The greatest man in French history, who made the surrendered France a victorious power, was Charles de Gaulle. Today, let's take a look at the legendary life of De Gaulle, and interested friends can like and follow.
In October 1943, the United Nations slowly began to form, and at first only the four countries of China, the United States, britain, and the Soviet Union signed a declaration on safeguarding international peace, and the fewer were France.
One reason why France was excluded from the United States was that it almost withdrew from the ranks of great powers after it surrendered to Germany in 1940, but most importantly because France was relatively in decline at the time, and it could not give the United States a substantial role in containing the Soviet Union.
De Gaulle in his youth
But in the end, France joined the Five Permanents, all because of the emergence of a key figure in France who could change the fate of France, who used shrewd tactics to successfully get the Soviet Union and Britain to support France before the decisive meeting, and also obtained the acquiescence of China, this person, charles de Gaulle.
De Gaulle was born on 22 November 1890 into a learned family in France, where his father was a former soldier and became a teacher after retiring from the army.
His father, a soldier, often showed a love for the country, and de Gaulle was infected by this atmosphere from an early age, so he had great ambitions for his motherland, and he wanted to contribute to the construction of the motherland like his father.
In 1909, de Gaulle attended the French Military Academy, where he was a bit off-putting, with dismal results in his horsemanship, fencing and shooting courses, but de Gaulle was able to master the military maps, fortifications and history.
Photo of de Gaulle's military service
At the end of the training, they could choose any type of soldier, at that time the cavalry was the most popular, because of the use of artillery, the least number of stormtroopers on the battlefield was no longer cavalry, so the cavalry was still safer than the others.
But de Gaulle chose the infantry, which was the most dangerous class of soldiers, and de Gaulle felt that the infantry could be most directly baptized by the fire of war, and the military feeling was the strongest.
And by this time the war was not far away, and he might have sensed it, so he had been making adequate preparations. De Gaulle was then assigned to an infantry regiment, where Pétain was the regimental commander, and Pétain and de Gaulle were entangled for half a lifetime.
Pétain in May 1940
They feel sorry for each other, but they will also disagree militarily. For example, Pétain felt that on the battlefield, it should be mainly suppressed by firepower, and all enemies should be blocked by large caliber artillery fire.
De Gaulle, on the other hand, felt that victory on the battlefield was mainly due to the mobility of the warriors, and that the use of flexible positions to find the most ideal state of attack was theoretically very different, and there was nothing wrong with a senior officer and a young and talented student officer.
Although he argued for most of the time, it slowly increased the relationship between the two of them, and Pétain was often praised by de Gaulle as a great man.
General de Gaulle in writing
On June 28, 1914, the war broke out, de Gaulle and they went to the front, during the First World War, the French soldiers were particularly brave and fearless, there were countless French soldiers and German soldiers fiercely fought, de Gaulle was unfortunately wounded.
He was stabbed in the leg by the enemy and fell on the bright red battlefield, and he thought his life was over before he fell unconscious, but when he opened his eyes, he found himself in a German prisoner of war camp.
Although the captives sounded humiliating, de Gaulle was able to claim a life. In the camp, de Gaulle was the most restless, calling on his prisoners to gather and make trouble, and also insulting the warden in German.
Marshall and Charles de Gaulle
De Gaulle also tried to dig tunnels to escape from prison, but the Germans discovered him because of the loud noise, and he was sent to another more strictly managed place to guard.
In 1916 he met two future figures in prison, one was the future Marshal of the Soviet Army, Tukhachevsky, who was still a humble little man at this time, and the other was Colonel Cartroux of France, who played a key role in one of de Gaulle's future activities.
Although de Gaulle and Tukhachevsky had not known each other before, they found that there was a common topic between them during the meal, and he discussed the mobility of soldiers for a long time.
Marshal Tukhachevsky of the USSR
Tanks had only just appeared during the First World War, and were not particularly practical, while both de Gaulle and Tukhachevsky could think in the long run, both of them felt that tanks would be the most indispensable and decisive weapon on the battlefields of the future, and they had a strong friendship because of the long discussion of each other's ideas.
De Gaulle even wrote a book for Tukhachevsky 40 years later, recalling the trivial affairs of the two of them in a prisoner-of-war prison. When the war ended in 1918 and de Gaulle lived in a prisoner-of-war camp for nearly three years, he was finally released.
After studying in prison, he was very familiar with the pattern of the war and had a deeper understanding of Germany. Although Germany surrendered, de Gaulle believed that the Germans were still eager for war, and he felt that Germany would definitely start the war again, and it would become more powerful than before.
De Gaulle and Churchill and others
In order to prepare enough for the next war, de Gaulle began to actively advocate the large-scale use of tanks and armored vehicles in France. In 1921, de Gaulle proposed to the French rulers that the use of tanks should not be decentralized.
Then de Gaulle wrote a number of military books on mobility in warfare, the contents of which he realized and practiced in the prisons of the enemy army and in the front line, and at that time there was no concept of an armored division for mobile combat in the world.
De Gaulle, on the other hand, relied on his inner thoughts and proposed that various units should be combined into a mixed armored unit and take the high mobile battle line. This kind of forward-thinking of his is no problem for the present.
Charles de Gaulle broadcast on the BBC
Unfortunately, the rulers of France did not agree with de Gaulle's ideas at the time. And Pétain was the one who was most opposed, and Pétain was already the Minister of the Army at this moment, and he still insisted on the idea of using large-caliber artillery.
He felt that strong firepower and a strong battle path could constitute an indestructible defense system, because the German army was defeated in this way in World War I.
Although de Gaulle's theories were completely rejected by France, his books were paid attention to by another country, which happened to be Germany, and Hitler attached great importance to de Gaulle, and he studied carefully every day, trying to build a mobile unit that de Gaulle idealized.
General de Gaulle returns to Paris
In 1939, the Germans succeeded in defeating Poland with de Gaulle's ideal armored forces, and then they invaded France with impunity, and it was only at this moment of crisis that the French rulers realized the importance of de Gaulle's previous theory.
So they immediately appointed de Gaulle as the leader of the panzer division, and asked him to lead the patchwork of armored troops to block the German soldiers.
Although de Gaulle's troops had won many battles and repelled all the Germans they encountered, de Gaulle knew very well that some of the victories would not change the outcome of the French defeat.
De Gaulle returned to Paris after the liberation of France
Indeed, when de Gaulle returned home from the battlefield, the French top brass was ready to surrender. The French rulers led by Pétain had completely lost their fighting spirit at this time, and they only wanted the war to end quickly.
But de Gaulle was unwilling to give up, and he tried to persuade the rulers that even if the territory of France had been captured, they still had French colonies in Africa that they could continue to defend against the enemy, and as long as the French people were still there, they could snatch back everything they had lost, but the only thing that the high-level response to him was a sneer, and de Gaulle was kicked out.
In June 1940, de Gaulle fled from France to London, intending to fight for France with his own strength. On 18 June, de Gaulle obtained the consent of the British rulers.
He made a call for resistance on The British Radio, asking French soldiers, engineers, and workers, who were or were coming to England, to join in the fight against France.
De Gaulle with his daughter Anna
De Gaulle's voice reached the world over and over again on the radio, and the rulers of France took it very seriously. In August 1940, the French rulers who surrendered to Germany gave up on de Gaulle.
De Gaulle's bitter insistence led to the recognition of many aspiring French people, and almost every day since he had broadcast his speeches, people fled from France to England to join de Gaulle.
De Gaulle's army soon exceeded seven thousand men, which he called the "Army of Free France", which for the next few years fought with all their might against the Germans, who, like all anti-fascist soldiers, aimed to repel the Germans.
At the same time, de Gaulle regained all the French colonies at the equator of Africa, and the other colonies in Africa soon joined de Gaulle's army, at which point it was only a matter of time before the free French army was liberated.
General de Gaulle became the first President of the French Fifth Republic
But unexpectedly, it was not the Germans but the French themselves who prevented de Gaulle's liberation. In September 1940, de Gaulle intended to seize control of Dakar, French West Africa, controlled by Vichy France, in good times.
But as de Gaulle's troops fought fiercely with the dakar soldiers, Vichy began a fierce attack on them, and de Gaulle could only order a retreat, already disappointed in the Vichy rulers who had stolen their lives under the Germans.
After the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, de Gaulle persuaded Eisenhower to help him liberate Paris. On 26 August, de Gaulle returned triumphantly, greeted by millions of French people on the streets of Paris.
On 9 September, the French Fifth Republic was established, and de Gaulle came to power with a series of national policies, one of which was to establish diplomatic relations with China.
Eisenhower during World War II
He once told his nephew that in the next century, China might become the most powerful country in the world, and he once again had the vision to foresee the future.
On January 27, 1964, China and France formally established diplomatic relations, after which de Gaulle wanted to see China in person, but unfortunately, on November 9, 1970, de Gaulle passed away.
Visiting China became a regret in his life, he specifically asked not to be buried before his death, and his body was finally buried next to his daughter's cemetery accompanied by old comrades-in-arms, in order to commemorate this warrior, our comrade Rundong ordered the flag to be lowered to half-mast to mourn.
Although he has never been to China, he is the only Western leader to have the Flag lowered to half-mast in mourning. What do you think about this? You can leave a message in the comment area, if you like it, you can pay attention to it a little, forward it, and the next issue of the content will be more exciting.