WikipediaExtracts:Charles de Gaulle

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File:Commander of Free French Forces Charles de Gaulle seated(cropped)jpg.jpg

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"},"prime_minister":{"wt":"{{plainlist|\n* Michel Debré\n* Georges Pompidou\n* Maurice Couve de Murville}}"},"term_start":{"wt":"8 January 1959"},"term_end":{"wt":"28 April 1969"},"predecessor":{"wt":"René Coty"},"successor":{"wt":"Georges Pompidou{{efn|Alain Poher served as acting president from de Gaulle's resignation until Pompidou took office.}}"},"office1":{"wt":"Prime Minister of France"},"president1":{"wt":"René Coty"},"term_start1":{"wt":"1 June 1958"},"term_end1":{"wt":"8 January 1959"},"predecessor1":{"wt":"Pierre Pflimlin"},"successor1":{"wt":"Michel Debré"},"office2":{"wt":"Chairman of the Provisional Government of the French Republic"},"term_start2":{"wt":"3 June 1944"},"term_end2":{"wt":"26 January 1946"},"predecessor2":{"wt":"De facto: {{ubl|Philippe Pétain<br />(Chief of the French State) |Pierre Laval<br />(Chief of the Government) }}"},"successor2":{"wt":"Félix Gouin"},"office3":{"wt":"Chairman of the French Committee of National Liberation"},"term_start3":{"wt":"3 June 1943"},"term_end3":{"wt":"3 June 1944"},"alongside3":{"wt":"Henri Giraud<br />(3 June 1943 – 9 November 1943)"},"predecessor3":{"wt":"Himself<br />as Chairman of the French National Committee"},"successor3":{"wt":"''Position abolished''"},"office4":{"wt":"Chairman of the French National Committee"},"term_start4":{"wt":"24 September 1941"},"term_end4":{"wt":"3 June 1943"},"predecessor4":{"wt":"Himself<br />as Head of the Empire Defence Council"},"successor4":{"wt":"Henri Giraud and himself<br />as co-Chairmen of the French Committee of National Liberation"},"office5":{"wt":"Head of the Empire Defence Council"},"term_start5":{"wt":"27 October 1940"},"term_end5":{"wt":"24 September 1941"},"predecessor5":{"wt":"''Position created''"},"successor5":{"wt":"Himself<br />as Chairman of the French National Committee"},"office6":{"wt":"Minister of Defence"},"term_start6":{"wt":"1 June 1958"},"term_end6":{"wt":"8 January 1959"},"prime_minister6":{"wt":"Himself"},"predecessor6":{"wt":"Pierre de Chevigné"},"successor6":{"wt":"Pierre Guillaumat"},"office7":{"wt":"Minister of Algerian Affairs"},"term_start7":{"wt":"12 June 1958"},"term_end7":{"wt":"8 January 1959"},"prime_minister7":{"wt":"Himself"},"predecessor7":{"wt":"André Mutter"},"successor7":{"wt":"Louis Joxe"},"office8":{"wt":"Undersecretary of State for War and\nNational Defence"},"term_start8":{"wt":"6 June 1940"},"term_end8":{"wt":"16 June 1940"},"president8":{"wt":""},"prime_minister8":{"wt":"Paul Reynaud"},"predecessor8":{"wt":"Hippolyte Ducos"},"successor8":{"wt":"''Position abolished''"},"birth_name":{"wt":"Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle"},"birth_date":{"wt":"{{birth date|1890|11|22|df=y}}"},"birth_place":{"wt":"Lille, France"},"death_date":{"wt":"{{death date and age|1970|11|9|1890|11|22|df=y}}"},"death_place":{"wt":"Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, France"},"party":{"wt":"Union of Democrats for the Republic (1967–1969)"},"other_party":{"wt":"Union for the New Republic (1958–1967)<br>Rally of the French People (1947–1955)"},"spouse":{"wt":"{{marriage|Yvonne Vendroux|1921}}"},"children":{"wt":"3, including Philippe and Anne"},"relatives":{"wt":"Charles de Gaulle (uncle)<br>Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz (niece)<br>Alain de Boissieu (son-in-law)"},"education":{"wt":"École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr"},"signature":{"wt":"Charles de Gaulle Signature 2.svg"},"footnotes":{"wt":""},"allegiance":{"wt":"{{plainlist|\n* French Third Republic\n* Free France}}\nFrench Fifth Republic"},"branch":{"wt":"{{plainlist|\n* French Army\n* Free French Forces}}"},"service_years":{"wt":"1912–1944"},"rank":{"wt":"Général de brigade"},"commands":{"wt":"{{Collapsible list\n | {{ill|19e bataillon de chasseurs à pied|fr}}\n | {{ill|507e régiment de chars de combat|fr}}\n | 4e Division cuirassée\n | Free France}}"},"battles":{"wt":"{{Collapsible list|1=<!-- bodge: list of one item -->{{Tree list}}\n* World War I\n** Battle of Dinant{{WIA}}\n** First Battle of Champagne{{WIA}}\n** Battle of Verdun{{POW}}\n* Polish–Soviet War\n* World War II\n** Battle of France\n** Battle of Montcornet\n** Battle of Abbeville\n** Battle of Dakar\n** Battle of Gabon\n** Liberation of Paris\n{{Tree list/end}}}}"}},"i":0}}]}' id="mwCA">

Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (22 November 1890 – 9 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces against Nazi Germany and its puppet state of 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 1958 Algiers putsch, he came out of retirement at the request of President René Coty, who appointed him Prime Minister. He commissioned a new 1958 French constitution which was approved by voters in a swift majority, during a referendum, establishing the French Fifth Republic. He was subsequently elected the President of France later that year, a position he held until his resignation in 1969.

Born in Lille, he was a decorated officer of World War I, wounded several times and was taken prisoner of war by the German Empire. During the 1918–1939 interwar period, he advocated mobile armoured divisions. During the German invasion of May 1940, he led an armoured division that counterattacked the Nazi German invaders; he was then appointed Undersecretary for War. Refusing to accept his government's armistice with Germany, de Gaulle fled to Britain 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 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 became a staple of modern French literature.

When the Algerian War threatened to bring the unstable French Fourth Republic to collapse, the National Assembly brought him back to power during the May 1958 crisis. He founded the French Fifth Republic with a strong presidency; he was 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 (ethnic French and other Europeans born and raised in Algeria) and the French Armed Forces. He oversaw the independence to Algeria, alongside most of France's other colonies in Africa. 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 nuclear strike force, which made France the world's fourth nuclear power. He restored the France–Germany relations with Chancellor Konrad Adenauer to create a European counterweight between the Anglo-American and Soviet Union spheres of influence through the signing of the Élysée Treaty on 22 January 1963.

De Gaulle opposed any development of a supranational Europe, favouring Europe as a continent of sovereign nations. He also openly criticised the US intervention in Vietnam and the exorbitant privilege of the US dollar. In his later years, his use of the slogan "Vive le Québec libre<link rel="mw:PageProp/Category" href="./Category:Articles_containing_French-language_text" about="#mwt56" id="mwVw"/>" at a speech in Montreal, Canada and his two vetoes over Great Britain's entry into the European Economic Community generated considerable controversy in both the Americas and Europe. Although he was reelected to the presidency in 1965, he faced widespread protests by students and workers in May 68; however, he had the French Army's support and won the 1968 early elections with an increased majority in the National Assembly. De Gaulle resigned in late April 1969 after losing a referendum in which he proposed more decentralization. He died a year and a half later at the age of 79, leaving his presidential memoirs unfinished. French political parties and leaders claim a Gaullist legacy; streets and monuments in France and other parts of the world were dedicated in honour of him after his death, such as the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France.

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