Date of Graduation
2016
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Type
PhD
College
Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
Department
History
Committee Chair
Robert Blobaum
Committee Co-Chair
Katherine Aaslestad
Committee Member
Joshua Arthurs
Committee Member
Joseph Hodge
Committee Member
Steven Zdatny
Abstract
After the debacle of the Fall of France in 1940, the one organization that managed to maintain its discipline and functionality virtually intact was the French Navy. This is the story of how subsequently that navy was able to exert a disproportionate influence on the Vichy regime of Marshal Petain. Such influence achieved its apogee between February 1941 and April 1942 when the navy's Commander-in-Chief Admiral Darlan served simultaneously in several of the regime's highest offices. During this period France continued to flirt with the possibility of actively engaging Great Britain in war on the side of Nazi Germany. It was also the period when Vichy introduced some of its most repressive measures against its own citizens and entered upon policies that led ultimately to active collaboration in the deportation of Jews to Auschwitz.
Recommended Citation
Upward, Alexander John, "Ordinary Sailors: The French Navy, Vichy and the Second World War" (2016). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 6852.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/6852