Charles
de Gaulle was born in Lille, France, on 22nd November,
1890. The son of a headmaster of a Jesuit school, he was educated
in Paris. He was a good student and at the Military
Academy St. Cyr, he graduated 13th in the class of
1912.
Commissioned
as a second lieutenant, the 6 feet 5 tall de Gaulle joined an
infantry regiment commanded by Colonel Henri-Philippe
Petain in 1913.
In
the First
World War de Gaulle was wounded twice in the first few months
of the conflict. Promoted to the rank of captain in February,
1915, de Gaulle fought at Verdun
where he was wounded again and on 2nd March, 1916 was captured by
the German
Army. Over the next 32 months he was held in several prisoner
of war camps and made five unsuccessful attempts to escape.
After
the Armistice
de Gaulle was assigned to a Polish division being formed in
France where he served under Maxime
Weygand. He fought against the Red
Army during the Civil
War and won Poland's highest military decoration, Virtuti
Militari.
De
Gaulle lectured at the French War
College where he worked closely with Henri-Philippe
Petain. Over the next few years the two men demanding
a small, mobile, highly mechanized army of professionals.
De
Gaulle's military ideas appeared in his book, The
Army of the Future (1934). In the book he also
criticized the static theories of war that was exemplified by the
Maginot
Line. The book was unpopular with the politicians and the
military who favoured the idea of a mass army of conscripts
during war. In 1936 de Gaulle was punished for his views by
having his name taken of the promotion list.
In
1938 de Gaulle published France and Her
Army. This book caused a disagreement with
Henri-Philippe
Petain who accused de Gaulle of taking credit for work
done by the staff of the French War
College.
On
the outbreak of the Second
World War de Gaulle took over command of the 5th Army's tank
force in Alsace. He soon became frustrated with the military
hierarchy who had failed to grasp the importance of using tanks
in mass-attacks with air support.
When
the German
Army broke through at Sedan he was given command of the
recently formed 4th Armoured Division. With 200 tanks, de Gaulle
attacked the German panzers at Montcornet on 17th May, 1940.
Lacking air support, de Gaulle made little impact on halting the
German advance.
De
Gaulle was more successful at Caumont (28th May) when he became
the only French commanding officer to force the Germans to
retreat during the German Invasion
of France.
On
the 5th June, 1940, the French prime minister, Paul
Reynaud, sacked Edouard
Daladier and appointed de Gaulle as his minister of
war. De Gaulle also visited London
but when he returned to France on 16th June he discovered the
Henri-Philippe
Petain had ousted Paul
Reynaud as premier and was forming a government that would
seek an armistice with Germany. In danger of being arrested by
the new French government, de Gaulle returned to England. The
following day he made a radio broadcast calling for French people
to continue fighting against the German
Army.
Whereas
as President Franklin
D. Roosevelt in the USA recognized Vichy France Winston
Churchill refused and backed de Gaulle as leader of the "Free
French". Henri-Philippe
Petain responded by denouncing de Gaulle. On 4th July,
1940, a court-martial in Toulouse sentenced him in absentia to
four years in prison. At a second court-martial on 2nd August,
1940, sentenced him to death.
De
Gaulle made attempts to unify the resistance movements in France.
In March 1943 Jean
Moulin, Charles
Delestraint and Andre
Dewavrin managed to unite eight major resistance movements
under de Gaulle's leadership. However, this good work was
undermined when in June, 1943, both Delestraint and Moulin were
both arrested by the Gestapo.
On
30th May 1943, de Gaulle moved to Algeria. The following month
the French Committee of National
Liberation (FCNL) was established with de Gaulle and
Henri
Giraud as co-presidents. De Gaulle had difficulty working
with his co-president and by July, 1943, had limited Giraud's
power to command of the armed forces.
Franklin
D. Roosevelt and Winston
Churchill were furious when de Gaulle's announced on 26 May,
1944, that the FCNL will now be known as the Provisional
Government of the French Republic. Roosevelt and Churchill
refused to recognize de Gaulle's action and decided to exclude
him from the planning of Operation
Overlord.
Despite
objections from Britain and the USA, De Gaulle's Provisional
Government was recognized by Czechoslovakia, Poland, Belgium,
Luxembourg, Yugoslavia and Norway. On 13th July, 1944, the
governments of Britain and the USA also agreed that de Gaulle
could help administer the liberated portions of France.
De
Gaulle reached France from Algiers on 20th August 1944. De Gaulle
and his 2nd Armoured Division was allowed to join the USA
Army when it entered Paris on 25th August. At a public speech
later that day he announced that the French
Forces of the Interior (FFI) would be integrated into
the French
Army and the militia would be dissolved. He also offered
posts in his government to leaders of the resistance. Those who
took office included Georges
Bidault, Henry
Frenay and Charles
Tillon.
De
Gaulle was upset by not being invited to the Yalta
Conference but he was allowed to represent France as one of
the four countries to sign the final instrument of surrender with
Germany. France was also given one of the four occupation zones
in Germany.
On
13th November, 1945, the first Constituent Assembly unanimously
elected de Gaulle as head of the French government. He held the
post until resigning on 20th January, 1946. He then formed the
right-wing group, the Rally of the
French People (RFP). After initial success it declined
in popularity and de Gaulle left it in 1953 and it was disbanded
two years later.
After
his retirement from politics de Gaulle wrote the first three
volumes of his memoirs. He returned to politics in 1958 when he
was elected president during the Algerian crisis. He granted
independence to all 13 French African colonies but the Algerian
War continued until 1962.
De
Gaulle decided that France should have its own atom bomb and
repeatedly blocked Britain's attempts to join the European
Economic Community. In 1966 de Gaulle withdrew France from
NATO
integrated military command.
Following
student riots against his government and negative results in a
referendum, de Gaulle resigned from office in April, 1969. In
retirement he completed his memoirs. Charles
De Gaulle died on 9th November, 1970.
(1)
General Charles de Gaulle, attempted to halt the German invasion
of France at Abbeville. He wrote about these events in his book,
The Call to Honour (1955)
By the evening
(28th May, 1940) the objective was reached. Only Mont Caubert
still held out. There were a great many dead from both sides on
the field. Our tanks had been sorely tried. Barely a hundred were
still in working order. But all the same, an atmosphere of
victory hovered over the battlefield. Everyone held his head
high. The wounded were smiling. The guns fired gaily. Before us,
in a pitched battle, the Germans had retired.
Alas!
In the course of the Battle of France, what other ground had been
or would be won, except this strip of fourteen kilometres deep?
If the State had played its part; if, while there was time, it
had directed its military system towards enterprise, not
passivity; if our leaders had in consequence had at their
disposal the instruments for shock and manoeuvre which had been
often suggested to the politicians and to the High Command; then
our arms would have had their chance, and France would have found
her soul again.
(2)
General Charles de Gaulle, BBC radio broadcast (18th June,
1940)
I, General de Gaulle, now in London, call
on all French officers and men who are at present on British
soil, or may be in the future, with or without their arms; I call
on all engineers and skilled workmen from the armaments factories
who are at present on British soil, or may be in the future, to
get in touch with me. Whatever happens, the flame of the French
resistance must not and shall not die.
(3)
General Charles de Gaulle, wrote about Lend-Lease
in his book, The Call to Honour (1955)
On
March 9th, at dawn, Mr. Churchill came and woke up to tell me,
literally dancing with joy, that the American Congress had passed
the "Lend-Lease Bill," which had been under discussion
for several weeks. There was, indeed, matter of comfort here for
us, not only from the fact that the belligerents were from now on
assured of receiving from the United States the material
necessary for fighting, but also because America, by becoming, in
Roosevelt's phrase, "the arsenal of the democracies,"
was taking a gigantic step toward war.
(4)
General Charles de Gaulle, The Call to Honour (1955)
Jean
Moulin was dropped by parachute in France during the night of
January 1st. He carried credentials from me appointing him as my
delegate for the non-occupied zone of Metropolitan France and
instructing him to endure unity of action among the elements of
the resistance there. This would mean that his authority would
not, in principle, be disputed. It was therefore agreed that it
was he who would be the centre of our communications in France,
first with the South Zone, then, as soon as possible, with the
North Zone.
(5)
General Charles de Gaulle, The Call to Honour
(1955)
Churchill had made for himself a rule to
do nothing important except in agreement with Roosevelt. Though
he felt, more than any other Englishman, the awkwardness of
Washington's methods, though he found it hard to bear the
conditions of subordination in which United States aid placed the
British Empire, and though he bitterly resented the tone of
supremacy which the President adopted towards him, Churchill had
decided, once for all, to bow to the imperious necessity of the
American alliance.
(6)
Winston
Churchill, letter to Franklin
D. Roosevelt (16th December, 1941)
The
German setback in Russia, the British successes in Libya, the
moral and military collapse of Italy, above all the the
declarations of war exchanged between Germany and the United
States, must strongly affect the mind of France and the French
Empire. Now is the time to offer to Vichy and to French North
Africa a blessing or a cursing. A blessing will consist in a
promise by the United States and great Britain to re-establish
France as a Great Power with her territories undiminished.
Our
relations with General de Gaulle and the Free French movement
will require to be reviewed. Hitherto the United States have
entered into no undertakings similar to those comprised in my
correspondence with him. Through no particular fault of his own
movement has created new antagonism in French minds. Any action
which the united states may now feel able to take in regard to
him should have the effect, inter alia, of redefining our
obligations to him and France so as to make these obligations
more closely dependent upon the eventual effort by him and the
French nation to rehabilitate themselves.
(7)
James
F. Byrnes, as Secretary of State, attended the
Yalta
Conference on 4th February, 1945.
In
the fall of 1944 the Soviet Union and the Provisional Government
of France had entered into a treaty of friendship. It was
immediately obvious at Yalta, however, that the treaty and the
friendly words exchanged over it by the diplomats had not changed
in any degree Marshal Stalin's opinion on the contribution of
France to the war. He thought France should play little part in
the control of Germany, and stated that Yugoslavia and Poland
were more entitled to consideration than France.
When
Roosevelt and Churchill proposed that France be allotted a zone
of occupation, Stalin agreed. But it was clear he agreed only
because the French zone was to be taken out of the territory
allotted to the United States and the United Kingdom. And he
especially opposed giving France a representative on the Allied
Control Council for Germany. He undoubtedly concurred in the
opinion expressed to the President by Mr. Molotov that this
should be done "only as a kindness to France and not because
she is entitled to it."
"I
am in favor of France being given a zone," Stalin declared,
"but I cannot forget that in this war France opened the
gates to the enemy." He maintained it would create
difficulties to give France a zone of occupation and a
representative on the Allied Control Council and refuse the same
treatment to others who had fought more than France. He said
France would soon demand that de Gaulle attend the Big
Three's
Conferences.
Churchill
argued strongly in favor of France's being represented on the
Council. He said the British public would not understand if
questions affecting France and the French zone were settled
without her participation in the discussion. It did not follow,
as Stalin had suggested, that France would' demand de Gaulle's
participation in the conferences of the Big Three, he added. And,
in his best humor, Mr. Churchill said the conference was "a
very exclusive club, the entrance fee being at least five million
soldiers or the equivalent."
|
