French State

France (French: France), officially the French State (French: État Français) is a country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland to the east, and North Italy and Spain to the south. France is a Popularist one-party dictatorship led by the French Popular Party (French: Parti Populaire Français), or PPF. France is considered as one of the Great Powers of the world, and is the second strongest power in the fascist bloc in Europe behind only Germany herself. The origins of the French State goes back to the fall of the Third Republic in 1940, thus beginning the so-called "Vichy Regime" led by Great War hero Marshall Philippe Pétain. In 1948, approximately two years after the conclusion of World War II, German-occupied France was merged with the Vichy Regime to create the modern French State. France is a member of the Europäische Wirtschaftsunion.