Charles De Gaulle Research Paper

Le grand Charles de Gaulle Figure 1:Courtesy of A&E Television Networks, Charles de Gaulle
Born Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle on 22 November 1890 in Lille, France (Fenby, 2010). Charles De Gaulle rose from a young college student at the Military Academy of Saint-Cyr (Fenby, 2010), to war prisoner, to President of the Fifth Republic (Fenby, 2010). During the Liberation of Paris from Nazi Germany in 1944, Charles De Gaulle had identified France’s greatness with his own. De Gaulle had selvedge France’s honor through the force of charisma and tenacity. Much like the influences of Martin Luther King Jr., Charles De Gaulle became a national hero and could easily motivate a nation. Charles De Gaulle reshaped the future of France’s political status after WWII, envisioning a democratic, two-party system, instead of the multi-party rules. On May10, 1940, the German Armies attacked Holland and Belgium, and fell upon France with concentrated armament, supported by dive-bombers and paratroopers (The History Channel, “Britain and France declare
war on Germany”, 2009). Unprepared, De Gaulle received command over a tank division, scoring one of the first successes during the campaign. For which he was decorated, and received his fifth citation for valor.
As the Germans raced for the canals and channel ports, housing British and French naval supply ships, De Gaulle was pulled out of the front and made Under Secretary for War (The History Channel, “Britain and France declare war on Germany”, 2009). This changed everything for De Gaulle, and granted him political access for future actions. French populist offered little resistance to invading forces and where already weakened from previous war years. The capital city of Paris, was declared an open city and the government fled south, to be replaced by a new government ready to make peace with the Germans and collaborate with the Third Reich. The legal authority of France was granted to the Vichy regime (Encyclopædia Britannica Online, 2016). Charles De Gaulle spoke out against the Vichy regime with the support of the British government, De Gaulle appealed to the French people to continue the fight against the Nazi’s and all who collaborated with them.
Operating without ships, tanks, and aircraft, a liberation force of rebels arose out of the declaration of De Gaulle’s plea, ready to take on the Nazi influence and Vichy occupation. De Gaulle thought that this action and multiple actions taken by the newly re-established armed force, was necessary in the revival of France as a power and because he thought of France as himself, his own political power would be solidified. De Gaulle became the leader of the New France. Winning him the respect of Winston Churchill. In a meeting in Casablanca, Morocco, Winston Churchill and U.S. President Roosevelt met with De Gaulle, advising him to withdraw from the Liberation of Tunisia and Libya (History, 2009). De Gaulle declined the request to pull-out his troops, earning the right to march with the great victors in the struggle against tyranny.
In August of 1944, Paris was freed, released from four years of enemy occupation. De Gaulle challenged the Vichy government and announced the establishment of a provisional French government, headed by himself, with was formally recognized by the American and British governments (Encyclopædia Britannica Online, 2016). The position of France was also recognized as an equal power. He had restored the centralized state, by freeing France from the anarchy of political parties. In a mist of the disappointments of the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences in 1945 (U.S. Department of State, “Office of the Historian”, 2009), which De Gaulle was not invited. France signed an armistice in Berlin, shortly after the German surrender to the Americans and the British, ending World War II (Bremner, 2003). Figure 2: Courtesy of Army Signal Corps Collection in the U.S. National Archives - Clement Attlee, Harry Truman and Joseph Stalin at the Potsdam Conference, circa 28 July -- 1 August 1945
In the aftermath of WWII, on VE Day, a confrontation in the Levant took place in Tunisia, resulting in the deaths of French nationals (Bremner, 2003). In retaliation, French troops opened fire on demonstrators in Damascus with artillery while aircraft dropped bombs. Later, colonial Senegalese troops were sent in with machine guns and, after several days, hundreds of Syrians lay dead in the bazaars and narrow streets of the capital, with reports of looting by the attacking forces (Time, 1945). President Harry Truman, stated that “those French ought to be taken out and castrated” (Fenby, 2010, pg. 288). On 13 November 1945, Charles de Gaulle was unanimously elected, President of the Forth Republic, which was at that time influenced by communist’s idealistic views, causing conflict within the cabinet. De Gaulle was unwilling to allow the Communists any important ministries, resulting in his resignation (History, 2010).
De Gaulle remained dormant from political activities for a short time after resignation, until 1948.
He created his own political party, “Rally for the French People” (Masson, 1966), to attempt to reignite the fire to move France back into a ‘free’ society. In the span of ten years, De Gaulle observed the French government go through a series of failures, such as Indochina, the Algerian conflict, and the loss of Guinea as a French colony. In the winter of 1959, De Gaulle was elected as President of the newly formed Fifth Republic (Masson, 1966). Throughout his decade as the President, De Gaulle re-established a newly written constitution, France as a nuclear power, established France as a European counterpart by signing the Élysée Treaty (U.S. Department of State, “Office of the Historian”, 2009), and strengthened the economy of France. Charles De Gaulle retired as President in 1969 and died on his 80th birthday, one year
later.