Charles de Gaulle is the clearest example of the role of personality in history. General Charles de Gaulle, President of France (1890–1970)

GOLLE CHARLES DE - statesman France, President of the Fifth Republic (1959-1969).

Born into an aristocratic family. In 1912 he graduated from Saint-Cyr military school. A participant in the 1st World War, he was wounded three times. In 1916-1918 he was in German captivity. In 1919-1921, he was an officer in the French military mission in Poland.

In 1922-1924 he studied at the Higher Military School in Paris. In 1925-1931 he served on the staff of the vice-chairman of the Supreme Military Council of France, Marshal A.F. Peten, in the Rhineland and Lebanon.

In 1932-1936, Secretary of the Supreme Council of National Defense. In 1937-1939, commander of a tank regiment.

At the beginning of the 2nd World War, he commanded the tank corps of the 5th French Army (1939), in May 1940 he led the 4th Armored Division and received the rank of brigadier general. On June 5, 1940, he was appointed Deputy Minister of War. After the government of A.F. came to power. Pétain (June 16, 1940) flew to Great Britain and on June 18, 1940, addressed the French on the radio with an appeal to continue the fight against Nazi Germany. While in exile, he led the Free France movement, which joined the anti-Hitler coalition.

In June 1943, after the landing of Anglo-American troops in North Africa, he created the French Committee in Algeria national liberation(FKNO; headed it until November 1943 together with General A.O. Zhiro, then alone).

Since June 1944, after the FKNO was renamed into the Provisional Government of the French Republic, head of government. The cabinet led by Gaulle restored democratic freedoms in France, nationalized a number of industries and carried out socio-economic reforms.

In December 1944, he paid an official visit to the USSR and signed the Treaty of Alliance and Mutual Assistance between the USSR and the French Republic.

In January 1946, due to disagreements on major internal political issues with representatives of left-wing parties, he left the post of head of government. In 1947, he founded the Rally of the French People (RPF) party, the main goal of which was to abolish the 1946 Constitution, which transferred real power in the country to the National Assembly, and not to the president, as Gaulle wanted. The RPF advocated the slogans of creating a state with strong presidential power, France pursuing an independent policy in the international arena, and creating conditions for the “association of labor and capital.”

Having failed to come to power with the help of the RPF, Gaulle dissolved it in 1953 and temporarily withdrew from active political activity. On June 1, 1958, in the conditions of an acute political crisis caused by a military rebellion in Algeria, the National Assembly approved Gaulle as head of government. Under his leadership, the 1958 Constitution was developed, which narrowed the powers of parliament and significantly expanded the rights of the president. In October 1958, Gaulle's supporters united into the Union for a New Republic (UNR) party, which declared itself "totally devoted" to his "ideas and personality."

On December 21, 1958, Goll was elected president, and on December 19, 1965, he was re-elected for a new 7-year term. In this post, overcoming the resistance of ultra-colonialists and part of the military, he achieved independence for Algeria (see Evian agreements of 1962), and pursued a policy of increasing the role of France in solving European and world problems.

During Gaulle's reign, France became nuclear power(January 1960); in 1966, having failed to achieve equality with the United States and Great Britain in NATO, it withdrew from the military organization of this alliance. In 1964, the French leadership condemned the US aggression against Vietnam, and in 1967, the Israeli aggression against the Arab states. Being a supporter of European integration, Gaulle understood “United Europe” as a “Europe of Fatherland”, in which each country must retain political independence and national identity. Gaulle advocated rapprochement between France and Germany, and in 1963 he signed a Franco-German cooperation agreement. Twice (in 1963, 1967) he vetoed Great Britain’s entry into the EEC, not wanting to allow into this organization a strong competitor closely associated with the United States and capable of claiming leadership in Western Europe. Gaulle was one of the first to put forward the idea of ​​easing international tension. During Gaulle's reign, cooperation between France and the USSR received significant development. In 1964, France recognized China People's Republic and established diplomatic relations with her.

In May 1968, France was gripped by student unrest, which developed into a general strike (see General Strike of 1968 in France), which indicated a deep crisis in French society. Gaulle voluntarily resigned as president of the republic and withdrew from political activity after the referendum on April 28, 1969 did not receive the support of the majority of the population for his proposed projects for reforming the Senate and changing the administrative-territorial structure of France. Goll devoted the last year and a half of his life to writing memoirs.

Illustrations:

BRE Archive.

Essays:

La discorde chez l'ennemi. R., 1924;

Professional army. M., 1935;

La France et son armée. R., 1938;

Discourse et messages. R., 1970. Vol. 1-5;

Lettres, notes et carnets. R., 1980-1997. Vol. 1-13

The content of the article

DE GAULLE, CHARLES(De Gaulle, Charles André Marie) (1890–1970), President of France. Born November 22, 1890 in Lille. In 1912 he graduated from the Saint-Cyr Military Academy. During the First World War, he was wounded three times and captured near Verdun in 1916. In 1920–1921, with the rank of major, he served in Poland at the headquarters of General Weygand's military mission. In the period between the two world wars, de Gaulle taught military history at the Saint-Cyr school, served as an assistant to Marshal Pétain, and wrote several books on military strategy and tactics. In one of them, called For a professional army(1934), insisted on the mechanization of ground forces and the use of tanks in cooperation with aviation and infantry.

Leader of the French Resistance during World War II.

In April 1940, de Gaulle received the rank of brigadier general. On June 6 he was appointed Deputy Minister of National Defense. On June 16, 1940, when Marshal Pétain was negotiating surrender, de Gaulle flew to London, from where on June 18 he made a radio call to his compatriots to continue the fight against the invaders. Founded the Free France movement in London. After the landing of Anglo-American troops in North Africa in June 1943, the French Committee for National Liberation (FCNL) was created in Algeria. De Gaulle was first appointed as its co-chairman (with General Henri Giraud) and then as its sole chairman. In June 1944, the FKNO was renamed the Provisional Government of the French Republic.

Political activity after the war.

After the liberation of France in August 1944, de Gaulle returned to Paris in triumph as head of the provisional government. However, the Gaullist principle of a strong executive was rejected at the end of 1945 by voters, who preferred a constitution in many ways similar to that of the Third Republic. In January 1946, de Gaulle resigned.

In 1947, de Gaulle founded a new party, the Rally of the French People (RPF), whose main goal was to fight for the abolition of the 1946 Constitution, which proclaimed the Fourth Republic. However, the RPF failed to achieve the desired result, and in 1955 the party was dissolved.

In order to preserve the prestige of France and strengthen its national security de Gaulle supported the European Reconstruction Program and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. During the coordination of the armed forces Western Europe at the end of 1948, thanks to the influence of de Gaulle, command was transferred to the French ground forces and the fleet. Like many Frenchmen, de Gaulle continued to be suspicious of a “strong Germany” and in 1949 opposed the Bonn Constitution, which ended Western military occupation, but did not correspond to the plans of Schumann and Pleven (1951).

In 1953, de Gaulle retired from political activity, settled in his house in Colombey-les-deux-Eglises and began writing his War memoirs.

In 1958, the protracted colonial war in Algeria caused an acute political crisis. On May 13, 1958, ultra-colonialists and representatives of the French army rebelled in the Algerian capital. They were soon joined by supporters of General de Gaulle. All of them advocated keeping Algeria within France. The general himself, with the support of his supporters, skillfully took advantage of this and achieved the consent of the National Assembly to create his own government on the terms dictated by him.

Fifth Republic.

The first years after returning to power, de Gaulle was engaged in strengthening the Fifth Republic, financial reform, searching for a solution to the Algerian issue. On September 28, 1958, a new constitution was adopted in a referendum.

On December 21, 1958, de Gaulle was elected president of the republic. Under his leadership, France's influence in the international arena increased. However, de Gaulle faced problems in colonial policy. Having begun to resolve the Algerian problem, de Gaulle firmly pursued a course towards Algerian self-determination. In response to this, mutinies of the French army and ultra-colonialists followed in 1960 and 1961. terrorist activity Armed Secret Organization (OAS), assassination attempt on de Gaulle. However, after the signing of the Evian Accords, Algeria gained independence.

In September 1962, de Gaulle proposed an amendment to the constitution, according to which the election of the president of the republic should be held by universal suffrage. Faced with resistance from the National Assembly, he decided to resort to a referendum. At a referendum held in October, the amendment was approved by a majority of votes. The November elections brought victory to the Gaullist party.

In 1963, de Gaulle vetoed Britain's entry into the Common Market and blocked the US attempt to join NATO nuclear missiles, refused to sign an agreement on a partial ban on nuclear weapons testing. His foreign policy led to a new alliance between France and West Germany. In 1963, de Gaulle visited the Middle East and the Balkans, and in 1964 – Latin America.

On December 21, 1965, de Gaulle was re-elected as president for another 7-year term. The long standoff between NATO reached its climax in early 1966, when the French president withdrew his country from the bloc's military organization. Nevertheless, France remained a member of the Atlantic Alliance.

Elections to the National Assembly in March 1967 brought the Gaullist party and its allies a slight majority, and in May 1968 student unrest and a nationwide strike began. The President again dissolved the National Assembly and called new elections, which were won by the Gaullists. On April 28, 1969, after defeat in the April 27 referendum on the reorganization of the Senate, de Gaulle resigned.

Charles de Gaulle (Gaulle) (1890-1970) - French politician and statesman, founder and first president (1959-1969) of the Fifth Republic. Founded in London in 1940 patriotic movement"Free France" (from 1942 "Fighting France"), which joined anti-Hitler coalition; in 1941 he became the head of the French National Committee, in 1943 - the French Committee for National Liberation, created in Algeria. From 1944 to January 1946, de Gaulle was the head of the French Provisional Government. After the war, he was the founder and leader of the Rally of the French People party. In 1958, Prime Minister of France. On de Gaulle's initiative, a new constitution was prepared (1958), which expanded the rights of the president. During his presidency, France implemented plans to create its own nuclear forces and withdrew from the NATO military organization; Soviet-French cooperation received significant development.

Charles De Gaulle was born on November 22, 1890, in Lille, into an aristocratic family and was brought up in the spirit of patriotism and Catholicism. In 1912 he graduated military school Saint-Cyr, becoming a professional military man. He fought on the fields of the First World War 1914-1918 (World War I), was captured, and was released in 1918.

De Gaulle's worldview was influenced by such contemporaries as philosophers Henri Bergson and Emile Boutroux, writer Maurice Barrès, and poet and publicist Charles Péguy.

Even during the interwar period, Charles became a supporter of French nationalism and a supporter of a strong executive. This is confirmed by the books published by de Gaulle in the 1920-1930s - “Discord in the Land of the Enemy” (1924), “On the Edge of the Sword” (1932), “For a Professional Army” (1934), “France and Its Army” (1938). In these works devoted to military problems, de Gaulle was essentially the first in France to predict the decisive role of tank forces in a future war.

Second World War, at the beginning of which Charles de Gaulle received the rank of general, turned his whole life upside down. He decisively refused the truce concluded by Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain with Nazi Germany and flew to England to organize the struggle for the liberation of France. On June 18, 1940, de Gaulle spoke on London radio with an appeal to his compatriots, in which he urged them not to lay down their arms and to join the Free France association he founded in exile (after 1942, Fighting France).

At the first stage of the war, de Gaulle directed his main efforts towards establishing control over the French colonies, which were under the rule of the pro-fascist Vichy government. As a result, Chad, Congo, Ubangi-Chari, Gabon, Cameroon, and later other colonies joined the Free French. Free French officers and soldiers constantly took part in Allied military operations. De Gaulle sought to build relations with England, the USA and the USSR on the basis of equality and upholding the national interests of France. After the landing of Anglo-American troops in North Africa in June 1943, the French Committee for National Liberation (FCNL) was created in the city of Algiers. Charles De Gaulle was appointed its co-chairman (along with General Henri Giraud), and then its sole chairman.

In June 1944, the FCNO was renamed the Provisional Government of the French Republic. De Gaulle became its first head. Under his leadership, the government restored democratic freedoms in France and carried out socio-economic reforms. In January 1946, de Gaulle left the post of prime minister, disagreeing on major domestic political issues with representatives of the left parties of France.

That same year, the Fourth Republic was established in France. According to the 1946 Constitution, real power in the country belonged not to the president of the republic (as de Gaulle proposed), but to the National Assembly. In 1947, de Gaulle again became involved in the political life of France. He founded the Rally of the French People (RPF). The main goal The RPF began to fight for the abolition of the 1946 Constitution and the conquest of power through parliamentary means to establish a new political regime in the spirit of de Gaulle’s ideas. The RPF was initially a great success. 1 million people joined its ranks. But the Gaullists failed to achieve their goal. In 1953, de Gaulle dissolved the RPF and withdrew from political activities. During this period, Gaullism finally took shape as an ideological and political movement (ideas of the state and “national greatness” of France, social policy).

The Algerian crisis of 1958 (Algeria's struggle for independence) paved the way for de Gaulle to power. Under his direct leadership, the 1958 Constitution was developed, which significantly expanded the prerogatives of the country's president (executive branch) at the expense of parliament. This is how the Fifth Republic, which still exists today, began its history. Charles de Gaulle was elected its first president for a seven-year term. The priority task of the president and government was to resolve the “Algerian problem.”

De Gaulle firmly pursued a course towards Algerian self-determination, despite serious opposition (rebellions of the French army and ultra-colonialists in 1960-1961, terrorist activities of the OAS, a number of assassination attempts on de Gaulle). Algeria was granted independence with the signing of the Evian Accords in April 1962. In October of the same year, the most important amendment to the 1958 Constitution was adopted in a general referendum - on the election of the president of the republic by universal suffrage. On its basis, in 1965, de Gaulle was re-elected president for a new seven-year term.

Charles de Gaulle sought to implement his foreign policy in line with his idea of ​​the “national greatness” of France. He insisted on equal rights for France, the United States and Great Britain within NATO. Having failed to achieve success, the president withdrew France from the NATO military organization in 1966. In relations with Germany, de Gaulle managed to achieve noticeable results. In 1963, a Franco-German cooperation agreement was signed. De Gaulle was one of the first to put forward the idea of ​​a “united Europe”. He thought of it as a “Europe of fatherlands,” in which each country would retain its political independence and national identity. De Gaulle was a supporter of the idea of ​​détente. He set his country on the path of cooperation with the USSR, China and third world countries.

Charles de Gaulle paid less attention to domestic policy than to foreign policy. The student unrest in May 1968 indicated a serious crisis engulfing French society. Soon the president put forward a draft for a new administrative division France and Senate reform. However, the project did not receive the approval of the majority of the French. In April 1969, de Gaulle voluntarily resigned, finally abandoning political activity.

In 1965, General Charles de Gaulle flew to the United States and, at a meeting with American President Lyndon Johnson, announced that he intended to exchange 1.5 billion paper dollars for gold by official rate at $35 per ounce. Johnson was informed that a French ship loaded with dollars was in the New York port, and a French plane had landed at the airport with the same cargo on board. Johnson promised the French President serious problems. De Gaulle responded by announcing the evacuation of NATO headquarters, 29 NATO and US military bases from French territory and the withdrawal of 33 thousand alliance troops.

Ultimately, both were done.

Over the next 2 years, France managed to buy more than 3 thousand tons of gold from the United States in exchange for dollars.

What happened to those dollars and gold?

De Gaulle is said to have been very impressed by an anecdote told to him by the former Minister of Finance in the Clemenceau government. At an auction for a painting by Raphael, an Arab offers oil, a Russian offers gold, and an American takes out a wad of banknotes and buys it for 10 thousand dollars. In response to de Gaulle's perplexed question, the minister explains to him that the American bought the painting for only 3 dollars, because... The cost of printing one $100 bill is 3 cents. And de Gaulle unequivocally and definitively believed in gold and only gold. In 1965, de Gaulle decided that he did not need these pieces of paper.

De Gaulle's victory was Pyrrhic. He himself lost his post. And the dollar took the place of gold in the global monetary system. Just a dollar. Without any gold content.

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Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and politician, known primarily as a tank battle tactician before World War II. Leader of the Free French Forces in World War II, head of the provisional government in 1944-46. Inspirer of the new constitution and first president of the Fifth Republic from 1958 to 1969.

Origin and beginning of military career

Charles was the third child of a morally conservative but socially progressive Catholic bourgeois family. His father came from an old aristocratic family from Normandy. The mother belonged to a family of wealthy entrepreneurs from the industrial region of Lille in French Flanders.

The young de Gaulle chose a military career and studied for four years at the prestigious military school of Saint-Cyr. During World War I, Captain de Gaulle was seriously wounded at the Battle of Verdun in March 1916 and captured by the Germans.

After the end of the war, he remained in the army, where he served on the staff of General Maxime Weygand and then General Philippe Pétain. During the Polish-Soviet war of 1919-1920. de Gaulle served in Polish Army infantry instructor. He was promoted to major and received an offer to build a further career in Poland, but chose to return to France.

The Second World War

By the outbreak of World War II, de Gaulle remained a colonel, arousing hostility from the military authorities with his bold views. Following the German breakthrough at Sedan on 10 May 1940, he was finally given command of the 4th Armored Division.
On May 28, de Gaulle's tanks stopped German armor in the battle of Caumont. The colonel became the only French commander to force the Germans to retreat during the invasion of France. Prime Minister Paul Reynaud promoted him to acting brigadier general.

On June 6, 1940, Reynaud appointed de Gaulle Under Secretary of State for National Defense and responsible for coordination with Great Britain. As a member of the cabinet, the general resisted proposals to surrender. Attempts to strengthen the resolve of those in the French government who favored continuing the war failed, and Reynaud resigned. Pétain, who became prime minister, intended to seek an armistice with Germany.

On the morning of June 17, with 100 thousand gold francs from secret funds provided to him the night before by Paul Reynaud, the general fled Bordeaux by plane and landed in London. De Gaulle decided to abandon the surrender of France and begin to create a Resistance movement.

On July 4, 1940, a military tribunal in Toulouse sentenced de Gaulle in absentia to four years in prison. At the second military tribunal on August 2, 1940, the general was sentenced to death for treason.

At the Liberation of France, he quickly established the authority of the Free French Forces, avoiding the Allied military government. Returning to Paris, the general proclaimed the continuity of the Third Republic, denying the legitimacy of Vichy France.

After the end of the war, de Gaulle became president of the provisional government from September 1944, but resigned on 20 January 1946, complaining about the conflict between political parties and disapproving of the draft constitution of the Fourth Republic, which seemed to place too much power in the hands of parliament with its shifting party alliances.

1958: Collapse of the Fourth Republic

The Fourth Republic was marred by political instability, failures in Indochina and the inability to resolve the Algerian question.
On May 13, 1958, settlers took over government buildings in Algeria. Commander-in-Chief General Raoul Salan announced on the radio that the army had temporarily assumed responsibility for the fate of French Algeria.

The crisis deepened as French paratroopers from Algeria captured Corsica and discussed landing troops near Paris. Political leaders All parties agreed to support de Gaulle's return to power. The exception was the Communist Party of François Mitterrand, which condemned the general as an agent of a fascist coup.

De Gaulle still intended to change the constitution of the Fourth Republic, blaming it on France's political weakness. The general made the condition of his return the provision of broad emergency powers within 6 months and the adoption of a new constitution. On June 1, 1958, de Gaulle became prime minister.

On September 28, 1958, a referendum was held, and 79.2% of voters supported the new constitution and the creation of the Fifth Republic. The colonies (Algeria was officially part of France, not a colony) were given a choice between independence and a new constitution. All colonies voted for the new constitution, with the exception of Guinea, which became the first French African colony to gain independence, at the cost of immediately cutting off all French aid.

1958-1962: Foundation of the Fifth Republic

In November 1958, de Gaulle and his supporters gained a majority, and in December the general was elected president with 78% of the vote. He promoted tough economic measures, including the issuance of a new franc. On August 22, 1962, the general and his wife narrowly escaped an assassination attempt.

On international level he maneuvered between the USA and the USSR, promoting an independent France with its own nuclear weapons. De Gaulle began to build Franco-German cooperation as the cornerstone of the EEC, making the first state visit to Germany by a French head of state since Napoleon.

1962-1968: politics of greatness

In the context of the Algerian conflict, de Gaulle was able to achieve two main goals: to reform the French economy, and to maintain a strong French position in foreign policy, the so-called “policy of grandeur.”

The government actively intervened in the economy, using five-year plans as its main tool. Thanks to the unique combination of Western capitalism and state-oriented economics, major projects were implemented. In 1964, for the first time in 200 years, France's GDP per capita overtook that of Great Britain.

De Gaulle was convinced that a strong France, acting as a balancing force in the dangerous rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union, was in the interests of the world. He always tried to find counterbalances to both the USA and the USSR. In January 1964, France officially recognized the PRC, despite US opposition.

In December 1965, de Gaulle was elected president for a second seven-year term, defeating François Mitterrand. In February 1966, the country left the NATO military structure. De Gaulle, while building independent nuclear forces, did not want to depend on decisions made in Washington.

In June 1967, he condemned the Israelis for their occupation of the West Bank and Gaza after the Six-Day War. This was a major change in French policy towards Israel.

1968: leaving power

The demonstrations and strikes of May 1968 were a big problem for de Gaulle's presidency. He dissolved parliament, in which the government had almost lost its majority, and held new elections in June 1968, which became great success for the Gaullists and their allies: the party received 358 of 487 seats.

Charles de Gaulle resigned on April 28, 1969 after the failure of the referendum he initiated. He went to Colombey-les-deux-Eglises, where he died in 1970 while working on his memoirs.

Charles de Gaulle

Savior of France

The entire modern history of France is inextricably linked with his name. Twice, in the most difficult times for the country, he took responsibility for its future and twice voluntarily renounced power, leaving the country prosperous. He was full of contradictions and shortcomings, but had one indisputable advantage - above all, General de Gaulle put the good of his country.

Charles de Gaulle belonged to an ancient family, originating from Normandy and Burgundy. It is believed that the prefix “de” in the surname was not a traditional part of French noble names, but a Flemish article, but the de Gaulley nobility spanned more than one generation. From ancient times, the de Gaullies served the king and France - one of them took part in the campaign of Joan of Arc - and even when the French monarchy ceased to exist, they remained, in the words of General de Gaulle, “yearning monarchists.” Henri de Gaulle, the father of the future general, began a military career and even participated in the war with Prussia, but then retired and became a teacher at a Jesuit college, where he taught literature, philosophy and mathematics. He married his cousin Jeanne Maillot, who came from a wealthy merchant family from Lille. She came to give birth to all her children - four sons and a daughter - at her mother's house in Lille, although the family lived in Paris. The second son, who received the baptismal name Charles Andre Joseph Marie, was born on November 22, 1890.

The children in the family were raised in the same way as many generations before them: religiosity (all de Gaullies were deeply religious Catholics) and patriotism. In his memoirs, de Gaulle wrote:

My father, an educated and thoughtful man, brought up in certain traditions, was filled with faith in the high mission of France. He introduced me to her story for the first time. My mother had a feeling of boundless love for her homeland, which can only be compared with her piety. My three brothers, my sister, myself - we were all proud of our homeland. This pride, mixed with a sense of anxiety about her fate, was second nature to us.

From childhood, children were instilled with a love of history, literature and nature. home country, introduced them to the sights, biographies of prominent people and the works of the church fathers. The sons were taught that they were descendants of a glorious family, representatives of a great class, which from time immemorial had served for the glory of the fatherland, the nation

and religion. Young Charles was so impressed by thoughts of his own great origin that he sincerely believed in his great destiny. “I believed that the meaning of life was to accomplish an outstanding feat in the name of France, and that the day would come when I would have such an opportunity,” he later recalled.

From 1901, Charles studied at the Jesuit college on Rue Vaugirard, where his father taught. He loved history, literature, and even tried to write himself. Having won a local poetry competition, Charles refused the cash prize for the opportunity to publish his work. They say that Charles constantly trained his willpower - refusing lunch until he finished his homework, and even depriving himself of dessert if his homework, in his opinion, was not done well enough. He also intensively developed his memory - in his mature years he easily memorized speeches of dozens of pages - and enthusiastically read philosophical works. Although the boy was very capable, his studies still caused him certain difficulties - since childhood, Charles had difficulty enduring any petty restrictions and rigid regulations that he could not explain logically, and in the Jesuit college every sneeze was certainly regulated. Last year Charles studied in Belgium: after the government crisis of 1905, the church was separated from the state, and Catholic educational institutions were closed. At the insistence of his father, Charles moved abroad with his native educational institution - in Belgium he studied in a special mathematics class and demonstrated such talent for the exact sciences that teachers advised him to choose scientific career. However, Charles dreamed of a military path since childhood: having received a bachelor's degree, he returned to Paris and, after preparatory studies at a prestigious college, Stanislas in 1909 he entered the military school in Saint-Cyr - founded by Napoleon, this is the highest military educational institution considered one of the best in Europe. He chose the infantry as his branch of the army - as the closest to real military operations.

Since childhood, Charles dreamed of becoming a military man in order to defend his native country from enemies with arms in hand. Even as a child, when little Charles cried in pain, his father calmed him down with the words: “Do generals cry?” As he grew older, Charles bossed his brothers and sister around with all his might, and even forced them to learn a secret language, which was words read backwards - given the incredible complexity of French spelling, this was not as simple as it might seem at first glance.

Studying in Saint-Cyr initially disappointed him: the endless drills and the need to constantly mindlessly obey orders oppressed Charles, who was convinced that such training was only suitable for the rank and file - commanders should learn to subordinate, not to obey. His classmates rightly considered de Gaulle arrogant, and for his tall stature, thinness and constantly upturned long nose they nicknamed him “long asparagus.” Charles dreamed of standing out on the battlefield, but at the time when he studied in Saint-Cyr, no war was foreseen, and the glory of French weapons was a thing of the past - the last war, with Prussia in 1870, the French shamefully lost, and During the “Paris Commune”, the army, which dealt with the rebels, completely lost the last remnants of respect among the people. Charles dreamed of changes that could make the French army great again, and for this purpose he was ready to work day and night. In Saint-Cyr, he did a lot of self-education, and when he graduated from college in 1912, he began to carefully study the army system from the inside, noticing any shortcomings of the system. Lieutenant de Gaulle was enlisted in the 33rd Infantry Regiment stationed in Arras under the command of Colonel Henri Philippe Pétain, one of the most talented French military leaders of that time.

General Philippe Pétain.

In July 1914, World War I began. Already in August, Charles de Gaulle, fighting near Dinan, was wounded and was out of action for two months. In March 1915, he was again wounded in the battle of Mesnil-le-Hurlu - he returned to duty as a captain and company commander. In the Battle of Verdun, which the French won thanks to the leadership talents of General Pétain, de Gaulle was wounded for the third time, and so badly that he was considered dead and left on the battlefield. He was captured; spent several years in military camps, tried unsuccessfully to escape five times and was released only after the signing of the armistice in November 1918.

But even in captivity, de Gaulle did not sit idle. He improved his knowledge German language, studied the organization of military affairs in Germany, and wrote down his findings in his diary. In 1924, he published a book in which he summarized the experience accumulated during captivity, calling it “Discord in the Enemy’s Camp.” De Gaulle wrote that Germany was defeated primarily by the lack of military discipline, the arbitrariness of the German command and poor coordination of its actions with government orders - although all of Europe was sure that the German army was the best in the world and it lost for economic reasons and because that the Entente had better military leaders.

As soon as he returned from the war, de Gaulle immediately headed to another: in 1919, like many French soldiers, he enlisted in Poland, where he first taught the theory of tactics at a military school, and then participated in the Soviet-Polish war as an officer-instructor .

Yvonne de Gaulle.

In 1921, he returned to France - and unexpectedly fell in love. His chosen one was the young beauty Yvonne Vandrou, the daughter of a wealthy pastry chef. For her, this novel also came as a surprise: until recently she had declared that she would never marry a military man, but very quickly forgot about her vow. Already on April 7, 1921, Charles and Yvonne got married. The choice turned out to be successful: Yvonne became de Gaulle’s faithful ally, supporting him in all his endeavors and providing him with understanding, love and reliable rear. They had three children: son Philippe, named after General Pétain, was born on December 28, 1921, daughter Elizabeth was born on May 15, 1924. The youngest, beloved daughter Anna, was born on January 1, 1928 - the girl had Down syndrome and lived only twenty years. In her memory, General de Gaulle devoted a lot of energy to charitable foundations that cared for children with similar diseases.

Returning from captivity, de Gaulle was offered to take a teaching position in Saint-Cyr, but he himself dreamed of getting into the Higher Military School - an institution for training senior officers, similar to the academy. General Staff, – where he was enrolled in the fall of 1922. Since 1925, de Gaulle served in the office of General Pétain, his former commander, who became one of the most authoritative military men in Europe after the First World War, and then in headquarters in various places. In 1932, he was appointed to the secretariat of the Supreme Council of National Defense.

From the mid-twenties, de Gaulle began to gain fame as a military theorist and publicist: he published several books and articles – “Discord in the Enemy’s Camp”, “On the Edge of the Sword”, “For a Professional Army” - where he expressed his views on the organization of the army, tactics and strategy of warfare, organization of the rear and many other issues that are not always directly related to military affairs and even more rarely reflect the views inherent in the army majority.

De Gaulle had his own opinion about everything: he believed that the army, even during war, should submit to civilian authority, that the future belonged to a professional army, that the most progressive weapons were tanks. The latter point of view ran counter to the strategy of the General Staff, which relied on infantry and defensive fortifications such as the Maginot Line. The writer Philippe Barres, in a book about de Gaulle, talking about his conversation with Ribbentrop at the end of 1934, gives the following dialogue:

– As for the Maginot Line, the Hitlerite diplomat franked, we will break through it with the help of tanks. Our specialist General Guderian confirms this. I know your top technician has the same opinion.

– Who is our best specialist? - Barres asked and heard in response:

– Goll, Colonel Goll. Is it true that he is so little known among you?

De Gaulle tried with all his might to get the General Staff to create tank forces, but all his attempts ended in failure. Even when Paul Reynaud, the future prime minister, became interested in his proposals and, on their basis, created a bill on army reform, the National Assembly rejected it as “useless, undesirable and contrary to logic and history.”

In 1937, de Gaulle nevertheless received the rank of colonel and a tank regiment in the city of Metz, and with the outbreak of World War II, tank units of the 5th Army operating in Alsace came under his command. “It fell to my lot to play a role in a terrible hoax,” he wrote about this. – Several dozen light tanks that I command are just a speck of dust. We will lose the war in the most pathetic way if we don't act." Thanks to Paul Reynaud, who headed the government, already in May 1940, de Gaulle was entrusted with command of the 4th regiment - in the Battle of Camon, de Gaulle became the only French military man who was able to force the German troops to retreat, for which he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. Although many biographers claim that de Gaulle was never officially awarded the rank of general, it was with this title that he went down in history. A week later, de Gaulle became Deputy Minister of National Defense.

The problem was that there was no actual defense. The French General Staff relied so much on the Maginot Line that it did not prepare for either the offensive or the defensive. After the “Phantom War”, the rapid German advance broke through the defenses, and in just a few weeks it became clear that France could not survive. Despite the fact that Reynaud's government was against capitulation, he was forced to resign on June 16, 1940. The country was led by General Pétain, a hero of the First World War, who was no longer going to fight Germany.

De Gaulle felt that the world was going crazy: the thought that France might surrender was unbearable for him. He flew to London, where he negotiated with the British Prime Minister Churchill to organize the evacuation of the French government, and there he learned that Pétain was negotiating surrender.

It was the darkest hour in the life of General de Gaulle - and it became his finest hour. “On the eighteenth of June 1940,” he wrote in his memoirs, “answering the call of his homeland, deprived of any other help to save his soul and honor, de Gaulle, alone, unknown to anyone, had to take responsibility for France.” . At eight o'clock in the evening he spoke on English radio, calling on all French people not to give up and to rally around him for the freedom of France.

Is it really said the last word? Should we give up all hope? Is our defeat final? No!.. I, General de Gaulle, call on everyone French officers and soldiers who are already on British soil or who will arrive here in the future, with or without arms, I appeal to all the engineers and skilled workers in the war industry who are already on British soil or who will arrive here in the future. I encourage you all to contact me. Whatever happens, the flame of the French Resistance must not and will not fade.

And soon leaflets with de Gaulle’s appeal were distributed throughout France: “France lost the battle, but it did not lose the war! Nothing is lost because this war is a world war. The day will come when France will regain freedom and greatness... That is why I appeal to all French people to unite around me in the name of action, sacrifice and hope."

On June 22, 1940, France capitulated: according to the signed agreements, it was divided into two parts - the occupied and unoccupied zones. The latter, which occupied the south and east of France, was ruled by the Pétain government, called the “Vichy government” after its location in the resort town. The next day, England officially broke off diplomatic relations with the Vichys and recognized de Gaulle as the head of the “Free French”.

“France lost the battle, but did not lose the war!” Charles de Gaulle reads an appeal to the French on English radio, July 18, 1940.

Such actions could not please the capitulated Pétain government. On June 24, General de Gaulle was officially dismissed; on July 4, the French military tribunal in Toulouse sentenced him in absentia to four years in prison for desertion, and on August 2, to death. In response, on August 4, de Gaulle created the Free France Committee, which he himself headed: in the first weeks, two and a half thousand people joined the committee, and already in November, Free France had 35 thousand people, 20 warships, 60 merchant ships and a thousand pilots. The cross of Lorraine was chosen as the symbol of the movement - ancient symbol of the French nation, which is a cross with two crossbars. None of the more or less noticeable politicians did not support de Gaulle, did not join his movement, but ordinary French saw their hope in him. He spoke on the radio twice every day, and although few people knew de Gaulle by sight, his voice, speaking about the need to continue the fight, became familiar to almost every Frenchman. “I... at first was nothing of myself,” de Gaulle himself admitted. “In France, there was no one who could vouch for me, and I did not enjoy any fame in the country. Abroad – there is no trust and no justification for my activities.” However, for quite short term he managed to achieve very significant success.

De Gaulle's collaborator, anthropologist and politician Jacques Soustelle described him during this period:

Very tall, thin, of a monumental build, with a long nose over a small mustache, a slightly receding chin, an imperious gaze, he seemed much younger than fifty years old. Dressed in a khaki uniform and a headdress of the same color, decorated with two brigadier general's stars, he always walked with long strides, usually holding his hands at his sides. He spoke slowly, sharply, sometimes with sarcasm. His memory was amazing. He simply reeked of the power of a monarch, and now, more than ever, he justified the epithet “king in exile.”

Gradually, de Gaulle's leadership was recognized by the French colonies in Africa - Chad, Congo, Cameroon, Tahiti and others - after which de Gaulle landed in Cameroon and officially took the colonies under his control. In June 1942, Free France was renamed Fighting France, headed by the French National Committee, which was effectively a government in exile, and its commissioners were ministers. De Gaulle's envoys traveled around the world campaigning in support of the general and Fighting France, and special agents established ties with the French Resistance and communists fighting in occupied territory, supplying them with money and weapons, resulting in the National Committee of the Resistance in 1943 recognized de Gaulle as the head of the country.

“Fighting France” was recognized by the USSR and the USA. Although the Roosevelt government was extremely disapproving of de Gaulle himself, considering him a usurper, an upstart and an “arrogant Frenchman,” it still recognized his movement as the only real force capable of resisting Hitler. Churchill, largely at the instigation of Roosevelt, also disliked the general, calling him “an absurd person who imagines himself the savior of France” and “Joan of Arc with a mustache”: in many ways, such antipathy was caused by the active Anglophobia of de Gaulle, who could not forgive Great Britain for centuries rivalry and its current relatively prosperous position, which British diplomats, to be honest, have repeatedly tried to take advantage of.

De Gaulle could be arrogant, authoritarian, arrogant and even obnoxious, he changed his beliefs and maneuvered among enemies and allies, as if he did not see any difference between them: hating communism, he was friends with Stalin, disliked the British, collaborated with Churchill, knew how to be cruel with friends and frivolous in important matters. But he had only one goal - to save the country, to restore its greatness, to prevent stronger allies from swallowing it, and issues of personal power and personal relationships faded into the background.

In November 1942 American troops landed in Algeria and Morocco - at that time also French territories. The Allies appointed General Giraud as Commander-in-Chief of Algeria. Over time, they planned to bring Giraud into national leadership, replacing him with a government that would have many Vichyists, de Gaulle's National Committee. However, in June 1943, de Gaulle managed to become co-chairman (along with Giraud) of the French Committee for National Liberation created in Algeria, and a few months later he painlessly removed Giraud from power.

When the Allies were preparing to land in Normandy, they again tried to remove de Gaulle from participating in big politics, but he publicly declared that he would not allow the French government (that is, the FCNO) to be subordinated to the American command. The general negotiated with Stalin, Churchill and Eisenhower and eventually ensured that it was he who entered the capital as the winner when the Allies and Resistance forces liberated Paris.

The Pétain government was evacuated to Sigmaringen Castle, where it was arrested by the Allies in the spring of 1945. The court found General Pétain guilty of treason and war crimes and sentenced him to death, public infamy and confiscation of property. However, General de Gaulle, out of respect for Pétain's advanced years and in memory of his service under his command, pardoned him, replacing the execution with life imprisonment.

Since August 1944, de Gaulle headed the Council of Ministers of France: he again assumed sole responsibility for the fate of his native country, opposing the plans of the Allies, according to which France, as a capitulated country, should be removed from deciding destinies post-war world. It was solely thanks to de Gaulle and his efforts that France, like other victorious countries, received its own occupation zone in Germany and later a seat on the UN Security Council.

Meeting of the French National Liberation Committee, de Gaulle seated in the center, 1944.

For France itself, as for almost all European countries, the post-war years were very difficult. The destroyed economy, unemployment and political chaos required immediate decisive action from the government, and de Gaulle acted with lightning speed: the largest enterprises were nationalized - mines, aircraft factories and an automobile concern Renault, social and economic reforms were carried out. In domestic politics, he proclaimed the slogan “Order, law, justice.”

However, the order in political life the country was never able to be restored: elections in constituent Assembly, carried out in November 1945, did not give an advantage to any party - the Communists received a simple majority, the draft constitution was repeatedly rejected, any bills were contested and failed. De Gaulle saw the future of France as presidential republic, but assembly members advocated for a strong multi-party parliament. As a result, on January 20, 1946, de Gaulle voluntarily resigned. He stated that he had completed his main task - the liberation of France - and could now transfer the country into the hands of parliament. However, historians believe that this was a cunning move on the part of the general, but, as time has shown, not entirely a successful move: de Gaulle was confident that a heterogeneous assembly full of irreconcilable contradictions would not be able to form a stable government and cope with all the difficulties, and then he again will be able to become the savior of the country - on his own terms, of course. However, such triumphant return de Gaulle had to wait twelve years. In October, a new constitution was adopted, which gave all power to parliament with a purely nominal figure of the country's president. The Fourth Republic began without General de Gaulle.

Together with his family, de Gaulle retired to the family estate in the town of Colombeles-deux-Eglises, located in Champagne, three hundred kilometers from Paris, and sat down to write his memoirs. He compared his situation to Napoleon's imprisonment on the island of Elba - and like Napoleon, he was not going to sit idly by without hope of return. In April 1947, he, together with Jacques Soustelle, Michel Debreu and other associates, created the Rally of the French People party - Rassemblement du Peuple Frangais, or for short RPF whose emblem was the Cross of Lorraine. RPF planned to establish a one-party system in France, but in the 1951 elections it did not receive an absolute majority in parliament that would allow it to achieve its intended goal, and was dissolved in May 1953. Although Gaullism as an ideological and political movement (advocating the greatness of the country and strong presidential power) remained noticeable on the political map of France at that time, de Gaulle himself took a long vacation. He hid from the curious in Colombey and devoted himself to communicating with his family and writing memoirs - his war memoirs in three volumes, entitled Conscription, Unity and Salvation, were published from 1954 to 1959 and enjoyed enormous popularity. It might seem that he considered his career over, and many of those around him were confident that General de Gaulle would never return to big politics.

De Tolle speaking at an RPF rally, 1948

In 1954, France lost Indochina. Taking advantage of the opportunity, a nationalist movement in the then French colony of Algeria, called the National Liberation Front, started a war. They demanded the independence of Algeria and the complete withdrawal of the French administration and were ready to achieve this with arms in hand. At first, the actions were sluggish: the FLN did not have enough weapons and people, and the French authorities, led by Jacques Soustelle, considered what was happening to be just a series local conflicts. However, after the Philipville Massacre in August 1955, when rebels killed more than a hundred civilians, the seriousness of what was happening became apparent. While the TNF carried out a brutal guerrilla warfare, the French gathered troops into the country. A year later, the FLN staged a series of terrorist attacks in the city of Algiers, and France was forced to introduce a parachute division under the command of General Jacques Massu, who managed to short period very brutal methods to restore order. De Gaulle later wrote:

Many leaders of the regime realized that the problem required a radical solution.

But taking the tough decisions that this problem required, removing all obstacles to their implementation... was beyond the strength of unstable governments... The regime limited itself to supporting the struggle that raged throughout Algeria and along the borders with the help of soldiers, weapons and money. Financially, it was very expensive, because it was necessary to maintain armed forces there with a total strength of 500 thousand people; this was also costly from a foreign policy point of view, because the whole world condemned the hopeless drama. As for, finally, the authority of the state, it was literally destructive.

France was divided in two: some, who considered Algeria an integral part of the metropolis, considered what was happening there as a rebellion and a threat territorial integrity countries. There were many French living in Algeria who, if the colony gained independence, would have been abandoned to the mercy of fate - the FLN rebels are known to have treated French settlers with particular cruelty. Others believed that Algeria was worthy of independence - or at least it would be easier to let it go than to maintain order there. Quarrels between supporters and opponents of the independence of the colony proceeded very violently, resulting in mass demonstrations, riots and even terrorist attacks.

The United States and Great Britain offered their services to maintain order in the region, but when this became known, a scandal erupted in the country: Prime Minister Felix Gaillard’s consent to foreign aid was considered a betrayal, and he had to resign. His successor could not be appointed for three weeks; Finally, the country was led by Pierre Pflimlen, who announced his readiness to enter into negotiations with the TNF.

This statement caused a real storm: all supporters of preserving the integrity of the country (that is, those who advocated for Algeria to remain a French colony) felt betrayed. On May thirteenth, French Algerian generals put forward an ultimatum to parliament demanding that Algeria not be abandoned, that they adopt a new constitution and appoint de Gaulle as prime minister, and in case of refusal they threatened to land troops in Paris. In fact it was a putsch.

De Gaulle was not involved in either the failure in Indochina or the Algerian crisis; he still enjoyed authority in the country and on the world stage. His candidacy seemed to suit everyone: some hoped that he, a patriot and a loyal supporter of the integrity of the country, would not allow Algerian independence, others believed that the general was able to restore order in the country in any way. And although de Gaulle himself did not want to come to power as a result of a coup (any political upheaval, in his opinion, only worsened the situation in the country and, therefore, was unacceptable), he agreed to lead the country again in such a difficult time for France. On May 15, he made a significant statement on the radio: “Once, in a difficult hour, the country trusted me to lead it to salvation. Today, when the country faces new challenges, let it know that I am ready to assume all the powers of the Republic.”

On June 1, 1958, the National Assembly confirmed de Gaulle in office, giving him emergency powers to revise the constitution. Already in September, a new fundamental law was adopted, limiting the powers of parliament and asserting the strong power of the president. The Fourth Republic fell. In the elections of December 21, 1958, 75 percent of the electors voted for President de Gaulle. In the fall, de Gaulle unveiled the so-called “Constantine Plan” - a five-year economic development plan

Algeria - and announced an imminent military offensive against the partisans. In addition, he promised an amnesty for rebels who voluntarily laid down their arms. Within two years, the TNF was practically destroyed.

To the disappointment of the military, de Gaulle had his own solution to the Algerian problem: independent state, economically and politically closely connected with the former metropolis. This decision was reinforced by the Evian agreements signed in March 1962. Algeria was not the only country to which de Gaulle gave freedom: in 1960 alone, more than two dozen African states gained independence. De Gaulle insisted on maintaining close cultural and economic ties with the former colonies, thereby strengthening France's influence in the world. Dissatisfied with de Gaulle’s policies, the “ultra-right” began a real hunt for him - according to historians, in total the general survived more than two dozen assassination attempts, but was not seriously injured in any of them, which once again strengthened de Gaulle in his opinion of himself as chosen by God for saving the country. Moreover, the general was not distinguished by either vindictiveness or particular cruelty: for example, after an assassination attempt in August 1962, when his car was unsuccessfully fired upon from machine guns, de Gaulle signed the death warrant only for the leader of the conspirators, Colonel Bastien-Thierry: because he, an officer of the French army, so and never learned to shoot.

To the United States, which often expressed its dissatisfaction with French policies, de Gaulle did not hesitate to declare that France had the right to act “as the mistress of its policy and on its own initiative.” In 1960, in defiance of the United States, he organized his own nuclear tests in the Sahara.

De Gaulle was determined to limit the European influence of the United States, on which many countries were dependent, and with them Great Britain, which was always more oriented towards America than towards Europe.

Charles de Gaulle With US President John F. Kennedy and his wife Jacqueline, Elysee Palace, 1961

He remembered only too well how Churchill had told him during the war: “Remember, whenever I have to choose between a free Europe and the seas, I will always choose the seas. Whenever I have to choose between Roosevelt and you, I will choose Roosevelt!”

First, de Gaulle failed to allow Britain to join the Common Market, and then announced that he no longer considered it possible to use the dollar as an international currency, and demanded that all the dollars at France's disposal - about one and a half billion - be exchanged for gold. He called this operation his “economic Austerlitz.” As historians write, de Gaulle’s attitude towards the dollar as a “green piece of paper” was formed under the impression of an anecdote once told to him by the Minister of Finance: “A Raphael painting is being sold at auction. The Arab offers oil, the Russian offers gold, and the American lays out a wad of hundred dollar bills and buys Raphael for $10,000. As a result, the American got Raphael for three dollars, because the cost of paper for one hundred dollar bill is three cents!”

When President Johnson was informed that a French ship loaded with dollar bills was docked in New York harbor, and a plane with the same cargo had landed at the airport, he almost had a stroke. He tried to promise de Gaulle major troubles - and in return he threatened that he would withdraw all NATO bases from French territory. Johnson had to agree and pay de Gaulle more than three thousand tons of gold, and in February 1966, de Gaulle still announced France’s withdrawal from NATO and the evacuation of all American bases from its territory.

At the same time, he did not forget about own country: under de Gaulle, denomination was carried out in France (one new franc was equal to one hundred old), as a result of which the economy was strengthened and the political situation, so turbulent in the early fifties, was stabilized. In December 1965, he was re-elected to a second term.

However, already at this time it became noticeable that de Gaulle was losing authority: to the younger generation he seemed too authoritarian, not listening to other people’s advice, rigid in his outdated principles; others did not approve of his too aggressive foreign policy, which constantly threatened to embroil France with other countries. In the elections, he received only a slight advantage over François Mitterrand, who represented a broad opposition bloc, but de Gaulle did not draw any conclusions from this. The economic crisis of 1967 further undermined his position, and the events of May 1968 finally undermined his influence.

Official portrait of President de Gaulle, 1968

It all started when the university in Nanterre was closed after student riots. The students of the Sorbonne rebelled in support of Nanterre and made their own demands. Hundreds of people were injured as a result of unsuccessful police actions. Within a few days, the rebellion spread throughout France: everyone had already forgotten about the students, but the long-accumulated dissatisfaction with the authorities spilled out and it was no longer possible to contain it. On May thirteenth - exactly ten years after de Gaulle’s famous speech during the Algerian events - a grandiose demonstration took place, people carried posters: “05/13/58–05/13/68 - it’s time to leave, Charles!”, “Ten years is enough!”, “De Gaulle in the archive!”, “Farewell, de Gaulle!”. The country was paralyzed by an indefinite strike.

This time de Gaulle managed to restore order. He dissolved the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies and called early elections, in which the Gaullists unexpectedly again received an absolute majority. The reason for this is seen in the fact that, despite all the chaos of the May events, there was no real alternative to de Gaulle.

However, he was tired. Faced with the fact that his cause and he himself were no longer as popular in the country as he would like, and that his authority was not enough to cope with what was happening in time, de Gaulle decided to leave the arena. In April 1967, he put forward obviously unpopular bills on the reorganization of the Senate and the reform of the territorial-administrative structure of France to a national referendum, promising to resign in case of failure. On the eve of the vote, the general left Paris with the entire archive for Colombey - he had no illusions about the results. He lost the referendum. On April 28, de Gaulle told Prime Minister Maurice Couve de Murville by telephone: “I cease to perform the duties of President of the Republic. This decision comes into effect at noon today."

After retiring, de Gaulle devoted time only to himself and his family for the first time in many years. His son became a senator, his daughter married Colonel Henri de Boisseau, a descendant of aristocrats and a talented military leader. Charles and his wife went traveling - finally he was able to see neighboring countries not from the window of a government car, but simply by walking the streets. They visited Spain and Ireland, traveled around France, and in the fall of 1970 they returned to Colombey, where de Gaulle wanted to finish his memoirs. He never had time to finish them: on November 10, 1970, two weeks before his eightieth birthday, General de Gaulle died of a ruptured aorta.

Informing the nation of the general's death, Georges Pompidou, his successor, said: "General de Gaulle has died, France has become a widow."

According to his will, de Gaulle was buried in the Colombeles-deux-Eglises cemetery, next to his daughter Anna, in the presence of only his closest friends and relatives. That same day in the cathedral Notre Dame of Paris A funeral mass took place, which was celebrated with special solemnity and great rank by the Cardinal Archbishop of Paris. It was the least the country could do for the man who saved it twice.

A few years later, at the entrance to Colombeles-deux-Eglises, a monument was erected - a strict Lorraine cross made of gray granite. It symbolizes not just the greatness of France, not just the hidden power of this entire country, but also an individual, her faithful son and defender - General Charles de Gaulle, equally strict and unyielding in his service. After his death, much of what he did was forgotten or overestimated, and now the figure of the general in the history of Europe is on a par with such colossi as Napoleon or Charlemagne. To this day, his views remain relevant, his deeds remain great, his followers still rule France, and, as before, his name is a symbol of the greatness of the country.

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