Editing Philippe Pétain (section)

===Respected hero of France===
[[File:Мундиры маршалов Франции - Петэна, Фоша, Жоффра.JPG|thumb|Uniforms of [[Marshal of France]] (Pétain, Foch, Joffre) at [[Les Invalides]].]]

Pétain ended the war regarded "without a doubt, the most accomplished defensive tactician of any army" and "one of France's greatest military heroes" and was presented with his [[Marshal's baton|baton]] of [[Marshal of France]] at a public ceremony at [[Metz]] by President Poincaré on 8 December 1918.<ref>Williams, 2005, p. 204.</ref>{{failed verification|date=October 2023}} He was summoned to be present at the signing of the [[Treaty of Versailles]] on 28 June 1919. His job as Commander-in-Chief came to an end with peace and demobilisation, and with Foch out of favour after his quarrel with the French government over the peace terms, it was Pétain who, in January 1920, was appointed Vice-Chairman of the revived ''[[Conseil supérieur de la Guerre]]'' (Supreme War Council). This was France's highest military position, whose holder was Commander-in-Chief designate in the event of war and who had the right to overrule the Chief of the General Staff (a position held in the 1920s by Pétain's protégés [[Edmond Buat|Buat]] and [[Marie-Eugène Debeney|Debeney]]), with Pétain holding the vice chairmanship until 1931.<ref>Williams, 2005, p. 212.</ref><ref>Atkin, 1997, p. 41.</ref> Pétain was encouraged by friends to go into politics, although he protested that he had little interest in running for an elected position. He nevertheless tried and failed to get himself elected President following the [[1919 French legislative election|November 1919 elections]].<ref>Williams, 2005, p. 217.</ref>

Shortly after the war, Pétain had placed before the government plans for a large tank and air force, but "at the meeting of the ''Conseil supérieur de la Défense Nationale'' of 12 March 1920, the Finance Minister, [[Frédéric François-Marsal|François-Marsal]], announced that although Pétain's proposals were excellent they were unaffordable". In addition, François-Marsal announced reductions – in the army from fifty-five divisions to thirty, in the air force, and did not mention tanks. It was left to the Marshals, Pétain, Joffre, and Foch, to pick up the pieces of their strategies. The General Staff, now under General Edmond Buat, began to think seriously about a line of forts along the frontier with Germany, and their report was put forward on 22 May 1922.  The three Marshals supported this. The cuts in military expenditure meant that taking the offensive was now impossible and a defensive strategy was all they could have.<ref>Williams, 2005, pp. 217–219.</ref>