Everything about Pierre Laval totally explained
Pierre Laval (
28 June 1883 –
15 October 1945) was a
French politician and
Prime Minister. He was a
socialist before
World War I, but after the
1917 Bolshevik Revolution in
Russia, he became an independent to avoid association with
Communism. From 1925 to 1936, he held ten
ministerial offices, and was twice Prime Minister. During
World War II, he was Vice-Premier and later Prime Minister of the
Vichy government. After the war, he was executed for high treason.
Career during the Third Republic
Laval was born in
Châteldon in the
Puy-de-Dôme département of the
Auvergne region. He became an active
socialist. Iin
1903 he was elected to the
Chamber of Deputies as a member of the
SFIO (
Section Française de l'Internationale Ouvrière - the French socialist party). He was re-elected three times. He earned a law degree, and practiced law in
Paris from 1907.
Laval didn't serve in
World War I. During this period, his politics moved towards the
political right. He was defeated in the first
post-war election in 1919. In
1924, he became mayor of
Aubervilliers, a town in the northern suburbs of Paris, and left the SFIO. Despite this, his power in national affairs continued to increase. In 1925, he first served in
ministerial office, as
Minister of Transportation under
Painlevé. In 1926 he was
Minister of Justice under
Briand. He was elected to the
Senate in 1927, and again in 1936.
Laval held no offices in 1927-1929, but he was a prominent figure in most of the right-wing governments formed in 1930-1932 and 1934-1936. He was Prime Minister from
27 January 1931 to
6 February 1932, and was named
Time's 1931
Man of the Year.
The second
Cartel des gauches (Left-Wing Cartel) was driven from power by the
riots of 6 February 1934, staged by
fascist, monarchist, and other far-right groups. (These groups had contacts with some conservative politicians, among whom were Laval and
Philippe Pétain.) Laval became
Minister of Colonies in the new right-wing
Doumergue government. In October,
Foreign Minister Barthou was assassinated; Laval succeeded him, holding that office until 1936.
At this time, Laval was opposed to
Germany, the "hereditary enemy" of France. He pursued anti-German alliances with
Mussolini's
Italy and
Stalin's
USSR. He met with Mussolini in
Rome, and they signed the
Franco–Italian Agreement of
1935 on
4 January. The agreement ceded parts of
French Somaliland to Italy and allowed Italy a free hand in the
Abyssinia, in exchange for support against any German aggression. In April 1935, Laval persuaded Italy and
Great Britain to join France in the
Stresa Front against German ambitions in
Austria.
In June 1935, he became Prime Minister as well.
Also in 1935, Laval's daughter
Josée Marie married
René de Chambrun, son of
Count Aldebert de Chambrun. (De Chambrun was a descendant of the
Marquis de Lafayette. René's mother,
Clara Longworth de Chambrun, was the sister of
Theodore Roosevelt's son-in-law.)
In October 1935, Laval and British foreign minister
Hoare proposed a "
realpolitik" solution to the
Abyssinia crisis. When leaked to the media in December, the
Hoare-Laval Pact was widely denounced as appeasement to Mussolini. Laval was forced to resign on
22 January 1936, and was driven completely out of ministerial politics.
Laval returned to his business career, but soon had major political influence after he assembled an extensive media empire through acquisitions of newspapers and radio. The victory of the
Popular Front in 1936 meant that Laval had a
left-wing government as a target for his media.
Under Vichy France
After the
defeat of France in June 1940, Laval's papers and radio stations played a prominent part in forcing the resignations of the
Reynaud government and then supporting the new
Vichy regime of
Philippe Pétain. On
12 July 1940, Laval became Vice-Premier (Pétain had no Prime Minister at this time).
From July to December 1940, Laval's policy was active
collaboration with
Nazi Germany. He named
Fernand de Brinon, a Nazi sympathizer, to lead the surrender negotiations with Germany. He met
Adolf Hitler in
Montoire on
22 October 1940, and proposed an alliance between France and Germany. Two days later, he arranged the meeting between Pétain and Hitler in Montoire, where collaboration was solidified. Laval also delivered the Belgian Central Bank's gold to Germany, which
Belgium had sent to France for protection. He ceded France's stake in the copper mines of
Bor in
Yugoslavia, which were the largest mines in Europe producing this strategic metal. He also proposed the return of the government to Paris, where it would be under more surveillance from the Germans.
In November 1940, at a meeting with
Hermann Göring, Laval suggested a military alliance with Germany. He made plans for a joint reconquest of
Chad, whose governor,
Félix Eboué, had joined
Free France. Some members of the government found him too radical, while Pétain worried about Laval's unpopularity and ambition. On
13 December 1940, Pétain removed Laval, replacing him with
Flandin and then
Darlan. Laval was briefly arrested, but
Otto Abetz, the Reich's ambassador in France, had him quickly freed and moved to Paris, where he lived under German protection and continued his political activity.
On
27 August 1941, several top Vichyites including Laval attended a review of the
Légion des Volontaires Français (LVF), a
collaborationist militia.
Paul Collette, a disgruntled ex-member of the
Croix-de-Feu, attacked the reviewing stand; he shot and wounded Laval (and also
Marcel Déat, another prominent collaborationist). Laval soon recovered from the injury.
Pétain recalled Laval to the Vichy government on
18 April 1942. This time he became Prime Minister and succeeded Darlan as the leading figure in the regime after Pétain himself. Laval was largely blamed for the increase in anti-Jewish activities and the decision to send French workers to Germany through
la relève and later the
Service du Travail Obligatoire. The creation of the Vichy
Milice in January 1943 has also been ascribed to Laval. After the
Allied invasion of France, the government moved from Vichy to
Belfort and then, in August 1944, to
Sigmaringen in Germany. (Laval appears as a character in
Louis Ferdinand Céline's novel
Castle to Castle, which is set largely at Sigmaringen.) In May 1945 Laval fled to
Spain, but he was deported from there, ending up in
Austria, where he was handed over to Allied forces.
Trial and execution
On
30 July 1945 Laval was handed over to the new French government. Charged with treason and violating state security, he was tried and found guilty, despite vigorously defending himself in the first part of his trial. He was sentenced to death on
9 October. After a failed attempt at suicide (the
cyanide had lost its full potency), he was executed, half-unconscious and vomiting, by firing squad at
Fresnes prison near Paris on
15 October 1945.
Parliamentary offices
- 10/05/1914 - 07/12/1919 : Deputy of the Seine department
- 11/05/1924 - 17/02/1927 : Deputy of the Seine - Not registered in any parliamentary group
- Senator from 1927 to 1936 and from 1936 to 1944
Pierre Laval - President of the Council and Minister of the Interior
Aristide Briand - Minister of Foreign Affairs
André Maginot - Minister of War
Pierre Étienne Flandin - Minister of Finance
François Piétri - Minister of Budget
Adolphe Landry - Minister of Labour and Social Security Provisions
Léon Bérard - Minister of Justice
Charles Dumont - Minister of Marine
Louis de Chappedelaine - Minister of Merchant Marine
Jacques-Louis Dumesnil - Minister of Air
Mario Roustan - Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts
Auguste Champetier de Ribes - Minister of Pensions
André Tardieu - Minister of Agriculture
Paul Reynaud - Minister of Colonies
Maurice Deligne - Minister of Public Works
Camille Blaisot - Minister of Public Health
Charles Guernier - Minister of Posts, Telegraphs, and Telephones
Louis Rollin - Minister of Commerce and Industry
Pierre Laval - President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs
André Tardieu - Minister of War
Pierre Cathala - Minister of the Interior
Pierre Étienne Flandin - Minister of Finance
François Piétri - Minister of Budget
Adolphe Landry - Minister of Labour and Social Security Provisions
Léon Bérard - Minister of Justice
Charles Dumont - Minister of Marine
Louis de Chappedelaine - Minister of Merchant Marine
Jacques-Louis Dumesnil - Minister of Air
Mario Roustan - Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts
Auguste Champetier de Ribes - Minister of Pensions
Achille Fould - Minister of Agriculture
Paul Reynaud - Minister of Colonies
Maurice Deligne - Minister of Public Works
Camille Blaisot - Minister of Public Health
Charles Guernier - Minister of Posts, Telegraphs, and Telephones
Louis Rollin - Minister of Commerce and Industry
Pierre Laval - President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs
Jean Fabry - Minister of War
Joseph Paganon - Minister of the Interior
Marcel Régnier - Minister of Finance
Ludovic-Oscar Frossard - Minister of Labour
Léon Bérard - Minister of Justice
François Piétri - Minister of Marine
Mario Roustan - Minister of Merchant Marine
Victor Denain - Minister of Air
Philippe Marcombes - Minister of National Education
Henri Maupoil - Minister of Pensions
Pierre Cathala - Minister of Agriculture
Louis Rollin - Minister of Colonies
Laurent Eynac - Minister of Public Works
Louis Lafont - Minister of Public Health and Physical Education
Georges Mandel - Minister of Posts, Telegraphs, and Telephones
Georges Bonnet - Minister of Commerce and Industry
Édouard Herriot - Minister of State
Louis Marin - Minister of State
Pierre Étienne Flandin - Minister of State
Changes
17 June 1935 - Mario Roustan succeeds Marcombes (d. 13 June) as Minister of National Education. William Bertrand succeeds Roustan as Minister of Merchant Marine.
Pierre Laval - President of the Council, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of the Interior, and Minister of Information
Eugène Bridoux - Minister of War
Pierre Cathala - Minister of Finance and National Economy
Jean Bichelonne - Minister of Industrial Production
Hubert Lagardelle - Minister of Labour
Joseph Barthélemy - Minister of Justice
Gabriel Auphan - Minister of Marine
Jean-François Jannekeyn - Minister of Air
Abel Bonnard - Minister of National Education
Jacques Le Roy Ladurie - Minister of Agriculture
Max Bonnafous - Minister of Supply
Jules Brévié - Minister of Colonies
Raymond Grasset - Minister of Family and Health
Robert Gibrat - Minister of Communication
Lucien Romier - Minister of State
Changes
11 September 1942 - Max Bonnafous succeeds Le Roy Ladurie as Minister of Agriculture, remaining also Minister of Supply
18 November 1942 - Jean-Charles Abrial succeeds Auphan as Minister of Marine. Jean Bichelonne succeeds Gibrat as Minister of Communication, remaining also Minister of Industrial Production.
26 March 1943 - Maurice Gabolde succeeds Barthélemy as Minister of Justice. Henri Bléhaut succeeds Abrial as Minister of Marine and Brévié as Minister of Colonies.
21 November 1943 - Jean Bichelonne succeeds Lagardelle as Minister of Labour, remaining also Minister of Industrial Production and Communication.
31 December 1943 - Minister of State Lucien Romier resigns from the government.
6 January 1944 - Pierre Cathala succeeds Bonnafous as Minister of Agriculture and Supply, remaining also Minister of Finance and National Economy.
3 March 1944 - The office of Minister of Supply is abolished. Pierre Cathala remains Minister of Finance, National Economy, and Agriculture.
16 March 1944 - Marcel Déat succeeds Bichelonne as Minister of Labour and National Solidarity. Bichelonne remains Minister of Industrial Production and Communication.
Notes
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