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What if Petain died prior to World War II? The man was quite old, after all, so it would be perfectly plausible to have him get ill and die, say in the '20s or '30s. Obviously, this will mean that he is regarded much better in modern France--instead of the dirty collaborator who surrendered to the Nazis, the hero of Verdun and personification of French resistance. It might even lead to changes in the surrender itself--for example, by the government fleeing to Algeria instead of signing an armistice because none of the civilians dare surrender without a military leader to justify their actions.
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