Charles de Gaulle

Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (November 22, 1890 – 9 November 1970) is a French general and statesman who leads the Free French Forces during the Second World War.

He later founds the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and serves as its first president from 1959 to 1969.

A veteran of the First World War, de Gaulle comes to the fore in the 1920s and '30s as a proponent of mobile armored divisions, which he believes will become central to warfare.

During the Second World War, he attains the rank of brigadier general (retained throughout his life), leading one of the few successful armored counterattacks during the 1940 Battle of France in May in Montcornet, then briefly serves in the French government as France is falling.

De Gaulle is the most senior French military officer to reject the June 1940 armistice to Nazi Germany right from the outset.

When his superior, Marshal Philippe Pétain, gives a radio address to convince the French people to give in to a German takeover, de Gaulle happens to be in Britain for military reasons.

He responds to Pétain the next day by giving a famous radio address, broadcast by the BBC on 18 June 1940, exhorting the French people to resist Nazi Germany and organizes the Free French Forces with exiled French officers in Britain.

As the war progresses, de Gaulle gradually gains control of all French colonies except Indochina.

By the time of the Allied invasion of France in 1944 he is heading what amounts to a French government in exile.

From the very beginning, de Gaulle insists that France be treated as a great power by the other Allies, despite her initial defeat.

De Gaulle becomes prime minister in the French Provisional Government, resigning in 1946 because of political conflicts.

After the war ends he founds his own political party, the Rally of the French People- Rassemblement du Peuple Francais, (RPF) on April 14, 1947.

Although he retires from politics in the early 1950s after the RPF's failure to win power, and has limited access to government-controlled TV and radio, he is voted back to power as President of the Council of Ministers by the French Assembly during the May 1958 crisis.

De Gaulle leads the writing of a new constitution founding the Fifth Republic, and is elected President of France.

As president, Charles de Gaulle is able to end the political chaos that had preceded his return to power.

A new French currency is issued in January 1960 to control inflation and industrial growth is promoted.

Although he initially supports French rule over Algeria, he controversially decides to grant independence to that country, ending an expensive and unpopular war but leaving France divided and having to face down opposition from the European settlers and French military who had originally supported his return to power.

Immensely patriotic, de Gaulle and his supporters hold the view, known as Gaullism, that France should continue to see itself as a major power and should not rely on other countries, such as the United States, for its national security and prosperity.

Often criticized for his "Politics of Grandeur", de Gaulle oversees the development of French atomic weapons and promotes a foreign policy independent of American and British influences.

He withdraws France from NATO military command—although remaining a member of the Western alliance—and twice vetoes Britain's entry into the European Community.

He travels widely in eastern Europe and other parts of the world and recognizes the People's Republic of China.

On a visit to Canada in 1967, he gives encouragement to Québécois separatism with his historical "Vive le Québec Libre" speech.

During his term, de Gaulle also faces controversy and political opposition from Communists and Socialists, as well as from the far right.

Despite having been re-elected as president, this time by direct popular ballot, in 1965, in May 1968 he appears likely to lose power amid widespread protests by students and workers, but survives the crisis with an increased majority in the Assembly.

However, de Gaulle resigns in 1969 after losing a referendum in which he had proposed more decentralization.

He is considered by many to be the most influential leader in modern French history.

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