From Turtledove
The fleur-de-lys,
France's pre-Revolutionary flag, was the banner of the Action Francaise Party and became France's flag again after the Party took control of the country.
was a monarchist, nationalist, revanchist political party which came to power in
France after it was defeated in the
Great War. Action Francaise first appeared in the last years of the 19th Century, in the wake of the Dreyfus Affair and mass-industrialization, although it wasn't until after France humiliated again by
Germany at the end of the Great War that the party came to the forefront of French politics. It steadily built up support over the next decade by playing to the frustrations of the French people, and ultimately took power in the wake of the
stock market crash of 1929. The party installed its leader, Charles Maurras, as King
Charles XI.
During 1941 Action Francaise demanded the return of captured territory from Germany. Though the outcome of this was delayed by the ill-health and then the death of Kaiser Wilhelm II, his son, Kaiser Wilhelm III eventually refused. In response France went to war.
By 1943 France and the party had been overshadowed by Britain in the anti-German alliance. French forces were driven from German soil and into France itself. In the late winter of 1944, Germany dropped its second superbomb on Paris, killing Charles and destroying much of the city. Louis XIX took the throne and concluded an armistice with the Germans, leaving Britain on its own to face Germany in Europe.
