The Empire Defense Council () was a deliberative body established within

Free France Free France () was a resistance government claiming to be the legitimate government of France following the dissolution of the Third French Republic, Third Republic during World War II. Led by General , Free France was established as a gover ...

in 1940. It was subsequently replaced by the French National Committee.

Creation and legitimacy

On 26 June 1940, four days after the

Pétain government The Government of Vichy France was the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, collaborationist ruling regime or government in Nazi-occupied France during the Second World War. Of contested Legitimacy (political), legitimacy, it was ...

requested the

armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from t ...

, General de Gaulle submitted a memorandum to the British government notifying Churchill of his decision to set up a Council of Defense of the Empire and formalizing the agreement reached with Churchill on 28 June, which allowed the

Free French forces __NOTOC__ The French Liberation Army ( ; AFL) was the reunified French Army that arose from the merging of the Armée d'Afrique with the prior Free French Forces (; FFL) during World War II. The military force of Free France, it participated ...

to be This memorandum led to an agreement on 7 August, but provided for the creation of a French Committee or Council as of 26 June. The agreement of 7 August between de Gaulle and the UK, known as the "

Chequers Chequers ( ) is the English country house, country house of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister of the United Kingdom. A 16th-century manor house in origin, it is near the village of Ellesborough in England, halfway betwee ...

agreement", gave General de Gaulle all the financial independence and resources of a

government in exile A government-in-exile (GiE) is a political group that claims to be the legitimate government of a sovereign state or semi-sovereign state, but is unable to exercise legal power and instead resides in a foreign country. Governments in exile usu ...

. The British government considered it to have taken effect 11 July 1940, the day Marshal Pétain took full powers and signed into law the end of the Third Republic. By this act, the British government wished to indicate that it recognized that

, still being formed at the time, was the legitimate successor to the Republic that had just died, and was an ally of the United Kingdom in the war. It also undertook to reconstitute the entire French territory and "the greatness of France" after the war was over. The formal recognition of the Empire Defense Council as a ''de facto'' government in exile by the United Kingdom took place on 6 January 1941; recognition by the Soviet Union was published in December 1941, by exchange of letters.

Geographical base

In his view, General de Gaulle was ensuring the continuity of the rule of law and national defense against the

Axis powers The Axis powers, originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, was the military coalition which initiated World War II and fought against the Allies of World War II, Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Ge ...

. This was made possible by the legitimacy he obtained from his appeal of 18 June, as well as by the rapid rallying of military units and French territories that wished to continue the fight (from 22 June, in the case of the Franco-British territory of

New Hebrides New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium () and named after the Hebrides in Scotland, was the colonial name for the island group in the South Pacific Ocean that is now Vanuatu. Native people had inhabited the islands for three th ...

). De Gaulle's support grew out of a base in colonial Africa. In the fall of 1940, the colonial empire largely supported the Vichy regime.

Félix Éboué Adolphe Sylvestre Félix Éboué (; 26 December 1884 – 17 May 1944) was a French Guiana, French French colonial empires, colonial administrator and early adherent to the Free French Forces, Free French Movement. He was the first black Fren ...

, governor of

Chad Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North Africa, North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to Chad–Libya border, the north, Sudan to Chad–Sudan border, the east, the Central Afric ...

, switched his support to General de Gaulle in September. Encouraged, de Gaulle traveled to

Brazzaville Brazzaville () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Republic of the Congo. Administratively, it is a Departments of the Republic of the Congo, department and a Communes of the Republic of the Congo, commune. Constituting t ...

in October, where he announced the formation of the Empire Defense Council in the Brazzaville Manifesto, and invited all colonies still supporting Vichy to join him and the Free French forces in the fight against Germany, which most of them did by 1943. At the time, Free France had the bulk of its territorial base in its

colonial empire A colonial empire is a sovereign state, state engaging in colonization, possibly establishing or maintaining colony, colonies, infused with some form of coloniality and colonialism. Such states can expand contiguous as well as Territory#Overseas ...

, thanks to the rallying of various colonies :

French India French India, formally the (), was a French colony comprising five geographically separated enclaves on the Indian subcontinent that had initially been factories of the French East India Company. They were ''de facto'' incorporated into the ...

was the first to rally, followed by most of the territories of

French Equatorial Africa French Equatorial Africa (, or AEF) was a federation of French colonial territories in Equatorial Africa which consisted of Gabon, French Congo, Ubangi-Shari, and Chad. It existed from 1910 to 1958 and its administration was based in Brazzav ...

, followed by the New Hebrides Condominium,

French Polynesia French Polynesia ( ; ; ) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole #Governance, overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. The t ...

and

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

, governor of Chad, announced his support on August 26. He quickly received the support of Edgard de Larminat, Pierre Koenig and Philippe Leclerc. At the end of the summer, most of French Equatorial Africa, newly designated " Free French Africa", was in support of Free France.

Government of Free France

On 27 October 1940, General de Gaulle announced the creation of the Empire Defense Council as the decision-making body of Free France in the "Brazzaville Manifesto", from the capital of French Equatorial Africa. This was part of his strategy to give the movement a political as well as a military character, both to attract supporters, and to provide support for his claim as a political as well as military leader of the French resistance. In the ordinances of 27 October 1940, De Gaulle defined the powers of the council, including: external and internal security, economic activity, negotiating with foreign powers (in article 2), as well as the "establishment of organs that would exercise the powers of jurisdiction normally devolved to the

Council of State A council of state is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head ...

and the

Court of Cassation A court of cassation is a high-instance court that exists in some judicial systems. Courts of cassation do not re-examine the facts of a case; they only interpret the relevant law. In this, they are appellate courts of the highest instance. In ...

" (article 4). However, the decision-making power rested with the head of the Free French (article 3), the Council exercising only an advisory role. Ministerial powers were exercised "by agency directors appointed by the Head of the Free French". This gave the Defense Council the nature of a consultative and representative body in the

territories A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, ...

that joined with it. The Administrative Conference of the Free French (), created by decree of 29 January 1941, served as the government, bringing together all the agency directors and the members of the Empire Defence Council.

Leadership

The members of the council were chosen by Charles de Gaulle because they "already exercise authority on French lands or symbolize the highest intellectual and moral values of the nation." (Brazzaville Manifesto) * General

Georges Catroux Georges Albert Julien Catroux (; 29 January 1877 – 21 December 1969) was a French Army general and diplomat who served in both World War I and World War II, and served as Grand Chancellor of the Légion d'honneur from 1954 to 1969. Life C ...

* Vice-Admiral Émile Muselier * General Edgard de Larminat * Governor

* Governor

Henri Sautot Henri Camille Sautot (5 May 1885 – 23 March 1963) was a French colonial governor. Biography Sautot was born in Bourbonne-les-Bains and attended school in Nancy.Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque Philippe François Marie Leclerc de Hauteclocque (22 November 1902 – 28 November 1947) was a Free France, Free-French general during World War II. He became Marshal of France posthumously in 1952, and is known in France simply as or ju ...

* Médecin-Général * Permanent secretary René Cassin * Naval captain

Georges Thierry d'Argenlieu Georges Thierry d'Argenlieu (), in religion Father Louis of the Trinity, OCD (7 August 1889 – 7 September 1964), was a Discalced Carmelite friar and priest, who was also a diplomat and French Navy officer and admiral; he became a major pe ...

References

;Notes ;Sources * * * * * * * * *

External links

{{Authority control 1940 in France 1940 establishments in the French colonial empire 1941 disestablishments in the French colonial empire 1941 in France 1942 in France 1943 in France 1944 in France French governments Ministers of the overseas of France French people of World War II German occupation of France during World War II Government ministers of France Free France June 1940 in Europe Military history of France during World War II States and territories established in 1940 States and territories disestablished in 1941 French colonial empire in World War II