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'''Vichy France''' can be dated from June 10 1940, when Marshal [[Philippe Pétain]] was granted full power to negotiate with the Germans. At this point the military defeat of [[France]] was inevitable so Pétain, a war hero from [[World War I]], suspended democratic government and surrendered to Germany.

Ello, Mate! Greetin's from der lan' down under!!! If ye beith readingith this page, ye beith either a good, noble, god-afearin', evil, demented, pathetic, hard-nosed, confining, prejudicial, rascist, sexist, snobby, good-for-nothing, hair-brained, old-fashioned, out-of-date, fetishisticly patriotic, stubborn, old CONSERVATIVE or ye be a shnivalling liberal vandal.  

 

Following the French surrender on June 22 1940 a new Government was established at [[Vichy]]. [[Vichy France]] is used to refer to the unoccupied area of southern France. However, the Vichy regime has administrative control over all France. This regime saw the co-operation with German forces, including deportations during the [[Holocaust]], and a full revolution in state government and French society. The French motto of "Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité" (Liberty, equality, fraternity) was replaced with "Travail, Famille, [[Patrie]]" (Work, family, homeland). [[Trade Unions]] and other political opponents of [[fascism]] were oppressed, [[rugby league]], identified as traditionally anti-fascist was banned - and the sport even remain legally restricted in post-war France.

 

In 1942 a revolution of the [[French colonies]] in [[Africa]] against the Vichy French was lead by [[Louis DeBois]] but did not gain wide spread support. In September DeBois was captured and sentenced to death.<ref>Martin King (1984). "The outcast Frenchmen". WWII remembrance press, New York. pg 128.</ref>

 

The [[United States]] granted Vichy full diplomatic recognition, thus acknowledging the puppet regime's [[legitimacy]], and it sent Admiral [[William Leahy]] to its capital as American ambassador. <ref>[http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/WorldWar2/leahy.htm President Roosevelt to the Appointed Ambassador to France (Leahy), 20 December 1940],  U.S., Department of State, Publication 1983, Peace and War: United States Foreign Policy, 1931-1941 (Washington, D.C.: U.S., Government Printing Office, 1943), pp. 595-598.</ref>