In the modern history of France, there are two historical figures that can be said to be highly respected by future generations, one of which is napoleon, the famous French god of war. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, he almost single-handedly led France, which had just experienced the collapse of the revolution, to lay down half of the European continent at the time of peril, so that the name of France shone in the long river of modern history.
The second most famous Frenchman was De Gaulle, the general who organized free France against the Nazis during World War II. Although charles de Gaulle did not have the aura of Napoleon's conquest of the world, he was one of the indispensable founders of modern France. In a 2005 vote in France, he defeated Napoleon and became recognized by the French as the greatest hero.
It's de Gaulle's birthday, so let's tell us a little bit about de Gaulle's life!
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="01" > military academy asparagus</h1>
Charles de Gaulle was born in 1890 to a Catholic family in the northern French city of Lille. His family, a local scholar with a long history, had been deeply involved in the field of science and culture since the time of Napoleon, and de Gaulle's father, de Gaulle the Elder, was a patriotic teacher of history and a loyal royalist.
However, twenty years before de Gaulle was born, the iron hooves of neighboring Prussia stepped into the land of France, and France was defeated in this battle, the emperor was captured, and the monarchy that the French had once proud of no longer existed and became a republic.
The defeat in the Franco-Prussian War also affected the national confidence of many French people, including de Gaulle the Elder, and after de Gaulle's birth, his father often instilled in him patriotic feelings as a Frenchman and pride in French history.
Under the guidance of his father, de Gaulle developed an interest in current politics and history from an early age, and was determined to serve the country in the military. In 1909, de Gaulle was admitted to the military academy, and during his studies at the military academy, de Gaulle was nicknamed the big asparagus because he resembled the size of an octopus's nose. Three years later, the "Great Asparagus" graduated from the military academy, and then joined the infantry regiment under the command of Colonel Pétain, and then participated in the Bloody Battle of Verdun, known as the Meat Grinder, during which he was wounded many times and was even captured by the Germans.
But even so, de Gaulle did not give up any opportunity to study, and during the period of captivity, de Gaulle had to rely on the German newspaper distributed in prison to teach himself German, while observing the tactics used by the Germans, so he had to endure two years of squat until the end of the war, and then he was released and returned with the surrender of Germany.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="02" > France, defeated by fifteen francs</h1>
In these days of being captured by the Germans, de Gaulle not only taught himself German, but also made him very rewarding, he secretly observed the Tactics of the Germans and compiled a set of strategic ideas. Among them, de Gaulle, with his unique vision, saw the tank, which was a very novel weapon at that time, and believed that this steel beast equipped with powerful firepower and no fear of trenches would inevitably occupy a place in future wars.
In 1934, he wrote a book, "The Army of the Future", to promote his strategic ideas and advocate that France should form its own mechanized units to cope with future wars.
However, de Gaulle at that time was only an unknown petty officer, and the words spoken were not heeded at all, and even Pétain, who had a good relationship with him, was not optimistic about his whimsical ideas. Many believe that instead of studying that kind of thing, it would be better to invest money in the Maginot Line on the German-French border and fight a defensive war.
The passive offensive and admiration for authority in the French military eventually made de Gaulle's new book only enjoy a price of fifteen francs, however, ironically, de Gaulle's book was not popular in France, but it was unexpected that it attracted the attention of the German military in neighboring countries, and the famous German general Guderian was even more precious to this book.
He combined de Gaulle's ideas with his own theories into a new tactic. Then there is the historical ending that everyone knows: in 1940, the Outbreak of the Second World War, the vengeful German army swept through most of France with invincible mechanized troops, and a month later, Paris was captured, and the Gallic rooster, which had once dominated the European continent, fell to the ground and was forced to surrender to the German army...
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="03" > long live France</h1>
Watching the enemy beat his own homeland to the ground with his own theory, de Gaulle's psychological shadow area did not know how big it should be. A few days before France surrendered, de Gaulle followed the recalled British ambassador as he absconded to London. Later, what made de Gaulle even more sad was that his regimental commander Pétain, who had begun to save the country at this time, not only became the leader of the Nazi puppet regime, but also sentenced de Gaulle to death.
De Gaulle received the purest patriotic education from an early age, and he really could not accept Pétain's act of cooperating with the enemy, and in order to show his spirit of indomitable death, after absconding to England, de Gaulle immediately published a "Letter to the French People" to establish a separate free French government to compete with the Nazi-controlled Vichy government, declaring:
France was already absent from a battle. But France will not be absent from this war!
The flames of French resistance cannot be extinguished, and they will never be extinguished! Since then, the former students and teachers have broken up, and although de Gaulle was only a brigadier general at this time, under his courageous call, the French African colonies responded and joined the Free France, and de Gaulle's government, with the expansion of the war, from the beginning only Britain recognized, was recognized by the rest of the Allied countries.
During the war, the Free French, despite their weak strength, spared no effort to participate in many allied wars in the Near East, Africa, and the Balkans, and in 1944, they reverted to the capital Paris and accepted the surrender of the German troops stationed in Paris.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="04" > independent de Gaulleism</h1>
With the fall of Nazi Germany, de Gaulle's prestige had reached the pinnacle of his life, and he was warmly welcomed by people throughout France, known as the patron saint of France.
After the war, de Gaulle organized a referendum to proclaim the french Fourth Republic, and he himself was elected as the first Prime Minister of the Republic. However, the prime minister's seat had not yet sat for a few years, and in 1946, de Gaulle chose to retire because of his disagreement with parliament.
In the face of this disagreement with the political circles, he did not intend to continue with the fame and power he had accumulated in the war, but chose not to love the stack and go home directly. De Gaulle actually preferred the pleasant life of writing memoirs at the farm to the chaotic political world.
Later, because of the outbreak of war in the French colony of Algeria in 1958, the French government once again invited de Gaulle to come out of the mountains, and after de Gaulle came out of the mountains this time, he re-established a Fifth Republic as president.
During his presidency, de Gaulle not only worked to mediate the serious differences between the left and the right in the government, but also formulated his own ideal policy of governing the country.
In addition to supporting France to become a nuclear-armed country, but also advocating that the European continent should be united, really powerful, the establishment of a European community centered on France, and a diplomatic route of independence and independence from the United States, these ideas put forward by de Gaulle at that time were collectively called de Gaulleism by posterity.
Even fifty years after de Gaulle's death, we can still find a shadow in the political situation in Europe. The European Union, today's second-largest economy, is actually an example that fits well with de Gaulleism.
Since de Gaulle's death, French politics has actually regarded de Gaulleism as a golden rule for a long time, and it has only changed slightly in recent years, but I wonder if France and the European Union today are the same as de Gaulle originally imagined.
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