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Article: Australia and Vichy: the impact of divided France, 1940-1944. (international politics during World War II)
- Article from:
- The Australian Journal of Politics and History
- Article date:
- June 22, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 University of Queensland Press. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Histories of the Second World War from an Australian perspective have paid little attention to the Vichy regime which, following defeat by Germany and the armistice of June 1940, succeeded France's Third Republic. This lack of interest is surprising. At the outbreak of World War II the French presence in the Pacific was significant and during the war French territories became important to the Allies as bases, sources of supply and for communications.(1) In military and strategic terms it was vital to the Allied war effort in the Pacific to ensure that French Pacific territories supported the Allied (and Free French) effort rather than the Vichy regime.
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