Story Highlights
- Historical event:
- 10 July 1940
- It is interesting that the city of Vichy, where the seat of Marshal Pétain was located, was previously known as a spa and a resort. The well-known cosmetic brand Vichy was also named after that French city.
On this day in 1940, a Parliament meeting of great significance that voted for the transfer of power to the so-called Vichy government of Marshal Philippe Pétain took place in France.
The vote was held in Vichy, a small town in which the French government moved after the Third Reich occupied Paris along with about half of the French territory (north and west of France). This is why the state is usually called Vichy France.
Marshal Philippe Pétain was 84 years old by this time (he was over 60 already when he was commander of the army in World War I). Petain’s France collaborated with Hitler’s Third Reich as a kind of vassal state.
It is interesting that the city of Vichy, where the seat of Marshal Pétain was located, was previously known as a spa and a resort. The local thermal water was used back in the time of the Roman Empire, and also during the time of the French kings (i.e. the famous Louis XVI).
Vichy was most popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when it was a fashionable spa and resort. Just to mention, the Vichy cosmetics brand was also named after that French town (owned by the giant L’Oréal).
