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Paul Reynaud

October 15, 1878, at Barcelonnette, France died September 21, 1966) was a French politician and laywer. He became Prime Minister of France in March 21, 1940 after Edouard Daladier was sacked, soon after the start of the Second World War. After the invasion of France by Germany he made Charles de Gaulle a member of the Cabinet.

He resigned soon after the occupation of Paris, in June 16 1940 and was replaced by General Pétain, who organised an armistice. He was arrested on Petain's orders and given to the Germans, who kept him prisoner until the end of the war.

After the war, he was a member of the French Chamber of Deputies and an opponent of de Gaulle's Fifth Republic.

Reynaud's Government, 21 March - 16 June 1940

• Paul Reynaud - President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Camille Chautemps - Vice President of the Council
• Édouard Daladier - Minister of National Defense and War
• Raoul Dautry - Minister of Armaments
• Henri Roy - Minister of the Interior
• Lucien Lamoureux - Minister of Finance
• Charles Pomaret - Minister of Labour
• Albert Sérol - Minister of Justice
• César Campinchi - Minister of Military Marine
• Alphonse Rio - Minister of Merchant Marine
• Laurent Eynac - Minister of Air
• Albert Sarraut - Minister of National Education
• Albert Rivière - Minister of Veterans and Pensioners
• Paul Thellier - Minister of Agriculture
• Henri Queuille - Minister of Supply
• Georges Mandel - Minister of Colonies
• Anatole de Monzie - Minister of Public Works
• Marcel Héraud - Minister of Public Health
• Alfred Jules-Julien - Minister of Posts, Telegraphs, Telephones, and Transmissions
• Ludovic-Oscar-Frossard - Minister of Information
• Louis Rollin - Minister of Commerce and Industry
• Georges Monnet - Minister of Blockade

Changes

• 10 May 1940 - Louis Marin and Jean Ybarnegaray enter the Cabinet as Ministers of State
• 18 May 1940 - Philippe Pgtain enters the Cabinet as Minister of State. Reynaud succeeds Daladier as Minister of National Defense and War. Daladier succeeds Reynaud as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Georges Mandel succeeds Roy as Minister of the Interior. Louis Rollin succeeds Mandel as Minister of Colonies. Léon Baréty succeeds Rollin as Minister of Commerce and Industry.
• 5 June 1940 - Reynaud succeeds Daladier as Minister of Foreign Affairs, remaining also Minister of National Defense and War. Yves Bouthillier succeeds Lamoureux as Minister of Finance. Yvon Delbos succeeds Sarraut as Minister of National Education. Ludovic-Oscar Frossard succeeds Monzie as Minister of Public Works. Jean Prouvost succeeds Frossard as Minister of Information. Georges Pernot succeeds Héraud as Health Minister, with the new title of Minister of French Family. Édouard Daladier
  1938-1940

Prime Ministers of France
1940 Followed by:
Philippe Pétain
1940-1942