Charles de Gaulle Totally Explained

Everything about De Gaulle totally explained

Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (November 22, 1890 – November 9, 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II and later founded the French Fifth Republic and served as its first President. In France, he's commonly referred to as Général de Gaulle or simply Le Général, or familiarly as "le Grand Charles".
A veteran of World War I, in the 1920s and 1930s de Gaulle came to the fore as a proponent of armoured warfare and advocate of military aviation, which he considered resolutive means to break the stalemate of trench warfare. During World War II, he reached the rank of Brigadier General, leading one of the few successful armoured counter-attacks during the 1940 Fall of France and organised the Free French Forces with exiled French officers in England. He gave a famous radio address in 1940, exhorting the French people to resist Nazi Germany. Following the liberation of France in 1944, de Gaulle became prime minister in the French Provisional Government. Although he retired from politics in 1946 due to political conflicts, he was returned to power with military support following the May 1958 crisis. De Gaulle led the writing of a new constitution founding the Fifth Republic, and was elected the President of France.
As president, Charles de Gaulle ended the political chaos and violence that preceded his return to power. Although he initially supported French rule over Algeria, he controversially decided to grant independence to Algeria, ending an expensive and unpopular war. A new currency was issued to control inflation and industrial growth was promoted. De Gaulle oversaw the development of atomic weapons and promoted a pan-European foreign policy, seeking to diminish U.S. and British influence; withdrawing France from the NATO military command, he objected to Britain’s entry into the European Community and recognised Communist China. During his term, de Gaulle also faced controversy and political opposition from Communists and Socialists, and a state of widespread protests in May 1968. De Gaulle retired in 1969, but remains the most influential leader in modern French history.

Early life and military career

De Gaulle was born in Lille, the second of five children of Henri de Gaulle, a professor of philosophy and literature at a Jesuit college, who eventually founded his own school. He was raised in a family of devout Roman Catholics who were nationalist and traditionalist, but also quite progressive.
   De Gaulle's father, Henri, came from a long line of aristocracy from Normandy and Burgundy, while his mother, Jeanne Maillot, descended from a family of rich entrepreneurs from the industrial region of Lille in French Flanders. The “de” in “de Gaulle” isn't a nobiliary particle, although the de Gaulle family were an ancient family of ennobled knighthood. The earliest known de Gaulle ancestor was a squire of the 12th-century King Louis VI. The name “de Gaulle” is thought to have evolved from a Germanic form, “De Walle”, meaning “the wall (of a fortification or city)”, “the rampart”. Much of the old French nobility descended from Frankish and Norman Germanic lineages and often bore Germanic names.
   De Gaulle was educated in Paris at the College Stanislas and also briefly in Belgium. Since childhood, he'd displayed a keen interest in reading and studying history.. Choosing a military career, de Gaulle spent four years studying and training at the elite Saint-Cyr. Graduating in 1912, he joined an infantry regiment of the French Army. While serving during World War I, he was wounded and captured at Douaumont in the Battle of Verdun in March 1916. While being held as a prisoner of war by the German Army, de Gaulle wrote his first book, co-written by Matthieu Butler, "L'Ennemi et le vrai ennemi" (The Enemy and the True Enemy), analyzing the issues and divisions within the German Empire and its forces; the book was published in 1924. After the armistice, de Gaulle continued to serve in the Army and on the staff of Gen. Maxime Weygand’s military mission to Poland during its war with Communist Russia (1919-1921), working as an instructor to Polish infantry forces. He distinguished himself in operations near the River Zbrucz and won the highest Polish military decoration, the Virtuti Militari.
   He was promoted to Commandant and offered a further career in Poland, but chose instead to return to France, where he served as a staff officer and also taught at the École Militaire, becoming a protégé of his old commander, Marshall Pétain. De Gaulle was heavily influenced by the use of tanks, rapid maneuvers and limited trench warfare. He would also adopt some lessons, for his own military and political career, from Poland’s Marshal Józef Piłsudski, who, decades before de Gaulle, sought to create a federation of European states (Międzymorze)-citations needed-. In the 1930s de Gaulle wrote various books and articles on military subjects that marked him as a gifted writer and an imaginative thinker. In 1931 he published Le fil de l’épée (Eng. tr., The Edge of the Sword, 1960), an analysis of military and political leadership. He also published Vers l’armée de métier (1934; Eng. tr., The Army of the Future, 1941) and La France et son armée (1938; Eng. tr., France and Her Army, 1945). He urged the creation of a mechanised army with special armoured divisions manned by a corps of professional specialist soldiers instead of the static theories exemplified by the Maginot Line. While views similar to de Gaulle’s were advanced by Britain’s J.F.C. Fuller, Germany’s Heinz Guderian, United States’ Dwight D. Eisenhower and George S. Patton, Russia’s Mikhail Tukhachevsky, and Poland’s General Władysław Sikorski, most of de Gaulle’s theories were rejected by other army officers, including his mentor Pétain, and relations between them became strained. French politicians also dismissed de Gaulle’s ideas, questioning the political reliability of a professional army — with the notable exception of Paul Reynaud and admiral Christoph Malton, who would play a major role in de Gaulle’s career. De Gaulle would have some contacts with Ordre Nouveau, a Non-Conformist Group at the end of 1934 and the beginning of 1935 .

Free French leader during World War II

At the outbreak of World War II, de Gaulle was only a colonel, having antagonised the leaders of the military through the 1920s and 1930s with his bold views. Initially commanding a tank brigade in the French 5th Army, de Gaulle implemented many of his theories and tactics for armoured warfare. After the German breakthrough at Sedan on May 15, 1940 he was given command of the 4th Armored Division. On May 17, de Gaulle attacked German tank forces at Montcornet with 200 tanks but no air support; on May 28, de Gaulle's tanks forced the German infantry to retreat to Caumont — some of the few tactical successes the French enjoyed while suffering defeats across the country. De Gaulle was promoted to the rank of brigadier general, which he'd hold for the rest of his life.
On 6 June, Prime Minister Paul Reynaud appointed him Undersecretary of State for National Defense and War and put him in charge of coordination with the United Kingdom. As a junior member of the French government, he unsuccessfully opposed surrender, advocating instead that the government remove itself to North Africa and carry on the war as best it could from France's African colonies. While serving as a liaison with the British government, de Gaulle proposed a political union between France and the U.K. with British leader Winston Churchill on June 16. The project would have in effect merged France and the United Kingdom into a single country, with a single government and a single army for the duration of the war. This was a desperate last-minute effort to strengthen the resolve of those members of the French government who were in favor of fighting on.
Returning the same day to Bordeaux, the temporary wartime capital, de Gaulle learned that Field Marshall Pétain had become prime minister and was planning to seek an armistice with Nazi Germany. De Gaulle and allied officers rebelled against the new French government; on the morning of June 17, de Gaulle and other senior French officers fled the country with 100,000 gold francs in secret funds provided to him by the ex-prime minister Paul Reynaud. Narrowly escaping the German air force, he landed safely in London that afternoon. De Gaulle strongly denounced the French government's decision to seek peace with the Nazis and set about building the Free French Forces out of the soldiers and officers who were deployed outside France and in its colonies or had fled France with him. On June 18, de Gaulle delivered a famous radio address via the BBC radio service. Although the British cabinet initially attempted to block the speech, they were overruled by Churchill. De Gaulle's Appeal of 18 June exhorted the French people to not be demoralised and to continue to resist the occupation of France and work against the Vichy regime, which had allied itself with Nazi Germany. Although the original speech could only be heard in a few parts of occupied France, de Gaulle's subsequent ones reached many parts of the territories under the Vichy regime, helping to rally the French resistance movement and earning him much popularity amongst the French people and soldiers. On July 4, 1940, a court-martial in Toulouse sentenced de Gaulle in absentia to four years in prison. At a second court-martial on August 2, 1940 de Gaulle was condemned to death for treason against the Vichy regime. Under de Gaulle's leadership, The resistance fighters and with the already fighting colonial troops enabled France to field one entire army into the western front via the invasion of southern France which helped liberate almost one-third of France. This group called the French First Army meant France actively rejoined the Allies fighting against Germany and captured a large section of German territory when the Allied invasion began. This also enabled France to be an active participant in the signing of the German surrender and receive through the intervention of the British at Yalta and the intense resistance of the Russians and the Americans a German zone of occupation. De Gaulle finally resigned on 20 January 1946, complaining of conflict between the political parties, and disapproving of the draft constitution for the Fourth Republic, which he believed placed too much power in the hands of a parliament with its shifting party alliances. He was succeeded by Félix Gouin (SFIO), then Georges Bidault (MRP) and finally Léon Blum (SFIO).

1946–58: Wilderness years

De Gaulle’s opposition to the proposed constitution failed as the parties of the left supported a parliamentary regime. The second draft constitution narrowly approved at the referendum of October 1946 was even less to de Gaulle’s liking than the first.
In April 1947 de Gaulle made a renewed attempt to transform the political scene by creating a Rassemblement du Peuple Français (Rally of the French People, or RPF), but after initial success the movement lost momentum. In May 1953 he withdrew again from active politics, though the RPF lingered until September 1955.
He retired to Colombey-les-deux-Églises and wrote his war memoirs, Mémoires de guerre. During this period of formal retirement, however, de Gaulle maintained regular contact with past political lieutenants from wartime and RPF days, including sympathisers involved in political developments in Algeria.

1958: Collapse of the Fourth Republic

The Fourth Republic was tainted by political instability, failures in Indochina and inability to resolve the Algerian question. It did, however, pass the 1956 loi-cadre Deferre which granted independence to Tunisia and Morocco, while the Premier Pierre Mendès-France put an end to the Indochina War through the Geneva Conference of 1954.
On 13 May 1958, settlers seized the government buildings in Algiers, attacking what they saw as French government weakness in the face of demands among the Arab majority for Algerian independence. A “Committee of Civil and Army Public Security” was created under the presidency of General Jacques Massu, a Gaullist sympathiser. General Raoul Salan, Commander-in-Chief in Algeria, announced on radio that the Army had “provisionally taken over responsibility for the destiny of French Algeria”.
Under the pressure of Massu, Salan declared Vive de Gaulle! from the balcony of the Algiers Government-General building on 15 May. De Gaulle answered two days later that he was ready to “assume the powers of the Republic”. Many worried as they saw this answer as support for the army.
At a 19 May press conference, de Gaulle asserted again that he was at the disposal of the country. As a journalist expressed the concerns of some who feared that he'd violate civil liberties, de Gaulle retorted vehemently:

“Have I ever done that? Au contraire, I've reestablished them when they'd disappeared. Who honestly believes that, at age 67, I'd start a career as a dictator?”

A republican by conviction, de Gaulle maintained throughout the crisis that he'd accept power only from the lawfully constituted authorities.
   The crisis deepened as French paratroops from Algeria seized Corsica and a landing near Paris was discussed (Operation Resurrection). Political leaders on many sides agreed to support the General’s return to power, except François Mitterrand, Pierre Mendès-France, Alain Savary, the Communist Party, etc. The philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, famous existentialist author, was quoted as saying “I would rather vote for God.” On 29 May the French President, René Coty, appealed to the “most illustrious of Frenchmen” to become the last President of the Council (Prime Minister) of the Fourth Republic.
   De Gaulle remained intent on replacing the constitution of the Fourth Republic, which he blamed for France’s political weakness. He set as a condition for his return that he be given wide emergency powers for six months and that a new constitution be proposed to the French people. On 1 June 1958, de Gaulle became Premier and was given emergency powers for six months by the National Assembly.
   On 28 September 1958, a referendum took place and 79.2 percent of those who voted supported the new constitution and the creation of the Fifth Republic. The colonies (Algeria was officially a part of France, not a colony) were given the choice between immediate independence and the new constitution. All African colonies voted for the new constitution and the replacement of the French Union by the French Community, except Guinea, which thus became the first French African colony to gain independence, at the cost of the immediate ending of all French assistance.
   According to de Gaulle, the head of state should represent “the spirit of the nation” to the nation itself and to the world: “une certaine idée de la France” (a certain idea of France).

1958-62: Founding of the Fifth Republic

In the November 1958 elections, de Gaulle and his supporters (initially organised in the Union pour la Nouvelle République-Union Démocratique du Travail, then the Union des Démocrates pour la Vème République, and later still the Union des Démocrates pour la République, UDR) won a comfortable majority. In December, de Gaulle was elected President by the electoral college with 78% of the vote, and inaugurated in January 1959.
   He oversaw tough economic measures to revitalise the country, including the issuing of a new franc (worth 100 old francs). Internationally, he rebuffed both the United States and the Soviet Union, pushing for an independent France with its own nuclear weapons, and strongly encouraged a “Free Europe”, believing that a confederation of all European nations would restore the past glories of the great European empires. He set about building Franco-German cooperation as the cornerstone of the European Economic Community (EEC), paying the first state visit to Germany by a French head of state since Napoleon. In 1963, Germany and France signed a treaty of friendship, the Élysée Treaty. France also reduced its dollar reserves, trading them for gold from the U.S. government, thereby reducing the US’ economic influence abroad.
   On 23 November 1959, in a speech in Strasbourg, de Gaulle announced his vision for Europe:
His expression, “Europe, from the Atlantic to the Urals”, has often been cited throughout the history of European integration. It became, for the next ten years, a favourite political rallying cry of de Gaulle’s. His vision stood in contrast to the Atlanticism of the United States and Britain, preferring instead a Europe that would act as a third pole between the United States and the Soviet Union. By including in his ideal of Europe all the territory up to the Urals, de Gaulle was implicitly offering détente to the Soviets, while his phrase was also interpreted as excluding the United Kingdom from a future Europe.
De Gaulle believed that while the war in Algeria was militarily winnable, it wasn't defensible internationally, and he became reconciled to the colony’s eventual independence. This stance greatly angered the French settlers and their metropolitan supporters, and de Gaulle was forced to suppress two uprisings in Algeria by French settlers and troops, in the second of which (the Generals' Putsch in April 1961) France herself was threatened with invasion by rebel paratroops. De Gaulle’s government also covered up the Paris massacre of 1961, issued under the orders of the police prefect Maurice Papon. He was also targeted by the settler Organisation armée secrète (OAS) terrorist group and several assassination attempts were made on him; the most famous is that of 22 August 1962, when he and his wife narrowly escaped an assassination attempt when their Citroën DS was targeted by machine gun fire arranged by Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiry at the Petit-Clamart. After a referendum on Algerian self-determination carried out in 1961, de Gaulle arranged a cease-fire in Algeria with the March 1962 Evian Accords, legitimated by another referendum a month later. Algeria became independent in July 1962, while an amnesty was later issued covering all crimes committed during the war, including the use of torture. In just a few months in 1962, 900,000 French settlers left the country. The exodus accelerated after the 5th of July 1962 massacre.
   In September 1962, De Gaulle sought a constitutional amendment to allow the president to be directly elected by the people and issued another referendum to this end, approved by more than three-fifths of voters despite a broad “coalition of no” formed by most of the parties, opposed to a presidential regime. Thereafter the President was to be elected at direct universal suffrage. After a motion of censure voted by the Parliament on October 4, 1962, de Gaulle dissolved the National Assembly and held new elections. Although the left progressed, the Gaullists won an increased majority, despite opposition from the Christian-Democrat MRP and the National Centre of Independents and Peasants (CNIP) who criticised de Gaulle’s euroscepticism and presidentialism. Although the Algerian issue was settled, Prime Minister Michel Debré resigned over the final settlement and was replaced with Georges Pompidou.

1962–68: Politics of grandeur

With the Algerian conflict behind him, de Gaulle was able to achieve his two main objectives: to reform and develop the French economy, and to promote an independent foreign policy and a strong stance on the international stage. This was, as named by foreign observers, the “politics of grandeur” (politique de grandeur).

“Thirty glorious years”

In the context of a population boom unseen in France since the 18th century, the government under prime minister Georges Pompidou oversaw a rapid transformation and expansion of the French economy. With dirigisme — a unique combination of capitalism and state-directed economy — the government intervened heavily in the economy, using indicative five-year plans as its main tool.
   High-profile projects, mostly but not always financially successful, were launched: the extension of Marseille harbor (soon ranking third in Europe and first in the Mediterranean); the promotion of the Caravelle passenger jetliner (a predecessor of Airbus); the decision to start building the supersonic Franco-British Concorde airliner in Toulouse; the expansion of the French auto industry with state-owned Renault at its center; and the building of the first motorways between Paris and the provinces.
   With these projects, the French economy recorded growth rates unrivalled since the 19th century. In 1964, for the first time in 200 years, France’s GDP overtook that of the United Kingdom, a position it held until the 1990s. This period is still remembered in France with some nostalgia as the peak of the Trente Glorieuses (“Thirty Glorious Years” of economic growth between 1945 and 1974).
   He vetoed the British application to join the European Economic Community in 1963 because, he said, he thought the United Kingdom lacked the necessary political will. A relatively recent, very detailed study of the formative years of the EEC argues that the defense of French economic interests, especially in agriculture, in fact played a more dominant role in determining de Gaulle's stance towards British entry than the various political and foreign policy considerations that have often been cited. Many Britons took de Gaulle’s “non” as an insult, especially in view of the role the United Kingdom had played in the Liberation of France only 19 years earlier.

Fourth nuclear power

This strong economic foundation enabled de Gaulle to implement his independent foreign policy. In 1960, France became the fourth state to acquire a nuclear arsenal, detonating an atomic bomb in the Algerian desert. In 1968, at the insistence of de Gaulle, French scientists finally succeeded in detonating a hydrogen bomb without U.S. assistance. In what was regarded as a snub to Britain, de Gaulle declared France to be the third big independent nuclear power, as Britain’s nuclear force was closely coordinated with that of the United States.
While grandeur was surely an essential motive in these nuclear developments, another was the concern that the U.S., being defeated in the unpopular and costly war in Vietnam, would hesitate to intervene in Europe should the Soviet Union decide to threaten Europe. De Gaulle wanted to develop an independent force de frappe. An additional effect was that the French military, which had been demoralised and close to rebellion after the loss of Algeria, was kept busy. In 1965, France launched its first satellite into orbit, making it the third country in the world to build a complete delivery system, after the Soviet Union and the United States.

Recognition of the People's Republic of China

De Gaulle was convinced that a strong and independent France could act as a balancing force between the United States and the Soviet Union, a policy seen as little more than posturing and opportunism by his critics, particularly in Britain and the United States, to which France was formally allied. In January 1964, he officially recognised the People's Republic of China, despite U.S. opposition. Eight years later U.S. President Richard Nixon visited the PRC and began normalising relations.
Nixon’s first foreign visit after his election was to France in 1969. He and de Gaulle both shared the same non-Wilsonian approach to world affairs, believing in nations and their relative strengths, rather than in ideologies, international organizations, or multilateral agreements. De Gaulle is famously known for calling the United Nations le Machin (“the thing”).

Second round

In December 1965, de Gaulle returned as president for a second seven-year term, but this time he'd to go through a second round of voting in which he defeated François Mitterrand. In February 1966, France withdrew from the common NATO military command, but remained within the organization. De Gaulle, haunted by the memories of 1940, wanted France to remain the master of the decisions affecting it, unlike in the 1930s, when France had to follow in step with her British ally. He also declared that all foreign military forces had to leave French territory and gave them one year to redeploy.
In September 1966, in a famous speech in Phnom Penh (Cambodia), he expressed France’s disapproval of the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, calling for a U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam as the only way to ensure peace. As the Vietnam War had its roots in French colonialism in southeast Asia, this speech did little to endear de Gaulle to the Americans, even if they later came to the same conclusion.

Empty Chair Crisis

During the establishment of the European Community, de Gaulle helped precipitate one of the greatest crises in the history of the EC, the Empty Chair Crisis. It involved the financing of the Common Agricultural Policy, but almost more importantly the use of qualified majority voting in the EC (as opposed to unanimity). In June 1965, after France and the other five members couldn't agree, de Gaulle withdrew France’s representatives from the EC. Their absence left the organization essentially unable to run its affairs until the Luxembourg compromise was reached in January 1966. De Gaulle managed to make QMV essentially meaningless for years to come, and halted more federalist plans for the EC, which he opposed. He vetoed Britain’s entry into the EEC a second time, in June 1967.

Six-Day War

With tension rising in the Middle East in 1967, de Gaulle on June 2 declared an arms embargo against Israel, just three days before the outbreak of the Six-Day War. The pragmatism on which he prided himself meant acting to placate the producers of oil, not on sentiment.
This was an abrupt change in policy. In 1956 France, Britain, and Israel had cooperated in an elaborate effort to retake the Suez Canal from Egypt. Israel's air force operated French Mirage and Mystere jets in the Six-Day War, and its navy was building its new missile boats in Cherbourg. Though paid for, their transfer to Israel was now blocked by de Gaulle's government. But they were smuggled out in an operation that drew further denunciations from the French government. The last boats took to the sea in December 1969, directly after a major deal between France and now-independent Algeria exchanging French armaments for Algerian oil. (External Link

) Under de Gaulle, following the independence of Algeria, France embarked on foreign policy more favourable to the Arab side. Israel turned towards the United States for arms, and toward its own industry.
De Gaulle supported the principle of a just settlement for both the Arab and Jewish refugees of the Middle East within the framework of the United Nations. This was stated upon the adoption of UN Resolution 242, in his press conference of 27 November 1967 and contained in his letter to David Ben-Gurion dated 9 January 1968.

Nigerian Civil War

During Nigeria’s civil war of 1967-1970, de Gaulle’s government supported the Republic of Biafra in its struggle to gain independence from Nigeria. Despite lack of official recognition, de Gaulle provided covert military assistance through France’s former African colonies. The United Kingdom opposed de Gaulle’s stance, but he viewed the political position of the Igbo in Nigeria as analogous to that of the French Québécois living in Canada.

Vive le Québec Libre!

In July 1967, de Gaulle visited Canada, which was celebrating its centennial with a world's fair, Expo 67. On 24 July, speaking to a large crowd from a balcony at Montreal’s city hall, de Gaulle yelled Vive le Québec ! (Long live Quebec!) then added, Vive le Québec libre ! (Long live Free Québec!). The Canadian media harshly criticised the statement, and the Prime Minister of Canada, Lester B. Pearson, a soldier who had fought in World War I and a Nobel Peace Prize winner, stated that “Canadians don't need to be liberated.” (External Link

) De Gaulle left Canada the next day without proceeding to Ottawa as scheduled. He never returned to Canada. The speech caused outrage in most of Canada; it led to a serious diplomatic rift between the two countries. However, the event was seen as a watershed moment by the Quebec sovereignty movement.
In December 1967, claiming continental European solidarity, he again rejected British entry into the European Economic Community. .

Assessment

Many have commented that the “policy of grandeur” was probably too ambitious and heavy for the shoulders of France. This policy, it's argued, was only made possible by de Gaulle’s resolve, and wasn't sustainable in the long run. In any case, it's still remembered in France as a defining era of modern French foreign policy, and it still largely inspires policy to this day.

May 1968

De Gaulle’s government was criticised within France, particularly for its heavy-handed style. While the written press and elections were free, the state had a monopoly on television and radio broadcasts (though there were private stations broadcasting from abroad; see ORTF) and the executive occasionally told public broadcasters the bias that they desired on news. In many respects, society was traditionalistic and repressive, especially regarding the position of women. Many factors contributed to a general weariness of sections of the public, particularly the student youth, which led to the events of May 1968.
   The huge demonstrations and strikes in France in May 1968 severely challenged de Gaulle’s legitimacy. He briefly fled to Germany and met with Jacques Massu, the then chief of the French forces occupying Germany, to discuss possible army intervention against the protesters (according to popular unofficial accounts).
   In a private meeting discussing the students’ and workers’ demands for direct participation in business and government he coined the phrase “La réforme oui, la chienlit non”, which can be politely translated as 'reform yes, masquerade/chaos no.' It was a vernacular scatological pun meaning 'chie-en-lit, no'. The term is now common parlance in French political commentary, used both critically and ironically referring back to De Gaulle.
   But de Gaulle offered to accept some of the reforms the demonstrators sought. He again considered a referendum to support his moves, but Pompidou persuaded him to dissolve parliament (in which the government had all but lost its majority in the March 1967 elections) and hold new elections instead. The June 1968 elections were a major success for the Gaullists and their allies; when shown the spectre of revolution or even civil war, the majority of the country rallied to him. His party won 358 of 487 seats. Pompidou was suddenly replaced by Maurice Couve de Murville in July.

Retirement and death

Charles de Gaulle resigned the presidency on 28 April 1969, following the defeat of his referendum to transform the Senate (upper house of the French parliament, wielding less power than the National Assembly) into an advisory body while giving extended powers to regional councils. Some said this referendum was a self-conscious political suicide committed by de Gaulle after the traumatising events of May 1968. As in 1946, de Gaulle refused to stay in power without widespread popular support.
   De Gaulle retired once again to Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, where he died suddenly in 1970, two weeks before his 80th birthday, in the middle of writing his memoirs. In generally very robust health until then, despite an operation on his prostate some years before, it was reported that as he'd finished watching the evening news on television and was sitting in his armchair he suddenly said “I feel a pain here”, pointing to his neck, just seconds before he fell unconscious due to an aneurysmal rupture. Within minutes, he was dead.
   De Gaulle had made arrangements that insisted that his funeral would be held at Colombey, and that no presidents or ministers attend his funeral, only his Compagnons de la Libération. Heads of state had to content themselves with a simultaneous service at Notre-Dame Cathedral. He was carried to his grave on a tank, and as he was lowered into the ground the bells of all the churches in France tolled starting from Notre Dame and spreading out from there.
   He specified that his tombstone bear the simple inscription of his name and his dates of birth and death. Therefore, it simply says: “Charles de Gaulle, 1890-1970”.
   Unlike many other politicians, de Gaulle was nearly destitute when he died. When he retired, he didn't accept pensions to which he was entitled as a retired president and as a retired general. Instead, he only accepted a pension to which colonels are entitled.
   His family had to sell the Boisserie residence. It was purchased by a foundation and is currently the Charles de Gaulle Museum.

Private life

Charles de Gaulle married Yvonne Vendroux (“Tante (Aunt) Yvonne”) on 7 April 1921. They had 3 children: Philippe (born 1921), Élisabeth (1924), who married general Alain de Boissieu, and Anne (1928 - 1948). Anne had Down syndrome and died at 20.
One of Charles de Gaulle’s grandsons, Charles de Gaulle, was a member of the European Parliament from 1994 to 2004, his last tenure being for the National Front. He is said by most other family members especially Philippe de Gaulle (in several TV shows while promoting his book De Gaulle, mon père) to be ”the shame of the family” all the more since he shares the name of his famous grandfather.
Another grandson, Jean de Gaulle, is a member of the French Parliament.

Current view

Though controversial throughout his political career, not least among ideological opponents on the left and among overseas strategic partners, de Gaulle continues to command enormous respect in France and beyond, where his presidency is seen as a return to political stability and to strength on the international stage. To his admirers, he was the epitome of a roi juste (“just king”) — the embodiment of the qualities of a just and righteous ruler. De Gaulle’s new constitution for the Fifth Republic satisfied a lingering feeling for a strong, central, single political position, harking back to the monarchy but connected to a democratic system.
   De Gaulle’s opponents saw his constitution as nothing but a recasting of the old—a caesaropapism, with the president wielding almost monarchical powers like those under the ancien regime. Nevertheless, the system of the Fifth Republic (une certaine idée de la France) has proven remarkably stable, compared to that of the previous, Fourth Republic, notwithstanding constitutional changes since its implementation.
   Domestically, for all the flaws in de Gaulle’s approach, he presided over a return to economic prosperity after an initially sluggish postwar performance, while maintaining much of the social contract evolved in previous decades between employers and labour. The associated dirigisme (state economic interventionism) of the Fifth Republic’s early decades remains at odds with the current trend of western economic orthodoxy; yet those decades coincided with unprecedented growth and much-improved standards of living for the French population.
   De Gaulle’s presidential style of government was continued under his successors. Internationally, the emphasis on French independence which so characterised de Gaulle’s policy remains a keystone of foreign policy, together with his alignment with former rival Germany, still seen in both countries as a foundation for European integration.
   France’s largest airport, in Roissy, outside Paris was named Charles de Gaulle International Airport in his honour.

Popular culture

De Gaulle is mentioned in the song "30th Century Man" by Scott Walker
De Gaulle's head appears in .
The book The Day of the Jackal is about an attempt to kill De Gaulle in 1963.
It was also made into a movie by the same name (The Day of the Jackal) in 1972.
De Gaulle appears in The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, and in the television miniseries Ike (played by Vernon Dobtcheff) and Le Grand Charles.
The StarCraft Brood War character Admiral Gerard DuGalle is both named after and very similar to Charles de Gaulle.
De Gaulle is also mentioned in "Paris, Tokyo" by Lupe Fiasco.

Works

French editions

La Discorde Chez l’Ennemi (1924)

Histoire des Troupes du Levant (1931) Written by Major de Gaulle and Major Yvon, with Staff Colonel de Mierry collaborating in the preparation of the final text.

Le Fil de l’Épée (1932)

Vers l’Armée de Métier (1934)

La France et son Armée (1938)

Trois Études (1945) (Rôle Historique des Places Fortes; Mobilisation Economique à l’Étranger; Comment Faire une Armée de Métier) followed by the Memorandum of January 26, 1940.

Mémoires de Guerre

Volume I - L’Appel 1940–1942 (1954)
Volume II - L’Unité, 1942–1944 (1956)
Volume III - Le Salut, 1944–1946 (1959)

Mémoires d’Espoir

Volume I - Le Renouveau 1958–1962 (1970)

Discours et Messages

Volume I - Pendant la Guerre 1940–1946 (1970)
Volume II - Dans l’attente 1946–1958 (1970)
Volume III - Avec le Renouveau 1958–1962 (1970)
Volume IV - Pour l’Effort 1962–1965 (1970)
Volume V - Vers le Terme 1966–1969

English translations

The Enemy’s House Divided (La Discorde chez l’ennemi). Tr. by Robert Eden. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 2002.

The Edge of the Sword (Le Fil de l’Épée). Tr. by Gerard Hopkins. Faber, London, 1960 Criterion Books, New York, 1960

The Army of the Future (Vers l’Armée de Métier). Hutchinson, London-Melbourne, 1940. Lippincott, New York, 1940

France and Her Army (La France et son Armée). Tr. by F.L. Dash. Hutchinson London, 1945. Ryerson Press, Toronto, 1945

War Memoirs: Call to Honour, 1940–1942 (L’Appel). Tr. by Jonathan Griffin. Collins, London, 1955 (2 volumes). Viking Press, New York, 1955.

War Memoirs: Unity, 1942–1944 (L’Unité). Tr. by Richard Howard (narrative) and Joyce Murchie and Hamish Erskine (documents). Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1959 (2 volumes). Simon and Schuster, New York, 1959 (2 volumes).

War Memoirs: Salvation, 1944–1946' (Le Salut). Tr. by Richard Howard (narrative) and Joyce Murchie and Hamish Erskine (documents). Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1960 (2 volumes). Simon and Schuster, New York, 1960 (2 volumes).

De Gaulle’s Second Government, 21 December 1945 - 26 January 1946

Charles de Gaulle: Chairman of the Provisional Government

Georges Bidault: Minister of Foreign Affairs

Edmond Michelet: Minister of Armies

Charles Tillon: Minister of Armaments

Adrien Tixier: Minister of the Interior

René Pleven: Minister of Finance

François Billoux: Minister of National Economy

Marcel Paul: Minister of Industrial Production

Ambroise Croizat: Minister of Labour

Pierre-Henri Teitgen: Minister of Justice

Paul Giacobbi: Minister of National Education

Laurent Casanova: Minister of Veterans and War Victims

François Tanguy-Prigent: Minister of Agriculture and Supply

Jacques Soustelle: Minister of Colonies

Jules Moch: Minister of Public Works and Transport

Robert Prigent: Minister of Population

Raoul Dautry: Minister of Reconstruction and Town Planning

Eugène Thomas: Minister of Posts

André Malraux: Minister of Information

Vincent Auriol: Minister of State

Francisque Gay: Minister of State

Louis Jacquinot: Minister of State

Maurice Thorez: Minister of State

De Gaulle’s Third Ministry, 9 June 1958 - 8 January 1959

Charles de Gaulle: President of the Council and Minister of National Defense

Maurice Couve de Murville: Minister of Foreign Affairs

Émile Pelletier: Minister of the Interior

Antoine Pinay: Minister of Finance and interim Minister of Public Works, Transport, and Tourism

Édouard Ramonet: Minister of Industry

Paul Bacon: Minister of Labour

Edmond Michelet: Minister of Veterans and War Victims

Michel Debré: Minister of Justice

Jean Berthoin: Minister of National Education

Roger Houdet: Minister of Agriculture

Bernard Cornut-Gentille: Minister of Overseas France

Robert Buron: Minister of Public Works, Transport, and Tourism

Eugène Thomas: Minister of Posts

Édouard Ramonet: Minister of Commerce

Pierre Sudreau: Minister of Construction

Max Lejeune: Minister of Sahara

Guy Mollet: Minister of State

Pierre Pflimlin: Minister of State

Félix Houphouët-Boigny: Minister of State

Louis Jacquinot: Minister of State Changes

12 June 1958: André Malraux enters the cabinet as Minister of Radio, Television, and Press.

14 June 1958: Guy Mollet becomes Minister of General Civil Servants Status.

7 July 1958: Bernard Chenot enters the cabinet as Minister of Public Health and Population. Jacques Soustelle succeeds Malraux as Minister of Information.

23 July 1958: Antoine Pinay becomes Minister of Economic Affairs, remaining also Minister of Finance.Further Information

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