I | INTRODUCTION |
Charles de
Gaulle (1890-1970), French general and statesman, the architect of the
Fifth French Republic and its first president (1959-1969).
De Gaulle was born in Lille and educated at
Saint-Cyr Military Academy. During World War I he served with distinction at the
Battle of Verdun in 1916, was wounded three times, and was finally taken
prisoner by the Germans. After the war he was aide-de-camp to Marshal Henri
Pétain. De Gaulle won prominence by his advocacy of a highly mechanized French
army that he described in his books on military tactics. Early in World War II
(1939-1945) he attained the rank of brigadier general. After the fall of France
he escaped to London, where he announced the formation of a French national
committee in exile. In 1942 this committee was officially recognized by the
Allied governments and the Resistance leaders in France. As president of the
Free French, de Gaulle commanded French troops fighting with the Allied armies
as well as those participating in the Resistance in German-occupied France.
II | LEADER OF THE FREE FRENCH FORCES |
The forces under de Gaulle's command,
including French colonials and a considerable part of the French fleet, made an
unsuccessful attack on Dakar (now in Senegal) in September 1940, joined the
British forces in the conquest of Syria in 1941, and took control of Madagascar
in 1942. In June 1943 de Gaulle joined the French Committee of National
Liberation in Algiers, capital of the French colony of Algeria, as copresident
with General Henri Giraud. After maneuvering Giraud out, in 1943, de Gaulle
became sole president of the committee, which moved its headquarters from
Algiers to London in May 1944 and to Paris in August 1944, after the Allies
liberated France. The following month the committee was recognized by the United
States government as the de facto government of France. De Gaulle became
provisional premier-president in November 1945. Two months later he resigned
because his proposals for increasing the powers of the president met with
hostility from the people and the legislature of France. In 1947 he organized a
new political movement, the Rassemblement du Peuple Français (Rally of the
People of France), or RPF. In the 1951 elections, the RPF won the largest number
of seats in the French Assembly. The RPF worked to strengthen the central
government, balance the budget, promote private enterprise, and remove state
controls on the economic life of France. By 1953, however, the strength of the
movement had so declined that de Gaulle disavowed it and went into
retirement.
III | RETURN TO POWER |
In May 1958 France was confronted with a
threat of civil war over the question of independence for Algeria. De Gaulle was
recalled to serve as premier. The National Assembly granted him power to rule by
decree for six months and to supervise the drafting of a new constitution. The
new charter, conferring vastly increased powers on the executive branch, was
overwhelmingly approved by the French voters. The following December de Gaulle
was elected president of the newly created Fifth Republic. He took office on
January 8, 1959.
During his first term de Gaulle instituted
economic, industrial, and governmental reforms, negotiated Algerian
independence, and led France into the European Economic Community. He also
championed a unilateral nuclear-weapons program for France, which exploded an
atomic weapon in 1960. He strengthened ties with the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics (USSR) and with Communist China and attempted to extend French
influence in Asia and Latin America, while displaying resentment against the
United States. However, he continued to support the United States in the
fundamentals of its Cold War rivalry with the USSR.
IV | SECOND TERM |
In 1965 de Gaulle was elected to a second
seven-year term as president, but his margin of victory was narrowed. During the
following years he irked many by urging the autonomy of French Canada and
replacing the U.S. dollar as the chief international monetary-exchange standard,
with a return to the gold standard. His request for the withdrawal from France
of troops of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was fulfilled in 1967. In
May 1968 de Gaulle faced the greatest crisis since his return to power, when
rebellious students and striking workers brought the economic life of France to
a virtual standstill. De Gaulle, however, triumphed, and in elections the next
month his supporters considerably increased their majority in the National
Assembly. De Gaulle resigned the presidency following defeat in a national
referendum in April 1969. He retired to his private estate in
Colombey-les-deux-Églises, and there he continued to work on his memoirs until
his death.
De Gaulle wrote three books on military
tactics, Edge of the Sword (1932; translated 1960); The Army of the
Future (1934; translated 1941); and France and Its Army (1938;
translated 1945); and of War Memoirs (3 volumes, 1954-1959; translated
1955-1960) and Memoirs of Hope: Renewal and Endeavor (2 volumes,
1970-1971; translated 1972).
V | EVALUATION |
De Gaulle lent his determination, strength, and
sometimes obstinacy to France in both war and peace. His ability to inspire
resistance throughout an occupied France won him a place in the hearts of the
French people. He firmly believed in the importance of the presidency, and his
brilliant military ability translated easily into strong political leadership.
With the formation of the Fifth Republic, de Gaulle replaced a weak and
constantly changing government, to which the public responded with indifference,
with a stable and effective government that the French greeted with enthusiasm.
His independent stance in foreign affairs gave France a strong position in a
changing world.
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