de Gaulle, Charles (1890-1970)

Charles de Gaulle

Charles de Gaulle

French general and statesman and one of the dominant French political figures of the 20th century. After the occupation of France by the Nazis in 1940, de Gaulle, then a Brigadier General, escaped to London and founded the patriotic movement called “Free France” (after 1942, “Fighting France”), which joined the anti-Hitler coalition. In 1943, he headed the French Committee for National Liberation that was organized in Algiers. After the liberation of Paris in August 1944, de Gaulle returned to the French capital and received a hero’s welcome. From 1944 until January 1946, he was the head of the French Provisional Government.
De Gaulle was the founder and the first President of the Fifth Republic. In 1958, de Gaulle became the Prime Minister of France until he retired in 1969. 1

  1. K.A. Zalesski , Kto byl kto vo Vtoroj mirovoj vojne. Sojuzniki SSSR. Noscow: AST, 2004. (K.A. Zalessky, Who Was Who in the Second World War. Allies of the USSR. Moscow, 2004.)