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François Darlan

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François Darlan

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French admiral (1881-1942)

OverviewAI-generated

François Darlan (1881–1942) was a French politician, naval officer, and admiral who served as foreign minister. Born in Nérac, he was educated at the École Navale and served in the French Navy. He participated in World War I and World War II, including involvement in WWII Axis collaboration in France. Darlan was an independent politician and received several honors, including the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, the Order of the Francisque, and the Dardanelles campaign medal.

His published works include *Lettres et notes de l'amiral Darlan* and *Messages aux Français*. Darlan died in Algiers on December 24, 1942. His manner of death was homicide, and he was killed by Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle.

Synthesized by Vinony from 36 facts across 6 sources: Wikidata, Crossref, Open Library, MusicBrainz, Last.fm, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Key facts

Chief of the state
Philippe Pétain
Preceded by
Pierre Étienne Flandin
Succeeded by
Office abolished
Vice president
Himself
Chief of the government
Pierre Laval
President
Albert Lebrun
Prime minister
Philippe Pétain
Minister of the navy
Alphonse Gasnier-Duparc , César Campinchi , William Bertrand , Himself , Gabriel Auphan , Jean-Marie Charles Abrial
Minister of the colonies
Jules Brévié
Born
Jean Louis Xavier François Darlan , 7 August 1881, Nérac , Lot-et-Garonne , France
Died
24 December 1942 (1942-12-24) (aged 61), Algiers , Alger , French Algeria
Cause of death
Assassination
Allegiance
French Third Republic , Vichy France
Branch service
French Navy
Years of service
1902–1942
Rank
Admiral of the Fleet
Commands
Chief of Staff of the French Navy , Edgar Quinet , Jeanne d'Arc
Battles wars
World War I , World War II

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of
human
Given name
François
Gender
male
Citizenship
France
Place of birth
Nérac
Place of death
Algiers
Educated at
École Navale
Political party
independent politician
Languages spoken
French
Conflict
World War II
Military branch
French Navy
Military rank
admiral
Image
François Darlan.jpg
Show 9 more facts
date of death
1942-12-24
date of birth
1881-08-07
Commons category
François Darlan
manner of death
homicide
name in native language
François Darlan
different from
Joseph Darnand
start of work period
1902-00-00
P12749
Ali Daei
Sources (6)

via Wikidata · CC0

~34 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Jean Louis Xavier François Darlan ( French: [ʒɑ̃ lwi ɡzavje fʁɑ̃swa daʁlɑ̃]; 7 August 1881 – 24 December 1942) was a French admiral and political figure. Born in Nérac, Darlan graduated from the École navale in 1902 and quickly advanced through the ranks following his service during World War I. He was promoted to rear admiral in 1929, vice admiral in 1932, and lieutenant admiral in 1937 before finally being made admiral and Chief of the Naval Staff in 1937. In 1939, Darlan was promoted to admiral of the fleet, a rank created specifically for him.

Darlan was Commander-in-Chief of the French Navy at the beginning of World War II. After France's armistice with Germany in June 1940, Darlan served in Philippe Pétain's Vichy regime as Minister of Marine, and in February 1941 he took over as Vice-President of the Council, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of the Interior and Minister of National Defence, making him the de facto head of the Vichy government. In April 1942, Darlan resigned his ministries to Pierre Laval at German insistence, but retained his position as Commander-in-Chief of the French Armed Forces.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “François Darlan” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (2)