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| French State État Français | ||||||
| Puppet government of Britannia (1940–43)
Timeline: Joan of What? | ||||||
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| Motto Travaille, Famille, Patrie (French) "Labour, Family, Country" | ||||||
| Anthem La Marseillaise | ||||||
| Capital | Paris | |||||
| Largest city | Paris | |||||
| Languages | French | |||||
| Government | Fascist one-party totalitarian dictatorship | |||||
| Chief of State | ||||||
| - | 1936 — 1944 | Jacques Doriot | ||||
| Legislature | National Assembly | |||||
| History | ||||||
| - | Coup d'état | 2 March 1936 | ||||
| - | Remilitarisation | 12 February 1937 | ||||
| - | Fascist League | 13 April 1937 | ||||
| - | Invasion of Spain | 1 October 1938 | ||||
| - | Arrest of Doriot | 14 March 1943 | ||||
| - | Acts of Union, 1943 | 20 March 1943 | ||||
| Currency | Franc | |||||
The French State (French: État Français) was the fascist one-party totalitarian dictatorship which controlled the government of France from 1936 to 1943. It was established after the military coup on 2 March 1936, which overthrew the democratic Third Republic and replaced it with a de facto military government under the leadership of Chief of State Jacques Doriot.
Following a period of spiralling economic crisis and unrest, the coup-installed government began to remilitarise in contravention to the Treaty of Versailles signed after World War II. Calling for "National Regeneration", the French Government reversed many liberal policies of the Third Republic and began tight supervision of the economy, with central planning a key feature. Labour unions came under tight government control. The independence of women was reversed, with an emphasis put on motherhood. Conservative Catholics became prominent. Paris lost its avant-garde status in European art and culture. The media were tightly controlled and stressed virulent anti-Semitism.
In April 1937, France agreed to an alliance with Oswald Mosley's Fascist Britain — an agreement which eventually led to the formation of the Fascist League. With the assistance of British forces on 1 October 1938, France invaded Spain, beginning World War III. From that point onward, the French Government gradually lost its sovereignty over the country, with power being slowly absorbed by Britannia, and by 1940, France had effectively become a puppet government under the control of the British Government.
On 14 March 1943, British troops entered Paris and arrested Doriot, ending his rule over France, and the Act of Union was passed by the House of Commons in London. The Act annexed France into Britannia, officially returning Britain to pre-French Revolution borders. The French National Assembly passed a French version of the Act on 18 March, and voted to dissolve itself the next day, formally ending French sovereignty.
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