On July the 22th, 1951, an old man looked out of the window of a fortress located in the island of Île d’Yeu off the Atlantic coast, then peacefully passed away, leaving him behind the France that abandoned him, the France that he tried to protect for his entire life, the France that first considered him a nation hero and a savior, but now a traitor to his country and sentenced him to lifelong imprisonment, but the worst part is that he knows he deserved it all. Before he died, the man looked back into his entire life: the anger he felt after learning about the defeat of his people by the Prussians in the Franco-Prussian war; the guns, bombs and blood at Verdun; the Maginot line he lead to construct, which he thought will protect France forever, but crumpled within 20 days; the Vinci Regime, which he thought was the best solution for France, but turned out to be despised by all of the people he tried to protect. Finally, with a sigh, the Marshal of French, the Lion of Verdun, and the leader of the Vinci Regime-- Philippe Petain peacefully passed away, leaving behind him his highly debated life and a notorious and glorious figure that will never be forgotten by the French people.

On April 24, 1856, Cauchy-à-la-Tour, France, the future Marshal of France-- Philippe Petain was born in a common farmers’ family, unlike Foch, Petain’s family has almost no knowledge in politics and are definitely not aristocratic. Therefore, it would be incredibility hard for Petain to reach the upper class. In normal circumstances, Petain may end up without ambition and may have spent his life working peacefully as a merchant or inheriting his family’s farm, but in 1870 everything changed because he heard a devastating news for all Frenchman - France had lost in the Franco-Prussian War and not only was their emperor-- Napoleon the Third captured, but also king Welheim 1 held his coronation ceremony in the palace of Versailles, declaring himself the Emperor of the German Empire. In addition, the Prussian man also claimed a large piece of land that originality belonged to France and forced France to pay a large amount of money, in an effort to completely destroy the foundation of French’s economy. Since then, the people of France and Germany had been rivals, as will be shown in the progress of the First and Second World.

It is of no surprise that Germany would very much like to see the destruction of France. The geographical location of Germany is incredibly dangerous. Germany was located at the heart of Europe and had almost no natural defense against any intruder. Furthermore, Germany is connected to two strong European nations - France and Russia. France is advanced in warfare and technology while Russia has the strongest manpower in Europe. So, the greatest fear of all the German leaders is the creation of an alliance between France and Russia. As what happened in the First World War, where the Germans nearly succeeded in destroying France and Russia, as they suspected that with Belgium, they can conquer France before the Russians can gather their troops.

But there is no way for the Germans to know that their victory in the Franco-Prussian war made a child so filled with grief that he swore to become a loyal and faithful soldier, to fight for his country’s triumph.

In the 1860s Petain was part of the student body of the Military Academy of Saint Cyr, many of his future military strategies were developed at this stage of school. For example, his idea of fighting in the trenches.

Trench warfare is a common strategy among the generals and participants of WW1. The main idea is to defend a specific piece of land by digging a trench below ground, so as to avoid the greatest number of bullets and to reserve their fighting force. The soldiers can also receive a steady supply of food, ammunition, medication and shelter from the trenches, so these basic fighting units will be able to last for a long time. The trenches can also be extremely hard to conquer, as it can be defended with ground -grenades, barbed wires, cannons and machine guns. In order to defeat the opposing soldiers in the trenches, the troops in WW1 would have to walk through the plains between the trenches and run into the trenches, which was an almost impossible task. The young Petain quickly became an admirer of this strategy, which will lead him to his success...... and final defeat. More importantly, Petain formed his personality, later he would be known as a hard man, always quiet and strong-willed, and was never afraid to argue against his colleagues and commanders. Some would compare his personality to Ludendorff's, indeed both men are able and hard, however, Petain wasn’t aristocratic like Ludendorff, so after he graduated his personality was of grate effect to his career. He was the second lieutenant in an Alpine regiment after graduation, working outdoors in the harsh environment with his man. The experience he possessed at this time gave him the ability to truly understand and care about his man, a quality that he will be known for later. However, because of his strict personality, he did not possess the ability of impressing his superiors, therefore he did not receive constant promotion. After spending have of his life in the military campaign, he was only a colonel at the age of 58, which is near retirement. He himself did not expect to gain more from his career and bought a mention in Northern France, preparing for his life after his retirement. However, the year was 1914, and in this year his whole life would change.

To many, WW1 is nothing more than a complete destruction of lives, however, for Petain it was his chance of a lifetime, where he was destined to shine. Petain had a famous saying: The country that wins the war is the country that has the most man left. Therefore, he believed in the maintenance of lives of his man. Petain believed that the role of the soldiers is to “conquer the lands destroyed already by cannon fire”. Indeed, he saw the fact that cannons and defensive structures are the keys of winning this bloody war. However, Petain’s colleagues did not appreciate the idea. In their opinion, victory is gained by attacking, not defending. Generals such as Foch are admirers of Napoleon, who used troopers and cavalries to break the enemies into separate parts to destroy them individually. However, by the time of WW1 this strategy is outdated and can only cause meaningless deaths and loss of manpower, so Petain was quickly promoted.  

In 1914, the Battle of St. Quentin, Petain successfully lead the fourth brigade to ambush the Germans by placing overwhelming amounts of cannon to cover the left flank of the Germans, helping the main force of the French Army to transfer to a safer location. Because of this victory he was promoted to the role of the Commander of the sixth Division. During the Battle of the River Marne, he led his man into a fierce attack of the right flank of the Second Army of the Germans and gained control of some crucial positions. In this battle, he drove the Germans backward a great distance, help Paris to get rid of the possibility of the Germans attacking. Because of his contributions in this battle, he was promoted as the Commander of the Army. This was an incredibly crucial position, as France only had six armies at that time, each with about two hundred thousand men. Being promoted to the role of commander means that Petain was now one of the most powerful military generals in France. But his glory had only started. When supreme general Foch ordered the start of the Second Champagne Campaign, Petain was the only general that spoke out against this idea. In the end the battle had proven to be a failure. At the final stage of the battle refused to let his army join this “meaningless waste of lives” and saved many of his man. He action gave a reputation of being a general that cares about his man and respect their wishes and lives. In 1915, less than a year since the beginning of the war, Petain has become a well-respected general, controlling two hundred thousand loyal soldiers. At this position, he joined the most glorious battle of his life-- the Battle of Verdun.

Verdun is a city in Northern France, its unique position gave it the title -- the key to Paris. However, at that time the importance of Verdun wasn’t widely recognized among the French Commanders, who believed that the Germans advancing towards Verdun were not part of the major force, when it was, in fact, ten of the strongest and best German divisions on the Western lines, personally lead by Welheim the third and holding access to 1200 cannons. Before their attack, the Germans fired at the French for eight hours, landing 12500 bombs on a single mile of the enemy defenses in a minute. Afterwards the German soldiers advanced with flamethrowers, which can burn the soldiers in one single trench to death in less than ten seconds. The French army lost twenty-three thousand men on the first five days of the battle, two lines of trenches was completely destroyed, and an important frontier -- Samogneux was taken over. The front lines converted into completely into chaos. This is the situation that Petain was facing when he reached the front lines of Verdun.

When Petain arrived at Verdun, it was almost midnight, the long travel and cold whether all contributed to him catching pneumonia, and he had to stay in the hospital bed. However, he immediately took control of the situation and started to change commands. Firstly, he ordered that once the Germans broke the line of defenses, the soldiers are allowed to retreat for a distance to gather and form another line of defense, he also changed the direction of the remaining cannons at Verdun, so the Germans will be exposed to a crossfire of cannons at different directions every step of their way. Petain also processed the ability to anticipate the movements of the Germans and sending his troops to confront their attacks precisely. The soldiers at the front lines immediately noticed the difference- their trenches were stabilizing and there were fewer carveries each day. Their spirits became higher, and they are more willing to continue the fight. Another famous policy that Petain established at Verdun was to constantly exchange the troops at the front lines. Petain was aware of the fact that the battle of Verdun had turned into a war of attrition and spending a long time in the trenches could be a devastating experience for his man, so he ordered that his man take shifts in defending the front lines while the men who completed the shift can go home to rest. This helped in promoting the soldiers’ will to fight and made sure that the trenches were always supplied with energetic man willing to fight.

The major contribution that Petain made at Verdun was to ensure a steady and efficient supply of resources. At that time Verdun was under heavy snow and bombardment, so the only way that supplies would come was by one road - known as the holy road today. Petain made sure that it could carry supplies in the most efficient way, he orders his man to widen the road, and to gather all the trucks they could find in the specific region to carry enough supplies of cannon, soldiers and food. In the period where the battle reached its’ fiercest, a truck would pass the road every fourteen seconds. If a truck slows or broke down, they it is immediately pushed aside to make room for the next one. Another factor that contributed to the victory of the French at Verdun is the Chinese. During the First World War the Chinese government sent more than one hundred and forty thousand Chinese to help the allies. They made significant contributions by providing supplies, digging trenches, maintaining weapons and transferring soldiers. However, the Chinese gained nothing from WW1 - they can’t even get the land taken by Germany back as the European countries decided the give the land (rightful to China) to Japan.

In 1916, the battle of Verdun finally ended, Petain was regarded as the hero of France and was appointed to the role of commander and chief. However, he at that time faced another great challenge -- the soldiers began a riot.

The direct cause of the soldiers’ riot was an order issued by Commander Nivelle, who unlike Petain, was a huge supporter of attacking the enemy. Based on this belief, Nivelle issued an attack that he thought will “end the war in forty-eight hours”. However, this attack lasted for fifty-two days, and caused the loss of two hundred and seventy French soldiers but made little progress. The French soldiers wanted the generals to stop ordering them to fight in pointless and dangerous battles, and then demanded better treatment, longer breaks and better living conditions. The rioting soldiers gathered around Paris, damaging the city’s transportation. If the Germans launched a crucial attack at this moment, the whole French army may collapse. At this crucial moment, Petain stepped forward. On one hand he was not afraid to punish the soldiers that lead the riot and executed more than fifty soldiers. On the other hand, he personally travelled to nine barracks and listened patiently to the soldiers’ needs and requirements, promising to fulfill each. Finally, the soldiers ended the riot and returned to their positions and trenches.

On the nineteenth of October 1918, Petain arrived at the city of Metz. Metz is the largest city that belonged to the Alsace-Lorraine district in France, which was taken away by the Germans (or more precisely the Prussians) during the Franco-Prussian wars and it has been occupied by the Germans for forty-seven years. Petain would probably remember the fact that at first, he was motivated by the loss of the French during this war to join the army. Now he had fought in a bloody world war and reclaimed this land. Among the people greeting him was the Prime Minister of France - Poincare, who handed Petain the thing at all French military man longed - the staff of Marshal. This declares that Petain had reached the highest rank of the French Army - Marshal. Petain was now sixty-one, he had reached the highest rank of the French army, he had fulfilled his life-long desire and beaten the Germans, he was regarded as a able general that cares about his man and was widely respected and admired throughout France. If he had died early or retired, he would definitely been regarded as the greatest French general in history, but things did not go that way.