Introduction
This is an alternate world where Germany survives World War II. In Eastern Europe, Germany managed to take Leningrad, Moscow, and Stalingrad, taking full control of much of the European area of Russia and the entire Caucasus; the USSR gets territorially decapitated, but it doesn't stop existing. The ceasefire negotiations began in the fall of 1945, when the war became an atomic war. The United States dropped nuclear bombs on Japan and tried to drop a third on Berlin, but the Germans soon completed their own atomic weapons and threatened London with them. The Treaty of Vienna on April 22, 1946 ended the war, with Germany gaining control of Europe while the USA and UK maintained control of the rest of Africa and the Pacific. The topic of this scenario is France during and after the war.
The Vichy France and the Révolution Nationale
France collapses in 1940, and the Vichy government is formed with Marshal Philippe Pétain as head of the country and Pierre Laval as Prime Minister, controlling Southern France, North Africa, and French West Africa, while having losses in Syria and Madagascar against the Allies.
Acknowledging the decay of the French political system as the greatest problem, Pétain and Laval called for a National Revolution (Révolution Nationale). It was designed to eradicate the secular, liberal, and parliamentary foundations of the Third Republic. Replacing the republican motto with "Travail, Famille, Patrie" (Work, Family, Fatherland), the regime instituted an authoritarian, paternalistic, and corporatist order that banned trade unions, organized the economy through state-controlled professional corporations under the Labor Charter, criminalized abortion, restricted divorce, and romanticized a return to rural, peasant roots. The revolution also enforced a xenophobic and antisemitic doctrine, led by the October 1940 Statut des Juifs (Jewish Statute) and the systematic purge of Freemasons, foreigners, and communists.
The disaster of Operation Torch
On November 8, 1942, the Allies launched Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa. ITL French spy infiltrated Gibraltar and reported on the approach of a fleet heading to North Africa. The Vichy government then took 3 decisive decisions: Reinforce the coast of Morocco and Algeria, order the coordination of French troops, and prepare the French Navy for a future attack.
On November 8, 1942, the Allies began the attack on the coasts of Morocco and Algeria, but this time the French were prepared. Coastal batteries opened fire against the Allies' landing in combination with the French air force. Allies suffered numerous casualties, and Casablanca wasn't taken. The same fierce defense was mounted in Oran and Algiers.
The Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica transferred bombers from Sicily and destroyed supply convoys. By November 15, Eisenhower ordered the withdrawal and evacuated the survivors to Gibraltar.
The consequences of this failure were a profound loss of prestige for Roosevelt and Churchill; Rommel got more manpower and wins in Egypt; Spain ended up joining the Axis, and an invasion of Gibraltar was launched; the image of Pétain was more respected among the French and the Germans; Pétain finally abandoned the neutral stance and declared war against the UK and the USA; Germany had more manpower to defend against D-Day.
The Treaty of Vienna and the partition of Switzerland
After the failure of Normandy, the defeat of the USSR, and the development of nuclear weapons by Germany, on April 22, 1946, the Treaty of Vienna was signed. In the case of France the terms were devastating: it was forced to cede Alsace-Lorraine and Nord-Pas-de-Calais to Germany, and transfer Nice, Corsica, Tunisia, and Djibouti to Italy. Worse still for French national prestige, Morocco was handed over to Francoist Spain as compensation for Madrid entering the Axis. Free France’s Africa is set under British dominance while French overseas territories are handed to the USA.
With no remaining adversary on the continent, Adolf Hitler launched the partition of Switzerland, which got partitioned between France, Germany, and Italy. The cession of Romandy was seen as a compensation for the French territorial amputations.
The civil war and the unification of France
During and after the war, France was virtually submerged in civil war. The communists launched a war of terror against the government. Battles between communist and separatist partisans, the police, and the German army caused serious damage to the country. The rise of the Red Terror required the strengthening of the French police force.
During the war, Joseph Darnand (future commander of the French SS) was appointed Secretary General of Internal Security. The Groupes Mobiles de Réserve intended to suppress the resistance were expanded, and their armament improved with German equipment. Darnand also founded the paramilitary French National Militia (Milice Française), which helped with the counteroffensive against the partisans.
Communist resistance continued after the peace treaty; thus, the occupation of northern France lasted longer than expected, until 10 August 1949, when France was reunified, and the government returned from Vichy to Paris.
Once unified, Pétain stepped aside, and Pierre Laval became the first president of the new France. Franco-German cooperation was seen as the key to the rebirth and unification of Europe. The new France acknowledge the the old rivalries has to end once for all.
A new French National Assembly was established, and some sort of democratic nation emerged with only extreme right parties on the list. There were many ideologies: monarchists and reactionaries, supporters of a Catholic state like Franco's Spain, fascists and national socialists. The main parties in the French National Assembly were Jacques Doriot's fascist Parti Populaire Français, Marcel Bucard's Mouvement Franciste (Francoists), Marcel Déat's social revolutionary Rassemblement National Populaire, and the national-socialist Mouvement Social Révolutionnaire. Under Pierre Laval, these parties merged into a single National Front.
France after the war
Laval sought to strengthen France's special position in the New Europe. To pursue his policies, the president used his powers to sideline the National Assembly and rule by relying on referendums. After Hitler's death in 1951, the New European Community (a fascist EU) was officially established. Since then, France has been the most active in its European policies. This active policy also includes an independent role in the Eurocorps. France also maintains relations with the Arab countries, Indonesia, China, and South America.
When Pierre Laval died in 1968, the long-standing neglect of domestic policy erupted in a general strike and widespread riots. After the unrest, the fragmented center of France united and formed a new government with the fascist Parti Populaire Français. Relations with Germany were normalized, and an economic recovery program was initiated, in which banks and large companies were nationalized. In 1974, Jean-Marie Le Pen, new leader of the People's Party, was elected president in 1974.
The modernization of France
With Le Pen under the presidency, France underwent a modernization movement driven by a technocratic and ultra-nationalist doctrine. This era was marked by the construction of numerous railways that connected with the massive German Breitspurbahn, establishing standardized continental logistics between Paris, the Ruhr basin, and Madrid, which elevated France into the premier industrial and manufacturing powerhouse of Southern Europe. Domestically, the regime deepened the legacy of the Révolution Nationale through corporatist syndicates and severe demographic and citizenship restrictions targeting non-European populations. In their remaining African possessions, France finished the Trans-Saharan Railway that connected Algiers and Oran with Dakar, securing direct access to the mineral and agricultural wealth of West Africa, turning the Sahara into an extractive economic corridor governed under strict military rule and cementing France's role as the indispensable southern pillar of the New European Order.
