Petain in 1934- A Sinister France in the Thirties

I was reading about the crisis of 6th February 1934, when the far-right attempted to take over in France and depose the Cartel des Gauches government. IOTL, they didn't go the whole hog, and were slightly mollified when the left-winger Daladier was replaced with the former president, Gaston Doumergue, by President Albert Lebrun.

But-what if the far-right had held their nerve and attacked the Assemblee Nationale? The POD here is that they do so, and rather than actually take power, they have be mollified to a more intense degree. Lebrun appoints Marshal Petain as the new Prime Minister rather than merely as Minister for War, in the hope that this will do the trick.

The POD is this- instead of wavering and deciding against going on the offensive, as IOTL, the Croix-de-Feu waver and then go for it. Their leader, Colonel de la Rocque, was reluctant to riot, but not utterly unconvincable.

The police were struggling by now. Although they had nearly contained the rioters on the Place de la Concorde, the situation to the south of the Assemblee Nationale was getting worse. It was looking more and more like the Croix-de-Feu were engaging in disturbances outside the building, and some were striking out to harry the police.

At just after 11 o'clock, the breakthrough came. Croix-de-Feu demonstrators broke the police cordon around the other rioters, and a pitched battle began. The police were overwhelmed. In the chaos, members of Action Francaise forced their way into the Assemblee Nationale. This is notable for the beating handed out to the Minister for Education, Anatole de Monzie, who was present at the time.

The battle raged inside the building for over an hour, resulting in 4 deaths (three rioters, and the SFIO deputy Roger Salengro). Most of the deputies fled, and Daladier was forced to request a state of emergency from the President, Albert Lebrun.

At 3 o'clock on the morning of 7th February 1934, unable to persuade the police to follow his orders or to get his own cabinet behind him, Daladier tendered his resignation to Lebrun. Lebrun accepted it, but was unsure who to put in place. Who could mollify the far-right but be acceptable? Doumergue was popular but too soft. Chautemps was not acceptable. He needed someone who had a good reputation amongst the hardliners but who was popular in the country as a whole.

At 6 a.m., exhausted, Lebrun summoned the Hero of Verdun, Marshal Philippe Petain, to the Elysee.
 
So...
we get a fascist France in the 30's, possibly leading to an earlier war with Germany?

I think we'll get a different war with Germany- there's plenty of time and scope for a Franco-Italian axis, with Germany as the target if it tries to annex Austria.

Although France will not immediately become a dictatorship.
 
I cant see France lying down about the Rhineland.This could be a better world ,as long as Fascism and Racism never make the connection.
 

Faeelin

Banned
I cant see France lying down about the Rhineland.This could be a better world ,as long as Fascism and Racism never make the connection.

Quick, nobody read the PSF platform!

Anyway, I don't see a better world in a fascist Europe, but I'm weird.

Sigh, one day I will dust off "Blum, savior of a continent."

Anyway, this is an interesting idea. I'm not sure La Rocque would jump, but if you accept that... this should be fun.
 
Petain had been hanging around the centres of power for some time by this point. He had unsubtly made a pitch for the Ministry of Education several years earlier, and was still massively popular. In addition, he wasn't renowned as being partisan.

Petain arrived at the Elysee at 8 that morning, and accepted the invitation to take over the government without hesitation. However, he insisted on the full power to name his own cabinet, to which Lebrun acquiesced.

Petain's choices were somewhat eclectic, and included a number of Neosocialists, in a deliberate attempt to undermine the SFIO, and was mainly made up of non-partisan figures, military figures and people who fitted his corporatist, reactionary ideas. Unpopular figures such as Camille Chautemps were removed.

President of the Council: Philippe Petain
Vice-President of the Council and Colonies: Gaston Doumergue
Foreign Affairs: Jean-Louis Berthou
Defence and Air: Maxime Weygand
War: General Louis Franchet d'Esperey
Interior: Pierre Laval
Finance and Commerce: Pierre-Etienne Flandin
Labour: Francois Pietri
Justice: Andre Tardieu
Marine: Vice-Admiral Jean-Marie Abrial
National Education: Jules Carde (who resigned as Governor of Algeria)
Veterans: Henri Astier de la Vigerie [1]
Agriculture: Adrien Marquet
Public Works: Marcel Deat

Franchet d'Esperey was a particularly tactical move by Petain, as it was known that he had some contacts with the far-right.

[1] Astier was IOTL a Resistance member, but in the 30s he had dealigns with various far-right groups and was generally regarded as being on the right.
 
Quick, nobody read the PSF platform!

Anyway, I don't see a better world in a fascist Europe, but I'm weird.

Sigh, one day I will dust off "Blum, savior of a continent."

Anyway, this is an interesting idea. I'm not sure La Rocque would jump, but if you accept that... this should be fun.

I guess it's not ASB- I mean, after all, people thought that La Rocque would do it and he got a lot of stick when they didn't.

It definitely will not end up a better Europe!
 
I guess it's not ASB- I mean, after all, people thought that La Rocque would do it and he got a lot of stick when they didn't.

It definitely will not end up a better Europe!

Im not saying a fascist Europe is a better Europe but France wont be fascist for long just very right-wing for a short time.If they crush Nazi Germany theyll avoid a Iron curtain as well as averting millions of deaths.France will eventually become a democracy and so will Italy.There will be no Atom bomb until much later as well as no nuclear power.There wont be such an intense Cold War and will avert all the misery that that causes.

All in all a better world.
 
Im not saying a fascist Europe is a better Europe but France wont be fascist for long just very right-wing for a short time.If they crush Nazi Germany theyll avoid a Iron curtain as well as averting millions of deaths.France will eventually become a democracy and so will Italy.There will be no Atom bomb until much later as well as no nuclear power.There wont be such an intense Cold War and will avert all the misery that that causes.

All in all a better world.

Can't argue with that. Likely turn of events is that we see a reactionary Latin Bloc- France could end up more likely Portugal or Spain (depending on how the Spanish Civil War pans out here!)
 
Can't argue with that. Likely turn of events is that we see a reactionary Latin Bloc- France could end up more likely Portugal or Spain (depending on how the Spanish Civil War pans out here!)

The funny thing might be that the US could experience a 'Black Scare' and start hunting down Fascists as well as propping up Communist regimes around the world :p
 
The funny thing might be that the US could experience a 'Black Scare' and start hunting down Fascists as well as propping up Communist regimes around the world :p

I doubt that as communist reigmes are inherently against american corporate ambition, while fascist regimes can work with foreign corporations.
 
I doubt that as communist reigmes are inherently against american corporate ambition, while fascist regimes can work with foreign corporations.

It was more of a joke than a belief that that would actually happen but I agree Capitalism is happy to go to bed with Fascism as long as they dont bother each other.
 
There is a VERY good AAR going on at the PI Board that centers around De La Rocque. From what I've read he doesn't seem to be Fascist at all though definantly Right-Wing.

EDIT: Link to the AAR in question: http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?t=275435

I agree. This is it- the French far-right was more reactionary than Fascist- during the war, Deat moved out of Vichy because he thought that Petain was reactionary rather than Fascist (which indeed he was).
 
On the evening of the 7th February, the far-right had melted away, mainly mollified by the appointment of Petain, whose elevation was the talk of the evening newspapers. The appointment was widely regarded as a popular choice.

However, that did not mean that the trouble was over. That evening, much as their Rightist enemies had done the previous night, various sections of the Left descended on the Place de la Concorde. With the Communist leader and deputy, Maurice Thorez, at their head, the crowd called for Lebrun to revoke Petain's appointment, decrying him as a reactionary and a militarist.

Around 9 o'clock that evening, the rear of the crowd was attacked by the far-right Camelots du Roy (the youth wing of Action Francaise). The outcome was a pitched battle, which escalated as the police became involved. Two died, including one police officer, and shops were looted up the Champs-Elysees. It goes without saying that this excerpt from The Times summed up popular, and allegedly accurate, sentiment:

It is widely claimed amongst the French Left, and indeed amongst moderate conservatives and Radicals, that supporters of Petain within the far-right leagues provoked the trouble.

In his first act, Petain called a state of emergency. The next day, the army was out on the streets- and several Communist deputies were in gaol.
 
8th February 1934 was a fairly bloody day in French history, and one of the bloodiest since the Great War. With Thorez already in gaol, the Parti communiste francais (PCF) was the grouping to suffer the greatest number of arrests and violence. Jacques Doriot, who had already attempted a power struggle with Thorez, decided that the time was right to get out of the party [1] and managed to sneak out of Paris and into Belgium, as did Pierre Celor, who was in disgrace with the party. [2] Members of the Central Committee, notably Waldeck Rochet and Andre Marty, were arrested on trumped-up charges of disturbing public order. Benoit Frachon, leader of the CGTU union, was also taken away. All 10 PCF deputies, and the nine members of the breakaway Parti d'unite proletarienne (PUP), had fled Paris or were under arrest.

A number of Trotskyists, notably Raymond Molinier and Pierre Naville, were also interned.

The expected protests by workers and Left-wing parties did not materialise as Petain had removed their main organisers. Other than a few isolated incidents in the Lille and Marseille areas, the Far Left's top brass had been destroyed. Only the SFIO (the main Socialist party) was now the only unequivocally left-wing party in the Assemblee Nationale, as the Parti republicain-socialiste had dissolved.


[1] IOTL, Doriot was expelled in 1934 anyway.
[2] IOTL, Celor joined Doriot in moving to Fascism.
 
Dang.. keep this up, I'm liking it.

I'm also having pictures of a French-Italian Axis against Germany over Austria.

I could definitely see Mussolini cozing up to Petain instead of Hitler. Allying with France would be more to his benefit.
 
Dang.. keep this up, I'm liking it.

I'm also having pictures of a French-Italian Axis against Germany over Austria.

I could definitely see Mussolini cozing up to Petain instead of Hitler. Allying with France would be more to his benefit.


Makes me wonder what Britian will do. Losing her only friendly democracy on the continent, I think Britian will try and become allies with wath she percieves as the lesser of two evils, the facists, to take on the Soviets. I am sure there will be some kind of war with Germany, but depending on how that works out, the USSR could be next. Stalin must be shitting his pants when he realizes there is no chance for collective security and his worst fears of being ganged up on by the Western powers could come true. I also wonder what will happen with Japan? I assume they will align themselves with the facist bloc against the Soviets. And if FDR is still president, and a war with Japan breaks out, and the allies join the war, you could see a war with USA vs. Europe! I wonder if the USA would ally with the USSR in such a scenario? But I am speculating way to far in advance.

I can't wait for the updates, but my only request is that you title the updates, so while I am scrolling through I can instanly see "Update #X".
 
Dang.. keep this up, I'm liking it.

I'm also having pictures of a French-Italian Axis against Germany over Austria.

I could definitely see Mussolini cozing up to Petain instead of Hitler. Allying with France would be more to his benefit.

That's kind of what I'm thinking too! Might give extra teeth to the Franco-Polish alliance. Glad you like it!
 
Makes me wonder what Britian will do. Losing her only friendly democracy on the continent, I think Britian will try and become allies with wath she percieves as the lesser of two evils, the facists, to take on the Soviets. I am sure there will be some kind of war with Germany, but depending on how that works out, the USSR could be next. Stalin must be shitting his pants when he realizes there is no chance for collective security and his worst fears of being ganged up on by the Western powers could come true. I also wonder what will happen with Japan? I assume they will align themselves with the facist bloc against the Soviets. And if FDR is still president, and a war with Japan breaks out, and the allies join the war, you could see a war with USA vs. Europe! I wonder if the USA would ally with the USSR in such a scenario? But I am speculating way to far in advance.

I can't wait for the updates, but my only request is that you title the updates, so while I am scrolling through I can instanly see "Update #X".

Cheers! Point taken, I'll give them names.
 
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