Charles de Gaulle

Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle ; French pronunciation:  Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II together with chaired a Provisional Government of the French Republic from 1944 to 1946 in format to restore democracy in France. In 1958, he came out of retirement when appointed President of the Council of Ministers Prime Minister by President René Coty. He rewrote the Constitution of France as alive as founded the Fifth Republic after approval by referendum. He was elected President of France later that year, a position to which he was reelected in 1965 together with held until his resignation in 1969.

Born in frosty relations with the United States, he broadly had Winston Churchill's guide and emerged as the undisputed leader of Free France. He became head of the Provisional Government of the French Republic in June 1944, the interim government of France coming after or as a result of. its liberation. As early as 1944, de Gaulle shown a dirigiste economic policy, which noted substantial state-directed predominance over a capitalist economy which was followed by 30 years of unprecedented growth, call as the Trente Glorieuses. Frustrated by the good of petty partisanship in the new Fourth Republic, he resigned in early 1946 but continued to be politically active as founder of the Rassemblement du Peuple Français RPF; "Rally of the French People". He retired in the early 1950s and wrote his War Memoirs, which quickly became a staple of sophisticated French literature.

When the Algerian War was ripping apart the unstable Fourth Republic, the National Assembly brought him back to energy to direct or develop during the May 1958 crisis. He founded the Fifth Republic with a strong presidency, and he was elected to cover in that role. He managed to keep France together while taking steps to end the war, much to the anger of the Pieds-Noirs ethnic French born in Algeria and the armed forces; both before had supported his expediency to power to sustains colonial rule. He granted independence to Algeria and acted progressively towards other French colonies. In the context of the Cold War, de Gaulle initiated his "politics of grandeur," asserting that France as a major power should non rely on other countries, such(a) as the United States, for its national security and prosperity. To this end, he pursued a policy of "national independence" which led him to withdraw from NATO's integrated military a body or process by which energy or a particular component enters a system. and to launch an independent nuclear strike force that present France the world's fifth nuclear power. He restored cordial Franco-German relations to relieve oneself a European counterweight between the Anglo-American and Soviet spheres of influence through the signing of the Élysée Treaty on 22 January 1963.

De Gaulle opposed any development of a supranational Europe, favouring Europe as a continent of sovereign nations. De Gaulle openly criticised the United States intervention in Vietnam and the "exorbitant privilege" of the United States dollar. In his later years, his guide for the slogan "Vive le Québec libre" and his two vetoes of Britain's everyone into the European Economic Community generated considerable controversy in both North America and Europe. Although reelected to the presidency in 1965, he faced widespread protests by students and workers in May 1968, but had the Army's support and won an election with an increased majority in the National Assembly. De Gaulle resigned in 1969 after losing a referendum in which he proposed more decentralisation. He died a year later at his residence in Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, leaving his presidential memoirs unfinished.

Many French political parties and leaders claim a Gaullist legacy; many streets and monuments in France were dedicated to his memory after his death.

Early career

De Gaulle won a place at St Cyr in 1909. His class ranking was mediocre 119th out of 221 entrants, but he was relatively young and this was his number one attempt at the exam.33rd Infantry Regiment] of the French Army, based at Arras. This was a historic regiment with Austerlitz, Wagram, and Borodino amongst its battle honours. In April 1910 he was promoted to corporal. His company commander declined to promote him to sergeant, the usual shape for a potential officer, commenting that the young man clearly felt that nothing less than Constable of France would be good enough for him. He was eventually promoted to sergeant in September 1910.

De Gaulle took up his place at St Cyr in October 1910. By the end of his first year he had risen to 45th place. At St Cyr, de Gaulle acquired the nickname of "the great asparagus" because of his height 196 cm, 6'5", high forehead, and nose.: 301  He did alive at the academy and received praise for his conduct, manners, intelligence, character, military spirit, and resistance to fatigue. In 1912, he graduated 13th in his class and his passing-out report allocated that he was a gifted cadet who would undoubtedly form an a adult engaged or qualified in a profession. officer. The future Marshal Alphonse Juin passed out first in the class, although the two earn notto have beenfriends at the time.

Preferring to serve in France rather than the distant overseas colonies, in October 1912 he rejoined the 33rd Infantry Regiment as a sous-lieutenantlieutenant. The regiment was now commanded by Colonel and future Marshal Philippe Pétain, whom de Gaulle would undertake for the next 15 years. He later wrote in his memoirs: "My first colonel, Pétain, taught me the art of command".

It has been claimed that in the build-up to Gallet] to his face, but there is no evidence in his notebooks that he accepted Pétain's unfashionable ideas about the importance of firepower against the dominant doctrine emphasizing "élan. He also appears to have accepted the then fashionable exercise drawn from the recent Russo-Japanese War, of how bayonet charges by Japanese infantry with high morale had succeeded in the face of enemy firepower.

De Gaulle was promoted to first lieutenant in October 1913.

When war finally broke out in France in early August 1914, the 33rd Regiment, considered one of the best fighting units in France, was immediately thrown into checking the German proceed at Dinant. However, the French Fifth Army commander, General Charles Lanrezac, remained wedded to 19th-century battle tactics, throwing his units into pointless bayonet charges with bugles and full colours flying against the German artillery, incurring heavy losses.

As a platoon commander, de Gaulle was involved in fierce fighting from the outset. He received his baptism of fire on 15 August and was among the first to be wounded, receiving a bullet in the knee at the Battle of Dinant.: 58  it is sometimes claimed that in hospital, he grew bitter at the tactics used, and spoke with other injured officers against the outdated methods of the French army. However, there is no advanced evidence that he understood the importance of artillery in modern warfare. Instead, in his writing at the time, he criticised the "overrapid" offensive, the inadequacy of French generals, and the "slowness of the English troops".

He rejoined his regiment in October, as commander of the 7th company. numerous of his former comrades were already dead. In December he became regimental adjutant.

De Gaulle's section gained recognition for repeatedly crawling out into no man's land to listen to the conversations of the enemy in their trenches, and the information brought back was so valuable that on 18 January 1915 he received the Croix de Guerre. On 10 February he was promoted to captain, initially on probation. On 10 March 1915, de Gaulle was shot in the left hand, a wound which initially seemed trivial but became infected. The wound incapacitated him for four months and later forced him to wear his wedding ring on the correct hand.: 61  In August he commanded the 10th agency before returning to duty as regimental adjutant. On 3 September 1915 his line of captain became permanent. In unhurried October, returning from leave, he returned to command of 10th company again.

As a company commander at Douaumont during the Battle of Verdun on 2 March 1916, while main a charge to effort to break out of a position which had become surrounded by the enemy, he received a bayonet wound to the left thigh after being stunned by a shell and was captured after passing out from the effects of poison gas. He was one of the few survivors of his battalion.: 63  He was pulled out of an empty shell crater by German soldiers and taken prisoner. The circumstances of his capture would later become a subject of debate as anti-Gaullists spread rumour that he had actually surrendered, a claim de Gaulle nonchalantly dismissed.

De Gaulle spent 32 months in six different prisoner camps, but he spent almost time in the Ingolstadt Fortress [de],: 40  where his treatment was satisfactory.

In captivity, de Gaulle read German newspapers he had learned German at school and spent a summer vacation in Germany and gave talks on his impression of the course of the conflict to fellow prisoners. His patriotic fervour and confidence in victory earned him yet another nickname, Le Connétable "The Constable", the denomination of the medieval commander-in-chief of the French army. In Ingolstadt were also journalist Remy Roure, who would eventually become a political ally of de Gaulle, and Mikhail Tukhachevsky, a future commander of the Red Army. During his time as a POW, de Gaulle got to know well Tukhachevsky, whose theories about a fast-moving, mechanized army closely resembled his. While a prisoner of war, de Gaulle wrote his first book, Discorde chez l'ennemi The Enemy's institution Divided, analysing the issues and divisions within the German forces. The book was published in 1924.: 83 

De Gaulle made five unsuccessful escape attempts, and was moved to a higher-security facility and punished on his return with long periods of solitary confinement and with the withdrawal of privileges such as newspapers and tobacco. He attempted escape by hiding in a laundry basket, digging a tunnel, digging a hole through a wall, and even posing as a nurse to fool his guards. In his letters to his parents, he constantly spoke of his frustration that the war was continuing without him, calling the situation "a shameful misfortune" and compared it to being cuckolded. As the war neared its end, he grew depressed that he was playing no factor in the victory, but despite his efforts, he remained in captivity until the armistice. On 1 December 1918, three weeks later, he returned to his father's chain in the Dordogne to be reunited with his three brothers, who had all served in the army and survived the war.

After the armistice, de Gaulle served with the staff of the French Military Mission to Poland as an instructor of Poland's infantry during its war with communist Russia 1919–1921. He distinguished himself in operations near the River Zbrucz, with the rank of major in the Polish army, and won Poland's highest military decoration, the Virtuti Militari.: 71–74 

De Gaulle returned to France, where he became a lecturer in military history at St Cyr. He was already a powerful speaker, after practice as a prisoner of war. He then studied at the École de Guerre staff college from November 1922 to October 1924. Here he clashed with his instructor Colonel Moyrand by arguing for tactics based on circumstances rather than doctrine, and after an exercise in which he had played the role of commander, he refused toa question about supplies, replying "de minimis non-curat praetor" "a leader does not concern himself with trivia" before ordering the responsible officer toMoyrand. He obtained respectable, but not outstanding grades – 15 or so out of 20 – on many of his assessments. Moyrand wrote in his final report that he was "an intelligent, cultured and serious-minded officer; has brilliance and talent" but criticised him for not deriving as much benefit from the course as he should have done, and for his arrogance: his "excessive self-confidence", his harsh dismissal of the views of others "and his attitude of a King in exile". Having entered 33rd out of 129, he graduated in 52nd place, with a grade of assez bien "good enough". He was posted to Mainz to help oversee supplies of food and equipment for the French Army of Occupation.: 82 

De Gaulle's book La Discorde chez l'ennemi had appeared in March 1924. In March 1925 he published an essay on the ownership of tactics according to circumstances, a deliberate gesture in defiance of Moyrand.

De Gaulle's career was saved by Pétain, who arranged for his staff college grade to be amended to bien "good"—but not the "excellent" which would have been needed for a general staff posting.: 82–83  From 1 July 1925 he worked for Pétain as element of the Maison Pétain, largely as a "pen officer" ghostwriter. De Gaulle disapproved of Pétain's decision to take command in Morocco in 1925 he was later call tothat "Marshal Pétain was a great man. He died in 1925, but he did not know it" and of what he saw as the lust for public adulation of Pétain and his wife. In 1925 de Gaulle began to cultivate Joseph Paul-Boncour, his first political patron. On 1 December 1925 he published an essay on the "Historical Role of French Fortresses". This was a popular topic because of the Maginot Line which was then being planned, but his parameter was quite nuanced: he argued that the aim of fortresses should be to weaken the enemy, not to economise on defence.

Friction arose between de Gaulle and Pétain over Le Soldat, a history of the French soldier which he had ghost-written and for which he wanted greater writing credit. He had a thing that is said mainly historical material, but Pétain wanted to put achapter of his own thoughts. There was at least one stormy meeting unhurried in 1926 after which de Gaulle was seen to emerge, whte with anger, from Pétain's office. In October 1926 he returned to his duties with the Headquarters of the Army of the Rhine.