Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle ( , ; 22
November 1890 – 9 November 1970) was a
French general and statesman who led the
Free French Forces during
World War II. He later founded the
French Fifth Republic in 1958
and served as its first
President from 1959 to 1969.In France,
he is commonly referred to as
Général de Gaulle or simply
Le Général, or by his detractors as "la Grande
Zora".
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 a
means to break the stalemate of
trench
warfare.
During World War
II, he reached the temporary rank of Brigadier General, leading one of the few
successful armoured counter-attacks during the 1940 Fall of France, and then organised the
Free French Forces with exiled
French officers in England
.Prior
to escaping to England, he gave a famous radio address in June
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 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 that country,
ending an expensive and unpopular war but leaving France
divided. A new currency was issued in January 1960 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 he recognised
Communist
China
. During his term, de Gaulle also faced
controversy and political opposition from
Communists and Socialists, and a
spate 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 aristocrats 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.
According to Henri, the family's true origin was never determined,
but could have been Celtic or
Flemish. He
thought that the name could be derived from the word
gaule—a long pole which was used in the Middle Ages to
beat olives from the trees. Another source has the name deriving
from
Galle, meaning "oak" in the
Gaulish language, and the sacred tree of
the
druids.Since de Gaulle's family hailed
from French Flanders, the name could also be a francisised form of
the common
Dutch Van de
walle meaning
From the moat.
De Gaulle
was educated in Paris
at the
College Stanislas and also briefly
in Belgium
.
Since childhood, he had displayed a keen interest in reading and
studying history. Choosing a military career, de Gaulle spent four
years studying and training at the elite military academy,
Saint-Cyr.
While there, and because of his height, high forehead, and nose, he
acquired the nicknames of "the great asparagus". and "Cyrano".He
acquired yet another nickname,
Le Connétable, when he was
a prisoner of war in Germany during the
Great
War. This had come about because of the talks which he gave to
fellow prisoners on the progress of the conflict. These were
delivered with such patriotic ardour and confidence in victory that
they called him by the title which had been given to the
commander-in-chief of the French army during the monarchy.
Graduating
in 1912, he joined the 33rd infantry
regiment of the French Army, based at Arras
.
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 General
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, Marshal
Philippe Pétain. De
Gaulle was heavily influenced by the use of tanks, rapid maneuvers
and limited trench warfare.
In the 1930 - early 1940s, de Gaulle wrote various books and
articles on military subjects that revealed him to be 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 later 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
French army officers, including his mentor Pétain with whom
relations consequently 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, who would play a major role in de
Gaulle's career. According to
Albert
Speer,
Adolf Hitler himself claimed
to have planned the invasion of western Europe with de Gaulle's
theories in mind.
De Gaulle would have some contacts with
Ordre Nouveau, a
Non-Conformist group with
fascist leanings 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 15 May
1940 he was given command of the 4th Armoured Division.
On 17
May, de Gaulle attacked German tank
forces at Montcornet
with 200 tanks but no air support; on 28 May, 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 would 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 telephoned Paul
Reynaud, the French prime minister, from London on 16 June
informing him of the offer by Britain of a Declaration of Union.
This 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.
The man
behind the offer of a declaration of union was Jean Monnet
, who was based in London as President of the
Franco-British Committee of Co-operation. Monnet had first
sought the advice of
Desmond Morton, Churchill's
Personal Assistant, who suggested that the proposal be put to
Churchill through
Neville
Chamberlain. The latter interceded with Churchill and the idea
was put before the Cabinet, where it was approved. The final
document was drafted by
Robert Vansittart,
Permanent Secretary to the Foreign Office, in conjunction with
Monnet himself, Morton, Sir
Arthur
Salter, MP for Oxford University, and Monnet's deputy at the
Franco-British Committee of Co-operation,
René Pleven.
When the proposal was put before Churchill, he was initially
unenthusiastic. However, de Gaulle managed to convince him that
"some dramatic move was essential to give Reynaud the support which
he needed to keep his Government in the war". Yet despite his
endorsement of the extraordinary proposal at the time, de Gaulle
later sought to distance himself from it. During an interview in
1964, which was reported in Paris Match shortly after the general's
death, de Gaulle had remarked that he and Churchill had tried to
improvise something but that neither of them had any illusions. It
had been a myth, like other myths, dreamed up by Jean Monnet. This
report brought an instant rebuttal from Monnet, who insisted that
he had personally informed de Gaulle of the proposition and that
the latter had simply acquiesced, albeit with great hesitation. De
Gaulle's intervention in the matter had been later.
Returning
the same day to Bordeaux
, the temporary wartime capital, de Gaulle learned
that Marshal 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 17 June, 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 Luftwaffe, 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 18 June, 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 signed an
armistice 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 4 July
1940, a court-martial in Toulouse
sentenced de Gaulle in absentia to four
years in prison. At a second court-martial on 2 August 1940
de Gaulle was condemned to death for
treason
against the
Vichy regime.
With
British support, de Gaulle settled himself in Berkhamstead
(36 miles northwest of London) and began organising
the Free French forces. Gradually, the Allies gave
increasing support and recognition to de Gaulle's efforts.
In
dealings with his British allies and the United States
, de Gaulle insisted at all times on retaining full
freedom of action on behalf of France, and he was constantly on the
verge of being cut off by the Allies. He harbored a
suspicion of the British in particular, believing that they were
surreptitiously seeking to steal France's colonial possessions in
the
Levant.
Clementine Churchill, who admired de
Gaulle, once cautioned him, "General, you must not hate your
friends more than you hate your enemies." De Gaulle himself stated
famously, "France has no friends, only interests." The situation
was nonetheless complex, and de Gaulle's mistrust of both British
and U.S. intentions with regards to France was mirrored in
particular by a mistrust of the Free French among the U.S.
political leadership, who for a long time refused to recognise de
Gaulle as the representative of France, preferring to deal with
representatives of the Vichy government. Roosevelt in particular
hoped that it would be possible to wean Pétain away from Germany.
Working
with the French resistance and
supporters in France's colonial African possessions after the
Anglo-U.S.
invasion of North Africa
in November
1942, de Gaulle moved his headquarters to Algiers
in May, 1943. He became first joint head
(with the less resolutely independent General
Henri Giraud, the candidate preferred by the
U.S.) and then sole chairman of the
French Committee of
National Liberation.
The plaque commemorating the
headquarters of General de Gaulle at 4 Carlton Gardens during the
Second World War.
the liberation of
France
following
Operation Overlord, he
quickly established the authority of the
Free French Forces in France, avoiding an
Allied
Military Government for Occupied Territories. He flew into
France from the French colony of
Algeria a few days before the
liberation of Paris, and drove near the front of the liberating
forces into the city alongside Allied officials. De Gaulle made a
famous speech emphasising the role of France's people in her
liberation.After his return to Paris, he moved back into his office
at the War Ministry, thus proclaiming continuity of the
Third Republic and denying the
legitimacy of the Vichy regime.
He served as President of the
Provisional
Government of the French Republic starting in September, 1944.
As such he sent the
French Far East
Expeditionary Corps to re-establish French sovereignty in
French Indochina in 1945. He made
Admiral d'Argenlieu High
commissioner of French Indochina and
General Leclerc
commander-in-chief in French Indochina and commander of the
expeditionary corps. Under de Gaulle's leadership, a joint force of
his Free French together with French colonial troops from North
Africa enabled France to field an entire army on the western front
after
Operation Dragoon, the
invasion of southern France. This force, the
French First Army, helped to liberate
almost one third of the country and meant that France actively
rejoined the Allies in the struggle against Germany. The French
First Army captured a large section of German territory after the
allied invasion thus enabling France to be an active participant in
the signing of the German surrender.
Also, through the
intervention of the British and Americans at Yalta
and despite
the resistance of the Russians, a French zone of occupation was
created in Germany. 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 (
French Section of
the Workers' International, SFIO), then
Georges Bidault (
Popular Republican Movement,
MRP) and finally
Léon Blum
(SFIO).
1946–58: Out of power
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.
He
then returned to his home at Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises
to write his war memoirs.
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 once more retired to his country home to continue 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
French 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 he was assuming provisional power,
and appealed for "confidence in the Army and its leaders".
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 would violate civil liberties,
de Gaulle retorted vehemently:
"Have I ever done that?
On the contrary, I have reestablished them when they
had disappeared.
Who honestly believes that, at age 67, I would start a
career as a dictator?"
A republican by conviction, de Gaulle maintained throughout the
crisis that he would 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, and certain other
leftists. On 29 May the French President,
René Coty, appealed to the "most illustrious
of Frenchmen" to confer with him and to examine what was
immediately necessary for the creation of a government of national
safety, and what could be done to bring about a profound reform of
the country's institutions.
De Gaulle remained intent on replacing the constitution of the
Fourth Republic, which he blamed for France's political weakness.
(Indeed he had resigned 12 years previously because he believed the
parties made the task of government too difficult.) 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 January 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.
Upon becoming president, de Gaulle was faced with the urgent task
of finding a way to bring to an end the bloody and divisive war in
Algeria. French left-wingers were in favour of granting
independence to Algeria and urged him to seek a way to achieve
peace while, at the same time, avoiding a French loss of face. 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
settlers' resistance group
Organisation de
l'armée secrète (OAS) 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 Colonel
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. Although the Algerian issue was settled, Prime
Minister Michel Debré resigned over the final settlement and was
replaced with Georges Pompidou on 14 April 1962. France recognised
Algerian independence on 3 July 1962, while an amnesty was
belatedly issued covering all crimes committed during the war,
including the genocide against the
Harkis. In
just a few months in 1962, 900,000 French
settlers left the country. After 5 July, the
exodus accelerated in the wake of the French deaths during the
Oran massacre of 1962. It had
now become clear that the
Evian
Accords would not be enforced and that the French government
had no intention of protecting the settlers.
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. After a
motion of censure
voted by the Parliament on 4 October 1962, de Gaulle dissolved the
National Assembly and held
new elections. Although
the left progressed, the Gaullists won an increased majority—this
despite opposition from the Christian democratic
Popular Republican Movement
(MRP) and the
National Centre of
Independents and Peasants (CNIP) who criticised de Gaulle's
euroscepticism and
presidentialism. De Gaulle's proposal to
change the election procedure for the French presidency was
approved at the referendum on 28 October 1962 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 by direct universal suffrage.
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 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).
EEC
He vetoed the British application to join the
European Economic Community
(EEC) in 1963 because, he said, he thought the United Kingdom
lacked the necessary political will to be part of a strong Europe.
He further saw Britain as a "
Trojan
Horse" for the USA. He maintained there were incompatibilities
between continental European and British economic interests. In
addition, he demanded that the United Kingdom accept all the
conditions laid down by the six existing members of the EEC
(Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands) and
revoke its commitments to countries within its own free trade area.
He supported a deepening and an acceleration of common market
integration rather than expansion. However, in this latter respect,
a detailed study of the formative years of the EEC argues that the
defence 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. The General's attitude
was also influenced by resentments which had come about during his
exile in Britain during the Second World War. Added to these were
fears of an Anglo-American agreement in regard to nuclear weapons –
the USA had provided Britain with
Polaris missiles the previous year.
Fourth nuclear power
As early as April 1954, de Gaulle had proposed that France should
have its own nuclear weapons. This would enable her to become a
partner in any reprisals and would give her a voice in matters of
atomic control. Four years later, on 13 February 1960, France
became the world's fourth nuclear power when a nuclear device was
exploded in the
Sahara some 700 miles
south-south-west of Algiers. In November 1967, an article by the
French Chief of the General Staff (but inspired by de Gaulle) in
the
Revue de la Défense Nationale caused international
consternation. It was stated that French nuclear force should be
capable of firing ‘in all directions’ – thus including even America
as a target. This surprising statement was intended as a
declaration of French national independence, and was in retaliation
to a warning issued long ago by
Dean Rusk
that US missiles would be aimed at France if she attempted to
employ atomic weapons outside an agreed plan. However, criticism of
de Gaulle was growing over his tendency to act alone with little
regard for the views of others. In August, concern over de Gaulle's
policies had been voiced by
Valéry Giscard
d’Estaing when he queried ‘the solitary exercise of
power’.
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, France established
diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC)—the first step towards formal
recognition. This was done without first severing links
with the Republic of
China
(Taiwan
), led by
Chiang Kai-shek. Hitherto the PRC
had
insisted that all nations abide by a "one China" condition, and at
first it was unclear how the matter would be settled.
However, the agreement to exchange ambassadors was subject to a
delay of three months and in February, Chiang Kai-shek resolved the
problem by cutting off diplomatic relations with France. Eight
years later U.S. President
Richard
Nixon visited the PRC
and began normalising relations - a policy which was confirmed in
the
Shanghai Communiqué of
28 February 1972.
As part of a European tour, Nixon visited 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 organisations, 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 had to go through a second round
of voting in which he defeated
François Mitterrand, who did far
better than anyone dreamed possible, gaining 45% of the vote.
In
February 1966, France withdrew from the common NATO military
command, but remained within the organisation. 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 the previous
Indochina War, in which the
United States had provided France with aid, this speech did little
to endear de Gaulle to the Americans , even if their leaders 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 could not agree, de Gaulle withdrew France's
representatives from the EC. Their absence left the organisation
essentially unable to run its affairs until the
Luxembourg compromise was reached in
January 1966. De Gaulle succeeded in influencing the
decision-making mechanism written into the Treaty of Rome by
insisting on solidarity founded on mutual understanding. 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 2 June
declared an arms embargo against Israel, just three days before the
outbreak of the
Six-Day War. This,
however, did not affect spare parts for the French military
hardware with which the Israeli armed forces were equipped.
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 Mystère 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.
Under de
Gaulle, following the independence of Algeria, France
embarked on foreign policy more favourable to the Arab side. General de Gaulle's position in 1967
at the time of the Six Day War played a part in France's newfound
popularity in the Arab world.
Israel turned towards the United States for arms, and toward its own industry.
In a televised news conference on 27 November 1967, de Gaulle
described the Jewish people as "this elite people, sure of
themselves and domineering". In his letter to
David Ben-Gurion dated 9 January 1968, he
explained that he was convinced that Israel had ignored his
warnings and overstepped the bounds of moderation by taking
possession of Jerusalem, and so much Jordanian, Egyptian, and
Syrian territory by force of arms. He felt Israel had exercised
repression and expulsions during the occupation and that it
amounted to annexation. He said that provided Israel withdrew her
forces, it appeared that it might be possible to reach a solution
through the UN framework which could include assurances of a
dignified and fair future for refugees and minorities in the Middle
East, recognition from Israel's neighbors, and freedom of
navigation through the Gulf of Aqaba and the Suez Canal.
Nigerian Civil War
The
Eastern Region of Nigeria
declared itself independent under the name of The
Independent Republic of Biafra on 30 May
1967. On July 6 the first shots in the Nigerian civil war
were fired, marking the start of a conflict would last until
January 1970.
Britain provided military aid to the
Federal
Republic of Nigeria
—yet more was made available by the Soviet
Union. Under de Gaulle's leadership, France embarked on a
period of interference outside the traditional French zone of
influence. A policy geared toward the break-up of Nigeria put
Britain and France into opposing camps. Relations between France
and Nigeria had been under strain since the third French nuclear
explosion in the
Sahara in December 1960.
From August 1968, when its embargo was lifted, France provided
limited and covert support to the breakaway province. Although
French arms helped to keep Biafra in action for the final 15 months
of the civil war, its involvement was seen as insufficient and
counterproductive. The Biafran Chief of Staff stated that the
French "did more harm than good by raising false hopes and by
providing the British with an excuse to reinforce Nigeria."
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 shouted 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 stated that "Canadians do not need
to be liberated."
De Gaulle left Canada two days later 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 the following year, de Gaulle visited
Brittany, where he declaimed a poem written by his
uncle (also called
Charles de
Gaulle) in the
Breton language.
The speech followed a series of crackdowns on
Breton nationalism. De Gaulle was accused
of double standards for on the one hand demanding a "free" Quebec
because of its differences from English-speaking Canada, while on
the other oppressing a regionalist movement in Brittany.
In December 1967, claiming continental European solidarity, de
Gaulle again rejected British entry into the
European Economic Community. The United
Kingdom nevertheless became a member of the EEC in January
1973.
Visit to South America
In September and October 1964, despite a recent operation for
prostate cancer and fears for his security, he set out on a
punishing 20,0000-mile tour of all ten republics in South America.
He had visited Mexico the previous year and was again keen to show
the French flag and gain both cultural and economic influence in
this new 26-day tour. He spoke constantly of his resentment of US
influence (hegemony) in South America - "that some states should
establish a power of political or economic direction outside their
own borders". Yet France could provide no investment or aid to
match that from Washington.
May 1968
de Gaulle at the inauguration of the German embassy in Paris,
February 1968
De Gaulle's government was criticised within France, particularly
for its heavy-handed style. While the written press and elections
were free, and private stations were able to broadcast in French
from abroad (see
Europe 1), the state had a
monopoly on television and radio (see
ORTF).
This monopoly meant that the executive was in a position to bias
the news. In many respects, society was traditionalistic and
repressive—this included 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 made a flying visit to Germany
and met with Jacques
Massu, the then chief of the French forces occupying Germany,
to discuss possible army intervention against the
protesters.
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 noon, 28 April 1969,
following the rejection of his proposed reform of the Senate and
local governments
in a nationwide
referendum. De Gaulle vowed that if the referendum failed, he
would resign his office. Despite an eight-minute-long speech by de
Gaulle, the referendum failed and he duly resigned, whereupon he
was replaced by
Georges
Pompidou.
De Gaulle
retired once again to Colombey-les-Deux-Églises
, where he died suddenly in 1970, two weeks before
his 80th birthday and in the middle of writing his memoirs.
He was generally in very robust health until then, despite an
operation on his
prostate some years
before. He had been sitting in front of the television while
waiting for the start of the news when he felt unwell and
collapsed. His wife called the doctor and the local priest, but by
the time they arrived he had died: the cause of death was an
aneurysm of the
aorta.
Grave of Charles de Gaulle at
Colombey-les-Deux-Églises
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 an armoured
reconnaissance vehicle, 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 was buried on
November 12.
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".
De Gaulle was nearly
destitute when he
died. When he retired, he did not accept the 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 on 7 April 1921. They had
three children: Philippe (born 1921), Élisabeth (1924), who married
general
Alain de Boissieu, and
Anne (1928–1948). Anne had
Down's syndrome and died at 20.
One of Charles de Gaulle's grandsons, also named
Charles De Gaulle, was a
member of the European
Parliament from 1994 to 2004, his last tenure being for the
National Front.
Another grandson, Jean de Gaulle, was a member of the French
Parliament until his retirement in 2007.
Charles de Gaulle Airport
France's
largest airport, in Roissy outside Paris, is
named Charles
de Gaulle Airport
in his honour. Many however still call it
simply Roissy Airport.
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 26 January
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
De Gaulle's Third Ministry, 9 June 1958 - 8 January 1959
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.
See also
Notes
- Nickname originally used by French settlers in Algeria [1] Le Nouvel Observateur 1976-02-09,
section "Tableaux de chasse" ; Vialatte Alexandre, Sigoda Pascal
"Alexandre Vialatte L'Age d'Homme". (31 July 1997). Collection :
Les dossiers h. p.150. ISBN 2825124532 ISBN 978-2825124536 google books
- Crawley p. 13–14
- Crawley comments further: 'Henri's theory may have been known
in scholastic circles, for in November 1940, a group of Paris
students marched around the Arc de Triomphe each carrying two poles
('deux gaules') as a gesture of defiance to the uncomprehending
Germans'.
- Gorman, Robert F. (ed.) (2008) "Charles de Gaulle"
Great Lives from History: The 20th Century Salem Press,
Pasadena, Calif., ISBN 978-1-58765-345-2
- Debray, Régis (1994) Charles de Gaulle: Futurist of the
Nation translated by John Howe, Verso, New York, ISBN
0-86091-622-7; a translation of Debray, Régis (1990) A demain
de Gaulle Gallimard, Paris, ISBN 2-07-072021-7
- "Hitler claimed total credit for the success of the campaign in
the West. The plan for it came from him, he said. 'I have again and
again', he told us, 'read Colonel de Gaulle's book on methods of
modern warfare employing fully motorised units, and I have learned
a great deal from it.'" in Albert Speer's Inside The Third
Reich, Simon & Shuster, ISBN 0-684-82949-5, p.170
- Account of Jean-Louis Loubet del Bayle's book
on the non-conformists of the 1930s on
the EHESS's website
- Ledwidge p. 50-52
- Anthony Clayton Three Marshals of France. p. 124
- Berthon, p.325
- * [2]
- As he commissioned the new constitution and was
responsible for its overall framework, de Gaulle is sometimes
described as the author of the constitution. De Gaulle's political
ideas were written into a constitution by Michel Debré who then
guided the text through the enactment process. Thus while the
constitution reflects de Gaulle's ideas, Michel Debré was the
actual author of the text.
- The citation in French is taken from Charles de Gaulle,
Mémoires de guerre, tome 1, Plon, 1954[3]
- Crawley p.411, p.428
- Crawley p.422
- Crawley p.439
- Gaulle, Charles de. (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica.
Retrieved 8 July 2009, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online Library
Edition: http://library.eb.co.uk/eb/article-2620}}
- Crawley p.381
- Ledwidge p. 341
- Crawley p.431
- The Cherbourg Boats by Doron Geller
- France-Israel: from De Gaulle’s arms embargo to Sarkozy’s
election
-
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10C11F73C541B7B93C2A8178AD85F4C8685F9&scp=1&sq=de+Gaulle+dignified+minorities&st=p
Text of de Gaulle's Answer to Letter From Ben-Gurion
- CBC archives
- Peter Berresford Ellis, The
Celtic Dawn, Constable, London, 1993, pp. 62.
- Crawley p.427
- 'Les femmes et le pouvoir' notes: 'It should not be forgotten
that of the first eleven governments of the Fifth Republic, four
contained no women whatsoever. Furthermore, in May 1968, the
executive was 100 per cent male.
- Crawley p.454
- Crawley (p.454) also writes that de Gaulle was undoubtedly
using the term in his barrack-room style to mean 'shit in the bed'.
De Gaulle had said it first in Bucharest while on an official visit
from which he returned on 19 May 1968. Pompidou told the press that
de Gaulle used the phrase after the Cabinet Meeting on 19 May.
-
http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1969/Chappaquiddick/12303189849225-7/#title
"Charles de Gaulle Defeated: 1969 Year in Review, UPI.com"
-
http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1970/Apollo-13/12303235577467-2/#title
"De Gaulle Dies: 1970 Year in Review, UPI.com"
- "De Gaulle Dies: 1970 Year in Review, UPI.com"
References
External links
Top topics
Wikis
Quiz
Facts
Map
Search
