June 18 De Gaulle example essay topic

Charles de Gaulle was born in Lille, France, on Nov. 22, 1890, the son of a teacher of philosophy and literature at a Jesuit college. From early childhood he took an interest in reading. Fascinated by history, he formed an almost mystical formation of service to France. De Gaulle graduated from the Ecole Militaire of Saint-Cyr in 1912 and joined an infantry division. In World War I he was wounded and captured at Douaumont in the Battle of Verdun in March 1916. As a war prisoner, he wrote his first book, published in 1924 called La discord e chez l'ennemi.

He served on Marshal Henri Philippe Petain's staff then with the French army in the Rhineland, and later in Lebanon. On April 7, 1921 de Gaulle married Yvonne Vend roux and they had their first child, a son, on December 28. Their daughter, Elisabeth was born on May 15th 1924. In the 1930's de Gaulle wrote many books and articles on military subjects that showed how much of a good writer and thinker he was.

In 1931 he published Le film de l'epee or the The Edge of the Sword, an investigation of military and political leadership. He also published Vers l'armee de metier or later called The Army of the Future and La France et son armee or France and Her Army. He fought for the better uses of armored mobility and air power, because he felt it would provide better defenses than fixed fortifications such as the Maginot Line. His theories were refused by the military and by left-wing leaders. At the outbreak of World War II, de Gaulle was a colonel.

De Gaulle was one of the few in the army to refuse to go along with any surrender and suggest that the government leave to North Africa to continue the fight. When Marshal Petain, who was committed to a truce with the Germans, became premier. On June 18 de Gaulle broadcast ed the first of his demands to his fellow soldiers to continue the fight. He impressed upon British Prime Minister Winston Churchill the significance of the movement but did not impress the skeptical leaders in Washington -- including President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who thought of him as a potential dictator and he only saw de Gaulle as an obstacle to U.S. relations with the Vichy government.

In July 1940 a French court martial sentenced de Gaulle to death for treason. In 1942, de Gaulle's Free French movement gained a lot of power and influence, winning over the French colonies in West Africa, and set up close relationships with the underground Resistance group in France itself. De Gaulle repeated his intention to allow the French people to decide their own political destiny and finally he received a lot of moral support. In November 1942, when American and British forces landed in North Africa, they convinced Adm. Jean Francois Darlan and Marshal Petain's to order a cease-fire, Darlan was named high commissioner for French North Africa in result. De Gaulle and many sections of the British and American were not happy with this change. Darlan was assassinated a moth later.

Henri Giraud was named the new high commissioner. Wanting this position, de Gaulle moved his headquarters to Algiers in May 1943. He at that time organized the French Committee of National Liberation. In June 1944 he changed the Committee of National Liberation into a temporary government of the French republic. After the war, de Gaulle was then elected president of the temporary government in October 1945. At the time the country could not agree on a new constitution, but two basic assemblies had to be elected.

In January 1946 he resigned. He returned to his country home at Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises to write his war memoirs. In May 1953 he completed the three volumes of his war memoirs: L'appel or The Call to Honor, L'unite or Unity, and Le salut or Salvation. On June 1, 1958, the National Assembly named de Gaulle premier and granted him wide emergency powers, including the right to prepare a new constitution. In December 1958 he was elected president of the Fifth Republic. He was inaugurated in January 1959.

When it came to international affairs President de Gaulle declared France's independence of all outside control, calling for policies that would make France and Europe independent of the US and the USSR. He refused to include Britain into his European scheme and forbid Britain's effort to join the European Economic Community. In 1960, France successfully exploded its first atomic bomb. In 1965, de Gaulle was reelected president for a second 7-year term, and he was inaugurated in January 1966, but with a marked decline in status. In the election of June 1968, de Gaulle, successfully using the threat of a Communist takeover and obtaining the support of many men, won a slight victory for his government. In 1969, de Gaulle presented constitutional changes, which would have transformed the Senate into an advisory organization with extended powers to most councils.

When his proposals were stopped, de Gaulle resigned as president on April 28 and retired to his home in Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises. There he worked on more of his memoirs, until his death on Nov. 9, 1970.1. web web web web web.