Waubonsee Community College

Charles DeGaulle, a profile, produced by Reuters International

eng

videorecording

For College; Adult audiences

Charles DeGaulle

electronic resource

747796466

produced by Reuters International

25

a profile

In June 1940, a junior general in the French army escaped to London determined to save France after its surrender to the Germans. Charles DeGaulle became the leader of the Free French, and the embodiment of their hope for the future. Arrogant and abrasive, through sheer force of will, he asserted France s position with the Allied powers. When the Allies were ready to recapture Paris, Eisenhower held back his troops to allow DeGaulle to liberate Paris. After the war, DeGaulle was the outstanding figure in France and the natural choice to lead the new government. But the infighting among the political parties was distasteful to him and he retired from public life in 1947. In 1958, when France was torn apart by the Algerian independence movement, DeGaulle emerged from seclusion to form the Fifth Republic. Though initially he hoped to retain Algeria as part of France, in the end he realized it must gain its independence. By 1968 a new post war generation had come of age and rebelled against his authoritarianism. He resigned in 1969 and died the following year. Archival films together with commentary by journalists and colleagues bring the career of this remarkable leader alive

general