[1][page needed] His father had previously lived in Paris, where he worked for photography pioneer Louis Daguerre, before returning to the family farm in Cauchy-à-la-Tour following the Revolution of 1848.

[1][page needed] He attended the Catholic boarding school of Saint-Bertin in the nearby town of Saint-Omer, where he was an excellent student, showing an aptitude for geography and arithmetic.

His decision to organise truck transport over the "Voie Sacrée" to bring a continuous stream of artillery, ammunition, and fresh troops into besieged Verdun also played a key role in grinding down the German onslaught to a final halt in July 1916.

Pétain restored morale by talking to the men, promising no more suicidal attacks, providing rest for exhausted units, home furloughs, and moderate discipline.

Later in the year, Pétain was stripped of his right of direct appeal to the French government and requested to report to Foch, who increasingly assumed the co-ordination and ultimately the command of the Allied offensives.

[21] On 3 September 1925, Pétain was appointed sole Commander-in-Chief of French Forces in Morocco[22] to launch a major campaign against the Rif tribes, in concert with the Spanish Army, which was successfully concluded by the end of October.

Édouard Daladier's new government retaliated against Weygand by reducing the number of officers and cutting military pensions and pay, arguing that such measures, apart from financial stringency, were in the spirit of the Geneva Disarmament Conference.

Pétain accompanied President Lebrun to Belgrade for the funeral of King Alexander, who had been assassinated on 6 October 1934 in Marseille by Vlado Chernozemski, a Bulgarian nationalist from IMRO.

that Pétain, as France's most senior soldier after Foch's death, should bear some responsibility for the poor state of French weaponry preparation before World War II.

Pétain had taught the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco "many years ago at France's war college" and was sent to Spain "in the hope he would win his former pupil away from Italian and German influence.

During a cabinet meeting that day, Reynaud argued that before asking for an armistice, France would have to get the United Kingdom permission to be relieved from their accord of March 1940 not to sign a separate cease-fire.

On 11 June, Churchill flew to the Château du Muguet, at Briare, near Orléans, where he put forward first his idea of a Breton redoubt, to which Weygand replied that it was just a "fantasy".

Pétain then drew a letter of resignation from his pocket, an act which was certain to bring down the government (he had persuaded Weygand to come to Bordeaux by telling him that 16 June would be the decisive day).

After lunch, Churchill's telegram arrived agreeing to an armistice provided the French fleet was moved to British ports, a suggestion which was not acceptable to Darlan, who argued that it was outrageous and would leave France defenseless.

In the event, only 26 deputies and 1 senator headed for Africa, among them those with Jewish backgrounds, Georges Mandel, Pierre Mendès France, and the former Popular Front Education Minister, Jean Zay.

[34] Fascistic and revolutionary conservative factions within the new government used the opportunity to launch an ambitious programme known as the "Révolution nationale", which rejected much of the former Third Republic's secular and liberal traditions in favour of an authoritarian and paternalist society.

Pétain, amongst others, took exception to the use of the term "revolution" to describe what he believed to be an essentially conservative movement, but otherwise participated in the transformation of French society from "Republic" to "State".

"[56] The new government immediately used its new powers to order harsh measures, including the dismissal of republican civil servants, the installation of exceptional jurisdictions, the proclamation of antisemitic laws, and the imprisonment of opponents and foreign refugees.

The United Kingdom was prepared to release France from the agreement, providing the French fleet sailed forthwith to British harbours or to a neutral country, so it was out of reach of the Germans, pending negotiations[58]:367.

In a radio address to the country on 12 August 1941, Pétain stated;"From several regions of France, I have felt an ill-wind rising for some time... the authority of my government is contested... a genuine malaise is gripping the French people".

Neither Pétain nor his successive deputies, Laval, Pierre-Étienne Flandin, or Admiral François Darlan, gave significant resistance to requests by the Germans to indirectly aid the Axis powers.

Pétain accepted the government's creation of a collaborationist armed militia (the Milice) under the command of Joseph Darnand, who, along with German forces, led a campaign of repression against the French resistance ("Maquis").

Pétain however remained popular and engaged in a series of visits around France as late as 1944, when he arrived in Paris on 28 April in what Nazi propaganda newsreels described as a "historic" moment for the city.

[62] On 17 August 1944, the Germans, in the person of Cecil von Renthe-Fink, "special diplomatic delegate of the Führer to the French Head of State", asked Pétain to allow himself to be transferred to the northern zone.

When Renthe-Fink entered the Marshal's office at the Hôtel du Parc with General Neubronn "at 7:30 p.m.", the Head of State was supervising the packing up of his suitcases and papers.

Following the liberation of France, on 8 September 1944, Pétain and other members of the French cabinet at Vichy were relocated by the Germans to the Sigmaringen enclave in Germany, where they became a government-in-exile until April 1945.

De Gaulle later reflected upon the proceedings: Too often, the discussions took on the appearance of a partisan trial, sometimes even a settling of scores, when the whole affair should have been treated only from the standpoint of national defence and independence.

[76] Surrounded by thujas and cypresses, the simple white granite slab topped with a wooden cross is in front of the west wall of the cemetery, facing away from the sea in the opposite direction to the 1,700 other tombs, a positioning linked to the fact that he was convicted of Indignité nationale,[77] a sanction which did not prevent him from being buried in his military uniform and that the mention of Marshal of France was engraved in black capital letters.

In February 1973, Pétain's coffin housing his remains was stolen from the Île d'Yeu cemetery by extremists who demanded that President Georges Pompidou consent to its re-interment at Douaumont ossuary among the war dead of the Battle of Verdun.

In 2017, the New York City Mayor's Office considered removing the sidewalk ribbon denoting the parade for Pétain, given his role with the Nazis in World War II.