What was going on in France at the same time as WWII but independent of it? Was there a local war of some kind

Answer 1

The Germans annexed the norrth of France as part of the reich. They set up the southern part as a supposedly independent republic with capital at Vichy. The prime minister was Philippe Petain, a hero of WWI (LOL). Vichy France was supposedly an "ally" of Germany. Vichy aided the Germans by sending French Jews north. After the war, the French put Vichy officials on trial as traitors and collaborators and executed some of them. I seem to remember that they spared Petain out of pity.

Answer 2

Just to finish the previous answers, in November 42 the Nazis invaded the Free Zone (southern part of France), making the Vichy government a mockery. They still let the Vichy government publish the edicts though, it created less fuss if it was thought to be from Vichy than from Berlin.

Petain was condemned to the loss of his civic, politic, civil and professional rights and condemned to death but was spared due to his old age (he was 89), he spent the rest of his life in prison. He died in 51.

The resistance started slowly but by 43 was so dangerous that the nazi soldiers had orders not to go out alone. Any time there was a sabotage the nazis usually shot a number of civilians in answer. Any resistance fighter caught (and surviving the tender care of the Gestapo) was sent to a concentration camp. Free fighters either hid in the population or gathered in groups hiding in the countryside (the maquis). The Allies sent money, weapons and any kind of help they could. Resistance fighters were found in all the occupied countries.

Answer 3

There was a local "guerrilla war" going on by the "Free French" against the German occupiers and their Vichy French allies, so it was not independent of World War 2.
The French Revolution was in the late 1700's.

Answer 4

French Revolution