Charles de Gaulle and how he gained France's support and the opportunities he seized to get power which led to the Liberation.
Charles de Gaulle and how he gained France's support and the opportunities he seized to get power which led to the Liberation.
De Gaulle was born on November 22, 1890, in Lille and educated at Saint-Cyr Military
Academy. During World War I he served with distinction at Verdun, was three times wounded,
and was finally taken prisoner by the Germans. After the war he was aide-de-camp to Marshal
Henri Pétain. De Gaulle won prominence by his advocacy of a highly mechanised French
army, such as described in his books on military tactics.
His relationship with Pétain was soon to take a turn for the worst though. De Gaulle who was a
bit of a maverick discussed his military theory frequently that professional tank units were
essential, Pétain disagreed and ignored de Gaulles ideas wherever he could.
France was believed to be one of the strongest countries in Europe and in the 1930's it took a
bad fall when the left and right parties paralysed the government and couldn't keep the threats
out.
In the September of 1939 Hitler, Fuhrer of Germany invaded Poland and on the third of the
same month England and France declared war on Germany.
On May 10th 1940 the Germans attacked France. The French High command had been
certain that the Germans would attack along the French - German border and they were
prepared with their underground forts known as the Maignot Line. Unfortunately the Germans
continued their attack on the 12th May at Sedan where the Line ended, it proved to be a
expensive and useless plan.
De Gaulle's tanks blocked the German advance for a few days but the allies couldn't hold. De
Gaulle attained the rank of brigadier general for his efforts.
During the next few weeks a new government was formed and by June 14th the Germans had
entered Paris. Within 5 weeks France suffered the worst defeat ever and Pétain was made
Prime Minister.
A large percentage of the French population initially accepted the defeat of 1940 and the
Pétain government, but a few people declared from the beginning that a victory for Germany
would mean the imposition of a morally and politically unacceptable regime. The most famous
of these so called resisters was a junior member of Reynaud's last wartime government,
Charles de Gaulle. As Pétain prepared to ask for an armistice on June 17th, 1940, De Gaulle
flew from Bordeaux to London. The following day the BBC broadcast his speech broadcast his
speech, urging his fellow citizens to recognise that "France had lost a battle, but she has not
lost the war" and to continue in the struggle of war. Due to the chaotic conditions in France
almost no one heard his speech. Pétain heard of his attempts to overthrow the Vichy
government and an attempt to get resistance and he was so disgusted in him that he stripped
him of rank and sentenced him to death.
Whilst Petain and his team of collaborators finalised details of the armistice and the ...
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speech, urging his fellow citizens to recognise that "France had lost a battle, but she has not
lost the war" and to continue in the struggle of war. Due to the chaotic conditions in France
almost no one heard his speech. Pétain heard of his attempts to overthrow the Vichy
government and an attempt to get resistance and he was so disgusted in him that he stripped
him of rank and sentenced him to death.
Whilst Petain and his team of collaborators finalised details of the armistice and the occupation
of France, de Gaulle was already planning to form an army. He asked for help from the French
and he named it the "Free French Forces" and he asked his lawyer to formulate the free status
of the French.
De Gaulle's first major achievement was to obtain British recognition as the official
representative of French interest during the war. This he owed to Winston Churchill, who had
practically ignored Petains violation of France's pre-war pledge not to make separate peace
with Germany.
Of all the French exiles destined for the Free French Forces, only de Gaulle had been a
member of the French Government.
On the 28th June 1940, the British government realised the power that de Gaulle had and also
that the de Gaulle-Churchill relationship was to go through many crises in the coming years,
but Winston Churchill quickly recognised a kindred spirit in the domineering French general,
and de Gaulle never forgot what his movement owed to Churchill's support. Churchill supplied
the Free French Forces with money, weapons and training and all through the stresses and
strains de Gaulle always remained in control and reserved.
In the following weeks Churchill made a decision that nearly destroyed the Free French. At
Mehs el Kebir, on the coast of Africa, there was a French fleet under Vichy control, and
Churchill was worried that the Germans may attack and use the fleet against the British. On
the 3rd July, Britain produced an ultimatum to Darlan, the French Admiral. He could either sail
his ships to the United Kingdom where that could join the French forces and help with the fight
against Germany, or he could sink the ships to prevent the German's capturing them. Darlan
promised that the fleet would not fall into German hands. However he could not accept the
choices and later the British bombed the port when Darlan did not respond. 1300 French
soldiers were killed and France was outraged.
After this fiasco De Gaulle wondered if he could continue relations with Britain.
By this time the Free French were becoming more dependant and De Gaulle looked to Africa
and appealed to its colonial leaders. African soldiers were to join the Free French.
De Gaulle moved his headquarters from London to Dakar in Senegal. This is where his first
military action took place.
Meanwhile the Vichy government was becoming stronger and it was thought that some of the
ministers were sympathetic to the NAZIS. The collaboration between Pétain and Hitler
continued and Pétain's policies continued to exceed demands i.e. when he started to deport
Jews to German Concentration Camps in 1940.
Unfortunately most French people excepted Vichy's policies without question and resistance
tactics to the Germans gained little support.
De Gaulle carried out radio broadcasts to try and make the French resist, and he is
remembered for saying:
"All who are collaborating should be stripped of authority -
they are murderers".
By May 1941 Germany and Britain were struggling for British control of Africa and the Middle
East. The Free French Forces launched an attack against Vichy in Syria and the campaign
was a success.
De Gaulle had to defend French interests against British allies, which led to the question,who
would control Syria?
The quarrel over Syria ended the friendship between de Gaulle and Churchill.
At the time of the Syrian crisis Churchill was meeting Roosevelt, and episodes of Syria had led
to the dislike of de Gaulle by Roosevelt. He called him "unreliable, uncooperative, disloyal and
a dangerous threat".
On December 7th 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour and America entered World
War II. The power centre almost immediately moved from London to Washington.
De Gaulle found it necessary to assert French interests, so he decided that would be a good
idea to try and take over Saint Pierre and Micolan off the coast of Canada which were French
colonies uder Vichy control.
The USA warned him to stay out and De Gaulle afferent to free French sovereignty ordered the
Free French Navy to seize the islands. The local population quickly rallied to the Free French
and the USA were furious.
Roosevelt and Churchill met again in Washington and were determined to teach de Gaulle a
lesson.
By January 1942 the German units were pushing the British out in North Africa. The British
asked the Free French to hold the front at Bira Kim. This was the first time that the Free
French fought against Germany alone, and they were determined to prove themselves. Even
though they were outnumbered they held for a week and eventually the French were ordered
to withdraw, but they some how managed to breakthrough the German line and as a result the
Free French became very popular after they almost gained a victory.
Roosevelt still mistrusted de Gaulle and as a result the allies didn't inform de Gaulle of the first
major offensive in war against the French colonies in north Africa.
On November 8th 1942 the allied forces prepared to attack France, when de Gaulle was
informed he was livid he responded with:
"I hope Vichy throws them in the sea- you can't just break into France".
The USA and Britain fort their way into Algiers and captured the head of Vichy's armed forces,
Admiral Francois Darlan. Eisenhower persuaded him to order his forces to stop fighting and in
exchange he made him Commissioner of the French in North Africa. Roosevelt called the use
of Darlan 'a temporary expedient'.
By this move it looked like the USA was endorsing Vichy policies and de Gaulle's supporters
were outraged.
On Christmas Eve, Darlan was assassinated and the USA recommended that Henri Giraud
was a replacement.
Winston Churchill persuaded Roosevelt that Charles de Gaulle could no longer be ignored and
in the January of 1943 they met in Casa Blanca, this was when de Gaulle met Roosevelt for
the first time. Roosevelt asked de Gaulle to work in conjunction with Henri Giraud and he
refused as he did not want to accept allied arrangement.
De Gaulle insisted that the leadership of the French only concerned the French. Meanwhile de
Gaulle moved his headquarters from London to Algiers. This was the first time that his
headquarters were on French soil.
In a matter of months Giraud pushed de Gaulle out to be the uncontested head of Government.
With this happening de Gaulle decided to resume the Free French headquarters in France.
In France, de Gaulle's popularity grew.
In 1942 Germany invaded France's southern zone and the Vichy regime became increasingly
unpopular. Pierre Laval was Prime Minister and he took orders from Hitler to send labour to
Germany. By 1943 this was known as the Compulsory Work Service ( otherwise known as the
STO).
A resistance group was formed which was made up with people from all different backgrounds.
In the spring they joined de Gaulle in his campaigns.
The German's aided by the fascist government of Vichy worked to crush the Resistance, and
000's of people were injured or killed. The more Vichy collaborated with Germany, the more
France supported de Gaulle.
On June 6th of 1944 the allied forces invaded France. De Gaulle was only informed of this
hours earlier as he refused to broadcast a text sent by the Americans. Finally he was allowed
to address the French people in his own words.
The Allies pushed the Germans to Normandy.
On June 4th de Gaulle was allowed by the allies to land in Normandy. It had been 4 years
since he had left alone and cast as a rebel. For the French he was their only symbol of hope.
The USA acknowledged de Gaulle and on his return he persuaded the allies to let French
troops lead the fight to liberate Paris.
As the allied and French troops fought their way to the capital, the resistance attacked the
German troops in the city.
On the August 25th the French troops entered Paris and de Gaulle made an emotional speech
which moved the French.
Unfortunately the Liberation success was short lived and France was ravaged by recrimination.
Those people who had collaborated with the Nazis were humiliated and beaten and 1000's
were executed without trial.
The worst violence was seen when de Gaulle set up his government in Paris. Pétain was put
on trial and took the blame for leading the collaboration and was sentenced to death but de
Gaulle changed it to life imprisonment. Laval was executed.
The war had left France in ruins and food was in desperate supply. De Gaulle toured the
provinces to try and unite the country, fearing that it would be torn apart again by party politics.
People accepted the need for discipline and de Gaulle's leadership for France although
quarrels with allies continued.
In February 1945 Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin met, but de Gaulle was not invited. He took
this an insult.
In the next month Political parties in France demanded that their voices be heard. De Gaulle
was a symbol of unity and refused to read a political faction, but without a party he found he
had no real power.
In January 1946 he resigned, with his mission almost complete, but he believed that the
French would call him back on his own terms.
2 years later he returned to power, again during the crisis of war.
