P�tain, (Henri) Philippe (Omer) 1856-1951
French soldier and statesman

He was born in Cauchy-�-la-Tour of peasant parents. As a junior officer his confidential report was marked 'If this officer rises above the rank of major it will be a disaster for France', but seniority brought him the military governorship of Paris and appointments on the instructional staff. His defence of Verdun (1916) made him a national hero. As Commander-in-Chief in 1917, his appeasement policies, after the widespread mutinies that followed General Nivelle's disastrous offensive, virtually removed the French army from the war. Minister for War in 1934, he sponsored the ineffective Maginot Line and when France collapsed in early 1940, he succeeded Paul Reynaud as the head of the government, immediately arranging terms with the Germans. His administration at Vichy involved active collaboration with Germany, particularly through Pierre Laval and Marcel Deat. With the liberation of France (1944) P�tain was brought to trial, his death sentence for treason being commuted to life imprisonment on the �le d'Yeu. He died in captivity in 1951.

Bibliography: Herbert R Lottman, P�tain, Hero or Traitor: The Untold Story (1985)