Charles de Gaulle

Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970) was the dominant military and political leader of France, 1940-1968. Fleeing the victorious German invaders in 1940, he set up his base in London, proclaimed himself the incarnation of France, created the Free French movement, rallied the oversees colonies (especially in Africa), organized the Resistance, and tried, but failed, to gain full recognition from the British and Americans.

Career

De Gaulle was born in Lille on Nov. 22, 1890; his father was professor of philosophy in the Jesuit College of Paris, and a profound believer in the glory of Catholic France. The son received a classical education and matriculated at the Saint Cyr military academy in 1908' in 1911 he was commissioned in the French army. During World War I de Gaulle exhibited leadership and courage under fire. He was wounded three times and was finally captured at Fort Douaumont in 1916 and spent two years in a German prison camp. In 1920-1921 as major, he served on the staff of General Maxime Weygand's military mission to Poland in the Polish-Soviet war. He taught military history at Saint Cyr, served as aide to Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain, and wrote several books on military strategy. His The Army of the Future (1934), daringly proposed mechanization of the infantry, with stress on the wholesale use of tanks. Ironically the German panzer units, so effectively employed in the invasion of France in 1940, utilized de Gaulle's theories, while the French dispersed and wasted their armor. As the French armies collapsed de Gaulle was made general and then undersecretary of war in Paul Reynaud's cabinet.

Resistance

De Gaulle refused to accept defeat and subservience to Germany because the air force and navy were intact, as was the entire overseas empire. As the new Vichy government under Pétain prepared to sign a humiliating armistice on 22 June 1940, de Gaulle flew to London and on 18 June, he issued his "Appel," calling the French people to resistance. De Gaulle's forces by Nov. 1940, numbered 35,000 troops and twenty warships; several overseas colonies had rallied to his banner, although his forces were defeated in September in an attempt, with British aid, to seize Dakar, Senegal.

In London in Sept. 1941 de Gaulle formed the free French National Council, with himself as president. It was an all-encompassing coalition of resistance forces, ranging from conservative Catholics like himself to Communists. By early 1942, the "Fighting French" movement, as it was now called, gained rapidly in power and influence. In November 1942 the Americans invaded French North Africa. They favored General Henri Giraud, the High Commissioner of North Africa. But de Gaulle seized power from Giraud, who resigned in late 1942. De Gaulle took supreme command of all French forces in April 1944. Meanwhile, all the French colonies except Japanese-occupied Indochina came under Gaullist control, as did Corsica. Bitter disputes with Winson Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt caused de Gaulle to remove French forces from the planned invasion of Normandy in June 1944. He was not at D-Day. The Allies, however, finally gave his regime de jure recognition and allowed his armies to enter France and to be the first to enter Paris after the Germans fled in August 1944. French armies, under de Gaulle as provisional president, thereupon fought alongside the Allies.

As the war ended the Resistance coalition fell apart. De Gaulle's advocacy of a strong executive power was rejected by the voters, who in late 1945 adopted a constitution for the Fourth Republic that resembled that of the discredited Third Republic. De Gaulle resigned the provisional presidency in January 1946, saying that he did not wish "to preside, powerless, over the powerlessness of the state." In 1947 he went into retirement, refusing to be a candidate in the presidential election.

Fifth Republic

Foreign policy

De Gaulle forced a serious clash with Britain regarding the NATO alliance. By opposing British attempts to incorporate Europe in a broader transatlantic economic, political, and military alliance, de Gaulle hoped to create a chance for France to become what she ceased to be since Waterloo; the first in the world through driving a wedge between Europe, on one hand, and Britain and the United States on the other. Initially successful in isolating Britain, particularly through France's veto power over the European Economic Community (EEC), de Gaulle sought to further his country's status through a critique of, and withdrawal from, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The move backfired, however, allowing British foreign policy to isolate France and de Gaulle, hold NATO together, and eventually led to British inclusion in the EEC by other European members to counter France's disruptive behavior. In 1967, as in 1961-63, the French were determined to preserve their position of leadership within the EEC, and this was the reason for de Gaulle's second veto of Britain's application for membership. French diplomacy was based on the need to preserve the Community of Six while barring Britain. Although France succeeded in excluding Britain in the short term, in the longer term the French had to adjust their stance on enlargement in order to retain influence. Leadership within the community was the foundation of France's international status.

Bibliography

Biographies

• Lacouture, Jean. De Gaulle: The Rebel 1890-1944 (1984; English ed. 1991), 640pp; excerpt and text search; vol 2. De Gaulle: The Ruler 1945-1970 (1993)
• Williams, Charles. The Last Great Frenchman: A Life of General De Gaulle (1997) excerpt and text search

French history

• Berstein, Serge, and Peter Morris. The Republic of de Gaulle 1958-1969 (The Cambridge History of Modern France) (2006) excerpt and text search
• Hauss, Charles. Politics in Gaullist France: Coping with Chaos (1991) online edition
• Hoffmann, Stanley. Decline or Renewal? France since the 1930s (1974) online edition
• Northcutt, Wayne. Historical Dictionary of the French Fourth and Fifth Republics, 1946-1991 (1992)
• Rioux, Jean-Pierre, and Godfrey Rogers. The Fourth Republic, 1944-1958 (The Cambridge History of Modern France) (1989)
• Shepard, Todd. The Invention of Decolonization: The Algerian War and the Remaking of France. (2006). 288 pp.
• Williams, Philip M. and Martin Harrison. De Gaulle's Republic (1965) online edition

Foreign policy

• Bozo, Frédéric. Two Strategies for Europe: De Gaulle, the United States and the Atlantic Alliance (2001)
• Kolodziej, Edward A. French International Policy under de Gaulle and Pompidou: The Politics of Grandeur (1974) online edition
• Mangold, Peter. The Almost Impossible Ally: Harold Macmillan and Charles de Gaulle. (2006). 275 pp.
• Vaïsse, Maurice. La Grandeur: Politique Etrangère du Général de Gaulle, 1958-1969 (1997)
• Varat, Benjamin E. "A Clash of Kings: De Gaulle, Kennedy, and the Battle for Western Europe, 1958-1963." PhD dissertation Boston U. 2006. 356 pp. DAI 2006 67(1): 295-A. DA3202578 Fulltext: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses

World War II

• Funk, Arthur Layton. Charles de Gaulle: The Crucial Years, 1943-1944 (1959) online edition
• Weinberg, Gerhard L. Visions of Victory: The Hopes of Eight World War II Leaders. (2005). 292 pp. chapter on de Gaulle

Primary sources

• de Gaulle, Charles. The Complete War Memoirs of Charles De Gaulle (1998) 1048pp; excerpt and text search
• de Gaulle, Charles. Memoirs of Hope: Renewal and Endeavor (1971)