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The French were also permitted to retain control of all of their non-European territories. Adolf Hitler deliberately chose Compiègne Forest as the site to sign the armistice because of its symbolic role as the site of the Armistice of 11 November 1918 that signaled the end of World War I with Germany's surrender.
The terms of the treaty included a war indemnity of five billion francs to be paid by France to Germany. The Imperial German Army would continue to occupy parts of France until the payment was complete. The treaty also recognized Wilhelm I as the emperor of the newly united German Empire.
The Armistice of Versailles that came into effect on 28 January 1871 brought to an end the active phase of the Franco-Prussian War.The signatories were Jules Favre, foreign minister in the provisional Government of National Defence, for the French and Otto von Bismarck, chancellor of the newly established German Empire, for Prussia and her allies.
Before the 1918 signing in the Forest of Compiègne, the wagon was the personal carriage of Ferdinand Foch and was later displayed in French museums. However, after the successful invasion of France , Adolf Hitler had the wagon moved back to the exact site of the 1918 signing for the 1940 signing due to its symbolic role.
The Battle of France (French: bataille de France; 10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign (German: Westfeldzug), the French Campaign (Frankreichfeldzug, campagne de France) and the Fall of France, during the Second World War was the German invasion of the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands) and France.
The Dutch surrender to the Germans after heavy bombing across Rotterdam. 17-18 May: Antwerp and Brussels would fall to Germany; the Allies were forced to retreat to the coastline of France. 20 May: General Maxime Weygand replaces General Maurice-Gustave Gamelin as supreme Allied commander due to major losses across France.
When Hitler received word from the French government that they wished to negotiate an armistice, he selected the Forest of Compiègne, the site of the 1918 Armistice, as the venue. [23] On 21 June 1940, Hitler visited the site to start the negotiations, which took place in the railway carriage in which the 1918 Armistice was signed. [ 24 ]
Despite repeated orders from Hitler that the French capital "must not fall into the enemy's hand except lying in complete debris", which was to be accomplished by bombing it and blowing up its bridges, [19] Choltitz, as commander of the German garrison and military governor of Paris, surrendered at 3:30 p.m. at the Hôtel Meurice.