Gaulle, Charles Andre Joseph Marie de

Gaulle, Charles Andre Joseph Marie de (1890-1970), French general and statesman.

Charles de Gaulle made up his mind to be a soldier at the age of ten.

He fought in the First World War (1914-18) and in the Second World War (1939-45) and was a general in charge of a division of tanks in 1940.

When the Germans defeated France, de Gaulle was in London and he became the leader of the Free French, the name taken by Frenchmen fighting to recover their country from the Germans.

He formed a council outside France to look after the French Empire.

The capital of France, Paris, was set free from the Germans in August 1944 and General de Gaulle was among the first to drive into the city.

He helped France to begin rebuilding after the war, but in 1946 retired to his country home.

Twelve years later there was trouble for France in Algeria and fear of civil war at home. De Gaulle was asked to be President and accepted the job. France had many difficult problems to be solved, but de Gaulle was a powerful leader and he helped to make the country strong again.

He retired in 1969 at the age of seventy-eight, regarded as one of the greatest men of the twentieth century.

See Charles Williams The Last Great Frenchman