What city became capital of Marshal Pétain’s government after the Nazi invasion of France in 1940? The answer is Vichy.
After France’s military collapse in June 1940, the French government fled southward from Paris and eventually established itself in the spa town of Vichy. On July 10, 1940, France’s National Assembly met there and granted Philippe Pétain extraordinary constitutional powers, effectively ending the Third Republic. The resulting authoritarian regime became known as Vichy France.
Vichy was chosen partly because it had a large supply of hotels and administrative buildings suitable for housing government offices. It also lay in the unoccupied zone established by the armistice, although Germany later occupied the entire country in November 1942. The government remained headquartered there for more than four years and collaborated with Nazi Germany while administering much of France.
A common mix-up is Paris: Paris remained France’s historic capital, but it was under German occupation and was not the seat of Pétain’s government during this period.