Was French Marshal Petain a national hero or a national traitor?

<> 1939, a more terrible and tragic disaster than the First World War more than 20 years ago - the Second World War befell Europe, and the following year Hitler's German army launched a blitzkrieg on the Western Front, the British and French troops were beaten terribly, and France, known as the first bull in the army, collapsed instantly. Marshal Petain, who was 84 years old at the time, was serving as ambassador to Spain, and when he insisted on returning home, the Spanish head Franco said to him: "You don't need to associate your name with a failure for which someone else should be responsible, do you?"

The old marshal replied: "I know, but my country is calling to me, and I have no choice." Perhaps, this is the last time I will serve my country.

Petain believed that France had been defeated, there was no resistance (and we in China still had the Kuomintang and the Communist Party resisting the war), and the French people were already a nation ready to be eaten at any time. Petain wanted to act as the protector of the defeated France, so that the Germans could see his prestige and leave the lowest dignity to this discredited people.

At the end of the war in 1945, the reviled old marshal was sentenced to death by the French Supreme Court, and de Gaulle commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment in memory of his advanced age and former hero. The emaciated Pétain spent his twilight years in prison. On July 23, 1951, he died at the age of 95.

All honor and disgrace turned into smoke, and the heroes rebelled and later generations commented on ......

Subsequent historians generally divide Petain's evaluation into two extremes, some people believe that he was a French hero in the Second World War, but unfortunately the political methods are somewhat biased, so it led to disrepute, while others think that Petain is an out-and-out mutineer and a man who pursues glory and wealth, and he signed an armistice with Germany for his own safety, regardless of the safety of the French people, and pushed Germany into a dark abyss. Petain was born in a bottom family in France, his father admired fascism very much, so Petain was also raised into a very stubborn person, and most of the historians of later generations of Petain are inseparable from the words stubbornness and treason, but as a soldier Petain made quite achievements in World War I, he not only guided many famous battles in World War I and World War II, but also studied the theory of defense in war. <>

The verdict of the French is already yours, and de Gaulle was once his subordinate, extrajudicial.

Because Germany was suffering from internal and external troubles at that time, facing the crazy aggression of Nazi Germany, many people at that time did not have hope for Germany and took refuge in Germany, so Petain was also to protect himself

In February 1934, Pétain became Minister of War in the Dumerg cabinet. During his tenure, Petain did not seize the opportunity to effectively improve the combat capability of the French army. 1939 In 1940, Pétain became French ambassador to Spain.

In May 1940, the Germans began attacking the French, and the Maginot Line, which was a permanent fortification, was broken.

Later generations of historians generally divide the evaluation of Petain into two extremes, some believe that he was a hero of France in the Second World War, but unfortunately, the political methods are somewhat biased, so it led to disrepute, while others think that Petain is an out-and-out mutineer and a man who pursues honor and wealth, and he signed an armistice with Germany for his own safety, regardless of the safety of the French people, and pushed Germany into a dark abyss. Petain was born in a bottom family in France, his father admired fascism very much, so Petain was also raised into a very stubborn person, and most of the historians of later generations of Petain are inseparable from the words stubbornness and treason, but as a soldier Petain made great achievements in World War I, he not only guided many famous battles in World War I and World War II, but also studied the theory of defense in the war.