From 1940 to 1942, what was the capital-in-exile of Free France ?

The story behind the answer

Brazzaville is correct because, after France fell to Germany in 1940, Charles de Gaulle’s Free French movement needed a secure administrative base outside occupied Europe. Governor Félix Éboué rallied French Equatorial Africa to de Gaulle, and Brazzaville—its capital, in present-day Republic of the Congo—served as the capital-in-exile from 1940 to 1942. It provided troops, resources, and a communications hub for continuing the fight.

Remember it this way: “Brazza before Algiers.” Paris was occupied; Tunis was under Vichy/Axis sway; Algiers only became the Free French political center after the Allied landings in North Africa (1942–43). As a bonus link, the 1944 Brazzaville Conference—shaping postwar French colonial policy—highlights the city’s symbolic role in Free France.