Charles de gaulle biography breve
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Charles de Gaulle
(1890-1970)
Who Was Charles de Gaulle?
Charles de Gaulle rose from French soldier in World War I to exiled leader and, eventually, president of the Fifth Republic, a position he held until 1969. De Gaulle's time as a commander in World War II would later influence his political career, providing him with a tenacious drive. His time as president was marked by the student and worker uprisings in 1968, which he responded to with an appeal for civil order.
Early Life and Military Career
The son of a philosophy and literature professor, famed French leader de Gaulle was born on November 22, 1890, into a patriotic and devoutly Catholic family. De Gaulle was a well-educated and well-read child. Early on, he dreamed of being a military leader. He enrolled at the country's top military academy, Saint-Cyr, in 1909. In 1912 he completed his studies and joined an infantry regiment that was commanded by Colonel Philippe Pétain, serving as a lieutenant.
During World Wa
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Charles de Gaulle
General Charles André namn Marie de Gaulle (22 November 1890 - 9 November 1970) was a French military and political leader. He was president of France from 1959 to 1969. He was a founding member and leader of the French Resistance during the Second World War.
De Gaulle chaired the Provisional Government of the French Republic from 1944 to 1946 in order to re-establish democracy in France.
In 1958, he came out of retirement: the Algerian War was happening. He rewrote the Constitution of France and founded the Fifth Republic after it was approved by a referendum. He was elected President of France later that year, a position to which he was re-elected in 1965 and held until his resignation in 1969.
The National Assembly brought him back to power in May 1958. He granted independence to Algeria. 900,000 French people in Algeria (called les pieds-noire) left for France. The Organisation armée secrète (OAS) tried to kill him. Frederick Forsyth used this in
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His name is synonymous, for many, with that of France. Not only does he share it with the largest international airport in the country, but he is remembered as one of the great French leaders, whose impact spanned the 20th century.
What do we know about Charles de Gaulle?
1. He spent most of the First World War as a prisoner of war
Having already been wounded twice, dem Gaulle was injured whilst fighting at Verdun, he was captured by the German Army on 2 March 1916. For the next 32 months he was shifted between German prisoner of war camps.
De Gaulle was imprisoned in Osnabrück, Neisse, Szczuczyn, Rosenberg, Passau and Magdeburg. Eventually he was moved to the fortress at Ingolstadt, which was designated as a reprisal camp for officers deemed to warrant ytterligare punishment. De Gaulle was moved there because of his repeated bids to escape; he attempted this five times during his incarceration.
Whilst a prisoner of war, De Gaulle read German newspapers to keep up with the war and spe