View source for Charles de Gaulle

{{Short description|French general and statesman (1890–1970)}}<!-- This short description must be short. Avoid confusion between "president" or "prime minister" -->
{{Redirect|De Gaulle|the films|De Gaulle (2020 film){{!}}''De Gaulle'' (2020 film)|and|De Gaulle (upcoming film)|7=Charles de Gaulle (disambiguation)}}
{{Family name hatnote|de Gaulle|Gaulle}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2025}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Charles de Gaulle
| image               = De Gaulle-OWI (3x4 cropped) (2).jpg
| caption             = De Gaulle in 1942
| office              = [[President of France]]
| primeminister       = {{plainlist|
* [[Michel Debré]]
* [[Georges Pompidou]]
* [[Maurice Couve de Murville]]}}
| term_start          = 8 January 1959
| term_end            = 28 April 1969
| predecessor         = [[René Coty]]
| successor           = Georges Pompidou
| office1             = [[Prime Minister of France]]{{efn|The term "President of the Council of Ministers of France" was naming of head of government of France in the Third Republic and Fourth Republic periods, naming "Prime Minister of France" is used since Fifth Republic periods, in fact, naming of Prime Minister of France is used in several political regimes era by the foreign press}}
| president1          = René Coty
| term_start1         = 1 June 1958
| term_end1           = 8 January 1959
| predecessor1        = [[Pierre Pflimlin]]
| successor1          = Michel Debré
| office2             = Chairman of the [[Provisional Government of the French Republic]]
| term_start2         = 3 June 1944
| term_end2           = 26 January 1946
| predecessor2        = {{ubl|[[Philippe Pétain]]<br />(Chief of the French State) |[[Pierre Laval]]<br />(Chief of the Government) }}
| successor2          = [[Félix Gouin]]
| office3             = Chairman of the [[Free France|French]] National Committee{{efn|name=note 1|Chairman of the French National Committee between 24 September 1941 and 3 June 1943 and Chairman of the [[French Committee of National Liberation]] between 3 June 1943 and 3 June 1944.}}
| term_start3         = 18 June 1940
| term_end3           = 3 June 1944
| predecessor3        = ''Position established''{{efn|name=note 2|Free France was a political entity set up in opposition to the [[Nazi occupation of France]] and the [[Collaborationism|collaborationist]] [[Vichy régime]] headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain.}}
| successor3          = ''Position abolished''{{efn|name=note 3|Preceeding the success of [[Operation Overlord]] and subsequent expulsion of the Nazi occupiers and dissolution of the Vichy régime, General Charles de Gaulle became Chairman of the Provisional Government of the French Republic.}}
| office4             = [[Minister of Defense (France)|Minister of Defence]]
| term_start4         = 1 June 1958
| term_end4           = 8 January 1959
| primeminister4      = Himself
| predecessor4        = [[Pierre de Chevigné]]
| successor4          = [[Pierre Guillaumat]]
| office5             = [[Minister of Algerian Affairs]]
| term_start5         = 12 June 1958
| term_end5           = 8 January 1959
| primeminister5      = Himself
| predecessor5        = [[André Mutter]]
| successor5          = [[Louis Joxe]]
| office6             = Undersecretary of State for War and
National Defence
| term_start6         = 6 June 1940
| term_end6           = 16 June 1940
| president6          = 
| primeminister6      = [[Paul Reynaud]]
| predecessor6        = [[Hippolyte Ducos]]
| successor6          = ''Position abolished''
| birth_name          = Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1890|11|22|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Lille]], France
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1970|11|9|1890|11|22|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Colombey les Deux Églises|Colombey-les-Deux-Églises]], France
| party               = [[Union of Democrats for the Republic]] (1967–1969)
| otherparty          = [[Union for the New Republic]] (1958–1967)<br>[[Rally of the French People]] (1947–1955)
| spouse              = {{marriage|[[Yvonne Vendroux]]|1921}}
| children            = 3, including [[Philippe de Gaulle|Philippe]] and [[Anne de Gaulle|Anne]]
| alma_mater          = [[École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr]]
| signature           = Charles de Gaulle Signature 2.svg
| footnotes           = {{notelist}}
| allegiance          = {{plainlist|
* [[French Third Republic]]
* [[Free France]]}}
| branch              = {{plainlist|
* [[French Army]]
* [[Free French Forces]]}}
| serviceyears        = 1912–1944
| rank                = [[Général de brigade]]
| commands            = {{plainlist|
* {{ill|19e bataillon de chasseurs à pied|fr|vertical-align=sup}}
* {{ill|507e régiment de chars de combat|fr|vertical-align=sup}}
* [[4e Division cuirassée]]
* [[Free France]]}}
| battles             = {{Tree list}}
* [[World War I]]
** [[Battle of Dinant]]{{WIA}}
** [[First Battle of Champagne]]{{WIA}}
** [[Battle of Verdun]]{{POW}}
* [[Polish–Soviet War]]
* [[World War II]]
** [[Battle of France]]
** [[Battle of Montcornet]]
** [[Battle of Abbeville]]
** [[Battle of Dakar]]
** [[Battle of Gabon]]
** [[Liberation of Paris]]
{{Tree list/end}}
}}
{{republicanism sidebar}}
'''Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle'''{{Efn|{{IPAc-en|d|ə|_|ˈ|ɡ|oʊ|l|,_|d|ə|_|ˈ|ɡ|ɔː|l}} {{respell|də|_|GOHL|,_|də|_|GAWL}}; {{IPA|fr|ʃaʁl(ə) də ɡol|lang|LL-Q150 (fra)-Fabricio Cardenas (Culex)-Charles de Gaulle.wav}}<ref>{{citation|last=Wells|first=John C.|year=2008|title=Longman Pronunciation Dictionary|edition=3rd|publisher=Longman|isbn=978-1-4058-8118-0}}</ref>}}{{Efn|Also known by [[List of names and terms of address used for Charles de Gaulle|other names]].}} (22 November 1890{{spnd}}9 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the [[Free France|Free French Forces]] against [[Nazi Germany]] and [[Vichy France]] in [[World War II]] and chaired the [[Provisional Government of the French Republic]] from 1944 to 1946 to restore democracy in France. Following the [[May 1958 crisis in France|Algiers putsch]], he came out of retirement at the request of President [[René Coty]], who appointed him [[Prime Minister of France|Prime Minister]]. He commissioned a new [[Constitution of France|constitution]] which was approved by voters in a [[1958 French constitutional referendum|referendum]], establishing the [[French Fifth Republic|Fifth Republic]]. He was subsequently elected [[President of France]] later that year, a position he held until his resignation in 1969. He is widely considered the greatest Frenchman of the 20th century.

Born in [[Lille]], he was a decorated officer of [[World War I]], wounded several times and taken [[prisoner of war]] by the Germans. During the [[interwar period]], he advocated mobile armoured divisions. During the German invasion of May 1940, he led an armoured division that counterattacked the invaders; he was then appointed [[Undersecretary of State (France)|Undersecretary]] for War. Refusing to accept his government's [[Second Armistice at Compiègne|armistice with Germany]], de Gaulle fled to England and exhorted the French to continue the fight in his [[Appeal of 18 June]]. He led the Free French Forces and later headed the [[French National Liberation Committee]] and emerged as the undisputed leader of [[Free France]]. He became head of the [[Provisional Government of the French Republic]] in June 1944, the interim government of France following [[Liberation of France|its liberation]]. As early as 1944, de Gaulle introduced a [[dirigiste]] economic policy, which included substantial state-directed control over a capitalist economy, which was followed by 30 years of unprecedented growth, known as the ''[[Trente Glorieuses]]''. He resigned in 1946, but continued to be politically active as founder of the [[Rally of the French People]]. He retired in the early 1950s and wrote his ''War Memoirs'', which quickly became a staple of modern French literature.[[File:Charles de Gaulle, 1890-1970 (during 1910s).jpg|thumb|Charles de Gaulle, sometime in the 1900s |left]]

When the [[Algerian War]] threatened to bring the unstable [[French Fourth Republic|Fourth Republic]] to collapse, the [[National Assembly (France)|National Assembly]] brought him back to power during the [[May 1958 crisis]]. He founded the Fifth Republic with a strong presidency; he was [[1958 French presidential election|elected]] with 78% of the vote to continue in that role. He managed to keep France together while taking steps to end the war, much to the anger of the ''[[Pieds-Noirs]]'' {{gloss|mode=def|ethnic Europeans born in Algeria}} and the armed forces. He granted independence to Algeria and acted progressively towards other French colonies. In the context of the [[Cold War]], de Gaulle initiated his "politics of grandeur", asserting that France as a major power should not rely on other countries, such as the United States, for its national security and prosperity. To this end, he pursued a policy of "national independence" which led him to withdraw from [[NATO]]'s integrated military command and to launch an independent [[Force de dissuasion|nuclear strike force]] which made France the world's [[France and weapons of mass destruction|fourth nuclear power]]. He restored cordial [[France–Germany relations]] with [[Konrad Adenauer]] to create a European counterweight between the Anglo-American and Soviet spheres of influence through the signing of the [[Élysée Treaty]] on 22 January 1963.

De Gaulle opposed any development of a [[Supranational union|supranational Europe]], favouring Europe as a continent of [[sovereign nation]]s. De Gaulle openly criticised the [[Vietnam War|US intervention in Vietnam]] and the [[exorbitant privilege]] of the US dollar. In his later years, his support for the slogan "{{lang|fr|[[Vive le Québec libre]]}}" and his two vetoes of Britain's entry into the [[European Economic Community]] generated considerable controversy in both North America and Europe. Although reelected to the presidency in [[1965 French presidential election|1965]], he faced widespread protests by students and workers in [[May 68]] but had the Army's support and won [[1968 French legislative election|a snap election]] with an increased majority in the National Assembly. De Gaulle resigned in 1969 after losing a [[1969 French constitutional referendum|referendum]] in which he proposed more decentralisation. He died a year later at the age of 79, leaving his presidential memoirs unfinished. Many French political parties and leaders claim a [[Gaullist]] legacy; many streets and monuments in France and other parts of the world were [[List of things named after Charles de Gaulle|dedicated to his memory]] after his death.

== Early life ==
=== Childhood and origins ===
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was born on 22 November 1890 in [[Lille]], the third of five children.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archives.lille.fr/Document-du-moment/p282/1890-l-acte-de-naissance-de-Charles-de-Gaulle |title=1890: l'acte de naissance de Charles de Gaulle |trans-title=1890: Charles de Gaulle's birth certificate |website=Lille Municipal Archives |date=4 February 2016 |access-date=26 January 2021 |archive-date=26 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126001847/https://archives.lille.fr/Document-du-moment/p282/1890-l-acte-de-naissance-de-Charles-de-Gaulle |url-status=live }}</ref> He was raised in a devoutly [[Catholic]] and traditional family. His father, [[Henri de Gaulle]], was a professor of history and literature at a [[Jesuit]] college and eventually founded his own school.<ref name="Fenby-2010">{{cite book|last1=Fenby|first1=Jonathan|title=The General: Charles De Gaulle and the France He Saved|date=2010|publisher=Simon & Schuster|location=New York|isbn=978-1-84737-392-2}}</ref>{{RP|42–47}}

Henri de Gaulle came from a long line of parliamentary [[gentry]] from [[Normandy]] and [[Burgundy]].<ref name="Crawley-1969">{{cite book|last1=Crawley|first1=Aidan|title=De Gaulle: A Biography|date=1969|publisher=Bobbs-Merrill Co.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WBogAAAAMAAJ|isbn=978-0-00-211161-4|access-date=24 August 2020|archive-date=21 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200921103316/https://books.google.com/books?id=WBogAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>{{RP|13-16}}<ref name="Ledwidge p. 6">Ledwidge p. 6</ref> The name is thought to be [[Dutch language|Dutch]] in origin, and may have derived from ''van der Walle'', ''de Walle'' ("from the rampart, defensive wall") or ''de Waal'' ("the wall").<ref>Frans Debrabandere: Woordenboek van de familienamen in België en Noord-Frankrijk, L.J. Veen, 2003.</ref><ref name="Fenby-2010" />{{RP|42}} De Gaulle's mother, Jeanne (born Maillot), descended from a family of wealthy entrepreneurs from Lille. She had French, Irish, Scottish, and German ancestry.<ref name="Crawley-1969" />{{RP|13–16}}<ref name="Ledwidge p. 6" />

De Gaulle's father encouraged historical and philosophical debate between his children, and through his encouragement, de Gaulle learned French history from an early age. Struck by his mother's tales of how she cried as a child when she heard of the French capitulation to the Germans at [[Battle of Sedan (1870)|Sedan in 1870]], he developed a keen interest in military strategy. He was also influenced by his uncle, also named [[Charles de Gaulle (poet)|Charles de Gaulle]], who was a historian and passionate [[Celticist]] who advocated the union of the Welsh, Scots, Irish, and [[Bretons]] into one people. His grandfather Julien-Philippe was also a historian, and his grandmother Joséphine-Marie wrote poems which impassioned his Christian faith.<ref name="Schoenbrun">David Schoenbrun, ''The Three Lives of Charles de Gaulle'' (1966)</ref><ref name="Fenby-2010" />{{RP|42–47}}

=== Education and intellectual influences ===
De Gaulle began writing in his early teens, especially poetry; his family paid for a composition, a one-act verse play, to be privately published.<ref name="Pedley" /> A voracious reader, he favored philosophical tomes by such writers as [[Bergson]], [[Péguy]], and [[Barrès]]. In addition to the German philosophers [[Nietzsche]], [[Kant]], and [[Goethe]], he read the works of the ancient Greeks (especially [[Plato]]) and the prose of [[Chateaubriand]].<ref name="Pedley">Alan Pedley (1996) ''As Mighty as the Sword: A Study of the Writings of Charles de Gaulle''. pp. 170–72. Intellect Books; {{ISBN|978-0950259536}}.</ref>

De Gaulle was educated in Paris at the [[Collège Stanislas de Paris|Collège Stanislas]] and studied briefly in Belgium.<ref name="Fenby-2010" />{{RP|51–53}} At the age of fifteen he wrote an essay imagining "General de Gaulle" leading the French Army to victory over Germany in 1930; he later wrote that in his youth he had looked forward with somewhat naive anticipation to the inevitable future war with Germany to avenge the French defeat of 1870.<ref name="Lacouture 1991, p13">Lacouture 1991, p. 13</ref>

France during de Gaulle's adolescence was a divided society, with many developments which were unwelcome to the de Gaulle family: the growth of socialism and [[syndicalism]], the [[1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State|legal separation of Church and state in 1905]], and the reduction in the term of military service to two years. Equally unwelcome were the ''[[Entente Cordiale]]'' with Britain, the [[First Moroccan Crisis]], and above all the [[Dreyfus Affair]]. Henri de Gaulle came to be a supporter of Dreyfus, but was less concerned with his innocence ''per se'' than with the disgrace which the army had brought onto itself. The period also saw a resurgence in evangelical Catholicism, the dedication of the [[Sacré-Cœur, Paris]], and the rise of the cult of [[Joan of Arc]].<ref name="Fenby-2010" />{{RP|50–51}}<ref name="Lacouture 1991, p13" />

De Gaulle was not an outstanding pupil until his mid-teens, but from July 1906 he focused on winning a place at the military academy, [[École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr|Saint-Cyr]].<ref name="Lacouture 1991, pp9-10">Lacouture 1991, pp. 9–10</ref> [[Jean Lacouture]] suggests that de Gaulle joined the army, despite being more suited to a career as a writer and historian, partly to please his father and partly because it was one of the few unifying forces which represented the whole of French society.<ref name="Lacouture 1991, pp14-15">Lacouture 1991, pp. 14–15</ref> He later wrote that "when I entered the Army, it was one of the greatest things in the world",<ref name="Fenby-2010" />{{RP|51}} a claim which Lacouture points out needs to be treated with caution: the army's reputation was at a low. It was used extensively for strike-breaking and there were fewer than 700 applicants for Saint-Cyr in 1908, down from 2,000 at the turn of the century.<ref name="Lacouture 1991, pp14-15" />

== Early career ==
=== Officer cadet and lieutenant ===
[[File:Charles de Gaulle Saint-Cyrien.jpg|thumb|De Gaulle as a cadet in [[École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr|Saint-Cyr]], 1910]]
De Gaulle won a place at Saint-Cyr in 1909. His class ranking was mediocre (119th out of 221).<ref name="Lacouture 1991, pp9-10" /> Under a law of 21 March 1905, aspiring army officers were required to serve a year in the ranks, including time as a private and as an [[non-commissioned officer|NCO]], before attending the academy. Accordingly, in October 1909, de Gaulle enlisted (for four years, as required, rather than the normal two-year term for [[Conscription in France|conscripts]]) in the {{ill|33rd Infantry Regiment (France)|fr|33e régiment d'infanterie|lt=33rd Infantry Regiment}} of the [[French Army]], based at Arras.<ref name="Lacouture 1991, p16-17">Lacouture 1991, pp. 16–17</ref> This was a historic regiment with [[Battle of Austerlitz|Austerlitz]], [[Battle of Wagram|Wagram]], and [[Borodino]] amongst its battle honours.<ref>Lacouture 1991, p. 16</ref> In April 1910 he was promoted to corporal. His company commander declined to promote him to sergeant, the usual rank for a potential officer, commenting that the young man clearly felt that nothing less than [[Constable of France]] would be good enough for him.<ref>Fenby writes that he did promote him to sergeant at this point, which does not tally with Lacouture and other more detailed accounts</ref><ref name="Lacouture 1991, p16-17" /> He was eventually promoted to sergeant in September 1910.<ref name="charles-de-gaulle.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.charles-de-gaulle.org/pages/l-homme/dossiers-thematiques/1890-1940-la-genese/la-grande-guerre/reperes/chronologie-1909-1918.php|title=Chronologie 1909–1918|publisher=charles-de-gaulle.org|access-date=14 January 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307082919/http://www.charles-de-gaulle.org/pages/l-homme/dossiers-thematiques/1890-1940-la-genese/la-grande-guerre/reperes/chronologie-1909-1918.php|archive-date=7 March 2016}}</ref>

De Gaulle took up his place at Saint-Cyr in October 1910. By the end of his first year he had risen to 45th place.<ref>Lacouture 1991, p. 19</ref> He was nicknamed "the great asparagus" because of his height (196&nbsp;cm, 6'5"), high forehead, and nose.<ref name="Fenby-2010" />{{RP|301}} He did well at the academy and received praise for his conduct, manners, intelligence, character, military spirit, and resistance to fatigue. In 1912, he graduated 13th in his class<ref>{{cite web | url=http://spartacus-educational.com/2WWdegaulle.htm | title=Charles de Gaulle | access-date=16 April 2018 | archive-date=2 May 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502124824/https://spartacus-educational.com/2WWdegaulle.htm | url-status=live }}</ref> and his passing-out report noted that he was a gifted cadet who would undoubtedly make an excellent officer. The future Marshal [[Alphonse Juin]] was first in the class, although the two do not appear to have been close at the time.<ref name="Lacouture 1991, p21">Lacouture 1991, p. 21</ref>

Preferring to serve in France rather than the overseas colonies, in October 1912 he rejoined the 33rd Infantry Regiment as a [[Ranks in the French Army#Sous-lieutenant|second lieutenant]]. The regiment was now commanded by Colonel (and future Marshal) [[Philippe Pétain]], whom de Gaulle would follow for the next 15 years. He later wrote in his memoirs: "My first colonel, Pétain, taught me the art of command".{{r|time19590105}}<ref name="Lacouture 1991, p21" />

It has been claimed that in the build-up to [[World War I]], de Gaulle agreed with Pétain about the obsolescence of cavalry and of traditional tactics, and often debated great battles and the likely outcome of any coming war with his superior.<ref name=Schoenbrun /> Lacouture is sceptical, pointing out that although Pétain wrote glowing appraisals of de Gaulle in 1913, it is unlikely that he stood out among the 19 captains and 32 lieutenants under his command. De Gaulle would have been present at the 1913 Arras manoeuvres, at which Pétain criticised General {{ill|Marie Alexandre Émile Hippolyte Gallet|fr|lt=Gallet}} to his face, but there is no evidence in his notebooks that he accepted Pétain's unfashionable ideas about the importance of firepower against the dominant doctrine emphasizing "[[Attaque à outrance|offensive spirit]]". De Gaulle stressed how [[Maurice de Saxe]] had banned volley fire, how French armies of the [[Napoleonic period]] had relied on infantry column attack, and how French military power had declined in the nineteenth century because of – supposedly – excessive concentration on firepower rather than ''[[:wikt:élan|élan]]''. He also appears to have accepted the then-fashionable lesson drawn from the recent [[Russo-Japanese War]] of how bayonet charges by Japanese infantry with high morale had succeeded in the face of enemy firepower.<ref>Lacouture 1991, pp. 21–5</ref>

De Gaulle was promoted to first lieutenant in October 1913.<ref>Lacouture 1991, pp. 24–5</ref>

==World War I==
{{Main|Battle of Dinant|First Battle of Champagne|Battle of Verdun}}

===Combat commander===
[[File:CDG Pont Dinant.JPG|thumb|right|A plaque in [[Dinant]] commemorating the place where Charles de Gaulle, then an infantry lieutenant, was wounded in 1914]]

When war broke out in France in early August 1914, the 33rd Regiment, considered one of the best fighting units in France, was immediately thrown into checking the German advance at [[Dinant]]. However, the [[French Fifth Army]] commander, General [[Charles Lanrezac]], remained wedded to 19th-century battle tactics, throwing his units into pointless bayonet charges against German artillery, incurring heavy losses.<ref name=Schoenbrun />

As a platoon commander, de Gaulle was involved in fierce fighting from the outset. He received his [[Baptism by fire#Military usage|baptism of fire]] on 15 August and was among the first to be wounded, receiving a bullet in the knee at the [[Battle of Dinant]].<ref name="charles-de-gaulle.org" /><ref name="Fenby-2010" />{{RP|58}} It is sometimes claimed that in hospital, he grew bitter at the tactics used, and spoke with other injured officers against the outdated methods of the French army. However, there is no contemporary evidence that he understood the importance of artillery in modern warfare. Instead, in his writing at the time, he criticised the "overrapid" offensive, the inadequacy of French generals, and the "slowness of the English troops".<ref>Lacouture 1991, p. 31</ref>

He rejoined his regiment in October, as commander of the 7th [[Company (military unit)|company]]. Many of his former comrades were already dead. In December he became regimental [[adjutant]].<ref name="charles-de-gaulle.org" />

De Gaulle's unit gained recognition for repeatedly crawling out into [[no man's land]] to listen to the conversations of the enemy, and the information brought back was so valuable that on 18 January 1915 he received the [[Croix de guerre 1914–1918 (France)|Croix de Guerre]]. On 10 February he was promoted to captain, initially on probation.<ref name="charles-de-gaulle.org" /> On 10 March 1915, at the [[First Battle of Champagne]], de Gaulle was shot in the left hand, a wound which initially seemed trivial but became infected.<ref>Lacouture 1991, p. 34</ref> The wound incapacitated him for four months and later forced him to wear his wedding ring on the right hand.<ref name="Fenby-2010" />{{RP|61}}<ref name="charles-de-gaulle.org" /><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4wIi-48RIaQC&pg=PT71|title=Yvonne de Gaulle|isbn=978-2-213-66087-5|page=71|last1=Neau-Dufour|first1=Frédérique|date=2010|publisher=Fayard |access-date=18 April 2016|archive-date=14 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211214235847/https://books.google.com/books?id=4wIi-48RIaQC&pg=PT71|url-status=live}}</ref> In August he commanded the 10th company before returning to duty as regimental adjutant. On 3 September 1915 his rank of captain became permanent. In late October, he returned to command of 10th company.<ref name="charles-de-gaulle.org" />

As a company commander at [[Douaumont]] (during the [[Battle of Verdun]]) on 2 March 1916, while leading a charge to try to break out of a position which had become surrounded, he received a bayonet wound to the left thigh after being stunned by a shell and was captured after passing out from the effects of poison gas. He was one of the few survivors of his battalion.<ref name="Jean Lacouture 1990 pp 42">Jean Lacouture, ''De Gaulle: The Rebel, 1890–1944'' (1990) pp. 42–54.</ref><ref name="charles-de-gaulle.org" /><ref name="Fenby-2010" />{{RP|63}} The circumstances of his capture would later become a subject of debate as [[anti-Gaullists]] spread rumour that he had actually surrendered, a claim de Gaulle nonchalantly dismissed.<ref>The General: Charles de Gaulle and the France He Saved (p. 64)</ref>

=== Prisoner ===
[[File:De Gaulle 1916.jpg|thumb|Captain De Gaulle (right) with another French [[POW]]]]
De Gaulle spent 32 months in six different prisoner camps, but he spent most time in the {{Interlanguage link|Fort Prinz Karl|lt=Ingolstadt Fortress|de|vertical-align=sup}},{{r|jackson2018}}{{rp|40}} where his treatment was satisfactory.<ref name="Jean Lacouture 1990 pp 42" />

In captivity, de Gaulle read German newspapers (he had learned German at school and spent a summer vacation in Germany) and gave talks on his view of the conflict to fellow prisoners. His patriotic fervour and confidence in victory earned him the nickname ''Le Connétable'' ("[[Constable of France|The Constable]]"), the title of the medieval commander-in-chief of the French army.<ref name="Ledwidge">Ledwidge p. 24</ref> In [[Ingolstadt]] were also journalist [[Remy Roure]], who would eventually become a political ally of de Gaulle,<ref>{{cite web|title=Rémy ROURE|url=https://www.ordredelaliberation.fr/fr/compagnons/remy-roure|access-date=29 September 2020|website=Musée de l'Ordre de la Libération|language=fr|archive-date=8 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200808032744/https://www.ordredelaliberation.fr/fr/compagnons/remy-roure|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Cordier|first=Daniel|title=Jean Moulin; la République des catacombes.}}</ref> and [[Mikhail Tukhachevsky]], a future commander of the [[Red Army]]. De Gaulle became acquainted with Tukhachevsky, whose [[deep operations|theories]] about a fast-moving, mechanized army closely resembled his. He also wrote his first book, ''Discorde chez l'ennemi (The Enemy's House Divided)'', analysing the divisions within the German forces. The book was published in 1924.<ref name="Fenby-2010" />{{RP|83}}

Originally interned at [[Rosenberg Fortress]], he was quickly moved to progressively higher-security facilities like Ingolstadt. De Gaulle made five unsuccessful escape attempts,<ref name="charles-de-gaulle.org" /> and was routinely punished with long periods of solitary confinement and the withdrawal of privileges such as newspapers and tobacco. He attempted escape by hiding in a laundry basket, digging a tunnel, digging through a wall, and even posing as a nurse.<ref>The General: Charles de Gaulle and the France He Saved (pp. 62–67)</ref>{{r|time19590105}} In letters to his parents, he constantly spoke of his frustration that the war was continuing without him. As the war neared its end, he grew depressed that he was playing no part in the victory, but he remained in captivity until the [[Armistice with Germany|armistice]]. On 1 December 1918, three weeks later, he returned to his father's house in the [[Dordogne]] to be reunited with his three brothers, who had all also served in the army.

== Between the wars ==
=== Early 1920s: Poland and staff college ===
[[File:Charles de Gaulle en Pologne.jpg|thumb|left|De Gaulle during the mission to Poland, c. 1920]]
After the armistice, de Gaulle served with the staff of the [[French Military Mission to Poland]] as an instructor of Poland's infantry during its [[Polish-Soviet War|war with communist Russia]] (1919–1921). He distinguished himself in operations near the [[Zbrucz|River Zbrucz]], with the rank of major in the Polish army, and won Poland's highest military decoration, the [[Virtuti Militari]].<ref name="Fenby-2010" />{{RP|71–74}}
[[File:Charles de Gaulle vers 1922-1924.jpg|thumb|right|De Gaulle at the [[École supérieure de guerre]], between 1922 and 1924]]

De Gaulle returned to France, where he became a lecturer in military history at Saint-Cyr.<ref>Lacouture 1991, p. 64</ref> He studied at the ''[[École de Guerre]]'' (staff college) from November 1922 to October 1924. Here he clashed with his instructor Colonel Moyrand by arguing for tactics based on circumstances rather than doctrine, and after an exercise in which he had played the role of commander, he refused to answer a question about supplies, replying ''"de minimis non curat [[praetor]]"'' (roughly: "a leader does not concern himself with trivia") before ordering the responsible officer to answer Moyrand.

He obtained respectable, but not outstanding grades on many of his assessments. Moyrand wrote in his final report that he was "an intelligent, cultured and serious-minded officer; has brilliance and talent" but criticised him for not deriving as much benefit from the course as he should have, and for his arrogance: his "excessive self-confidence", his harsh dismissal of the views of others "and his attitude of a King in exile". Having entered 33rd out of 129, he graduated in 52nd place, with a grade of ''assez bien'' ("good enough"). He was posted to [[Mainz]] to help supervise supplies of food and equipment for the [[Occupation of the Rhineland|French Army of Occupation]].<ref>Lacouture 1991, pp. 66–71, 213–5</ref><ref name="Fenby-2010" />{{RP|82}}
De Gaulle's book ''La Discorde chez l'ennemi'' had appeared in March 1924. In March 1925 he published an essay on the use of tactics according to circumstances, a deliberate defiance of Moyrand.<ref>Lacouture 1991, pp. 71–2</ref>

=== Mid-1920s: Ghostwriter for Pétain ===
De Gaulle's career was saved by Pétain, who arranged for his staff college grade to be amended to ''bien'' ("good"—but not the "excellent" needed for a general staff posting).<ref name="Fenby-2010" />{{RP|82–83}} From 1 July 1925 he worked for Pétain (as part of the ''[[Maison Pétain]]''), largely as a "pen officer" ([[ghostwriter]]).<ref name="Lacouture 1991, p77-86">Lacouture 1991, pp. 77–86</ref> De Gaulle disapproved of Pétain's decision to take command in Morocco in 1925 (he was later known to remark that "Marshal Pétain was a great man. He died in 1925, but he did not know it") and of what he saw as the lust for public adulation of Pétain and his wife. In 1925 de Gaulle began to cultivate [[Joseph Paul-Boncour]], his first [[Political patronage|political patron]].<ref>Lacouture 1991, p. 80</ref> On 1 December 1925 he published an essay on the "Historical Role of French Fortresses". This was a popular topic because of the [[Maginot Line]] which was then being planned, but he argued that the aim of fortresses should be to weaken the enemy, not to economise on defence.<ref name="Lacouture 1991, p77-86" />

Friction arose between de Gaulle and Pétain over ''Le Soldat'', a history of the French soldier which he had ghost-written and for which he wanted greater writing credit. He had written mainly historical material, but Pétain wanted to add a final chapter of his own thoughts. There was at least one stormy meeting late in 1926 after which de Gaulle was seen to emerge, white with anger, from Pétain's office.<ref name="Lacouture 1991, p84-7">Lacouture 1991, pp. 84–7</ref> In October 1926 he returned to his duties with the Headquarters of the Army of the Rhine.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.charles-de-gaulle.org/pages/l-homme/dossiers-thematiques/1890-1940-la-genese/un-officier-non-conformiste/reperes/chronologie-1921-1939.php|title=Chronologie 1921–1939|publisher=charles-de-gaulle.org|access-date=14 January 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303234832/http://www.charles-de-gaulle.org/pages/l-homme/dossiers-thematiques/1890-1940-la-genese/un-officier-non-conformiste/reperes/chronologie-1921-1939.php|archive-date=3 March 2016}}</ref>

De Gaulle had sworn that he would never return to the ''École de Guerre'' except as commandant, but at Pétain's invitation, and introduced to the stage by his patron, he delivered three lectures there in April 1927: "Leadership in Wartime", "Character", and "Prestige". These later formed the basis for his book ''The Edge of the Sword'' (1932).<ref name="Lacouture 1991, p88">Lacouture 1991, p. 88</ref>

=== Late-1920s: Trier and Beirut ===
After spending twelve years as a captain, a normal period, de Gaulle was promoted to ''[[Ranks in the French Army#Commandant|commandant]]'' (major) on 25 September 1927.<ref name="Lacouture 1991, p88" /> In November 1927 he began a two-year posting as commanding officer of the 19th ''[[Chasseur#Chasseurs à pied|chasseurs à pied]]'' (a [[battalion]] of elite light infantry) with the occupation forces at [[Trier]].<ref>Lacouture 1991, p. 84</ref><ref name="Fenby-2010" />{{RP|94}}

De Gaulle trained his men hard (a river crossing exercise of the freezing [[Moselle River]] at night was vetoed by his commanding general). He imprisoned a soldier for appealing to his [[Member of Parliament (France)|deputy]] for a transfer to a cushier unit, and when investigated initially tried to invoke his status as a member of the ''Maison Pétain'', eventually appealing to Pétain to protect himself from a reprimand for interfering with the soldier's political rights. An observer wrote of de Gaulle at this time that although he encouraged young officers, "his ego...glowed from far off". In the winter of 1928–1929, thirty soldiers ("not counting [[Annam (French protectorate)|Annamese]]") died from so-called "German flu", seven of them from de Gaulle's battalion. After an investigation, he was singled out for praise in the ensuing parliamentary debate as an exceptionally capable commanding officer, and mention of how he had worn a mourning band for a private soldier who was an orphan earned praise from the Prime Minister [[Raymond Poincaré]].<ref>Lacouture 1991, pp. 90–2</ref>

The breach between de Gaulle and Pétain over the ghost-writing of ''Le Soldat'' had deepened in 1928. Pétain brought in a new ghostwriter, Colonel Audet, who was unwilling to take on the job and wrote to de Gaulle in some embarrassment to take over the project. Pétain was quite friendly about the matter but did not publish the book.<ref>Lacouture 1991, pp. 84–7, 213–5</ref> In 1929 Pétain did not use de Gaulle's draft text for his eulogy for the late [[Ferdinand Foch]], whose seat at the ''[[Académie Française]]'' he was assuming.<ref name="Lacouture 1991, p84-7" />

The Allied occupation of the Rhineland was ending, and de Gaulle's battalion was due to be disbanded, although the decision was later rescinded after he had moved to his next posting. De Gaulle wanted a teaching post at the ''École de Guerre'' in 1929.<ref>Lacouture 1991, pp. 92–3</ref> There was apparently a threat of mass resignation of the faculty were he appointed. There was talk of a posting to Corsica or North Africa, but on Pétain's advice he accepted a two-year posting to [[French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon|Lebanon and Syria]].<ref name="Fenby-2010" />{{RP|93–94}} In Beirut he was chief of the 3rd Bureau (military operations) of General Louis-Paul-Gaston de Bigault du Granrut, who wrote him a glowing reference recommending him for high command.<ref name="Lacouture 1991, pp99-100">Lacouture 1991, pp. 99–100</ref>

=== 1930s: Staff officer ===
In the spring of 1931, as his posting in Beirut drew to a close, de Gaulle once again asked Pétain for a posting to the ''École de Guerre''. Pétain tried to obtain an appointment for him as Professor of History there, but once again the faculty would not have him. Instead de Gaulle, drawing on plans he had drawn up in 1928 for reform of that institution, asked Pétain to create a special post for him which would enable him to lecture on "the Conduct of War" both to the ''École de Guerre'' and to the ''Centre des Hautes Études Militaires'' (CHEM – a senior staff college for generals, known as the "school for marshals"), to civilians at the ''[[École Normale Supérieure]]'', and to civil servants.<ref name="Lacouture 1991, p99, p118">Lacouture 1991, pp. 99, 118</ref>

Pétain instead advised him to apply for a posting to the ''Secrétariat Général du Conseil Supérieur de la Défense Nationale'' (SGDN – General Secretariat of the Supreme War Council) in Paris. Pétain promised to lobby for the appointment, which he thought would be good experience for him. De Gaulle was posted to SGDN in November 1931, initially as a "drafting officer".<ref name="Lacouture 1991, p99, p118" /><ref name="Fenby-2010" />{{RP|94}}

He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in December 1932 and appointed Head of the Third Section (operations). His service at SGDN gave him six years' experience of the interface between army planning and government, enabling him to take on ministerial responsibilities in 1940.<ref name="Fenby-2010" />{{RP|97}}<ref>Lacouture 1991, pp. 105, 119 – Lacouture gives the date of this promotion both as December 1932 (the date favoured by most accounts) and December 1933</ref>

After studying arrangements in the US, Italy, and Belgium, de Gaulle drafted a bill for the organisation of the country in wartime. He made a presentation about his bill to the CHEM. The bill passed the Chamber of Deputies but failed in the Senate.<ref name="Lacouture 1991, p125">Lacouture 1991, p. 125</ref>

=== Early 1930s: Proponent of armoured warfare ===
Unlike Pétain, de Gaulle believed in the use of tanks and rapid maneuvers rather than trench warfare.<ref name="Fenby-2010" />{{RP|108}} De Gaulle became a disciple of Émile Mayer, a retired lieutenant-colonel (his career had been damaged by the [[Dreyfus Affair]]) and military thinker. Mayer thought that although wars were still bound to happen, it was "obsolete" for civilised countries to threaten or wage war on one another. He had a low opinion of French generals, and was a critic of the [[Maginot Line]] and a proponent of mechanised warfare. Lacouture suggests that Mayer focused de Gaulle's thoughts away from his obsession with the mystique of the strong leader (''Le Fil d'Epée'': 1932) and back to loyalty to Republican institutions and military reform.<ref>Lacouture 1991, pp. 114–7, 131, 154.</ref>

In 1934 de Gaulle wrote ''Vers l'Armée de Métier'' (''Towards a Professional Army''). He proposed mechanization of the infantry, with stress on an élite force of 100,000 men and 3,000 tanks. The book imagined tanks driving around the country like cavalry. De Gaulle's mentor Emile Mayer was somewhat more prophetic than he was about the future importance of air power on the battlefield. Such an army would both compensate for France's population shortage, and be an efficient tool to enforce international law, particularly the [[Treaty of Versailles]]. He also thought it would be a precursor to a deeper national reorganisation, and wrote that "a master has to make his appearance [...] whose orders cannot be challenged – a man upheld by public opinion".<ref>Lacouture 1991, pp. 133–5.</ref>

Only 700 copies were sold in France; the claim that thousands of copies were sold in Germany<ref name="time19590105">''See, e.g.,'' {{cite news|title=Charles de Gaulle|url=http://www.time.com/time/subscriber/personoftheyear/archive/stories/1958.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070112102142/http://www.time.com/time/subscriber/personoftheyear/archive/stories/1958.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 January 2007|newspaper=Time|date=5 January 1959}}</ref> is thought to be an exaggeration. De Gaulle used the book to widen his contacts among journalists, notably with André Pironneau, editor of ''[[L'Écho de Paris]]''. The book attracted praise across the political spectrum, apart from the hard left who were committed to the Republican ideal of a citizen army.<ref>Lacouture 1991, p. 136.</ref> De Gaulle's views attracted the attention of the maverick politician [[Paul Reynaud]], to whom he wrote frequently, sometimes in obsequious terms. Reynaud first invited him to meet him on 5 December 1934.<ref>Lacouture 1991, pp. 139–146.</ref>

De Gaulle was deeply focused on his career at this time. There is no evidence that he was tempted by fascism, and there is little evidence of his views either on domestic upheavals in [[6 February 1934 crisis|1934]] and [[1936 French legislative election|1936]] or the many foreign policy crises of the decade.<ref>Lacouture 1991, pp. 127–128, 143–144.</ref> He approved of the rearmament drive which the [[Popular Front (France)|Popular Front]] government began in 1936, although French military doctrine remained that tanks should be used in penny packets for infantry support (ironically, in 1940 it would be German panzer units that would be used in a manner similar to what de Gaulle had advocated).<ref>Lacouture 1991, p. 144.</ref> A rare insight into de Gaulle's political views is a letter to his mother warning that war with Germany was inevitable and reassuring her that [[Pierre Laval]]'s [[Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance|pact with the USSR in 1935]] was for the best, likening it to [[Francis I of France|Francis I]]'s [[Franco-Ottoman alliance|alliance with the Turks]] against [[Emperor Charles V]].<ref>Lacouture 1991, p. 127.</ref>

=== Late 1930s: Tank regiment ===
From April 1936, whilst still in his staff position at SGDN, de Gaulle was a lecturer to generals at CHEM.<ref name="Lacouture 1991, p125" /> De Gaulle's superiors disapproved of his views about tanks, and he was passed over for promotion to full colonel in 1936, supposedly because his service record was not good enough. He called on his political patron Reynaud, who showed his record to Minister of War [[Édouard Daladier]]. Daladier, who was an enthusiast for rearmament with modern weapons, ensured that his name was on the promotion list for the following year.<ref name="Fenby-2010" />{{RP|109}}<ref>Lacouture 1991, pp. 147–148</ref>

In 1937 General Bineau, who had taught him at Saint-Cyr, wrote on his report on his lectureship at CHEM that he was highly able and suitable for high command in the future, but that he hid his attributes under "a cold and lofty attitude".<ref name="Lacouture 1991, p125" /> He was put in command of the 507th Tank Regiment (a battalion of medium [[Char D2]]s and a battalion of [[Renault R35|R35 light tanks]]) at [[Metz]] on 13 July 1937, and his promotion to full colonel took effect on 24 December that year. De Gaulle attracted public attention by leading a parade of 80 tanks into the Place d'Armes at Metz, in his command tank "[[Battle of Austerlitz|Austerlitz]]".<ref>Lacouture 1991, pp. 149–150, 169</ref>

By now de Gaulle was becoming a well-known figure, known as "Colonel Motor(s)".<ref name="Fenby-2010" />{{RP|117}} At the invitation of the publisher [[Plon (publisher)|Plon]], he produced another book, ''La France et son Armée (France and Her Army)'' in 1938. De Gaulle incorporated much of the text he had written for Pétain a decade earlier for the uncompleted book ''Le Soldat'', to Pétain's displeasure. De Gaulle agreed to include a dedication to Pétain (although he wrote his own rather than using the draft Pétain sent him), which was dropped from postwar editions. Until 1938 Pétain had treated de Gaulle, as Lacouture puts it, "with unbounded good will", but by October 1938 he privately thought his former protégé "an ambitious man, and very ill-bred".<ref>Lacouture 1991, pp. 157–165, 213–215</ref>

== World War II ==
{{Main|Charles de Gaulle during World War II}}

=== Division commander ===
{{Main|Saar Offensive|4th Armored Division (France, 1940)}}

At the outbreak of World War II, de Gaulle was put in command of the French [[Fifth Army (France)|Fifth Army]]'s tanks (five scattered battalions, largely equipped with [[Renault R35|R35 light tanks]]) under General [[Victor Bourret]] in Alsace. On 12 September 1939 he attacked at [[Bitche]], simultaneously with the [[Saar Offensive]].<ref>Lacouture 1991, pp. 149, 169</ref><ref name="Fenby-2010" />{{RP|118}}

At the start of October 1939, Reynaud asked for a staff posting under de Gaulle, but remained at his post as Minister of Finance. De Gaulle's tanks were inspected by [[Albert Lebrun|President Lebrun]], who was impressed, but regretted that it was too late to implement his ideas.<ref>Lacouture 1991, p. 170</ref> He wrote a paper ''L'Avènement de la force mécanique (The coming of the Armoured Force)'' which he sent to [[Alphonse Joseph Georges|General Georges]] (commander-in-chief on the northeast front – who was not especially impressed) and the politician [[Leon Blum]]. Daladier, Prime Minister at the time, was too busy to read it.<ref>Lacouture 1991, p. 171</ref>

In late February 1940, Reynaud told de Gaulle that he had been earmarked for command of an armoured division as soon as one became available.<ref>Lacouture 1991, pp. 174–5</ref> Early in 1940 (the exact date is uncertain), de Gaulle proposed to Reynaud that he be appointed Secretary-General of the War Council, which would in effect make him the government's military adviser. When Reynaud became prime minister in March, he was reliant on Daladier's backing, so the job went instead to the politician [[Paul Baudouin]].<ref>Lacouture 1991, p. 175</ref> In late March, Reynaud told de Gaulle that he would be given command of the [[4e Division cuirassée|4th Armoured Division]], due to form by 15 May.<ref>Lacouture 1991, p. 177</ref> The government appeared likely to be restructured, as Daladier and [[Maurice Gamelin]] (commander-in-chief) were under attack in the aftermath of the [[Norwegian campaign|Allied defeat in Norway]], and had this happened de Gaulle, who on 3 May, was still lobbying Reynaud for a restructuring of the control of the war, might well have joined the government.<ref name="Lacouture 1991, p178">Lacouture 1991, p. 178</ref> By 7 May he was assembling the staff of his new division.<ref name="Lacouture 1991, pp180-1">Lacouture 1991, pp. 180–1</ref>

=== Battle of France ===
{{Main|Battle of France|Battle of Montcornet|Battle of Abbeville}}

The Germans [[Manstein Plan|attacked the West on 10 May]].<ref name="Lacouture 1991, p178" /> De Gaulle activated his new division on 12 May.<ref name="Lacouture 1991, pp180-1" /> The Germans broke through at [[Battle of Sedan (1940)|Sedan]] on 15 May 1940.<ref name="CDG">{{cite web|author=Brad DeLong|title=Charles de Gaulle|url=http://econ161.berkeley.edu/TCEH/charlesdegaulle.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060107012026/http://econ161.berkeley.edu/TCEH/charlesdegaulle.html|archive-date=7 January 2006|publisher=University of California at Berkeley|date=29 May 2000}}</ref> That day, with three tank battalions assembled, less than a third of his paper strength, he was summoned to headquarters and told to attack to gain time for General Robert Touchon's [[Sixth Army (France)|Sixth Army]] to redeploy from the Maginot Line to the Aisne. General Georges told him it was his chance to implement his ideas.<ref>Lacouture 1991, pp. 180–2</ref>{{r|time19590105}}

De Gaulle attacked the German-held village at [[Battle of Montcornet|Montcornet]], a key road junction near Laon. The attack began around 04:30 on 17 May. Outnumbered and without air support, he lost 23 of his 90 vehicles to mines, anti-tank weapons, and [[Stuka]]s. On 18 May he was reinforced by two fresh regiments of armoured cavalry, bringing his strength to 150 vehicles. He attacked again on 19 May and his forces were once again devastated. He ignored orders from General Georges to withdraw, and in the early afternoon demanded two more divisions from Touchon, who refused.<ref>Lacouture 1991, pp. 180–3, 213–5, in a list of acts of insubordination committed by de Gaulle prior to 18 June 1940, Lacouture mentions a demand on 25 May 1940 that he be given command of an extra two or three divisions to mount a stronger attack. This does not appear in the more detailed narrative and it is not clear whether it is a confusion of the events on 19 May.</ref> Although de Gaulle's tanks forced German infantry to retreat to [[Caumont-sur-Durance|Caumont]], the action brought only temporary relief and did little to slow the spearhead of the German advance. Nevertheless, it was one of the few successes the French enjoyed while suffering defeats across the country.<ref name="Ledwidge p. 50-52">Ledwidge pp. 50–52</ref><ref name="Lacouture 1991, p180-3">Lacouture 1991, pp. 180–3</ref>

He delayed his retreat until 20 May. On 21 May, at the request of propaganda officers, he gave a talk on French radio about his recent attack.{{sfn|Lacouture|1991|p=183}} In recognition for his efforts de Gaulle was promoted to the rank of [[Brigade general#France|brigadier-general]] on 23 May 1940. Later, De Gaulle attacked the German bridgehead at [[Battle of Abbeville|Abbeville]] on 28–29 May, taking around 300 German prisoners in the last attempt to cut an escape route for the Allied forces.{{sfn|Lacouture|1991|p=184}}<ref name="Fenby-2010" />{{RP|127}}

De Gaulle's rank of brigadier-general became effective on 1 June 1940.<ref name="Fenby-2010" />{{RP|127}} That day he was in Paris. After visiting his tailor to be fitted for his general's uniform, he met Reynaud, who appears to have offered him a government job for the first time, and afterwards the commander-in-chief [[Maxime Weygand]], who congratulated him on saving France's honour and asked for his advice.<ref name="Lacouture 1991, p187">Lacouture 1991, p. 187</ref> On 2 June he sent a memo to Weygand vainly urging that the French armoured divisions be consolidated from four weak divisions into three stronger ones and concentrated into an armoured [[corps]] under his command. He made the same suggestion to Reynaud.<ref name="Lacouture 1991, p187" />

==== Government minister ====
On 5 June, the day the Germans began the second phase of their offensive ''([[Fall Rot]])'', Prime Minister Paul Reynaud appointed de Gaulle Under-Secretary of State for [[Minister of Defence (France)|National Defence and War]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9616752j/f2|title=Présidence du conseil: ministres et sous-secrétaires d'Etat|date=6 June 1940|website=gallica.bnf.fr|publisher=Government of the French Republic|access-date=24 September 2021|archive-date=24 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210924125737/https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9616752j/f2|url-status=live}}</ref> with particular responsibility for coordination with the British.<ref>{{cite web|title=Cabinet Paul Reynaud|publisher=Assemblée Nationale Française|year=2008|url=http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/histoire/gvt3rep.asp#paulreynaud|access-date=2 November 2008|archive-date=25 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140225090000/http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/histoire/gvt3rep.asp#paulreynaud|url-status=live}}</ref> Weygand objected to the appointment, thinking him "a mere child".<ref name="Lacouture 1991, p190">Lacouture 1991, p. 190</ref> Pétain (deputy prime minister) was also displeased and told Reynaud the story of the ghost-writing of ''Le Soldat''.<ref name="Lacouture 1991, p190" /> His appointment received a good deal of press attention, both in France and in the UK. He asked for an English-speaking aide and [[Geoffroy Chodron de Courcel]] was given the job.<ref>Lacouture 1991, p. 191</ref>

On 8 June, de Gaulle visited Weygand, who believed it was "the end" and that after France was defeated Britain would soon sue for peace.<ref>Lacouture 1991, p. 193. Weygand later disputed the accuracy of de Gaulle's account of this conversation, and remarked on its similarity to a dialogue by [[Pierre Corneille]]. Lacouture suggests that de Gaulle's account is consistent with other evidence of Weygand's beliefs at the time and is therefore, allowing perhaps for a little literary embellishment, broadly plausible.</ref> A day later, de Gaulle flew to London and met British Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] for the first time. It was thought that half a million men could be evacuated to [[French North Africa]], provided the British and French navies and air forces coordinated their efforts. Either at this meeting or on 16 June, he urged Churchill in vain to throw more [[Royal Air Force]] (RAF) aircraft into the Battle of France but conceded that Churchill was right to refuse.<ref>Lacouture 1991, p. 194</ref>

On 11 June, de Gaulle drove to Arcis-sur-Aube and offered General [[Charles Huntziger]] Weygand's job as Commander-in-Chief. Huntziger accepted in principle, but de Gaulle was unable to persuade Reynaud to sack Weygand.<ref name="Lacouture 1991, pp195-6">Lacouture 1991, pp. 195–196</ref> On 13 June, de Gaulle attended another Anglo-French conference at Tours with Churchill, [[Lord Halifax]], [[Lord Beaverbrook]], [[Edward Spears]], [[Hastings Ismay, 1st Baron Ismay|Sir Hastings Ismay]], and [[Sir Alexander Cadogan]].<ref>Lacouture 1991, pp. 198–200, 238</ref> De Gaulle was dissuaded from resigning by the Interior Minister [[Georges Mandel]], who argued that the war was just beginning, and that de Gaulle needed to keep his reputation unsullied.<ref name="Lacouture 1991, p201">Lacouture 1991, p. 201</ref> Nevertheless, at around 9:00 on 17 June, de Gaulle flew to London on a British aircraft with Spears. De Gaulle later told [[André Malraux]] of the mental anguish which his flight to London – a break with the French Army and with the recognised government, which would inevitably be seen as treason by many – had caused him.<ref>Lacouture 1991, pp. 211–6</ref>

=== Leader of the Free French in exile ===
{{See also|Free France}}

==== Appeal from London ====
[[File:De-gaulle-radio.jpg|thumb|left|General de Gaulle speaking on [[BBC Radio]] during the war]]De Gaulle landed at [[Heston Airport]] soon after 12:30 on 17 June 1940. He saw Churchill at around 15:00 and Churchill offered him broadcast time on BBC. They both knew about Pétain's broadcast earlier that day that stated that "the fighting must end" and that he had approached the Germans for terms. That evening de Gaulle dined with Jean Monnet and denounced Pétain's "treason".<ref name="jackson2018">{{Cite book |last=Jackson |first=Julian |title=A Certain Idea of France: The Life of Charles de Gaulle |publisher=Allen Lane |year=2018 |isbn=9780674987210 |location=London}}</ref>{{rp|125–128}} The next day the British Cabinet (Churchill was not present, as it was the day of his [[This was their finest hour|"Finest Hour" speech]]) were reluctant to agree to de Gaulle's giving a radio address, as Britain was still in communication with the Pétain government about the fate of the French fleet. [[Duff Cooper]] (minister of information) had an advance copy of the address, to which there were no objections. The cabinet eventually agreed after individual lobbying, as indicated by a handwritten amendment to the cabinet minutes.<ref>Lacouture 1991, pp. 221–223</ref><ref name="CDG" />{{break}}
[[File:De Gaulle shot0064.png|thumb|General de Gaulle reviews [[Free French Air Forces|Free French Air Forces']] airmen during Bastille Day parade at [[Wellington Barracks]], 14 July 1942.]]
De Gaulle's ''[[Appeal of 18 June]]'' exhorted the French people not to be demoralized and to continue to resist occupation. He also – apparently on his own initiative – declared that he would broadcast again the next day.<ref name="Lacouture 1991, p208">Lacouture 1991, p. 208</ref> Few listened to the 18 June speech;{{r|jackson2018}}{{rp|4–6}} the speech was published in some newspapers in mainland France. It was largely aimed at French soldiers who were in Britain after being evacuated from [[Norwegian campaign|Norway]] and [[Dunkirk evacuation|Dunkirk]]; most showed no interest in fighting for de Gaulle's [[Free French Forces]] and were repatriated to France to become German prisoners of war.<ref>Lacouture 1991, p. 226</ref> The small audience of the 18 June appeal grew for later speeches,{{r|jackson2018}}{{rp|5–6}} and the press by early August described Free French military as fighting under de Gaulle's command,{{r|sptimes19400803}} although few in France knew anything about him.{{r|jackson2018}}{{rp|5–6}}

The Vichy regime had already sentenced de Gaulle to four years' imprisonment; on 2 August 1940 he was condemned to death by court martial ''in absentia'',<ref name="Lloyd-2003">{{cite book |last=Lloyd |first=Christopher |title=Collaboration and Resistance in Occupied France: Representing Treason and Sacrifice |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CoyDDAAAQBAJ&pg=PR9 |date=16 September 2003 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |location=Basingstoke, Hants. |isbn=978-0-230-50392-2 |oclc=69330013 |access-date=20 February 2021 |archive-date=14 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211214235847/https://books.google.com/books?id=CoyDDAAAQBAJ&pg=PR9 |url-status=live }}</ref> although Pétain commented that he would ensure that the sentence was never carried out.<ref name="Lacouture 1:243-4">Lacouture 1:243-4</ref> De Gaulle said of the sentence, "I consider the act of the Vichy men as void; I shall have an explanation with them after the victory".<ref name="sptimes19400803">{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Dk8wAAAAIBAJ&pg=3148%2C219080 | title=French Take Part in Air Raids | work=St. Petersburg Times | date=3 August 1940 | access-date=9 August 2018 | page=1 | archive-date=16 October 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201016164920/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Dk8wAAAAIBAJ&pg=3148,219080 | url-status=live }}</ref> He and Churchill reached agreement on 7 August 1940, that Britain would fund the Free French, with the bill to be settled after the war (the financial agreement was finalised in March 1941). A separate letter guaranteed the territorial integrity of the French Empire.<ref>Lacouture 1991, p. 261</ref>

[[File:De Gaulle Brazzaville 1944.jpg|thumb|De Gaulle at the inauguration of the [[Brazzaville]] Conference, [[French Equatorial Africa]], 1944]]

De Gaulle's support grew out of a base in the colonial [[French Equatorial Africa]]. In the autumn of 1940, the colonial empire largely supported the Vichy regime. [[Félix Éboué]], governor of Chad, switched his support to General de Gaulle in September. Encouraged, de Gaulle traveled to [[Brazzaville]] in October, where he announced the formation of an [[Empire Defense Council]]<ref name="Shillington-2013" /> in his "Brazzaville Manifesto",<ref name="Brazzaville-1940">{{cite book |author=France libre |title=Documents officiels. &#91;Manifeste du 27 octobre 1940, à Brazzaville. Ordonnances n ° 1 et 2, du 27 octobre 1940, instituant un Conseil de défense de l'Empire. Déclaration organique complétant le manifeste du 27 octobre 1940, du 16 novembre 1940, à Brazzaville. Signé: De Gaulle.&#93;. |trans-title=Official documents. Manifesto of 27 October 1940, in Brazzaville. Orders No. 1 and 2, of 27 October 1940, establishing an Empire Defense Council. Organic Declaration supplementing the Manifesto of 27 October 1940, of 16 November 1940, in Brazzaville. Signed: De Gaulle. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cQjwSAAACAAJ |year=1940 |publisher=Impr. officielle |location=Brazzaville |oclc=460992617 |access-date=3 June 2020 |archive-date=3 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200603033439/https://books.google.com/books?id=cQjwSAAACAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> and invited all colonies still supporting Vichy to join him and the Free French forces in the fight against Germany, which most of them did by 1943.<ref name="Shillington-2013">{{cite book |last=Shillington |first=Kevin |title=Encyclopedia of African History 3-Volume Set |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WixiTjxYdkYC&pg=PA448 |access-date=2 June 2020 |volume=1 A–G |date=4 July 2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-45669-6 |page=448 |oclc=254075497 |quote=There was much support for the Vichy regime among French colonial personnel, with the exception of Guianese-born governor of Chad, Félix Éboué, who in September 1940 announced his switch of allegiance from Vichy to the Gaullist Free French movement based in London. Encouraged by this support for his fledgling movement, Charles de Gaulle traveled to Brazzaville in October 1940 to announce the formation of an Empire Defense Council and to invite all French possessions loyal to Vichy to join it and continue the war against Germany; within two years, most did. |archive-date=3 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200603110616/https://books.google.com/books?id=WixiTjxYdkYC&pg=PA448 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Wieviorka-2019">{{cite book |last=Wieviorka |first=Olivier |title=The Resistance in Western Europe, 1940–1945 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=btGQDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT67 |access-date=2 June 2020 |date=3 September 2019 |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-231-54864-9 |pages=67– |translator-last=Todd |translator-first=Jane Marie |quote=At the same time, de Gaulle was only one man, and had no eminent political supporters. He therefore had to broaden his base. An order of October 27, 1940, created the Conseil de défense de l'Empire (Empire Defense Council), which included, in addition to de Gaulle, the governors of the territories who had rallied to the cause (Edgard de Larminat, Félix Éboué, Leclerc, Henri Sautot) military leaders (Georges Catroux and Émile Muselier), and three personalities from varied backgrounds: Father Georges Thierry Argenlieu, a friar and alumnus of the E'cole Navale; Rene' Cassin, a distinguished jurist and prominent representative of the veterans movement; and the military doctor Adolph Sice'. |archive-date=3 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200603122521/https://books.google.com/books?id=btGQDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT67 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Algiers ====
Working with the [[French Resistance]] and other supporters in France's colonial African possessions after [[Operation Torch]] 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 US who wrongly suspected de Gaulle of being a British puppet) and then—after squeezing out Giraud by force of personality—sole chairman of the [[French Committee of National Liberation]].<ref name="CDG" />

De Gaulle was held in high regard by Allied commander General [[Dwight Eisenhower]].<ref name="Keegan298">Keegan p. 298</ref> In Algiers in 1943, Eisenhower gave de Gaulle the assurance in person that a French force would liberate Paris and arranged that the army division of French General [[Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque]] would be transferred from North Africa to the UK to carry out that liberation.<ref name="Keegan298" /> Eisenhower was impressed by the combativeness of units of the [[Free French Forces]] and "grateful for the part they had played in mopping up the remnants of German resistance"; he also detected how strongly devoted many were to de Gaulle and how ready they were to accept him as the national leader.<ref name="Keegan298" />

==== Preparations for D-Day ====
[[File:Winston Churchill with General de Gaulle during an inspection of French troops at Marrakesh in Morocco, January 1944. TR1505.jpg|thumb|left|Winston Churchill and General de Gaulle at [[Marrakesh]], January 1944]]
As preparations for the liberation of Europe gathered pace, the US in particular found de Gaulle's tendency to view everything from the French perspective to be extremely tiresome. [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|President Roosevelt]], who refused to recognize any provisional authority in France until elections had been held, referred to de Gaulle as "an apprentice dictator", a view backed by a number of leading Frenchmen in Washington, including [[Jean Monnet]], who later became instrumental in setting up the [[European Coal and Steel Community]] that led to the modern [[European Union]]. Roosevelt directed Churchill not to provide de Gaulle with strategic details of the imminent invasion because he did not trust him to keep the information to himself. French codes were considered weak, posing a risk since the Free French refused to use British or American codes.<ref name="Beevor">Beevor, Antony (2009) ''D-Day: The Battle for Normandy'', Penguin Group, {{ISBN|1101148721}}</ref> De Gaulle refused to share coded information with the British, who were then obliged secretly to break the codes to read French messages.<ref>Singh, Simon (2000). The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography. Anchor; {{ISBN|0-385-49532-3}}. <!-- page(s) needed --></ref>

Upon his arrival at [[RAF Northolt]] on 4 June 1944 he received an official welcome.<ref name=Beevor /> Later, on his personal train, Churchill informed him that he wanted him to make a radio address, but when informed that the Americans continued to refuse to recognise his right to power in France, and after Churchill suggested he request a meeting with Roosevelt to improve his relationship with the president, de Gaulle became angry, demanding to know why he should "lodge my candidacy for power in France with Roosevelt; the French government exists".<ref name="Fenby-2010" />

==== Return to France ====
[[File:HD-SN-99-02715.JPEG|thumb|left|General de Gaulle delivering a speech in liberated [[Cherbourg]] from the hôtel de ville (town hall)]]On 14 June 1944, he left Britain for the city of [[Bayeux]], Normandy, which he [[First Bayeux speech|proclaimed]] as the capital of Free France. Appointing his Aide-de-Camp [[Francois Coulet]] as head of the civil administration, de Gaulle returned to the UK that same night on [[French destroyer La Combattante|a French destroyer]], and although the [[United States military government in France|official position]] of the supreme military command remained unchanged, local Allied officers found it more practical to deal with the fledgling administration in Bayeux in everyday matters<ref name=Beevor /> which set a precedent of the [[Provisional Government of the French Republic|Provisional Government]] running the civil affairs of liberated France. De Gaulle flew to Algiers on 16 June and then went to Rome to meet the Pope and the new Italian government.
[[File:Crowds of French patriots line the Champs Elysees-edit2.jpg|thumb|The [[2nd Armored Division (France)|2nd Armored Division]] passes through the [[Arc de Triomphe]]. Signs read "Long live de Gaulle" and "De Gaulle to power".]]
At the beginning of July, he visited Roosevelt in Washington, where he received the 17-gun salute of a senior military leader rather than the 21 guns of a visiting head of state.<ref name="Fenby-2010" /> De Gaulle successfully lobbied for Paris to be made a priority for liberation on humanitarian grounds and obtained from Allied supreme commander General [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] an agreement that French troops would be allowed to enter the capital first. A few days later, [[General Leclerc]]'s division entered the outskirts of the city, and after [[Liberation of Paris|six days of fighting]] in which the resistance played a major part, the German garrison of 5000 men surrendered on 25 August 1944, although some sporadic fighting continued for several days.<ref>{{Cite web |date=12 June 2006 |title=World War II: The Liberation of Paris |url=https://www.historynet.com/a-moment-of-elation-the-liberation-of-paris/ |access-date=5 November 2022 |website=HistoryNet |language=en-US}}</ref>

On the evening of 26 August, the ''Wehrmacht'' launched a massive aerial and artillery barrage of Paris in revenge, leaving several thousand dead or injured.<ref name="Second World War 1966">Mondal, Jacques (1966) ''[[Purnell's History of the Second World War]]'': No. 72 1966.</ref> The situation in Paris remained tense, and a few days later, de Gaulle asked General Eisenhower to send American troops into Paris as a show of strength. On 29 August, the US 28th Infantry Division was rerouted from its journey to the front line and paraded down the Champs Elysees.<ref name="Second World War 1966" /><ref>{{cite web|title=Speech made by General de Gaulle at the Hotel de Ville in Paris on August&nbsp;25th 1944|publisher=Fondation Charles de Gaulle|year=2008|url=http://www.charles-de-gaulle.org/article.php3?id_article=514|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216141748/http://www.charles-de-gaulle.org/article.php3?id_article=514|archive-date=16 December 2008}}</ref>

The same day, Washington and London agreed to accept the position of the Free French. The following day General Eisenhower gave his de facto blessing with a visit to the General in Paris.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/britain-recognizes-general-charles-de-gaulle-as-the-leader-of-the-free-french|title=Britain recognizes General Charles de Gaulle as the leader of the Free French|website=HISTORY|date=5 November 2009 |access-date=18 November 2019|archive-date=22 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222221957/https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/britain-recognizes-general-charles-de-gaulle-as-the-leader-of-the-free-french|url-status=live}}</ref>

== 1944–1946: Provisional Government of the French Republic ==
{{Main|Provisional Government of the French Republic}}

[[File:The Campaign in North-west Europe 1944-45 BU158.jpg|thumb|General de Gaulle with General Leclerc and other French officers at Montparnasse railway station in Paris, 25 August 1944]]Roosevelt insisted that an [[Allied Military Government for Occupied Territories]] (AMGOT) should be [[United States military government in France|implemented in France]], but this was opposed by both the Secretary and Under-Secretary of War, as well as by Eisenhower, who had been strongly opposed to the imposition of AMGOT in North Africa. Eisenhower, unlike Roosevelt, wanted to cooperate with de Gaulle, and he secured a last-minute promise from the President on the eve of D-Day that the Allied officers would not act as military governors and would instead cooperate with the local authorities as the Allied forces liberated French Territory. De Gaulle would later claim in his memoirs that he blocked AMGOT.<ref>Kim Munholland, ''Rock of Contention, Free French and Americans at War in New Caledonia 1940–1945'', Berghahn Books, New York, Oxford, 2005, p. 190.<!--ISSN/ISBN needed--></ref>

With the prewar parties and most of their leaders discredited, there was little opposition to de Gaulle and his associates forming an interim administration. In order not to be seen as presuming on his position in such austere times, de Gaulle did not use one of the grand official residences such as [[Hotel de Matignon]] or the [[Élysée Palace]], but resided briefly in his old office at the [[Ministry of War (France)|Ministry of War]]. When he was joined by his wife and daughters, they moved into a small state-owned villa on edge of [[Bois de Boulogne]] which had once been set aside for [[Hermann Göring]].<ref name="Werth">De Gaulle. Alexander Werth (1965)</ref>

On 10 November 1944, Churchill flew to Paris to a reception by de Gaulle and the two together were greeted by thousands of cheering Parisians on the next day.<ref name="winstonchurchill.org">{{cite web |date=25 May 2010 |title=Lion of Britain, Cross of Lorraine: Churchill and de Gaulle |url=http://www.winstonchurchill.org/support/the-churchill-centre/publications/finest-hour/issues-109-to-144/no-138/894-lion-of-britain-cross-of-lorraine-churchill-and-de-gaulle |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130521023613/http://www.winstonchurchill.org/support/the-churchill-centre/publications/finest-hour/issues-109-to-144/no-138/894-lion-of-britain-cross-of-lorraine-churchill-and-de-gaulle |archive-date=21 May 2013 |access-date=14 January 2016 |publisher=winstonchurchill.org}}</ref> [[Harold Nicolson]] stated that [[Anthony Eden]] told him that "not for one moment did Winston stop crying, and that he could have filled buckets by the time he received the Freedom of Paris."<ref name="winstonchurchill.org" /> At an official luncheon, de Gaulle said: <blockquote>It is true that we would not have seen [the liberation] if our old and gallant ally England, and all the British dominions under precisely the impulsion and inspiration of those we are honouring today, had not deployed the extraordinary determination to win, and that magnificent courage which saved the freedom of the world. There is no French man or woman who is not touched to the depths of their hearts and souls by this.<ref name="winstonchurchill.org" /></blockquote>

=== Legal purges (''Épuration légale'') ===
{{Main|Épuration légale}}

Keenly aware of the need to seize the initiative and get the process under firm judicial control, de Gaulle appointed Justice Minister [[François de Menthon]] to lead the Legal Purge (''[[Épuration légale]]'') to punish traitors and clear away traces of the Vichy regime. Knowing that he would need to reprieve many of the 'economic collaborators'—such as police and civil servants who held minor roles under Vichy to keep the country running—he assumed, as head of state, the right to commute death sentences.<ref name="Fenby-2010" /> Of the near 2,000 people who received the death sentence from the courts, fewer than 800 were executed. De Gaulle commuted 998 of the 1,554 capital sentences submitted before him, including all women. Many others were given jail terms or had their voting rights and other legal privileges taken away. It is generally agreed that the purges were conducted arbitrarily, with often absurdly severe or overly lenient punishments being handed down.<ref name="Werth" /> Less well-off people who were unable to pay for lawyers were more harshly treated. As time went by and feelings grew less intense, a number of people who had held fairly senior positions under the Vichy government—such as Maurice Papon and [[René Bousquet]]—escaped consequences by claiming to have worked secretly for the resistance or to have played a double game, working for the good of France by serving the established order.<ref name="Werth" />

Pétain received a death sentence, which his old protégé de Gaulle commuted to life imprisonment, while [[Maxime Weygand]] was eventually acquitted. There was a widespread belief, particularly in the years that followed, that de Gaulle was trying to appease both the Third Republic politicians and the former Vichy leaders who had made Laval their scapegoat.<ref name=Werth />

=== Yalta and Potsdam ===

De Gaulle was never invited to the summit conferences of Allied leaders such as [[Yalta Conference|Yalta]] and [[Potsdam Conference|Potsdam]]. He never forgave the Big Three leaders (Churchill, Roosevelt and [[Stalin]]) for their neglect and continued to rage against it as having been a negative factor in European politics for the rest of his life.<ref name=Schoenbrun />

After the [[Operation Plunder|Rhine crossings]], the French First Army captured a large section of territory in southern Germany, but although this later allowed France to play a part in the signing of the German surrender, Roosevelt in particular refused to allow any discussion about de Gaulle participating in the Big Three conferences that would shape Europe in the post-war world. Churchill pressed hard for France to be included 'at the inter-allied table', but on 6 December 1944 the American president wired both Stalin and Churchill to say that de Gaulle's presence would "merely introduce a complicating and undesirable factor".<ref>{{cite book|last=Winston S. Churchill|title=Triumph and Tragedy: The Second World War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VArC_rYqimoC&pg=PA259|year=1950|page=259|access-date=27 June 2015|archive-date=7 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150407132516/http://books.google.com/books?id=VArC_rYqimoC&pg=PA259|url-status=live}}</ref>

At the Yalta Conference in February 1945, despite Stalin's opposition, Churchill and Roosevelt insisted that France be allowed a post-war occupation zone in Germany, and also made sure that it was included among the five nations that invited others to the conference to establish the United Nations. This guaranteed France a permanent seat on the [[UN Security Council]].<ref name="Robottom">Robottom, John (1972) ''Modern Russia'', McGraw-Hill</ref>

=== Victory in Europe ===
[[File:General Charles DeGaulle presenting the French Grand Croix De La Legion to five Army and Navy officers.jpg|thumb|De Gaulle presenting the [[Legion of Honour]] to American Army and Navy officers [[William D. Leahy]], [[George C. Marshall]], [[Ernest J. King]], [[Henry H. Arnold]] and [[Brehon B. Somervell]]]]
In May 1945 the German armies surrendered to the Americans and British at Rheims, and a separate armistice was signed with France in Berlin.<ref name="Perry">Perry, K. (1976) ''Modern European History'', W.H. Allen; {{ISBN|0750604824}}</ref> De Gaulle refused to allow any British participation in the victory parade in Paris. However, among the vehicles that took part was an ambulance from the [[Hadfield-Spears Ambulance Unit]], staffed by French doctors and British nurses. One of the nurses was [[Mary Borden|Mary Spears]], who had set up the unit and had worked almost continuously since the [[Battle of France]] with Free French forces in the Middle East, North Africa and Italy. Mary's husband was General [[Edward Spears]], the British liaison to the Free French who had personally spirited de Gaulle to safety in Britain in 1940. When de Gaulle saw the [[Union Flag]]s and [[Flag of France|Tricolours]] side by side on the ambulance, and heard French soldiers cheering, "Voilà Spears! Vive Spears!", he ordered that the unit be closed down immediately and its British staff sent home. A number of French troops returned their medals in protest and Mary wrote, "it is a pitiful business when a great man suddenly becomes small."<ref>''The Day the War Ended''. London. Martin Gilbert (1995)</ref>

Another confrontation with the Americans broke out soon after the armistice when the French sent troops to occupy the French-speaking Italian border region of [[Val d'Aoste]]. The French commander threatened to fire on American troops if they tried to stop them, and an irate [[Harry S. Truman|Truman]] ordered the immediate end to all arms shipments to France. Truman sent de Gaulle an angry letter saying that he found it unbelievable that the French could threaten to attack American troops after they had done so much to liberate France.<ref name=Schoenbrun />

Within the same month another crisis developed in [[Syria]] where French troops tried to quell nationalist protests at the continued occupation of the [[Levant]]. Winston Churchill opposed French action and after they refused to negotiate he ordered British forces into Syria from [[Emirate of Transjordan|Transjordan]] with orders to fire on the French if necessary.<ref name="Luce">{{cite book|last1=Luce|first1=Henry Robinson|title=Time |volume=45|date=1945|pages=25–26|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U-ELAQAAIAAJ}}</ref> Known as the [[Levant Crisis]], British forces swept into Syria forcing the French to stand down, and with political pressure added by the United States and Soviet Union, the French ordered a ceasefire. This crisis further infuriated Truman, and France evacuated its troops later in the year but de Gaulle said to the British ambassador [[Duff Cooper]], 'you have betrayed France and betrayed the West. That cannot be forgotten'.<ref name="Fenby-2010"/>{{RP|p=47}}

De Gaulle was generally well received in the United States immediately after World War II and supported the US in public comments. He visited New York City on 27 August 1945 to great welcome by thousands of people of the city and its mayor [[Fiorello La Guardia]].<ref name="wnyc.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.wnyc.org/story/charles-de-gaulle-city-hall-reception/|title=Charles de Gaulle City Hall Reception|publisher=WNYC|access-date=14 January 2016|archive-date=21 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151121172548/http://www.wnyc.org/story/charles-de-gaulle-city-hall-reception/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="gettyimages.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/french-general-charles-de-gaulle-flanked-by-new-york-mayor-news-photo/102263730 |title=French General Charles de Gaulle flanked by New York Mayor Fiorello... Nachrichtenfoto 102263730 &#124; Getty Images |access-date=14 August 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140814192955/http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/french-general-charles-de-gaulle-flanked-by-new-york-mayor-news-photo/102263730 |archive-date=14 August 2014}}</ref> On that day, de Gaulle wished "Long live the United States of America". He visited [[New York City Hall]] and Idlewild Airport (now [[John F. Kennedy International Airport]]), and presented LaGuardia with the Grand Croix of the [[Legion of Honour]] award.<ref name="wnyc.org" /><ref name="gettyimages.com" />

=== New elections and resignation ===
Since the liberation, the only parliament in France had been an enlarged version of the Algiers [[Provisional Consultative Assembly]], and at last, in October 1945, [[1945 French legislative election|elections]] were held for [[National Constituent Assembly (France, 1945)|a new Constituent Assembly]] whose main task was to provide a new constitution for the [[French Fourth Republic|Fourth Republic]]. De Gaulle favoured a strong executive for the nation,{{r|time19590105}} but all three of the main parties wished to severely restrict the powers of the president. The Communists wanted an assembly with full constitutional powers and no time limit, whereas de Gaulle, the Socialists and the [[Popular Republican Movement]] (MRP) advocated one with a term limited to only seven months, after which the draft constitution would be submitted for another referendum.<ref>Hilary Footitt and John Simmonds. ''France, 1943–1945'' (1988) pp. 228–59.</ref>

On 13 November 1945, the new assembly unanimously elected Charles de Gaulle head of the government, but problems immediately arose when it came to selecting the cabinet, due to his unwillingness to allow the Communists any important ministries. The Communists, now the largest party and with their charismatic leader [[Maurice Thorez]] back at the helm, were not prepared to accept this for a second time, and a furious row ensued, during which de Gaulle sent a letter of resignation to the speaker of the Assembly and declared that he was unwilling to trust a party that he considered to be an agent of a foreign power (Russia) with authority over the police and armed forces.<ref name=Schoenbrun />

Eventually, the new cabinet was finalised on 21 November, with the Communists receiving five out of the twenty-two ministries, and although they still did not get any key portfolios, de Gaulle believed that the draft constitution placed too much power in the hands of parliament with its shifting party alliances. One of his ministers said he was "a man equally incapable of monopolizing power as of sharing it".<ref>Ronald Matthews, ''The death of the Fourth Republic'' (1954) p. 121.</ref>

De Gaulle outlined a programme of further nationalisations and a new economic plan which were passed, but a further row came when the Communists demanded a 20-percent reduction in the military budget. Refusing to "rule by compromise", de Gaulle once more threatened to resign. There was a general feeling that he was trying to blackmail the assembly into complete subservience.<ref name=Werth /> Although the MRP managed to broker a compromise which saw the budget approved with amendments, it was a stop-gap measure.<ref name=Schoenbrun />

Barely two months after forming the new government, de Gaulle abruptly resigned on 20 January 1946. The move was called "a bold and ultimately foolish political ploy", with de Gaulle hoping that as a war hero, he would be soon brought back as a more powerful executive by the French people.<ref name="Hitchcock 2004 112">{{cite book|title=The Struggle for Europe: The Turbulent History of a Divided Continent 1945 to the Present|first=William I.|last=Hitchcock|publisher=Random House|year=2004|isbn=978-0-385-49799-2|page=112|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fFfhnC4mYccC&pg=PT112|access-date=24 August 2020|archive-date=14 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211214235801/https://books.google.com/books?id=fFfhnC4mYccC&pg=PT112|url-status=live}}</ref> However, that did not turn out to be the case. With the war finally over, the initial crisis had passed. Although there were still shortages, particularly of bread, France was now recovering, and de Gaulle suddenly did not seem so indispensable. The Communist publication ''Combat'' wrote, "There was no cataclysm, and the empty plate didn't crack".<ref name=Werth />

== 1946–1958: Out of power ==
<!-- "A certain idea of France" redirects here. See MOS:HIDDENLINKADVICE. -->

[[File:Charles de Gaulle Quotation 2011.jpg|thumb|The statement of Charles de Gaulle in reference to World War II]]
De Gaulle suddenly dropped out of sight and returned to his home in [[Colombey-les-Deux-Églises|Colombey]] to write his war memoirs. De Gaulle had told [[Pierre Bertaux]] in 1944 that he planned to retire because "France may still one day need an image that is pure ... If [[Joan of Arc]] had married, she would no longer have been Joan of Arc".<ref name="cate196011">{{cite news | url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1960/11/charles-de-gaulle-the-last-romantic/306916/ | title=Charles de Gaulle: The Last Romantic | work=The Atlantic | date=November 1960 | access-date=2 August 2016 | author=Cate, Curtis | archive-date=11 August 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160811213344/http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1960/11/charles-de-gaulle-the-last-romantic/306916/ | url-status=live }}</ref> The famous opening paragraph of ''Mémoires de guerre'' begins by declaring, "All my life, I have had a certain idea of France (''une certaine idée de la France'')",<ref>{{cite book|last1=Fenby|first1=Jonathan|title=The General: Charles De Gaulle And The France He Saved|date=2010|publisher=Simon & Schuster|location=New York|isbn=978-1-84737-392-2|quote=De Gaulle did not invent the phrase; it was used by the writer [[Maurice Barrès]] in ''Mes Cahiers'' (1920)}}</ref>{{RP|2}} and ends by declaring that, given the divisive nature of French politics, France cannot truly live up to this ideal without a policy of "grandeur". During this period of formal retirement, however, de Gaulle maintained regular contact with past political lieutenants, including sympathizers involved in political developments in French Algeria, becoming "perhaps the best-informed man in France".{{r|time19590105}}

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, ''RPF''), which he hoped would be able to move above the party squabbles of the parliamentary system. Despite the new party's taking 40 percent of the vote in local elections and 121 seats in 1951, lacking its own press and access to television, its support ebbed. In May 1953, he withdrew again from active politics,{{r|time19590105}} though the ''RPF'' lingered until September 1955.<ref name="Grolier">{{cite web|url=http://www.grolier.com/wwii/wwii_degaulle.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050223083920/http://www.grolier.com/wwii/wwii_degaulle.html|archive-date=23 February 2005|title=Charles de Gaulle|work=Grolier Online}}</ref>

As with all colonial powers France began to lose its overseas possessions amid the surge of nationalism. [[French Indochina]] (now Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia), colonised by France during the mid-19th century, had been lost to the Japanese after the defeat of 1940. De Gaulle had intended to hold on to France's Indochina colony, ordering the parachuting of French agents and arms into Indochina in late 1944 and early 1945 with orders to attack the Japanese as American troops hit the beaches.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Karnow |first=Stanley |year=1983 |title=Vietnam: A History |location=New York |publisher=The Viking Press |pages=143–4 |isbn=9780670746040 |oclc=779626081}}</ref> Although de Gaulle had moved quickly to consolidate French control of the territory during his brief first tenure as president in the 1940s, the communist [[Vietminh]] under [[Ho Chi Minh]] began a determined campaign for independence from 1946. The French fought a bitter seven-year war (the [[First Indochina War]]) to hold on to Indochina. It was largely funded by the United States and grew increasingly unpopular, especially after the stunning defeat at the [[Battle of Dien Bien Phu]] in May 1954. France pulled out that summer under Prime Minister [[Pierre Mendès France]].

The independence of Morocco and Tunisia was arranged by Mendès France and proclaimed in March 1956. Meanwhile, in Algeria some 350,000 French troops were fighting 150,000 combatants of the Algerian Liberation Movement (FLN). Within a few years, the Algerian war of independence reached a summit in terms of savagery and bloodshed and threatened to spill into metropolitan France itself.

Between 1946 and 1958 the Fourth Republic had 24 separate ministries. Frustrated by the endless divisiveness, de Gaulle famously asked, "How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?"<ref>''Time'', 16 March 1962</ref>

=== 1958: Collapse of the Fourth Republic ===
{{Further|May 1958 crisis}}
[[File:Charles-DeGaulle-TIME-1959.jpg|thumb|1958 ''[[Time Man of the Year]]'' cover (portrait by [[Bernard Buffet]])]]

The [[French Fourth Republic|Fourth Republic]] was wracked by political instability, failures in [[French Indochina|Indochina]], and inability to resolve the [[Algerian War of Independence|Algerian question]].<ref>Charles Sowerwine, France since 1870: Culture, Society and the Making of the Republic (2009) ch 20–21</ref><ref>Martin S. Alexander and John FV Keiger, eds. ''France and the Algerian War, 1954–1962: Strategy, Operations and Diplomacy'' (Routledge, 2013)<!--ISSN/ISBN needed--></ref>

On 13 May 1958, [[Pied-Noir]] settlers seized the government buildings in Algiers, attacking what they saw as French government weakness in prosecuting the war against the [[National Liberation Front (Algeria)|FLN]]. 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.<ref>Alexander, and Keiger, eds. ''France and the Algerian War, 1954–1962: Strategy, Operations and Diplomacy'' (2013)</ref>

At a 19 May press conference, de Gaulle asserted 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: "Have I ever done that? On the contrary, I have re-established them when they had disappeared. Who honestly believes that, at age 67, I would start a career as a dictator?"<ref>{{cite book|last=Alice L. Conklin|title=France and Its Empire Since 1870|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sFXwAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA281|year=2014|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=281|display-authors=etal|isbn=978-0-19-938444-0|access-date=27 June 2015|archive-date=7 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150407040713/http://books.google.com/books?id=sFXwAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA281|url-status=live}}</ref> A constitutionalist by conviction, he maintained  that he would accept power only from the lawfully constituted authorities. De Gaulle did not wish to repeat the difficulty the Free French movement experienced in establishing legitimacy as the rightful government. He told an aide that the rebel generals "will not find de Gaulle in their baggage".{{r|time19590105}}

The crisis deepened as French [[paratrooper]]s from Algeria [[Operation Corsica|seized Corsica]] and a landing near Paris was discussed ([[Operation Resurrection]]).<ref>{{cite news|title=General Massu – Obituary|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=29 October 2002|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article818845.ece|place=London, UK|access-date=27 December 2008|archive-date=14 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211214235852/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

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 (France)|Communist Party]], and certain other leftists.

On 29 May the French President, [[René Coty]], told parliament that the nation was on the brink of civil war, so he was <blockquote>turning towards the most illustrious of Frenchmen, towards the man who, in the darkest years of our history, was our chief for the reconquest of freedom and who refused dictatorship in order to re-establish the Republic. I ask General de Gaulle to confer with the head of state and to examine with him what, in the framework of Republican legality, is necessary for the immediate formation of a government of national safety and what can be done, in a fairly short time, for a deep reform of our institutions.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jonathan Fenby|title=The General: Charles De Gaulle and the France He Saved|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qzVrCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA396|year=2013|page=396|publisher=Skyhorse Publishing |isbn=978-1-62087-805-7|access-date=29 November 2017|archive-date=19 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200219233127/https://books.google.com/books?id=qzVrCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA396|url-status=live}}</ref></blockquote> De Gaulle accepted Coty's proposal under the precondition that a new constitution would be introduced creating a powerful presidency in which a sole executive, the first of which was to be himself, ruled for seven-year periods. Another condition was that he be granted [[state of emergency|extraordinary powers]] for a period of six months.<ref>{{cite book|author=W. Scott Haine|title=The History of France|publisher=Greenwood Press|url=https://archive.org/details/historyoffrance00hain|url-access=registration|year=2000|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyoffrance00hain/page/180 180]|isbn=978-0-313-30328-9}}</ref>

De Gaulle remained intent on replacing the weak constitution of the Fourth Republic. He is sometimes described as the author of the [[Constitution of France|new constitution]], as he commissioned it and was responsible for its overall framework. The actual drafter of the text was [[Michel Debré]] who wrote up de Gaulle's political ideas and guided the text through the enactment process. On 1 June 1958, de Gaulle became Prime Minister and was given emergency powers for six months by the [[National Assembly of France|National Assembly]],<ref>{{cite news|title=Gen de Gaulle given a majority of 105 – Full powers demanded for six months|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=2 June 1958}}</ref> fulfilling his desire for parliamentary legitimacy.{{r|time19590105}}

De Gaulle's cabinet received strong support from right-wing parties, split support from left of center parties, and strong opposition from the Communist Party. In the vote on 1 June 1958, 329 votes were cast in favor and 224 against, out of 593 deputies.<ref>{{cite web |title=Assemblée nationale – Grands moments d'éloquence parlementaire – de Gaulle (1er juin 1958) |url=https://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/histoire/de_gaulle.asp |access-date=28 April 2022 |website=www.assemblee-nationale.fr}}</ref> On 28 September 1958, a [[1958 French constitutional referendum|referendum]] took place and 82.6 percent of those who voted supported the new constitution and the creation of the [[French Fifth Republic|Fifth Republic]]. The [[French Colonial Empire|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 became the first French African colony to gain independence and immediately lost all French assistance.<ref>{{cite news|title=Sweeping Vote for General de Gaulle – 4:1 Majority says "Yes" to new Constitution|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=29 September 1958}}</ref>

== 1958–1969: Return to power ==
{{Main|French Fifth Republic|Presidency of Charles de Gaulle}}

[[File:Charles De Gaulle - David Ben Gurion 1960.jpg|upright|thumb|right|The first meeting between [[David Ben-Gurion]] and de Gaulle at the [[Élysée Palace]], 1960]]
In the [[1958 French legislative election|November 1958 election]], Charles de Gaulle and his supporters (initially the ''Union pour la nouvelle République - Union démocratique du travail'', then the ''Union des démocrates pour la Cinquième République'', later still the ''[[Union des Démocrates pour la République]]'', UDR) won a comfortable majority. On 21 December, he was [[1958 French presidential election|elected]] President of France; he was inaugurated in January 1959. As head of state, he became ''ex officio'' the [[Co-Prince of Andorra]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Landslide Vote Repeated for de Gaulle – President of Fifth Republic – Sweeping Powers|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=22 December 1958}}</ref>

De Gaulle oversaw tough economic measures to revitalise the country, including the issuing of a new [[franc]].<ref>{{cite news|title=New Year Brings in New Franc|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=2 January 1960}}</ref> Less than a year after taking office, he was confronted with national tragedy, after the [[Malpasset Dam]] in Var collapsed in early December, killing over 400. Internationally, he rebuffed both the United States and the [[Soviet Union]], pushing for an independent France with its own [[nuclear weapon]]s and strongly encouraging a "Free Europe", believing that a confederation of all European nations would restore the past glories of the great European empires.<ref name="Crawley-1969" />{{RP|411,428}}

He set about building [[Franco-German cooperation]] as the cornerstone of the [[European Economic Community]] (EEC), paying a [[state visit]] to [[West Germany]] in September 1962, the first to Germany by a French head of state since [[Napoleon]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Germans Give General de Gaulle a Hero's Welcome|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=6 September 1962}}</ref> In January 1963, West Germany and France signed a treaty of friendship, the [[Élysée Treaty]].<ref name="Crawley-1969" />{{RP|422}} France also reduced its dollar reserves, trading them for gold from the United States, reducing American economic influence abroad.<ref name="Crawley-1969" />{{RP|439}}

On 23 November 1959, in a speech in [[Strasbourg]], he announced his vision for Europe:

{{blockquote|{{lang|fr|Oui, c'est l'Europe, depuis l'Atlantique jusqu'à l'Oural, c'est toute l'Europe, qui décidera du destin du monde.}}
Yes, it is Europe, from the [[Atlantic]] to the [[Urals]], it is the whole of Europe, that will decide the destiny of the world.
|multiline=yes
|author=}}

His expression, "Europe, from the Atlantic to the Urals", has often been cited throughout the history of [[European integration]]. His vision stood in contrast to the [[Atlanticism]] of the United States and Britain, preferring instead a Europe that would act as a third [[polarity (power)|pole]] between the United States and the Soviet Union.
As the last chief of government of the Fourth Republic, de Gaulle made sure that the [[Treaty of Rome]] creating the [[European Economic Community]] was fully implemented, and that the British project of Free Trade Area was rejected, to the extent that he was sometimes considered as a "Father of Europe".<ref>Warlouzet, '[https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/contemporary-european-history/article/de-gaulle-as-a-father-of-europe-the-unpredictability-of-the-ftas-failure-and-the-eecs-success-195658/A2D1FB241EA0C9675E326029F1C8BFC0 De Gaulle as a Father of Europe] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619035748/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/contemporary-european-history/article/de-gaulle-as-a-father-of-europe-the-unpredictability-of-the-ftas-failure-and-the-eecs-success-195658/A2D1FB241EA0C9675E326029F1C8BFC0 |date=19 June 2018 }}' in ''Contemporary European History'', 2011</ref>

=== Algeria ===
{{further|Algerian War}}
[[File:French Community 1959.svg|thumb|The [[French Community]] in 1959]]
Upon becoming president, de Gaulle was faced with the urgent task of ending the bloody and divisive war in Algeria.<ref>Charles Sowerwine, ''France since 1870: Culture, Society and the Making of the Republic'' (2009) pp. 296–316</ref> Although the military's near coup had contributed to his return to power, de Gaulle soon ordered all officers to quit the rebellious Committees of Public Safety. Such actions greatly angered the pieds-noirs and their military supporters.<ref>Alexander Harrison, ''Challenging De Gaulle: The OAS and the Counterrevolution in Algeria, 1954–1962'' (Praeger, 1989).</ref>

He faced uprisings in Algeria by the pied-noirs and the French armed forces. On assuming the prime minister role in June 1958, he immediately went to Algeria, and neutralised the army there. For the long term he devised a plan to modernize Algeria's traditional economy, deescalated the war, and offered Algeria self-determination in 1959. A [[Algerian War#Week of barricades|pied-noir revolt in 1960]] failed, and another [[Algiers putsch of 1961|attempted coup]] failed in April 1961. French voters approved his course in [[French referendum on Algerian self-determination, 1961|a 1961 referendum on Algerian self-determination]]. De Gaulle arranged a cease-fire in Algeria with the March 1962 [[Évian Accords]], legitimated by another [[1962 French Évian Accords referendum|referendum]] a month later. It gave victory to the FLN, which declared independence.<ref>Martin Evans, ''Algeria: France's Undeclared War'' (2012) [https://www.amazon.com/Algeria-Frances-Undeclared-Making-Modern/dp/0192803506/ excerpt and text search] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160316224112/http://www.amazon.com/Algeria-Frances-Undeclared-Making-Modern/dp/0192803506 |date=16 March 2016 }}</ref>

Prime Minister Michel Debré resigned over the final settlement and was replaced with [[Georges Pompidou]]. France recognised Algerian independence on 3 July 1962, and a blanket amnesty law was belatedly voted in 1968, covering all crimes committed by the French army during the war. In just a few months in 1962, 900,000 ''[[Pied-Noir]]s'' left the country. After 5 July, the exodus accelerated in the wake of the French deaths during the [[Oran massacre of 1962]].

=== Assassination attempts ===
{{Main|Petit-Clamart attack}}

[[File:General charles de gaulle visite isles sur suippe 1963.jpg|thumb|Charles de Gaulle's motorcade passes through [[Isles-sur-Suippe]] ([[Marne (department)|Marne]]). The president salutes the crowd from his famous [[Citroën DS]].]]

De Gaulle was targeted for death by the [[Organisation armée secrète]] (OAS), in retaliation for his Algerian initiatives. Several assassination attempts were made on him; the most famous occurred on 22 August 1962, when he and his wife narrowly escaped from an organized machine gun [[ambush]] on their [[Citroën DS#In popular culture|Citroën DS limousine]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Michael Mould|title=The Routledge Dictionary of Cultural References in Modern French|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x-FNTmUwfpEC&pg=PA331|year=2011|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-136-82573-6|page=331}}</ref> The attack was arranged by Colonel [[Jean Bastien-Thiry#Assassination attempt|Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiry]] at [[Petit-Clamart]].<ref name="Crawley-1969" />{{RP|381}} It is claimed that there were at least 30 assassination attempts against de Gaulle throughout his lifetime.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Willsher |first=Kim |date=22 August 2022 |title=France remembers De Gaulle's close escape depicted in The Day of the Jackal |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/22/france-charles-de-gaulle-assassination-attempt-the-day-of-the-jackal |access-date=19 March 2023 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ledsom |first=Alex |date=25 June 2018 |title=How Charles de Gaulle Survived Over Thirty Assassination Attempts |url=https://theculturetrip.com/europe/france/articles/how-charles-de-gaulle-survived-over-thirty-assassination-attempts/ |access-date=19 March 2023 |website=Culture Trip |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=MacIntyre |first=Ben |date=24 July 2021 |title=The Jackal's lessons for would-be assassins |url=https://www.thetimes.com/comment/article/the-jackals-lessons-for-would-be-assassins-w6hsfssrl |access-date=19 March 2023 |website=[[The Sunday Times]]}}</ref>

=== Direct presidential elections ===
{{see also|1965 French presidential election}}
In September 1962, de Gaulle sought a constitutional amendment to allow the president to be directly elected by the people and issued another [[1962 French presidential election referendum|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 [[1962 French legislative election|new elections]]. The Gaullists won an increased majority.<ref>{{cite news|title=De Gaulle Challenge to Parliament – To Retire if Referendum not Approved – Call to Nation before Debate on Censure Motion|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=5 October 1962}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=De Gaulle against the Politicians – Clear Issue for October Referendum – Assembly Election Likely after Solid Censure Vote|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=6 October 1962}}</ref>

De Gaulle's proposal to change the election procedure for the French presidency was approved at the referendum on 28 October 1962. Thereafter the president was to be elected by direct universal suffrage for the first time since Louis Napoleon in 1848.<ref>{{cite news|title="Yes" Reply for Gen. De Gaulle – Over 60 p.c. of Valid Votes – President Likely to Keep Office|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=29 October 1962}}</ref>

In December 1965, de Gaulle [[1965 French presidential election|returned as president for a second seven-year term]].

=== "Thirty glorious years" ===
{{Further|Trente Glorieuses}}
{{Conservatism in France}}With the Algerian conflict behind him, de Gaulle was able to achieve his two main objectives, the reform and development of the French economy, and the promotion of an independent foreign policy and a strong presence on the international stage. This was named by foreign observers the "politics of grandeur".<ref name="Kolodziej">{{cite book |last=Kolodziej |first=Edward A |title=French International Policy under de Gaulle and Pompidou: The Politics of Grandeur |year=1974 |page=618}}</ref>

In the immediate post-war years France was in poor shape;<ref name="Macksey">Macksey, Kenneth (1966) ''[[Purnell's History of the Second World War]]'': No. 123. "The Liberation of Paris"</ref> wages remained at around half prewar levels, the winter of 1946–1947 did extensive damage to crops, leading to a reduction in the bread ration, hunger and disease remained rife and the black market continued to flourish. Germany was in an even worse position, but after 1948 things began to improve dramatically with the introduction of [[Marshall Aid]]—large scale American financial assistance given to help rebuild European economies and infrastructure. This laid the foundations of a meticulously planned program of investments in energy, transport and heavy industry, overseen by the government of Prime Minister [[Georges Pompidou]].

Aided by these projects, the French economy recorded growth rates unrivalled since the 19th century. In 1964, for the first time in nearly 100 years<ref>France's GDP was slightly higher than the UK's at the beginning of the 19th century, with the UK surpassing France around 1870. See e.g., {{cite book|last=Maddison|first=Angus|title=L'économie mondiale 1820–1992: analyse et statistiques|year=1995|publisher=OECD Publishing|isbn=978-92-64-24549-5|page=248|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A5BFpqBqQ_gC&pg=PA248|access-date=24 August 2020|archive-date=14 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211214235848/https://books.google.com/books?id=A5BFpqBqQ_gC&lpg=PA248|url-status=live}}</ref> France's GDP overtook that of the United Kingdom for a time. This period is remembered in France as the peak of the ''[[Trente Glorieuses]]'' ("Thirty Glorious Years" of economic growth between 1945 and 1974).<ref name="Haine">{{cite book|last=Haine|first=W. Scott|title=Culture and Customs of France|year=1974|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006|place=Westport CT|isbn=978-0-313-32892-3|page=315}}</ref>

=== Fourth nuclear power ===
[[File:President Kennedy and President De Gaulle at the conclusion of their talks at Elysee Palace, Paris, France.jpg|thumb|President [[John F. Kennedy]] and de Gaulle at the conclusion of their talks at Elysee Palace, 1961]]As early as April 1954, de Gaulle argued that France must have its own nuclear arsenal. Full-scale research began again in late 1954 when Prime Minister [[Pierre Mendès France]] authorized a plan to develop the atomic bomb. France's independent [[Force de Frappe]] (strike force) came into being soon after de Gaulle's election with his authorization for the first nuclear test.

With the cancellation of [[Blue Streak (missile)|Blue Streak]], the US agreed to supply Britain with its [[Skybolt]] and later [[UGM-27 Polaris|Polaris]] weapons systems, and in 1958, the two nations signed the [[1958 US-UK Mutual Defence Agreement|Mutual Defence Agreement]]. Although at the time it was still a full member of NATO, France proceeded to develop its own independent nuclear technologies—this would enable it to become a partner in any reprisals and would give it a voice in matters of atomic control.<ref>{{cite news|title=Marshal Juin Defended – General de Gaulle on Moral Issue|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=8 April 1954}}</ref>

[[File:FS Redoutable.jpg|thumb|The ''[[FS Redoutable|Redoutable]]'', the first French nuclear missile submarine]]

After six years of effort, on 13 February 1960, France became the [[France and nuclear weapons|world's fourth nuclear power]] when a high-powered [[Gerboise Bleue|nuclear device]] was exploded in the [[Sahara]].<ref name="Weekend of Rejoicing in France">{{cite news|title=Weekend of Rejoicing in France|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=15 February 1960}}</ref> In August 1963, France decided against signing the [[Partial Test Ban Treaty]] because it would have prohibited it from testing nuclear weapons above ground. France continued to carry out tests at the Algerian site until 1966, under an agreement with the newly independent Algeria. France's testing program then moved to the [[Mururoa]] and [[Fangataufa]] Atolls in the South Pacific.

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 the French nuclear force should be capable of firing "in all directions"—thus including even America as a potential 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 it 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.<ref>Ledwidge p. 341</ref>

=== Foreign policy ===
{{Main|Foreign policy of Charles de Gaulle#Presidency (1959–1969)}}

[[File:Lyndon B. Johnson, Charles de Gaulle 1963.jpg|thumb|left|De Gaulle with President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] in Washington, D.C., 1963]]
De Gaulle hosted a superpower summit on 17 May 1960 for arms limitation talks and détente efforts in the wake of the [[1960 U-2 incident]] between United States President [[Dwight Eisenhower]], Soviet Premier [[Nikita Khrushchev]], and United Kingdom Prime Minister [[Harold Macmillan]].<ref name="bbc1" /> When Khrushchev condemned the United States U-2 flights, de Gaulle expressed to Khrushchev his disapproval of 18 near-simultaneous secret Soviet satellite overflights of French territory; Khrushchev denied knowledge of the overflights. Lieutenant General [[Vernon A. Walters]] was struck by de Gaulle's "unconditional support" of the United States during that "crucial time".<ref name="j1">{{cite journal|author=Walter, Vernon A.|year=2007|orig-year=1974|title=General De Gaulle in Action: 1960 Summit Conference|journal=Studies in Intelligence|volume=38|issue=5|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/95unclass/Walters.html|access-date=12 December 2012|archive-date=27 September 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927161531/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/95unclass/Walters.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> De Gaulle then tried to revive the talks by inviting all the delegates to another conference at the [[Élysée Palace]] to discuss the situation, but the summit ultimately dissolved in the wake of the U-2 incident.<ref name="bbc1">[https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/17/newsid_2512000/2512335.stm 1960: East-West summit in tatters after spy plane row] . BBC.co.uk; accessed 7 June 2016.</ref>

In February 1966, France withdrew from the [[NATO Military Command Structure]] but remained within the organisation. De Gaulle wanted France to remain the master of the decisions affecting it; he also ordered all foreign military personnel to leave France within a year.<ref name="Crawley-1969" />{{RP|431}} This latter action, in particular, was poorly received in the US.<ref name="FontanaHistory">Holland, Robert (1991) ''Fontana History of England – Britain & the World Role''</ref>

[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F011021-0002, Köln, Staatsbesuch de Gaulle, Begrüßung Adenauer.jpg|thumb|upright|De Gaulle and [[Konrad Adenauer]] in 1961]]De Gaulle established a good relationship with [[West German]] Chancellor [[Konrad Adenauer]]—culminating in the [[Elysee Treaty]] in 1963—and in the first few years of the Common Market, France's industrial exports to the other five members tripled and its farm export almost quadrupled. The franc became a solid, stable currency for the first time in half a century, and the economy mostly boomed. De Gaulle vetoed the British application to join the [[European Economic Community]] (EEC) in 1963,<ref name="R+Q">Richards, Denis & Quick, Antony (1974) ''Twentieth Century Britain''</ref> and again in June 1967.<ref>{{cite web |title=European NAvigator (ENA) – General de Gaulle's second veto |url=http://www.ena.lu/general_gaulles_second_veto-020102622.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100223215825/http://www.ena.lu/general_gaulles_second_veto-020102622.html |archive-date=23 February 2010 |access-date=22 October 2010}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news |date=31 January 1966 |title=France Ends Boycott of Common Market – No Winners or Losers after Midnight Agreement |newspaper=[[The Times]]}}</ref> De Gaulle succeeded in influencing the decision-making mechanism written into the [[Treaty of Rome]] by insisting on solidarity founded on mutual understanding.<ref>{{cite web |title=De Gaulle and Europe |url=http://www.charles-de-gaulle.org/article.php3?id_article=178 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061118185240/http://www.charles-de-gaulle.org/article.php3?id_article=178 |archive-date=18 November 2006 |work=Fondation Charles de Gaulle}}</ref>

In January 1964, France was, after the UK, among the first of the major Western powers to open diplomatic relations with the [[People's Republic of China]] (PRC).<ref name="atimes.com">{{cite web |last=Gosset |first=David |date=8 January 2009 |title=A Return to De Gaulle's 'Eternal China' |url=http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/KA08Ad01.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090119060217/http://atimes.com/atimes/China/KA08Ad01.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 January 2009 |department=Greater China |work=Asia Times |access-date=14 January 2016}}</ref> By recognizing [[Mao Zedong]]'s government, de Gaulle signaled to both Washington and Moscow that France intended to deploy an independent foreign policy.<ref name="atimes.com" /> The move was criticized in the United States as it seemed to seriously damage US policy of [[containment]] in Asia.<ref name="atimes.com" /> De Gaulle justified this action by "the weight of evidence and reason", considering that China's demographic weight and geographic extent put it in a position to have a global leading role.<ref name="atimes.com" /> De Gaulle also used this opportunity to arouse rivalry between the USSR and China.<ref name="atimes.com" /> In September 1966, in a famous [[Phnom Penh speech|speech]] in [[Phnom Penh]] in Cambodia, he expressed France's disapproval of the [[United States in the Vietnam War|US involvement]] in the [[Vietnam War]], calling for a withdrawal.<ref>{{cite web |year=2008 |title=Allocution prononcée à la réunion populaire de Phnom-Penh, 1er septembre 1966 |trans-title=Address by the President of the French Republic (General de Gaulle), Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 1 September 1966 |url=http://www.charles-de-gaulle.org/article.php3?id_article=530 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081118225154/http://www.charles-de-gaulle.org/article.php3?id_article=530 |archive-date=18 November 2008 |publisher=Fondation Charles de Gaulle}}</ref><ref>Gowland, David; Turner, Arthur: [https://books.google.com/books?id=q0WgBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA166 Reluctant Europeans: Britain and European Integration, 1945–1998] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211214235815/https://books.google.com/books?id=q0WgBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA166|date=14 December 2021}}, Routledge, p. 166. Accessed on 31 October 2019.</ref>

With tension rising in the Middle East in 1967, de Gaulle declared an [[arms embargo]] against Israel on 2 June, 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.<ref>{{cite news|title=French Emphasis on Long-Term Issues|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=7 June 1967}}</ref><ref>Geller, Doron {{cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Cherbourg.html|title=The Cherbourg Boats|access-date=20 May 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509103831/https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Cherbourg.html|archive-date=9 May 2008}}</ref> Under de Gaulle, following the independence of Algeria, France embarked on foreign policy more favorable to the [[Arab]] side. President de Gaulle's position in 1967 at the time of the Six-Day War played a part in France's new-found popularity in the Arab world.<ref>{{cite web|title=De Gaulle and the Third World|work=Fondation Charles de Gaulle|url=http://www.charles-de-gaulle.org/article.php3?id_article=180|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061118185135/http://www.charles-de-gaulle.org/article.php3?id_article=180|archive-date=18 November 2006}}</ref> In his letter to [[David Ben-Gurion]] dated 9 January 1968, de Gaulle expressed conviction that Israel had ignored his warnings and overstepped the bounds of moderation by taking the territory of neighbouring countries by force, believing that it amounted to annexation, and considered withdrawing from these areas the best course of action.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1968/01/10/archives/text-of-de-gaulles-answer-to-letter-from-bengurion.html|title=Text of de Gaulle's Answer to Letter From Ben-Gurion|work=The New York Times|date=10 January 1968|access-date=22 July 2018|archive-date=22 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722220607/https://www.nytimes.com/1968/01/10/archives/text-of-de-gaulles-answer-to-letter-from-bengurion.html?sq=de+Gaulle+dignified+minorities&scp=1&st=p|url-status=live}}</ref>

Under de Gaulle's leadership, France supported the breakaway [[Republic of Biafra]] against the [[Nigerian government]] during the [[Nigerian Civil War]].<ref>{{Cite news|title=920 Days of Fighting, Death and Hunger|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=12 January 1970}}</ref> 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."<ref name="Saha">{{cite book|last=Saha|first=Santosh C.|title=Perspectives on Contemporary Ethnic Conflict: Primal Violence Or the Politics of Conviction?|year=2006|publisher=Lexington Books|place=Lanham MD|isbn=978-0-7391-1085-0|pages=184, 344}}</ref> More generally, one of de Gaulle's priorities was maintaining and further expanding [[Françafrique|French economic and political power]] in its [[French colonial empire|former colonies]]. This was not only done through official diplomacy and through the [[SDECE]], but also through bridge figures such as de Gaulle's close confidant [[Jacques Foccart]]. The latter built up a network of informal relations with [[authoritarian]] leaders (most notably [[Omar Bongo]], [[Félix Houphouët-Boigny]] and [[Léopold Sédar Senghor]]) throughout French-speaking Africa.<ref>{{cite book |last=Servenay |first=David |date=2023 |editor-last1=Borrel |editor-first1=Thomas |editor-last2=Boukari-Yabara |editor-first2=Amzat |editor-last3=Collombat |editor-first3=Benoît |editor-last4=Deltombe |editor-first4=Thomas |title=Une histoire de la Françafrique: L'empire qui ne veut pas mourir |publisher=[[Éditions du Seuil|Seuil]] |pages=349–360 |chapter=Le système Foccart |isbn=9782757897751}}</ref>

[[File:De Gaule 13a 19670624 3543 2383.jpg|thumb|General Charles de Gaulle on the Chemin du Roy,<ref>{{cite web |author1=Samy Mesli, historien |title=Charles de Gaulle au Québec 24 juillet 1967 |url=https://degaulle.fondationlionelgroulx.org/voyage-24-juillet-chemin-du-roy.html |website=Fondation Lionel-Groulx, 2017—2018 |publisher=Charles de Gaulle au Québec en 1967 |access-date=6 August 2023 |language=fr}}</ref> [[Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade]], 1967]]
In July 1967, during a visit to Canada, de Gaulle shouted "''[[Vive le Québec libre]]! Vive le Canada français! Et vive la France!''" (Long live free Quebec! Long live French Canada, and long live France!) to a large crowd from a balcony at [[Montreal]]'s city hall; de Gaulle abruptly left Canada two days later.<ref>George Sherman, "De Gaulle Ends Visit in Canadian Dispute," ''[[The Washington Star|The Evening Star]]'', 26 July 1967, p. 1.</ref> The speech was heavily criticized in both Canada and France,<ref name="CBC">{{cite news|last=Depoe |first=Norman |title=Vive le Québec libre! |work=On This Day |publisher=CBC News |date=24 July 1967 |url=http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/politics/language-culture/language-culture-general/vive-le-quebec-ibre.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120501220930/http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/politics/language-culture/language-culture-general/vive-le-quebec-libre.html |archive-date=1 May 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Pearson rebukes De Gaulle">{{cite news|last=Gillan|first=Michael|title=Words unacceptable to Canadians: De Gaulle Rebuked by Pearson|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=26 July 1967|place=Toronto|pages=1, 4}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Gen De Gaulle Rebuked by Mr Pearson – Canada Rejects Efforts to Destroy Unity – Quebec Statements Unacceptable|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=26 July 1967|place=London, UK}}</ref><ref name="French Media Reaction">{{cite news|last=Spicer|first=Keith|title=Paris perplexed by De Gaulle's Quebec conduct|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=27 July 1967|place=Toronto|page=23}}</ref> but was seen as a watershed moment by the [[Quebec sovereignty movement]].<ref name="10-years later, Lévesque">{{cite news|title=Levesque pays tribute to Charles de Gaulle|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=d1RVAAAAIBAJ&pg=3782%2C11903|newspaper=The Leader-Post|date=1 November 1977|agency=Reuters|place=Regina, Saskatchewan|page=2|access-date=3 April 2020|archive-date=14 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211214235857/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=d1RVAAAAIBAJ&dq=charles+de+gaulle+vive+le+quebec+libre+speech+1967&pg=3782%2C11903|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="ce">{{cite encyclopedia|title=De Gaulle and "Vive le Québec Libre" |encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia |year=2012 |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/de-gaulle-and-vive-le-quebec-libre-feature |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119182931/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/PrinterFriendly.cfm?Params=A1ARTFET_E53 |archive-date=19 January 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== May 1968 and resignation ===
{{Main|May 68}}

De Gaulle's government was criticized within France, particularly for its heavy-handed style. While the written press and elections were free, and private stations such as [[Europe 1]] were able to broadcast in French from abroad, the state's [[ORTF]] had a monopoly on television and radio. This monopoly meant that the government was in a position to directly influence broadcast news. In many respects, Gaullist France was conservative, Catholic, and there were few women in high-level political posts (in May 1968, the government's ministers were 100% male).<ref>{{cite web|title=Les femmes et le pouvoir|url=http://www.histoire-politique.fr/index.php?numero=01&rub=dossier&item=7|quote=of the first eleven governments of the Fifth Republic, four contained no women whatsoever.|date=29 May 2007|access-date=13 January 2009|archive-date=20 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720232325/http://www.histoire-politique.fr/index.php?numero=01&rub=dossier&item=7|url-status=live}}</ref>

The mass demonstrations and strikes in France in May 1968 severely challenged De Gaulle's legitimacy. He and other government leaders feared that the country was on the brink of revolution or civil war. On 29 May, De Gaulle fled to [[Baden-Baden]] in Germany to meet with General Massu, head of the French military there, to discuss possible army intervention. De Gaulle returned to France after being assured of the military's support, in return for which De Gaulle agreed to amnesty for the 1961 coup plotters and OAS members.<ref name="dogan1984">{{cite journal|last=Dogan|first=Mattei|title=How Civil War Was Avoided in France|journal=International Political Science Review |year=1984|volume=5|issue=3|pages=245–277|jstor=1600894|doi=10.1177/019251218400500304|s2cid=144698270 |issn = 0192-5121}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Autocrat of the Grand Manner|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=28 April 1969}}</ref>

In a private meeting discussing the students' and workers' demands for direct participation in business and government he coined the phrase "{{lang|fr|La réforme oui, la [[chienlit]] non}}", which can be politely translated as 'reform yes, masquerade/chaos no'. It was a vernacular scatological pun meaning "{{lang|fr|chie-en-lit, non}}' ('shit-in-bed, no'). The term is now common parlance in French political commentary.<ref>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.</ref>

But de Gaulle offered to accept some of the reforms the demonstrators sought. He again considered a referendum to support his moves, but on 30 May, Pompidou persuaded him to dissolve parliament and hold new elections. The [[1968 French legislative election|June 1968 elections]] were a major success for the [[Union of Democrats for the Republic|Gaullists]]. His party won 352 of 487 seats,<ref name="Dropping the Pilot">{{cite news|title=Dropping the Pilot|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=11 July 1968}}</ref> but de Gaulle remained personally unpopular.{{r|dogan1984}}

De Gaulle resigned the presidency at noon, 28 April 1969,<ref>{{cite web |year=2008 |title=Press Release re Resignation |url=http://www.charles-de-gaulle.org/article.php3?id_article=532 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081118225651/http://www.charles-de-gaulle.org/article.php3?id_article=532 |archive-date=18 November 2008 |work=Fondation Charles de Gaulle}}</ref> following the rejection of his proposed reform of the Senate and local governments [[1969 French constitutional referendum|in a nationwide referendum]]. Two months later [[Georges Pompidou]] was elected as his successor.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Serge Berstein |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_GyhQAJeOZoC&pg=PA5 |title=The Pompidou Years, 1969–1974 |author2=Jean-Pierre Rioux |publisher=Cambridge UP |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-521-58061-8 |pages=4–8 |access-date=5 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125191646/https://books.google.com/books?id=_GyhQAJeOZoC&pg=PA5 |archive-date=25 January 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>

== Later life ==
=== Retirement ===
[[File:President Nixon and staff members with President Charles DeGaulle of France - NARA - 194610.jpg|thumb|Newly inaugurated U.S. president [[Richard Nixon]] visiting President De Gaulle one month before De Gaulle's retirement]]

De Gaulle retired once again to his nine-acre country estate, [[La Boisserie]] ("The Woodland Glade"), in [[Colombey-les-Deux-Églises]], 120 miles southeast of Paris. There the General, who often described old age as a "shipwreck",<ref name="TIME-23 November 1970">''TIME'', 23 November 1970</ref> continued his memoirs, dictated to his secretary from notes. To visitors, de Gaulle said, "I will finish three books, if God grants me life." ''The Renewal'', the first of three planned volumes to be called ''Memoirs of Hope'', was quickly finished and immediately became the fastest seller in French publishing history.

=== Death ===
On the evening of 9 November 1970, De Gaulle, who had generally enjoyed good health in his lifetime, died suddenly from an [[aneurysm]] while watching the news on television. His wife asked that she be allowed to inform her family before the news was released. De Gaulle's former prime minister and presidential successor [[Georges Pompidou]], who was informed early the next day, announced the general's death on television, simply saying "General de Gaulle is dead. France is a widow."
[[File:Cimetière - tombe du général de Gaulle et de sa famille.jpg|thumb|Grave of Charles de Gaulle at [[Colombey-les-Deux-Églises]]]]
De Gaulle had insisted his funeral be held at Colombey, and that no presidents or ministers attend—only his ''[[Compagnons de la Libération]]''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Testament de Charles de Gaulle, 16&nbsp;janvier 1952|publisher=Histoire de France et d'ailleurs|url=http://www.histoire-de-france-et-d-ailleurs.com/articles/Testaments/TestamentdeGaulle.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090213234131/http://www.histoire-de-france-et-d-ailleurs.com/articles/Testaments/TestamentdeGaulle.htm|archive-date=13 February 2009}}</ref> Since a large number of foreign dignitaries wanted to honor de Gaulle, Pompidou arranged a separate memorial service at the [[Notre-Dame cathedral]], to be held at the same time as the actual funeral.

The funeral on 12 November 1970 was the biggest such event in French history and a [[national mourning]] was declared.<ref>{{cite web |title=Décret du 10 novembre 1970 FIXANT LE JEUDI 12 NOVEMBRE 1970 JOUR DE DEUIL NATIONAL EN RAISON DU DECES DU GENERAL DE-GAULLE |url=https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000000675357 |website=Légifrance}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/11/11/archives/france-mourns-de-gaulle-world-leaders-to-attend-a-service-at-notre.html |title=France Mourns De Gaulle; World Leaders To Attend A Service At Notre Dame – The New York Times |work=[[The New York Times]] |date= 11 November 1970|accessdate=2 May 2022}}</ref> Thousands of guests attended, included Pompidou, U.S. president [[Richard Nixon]], British prime minister [[Edward Heath]] and [[Charles III|Prince Charles]], UN secretary-general [[U Thant]], Soviet statesman [[Nikolai Podgorny]], Italian president [[Giuseppe Saragat]], West German chancellor [[Willy Brandt]] and Queen [[Juliana of the Netherlands]].<ref name="TIME-23 November 1970" /> The body was conveyed to the church on a turretless [[Panhard EBR]] and carried to his grave, next to his daughter Anne, by eight young men of Colombey. As the coffin was lowered into the ground, the bells of all the churches in France tolled, starting from Notre Dame and spreading out from there.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1970/DeGaulle-and-Nasser-Die/12303235577467-8 |title=1970 – Year in Review. De Gaulle and Nasser die |work=United Press International |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130724130450/http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1970/DeGaulle-and-Nasser-Die/12303235577467-8/ |archive-date=24 July 2013}}</ref>

De Gaulle specified that his tombstone bear the simple inscription of his name and his years of birth and death.<ref>{{cite web|title=Retirement|work=Fondation Charles de Gaulle|url=http://www.charles-de-gaulle.org/article.php3?id_article=377|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081118171038/http://www.charles-de-gaulle.org/article.php3?id_article=377|archive-date=18 November 2008}}</ref>

==Personal life==
[[File:La Boisserie 04.jpg|thumb|De Gaulle's home, La Boisserie, in [[Colombey-les-Deux-Églises]]]]

De Gaulle married [[Yvonne Vendroux]] on 7 April 1921 in [[Église Notre-Dame de Calais]]. They had three children: [[Philippe de Gaulle|Philippe]] (1921–2024), Élisabeth (1924–2013), who married General [[Alain de Boissieu]], and [[Anne de Gaulle|Anne]] (1928–1948). Anne had [[Down syndrome]] and died of pneumonia at the age of 20.

De Gaulle always had a particular love for his daughter Anne; one Colombey resident recalled how he used to walk with her hand-in-hand around the property, talking quietly about the things she understood.<ref name="TIME-23 November 1970" />

De Gaulle had an older brother Xavier and sister Marie-Agnes, and two younger brothers, Jacques and Pierre.

One of de Gaulle's grandsons, also named [[Charles de Gaulle (born 1948)|Charles de Gaulle]], was a [[member of the European Parliament]] from 1994 to 2004, his last tenure being for the far-right [[National Front (France)|National Front]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Listes de Gaulle|work=Parti socialiste français|url=http://www.psinfo.net/elections/municipales/2001/pariscopie/listes/fn.php3|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061119070209/http://www.psinfo.net/elections/municipales/2001/pariscopie/listes/fn.php3|archive-date=19 November 2006}}</ref> The younger Charles de Gaulle's move to the [[anti-Gaullist]] National Front was widely condemned by other family members. "It was like hearing the Pope had converted to Islam", one said.<ref>[http://www.lepoint.fr/actualites-politique/2007-01-23/la-famille-qui-a-dit-non/917/0/71275 La famille qui a dit non] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180919211605/http://www.lepoint.fr/actualites-politique/2007-01-23/la-famille-qui-a-dit-non/917/0/71275 |date=19 September 2018 }}. Le Point, 16 July 1999.</ref> Another grandson, [[Jean de Gaulle]], was a member of the French parliament for the centre-right [[Union for a Popular Movement|UMP]] until his retirement in 2007.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/12/tribun/fiches_id/1437.asp|title=Assemblée nationale ~ Les députés : M. Jean de Gaulle|website=www.assemblee-nationale.fr|access-date=15 January 2009|archive-date=9 July 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070709080847/http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/12/tribun/fiches_id/1437.asp|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
{{See also|List of things named after Charles de Gaulle}}

=== Reputation ===
[[File:De Gaulle.jpg|thumb|Portrait by Donald Sheridan]]
De Gaulle made 31 regional tours during his presidency, visiting every French department; for many small towns, the visit was an important moment in history. He enjoyed entering the welcoming crowds; an aide noted how often people said, "he saw me" or "he touched me", and another recalled how a mother begged de Gaulle for the [[king's touch]] on her baby. They, supporters, and opponents surmised that de Gaulle was a monarch-like figure for the French.{{r|jackson2018}}{{rp|616–618}}

Historians have accorded [[Napoleon]] and de Gaulle the top-ranking status of French leaders in the 19th and 20th centuries.<ref>{{cite book|author=Philip Thody|author-link=Philip Thody|title=French Caesarism from Napoleon I to Charles de Gaulle|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jDiwCwAAQBAJ|year=1989|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |page=150|isbn=978-1-349-20089-4}}</ref> According to a 2005 survey, carried out in the context of the tenth anniversary of the death of [[François Mitterrand]], 35 percent of respondents said Mitterrand was the best French president ever, followed by Charles de Gaulle (30 percent) and [[Jacques Chirac]] (12 percent).<ref>Mitterrand, le préféré des Français [archive], site de TF1-LCI, 2 janvier 2006.</ref> Another poll by BVA four years later showed that 87% of French people regarded his presidency positively.<ref>"Charles de Gaulle, ex-président préféré des Français" [archive], ''Le Nouvel Observateur'', 4 November 2009.</ref>

Statues honouring de Gaulle have been erected [[Statue of Charles de Gaulle (London)|in London]], Warsaw, [[Monument to Charles de Gaulle (Moscow)|in Moscow]], Bucharest and Quebec. The first Algerian president, [[Ahmed Ben Bella]], said that de Gaulle was the "military leader who brought us the hardest blows" prior to Algerian independence, but "saw further" than other politicians, and had a "universal dimension that is too often lacking in current leaders."<ref>Ahmed Ben Bella, ''De Gaulle voyait plus loin'', in ''L'Express'', 26 October 1995.</ref> Likewise, [[Léopold Sédar Senghor]], the first president of Senegal, said that few Western leaders could boast of having risked their lives to grant a colony independence.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}} De Gaulle was admired by the US President [[Richard Nixon]]; after a meeting at the [[Palace of Versailles]] just before the general left office, Nixon declared that "He did not try to put on airs but an aura of majesty seemed to envelop him ... his performance—and I do not use that word disparagingly—was breathtaking."<ref name="Fenby-20103">{{cite book |last1=Fenby |first1=Jonathan |title=The General: Charles De Gaulle and the France He Saved |date=2010 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-1-84737-392-2 |location=New York}}</ref> On arriving for his funeral, Nixon said of him, "greatness knows no national boundaries".<ref name="TIME-23 November 1970"/>

In 1990, President Mitterrand, de Gaulle's old political rival, presided over the celebrations to mark the 100th anniversary of his birth. Mitterrand, who once wrote a vitriolic critique of him called the "Permanent Coup d'État", quoted a recent opinion poll, saying, "As General de Gaulle, he has entered the pantheon of great national heroes, where he ranks ahead of [[Napoleon]] and behind only [[Charlemagne]]."<ref name="DeGaulle">Mahoney, Daniel (2000) ''De Gaulle: Statesmanship, Grandeur and Modern Democracy'', Transaction Publishers, {{ISBN|1412821274}}</ref> Under the influence of [[Jean-Pierre Chevènement]], the leader of CERES, the left-wing and [[souverainist]] faction of the [[Socialist Party (France)|Socialist Party]], Mitterrand had, except on certain economic and social policies, rallied to much of Gaullism. Between the mid-1970s and mid-1990s there developed a left-right consensus, dubbed "Gaullo-Mitterrandism", behind the "French status" in NATO: i.e., outside the integrated military command.

A number of commentators have been critical of his failure to prevent the massacres after Algerian independence,<ref name="Perry" /> while others take the view that the struggle had been so long and savage that it was inevitable.<ref name="Fenby-2010" /> The Australian historian [[Brian Crozier]] wrote, "that he was able to part with Algeria without civil war was a great though negative achievement which in all probability would have been beyond the capacity of any other leader France possessed."<ref name="De Gaulle">''De Gaulle: The Statesman''. Brian Crozier (Methuen). 1974</ref>

De Gaulle was an excellent manipulator of the media, as seen in his shrewd use of television to persuade around 80% of [[Metropolitan France]] to approve the new constitution for the Fifth Republic. He afterwards enjoyed massive approval ratings, and once said that "every Frenchman is, has been or will be Gaullist".<ref name="Debray">[[Régis Debray]] (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}}</ref>

De Gaulle's views did not necessarily always reflect mainstream French public opinion. His vetos of the UK's entry into the [[European Economic Community]] (EEC) in 1963 and 1967 contradicts the decisive majority the French people returned in the [[1972 French European Communities enlargement referendum|1972 referendum]] on the matter. His early influence in setting the parameters of the EEC can still be seen, most notably with the controversial [[Common Agricultural Policy]].

Some writers take the view that Pompidou was a more progressive and influential leader than de Gaulle because, though also a Gaullist, he was less autocratic and more interested in social reforms.<ref name="Perry" /><ref>Richards, Denis and Quick, Anthony (1974) ''20th Century Britain''</ref> Although he followed the main tenets of de Gaulle's foreign policy, he was keen to work towards warmer relations with the United States.

In 1968, shortly before leaving office, de Gaulle refused to devalue the Franc on grounds of national prestige, but upon taking over Pompidou reversed the decision almost immediately. During the financial crisis of 1968, France had to rely on American (and West German) financial aid to shore up the economy.<ref name="Perry" />

Perry has written that the <blockquote>events of 1968 illustrated the brittleness of de Gaulle's rule. That he was taken by surprise is an indictment of his rule; he was too remote from real life and had no interest in the conditions under which ordinary French people lived. Problems like inadequate housing and social services had been ignored. The French greeted the news of his departure with some relief as the feeling had grown that he had outlived his usefulness. Perhaps he clung onto power too long, perhaps he should have retired in 1965 when he was still popular.<ref name="Perry" /></blockquote>

[[Brian Crozier]] said "the fame of de Gaulle outstrips his achievements, he chose to make repeated gestures of petulance and defiance that weakened the west without compensating advantages to France"<ref name="De Gaulle" />

[[Régis Debray]] called de Gaulle "super-lucide"<ref name="Debray" /> and pointed out that virtually all of his predictions, such as the fall of communism, the reunification of Germany and the resurrection of 'old' Russia, came true after his death.<ref>In fact, several of de Gaulle's predictions, such as his often-repeated belief during the early cold war period that a Third World War, with its "nuclear bombardments, famine, deportations" was not only ineluctable, but imminent, have not yet materialized. Jean Lacouture, ''De Gaulle'', Seuil, vol. II, p. 357.</ref> Debray compared him with [[Napoleon]] ('the great political myth of the 19th century'), calling de Gaulle his 20th-century equivalent.<ref name="Debray" />

While de Gaulle had many admirers, he was also one of the most hated and reviled men in modern French history.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 3679392|title = General de Gaulle and His Enemies: Anti-Gaullism in France Since 1940|journal = Transactions of the Royal Historical Society|volume = 9|pages = 43–65|last1 = Jackson|first1 = Julian|year = 1999|doi = 10.2307/3679392| s2cid=154467724 }}</ref>

=== Memorial ===
{{Further|Things named after Charles de Gaulle}}
[[File:4 Carlton Gardens London HQ of Charles de Gaulle.JPG|thumb|right|[[Blue plaque]] commemorating the headquarters of General de Gaulle at 4 [[Carlton House Terrace|Carlton Gardens]] in London during World War II]]

A number of monuments have been built to commemorate de Gaulle. France's largest airport, located in [[Roissy-en-France|Roissy]], outside Paris, is named [[Charles de Gaulle Airport]]. [[French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle|France's nuclear-powered aircraft carrier]] is also named after him.

== Honours and awards ==
=== French ===
* [[File:Legion Honneur GC ribbon.svg|80px]] Grand-Croix of the {{lang|fr|[[Légion d'honneur]]}} – 1945 (Officer – 1934; Knight – 1919)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.culture.gouv.fr/LH/LH280/PG/FRDAFAN83_OC18V002.htm|title=Ministère de la culture – Base Léonore|work=culture.gouv.fr|access-date=14 January 2016|archive-date=22 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222135735/http://www.culture.gouv.fr/LH/LH280/PG/FRDAFAN83_OC18V002.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[File:Ordre de la Liberation 2nd ribbon.svg|80px]] Grand Master of the {{lang|fr|[[Ordre de la Libération]]}}<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NeyjBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA200|title=Parisis Code – tome 2 – Le Code secret des rues de Paris|via=google.be|access-date=14 January 2016|isbn=979-1-09-128903-0|last1=Leur|first1=Thierry Van de|date=19 April 2012 |publisher=Lulu.com |archive-date=8 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170408193820/https://books.google.com/books?id=NeyjBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA200|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[File:Ordre national du Merite GC ribbon.svg|80px]] Grand-Croix of the [[Ordre national du Mérite]] – 1963<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.legiondhonneur.fr/sites/default/files/presse_dl/50_ans_ordre_national_du_mcrite.pdf |title=Cérémonies officielles du cinquantenaire de l'ordre national du Mérite |access-date=24 January 2015 |archive-date=28 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150128113356/http://www.legiondhonneur.fr/sites/default/files/presse_dl/50_ans_ordre_national_du_mcrite.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[File:Croix de Guerre 1914-1918 ribbon.svg|80px]] [[Croix de guerre 1914–1918 (France)|Croix de guerre 1915]]<ref name="charles-de-gaulle.org" />
* [[File:Croix du Combattant (1930 France) ribbon.svg|80px]] [[Combatant's Cross]]
* [[File:Medaille (Insigne) des Blesses Militaires ribbon.svg|80px]] [[Medal for the War Wounded]]
* [[File:World War I Victory Medal ribbon.svg|80px]] [[1914–1918 Inter-Allied Victory medal (France)]]
* [[File:Medaille commemorative de la Guerre 1914-1918 ribbon.svg|80px]] [[1914–1918 Commemorative war medal (France)]]
* [[File:Medaille commemorative de la Guerre 1939-1945 ribbon.svg|80px]] [[1939–1945 Commemorative war medal (France)]]

=== Foreign ===
* [[File:POL Virtuti Militari Srebrny BAR.svg|80px]] Silver Cross of [[Virtuti Militari]] of Poland (1920)<ref name=RPPL>{{cite web|url=http://www.rp.pl/artykul/216865.html|title=Virtuti Militari de Gaulle'a|work=Rzeczpospolita|access-date=14 January 2016|archive-date=13 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170113143202/http://www.rp.pl/artykul/216865-Virtuti-Militari-de-Gaulle-a.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[File:US Legion of Merit Chief Commander ribbon.png|80px]] Chief Commander of the US [[Legion of Merit]] (24 August 1945)
* [[File:Order of the Dragon of Annam Knight ribbon.svg|80px]] Grand Cordon of the [[Order of the Dragon of Annam]] (last awarded 1945)
* [[File:Cordone di gran Croce di Gran Cordone OMRI BAR.svg|80px]] Knight Grand Cross decorated with Grand Cordon of the [[Order of Merit of the Italian Republic]] (16 June 1959)
* [[File:Royal Victorian Chain Ribbon.svg|80px]] [[Royal Victorian Chain]] (1960)
* [[File:Order of the Royal House of Chakri (Thailand) ribbon.svg|80px]] Knight of the [[Order of the Royal House of Chakri]] of Thailand (11 October 1960)
* [[File:Order of the Seraphim - Ribbon bar.svg|80px]] Knight of the [[Royal Order of the Seraphim]] (Sweden, 8 May 1963)<ref>[https://www.flickr.com/photos/50879678@N03/7528243564/in/photostream/ Coat of arms] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160213075743/https://www.flickr.com/photos/50879678@N03/7528243564/in/photostream/ |date=13 February 2016 }}. flickr.com</ref>
* [[File:CHL Order of Merit of Chile - Grand Cross BAR.svg|80px]] Collar of the [[Order of Merit of Chile]] (October 1964)<ref>{{cite book |title=Archivo fotográfico: rescate visual de la historia de Carabineros de Chile |page=66 |url=http://www.museocarabineros.cl/sitio/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Libro-Fotografia-Historica-Full-seguro.pdf |access-date=9 September 2021 |archive-date=9 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210909001752/http://www.museocarabineros.cl/sitio/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Libro-Fotografia-Historica-Full-seguro.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[File:Order of the Elephant Ribbon bar.svg|80px]] Knight of the [[Order of the Elephant]] (Denmark, 5 April 1965)<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150904052507/http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/view?uname=115870541942529315510&cuname=115870541942529315510&tags=Frederiksborg#5499332619478107506 Coat of Arms] in Frederiksborg Castle</ref>
* [[File:St Olavs Orden storkors stripe.svg|80px]] Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the [[Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav]] (1962)<ref name="norges1">{{citation|title=Norges Statskalender for Aaret 1970|language=Norwegian|year=1970|pages=1240–1241|chapter-url=https://runeberg.org/norkal/1970/0798.html|chapter=Den kongelige norske Sanct Olavs Orden|location=Oslo|publisher=Forlagt av H. Aschehoug & Co. (w. Nygaard)|via=runeberg.org}}</ref>
* [[File:FIN Order of the White Rose Grand Cross BAR.svg|80px]] Knight Grand Cross of the [[Order of the White Rose of Finland]] with Collar (1962)<ref>{{Cite web |date=9 October 2020 |title=Suomen Valkoisen Ruusun ritarikunnan suurristin ketjuineen ulkomaalaiset saajat |url=https://ritarikunnat.fi/ritarikunnat/palkitut/suomen-valkoisen-ruusun-ritarikunnan-suurristin-ketjuineen-ulkomaalaiset-saajat/ |access-date=12 January 2023 |website=Ritarikunnat |language=fi}}</ref>
* [[File:KHM Ordre Royal du Cambodge - Grand Croix BAR.svg|80px]] Knight Grand Cross of the [[Royal Order of Cambodia]]
* [[File:LAO Order of the a Million Elephants and the White Parasol - Grand Cross BAR.svg|80px]] Grand Cross of the [[Order of the Million Elephants and the White Parasol]] of Laos
* [[File:COL Order of Boyaca - Grand Cross BAR.svg|80px]] Extraordinary Grand Cross of the [[Order of Boyaca]] of Colombia
* [[File:Ordre du Mérite Militaire Chérifien ribbon (Maroc).svg|80px]] Grand Cross of the [[Order of Military Merit (Morocco)|Sharifian Order of Military Merit of Morocco]]
* [[File:ARG Order of the Liberator San Martin - Grand Cross BAR.png|80px]] Grand Collar of the [[Order of the Liberator General San Martín]] of Argentina
* [[File:National Order of Merit (Ecuador) - ribbon bar.gif|80px]] [[National Order of Merit (Ecuador)|National Order of Merit of Ecuador]]
* [[File:BRA Ordem do Merito Militar Gra-cruz.png|80px]] Grand Cordon of the [[Order of Military Merit (Brazil)|Order of Military Merit of Brazil]]
* [[File:Paraguay National Order of Merit.png|80px]] [[National Order of Merit (Paraguay)|National Order of Merit of Paraguay]]
* [[File:PER Order of the Sun of Peru - Grand Cross BAR.png|80px]] Grand Cordon of the [[Order of the Sun of Peru]]
* [[File:BRA - Order of the Southern Cross - Grand Cross BAR.svg|80px]] Grand Collar and Medal of the [[Order of the Southern Cross]] of Brazil
* [[File:Order of Pahlavi (Iran).gif|80px]] Grand Collar of the [[Order of Pahlavi]] of Iran
* [[File:Military Order of Ayacucho (Peru) - ribbon bar.png|80px]] Grand Cross of the Military Order of Ayacucho of Peru
* [[File:MEX Order of the Aztec Eagle 1Class BAR.png|80px]] Grand Collar of the [[Order of the Aztec Eagle]] of Mexico
* [[File:Order of the Two Rivers - Military (Iraq) - ribbon bar.png|80px]] Grand Cordon of the [[Order of the Two Rivers]] of Iraq
* [[File:VEN Order of the Liberator - Grand Cordon BAR.png|80px]] Collar of the [[Order of the Liberator]] of Venezuela
* [[File:BOL Order of Condor of the Andes - Grand Cross BAR.png|80px]] Collar of the National [[Order of the Condor of the Andes]] of Bolivia
* [[File:Order Of Ummayad (Syria) - ribbon bar.gif|80px]] Grand Cordon of the [[Order of Umayyad]] of Syria
* [[File:Order of the Cedar - Grand Cordon (Lebanon) Ribbon.png|80px]] Grand Cross of the [[National Order of the Cedar]] of Lebanon
* [[File:Order of Ojaswi Rajanya (Nepal) - ribbon.svg|80px]] Member of the [[Order of Ojaswi Rajanya|Order of the Benevolent Ruler]] of Nepal
* [[File:BEL - Order of Leopold - Grand Cordon bar.svg|80px]] Grand Cordon of the [[Order of Leopold (Belgium)|Order of Leopold]] of Belgium
* [[File:MCO Order of Saint-Charles - Grand Cross BAR.svg|80px]] Grand Cross of the [[Order of Saint-Charles]] of Monaco (5 October 1944)<ref>{{cite web |title=JOURNAL DE MONACO |url=https://journaldemonaco.gouv.mc/var/jdm/storage/original/application/1b2c2008ad3da84afcc395a19a5dae5f.pdf |date=5 October 1944}}</ref>
* [[File:GER Bundesverdienstkreuz 6 GrVK Stern Band.svg|80px]] Grand Cross of the [[Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany]]
* [[File:JOR Al-Hussein ibn Ali Order BAR.svg|80px]] Collar of the [[Order of Al-Hussein bin Ali]] (Jordan)
* [[File:Ordine Supremo del Cristo Rib.png|80px]] Knight of the [[Supreme Order of Christ]] of the Vatican
* [[File:VA Ordine Piano BAR.svg|80px]] Knight Grand Collar of the [[Order of Pius IX]] of the Vatican
* [[File:GRE Order Redeemer 2Class.svg|80px]] Grand Commander of the [[Order of the Redeemer]] of Greece
* [[File:Nastro Croce Lateranense.png|80px]] [[Papal Lateran Cross]] of the Vatican
* [[File:POL Polonia Restituta Wielki BAR.svg|80px]] Grand Cross of the [[Order of Polonia Restituta]] of Poland
* [[File:DE-BY Der Bayerische Verdienstorden BAR.png|80px]] Commander of the [[Bavarian Order of Merit]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbx41.com/article-29760001-6.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110150329/http://www.cbx41.com/article-29760001-6.html|url-status=dead|title=List of decorations|archive-date=10 November 2013}}</ref>

=== Medals ===
* Medal of the Mexican Academy of Military Studies
* Medal of Rancagua of Chile
* Medal of the Legionnaires of Quebec
* Medal of the City of Valparaiso
* Medal of Honour of the Congress of Peru
* Plaque and Medal of the City of Lima, Peru
* Medal of the City of New Orleans
* Order of the American Legion
* Medal of the College Joseph Celestine Mutis of Spain<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbx41.com/article-29760001-6.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110150329/http://www.cbx41.com/article-29760001-6.html|url-status=dead|title=Décorations du Général de Gaulle, musée de l'Ordre de la Libération – Le blog de cbx41<!-- Bot generated title -->|archive-date=10 November 2013}}</ref>

== 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, republished 2010,<ref name="llca1">{{cite news |url=https://www.leslibraires.ca/livres/le-fil-de-l-epee-charles-de-gaulle-9782262033835.html |title=Le fil de l'épée de Charles de Gaulle &#124; Essais &#124; Actualité/Politique &#124; leslibraires.ca &#124; Acheter des livres papier et numériques en ligne }}</ref> 2015<ref name="rb1">{{cite news |url=https://www.renaud-bray.com/Livres_Produit.aspx?id=1698546 | title=Fil de l'épée(Le) par GAULLE, CHARLES DE }}</ref>)
* ''Vers l'Armée de Métier'' (1934)
* ''La France et son Armée'' (1938)
* ''Trois Études'' (1945) (Rôle Historique des Places Fortes;<ref>An essay which he wrote in the mid 1920s.</ref> Mobilisation Economique à l'Étranger;<ref>His report produced as a staff officer in the early 1930s.</ref> Comment Faire une Armée de Métier) followed by the Memorandum of 26 January 1940.
* {{ill|Mémoires de guerre|lt=Mémoires de Guerre|fr}}
** 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&nbsp;– ''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 (two 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 (two volumes). Simon & Schuster, New York, 1959 (two volumes).
* ''War Memoirs: Salvation, 1944–1946'' (''Le Salut''). Tr. by Richard Howard (narrative) and Joyce Murchie and Hamish Erskine (documents). Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1960 (two volumes). Simon & Schuster, New York, 1960 (two volumes).
* ''Memoirs of Hope: Renewal, 1958–1962. Endeavour, 1962–'' (''Le Renouveau'') (''L'Effort''). Tr. by Terence Kilmartin. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1971.

== See also ==
* [[Foreign policy of Charles de Gaulle]]
* [[France's neocolonialism]]
* [[Gaullism]]
* [[Gaullist Party]]
* [[List of things named after Charles de Gaulle]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
* {{cite book | last = Lacouture | first = Jean | volume = 1 | title = De Gaulle: The Rebel 1890–1944 | year = 1991 | orig-year = 1984 | edition = English}}
* Lacouture,  vol. 2. ''De Gaulle: The Ruler 1945–1970'' (1993), 700 pp. A standard scholarly biography.
* {{cite book|last=Ledwidge|first=Bernard|title=De Gaulle|publisher=Weidenfeld and Nicolson|place=London|year=1982|isbn=978-0-297-77952-0}}

== Further reading ==
=== Biographies ===
* Cogan, Charles. ''Charles de Gaulle: A Brief Biography with Documents''. (1995). 243 pp.
* Fenby, Jonathan, ''The General: Charles de Gaulle and the France He Saved''. (2011). Simon & Schuster. {{ISBN|9781847394101}}
* [[Julian T. Jackson|Jackson, Julian]], ''A Certain Idea of France: The Life of Charles de Gaulle'' (2018) 887pp.
* Shennan, Andrew (1993). ''De Gaulle'' 200 pp.
* Williams, Charles. ''The Last Great Frenchman: A Life of General De Gaulle'' (1997), 560pp. [https://www.amazon.com/Last-Great-Frenchman-General-Gaulle/dp/0471180718/ excerpt and text search]

=== World War II ===
* Berthon, Simon. ''Allies at War: The Bitter Rivalry among Churchill, Roosevelt, and de Gaulle''. (2001). 356 pp.
* {{cite book|last=Breuer|first=William B.|author-link=William Breuer|title=Unexplained Mysteries of World War II|edition=2008|year=2008|publisher=Book Sales, Inc|isbn=978-0-7858-2253-0}} <small>- Total pages: 238 </small>
* Danan, Yves Maxime, ''République française : capitale Alger (1940–1944)'', L'Harmattan, Paris, 2019.
* DePorte, Anton W. ''De Gaulle's foreign policy, 1944–1946'' (1967)
* Funk, Arthur Layton. ''Charles de Gaulle: The Crucial Years, 1943–1944'' (1959) [https://web.archive.org/web/20110628215323/http://www.questia.com/read/58600747 online edition]
* Keegan, John (1994) [1982] ''Six Armies in Normandy: From D-Day to the Liberation of Paris ''.
* [[François Kersaudy|Kersaudy, Francois]]. ''Churchill and De Gaulle'' (2nd ed 1990) 482pp.
* La Feber, Walter. "Roosevelt, Churchill, and Indochina: 1942–45." ''American Historical Review'' (1975): 1277–1295. . {{JSTOR|1852060}}.
* {{cite book|last1=Picknett|first1=Lynn|last2=Prince|first2=Clive|last3=Prior|first3=Stephen|title=Friendly fire: the secret war between the allies|edition=2005|year=2005|publisher=Mainstream|isbn=978-1-84018-996-4}} <small>- Total pages: 512 </small>
* Pratt, Julius W. "De Gaulle and the United States: How the Rift Began," ''History Teacher'' (1968) 1#4 pp.&nbsp;5–15 . {{JSTOR|3054237}}.
* Rossi, Mario. "United States Military Authorities and Free France, 1942–1944," ''The Journal of Military History'' (1997) 61#1 pp.&nbsp;49–64 . {{JSTOR|2953914}}.
* Weinberg, Gerhard L. ''Visions of Victory: The Hopes of Eight World War II Leaders''. (2005). 292 pp. chapter on de Gaulle

=== Politics ===
* Berstein, Serge, and Peter Morris. ''The Republic of de Gaulle 1958–1969'' (The Cambridge History of Modern France) (2006) [https://www.amazon.com/Republic-Gaulle-1958-1969-Cambridge-History/dp/0521272394/ excerpt and text search]
* Cameron, David R. and Hofferbert, Richard I. "Continuity and Change in Gaullism: the General's Legacy." ''American Journal of Political Science'' 1973 17(1): 77–98. {{ISSN|0092-5853}}, a statistical analysis of the Gaullist voting coalition in elections 1958–73 Fulltext: . {{JSTOR|2110475}}.
* Cogan, Charles G. "The Break-up: General de Gaulle's Separation from Power," ''Journal of Contemporary History'' Vol. 27, No. 1 (Jan. 1992), pp.&nbsp;167–199, re: 1969 . {{JSTOR|260783}}.
* Diamond, Robert A. ''France under de Gaulle'' (Facts on File, 1970), highly detailed chronology 1958–1969. 319pp
* Furniss, Edgar J. Jr. ''De Gaulle and the French Army''. (1964)
* Gough, Hugh and Horne, John, eds. ''De Gaulle and Twentieth-Century France''. (1994). 158 pp. essays by experts
* Hauss, Charles. ''Politics in Gaullist France: Coping with Chaos'' (1991) [https://www.questia.com/read/23380015 online edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628215340/https://www.questia.com/read/23380015 |date=28 June 2011 }}
* Hoffmann, Stanley. ''Decline or Renewal? France since the 1930s'' (1974) [https://www.questia.com/read/14783192 online edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081203110911/http://www.questia.com/read/14783192 |date=3 December 2008 }}
* Jackson, Julian. "General de Gaulle and His Enemies: Anti-Gaullism in France Since 1940," ''Transactions of the Royal Historical Society'' 6th Ser., Vol. 9 (1999), pp.&nbsp;43–65 . {{JSTOR|3679392}}.
* Merom, Gil. "A 'Grand Design'? Charles de Gaulle and the End of the Algerian War," ''Armed Forces & Society''(1999) 25#2 pp: 267–287 [http://afs.sagepub.com/content/25/2/267.short online]
* Nester, William R. ''De Gaulle's Legacy: The Art of Power in France's Fifth Republic'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014)
* Northcutt, Wayne. ''Historical Dictionary of the French Fourth and Fifth Republics, 1946–1991'' (1992)
* Pierce, Roy, "De Gaulle and the RPF—A Post-Mortem," ''The Journal of Politics'' Vol. 16, No. 1 (Feb. 1954), pp.&nbsp;96–119 . {{JSTOR|2126340}}.
* 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) [https://www.questia.com/read/54328775 online edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628215639/https://www.questia.com/read/54328775 |date=28 June 2011 }}

=== Foreign policy ===
{{Main|Foreign policy of Charles de Gaulle#Further reading}}

* Bozo, Frédéric. ''Two Strategies for Europe: De Gaulle, the United States and the Atlantic Alliance'' (2000)
* Gordon, Philip H. ''A Certain Idea of France: French Security Policy and the Gaullist Legacy'' (1993) [https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=107405557 online edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080421024059/http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=107405557 |date=21 April 2008 }}
* Grosser, Alfred. ''French foreign policy under De Gaulle'' (Greenwood Press, 1977)
* Hoffmann, Stanley. "The Foreign Policy of Charles de Gaulle." in ''The Diplomats, 1939–1979'' (Princeton University Press, 2019) pp.&nbsp;228–254. [https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv8pz9nc.13 online]
* Kolodziej, Edward A. ''French International Policy under de Gaulle and Pompidou: The Politics of Grandeur'' (1974) [https://www.questia.com/read/9120986 online edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628215626/https://www.questia.com/read/9120986 |date=28 June 2011 }}
* Kulski, W. W. ''De Gaulle and the World: The Foreign Policy of the Fifth French Republic'' (1966) [https://archive.org/details/degaulleworld00kuls online free to borrow]
* Logevall, Fredrik. "De Gaulle, Neutralization, and American Involvement in Vietnam, 1963–1964," ''Pacific Historical Review'' 61#1 (Feb. 1992), pp.&nbsp;69–102 . {{JSTOR|3640789}}.
* Mahan, E. ''Kennedy, De Gaulle and Western Europe''. (2002). 229 pp.
* Mangold, Peter. ''The Almost Impossible Ally: Harold Macmillan and Charles de Gaulle''. (2006). 275 pp.&nbsp;IB Tauris, London, {{ISBN|978-1-85043-800-7}}
* Martin, Garret Joseph. ''General de Gaulle's Cold War: Challenging American Hegemony, 1963–1968'' (Berghahn Books; 2013) 272 pages
* Moravcsik, Andrew. "Charles de Gaulle and Europe: The New Revisionism." ''Journal of Cold War Studies'' (2012) 14#1 pp: 53–77.
* Nuenlist, Christian. ''Globalizing de Gaulle: International Perspectives on French Foreign Policies, 1958–1969'' (2010)
* Newhouse, John. ''De Gaulle and the Anglo-Saxons'' (New York: Viking Press, 1970)
* Paxton, Robert O. and Wahl, Nicholas, eds. ''De Gaulle and the United States: A Centennial Reassessment''. (1994). 433 pp.
* White, Dorothy Shipley. ''Black Africa and de Gaulle: From the French Empire to Independence''. (1979). 314 pp.

=== Ideas and memory ===
* Cerny, Philip G. ''The Politics of Grandeur: Ideological Aspects of de Gaulle's Foreign Policy''. (1980). 319 pp.
* Clague, Monique. "Conceptions of Leadership: Charles de Gaulle and Max Weber," ''Political Theory'' (1975) 3#4 pp.&nbsp;423–440. {{JSTOR|190838}}.
* Converse, Philip E., et al. ''De Gaulle and Eisenhower: The public image of the victorious general'' (1961), Statistical analysis of public opinion polls in US and France
* Hazareesingh, Sudhir. ''In the Shadow of the General: Modern France and the Myth of De Gaulle'' (2012) [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=36448 online review]
* Hoffmann, Stanley. "The Hero as History: De Gaulle's War Memoirs" in Hoffman ''Decline or Renewal? France since the 1930s'' (1974) pp 187–201 [https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=14783192 online edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071204200306/http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=14783192 |date=4 December 2007 }}
* Johnson, Douglas. "The Political Principles of General de Gaulle," ''International Affairs'' (1965) 41#4 pp.&nbsp;650–662 . {{JSTOR|2610718}}.
* Mahoney, Daniel J. ''De Gaulle: Statesmanship, Grandeur, and Modern Democracy''. (1996). 188 pp. intellectual history
* Mahoney, Daniel J. "A 'Man of Character': The Statesmanship of Charles de Gaulle," ''Polity'' (1994) 27#1 pp.&nbsp;157–173 . {{JSTOR|3235090}}.
* Morrisey, Will. "Reflections on De Gaulle: Political Founding in Modernity." (2002). 266 pp. intellectual history
* Pedley, Alan. ''As Mighty as the Sword: A Study of the Writings of Charles de Gaulle'' (1996) 226pp

== External links ==
{{Sister project links|wikt=no|v=no|n=no|voy=no}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110128132924/http://www.charles-de-gaulle.org/ Fondation Charles-de-Gaulle]
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Charles de Gaulle |sopt=t}}
* [http://www.memorial-charlesdegaulle.fr/en/index.html Mémorial Charles de Gaulle]
* {{20th Century Press Archives|FID=pe/005897}}

{{Charles de Gaulle}}
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