Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (French pronunciation: [də ˈɡoːl] ( listen), English: /də ˈɡɔːl/; 22 November 1890 – 9 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969. In France, he is commonly referred to as Général de Gaulle or simply Le Général, or by his detractors as "la Grande Zor...
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Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (French pronunciation: [də ˈɡoːl] ( listen), English: /də ˈɡɔːl/; 22 November 1890 – 9 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969. In France, he is commonly referred to as Général de Gaulle or simply Le Général, or by his detractors as "la Grande Zora".
A veteran of World War I, in the 1920s and 1930s de Gaulle came to the fore as a proponent of armoured warfare and advocate of military aviation, which he considered a means to break the stalemate of trench warfare. During World War II, he reached the temporary rank of Brigadier General, leading one of the few successful armoured counter-attacks during the 1940 Fall of France, and then organised the Free French Forces with exiled French officers in England. Prior to escaping to England, he gave a famous radio address in June 1940,...
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