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
1798 Revolt of the Alfaiates to set up their own colony in Brazil. The way some French citizens justified a colony in Brazil was by pointing out how, along the Brazilian coast, you could find people speaking Portuguese, Spanish, and French, and they seemed to have more favorable relationships with the Frenchmen than they did with the Portuguese. João de Deus (a leader in the rebellion), would one day speak of the port in his town, saying that “this port will be free to all Foreign Nations to come and trade, bringing cloth and all merchandise to be exchanged for sugar, tobacco and other crops