Charles de Gaulle was president. Charles de Gaulle - biography, information, personal life

Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was born exactly 125 years ago.

Charles de Gaulle's parents Jeanne Maillot and Henri de Gaulle.

In the family of Jeanne and Henri de Gaulle, he was the third child. The family was quite wealthy, his parents were right-wing Catholics. His father, Henri de Gaulle, was a professor of philosophy and history at the Jesuit College on Rue Vaugirard.

Being devout Catholics, the parents enrolled their 11-year-old son in a Parisian Jesuit college. Once in a class with a mathematical bias, he ends it in 1908 with a dream of a military career.

Determined to become an officer, in 1909 Charles de Gaulle entered the military school of Saint-Cyr, where Napoleon Bonaparte studied at one time.

At the formation, de Gaulle always stood first, which, however, with his almost two-meter height, no one raised objections. But at the same time, classmates joked that Charles would have stood first, even if he had been a dwarf.

Recalling his youth, de Gaulle wrote:

"I was sure that France was destined to go through the crucible of trials. I believed that the meaning of life is to accomplish an outstanding feat in the name of France, and that the day will come when I will have such an opportunity."

de Gaulle at the front

Upon his return from Poland in 1921, de Gaulle married the 21-year-old daughter of the owner of a pastry shop from Calais, Yvonne Vandru.

In a happy marriage, a boy and two girls will be born. However, their marriage was definitely not cloudless - the youngest daughter Anna was born with Down syndrome and died only at the age of 20. Despite the illness of the girl, de Gaulle treated her very warmly and sincerely loved her.

"Without her, I couldn't have done what I did. She gave me courage."

De Gaulle, commander of the 19th Jaeger Regiment (third from the left in the front row) among the officers.

Before the outbreak of World War II, Colonel Ch. de Gaulle taught in Saint-Cyr, graduated from a higher military school, served in the Rhine demilitarized zone, Beirut and at the headquarters of F. Petain.

On May 28, 1940, he was promoted to brigadier general, and he agreed to take the post of Deputy Minister of Defense in the last government of France before the surrender.

On June 18, 1940, having moved to England, left alone against Nazi Germany and its allies, de Gaulle appeals to the French people with a call for resistance:

"France lost the battle. But she didn't lose the war."

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. However, not everything went smoothly. At first, de Gaulle developed normal relations only with Stalin. Churchill did not trust de Gaulle, and Roosevelt even called him a "capricious prima donna."

After the landing of the Anglo-American troops in North Africa in June 1943, the French Committee of National Liberation (FKNO) was created in the city of Algiers. Charles de Gaulle was appointed its co-chairman (along with General Henri Giraud) and later sole chairman. In June 1944, the FKNO 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 social and economic reforms.

However, in January 1946, Charles de Gaulle resigned as prime minister because he did not agree with the new constitution, which made France a parliamentary republic.

In the 1950s, France was torn apart by crises. In 1954, France suffered a brutal defeat in Indochina from national liberation movements. In 1958, the Algerian crisis was in full swing - the military in Algeria, who fought against the rebels, threatened to stage a coup. On May 13, 1958, the coup was practically carried out.

Already three days after the events of May 13, the then President of France, René Coty, with the approval of Parliament, himself invited de Gaulle to take the post of prime minister.

" Once, in a difficult hour, the country trusted me so that I would lead it to salvation. Today, when the country faces new trials, let it know that I am ready to assume all the powers of the Republic," de Gaulle said at the time.

Already in September 1958, a new constitution was adopted, developed under the clear leadership of de Gaulle and corresponding to his ideas about the effective state administration of France - this is how the Fifth Republic that still exists today was born.

De Gaulle's constitution was also "approved" by a referendum - 80% of those who voted voted for it.

Despite the fact that de Gaulle practically did not conduct an election campaign, on December 21, 1958, 75% of voters chose him as the new president.

The authority of de Gaulle was high, he immediately undertook to carry out the necessary reforms for the country. According to the results of 1960, the economy showed rapid growth, the fastest in all the post-war years. De Gaulle's course in foreign policy was aimed at gaining independence for Europe from two superpowers: the USSR and the USA. To do this, he successfully balanced between the two "poles", "knocking out" the most favorable conditions for France.

In 1965, he was re-elected, although this time the vote was held in two rounds - a direct consequence of the new electoral system. On February 4, he announces that his country will now switch to real gold in international settlements. De Gaulle called the de-dollarization of France his "economic Austerlitz".

De Gaulle demanded from the United States living gold in accordance with the Bretton Woods Agreement: at $35 per ounce (1 ounce = 28.35 grams) to exchange $1.5 billion. In case of refusal, de Gaulle's forceful argument was the threat of France's withdrawal from NATO, the elimination of all 189 NATO bases in France and the withdrawal of 35,000 NATO soldiers. The US capitulated.

One of de Gaulle's projects - on the new territorial and administrative structure of France and the reorganization of the Senate - was put to a referendum on the condition that if it was rejected, the president would resign. The project was rejected by 52% of voters on April 27, 1968.

Despite the fact that this was not necessary, de Gaulle fulfilled his promise - the French did not support him for the first time, and on April 28, 1969, ahead of schedule, he voluntarily resigned from his post.

In 1970, General Charles de Gaulle's heart stopped. His ashes are buried in a rural cemetery in Colombey-les-deux-Eglises, 300 kilometers from Paris.

Charles de Gaulle (Gaulle) (November 22, 1890, Lille - November 9, 1970, Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises), French politician and statesman, founder and first president of the Fifth Republic.

Origin. Formation of the worldview.

De Gaulle was born into an aristocratic family and brought up in the spirit of patriotism and Catholicism. In 1912 he graduated from the military school of Saint-Cyr, becoming a professional military man. He fought on the fields of the First World War 1914-1918, was taken prisoner, was released in 1918. De Gaulle's worldview was influenced by such contemporaries as philosophers A. Bergson and E. Butru, writer M. Barres, poet C. Peguy. Even in the interwar period, he became an adherent of French nationalism and a supporter of a strong executive power. This is confirmed by the books published by de Gaulle in the 1920s and 30s - Discord in the Land of the Enemy (1924), On the Edge of the Sword (1932), For a Professional Army (1934), France and Her Army (1938). In these works devoted to military problems, de Gaulle was essentially the first in France to predict the decisive role of tank troops in a future war.

The Second World War.

The Second World War, at the beginning of which de Gaulle received the rank of general, turned his whole life upside down. He resolutely refused the truce concluded by Marshal A.F. Pétain with fascist Germany, and flew to England to organize the struggle for the liberation of France. On June 18, 1940, de Gaulle addressed his compatriots on London Radio, urging them not to lay down their arms and join the Free France association founded by him in exile (after 1942, Fighting France). At the first stage of the war, de Gaulle directed his main efforts to establishing control over the French colonies, which were under the rule of the pro-fascist Vichy government. As a result, Chad, Congo, Ubangi-Shari, Gabon, Cameroon, and later other colonies joined the Free French. The officers and soldiers of the "Free French" constantly took part in the military operations of the allies. 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 the Anglo-American troops in North Africa in June 1943, the French Committee of National Liberation (FKNO) was created in the city of Algiers. De Gaulle was appointed its co-chairman (along with General A. Giraud), and then sole chairman. In June 1944, the FKNO 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 social and economic reforms. In January 1946, de Gaulle left the post of prime minister, having diverged in views on major domestic political issues with representatives of the French left parties.

During the Fourth Republic.

In the same year, the Fourth Republic was established in France. According to the Constitution of 1946, the 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 was again included in the political life of France. He founded the Rally of the French People (RPF). The main goal of the RPF was the struggle for the abolition of the Constitution of 1946 and the conquest of power by parliamentary means to establish a new political regime in the spirit of de Gaulle's ideas. Initially, the RPF was 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 retired from political activity. During this period, Gaullism finally took shape as an ideological and political trend (the ideas of the state and the "national greatness" of France, social policy).

Fifth Republic.

The Algerian crisis of 1958 (Algeria's struggle for independence) paved the way for de Gaulle to power. Under his direct leadership, the Constitution of 1958 was developed, which significantly expanded the prerogatives of the country's president (executive power) at the expense of parliament. This is how the Fifth Republic, which still exists today, began its history. De Gaulle was elected its first president for a seven-year term. The first priority of the president and government was to resolve the "Algiers problem." De Gaulle firmly pursued a policy of self-determination for Algeria, despite the most serious opposition (the mutinies of the French army and ultra-colonialists in 1960-1961, the terrorist activities of the OAS, a number of assassination attempts on de Gaulle). Algeria was granted independence after the signing of the Evian Accords in April 1962. In October of the same year, the most important amendment to the Constitution of 1958 was adopted at 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. De Gaulle sought to carry out his foreign policy in line with his idea of ​​"national greatness" of France. He insisted on the equality of France, the United States and Great Britain within the framework of NATO. Unsuccessful, the president withdrew France from the NATO military organization in 1966. In relations with the FRG, de Gaulle managed to achieve notable 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 conceived of it as a "Europe of the Fatherland", in which each country would retain its political independence and national identity. De Gaulle was a supporter of the idea of ​​detente in international tension. He directed his country on the path of cooperation with the USSR, China and third world countries. De Gaulle paid less attention to domestic policy than to foreign policy. Student unrest in May 1968 testified to a serious crisis that had engulfed French society. Soon the president put forward a draft on a new administrative division of France and reform of the Senate to a general referendum. However, the project did not receive the approval of the majority of the French. In April 1969, de Gaulle voluntarily resigned, finally giving up political activity.

Descendant of knights

French garden roses are famous all over the world no less than cognac or the fashion of this country. Each of the roses is unique in its own way and rightfully bears its own name. The French say that it is much easier to give a name to a star than to a rose, so beautiful flowers are named after the Olympic gods, heroes of past centuries, great actors, famous writers, talented painters, brilliant scientists ... And only one of them bears the name of a politician of our era of Charles de Gaulle. This pale purple rose is as amazing as the general's personality itself.

Charles André Joseph Marie, the second son of Henri and Jeanne de Gaulle, was born in Lille on November 22, 1890. The boy was born into a noble family belonging to an old aristocratic family. One of the ancestors, Richard de Gaulle, who lived in Normandy in the 15th century, was a devoted knight of Joan of Arc.

Charles's father taught literature at a Jesuit college and was a staunch royalist. The words "republic", "democracy" and "La Marseillaise" he perceived as curses, and July 14, France's Independence Day, he considered a day of national mourning. He was so proud of his blue blood that from early childhood he brought up class arrogance and reverence for the de Gaulle family in his children.

Charles's mother was very pious and tried to instill the rules of Christian morality to her sons Xavier, Charles, Jacques, Pierre and daughter Louise, but she also believed that her children stood out among their peers with a noble origin, and from early childhood she convinced them that they were destined for great things. future.

Such an upbringing could not but affect the de Gaulle offspring. Moreover, according to eyewitnesses, Charles was distinguished by special arrogance, snobbery and confidence in his own chosenness. He read a lot, preferring the works of Dumas, Jules Verne, Kipling and Defoe, but his reference book was Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand. Later, de Gaulle admitted that the famous duelist, poet and philosopher Cyrano became his idol for life. Our hero was even proud of his long nose, seeing in this a resemblance to him.

Charles went to college, where de Gaulle Sr. taught. After completing his studies, he firmly decided to become an officer.

First in everything

In 1909, Charles de Gaulle entered the prestigious Saint-Cyr military school, the same school where Napoleon Bonaparte had studied. According to the rules existing in those years, the future cadet was obliged to first go through a one-year army service as a simple soldier. "Prince of blue blood" Charles de Gaulle began his military career as a private of Arras

The 33rd Infantry Regiment, and it should be noted, withstood this difficult test with honor. Returning to Saint-Cyr, Charles became an exemplary cadet. He studied brilliantly and devoted a lot of time to sports, doing shooting, fencing, gymnastics and horseback riding.

At the formation, de Gaulle always stood first, which, however, with his almost two-meter height, no one raised objections. But at the same time, fellow students joked that Charles would be the first, even if he were a dwarf, his ambitions seemed so exorbitant to those around him. They say that when one day a new cadet appeared at the school, of the same height as de Gaulle, they even had a serious skirmish over who should stand first. The opponent turned out to be physically stronger, but Charles de Gaulle was so convinced of his superiority that the newcomer soon conceded.

Among the cadets it was customary to give each other biting nicknames, and by the nicknames of de Gaulle it is immediately clear that the opinions of his classmates about him were polarized. Well-wishers called him Two Meters and Big Charles for his very tall stature or Cyrano for his love for this character and long nose, but from his enemies he received offensive nicknames Peacock, Rooster and Zaderi Nos for his undisguised arrogance.

In October 1912, de Gaulle left the school with the rank of junior lieutenant. He graduated from college thirteenth in academic performance - an excellent result for a graduation of almost 300 people. Then Charles again ended up in the 33rd regiment, commanded by Colonel Henri Philippe Pétain - the future high patron and close friend of Charles, the godfather of his children and, paradoxically, the future worst enemy of de Gaulle and the head of the pro-fascist government of France.

Living awarded posthumously

In August 1914, our hero became a lieutenant. In one of his first battles with the Germans, he was wounded in the leg, but, having received first aid, he immediately fled from the hospital to the regiment.

However, despite such zeal, his military career progressed very slowly. The fact is that Charles allowed himself to criticize the orders of his superiors. However, there was something to criticize.

The French army at the beginning of the First World War professed the principle of attack at any cost, attack to the bitter end, and this often led to sad consequences. Having shamefully failed several offensives and suffered many unjustified losses, the military leadership changed tactics to the exact opposite and began to wage a purely defensive, trench warfare, which also did not bring positive results.

De Gaulle was called an upstart, and he received the next rank of captain only in 1916 - with great difficulty and much later than his classmates. But the courage and desperate bravery of the young officer could not but be noted, and as a result, Captain de Gaulle was entrusted with the company.

In the winter of 1916, Charles was again wounded during the battle, and this time seriously. They considered the officer dead and left him on the battlefield, where he was picked up by the Kaiser patrol. So, in an unconscious state, he was captured, which lasted almost three years. Later, de Gaulle learned that during this time the government awarded him the Order of the Legion of Honor - posthumously.

Of course, life in prison was not particularly joyful, but during the First World War they still observed the military code of honor and treated prisoners of war accordingly. Although freedom of movement was limited, prisoners had the right to study, get a new profession, communicate with each other, and read books. In captivity, de Gaulle met Lieutenant Mikhail Tukhachevsky, the future Soviet marshal, they even taught each other their native languages. Charles tried to escape five times, but each time he was caught and returned to the camp...

After his release from captivity, the already slow career of de Gaulle stopped altogether. Too direct to beg for ranks or to achieve them by intrigues, he chose to enlist in 1919 as a military instructor in Poland, where he trained enlisted and junior officers. De Gaulle played a big role in the defeat of the 1st Cavalry Army of Semyon Budyonny by the Polish troops in 1920, for which he was awarded the rank of major of the Polish army and awarded the Order of St. Ventslav.

Before the first war

After a series of victories by the Polish army, de Gaulle returned to France, where he soon married Yvonne Vandru. In general, Charles was very sensitive to female charms - before marriage, he had many novels. Having married, he became a devoted family man. ... On a beautiful spring day, Charles and Yvonne, young and happy, stood hand in hand in the church. The bride came from the family of Pope Julius III, who occupied the throne of St. Peter in 1550 and radically reformed the Roman Catholic Church, and the priest of the city of Calais, who married them on April 7, 1921, became so excited that he led the service in a broken voice and constantly forgot the canonical texts. Thus began the union of two aristocrats in origin and spirit.

De Gaulle in connection with this marriage was often perceived as a prudent person, many believed that his marriage was based on a purely rational approach. But letters from Charles to his mother have been preserved, where he talks about his bride: “I love her. I bathe in her love. I'm ready for anything for her." There is nothing to say about Yvonne's reciprocal feelings. Literally after several dates, she firmly told her parents: he or no one.

Charles and Yvonne lived together a long life, which turned out to be not cloudless at all. Their middle daughter Anna, who was born on January 1, 1928, was born with Down syndrome. Already occupying very high positions, de Gaulle often interrupted important meetings for the sake of his daughter. To visit Anna, he could leave the most serious military maneuvers. He adored his girl and always composed funny poems and funny songs for her. Anna died in 1948, and the inconsolable father said: “Without her, I could not have done what I did. She gave me courage." Charles de Gaulle was generally a wonderful father. He showed patience, tenderness and kindness to his three children. One of his close friends even told him: "Charles, when communicating with people, imagine that you are communicating with your naughty and capricious children - then all your enemies will disappear."

"King in Exile"

Having married, de Gaulle got a job as an assistant professor at the department of military history of his native Saint-Cyr. It was there that he uttered the words that later became famous: "Historical fatality exists only for cowards."

But his teaching career did not last long. Such work weighed heavily on a military officer, so he voluntarily left Saint-Cyr and entered the Higher Military School, which trains the highest command of the French army. Studying, as always, was easy, but other problems arose. Personal military experience convinced him that the teaching principles adopted here had long since become outdated. Charles constantly argued with teachers and eventually amassed so many ill-wishers among the school leadership that before graduation he was given the following characteristic: “His undeniable high qualities are reduced by excessive self-confidence, intolerance for other people's opinions and the pose of a king in exile.”

As a result, de Gaulle received a disgusting assignment: to the occupying army of the Rhine. He understood that he was in a completely hopeless place, but this did not diminish either his conceit or his ambitions.

Military - revolutionary

In 1924, Charles de Gaulle published his first book, Discord in the Camp of the Enemy, in which he analyzed the causes of Germany's defeat. In this work, Charles was one of the first to notice the threat posed by Germany and the Soviet Union, which were gaining strength and building up their military potential. But he still could not influence the policy of France, and the government of his country clearly underestimated the danger of both German revanchism, which then reached its climax with the coming to power of Hitler, and communism.

The French General Staff stubbornly followed the trench doctrine and, instead of technically modernizing the army, was engaged in strengthening defensive lines. It was at this time, in 1929, that the construction of the infamous Maginot Line began. De Gaulle continued to protest in the only way available to him - in his books. In the early 1930s, he published "On the Edge of the Sword" and "For a Professional Army", where he not only criticizes this military doctrine, but leaves no stone unturned from it with merciless and convincing arguments. His conclusion is unequivocal: with the modern development of military technology, impregnable defense does not exist, and the concentration of all forces and resources on defense will inevitably lead the country to a dead end.

As before, Charles de Gaulle, as they say, swam against the current, arguing with seniors in rank, and, apparently, that is why he received the rank of colonel only in 1938, on the verge of his 50th birthday. Then he was appointed commander of a tank regiment in Metz. Here, colleagues give him a new nickname - Colonel Motor.

Hitler's teacher

On the eve of World War II, de Gaulle appealed to the military leadership of the country with an urgent demand to begin immediate action to prevent the capture of France. He considered it necessary to create large tank formations, seriously engage in artillery and stop thinking in antediluvian categories, but his call was not heard.

In 1940, the most gloomy predictions completely came true. As if following de Gaulle's scenario, Germany instantly broke the defenses of France. It was at this moment that Hitler wrote that much of his understanding of military tactics was drawn from de Gaulle's books. The Maginot Line did not play any role in the defense of the country at all: the Germans simply bypassed it.

Too late, people began to listen to Charles de Gaulle. Too late they made him a general, commander of a tank division, and then deputy minister of defense. France capitulated, and on June 22, Marshal Pétain signed the Armistice of Compiègne. By military subordination, de Gaulle continued to remain subordinate to Pétain, but, unlike the country's government, he did not admit defeat.

An unprecedented failure occurred in the well-functioning army system of France: the general did not obey the marshal. Charles de Gaulle single-handedly continued the war against Germany. He was able to fly from almost completely captured France to London, from where on June 18, a few days before the surrender, he addressed his people on BBC radio. He said: "The battle is lost, but not the war."

On one of the last steamships, Yvonne and her children arrived in London. But Charles's mother remained in France. Her days were already numbered, but she still managed to hear her son's call: "Victory will be ours!" and say, "I'm proud of him. I've always been proud of him." Jeanne de Gaulle was buried under a false name, because the pro-fascist authorities forbade even mentioning the name of the rebellious general, but all of France knew who was being buried. Even the gendarmes lined up as a guard of honor at the coffin of a woman who gave life to a man whom the whole country hoped for.

Friend of Stalin

The government of France, loyal to Hitler, sentenced de Gaulle to death with confiscation of property, but he could not be intimidated or stopped. It was then that the career of an officer ended and the career of a politician began. Under de Gaulle's command were two French battalions evacuated from Norway and three small warships. They called their patriotic movement "Free France", their motto was the words "Honor and Motherland", and the emblem is an old Lorraine cross.

At first, of all the leaders of the states of the anti-Hitler coalition, de Gaulle was supported only by Stalin. Churchill treated the French general with distrust, while Roosevelt simply could not stand him and called him a capricious prima donna. The US President said this about de Gaulle: "He may be an honest man, but he is obsessed with the mania of the messianic complex."

Charles and Yvonne rented a tiny apartment near Hyde Park. The middle daughter felt worse and worse. There was no money. Proud Charles would rather starve to death than beg for the sake of his own family, but for the sake of France, he was ready even for humiliation. He allegedly threw himself at Churchill's feet, begging for financial assistance, after which the British Prime Minister ordered the opening of a special account in the Bank of England in July, called "General de Gaulle"; it existed until 1943.

This was the most difficult time for de Gaulle. The family was separated. The eldest son, 20-year-old Philip, served in the Navy. Yvonne and Anna, fleeing the bombing, left for the village. The youngest daughter Elizabeth lived in a monastery, where she was preparing to enter Oxford.

Charles de Gaulle several times was in a deep psychological crisis. His wife repeatedly wrote to a close friend that Charles was depressed. An important role here was played by the inherent arrogance and arrogance inherent in him by nature, which deprived him of friends. In the autumn of 1940, he very hard suffered the fiasco of the Anglo-French squadron at Dakar. They say that at that moment he was close to suicide. De Gaulle was also offended that Churchill underestimated him - the proud general wanted the progressive world community to perceive him not as one of the figures of the French opposition, but as the personification of France.

Charles had a hard time, but he did not give up. He became the founder and leader of the French National Liberation Committee, created in Algeria in the summer of 1943 after the landing of Anglo-American troops there. De Gaulle sent French pilots to the Soviet army - to the legendary Normandie-Niemen squadron, and in 1944 visited our country, visited Stalingrad, met with Joseph Stalin and concluded an agreement on alliance and mutual assistance with the USSR.

At the beginning of 1944, Charles de Gaulle became the head of the provisional government of France and led the French Resistance, which provided great assistance to the Allied troops. In the summer of the same year, the expulsion of the invaders from France began. On June 14, 1944, on board the destroyer Combattant, the general arrived at home, and on August 25 he arrived at the War Ministry, located in Paris on Saint-Dominique Street, sat down at his desk, looked out the window at the city he loved so much and said to his to an old friend de Courcelle: "Well, the circle is done."

The house that Charles restored

The estate of de Gaulle Boisserie was completely plundered and destroyed by the Germans. When the stunned Yvonne asked her husband: "What should we do?" - he smiled and replied: "We just need to restore our house."

He had in mind not only his own estate, but all of France, which he did with success. But in January 1946, de Gaulle resigned as head of the Provisional Government, disagreeing with the new constitution, which established a parliamentary republic in the country, after which he took up leadership of the Unification of the French People party he had created.

Meanwhile, a war of independence broke out in Algeria, which caused yet another dissatisfaction with the government. On this wave, the general's political actions went up sharply. On June 1, he was elected prime minister, and on September 28, the French held a national referendum, which approved a new constitution developed by his party. The country, according to the new constitution, became a presidential republic (since that time, the so-called Fifth Republic has its origins). In 1959, Charles de Gaulle was triumphantly elected President of France.

In early 1960, de Gaulle met with Nikita Khrushchev. He presented post-war relations with the USSR as a continuation of the policy of mutual assistance and cooperation during the Second World War. The general shared with the Soviet leader his concept of the development of Europe. The French president believed that Western and Eastern Europe should cooperate in every possible way, thanks to which the continent would be in a state of political and economic balance. He wanted to create a Greater Europe and saw in it a worthy place for the USSR. However, the concept of a united Europe - "from the Atlantic to the Urals" - caused a sharply negative reaction from Khrushchev: he believed that in this way the French were in favor of dividing the USSR into two halves, including only the western part of the country in the "new" Europe.

On the instructions of the indignant Nikita Sergeevich, Soviet diplomats conveyed to the French a not entirely diplomatic warning on this matter. De Gaulle reacted adequately and, without arguing with his unpredictable and dangerous opponent, never again expressed a desire to talk with the Soviet leader about Greater Europe. Moscow calmed down, and relations between our countries warmed up again.

In the early 60s, independence was granted to almost all African colonies of France, including Algeria. But long after the recognition of the independence of this territory, a real hunt was carried out for the general by irreconcilable opponents of the secession of Algeria. Bombs and grenades exploded next to him, sniper bullets flew at him, although, fortunately, all the numerous assassination attempts were unsuccessful. However, the arrogant and proud president went ahead, not looking back at such "little things" as assassination attempts.

De Gaulle knew how to make decisions and was not afraid of responsibility. It was he who initiated the creation of France's own nuclear weapons, withdrew French troops from NATO command, twice vetoed Britain's admission to the EEC. It was he, who hated the communist doctrine, who did everything in his power to strengthen the Soviet-French ties. In the most difficult situation of confrontation between East and West, the president acted as a subtle geopolitician.

The general agreed with the thesis proposed by Napoleon: “Each state pursues the policy that its geography dictates to it,” but respected universal principles, in particular the right of any people to freedom and independence. Charles de Gaulle was one of the first to break the ice of the Cold War.

Restoring relations with Germany, the French President negotiated with Konrad Adenauer, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, in such a way that he told him: "After meeting and talking with you, I believe that you will help the German people regain their dignity." It must be said that de Gaulle's words about the return of a sense of self-respect to the German nation were not just an oratorical device or a beautiful declaration. At a subsequent meeting with Eisenhower, Macmillan and Adenauer, which preceded Khrushchev's visit to Paris, it was Charles de Gaulle who urged the Anglo-Saxons to take an uncompromising position on West Berlin, which, in the general's opinion, could not be given to the Soviets under any circumstances.

"We are General Degol..."

De Gaulle is a very integral and at the same time very contradictory person. His power was completely authoritarian and even dictatorial, but for this he did not have to resort to repression and violation of civil liberties. Democracy paradoxically strengthened his authoritarian power, and his unlimited power strengthened democracy in the country to the same extent.

“I am a monarchic-type president or a presidential-type monarch,” he said of himself. He began his first message to the people, even during the war, as the French kings began: "We, General de Gaulle, turn to France." He created an amazingly strong and stable system, the only drawback of which was its foundation in the person of one person.

His political activities are evaluated differently, but it is obvious to France and the whole world that the general played an outstanding role in the history of the 20th century. He left behind a new economy, a strong republic, a working constitution, a firm franc, progressive principles of domestic and foreign policy, and the loyalty and gratitude of his people.

A distinctive feature of him as a politician was an amazing nobility, even to the detriment of his own interests. In 1965, the Minister of the Interior, Roger Frey, placed on the President's desk dirt on one of his serious rivals in the upcoming presidential elections: a photograph of Sergeant Mitterrand shaking hands with the "Nazi chanter" Marshal Pétain. Such compromising evidence could destroy François Mitterrand, but de Gaulle said: “We will not let this move. You can't hurt the ambition of a man who might one day be President of France." The general himself was ambitious and never denied either his friends or his opponents the right to be ambitious. Then, in December 1965, Mitterrand collected 45% of the votes, which, of course, would not have happened if de Gaulle had published a picture with Pétain. But the general's decision is the act of a real man, and he won the presidential election in a fair fight.

In 1969, due to the fact that the parliament rejected his bill on the reorganization of the Senate and the new territorial and administrative structure of the country, the general resigned from his duties as president. “The French seem to be tired of me - and I, to be honest, of them, too,” he joked shortly before his resignation, but his eyes were not smiling.

The French still compare de Gaulle with Napoleon, because no ruler was more popular among the people than a general. General de Gaulle has become as much a symbol of France as, say, the Eiffel Tower. Perhaps that is why one variety of French rose, contrary to tradition, was named not in honor of the famous actor, famous writer, talented painter or brilliant scientist, but in honor of a politician of the middle of the 20th century who committed great feats and great mistakes, but every moment of his life who loved his country unconditionally.

The genius of defeat

It would seem that General de Gaulle was created by nature itself to become a leader. Tall, brilliant mind, innate aristocracy... But at the same time - a small head with a waxy face and an awkward body, flaccid feminine hands with fragile wrists. The absolute inability to sincerely enjoy life and the absolute absence of friends ...

Farewell to an era

De Gaulle was born in 1890. At this time, France was saying goodbye to a whole era of its history - with a revolution that stretched for a century. The old regime clung to life for a long time, being revived either by the Napoleonic power, or by the restoration of Louis XVIII, or by the monarchy of Louis Philippe, or by the empire of Napoleon III. But, finally, the republic (Third, according to the French account) won. For an aristocrat dating back to the 13th century, such a turn was not the best possible option.

His father called himself a yearning monarchist, and this yearning intensified every year. The triumph of the plebs left only hope for the church and the army, i.e. to what still connected the new France with its glorious past. Charles was sent to study at a Jesuit college. But when the young man turned 16, the state separated the church from public education. Now there was only one thing left - a military career.

Having completed his secondary education in Belgium, where the Parisian Jesuits managed to stumble, the young de Gaulle enters Saint-Cyr, an elite military school, the last refuge of the French aristocracy. The aristocracy of the orphanage, however, did not get rid of hazing. Lanky Charles measured the width of the yard. But in October 1912, he nevertheless completed his studies and became a junior lieutenant. Very timely - in less than two years the First World War will begin. Great time for a career.

De Gaulle has a bright future. Almost a two-meter giant, an aristocrat, a smart girl. Energetic and well-read, easy to use a pen, freely operating both military units and the categories of Henri Bergson's philosophy. True, closed, arrogant, conflicted, bad at shooting, fencing and riding a horse ... Obviously not d "Artagnan ...

But charismatic from birth. Many of those with whom he spoke in his youth noted that great things awaited him. De Gaulle agreed. Yes, they are waiting. He resolutely cast aside his family longing for the old regime, accepted a republic, and prepared to find himself in the changed world of the 20th century.

The war made the young officer's claim to fame and power all the more urgent. He was wounded three times, but still survived. He was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor. He was captured, unsuccessfully fled five times. In the intervals between escapes, he brightened up the boredom of camp life by intellectual communication with comrades in misfortune. Including with a certain young Russian named Tukhachevsky.

At the end of the war, he got even more bored and less than a year later went to Poland to fight the Bolsheviks, who were rushing to Europe under the leadership of that same Tukhachevsky. He also added the cross of St. Wenceslas to the French orders. At the age of 30, Captain de Gaulle could be considered a hero in all respects.

It would seem that the fate of a dashing grunt awaits him, but the officer again managed to make the right choice by going to teach in Saint-Cyr. And a year later he enters the Higher Military School - an analogue of our Academy of the General Staff. De Gaulle spends not so much time on service as on self-education, on personal development, on understanding the changes that have come with the new era. In order to become great, you need to have more than just a military bone in your head.

The officer starts writing books. About the experience of the last war. About the enemy and about the French themselves. About people and leaders. About politics. In a word, he is gradually drawn into problems that are very far from those that an ordinary martinet should study. But it is precisely this issue that, by and large, worries de Gaulle.

Farewell to the Republic

Almost no one reads books. And this is the worst thing for de Gaulle, because in his main - military - field, he does not find understanding from his superiors. The presentation of thoughts in the press becomes the only way to reform the army, but society, like the generals, remains deaf.

The essence of the disagreement is that the French generals are once again preparing for the last war. And de Gaulle insists on the development of tanks. And not just on mechanization, but on the formation of a professional army and special tank formations capable of breaking through the enemy's front. It is in this scenario that the German army, which is reviving after a recent defeat, is developing, where Heinz Guderian is already preparing for his future famous throws hundreds of kilometers behind enemy lines. But the French are building a defensive Maginot Line along the eastern border, believing that they will be able to sit behind it without going on to active offensive operations at all.

It's not just the limitations of the generals. French democracy does not want to see a military threat. It is passive by its very nature. In an authoritarian system, de Gaulle might have become the French Guderian, but with the triumph of democracy, this path is closed to him. There is only one thing left for him - to become precisely de Gaulle, i.e. a man who reformed not the army, but the political system itself.

"Strength ... This midwife is necessary to make at least one day of progress," he writes in his book. Isn't it very reminiscent of the famous Marxist argument about revolutions as the midwives of history? Right and left agree in their views on the incapacity of the bourgeois state.

However, de Gaulle has no strength so far, and he has been serving as a captain for 12 years. A conservative nonconformist with reformist views is not wanted to be promoted. And this despite the fact that he works for Marshal Petain - the actual head of the French army. Petain patronizes him. Even de Gaulle calls his son Philip - in honor of the marshal. But...

For some time de Gaulle served in the French-occupied Rhineland, then in the Middle East. And since 1932 - again in Paris, in the Supreme Council of National Defense. By forty-three he had reached the rank of lieutenant colonel. Everyone knows that de Gaulle is a head, a brilliant expert. They listen to him, but they don't listen to him.

Guderian reads another book, which outlines the project for the reform of the army, with interest. But in France - only criticism, and no positive action. De Gaulle, realizing that he needs PR, knocks on the doorsteps of newspapers. To some extent, this activity provokes a discussion about a professional army, but in the end, democracy recoils from the proposals of the reformer: such an army can become a tool in the hands of some general striving for dictatorship.

De Gaulle feels himself surrounded by idiots, even conflicts with Petain. Finally, he makes his way to an appointment with the Prime Minister - Leon Blum. He sympathizes with the enthusiast, but does not even hide from him that, twitchy with political fluidity, he cannot seriously engage in the transformation of the army. So, is such a political system even necessary, in which the prime minister does not have time for the most important thing?

Gradually, de Gaulle ceased to be a republican in his heart, although he did not formally renounce his adherence to democracy. He will never seek to carry out a coup, but he will be able to build a policy in such a way that he will achieve a change in the mechanism of power by other methods.

Meanwhile, the republic is rapidly collapsing under the blows of German tanks, which bypassed the Maginot line from the north through the Ardennes. Colonel de Gaulle - the commander of a tank division that is being formed literally on the move - is trying to fight with the corps of General Guderian, but the forces are unequal.

However, the terrible defeat of the French proved that de Gaulle was right. He is hastily promoted to general and appointed deputy minister of war. It is no longer possible to save the country, but this sudden career rise in 1940 leads to the most unexpected consequences. De Gaulle receives the status and authority necessary for a further career. With this baggage he flees to London.

Farewell to the people

Meanwhile, Marshal Petain is at the head of the pro-German regime (the Vichy regime). Formally, the French state continues to exist, and de Gaulle, who fled, turns out to be a traitor. They don’t have time to arrest him, but the complexity of the general’s position lies in the fact that he is on the side of the British against France and against a person whom he sincerely respected for many years. However, now he no longer respects anyone from the old state elite. The fugitive appeals directly to the people in the hope of creating a new independent state.

De Gaulle managed to extract the maximum possible from the defeat. At first, he turned out to be the only French general (and even with an impeccable reputation) who resolutely opposed the puppet regime of Petain. Then the generals who were in opposition to the Vichy regime increased, but de Gaulle, who quickly managed to create the Free France Committee, no longer let go of the reins of government from his hands. Having practically no resources, he acted harshly and even brazenly.

For Winston Churchill, he personified the French Resistance, although it, for the most part, was born in the occupied territory without connection with high-ranking emigrants. But for the Resistance, de Gaulle was a fragment of the old legitimate power, the only one who did not stain himself with collaborationism. And few people were interested in the fact that he worked in the government for a week without a year and that even his general rank was not officially approved.

When the British sank the French fleet to prevent the Germans from getting it, de Gaulle actually became an ally of those who were killing his fellow citizens. In other words, he ended up on the same board as Petain. However, as a politician, the general was head and shoulders above everyone else. The anti-fascist propaganda was built so skillfully that the reputation of a traitor was firmly established for Petain, and the reputation of a hero for de Gaulle.

The hero constantly demanded that the British take into account the interests of France that actually did not exist. It would seem that what can be demanded, having neither an army, nor a homeland, nor a state? But it was Churchill who was backed up against the wall. De Gaulle clearly calculated everything: the British prime minister could not make a split in the anti-fascist camp in order to besiege the presumptuous general.

Churchill sometimes yelled at de Gaulle: "You are not France, I do not recognize you as France." But he still had no other France at hand. I had to deal with this one - obstinate and defiant.

As soon as the allies cleared Algeria of the Germans, de Gaulle created a provisional government on this conditionally French land. And after landing in Normandy, he ensured that it was the tanks of General Leclerc, together with the Resistance fighters who rose up very timely, that liberated Paris.

As a result, de Gaulle entered his capital not on the armor of another occupying army, but at the head of the French troops, whose real forces were extremely small in comparison with the result obtained. In order to make clear the significance of what de Gaulle achieved, it can be noted that a similar attempt at liberation in Warsaw ended with the defeat of the insurgent underground and the burning of the city with the full connivance of the Soviet troops stationed on the other side of the Vistula and with the unsuccessful attempts of Polish soldiers to break through to the aid of their dying brothers.

Having liberated France, de Gaulle wants to offer her a new political model, free from the anarchy inherent in the Third Republic. He was already completely imbued with the idea of ​​a special role assigned to him by fate. He already feels like heir to kings and emperors. And then it turns out that, having defeated the enemy, the general suffered his personal defeat. The French are not ready to give the liberator powers almost equal to those of the king. So plainly and without having been the prime minister of a free country, de Gaulle resigned.

Perhaps he hoped that the Parisians would come to his door in order to restore the general to power. But the people were silent. Disappointed, de Gaulle retired to a country estate to wait in the wings. The Fourth Republic began to live without him.

Farewell to the empire

It became clear that even expressions of people's love in relation to the heroes must be carefully prepared in advance. The people themselves are as inert as the elites. De Gaulle managed to understand the situation and again turned the defeat into a victory.

At first, however, things didn't work out very well. The general tried to create a people's movement in his own name that would unite the country and oppose the old parties (as we would say in Russia, the party of power). The Gaullists were indeed created, but the promotion was only enough to become one of the leading forces represented in parliament.

For promotion, he did not disdain to resort to some kind of symbiosis of Hitlerism with McCarthyism. Crowds of people gathered on the square, where, according to the script of Andre Malraux, a heroic action was started, at the end of which de Gaulle spoke with a foreshadowing of the Bolshevik invasion and with a transparent hint at the need to call a hero capable of saving the homeland. Like, there is such a person, and you know him.

However, when it turned out that the Gaullists rather than de Gaulle benefited from all this, the general lost interest in his offspring. Left to their own devices, the members of the "party of power" quickly lost even the relative power they had gained in parliament.

And de Gaulle was waiting in the wings. In anticipation, he read Sartre and scolded the emerging European integration, completely unaware, like any stubborn nationalist, that the world he knew was gradually becoming different. The bitterness of defeat was aggravated by the death of the only person he truly loved - his daughter Anna, who suffered from Down's disease from birth.

Old age approached, illness approached, but then his hour suddenly came. In May 1958, against the backdrop of yet another government crisis that had already become habitual, a putsch was threatened by a limited military contingent, bringing "constitutional order" to rebellious Algeria. The complexity of the situation was determined by the fact that the Arabs believed that Algeria was their land, and Paris was in no way going to give it away, since more than a million French lived there.

Morocco, Tunisia, Indochina - everything had already been surrendered by the empire. Black Africa was preparing for independence. But not Algeria.

It doesn't matter that this land was across the sea. The distance from Paris to Algiers is less than from Moscow to Grozny. And the paratroopers of General Jacques Massu were ready to move on the French capital in order to root out the intentions of any accomplices of terrorists and "decayed democrats" who intended to leave Algeria to the Arabs. The putschists were going to call de Gaulle to power, and the general knew about these intentions. After all, not even 14 years have passed since the day when Massu, on his orders, led one of the columns of liberators to Paris.

Everyone freaked out: the government, which did not have the strength to resist the army, and the military, who were afraid to commit a crime, and the Algerian French, who worked themselves up to hysteria (as later the Russians in the Baltic states or the Jews in Gaza). Only de Gaulle was calm. He waited until the last moment and finally had the republic backed up against the wall, as Churchill had done in his time.

The “democrats” decided: it would be better for the general to take power from their hands, rather than from the hands of Massu clutching the machine gun. De Gaulle became prime minister, and soon after, president.

The army rejoiced. In Algeria, sweeps were in full swing. Villages were wiped off the face of the earth. Over a million Arabs were herded into camps. And here de Gaulle acted not like a general, but like a great politician. He accepted the defeat of the empire and surrendered Algiers. The same Algeria, from which in 1943 he began a victorious march. The one who called his home. The empire is dead. France won.

Farewell to power

Massu was in shock and did not hide it: in fact, de Gaulle had betrayed his generals. However, the president stopped the slightest attempt at disobedience. An old comrade-in-arms was instantly transferred to the metropolis to an insignificant post. De Gaulle cut him off from himself, just as he once cut off Petain, who played with Hitler, and the left leaders of the Resistance who flirted with Stalin.

However, the main danger did not come from the generals. Although in 1961 an attempt was made to putsch, it failed in a couple of days. Worse, it turned out that hundreds of thousands of French, for whom Algeria was actually their homeland, returned to the metropolis as ardent nationalists. Someone had to answer for their loss.

One evening, machine gunners were waiting for de Gaulle on a country highway. The president's car was literally riddled with bullets. The general and his wife survived miraculously. And this was only one of 30 assassination attempts organized in four years.

It was much more difficult to give up Algeria and stand under the bullets than, behind the cover of security, yell at TV cameras at "accomplices of terrorists", as some presidents who consider themselves great patriots do. The old man, who was then already over 70, walked under the bullets of bandits in the same way as he walked towards the enemy during the First World War. Then he fought for the lands of France, now - for these lands to begin to live their own life, independent of the imperial dictates.

It is still difficult to understand how a great nationalist could do such a thing. But it was his conscious choice. "After the nation has awakened," the general said, "no foreign power has a chance of establishing its dominance."

The new constitution, which marked the beginning of the Fifth Republic, which still exists today, introduced the mechanism of a huge (almost monarchical) presidential power. The people supported this constitution in a referendum, although half of those who voted did not even read it. People simply spoke out for de Gaulle, for an authoritarian leader.

Only little Guinea was against it, but it immediately turned out sideways. The center sharply cut off all financial transfers and even eliminated the telephone network from poor Africans. However, the toughness was worth it. Democracy could not stop the Algerian massacre, but authoritarianism, oddly enough, did.

There has been a breakthrough in the economy. The devaluation of the franc and financial stabilization allowed France to maintain a competitive position in the Common Market. Any government of the Fourth Republic that decided on such "monetarism" would certainly have fallen. But in the new political system, de Gaulle managed to cover the reformers with his long body.

However, this body gradually began to give up. In his eighth decade, the president was failing his eyesight. Once receiving the Prime Minister of the Congo, Abbé Yulbert Yulu, dressed in a cassock, at the Elysee Palace, de Gaulle addressed him: "Madame ..."

But the main problem was not even vision. The president lacked great things, and the managerial routine was not for him. De Gaulle began to get into adventures. He closed the road to the EEC for England, supported Quebec separatism in Canada, demanded a return to the gold standard in international payments, began to flirt too much with Moscow, pulled the country out of the NATO military organization, and generally went too far in his anti-Americanism. The main crisis arose in relations with their own people.

De Gaulle actually did not like the French too much, believing that they were not worthy of their great country. The ideal Frenchman for him was a soldier. But after the war, a new generation of people grew up, for whom human values ​​meant more than national ones. The general could not get along with this youth.

Everything collapsed within a month. In May 1968 student unrest took place in Paris. They were suddenly supported by a general strike and mass demonstrations of workers. People marched under the slogans: "De Gaulle - to the archive." The old man, out of touch with life and not expecting anything like this, suddenly panicked. Probably the first time in his long career.

When the president, unexpectedly for everyone, disappeared from Paris and suddenly appeared in Germany, at the headquarters of Massu, who was still loyal to him (who commanded the French contingent there since 1966), it became clear that de Gaulle was no more. Although the unrest gradually subsided and the president held on to power until the spring of 1969, nothing could be changed. This defeat was the last. That defeat, which the general could no longer turn into a victory.

He left on his own. He left after losing a not-so-important referendum. Perhaps de Gaulle was simply looking for an excuse to admit defeat.

And in the fall of 1970, the general also passed away. Without power, he didn't need her.

De Gaulle's life has become a myth. But, having given birth to one myth, the general buried another forever - the one that was born at the dawn of nationalism. The myth that the greatness of the state is inextricably linked with its spaces and conquests, with the "good" that it brings by force to "insufficiently enlightened peoples." Empires collapsed, colonies went free. De Gaulle, who believed all his life that the nation is superior to the individual, discovered an era in which the individual became superior to the nation, superior to any inhuman ideas that fetter a person.

The 20th century gave rise to many illusions. But he dispelled one age-old illusion.

"Yes - to reforms, no - to chaos"

The car vandalism of juvenile extremists, which has engulfed seemingly prosperous France in the past three weeks, has shown how fragile peace and tranquility is on Earth. About 30 years of uncontrolled emigration, the complete indifference of parents in the first place to the upbringing of their children, brought the country to the brink of civil war. Justifying himself to the people for thousands of cars engulfed in flames, the Minister of the Interior, Nicolas Sarkozy, said: “Yes, racism, poverty, unemployment. But you can't…”

In the middle of the 20th century, French President Charles de Gaulle did everything to restore his homeland to its former power and greatness ... In five days, the world will celebrate the 115th anniversary of the birth of General Charles de Gaulle, who rightfully belongs to the outstanding statesmen of the 20th century. He was at the pinnacle of power twice during critical periods in the history of France and both times brought the country out of the crisis by extraordinary actions. Through his efforts, a democratic constitution was adopted, according to which France lives to this day.

During the Second World War, France suffered the most of the Western countries of the anti-Hitler coalition. The power of the 3rd Republic compromised itself by surrendering to Nazism. During the 4 years of occupation, 210 thousand houses, 253 thousand peasant farms, 195 thousand industrial enterprises and 2/3 of vehicles were destroyed. The value of the franc fell 6 times, there were more than 600 thousand unemployed in the country. The volume of industrial production fell to 38%, and agriculture - to 60% of the 1938 level. Prices on the black market were 10-20 times higher than the state ones.

In September 1944, France entered a new period in its history. The political climate was shaped by new forces in the form of the De Gaulle Union, communists, socialists, radicals and right-wing parties. Since the autumn of 1944, the Provisional Coalition Government has been operating, the purpose of which was to bring the country out of the economic crisis. It remained in effect until the end of 1946, when a new constitution was adopted. The law on nationalization was immediately adopted. The aviation, coal mining and gas industries, electric power industry, air and sea transport, Renault automobile plants, the French Bank and the 4 most influential credit banks, insurance companies have moved into the public sector. The government issued compensation to all owners. Under de Gaulle, trade union freedoms were restored, paid holidays were approved, a system of benefits for large families was introduced, and sickness insurance was introduced. The financial position of France has improved, the balance of payments deficit for the French franc zone has disappeared, the state budget deficit has decreased, production has increased, the minimum wage, the wages of civil servants and workers have been raised. A tax reform was carried out that simplified the taxation system. Later, during the reign of de Gaulle, new industries were created - electronic, nuclear, oil and oil refining.

De Gaulle constitution

When the socialist deputies proposed to cut the military budget by 20% and they were supported by the communists, in January 1946 de Gaulle resigned. At the end of the year, a new constitution was adopted, according to which the parliament consisted of two chambers: the National Assembly and the Council of the Republic. All power was concentrated in the hands of the first chamber, and the president, elected for seven years, was a minor figure. De Gaulle was against such a balance of power, and in April 1947 he created his own party - the "Unification of the French People." Its main goal is the abolition of the 1946 Constitution and the creation of a strong, party-independent executive branch. De Gaulle's priorities in foreign policy were the revival of the greatness of France, the strengthening of its independence, and the weakening of the influence of the United States. Despite his negative attitude towards communism, he went for rapprochement with the USSR, if only to create a real counterbalance to the Americans. He paid much attention to the modernization of the armed forces, equipping them with modern weapons. Incidentally, in 1966, President Charles de Gaulle announced France's withdrawal from NATO. In the autumn of 1958, the "De Gaulle" constitution was finally adopted. She significantly moderated the powers of parliament and significantly expanded the rights of the president.

English opening without piece sacrifice

On the eve of the occupation of France by the Nazis, de Gaulle, remembering the Hundred Years' War with England, nevertheless went to London. There, in 1940, he created the anti-Hitler Free French organization. It served as the beginning of his political career. The French government sentenced de Gaulle to death in absentia for "treason". But England recognized the general as the head of the Free French. De Gaulle formed French military forces in England from units that ended up in England. Their motto was the words "Honor and Motherland". England gave de Gaulle the opportunity to broadcast twice a day for five minutes via BBC radio to France. The news of the founding of the organization by General de Gaulle spread all over the world. The French began to come to London from all continents. In August 1940, Charles de Gaulle and Winston Churchill signed an agreement on the use of French forces in England. In early 1941, de Gaulle began to receive news of the successes of the resistance movement in his homeland. He set the task of uniting the scattered forces of the Resistance around the Free French. By the end of 1944, France was liberated.

To learn to command, you must be able to obey

In the beginning, in 1946, de Gaulle resigned, left Paris and settled on his estate. But already in June 1946, he was actively involved in the political struggle around the constitutional project, which was proposed by the Constituent Assembly and submitted to a referendum. At the end of the year, the international situation changed. Through the fault of the Stalinist leadership and the aggressive circles of Anglo-American imperialism, the "cold war" began. With the aggravation of the international situation, relations within the French government also became more complicated. After the resignation of de Gaulle, the country found itself in a difficult political and economic situation: there was no control over prices, and the factories called for higher wages. Industry recovered slowly. The condition of the workers worsened. The announcement of mass repressions in the USSR, the Communist Party's support for Stalin's policies, and the beginning of the Cold War caused an explosion of anti-communist and anti-Soviet speeches in France. A government crisis arose in the country. The growth of right-wing sentiments, the desire of the bourgeoisie to take power into their own hands and restore order in the country accelerated the emergence in France of a new right-wing party, the initiative to create which was taken by de Gaulle.

In the late 1940s, de Gaulle feared a new world war and a new national collapse of France. In the name of saving France, he decided to have his own political organization, to head the government in order to determine the policy of the country. De Gaulle took advantage of the growing unrest in the country and created a new political structure - the "Unification of the French people." He demanded the abolition of the 1946 Constitution and the end of the game of parties, emphasizing that the main goal of France is the achievement of national greatness, and called on the French to unite. In April 1947, the first issue of the printed organ of the party, the newspaper Etensel, was published. In April 1947, de Gaulle spoke out against any kind of dictatorship, for democracy on the basis of a free referendum, and condemned the class struggle. A year later, the First Congress of the Association of the French People met in Marseille. Over 80% of the French polled expressed their full confidence in him.

The image of the "savior" and "liberator" of France has developed around the personality of the general. At the same time, the Gaullists considered the Soviet regime to be repressive and aggressive, destroying the best minds of the country. The De Gaulles proposed to grant freedom to the colonies, to give them the right to self-government, which rallied the colonies around France and contributed to the growth of its authority.

Algeria comes out of the fire and France

It was de Gaulle who had to solve the "Algerian problem". From 1954 to March 18, 1962, there was a bloody war in Algeria. The reaction of French society to her was mixed. De Gaulle tried not to say anything concrete about the fate of Algeria, but he did not rule out the granting of independence to Algeria in accordance with one of the articles of the Constitution of 1958. His statement about Algeria's right to independence had a huge resonance throughout the world. At the same time, the ideology of his bourgeois party was based on the right-wing ideas of "strong power", was imbued with anti-communist sentiments and the dictatorship of the leader - Charles de Gaulle, but within the framework of the democratic principles of the new constitution.

General Degol - the last great Frenchman

The village of Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises is inscribed in the hilly landscape of Eastern France and lies near the point where the borders of Champagne, Burgundy and Lorraine converge. This is a pretty pretty village, similar to the neighboring villages in the Champagne Ardennes, and thousands of others scattered throughout France. She has seen a lot in her lifetime. Here was the main route from Paris to Basel in Switzerland, and along it moved soldiers of fortune, business people and, of course, fugitives. Voltaire, for example, lived for thirteen years in the nearby town of Cirey-sur-Blaise, hiding from the spies of Louis XV, spending his time in idleness and working on a French translation of Newton's Principia Mathematica. Then the revolutionaries came from Paris and burned the Clugnac monastery, which was the second church for the village. Here, shortly before his abdication, Napoleon rushed about, conducting rearguard battles against Blucher and Schwarzenberg, and the German armies captured the village twice, in 1870 and 1940. But none of these events made Colombey famous. There are no less interesting pages in the history of other villages that would be worth telling about. Colombe's own heritage is that in 1970 she became a shrine of Gaullism.

A visitor from afar is met by a giant cross of Lorraine, installed on a small hill above the village. This impressive monument, about 160 feet high and weighing 1,500 tons, made of 130 cubic yards of red granite, looks grimly towards Germany, as if warning against a future invasion. And below, in the village, there are souvenir shops, cafes, restaurants and all the other usual signs of a successful tourist activity.

Nothing, however, disturbs the peace of "Boisserie" - the house where de Gaulle lived for more than thirty years and in which he died. The atmosphere here is completely different. There is no tourist trade here - there are no cheap souvenirs, just as there are no pompous monuments. There is only a modest plot of land, though with a fairly large garden, located just outside the village, off the road, behind which, as far as you can see, are fields and groves. Built at the beginning of the 19th century, the house was hardly rebuilt until the de Gaulle family bought it in 1933.

There is not much furniture in it, and it does not shine with particular sophistication. The table at which de Gaulle worked is simple, and the main decoration of the office is not the rows of books and photographs, but the view from the window overlooking the Ob River valley. The paintings hung in the library, which is directly adjacent to the office, depict ancestors. In addition, there hangs - he especially loved her - a rather mediocre oil painting, which depicts the revolutionary army in an attacking outburst. The dining room is also devoid of decorations, in the hall behind it there are some African souvenirs, several African darts and a two-handed sword are attached above the door. In short, this is the type of interior that is typical for a military dwelling from the periphery - nothing superfluous, no unnecessary decorations; the soldier's house, where the wife must sit knitting while he himself is busy with books or playing solitaire. Hardly more can be said about the contrast with the official residences he had to occupy, especially the Elysee Palace.

De Gaulle died at approximately 7:25 pm on November 9, 1970, a few days short of his eightieth birthday. Death was fast. Around seven, he was sitting quietly in his chair in the library, having just closed the window against the cold November wind, when his lower aorta ruptured, causing extensive bleeding into the abdominal cavity and severe pain in the back. Due to the interruption of the blood supply to the brain and the acute pain, he almost instantly lost consciousness, and by the time the doctor arrived, leaving another patient to help the general, it was already too late.

The funeral at his request was as modest as his home. The coffin from "Boisserie" to the Church of the Assumption of Our Lady, located in the center of the village, was delivered in an armored personnel carrier. The cemetery was attended by family, a few friends from the Free French days, and villagers; the general was buried in a simple grave on the grounds of the church in Colombay. As it was in life, so in death: on the same day, a funeral mass was held in Notre Dame Cathedral, which was celebrated with special solemnity and great rank by the Cardinal-Archbishop of Paris. The world would not accept anything less.

There is no reason to believe that de Gaulle himself would not have approved of this. He, like no one else, understood that a certain greatness should be demonstrated in public life, but insisted that personal life should remain hidden from the eyes of the public. Whether he would like the efforts of supporters to perpetuate his memory, no matter how good their intentions may be, is another matter. Perhaps he would admit that he is a kind of public good and cannot just fade into oblivion like other old soldiers. Meanwhile, his name, like the names of other great people, was used to support very dubious ideas, from which, whether or not he was public property, he would certainly dissociate himself. It seems that he foresaw the emergence of a myth around his name, but nothing suggests that he liked it. Glory, no matter how outwardly attractive it may be, has its inconveniences.

Over the years, the myth may begin to fade. In life, de Gaulle evoked great hatred and great love for himself, so time is needed for these two feelings to manifest themselves in full force. But the apparent indifference shown by the youth of France in 1990 to the celebration of the centenary of his birth, especially when through an enlarged copy of the loudspeaker of the 1940s, installed on the Place de la Concorde, came the voice pronouncing the words of the Proclamation on June 18, 1940, at some degree is inspiring. This means that, perhaps, finally, those who never knew de Gaulle or were not directly influenced by the power of his personality will begin to consider the life and career of this man in a historical perspective and leave the legend alone. If so, then it is only for good, since this man in himself is large enough for history to be supported by all sorts of fictions.

De Gaulle was a product of the provincial society of Northern France in the 19th century: austerity, Catholicism, monarchism and nationalism. He himself, already at an advanced age, wrote that as a child nothing touched him more than stories about the troubles of France, about weaknesses and mistakes, about surrender to the British at Fashoda, about the Dreyfus affair, about social conflicts and religious strife. The noble poverty of the family ruled out many career opportunities for both father and sons, but with limited options, de Gaulle's choice was the army. This left its mark on everything he did later in his life: his disgust with parliamentary politics, his romantic perception of France, his authoritarian vision of power, his disbelief in ideas of supranationality, even his frequent use of barracks jargon.

For most of the first half of his life, de Gaulle was a professional soldier. It is debatable whether he was a good or bad soldier. Did his brilliant mind, combined with his unfailing self-righteousness, contribute to the manifestation of the character traits necessary for a military leader, and does the indiscipline that was the result of his individualism combine with the management of a modern army? All of this is open to discussion. It is indisputable that if the plane on which he flew to England in June 1940 had crashed into the sea, then his life would have become nothing more than a footnote in the long history of the French army. He would no doubt be remembered as an excellent staff officer and the author of some interesting thoughts. However, at forty-nine years old, he was only in a temporary position as a brigadier general, most of his service was at headquarters, and he spent very little time in the army.

The merit of de Gaulle during the Second World War was the salvation of the dignity of France. The military contribution of the troops under his command to the course of the war was secondary: the war in Europe would have been won in any case by the Western Allies and the Soviet Union, with or without French help, and the war in the Far East was the business of the United States and the British Empire. And yet, by rejecting all entreaties on the part of his compatriots to transfer troops to the British army, as the Poles, Czechs, Danes and Belgians did, he proved that France was still alive and fighting for herself, and pursued this course with defiant obstinacy. He managed, at least in part, to rid France of the contempt with which it could be treated after the catastrophe of 1940, and after the war in full return to the country the position of one of the Big Five states.

In the last phase of his extraordinary career, beginning in 1958, de Gaulle achieved equally astonishing results. At the age of sixty-eight, he took over the government of France, effectively saved the country from an almost inevitable civil war, gave it a constitution that has outlasted any constitution since the French Revolution, with the exception of that of the Third Republic, and, in addition to everything, had such an international an authority that was unthinkable for any French head of state in the preceding decade.

And yet, after the end of the de Gaulle era, France again discovered the desire for a new Europe. Integration into the European Community has already passed the point of no return. All de Gaulle's successors, even the Gaullists, are the people of Europe: Pompidou, Giscard d'Estaing and Mitterrand. They accepted the logic of de Gaulle's opponents, who acted as consistently as the general, but in the opposite direction - for being the only one in the future the way to contain Germany would be to bring it into partnership with a common European superstructure.The alternative logic, the Gaullist Europe des etats (Europe of States), according to which France should control Germany by dominating the political and diplomatic fields, was a relic of the 19th century, and subsequently the unification of Germany showed it wrong in 1990. If, following today's further argument, there is any way for a resurgent Germany, especially after the completion of the unification process, to ensure its dominance over Europe, political and economic, then this is the way of showing muscles in the conditions of the unstable balance of the existing association sovereign nation states.

De Gaulle saved the honor of France in 1940 and France itself in 1958. The irony, meanwhile, is that he left behind a France strong enough to be a viable partner in a united Europe, but not strong enough to stand up to Germany on its own with a more amorphous organization of Europe. This could have been done if de Gaulle had been called to the aid of another European power that instinctively shared, and perhaps continues to share, his suspicions of supranationality - the United Kingdom. However, the psychological trace left by Fashoda was so clear that when he finally came to this idea, the accumulated bitterness and personal hostility were so strong that there was no foundation on which everything could be built.

Ultimately, de Gaulle may have lost the argument, but the coals of nationalism he fanned have not yet cooled off. The virtual equality of votes during the September 1992 referendum on the Maastricht Treaty and the clear defeat of the pro-European Socialists in the National Assembly elections in March 1993 are clear evidence of this. But there would be no disputes if there were no France, and there would be no France if there were no de Gaulle. His successors have felt and will continue to feel differently realizing - sometimes only due to difficult economic circumstances - that their home is in France, which belongs to Europe. De Gaulle had no doubts that under any circumstances his home was in France, in Colombey. Other figures will appear who may become no less great, and they may well turn out to be French. But from the point of view of reckless devotion to his country with such skill and strength that was demonstrated in serving her, Charles de Gaulle can rightly be called the last great Frenchman.

Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (French Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle). Born on November 22, 1890 in Lille - died on November 9, 1970 in Colombey-les-Deux-Eglise (dep. Haute-Marne). French military and statesman, general. During World War II, it became a symbol of the French Resistance. Founder and first president of the Fifth Republic (1959-1969).

Charles de Gaulle was born on November 22, 1890 into a patriotic Catholic family. Although the de Gaulle family is noble, de in the surname is not a “particle” of noble families traditional for France, but the Flemish form of the article. Charles, like his three brothers and sister, was born in Lille at his grandmother's house, where his mother came every time before giving birth, although the family lived in Paris. His father, Henri de Gaulle, was a professor of philosophy and literature at a Jesuit school, which greatly influenced Charles. From early childhood he loved to read. The story struck him so much that he had an almost mystical concept of serving France.

In War Memoirs, de Gaulle wrote: “My father, an educated and thinking man, brought up in certain traditions, was full of 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, sister, myself - we were all proud of our homeland. This pride, which was mixed with a sense of anxiety for her fate, was our second nature..

Jacques Chaban-Delmas, the hero of the Liberation, then the permanent chairman of the National Assembly during the years of the General's presidency, recalls that this "second nature" surprised not only the younger generation, to which Chaban-Delmas himself belonged, but also de Gaulle's peers. Subsequently, de Gaulle recalled his youth: “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”.

As a boy, he showed great interest in military affairs. After a year of preparatory exercises at the Stanislas College in Paris, he is admitted to the Special Military School in Saint-Cyr. He chooses infantry as his type of troops: it is more “military”, since it is closest to combat operations. After graduating from Saint-Cyr in 1912, 13th in academic achievement, de Gaulle serves in the 33rd Infantry Regiment under the command of the then Colonel Pétain.

Since the outbreak of the First World War on August 12, 1914, Lieutenant de Gaulle has been taking part in hostilities as part of the 5th Army of Charles Lanrezac, located in the northeast. Already on August 15 in Dinan, he received the first wound, he returned to duty after treatment only in October.

On March 10, 1916, at the battle of Mesnil-le-Hurlu, he was wounded a second time. He returns to the 33rd regiment with the rank of captain and becomes a company commander. In the Battle of Verdun at the village of Douaumont in 1916, he was wounded for the third time. Left on the battlefield, he - already posthumously - receives honors from the army. However, Charles remains alive, is captured by the Germans; he is treated at the Mayenne hospital and kept in various fortresses.

De Gaulle makes six attempts to escape. Mikhail Tukhachevsky, the future marshal of the Red Army, was also in captivity with him; communication is established between them, including on military-theoretical topics.

De Gaulle is released from captivity only after the armistice on November 11, 1918. From 1919 to 1921, de Gaulle was in Poland, where he taught the theory of tactics at the former school of the Imperial Guard in Rembertow near Warsaw, and in July - August 1920 he fought for a short time on the front of the Soviet-Polish war of 1919-1921 with the rank of major (with the troops of the RSFSR in this conflict, it is Tukhachevsky who is in command, ironically).

Rejecting an offer to take a permanent position in the Polish Army and returning to his homeland, on April 6, 1921, he marries Yvonne Vandru. On December 28, 1921, his son Philippe was born, named after the chief - later the notorious collaborator and antagonist of de Gaulle, Marshal Philippe Pétain.

Captain de Gaulle teaches at the Saint-Cyr school, then in 1922 he was admitted to the Higher Military School.

On May 15, 1924, daughter Elizabeth is born. In 1928, the youngest daughter, Anna, was born, suffering from Down syndrome (Anna died in 1948; later de Gaulle was a trustee of the Foundation for Children with Down Syndrome).

In the 1930s, lieutenant colonel, and then colonel de Gaulle became widely known as the author of military-theoretical works, such as "For a professional army", "On the edge of a sword", "France and her army" . In his books, de Gaulle, in particular, pointed out the need for the comprehensive development of tank forces as the main weapon of a future war. In this, his work is close to the work of Germany's leading military theorist, Heinz Guderian. However, de Gaulle's proposals did not arouse understanding among the French military command and in political circles. In 1935, the National Assembly rejected the army reform bill prepared by the future Prime Minister Paul Reynaud according to de Gaulle's plans as "useless, undesirable and contrary to logic and history".

In 1932-1936 he was Secretary General of the Supreme Defense Council. In 1937-1939 he was commander of a tank regiment.

By the beginning of World War II, de Gaulle had the rank of colonel. The day before the start of the war (August 31, 1939), he was appointed commander of tank forces in the Saar, wrote on this occasion: “It fell to my lot to play a role in a terrible hoax ... Several dozen light tanks that I command are just a speck of dust. We will lose the war in the most miserable way if we don't act."

In January 1940 de Gaulle wrote an article "The phenomenon of mechanized troops", in which he emphasized the importance of the interaction of heterogeneous ground forces, primarily tank forces, and the Air Force.

On May 14, 1940, he was given command of the emerging 4th Panzer Division (initially 5,000 soldiers and 85 tanks). From June 1, he temporarily acted as a brigadier general (officially, they did not manage to approve him in this rank, and after the war he received only a colonel's pension from the Fourth Republic).

On June 6, Prime Minister Paul Reynaud appointed de Gaulle as deputy minister of war. The general invested with this position tried to counteract the plans for a truce, to which the leaders of the military department of France, and above all Minister Philippe Pétain, were inclined.

On June 14, de Gaulle traveled to London to negotiate ships for the evacuation of the French government to Africa; at the same time, he argued to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, "that some dramatic step is required to provide Reynaud with the support he needs in order to induce the government to continue the war". However, on the same day, Paul Reynaud resigned, after which the government was headed by Pétain; immediately began negotiations with Germany on an armistice.

On June 17, 1940, de Gaulle flew out of Bordeaux, where the evacuated government was based, not wanting to participate in this process, and again arrived in London. According to the assessment, "on this plane, de Gaulle took with him the honor of France."

It was this moment that became a turning point in de Gaulle's biography. In Memoirs of Hope, he writes: “On June 18, 1940, 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”. On this day, the BBC broadcast de Gaulle's radio address, a speech on 18 June calling for the creation of a French Resistance. Soon leaflets were distributed in which the general addressed "to all the French" (A tous les Français) with the statement:

"France lost the battle, but she did not lose the war! Nothing is lost, because this is a world war. The day will come when France will return freedom and greatness ... That is why I appeal to all the French to unite around me in the name of action, self-sacrifice and hope" .

The general accused the Pétain government of betrayal and declared that "with full consciousness of duty he acts on behalf of France." Other appeals of de Gaulle also appeared.

So de Gaulle became the head of the "Free (later -" Fighting ") France"- an organization designed to resist the invaders and the Vichy collaborationist regime. The legitimacy of this organization was based, in his eyes, on the following principle: "The legitimacy of power is based on the feelings that it inspires, on its ability to ensure national unity and continuity when the homeland is in danger."

At first, he had to face considerable difficulties. “I ... at first did not represent anything ... In France - no one who could vouch for me, and I did not enjoy any fame in the country. Abroad - no trust and justification for my activities. The formation of the Free French organization was rather protracted. De Gaulle managed to enlist the support of Churchill. On June 24, 1940, Churchill reported to General H. L. Ismay: “It seems extremely important to create, now, while the trap has not yet closed, an organization that would allow French officers and soldiers, as well as prominent specialists who wish to continue the fight, to break into various ports. A kind of "underground railway" must be set up... I have no doubt that there will be a continuous stream of determined men - and we need to get everything we can - for the defense of the French colonies. The Navy Department and the Air Force must cooperate.

General de Gaulle and his committee will, of course, be an operational organ. The desire to create an alternative to the Vichy government led Churchill not only to a military, but also to a political decision: the recognition of de Gaulle as "the head of all free French" (June 28, 1940) and to help strengthen de Gaulle's position in the international plan.

Militarily, the main task was to transfer to the side of the French patriots the "French Empire" - vast colonial possessions in Africa, Indochina and Oceania.

After an unsuccessful attempt to capture Dakar, de Gaulle creates in Brazzaville (Congo) the Empire Defense Council, the manifesto on the creation of which began with the words: "We, General de Gaulle (nous général de Gaulle), head of the free French, decide" etc. The Council includes anti-fascist military governors of the French (as a rule, African) colonies: Generals Catrou, Eboue, Colonel Leclerc. From that moment on, de Gaulle emphasized the national and historical roots of his movement. He establishes the Order of the Liberation, the main sign of which is the Lorraine cross with two crossbars - an ancient, dating back to the era of feudalism, a symbol of the French nation. At the same time, adherence to the constitutional traditions of the French Republic was also emphasized, for example, the “Organic Declaration” (the legal document of the political regime of “Fighting France”), promulgated in Brazzaville, proved the illegitimacy of the Vichy regime, referring to the fact that he expelled “from his quasi-constitutional acts even the very the word "republic", giving the head of the so-called. "French State" unlimited power, similar to the power of an unlimited monarch.

The great success of the "Free France" was the establishment of direct ties with the USSR shortly after June 22, 1941 - without hesitation, the Soviet leadership decided to transfer A.E. Bogomolov - his plenipotentiary under the Vichy regime - to London. During 1941-1942, the network of partisan organizations in occupied France also grew. From October 1941, after the first mass executions of hostages by the Germans, de Gaulle called on all the French to a total strike and mass actions of disobedience.

Meanwhile, the actions of the "monarch" irritated the West. The apparatus spoke openly about the "so-called free French", "sowing poisonous propaganda" and interfering with the conduct of the war.

On November 8, 1942, American troops landed in Algiers and Morocco and negotiated with local French military leaders who supported Vichy. De Gaulle tried to convince the leaders of England and the United States that cooperation with the Vichy in Algeria would lead to the loss of moral support for the allies in France. “The United States,” said de Gaulle, “introduces elementary feelings and complex politics into great things.”

The head of Algeria, Admiral Francois Darlan, who by that time had already defected to the side of the Allies, was killed on December 24, 1942 by the 20-year-old Frenchman Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle, who, after a quick trial, was shot the next day. The Allied leadership appoints General of the Army Henri Giraud as the "civilian and military commander-in-chief" of Algeria. In January 1943, at a conference in Casablanca, de Gaulle became aware of the Allied plan: to replace the leadership of the "Fighting France" with a committee headed by Giraud, which was planned to include a large number of people who had supported the Pétain government at one time. In Casablanca, de Gaulle shows understandable intransigence towards such a plan. He insists on the unconditional observance of the national interests of the country (in the sense that they were understood in the "Fighting France"). This leads to a split in the "Fighting France" into two wings: nationalist, led by de Gaulle (supported by the British government, led by W. Churchill), and pro-American, grouped around Henri Giraud.

On May 27, 1943, the National Council of the Resistance gathers for a founding conspiratorial meeting in Paris, which (under the auspices of de Gaulle) assumes many powers to organize the internal struggle in the occupied country. De Gaulle's position was becoming more and more stronger, and Giraud was forced to compromise: almost simultaneously with the opening of the NSS, he invited the general to the ruling structures of Algeria. He demands the immediate submission of Giraud (commander of the troops) to civilian power. The situation is heating up. Finally, on June 3, 1943, the French National Liberation Committee was formed, headed by de Gaulle and Giraud on an equal footing. The majority in it, however, are received by Gaullists, and some adherents of his rival (including Couve de Murville - the future Prime Minister of the Fifth Republic) - go over to de Gaulle's side. In November 1943, Giraud was removed from the committee.

On June 4, 1944, de Gaulle was summoned by Churchill to London. The British Prime Minister announced the forthcoming landing of the Allied troops in Normandy and, at the same time, the full support of the Roosevelt line on the complete dictate of the will of the United States. De Gaulle was given to understand that his services were not needed. In a draft appeal written by General Dwight Eisenhower, the French people were ordered to comply with all the instructions of the Allied command "until the elections of legitimate authorities"; in Washington, the De Gaulle Committee was not considered as such. De Gaulle's sharp protest forced Churchill to give him the right to speak to the French on the radio separately (rather than join Eisenhower's text). In the address, the general declared the legitimacy of the government formed by the "Fighting France", and strongly opposed plans to subordinate it to American command.

On June 6, 1944, the Allied forces successfully landed in Normandy, thus opening a second front in Europe.

De Gaulle, after a short stay on liberated French soil, again went to Washington for negotiations with President Roosevelt, the goal of which is still the same - to restore the independence and greatness of France (the key expression in the political lexicon of the general). “Listening to the American president, I was finally convinced that in business relations between the two states, logic and feeling mean very little in comparison with real power, that one who knows how to grab and hold what is captured is valued here; and if France wants to take its former place, it must rely only on itself,” writes de Gaulle.

After the rebels of the Resistance, led by Colonel Rolle-Tanguy, open the way to Paris for the tank troops of the military governor of Chad, Philippe de Otklok (who went down in history under the name Leclerc), de Gaulle arrives in the liberated capital. There is a grandiose performance - de Gaulle's solemn procession through the streets of Paris, with a huge crowd of people, to whom a lot of space is devoted in the General's "Military Memoirs". The procession passes by the historical places of the capital, consecrated by the heroic history of France; de Gaulle later spoke of these points: “With every step that I take, stepping on the most famous places in the world, it seems to me that the glory of the past, as it were, joins the glory of today”.

Since August 1944, de Gaulle - Chairman of the Council of Ministers of France (Provisional Government). He subsequently characterizes his short, one and a half year activity in this post as “salvation”. France had to be "saved" from the plans of the Anglo-American bloc: the partial remilitarization of Germany, the exclusion of France from the ranks of the great powers. Both in Dumbarton Oaks, at the conference of the Great Powers on the creation of the UN, and at the Yalta conference in January 1945, representatives of France are absent. Shortly before the Yalta meeting, de Gaulle went to Moscow with the aim of concluding an alliance with the USSR in the face of the Anglo-American danger. The general visited the USSR for the first time from December 2 to 10, 1944, arriving in Moscow via Baku.

On the last day of this visit, the Kremlin and de Gaulle signed an agreement on "alliance and military assistance." The significance of this act was, first of all, in the return of France to the status of a great power and its recognition among the victorious states. The French General de Latre de Tassigny, together with the commanders of the Allied Powers, accepts the surrender of the German armed forces in Karlshorst on the night of May 8-9, 1945. France has occupation zones in Germany and Austria.

After the war, the standard of living remained low and unemployment rose. It was not even possible to properly define the political structure of the country. Elections to the Constituent Assembly did not give an advantage to any party (the Communists received a relative majority, Maurice Thorez became vice-premier), the draft Constitution was repeatedly rejected. After one of the next conflicts over the expansion of the military budget, de Gaulle on January 20, 1946 leaves the post of head of government and retires to Colombey-les-Deux-Églises (fr. Colombey-les-Deux-Églises), a small estate in Champagne (department of Haute Marne ). He himself compares his position with exile. But, unlike the idol of his youth, de Gaulle has the opportunity to observe French politics from the outside - not without the hope of returning to it.

The further political career of the general is connected with the “Unification of the French People” (according to the French abbreviation RPF), with the help of which de Gaulle planned to come to power by parliamentary means. The RPF staged a noisy campaign. The slogans are still the same: nationalism (the fight against US influence), observance of the traditions of the Resistance (the emblem of the RPF is the Cross of Lorraine, which once shone in the middle of the "Order of Liberation"), the fight against a significant communist faction in the National Assembly. Success, it would seem, accompanied de Gaulle.

In the fall of 1947, the RPF won the municipal elections. In 1951, 118 seats in the National Assembly were already at the disposal of the Gaullists. But the triumph that de Gaulle dreamed of is far away. These elections did not give the RPF an absolute majority, the communists strengthened their positions even more, and most importantly, de Gaulle's electoral strategy brought bad results.

Indeed, the general declared war on the Fourth Republic, constantly emphasizing his right to power in the country due to the fact that he and only he led it to liberation, devoted a significant part of his speeches to sharp criticism of the communists, etc. A large number of careerists joined de Gaulle , people who proved themselves not in the best way during the Vichy regime. Within the walls of the National Assembly, they joined the parliamentary "mouse fuss", casting their votes to the extreme right. Finally, the complete collapse of the RPF came - in the same municipal elections as those from which the story of its ascent began. On May 6, 1953, the general dissolved his party.

The least open period of de Gaulle's life came - the so-called "passage through the desert." He spent five years in seclusion in Colombey, working on the famous "War Memoirs" in three volumes ("Summon", "Unity" and "Salvation"). The general not only recounted the events that became history, but also sought to find in them the answer to the question: what brought him, an unknown brigadier general, to the role of national leader? Only a deep conviction that "our country in the face of other countries should strive for great goals and not bow to anything, otherwise it may be in mortal danger."

1957-1958 became the years of a deep political crisis of the IV Republic. A protracted war in Algeria, unsuccessful attempts to form a Council of Ministers, and finally an economic crisis. According to de Gaulle's later assessment, “many leaders of the regime were aware that the problem required a radical solution. But to take the tough decisions that this problem demanded, to demolish all the 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 keep armed forces there with a total number of 500 thousand people; it was also costly from the point of view of foreign policy, because the whole world condemned the hopeless drama. As for, finally, the authority of the state, it was literally destructive.”

The so-called. "far-right" military groups that exert strong pressure on the Algerian military leadership. On May 10, 1958, four Algerian generals turn to President René Coty with an essentially ultimatum to prevent the abandonment of Algeria. On May 13, the armed formations of the "ultra" seize the building of the colonial administration in the city of Algiers; the generals telegraph to Paris with a demand addressed to Charles de Gaulle to "break the silence" and make an appeal to the citizens of the country in order to create a "government of public confidence."

“For 12 years now, France has been trying to solve problems that are beyond the power of the party regime, and is heading towards disaster. Once, in a difficult hour, the country trusted me to lead it to salvation. Today, when the country faces new trials, let it know that I am ready to assume all the powers of the Republic."

If this statement had been made a year ago, at the height of the economic crisis, it would have been taken as a call for a coup d'état. Now, in the face of the grave danger of a coup, both the centrists of Pflimlin, and the moderate socialists Guy Mollet, and - above all - the Algerian rebels, whom he did not directly condemn, place their hopes on de Gaulle. The scales tipped in favor of de Gaulle after the putschists captured the island of Corsica in a matter of hours. Rumors circulate about the landing of a parachute regiment in Paris. At this time, the general confidently addresses the rebels with a demand to obey his command. On May 27, Pierre Pflimlin's "ghost government" resigns. President Rene Coty, addressing the National Assembly, demands the election of de Gaulle as prime minister and the transfer of emergency powers to him to form a government and revise the Constitution. On June 1, de Gaulle was approved by 329 votes as Chairman of the Council of Ministers.

Decisive opponents of de Gaulle's coming to power were: radicals led by Mendes-France, left-wing socialists (including the future president Francois Mitterrand) and communists led by Thorez and Duclos. They insisted on the unconditional observance of the democratic foundations of the state, which de Gaulle wanted to revise as soon as possible.

Already in August, a draft of a new Constitution is placed on the table of the Prime Minister, according to which France has been living to this day. The powers of Parliament were significantly limited. The fundamental responsibility of the government to the National Assembly remained (it can declare a vote of no confidence in the government, but the president, when appointing the prime minister, does not have to submit his candidacy for approval to parliament). The President, according to Article 16, in the event that “the independence of the Republic, the integrity of its territory or the fulfillment of its international obligations is under serious and immediate threat, and the normal functioning of state institutions has been terminated” (what to bring under this concept is not specified), may temporarily take completely unlimited power in their hands.

The principle of electing the president has also fundamentally changed. From now on, the head of state was elected not at a meeting of Parliament, but by an electoral college consisting of 80 thousand people's deputies (since 1962, after the adoption of constitutional amendments in a referendum, by direct and universal vote of the French people).

On September 28, 1958, the twelve-year history of the IV Republic ended. The French people supported the Constitution with over 79% of the votes. It was a direct vote of confidence in the general. If before that, all his claims, starting from 1940, for the post of “head of the free French” were dictated by some subjective “vocation”, then the results of the referendum eloquently confirmed: yes, the people recognized de Gaulle as their leader, it is in him that they see a way out of the current situation.

On December 21, 1958, less than three months later, 76,000 electors in all French cities elect a president. 75.5% of electors cast their votes for the prime minister. January 8, 1959 is the solemn inauguration of de Gaulle.

The post of Prime Minister of France during the presidency of de Gaulle was held by such figures of the Gaullist movement as the “knight of Gaullism” Michel Debre (1959-1962), the “dauphin” Georges Pompidou (1962-1968) and his permanent foreign minister (1958-1968) Maurice Couve de Murville (1968-1969).

De Gaulle puts the problem of decolonization in the first place. Indeed, in the wake of the Algerian crisis, he came to power; now he must reaffirm his role as national leader by finding a way out of it. In an attempt to carry out this task, the president ran into a desperate confrontation not only between the Algerian commanders, but also the right-wing lobby in the government. Only on September 16, 1959, the head of state offers three options for resolving the Algerian issue: a break with France, "integration" with France (completely equate Algeria with the metropolis and extend the same rights and obligations to the population) and "association" (the Algerian government in terms of national composition , which relied on the help of France and has a close economic and foreign policy alliance with the mother country). The general clearly preferred the latter option, in which he met with the support of the National Assembly. However, this further consolidated the ultra-right, which was fueled by the unreplaced military authorities of Algeria.

On September 8, 1961, an assassination attempt on de Gaulle takes place - the first of fifteen organized by the right-wing "Organization of the Secret Army" (Organization de l'Armée Secrète) - abbreviated as OAS (OAS). The story of the assassination attempts on de Gaulle formed the basis of Frederick Forsythe's famous book The Day of the Jackal. Throughout his life, de Gaulle was assassinated 32 times.

The war in Algeria ended after the signing of bilateral agreements in Evian (March 18, 1962), which led to a referendum and the formation of an independent Algerian state. Significantly de Gaulle's statement: "The era of organized continents is succeeding the colonial era".

De Gaulle became the founder of the new French policy in the post-colonial space: the policy of cultural ties between Francophone (that is, French-speaking) states and territories. Algeria was not the only country that left the French Empire, for which de Gaulle fought in the forties. Behind 1960 ("Year of Africa") more than two dozen African states gained independence. Vietnam and Cambodia also became independent. In all these countries, there were thousands of French people who did not want to lose ties with the metropolis. The main goal was to ensure the influence of France in the world, the two poles of which - the USA and the USSR - had already been determined.

In 1959, the president transfers under the French command of the air defense, missile forces and troops withdrawn from Algeria. The decision, taken unilaterally, could not but cause friction with, and then with his successor, Kennedy. De Gaulle repeatedly asserts the right of France to do everything "as the mistress of her policy and on her own initiative." The first nuclear test, carried out in February 1960 in the Sahara desert, marked the beginning of a series of French nuclear explosions, which were stopped under Mitterrand and briefly resumed by Chirac. De Gaulle repeatedly personally visited nuclear facilities, paying great attention to both the peaceful and military development of the latest technologies.

1965 - the year of de Gaulle's re-election for a second presidential term - was the year of two blows to the policy of the NATO bloc. February 4 the general announces the refusal to use the dollar in international settlements and on the transition to a single gold standard. In the spring of 1965, a French ship delivered US$750 million to the US, the first tranche of the US$1.5 billion that France intended to exchange for gold.

On September 9, 1965, the president announces that France does not consider itself bound by obligations to the North Atlantic bloc.

On February 21, 1966, France withdrew from NATO., and the headquarters of the organization was urgently transferred from Paris to Brussels. In an official note, the Pompidou government announced the evacuation of 29 bases with 33,000 personnel from the country.

Since that time, the official position of France in international politics has become sharply anti-American. The general, during visits to the USSR and Cambodia in 1966, condemns the actions of the United States against the countries of Indochina, and later Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967.

In 1967, during a visit to Quebec (francophone province of Canada), de Gaulle, finishing his speech in front of a huge gathering of people, exclaimed: "Long live Quebec!", and then added the instantly famous words: "Long live free Quebec!" (fr. Vive le Québec libre!). A scandal erupted. De Gaulle and his official advisers subsequently offered a number of theories that allowed the charge of separatism to be deflected, among them that Quebec and Canada as a whole were meant to be free from foreign military blocs (that is, again, NATO). According to another version, based on the entire context of de Gaulle's speech, he had in mind the Quebec comrades in the Resistance, who fought for the freedom of the whole world from Nazism. One way or another, this incident has been referred to for a very long time by supporters of the independence of Quebec.

At the beginning of his reign, On November 23, 1959, de Gaulle delivered his famous speech on "Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals". In the coming political union of the countries of Europe (integration of the EEC was then connected mainly with the economic side of the issue), the president saw an alternative to the “Anglo-Saxon” NATO (Great Britain was not included in his concept of Europe). In his work to create European unity, he made a number of compromises that determined the further originality of France's foreign policy to the present day.

De Gaulle's first compromise concerns the Federal Republic of Germany that was formed in 1949. She quickly restored her economic and military potential, but in dire need, however, of the political legalization of her fortune through an agreement with the USSR. De Gaulle took from Chancellor Adenauer an obligation to oppose the British plan for a "European free trade area", which seized the initiative from de Gaulle, in exchange for intermediary services in relations with the USSR. De Gaulle's visit to the Federal Republic of Germany on September 4-9, 1962 shocked the world community with the open support of Germany from a man who had fought against her in two wars; but it was the first step in the reconciliation of countries and the creation of European unity.

The second compromise was due to the fact that in the fight against NATO it was natural for the general to enlist the support of the USSR - a country that he considered not so much as a "communist totalitarian empire" but as "eternal Russia" (cf. the establishment of diplomatic relations between the "Free France" and the leadership of the USSR in 1941-1942, the visit of 1944, pursuing one goal - to exclude the usurpation of power in post-war France by the Americans). De Gaulle's personal dislike of communism faded into the background for the sake of the country's national interests.

In 1964, the two countries conclude a trade agreement, then an agreement on scientific and technical cooperation. In 1966, at the invitation of the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR N.V. Podgorny, de Gaulle paid an official visit to the USSR (June 20 - July 1, 1966). The President visited, in addition to the capital, Leningrad, Kyiv, Volgograd and Novosibirsk, where he visited the newly created Siberian Scientific Center - the Novosibirsk Academgorodok. The political successes of the visit included the conclusion of an agreement on the expansion of political, economic and cultural ties. Both sides condemned American interference in the internal affairs of Vietnam, founded a special political Franco-Russian commission. An agreement was even signed to create a direct line of communication between the Kremlin and the Elysee Palace.

De Gaulle's seven-year presidential term expired at the end of 1965. According to the Constitution of the 5th Republic, new elections were to be held by an enlarged electoral college. But the president, who was about to run for a second term, insisted on the popular election of the head of state, and the corresponding amendments were adopted at a referendum on October 28, 1962, for which de Gaulle had to use his powers and dissolve the National Assembly.

The 1965 elections were the second direct elections for a French president: the first took place more than a century ago, in 1848, and was won by Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, the future Napoleon III. There was no victory in the first round (December 5, 1965), which the general counted on so much. Second place, with 31%, came from the broad-bloc opposition socialist François Mitterrand, who consistently criticized the Fifth Republic as a "permanent coup d'état." Although in the second round on December 19, 1965, de Gaulle prevailed over Mitterrand (54% versus 45%), these elections were the first alarm signal.

The government monopoly on television and radio was unpopular (only print media were free). An important reason for the loss of confidence in de Gaulle was his socio-economic policy. The growing influence of domestic monopolies, the agrarian reform, which was expressed in the liquidation of a large number of peasant farms, and finally, the arms race led to the fact that the standard of living in the country not only did not rise, but in many respects became lower (the government called for self-restraint since 1963). Finally, the personality of de Gaulle himself gradually caused more and more irritation - he begins to seem to many, especially young people, an inadequately authoritarian and outdated politician. The May events in France in 1968 lead to the fall of de Gaulle's administration.

On May 2, 1968, in the Latin Quarter - the Parisian area where many institutes, faculties of the University of Paris, student hostels are located - a student rebellion breaks out. Students demand the opening of a sociology department in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre, which was closed after similar riots caused by old, "mechanical" methods of education and a number of domestic conflicts with the administration. Cars are set on fire. Barricades are erected around the Sorbonne. Police squads are urgently called in, in the fight against which several hundred students are injured. To the demands of the rebels is added the release of their arrested colleagues and the withdrawal of the police from the quarters. The government does not dare to satisfy these demands. Trade unions announce a daily strike. De Gaulle's position is tough: there can be no negotiations with the rebels. Prime Minister Georges Pompidou proposes to open the Sorbonne and meet the demands of the students. But the moment has already been lost.

On May 13, the unions come out in a grand demonstration that took place all over Paris. Ten years have passed since the day when, in the wake of the Algerian revolt, de Gaulle announced his readiness to take power. Now slogans are flying over the columns of demonstrators: "De Gaulle - to the archive!", "Farewell, de Gaulle!", "05/13/58-05/13/68 - it's time to leave, Charles!" Anarchist students fill the Sorbonne.

The strike not only does not stop, but develops into an indefinite one. 10 million people are on strike across the country. The country's economy is paralyzed. Everyone has already forgotten about the students who started it all. The workers are demanding a 40-hour week and an increase in the minimum wage to 1,000 francs. On May 24, the president speaks on television. He says that “the country is on the brink of civil war” and that the president should be given, through a referendum, broad powers for “renewal” (fr. rennouveau), and the latter concept was not specified. De Gaulle had no self-confidence. May 29, Pompidou holds a meeting of his cabinet. De Gaulle is expected at the meeting, but the shocked prime minister learns that the president, having taken the archives from the Elysee Palace, departed for Colombey. In the evening, the ministers learn that the helicopter with the general in Colombey has not landed. The President went to the occupation troops of France in the Federal Republic of Germany, in Baden-Baden, and almost immediately returned to Paris. The absurdity of the situation is at least indicated by the fact that Pompidou was forced to look for a boss with the help of air defense.

May 30, de Gaulle in the Elysee Palace reads another radio speech. He declares that he will not leave his post, dissolves the National Assembly and calls early elections. For the last time in his life, de Gaulle uses a chance with a firm hand to put an end to the "mutiny". Elections to the parliament are considered by him as putting his confidence to vote. The elections of June 23-30, 1968 brought the Gaullists (UNR, "Union for the Republic") 73.8% of the seats in the National Assembly. This meant that for the first time one party won an absolute majority in the lower house, and the overwhelming majority of the French expressed their confidence in General de Gaulle.

The general's fate was sealed. A short "respite" did not bear any fruit, except for the replacement of Pompidou with Maurice Couve de Murville and the announced plans for the reorganization of the Senate - the upper house of parliament - into an economic and social body representing the interests of entrepreneurs and trade unions. In February 1969, the general put this reform to a referendum, announcing in advance that he would leave if he lost. On the eve of the referendum, de Gaulle, with all the documents, moved from Paris to Colombey and waited for the results of the vote, about which he had, perhaps, no illusions. After defeat became apparent at 10 pm on April 27, 1969, after midnight on April 28, the President telephoned Couve de Murville the following document: “I cease to exercise the office of President of the Republic. This decision takes effect today at noon.”

After his resignation, de Gaulle and his wife went to Ireland, then rested in Spain, worked in Colombey on "Memoirs of Hope" (not completed, reach 1962). He criticized the new authorities as having "completed" the greatness of France.

On November 9, 1970, at seven o'clock in the evening, Charles de Gaulle died suddenly in Colombey-les-deux-Eglises from a ruptured aorta. At the funeral on November 12 (at the village cemetery in Colombe next to her daughter Anna), according to the general’s will drawn up back in 1952, only the closest relatives and comrades in the Resistance were present.

After the resignation and death of de Gaulle, his temporary unpopularity remained in the past, he is recognized primarily as a major historical figure, a national leader, on a par with such figures as Napoleon I. More often than during his presidency, the French associate his name with activities during World War II, calling him usually "General de Gaulle", and not just by his first and last name. The rejection of the figure of de Gaulle in our time is characteristic mainly of the extreme left.

The Rally in Support of the Republic party, created by de Gaulle, after a series of reorganizations and renamings, continues to be an influential force in France. The party, now known as the Union for a Presidential Majority or, with the same acronym, the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), is represented by former President Nicolas Sarkozy, who said in his inaugural speech in 2007: "Assuming the functions of President of the Republic , I think of General de Gaulle, who twice saved the Republic, restored France's independence, and the state - its prestige. During the lifetime of the general, the name Gaullists was assigned to the supporters of this center-right course. Deviations from the principles of Gaullism (in particular, towards the restoration of relations with NATO) were characteristic of the socialist government under Francois Mitterrand (1981-1995); Sarkozy was often accused by critics of a similar "atlantization" of the course.

Reporting on de Gaulle's death on television, his successor Pompidou said: "General de Gaulle is dead, France is widowed." The Paris airport (Fr. Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle, Charles de Gaulle International Airport), the Parisian Place de la Zvezda and a number of other memorable places, as well as the nuclear aircraft carrier of the French Navy are named in his honor. Near the Champs Elysees in Paris, a monument was erected to the general. In 1990, the square in front of the Cosmos Hotel in Moscow was named after him, and in 2005, a monument to de Gaulle was erected on it in the presence of Jacques Chirac.

In 2014, a monument was erected to the general in Astana. The city also has a Charles de Gaulle street, where the French quarter is concentrated.

General de Gaulle's awards:

Grand Master of the Legion of Honor (as President of France)
Grand Cross of the Order of Merit (France)
Grand Master of the Order of Liberation (as founder of the order)
War Cross 1939-1945 (France)
Order of the Elephant (Denmark)
Order of the Seraphim (Sweden)
Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (UK)
Grand Cross decorated with the Ribbon of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
Grand Cross of the Order of Military Merit (Poland)
Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olaf (Norway)
Order of the Royal House of Chakri (Thailand)
Grand Cross of the Order of the White Rose of Finland
Grand Cross of the Order of Merit (Republic of the Congo, 01/20/1962).

The overthrow of De Gaulle is the first link in the chain of the so-called. orange revolutions

Genius lives at all times; but people

who are its bearers,

mute until extraordinary events

ignite the mass and call them not.

Denis DIDRO.
The famous French materialist philosopher Denis Diderot was, no doubt, right in asserting this. For historical science has long noticed that great talents always appear where there are social conditions conducive to their emergence and development.

The 20th century is characterized by such events. This includes the first and second world wars, which in their scale, size and significance far surpassed similar phenomena of the previous era. Only the Second World War gave the world a whole galaxy of hitherto little-known figures. The last of the world wars affected the interests of many countries of the world and one of the first was France. And although she met the end of the war on the side of the winners, it cost her great efforts not to give up and continue the fight despite the defeat recognized by the Pétain government. The courage, courage and perseverance of the French people and the skillfully organized leadership of the country by its true patriot General Charles de Gaulle, who rightfully entered world history along with such figures as Joseph Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt and
Winston Churchill.

If you ask a question about the greatest European politician of the post-war years, then many will remember de Gaulle. Charles de Gaulle: creator of the Fifth Republic
The beginning of the political path
The future politician was born in 1890 in a large Catholic family. Having received a military education, he quickly advanced in the service and by 1940 was promoted to the rank of brigadier general.

Charles de Gaulle: creator of the Fifth Republic The rapid defeat of the French army led to the fact that de Gaulle emigrated to Britain. There he founded the Free French movement, which became part of the anti-Hitler coalition. After the liberation of Paris (August 25, 1944), the general was appointed head of the Provisional Government.

Charles de Gaulle: the creator of the Fifth Republic Under the able leadership of Charles de Gaulle, France is gradually emerging from a state of decline and stagnation. But in 1946 he resigns, handing over the reins of government to new politicians. In the same year, an important event for the country took place - the Constitution of the Fourth Republic was adopted. It consolidated the parliamentary structure of France, and was one of the most democratic in the world.

Charles de Gaulle: Creator of the Fifth Republic Despite some success in the economy, the new government was unable to reach a compromise. A political crisis began and in 1947 de Gaulle decided to return to big politics with the new party "Unification of the French People".
Fifth Republic
The general sharply criticized the political structure - he believed that France should not have a parliamentary, but a presidential republic with a strong president at the head. At this time, the Algerian crisis worsened (in those years, Algeria remained under the control of France). In 1946-58. 22 governments have changed in France, and now the crisis of the political model has become obvious to everyone. Therefore, in 1958, most of the French voted for the new Constitution proposed by de Gaulle. Now the president had broad powers. In particular, he could appoint and dismiss ministers at his discretion.

Charles de Gaulle: Creator of the Fifth Republic In 1959, as a result of general elections, de Gaulle becomes president of the country. The policy pursued by him was called "Gaulism". The state actively intervened in the economy and public life. Priority industries (such as nuclear power) were given generous incentives and subsidies. The balanced policy of de Gaulle led to an increase in industrial production and brought France to a new technological level. Nuclear weapons, modern combat aircraft and nuclear submarines - all this was created during the reign of de Gaulle.

Charles de Gaulle: Creator of the Fifth Republic In foreign policy, the General wanted to see France as an independent player on the world stage. That is why he constantly appealed to patriotic feelings, pointing out that France must certainly be a great power. De Gaulle did his best to weaken his influence in Europe, the USA and England - the main ally of the Americans. At the same time, he went for rapprochement with the USSR to create a counterbalance (although de Gaulle was never a communist). It was under de Gaulle that France severed its relations with NATO. In addition to America, Charles de Gaulle criticized the EEC, not wanting it to become a supranational entity. In his opinion, this could have a negative impact on French sovereignty.

Charles de Gaulle: creator of the Fifth Republic Despite the desire to see France great, the general began the process of decolonization. In 1960, 14 French colonies in Africa gained independence. This step was very timely, as the anti-colonial struggle began to gain momentum and the defense of overseas territories would cost France too much. May events and resignation In 1965, Charles de Gaulle was re-elected - he won in the second round of elections. But his reign was relatively short-lived. The May 1968 uprising led to the resignation of the president. It was raised by students in one of the dormitories, and subsequently the riot quickly spread throughout the country. The president seemed to young people an authoritarian leader. Indeed, during his reign, the state monopolized radio and television, leaving only print media partially free. Many were also dissatisfied with the standard of living.