Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. The Riom Trial (19 February 1942 - 21 May 1943) was an attempt by the Vichy France regime, headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain, to prove that the leaders of the French Third Republic (1870-1940) had been responsible for France''s defeat by Germany in 1940. The trial was held in the city of Riom, and had mainly political aims, namely to project the responsibility of defeat on the leaders of the Popular Front government that had been elected in 1936. The Supreme Court of Justice, created by a 30 July 1940 decree, was empowered by a decree of the Vichy regime "to judge whether the former ministers or their immediate subordinates had betrayed the duties of their offices by way of acts which contributed to the transition from a state of peace to a state of war before September 1939, and which after that date worsened the consequences of the situation thus created."