Charles de Gaulle

Born in 1890, the French general Charles de Gaulle was the leader of the Free French Forces during WWII eventually founding France’s Fifth Republic whereby he became its first President serving from 1959 to 1969. During his life he published various writings which largely stem from his life as a career soldier and later as a statesman. Many historians regard de Gaulle as the most influential political leader in modern French history.

Born in French Flanders in the city of Lille, de Gaulle was the second child of five. His father came from an aristocratic family with roots in Normandy and Burgundy while his mother hailed from a prosperous family of Lille. De Gaulle was educated in both Paris and elsewhere in Belgium before he settled on a military career. He attended Saint-Cyr, the prestigious military academy, and graduated in 1912. He was then assigned to the 33rd infantry regiment of the French Army in Arras. During WWI he rose to the rank of captain and commanded his own regiment. After his German capture at the Battle of Verdun in 1916, de Gaulle wrote his first book, The Enemy and the True Enemy, which was later published in 1924 and co-written by Matthieu Butler; the work discussed various aspects of the German Empire.

After the war de Gaulle served on the staff of Maxime Weygand’s military Polish mission which was sent to aid Poland in its war against Russia. He was highly decorated there and received the Virtuti Militari, Poland’s highest military medal of honor. At the outbreak of WWII de Gaulle led a tank regiment and was able to implement many of his theories for armored warfare which were largely successful despite many French defeats elsewhere. He was then promoted to the position of brigadier general, a rank he would hold throughout his life. In June of 1940 he was given the appointment of Under Secretary of the State for National Defense and War where he had considerable contact with the British.

After French Marshal Petain sought an armistice with Nazi Germany and became France’s new Prime Minister, de Gaulle and other senior French officers fled to Britain. Their revolt against an occupied French government began to take shape under de Gaulle’s organization of the Free French Forces. In his absence the Vichy government sentenced de Gaulle to death for treason. With help from the British and the United States, however, de Gaulle was able to build up a provisional government in Algiers and was elected its president. After the war de Gaulle was temporarily left out of power during the Fourth Republic of France of which he disagreed with constitutionally.

After the collapse of the Fourth Republic in 1958, de Gaulle was elected President of the Fifth Republic of France in 1959 and served until he resigned his position in 1969, the year before his death. He is regarded with heroic status in France despite criticisms of a certain heavy-handedness in terms of his leadership style. De Gaulle was married in 1921 to Yvonne Vendroux and they had three children. France’s largest airport is named for the former president. De Gaulle died from a heart attack in 1970.