PETAIN: A Biography of Marshal Philipe Petain of Vichy

by Richard Griffiths ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 17, 1972

A crisp, broad, scholarly biography, well-grounded both in questions of military strategy and in trends on the French Right. Aiming at utter detachment, Griffiths makes it quite clear who Petain himself was -- like Franco, a man of humble origins and a soldier who disdained sordid conspiracy but who was not adverse to entering the national fray with the help of Fascist elements. But unlike Franco, he was a really distinguished commander: Verdun glorification apart, Griffith finds him far more sensible and openminded than his colleagues, and one of the most memorable parts of the book describes the resolute and imaginative way in which he put down the French Army mutinies of 1917. Adored by enemies of the Third Republic and opponents of the Popular Front, Petain between the wars was constantly touted as a potential savior of the nation. Unfortunately the weakest part of this study is the section on Petain's actual accession to a kind of ignominious power. Griffiths focuses on Vichy in the narrowest way without exploring the stakes and the precipitants of the French cave-in to Hitler. We get to's and fro's of meetings and Petain's loss of governmental discretion to the Germans, with no indication of what any of this meant to Frenchmen, or the nation as a whole, or why the ruling classes of France chose to support collaboration rather than keep fighting. No doubt Griffiths is right in insisting that Petain was not senile at this point; some critics will quarrel with his belief that Petain was not really a war criminal (to show him a criminal would require greater attention to what became of Jews and the labor force under Vichy) but Griffiths largely confines himself to repeating that Petain never actively espoused anti-Semitism and that his government made some attempts to soften Nazi directives against Jews. As a biography the book is decidedly valuable and readable, but its broader historical worth is largely confined to portraits of the World War I French command and interwar French politics, rather than the war years which determined (and undermined) Petain's final reputation.

Pub Date: March 17, 1972

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1972

Categories: NONFICTION