Appeal of 18 June as the beginning of the Resistance and Free French, historians have shown that the appeal was heard only by a minority of French people. De Gaulle's 22 June 1940 speech on the BBC was more widely heard. General de Gaulle became the "de facto" leader of the Free French Forces that had escaped to London in June 1940. Marshal Philippe Pétain, a hero of World War I, pledged to sign an armistice with Nazi Germany, and led the collaborating Vichy government while the Germans occupied the country's northern portion and several leading politicians, including Georges Mandel, Leon Blum, Pierre Mendès
Insurrection of 31 May – 2 June 1793 of the people. They were all Frenchmen and they were all Parisians and not novices in revolution. On 30 May the department gave its support to the movement. The insurrection started on 31 May and directed by the committee at the "Évêché" (the Bishop's Palace Committee), developed according to the methods already tested on 10 August. At six o'clock in the morning the delegates of the 33 sections, led by Dobsen, presented themselves at "Hôtel de Ville", showed the full powers with which the members had invested them, and suppressed the Commune, whose members had retired to the adjourning room.