([[Vichy France]]) and which the Germans did not occupy. German and Italian forces occupied all of France, including the "Vichy" zone, following the Allied invasion of North Africa in November 1942.  

 

The "Vichy" government largely acquiesced to German plans, namely in the plunder of French resources and the forceful deportations of tens of thousands of French [[Jews]] living in France to [[concentration camp]]s across Europe, and was even more completely under German control following the German military occupation of November 1942. Economically, a full one-half of France's public sector revenue was appropriated by Germany. After 4 years of occupation and strife, Allied forces liberated France from Germany control in 1944.  

===Fourth Republic===

===Fourth Republic===

see [[Charles de Gaulle]]

see [[Charles de Gaulle]]