He was a vocal critique of the maginot line - a military boondoggle created to re-win WWI - and useless for fighting WWII. His early warnings against its construction earned respect when the line was proved useless against blitzkrieg. How useless? The gun turrets did not swivel. Once punched through and bypassed, the line could not defend its rear. That useless.
He refused to accept the armistice, refused his new appointment to the vichy government and fled to England - a mere colonel at the time, but he was the highest ranking frenchman the allies had, and they made the most of it. .He was the legitimate french military representative and he was accorded the dignity of that office by the allies. He was in charge of the resistance, among other things. There were some "Free French" under his command, as well. He was sentenced to death as a traitor to the vichy government that he never claimed citizenship of. He rewrote France's Constitution and became the Fifth Republic's first elected leader.
He came into France on a white horse at war's end and was elected president - and here's where it gets interesting. He dug in his feet and got FRANCE - a nation that had been conquered and had literally gone out of existence - one of only five permanent seats on the UN Security Counsel.
He gave his life to France - so much so that he was loved not only by the conservative faction he represented but even by the left. He WAS France, in the minds of the french. They still feel that way about him.
He and Nixon had an abiding friendship from Nixon's days as Ike vice president, and De Gaulle was convinced that Nixon would one day be president - even after he lost to Kennedy in 60 and lost the california governor's race in 62. De Gaulle continued to receive him and treat him as a head of state. For better or worse, it was De Gaulle who influenced Nixon to seek rapprochement with Red China.
Fun fact: The mayor who surrendered paris - famously arguing that wars come and go but paris was too precious a jewel to be used as a fortress and reduced to rubble - has an enormous statue in a prominent location, whereas de Gaulle's statue is small and obscurely placed (I've seen both). I asked a friendly frenchman how it was remotely possible that the mayor had a bigger and more centrally located statue than de Gaulle. His response is CLASSIC french: De Gaulle lived too long, and by the time he died, there were so many laws against new monuments in a city already starved for tax receipts and beleaguered by the expense of upkeeping monuments that it took a LITERAL act of congress to get De Gaulle the small statue he DID have. The mayor, on the other hand, had shown the good timing to die a young man.
I have been a francophile all my life, and my visit only dug me in deeper. Believe me, I truly hate macron - I hate him with a frenchman's heart.
When you complain, ur friends roll their eyes and ur enemies rejoice
"Because I SAY I am" is a todler's tantrum, not "science"
You cannot betray me - only yourself, to me.
Who cuts off your dick is not a friend
An opinion you won't defend is not your own
Humanity's Law of the Jungle: Survival NOT of the fittest, but of the tribe
When peeing in the pool, stand on the edge
If gender is not sex, why should a gender claim change what sex you shower with?