Quick facts for kids
Charles de Gaulle
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| 18th President of the French Republic | |
| In office January 8, 1959 – April 28, 1969 |
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| Preceded by | René Coty |
| Succeeded by | Georges Pompidou |
| 149th Prime Minister of France | |
| In office 1 June 1958 – 8 January 1959 |
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| Preceded by | Pierre Pflimlin |
| Succeeded by | Michel Debré |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 22 November 1890 Lille, France |
| Died | 9 November 1970 (aged 79) Colombey-les-deux-Églises, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Political party | UDR |
| Spouse(s) | Yvonne de Gaulle |
| Children | Philippe Élisabeth Anne |
General Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle, better known as Charles de Gaulle (22 November 1890 - 9 November 1970), was a French military and political leader. He was president of France from 1959 to 1969, and was a founding member and leader of the French Resistance during World War II.
His reputation as the strongest and greatest of French leaders since Napoleon continues into the 21st century.
Contents
Military Career
Charles fought in both World War I and World War II. He began his military career after he graduated from Ecole Militaire de Saint-Cyr (famous French military college). In 1912, he joined the army's infantry. He was captured during the Battle of Verdun during World War I and was sent home after the armistice. Charles remained in the military after the war ended and supported new battle ideas. These ideas included mechanized troops (troops that travel in armored machines like tanks) and specialized armored divisions of the army.
After World War II began, de Gaulle formed and led the Free French Forces movement. He did this because he did not think that France should surrender to Germany, part of the Axis forces. Charles de Gaulle thought that France should keep fighting. As the French government surrendered to Germany, de Gaulle fled to Britain. He set up his own French government there and called it Free France. He gained support and gathered French troops that would eventually help liberate, or free, France from Germany's power.
Political Career
After the war de Gaulle retired as President of the temporary government in 1946. In 1958 he came out of retirement and was elected President of France - a position to which he was reelected in 1965 and held until his resignation in 1969.
While de Gaulle was president, France recovered from the war and had great economic success.
He also granted independence to Algeria and the African colonies.
Charles wanted France to have its own nuclear weapons like the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union did. While he was President, France did become one of the four major countries that had their own nuclear weapons.
Later Life
De Gaulle resigned from his presidency in April of 1969 after some of his ideas and proposals were not supported by many people in France. He returned home to his estate in Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, where he passed away just two weeks before his 80th birthday.
Key Facts about Charles de Gaulle
- Charles de Gaulle was a general and the President of France.
- Charles served in both World Wars.
- He was captured in World War I.
- Charles did not agree with the leaders of France, who were surrendering to Germany, so he left France. He went to Great Britain where he formed the Free French Forces.
- Charles de Gaulle helped free France from Germany's power.
- De Gaulle served as temporary President after the war until 1946.
- He was elected President in 1958.
- De Gaulle resigned from presidency in April of 1969 and died in his home when he was almost 80.
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Images for kids
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De Gaulle's birth house in Lille, now a national museum
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A plaque in Dinant commemorating the place where Charles de Gaulle, then an infantry lieutenant, was wounded in 1914
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Charles de Gaulle (far right) with Andrew McNaughton, Władysław Sikorski, and Winston Churchill
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"To all Frenchmen": de Gaulle exhorting the French to resist the German occupation
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De Gaulle speech plaque in Arc de Triomphe
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Rival French leaders Henri Giraud (left) and Charles de Gaulle sit down after shaking hands in presence of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill (Casablanca Conference, 14 January 1943) – a public display of unity, but the handshake was only for show
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General de Gaulle and Catroux, North Africa
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Winston Churchill and General de Gaulle at Marrakesh, January 1944
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General de Gaulle delivering a speech in liberated Cherbourg from the hôtel de ville (town hall)
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General de Gaulle and his entourage stroll down the Champs Élysées following the liberation of Paris in August 1944
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The 2e DB passes through the Arc de Triomphe. Signs read "Long live de Gaulle" and "De Gaulle to power".
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General de Gaulle with General Leclerc and other French officers at Montparnasse railway station in Paris, 25 August 1944
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The statement of Charles de Gaulle in reference to World War II
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Charles de Gaulle's motorcade passes through Isles-sur-Suippe (Marne), the president salutes the crowd from his famous Citroën DS
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Iranian Empress Farah Pahlavi meeting with Charles de Gaulle in France, 1961
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The Redoutable, the first French nuclear missile submarine.
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De Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer in 1961
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Charles de Gaulle and Argentine president Arturo Frondizi.
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De Gaulle and Argentine president Arturo Illia in 1964
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De Gaulle and Lyndon B. Johnson meeting at Konrad Adenauer's funeral in 1967, with President of West Germany Heinrich Lübke (center)
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Caricature of Charles de Gaulle during the May 1968 crisis (see Chienlit)
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US president Richard Nixon visiting president Charles de Gaulle one month before de Gaulle's retirement
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De Gaulle's home, La Boisserie, in Colombey-les-Deux-Églises
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Grave of Charles de Gaulle at Colombey-les-Deux-Églises
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Charles de Gaulle. Portrait by Donald Sheridan
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The plaque commemorating the headquarters of General de Gaulle at 4 Carlton Gardens in London during World War II
