Charles de Gaulle, the founder of the Fifth French Republic, an outstanding French military strategist, Politburo, diplomat and writer.
The French people who support him prefer to call him "General de Gaulle" and believe that he is "the savior of France who should be remembered."
The French people who opposed him derided him as a "funny tyrant" or a "fake Napoleon".
So how should we evaluate de Gaulle ?
challenges conservatism
Before World War II French society, especially the military, has been dominated and dominated by conservatism and dogmatism, and the values promoted are obedience, patience and centralization.
De Gaulle's father was a literature and history teacher who was also influenced by conservatism.
Therefore, it was inevitable that de Gaulle would be passed on this conservative value concept by his father and military life in his life and military career.
But de Gaulle was also an outstanding soldier who was smart, thoughtful, innovative and far-sighted. In the army, his independent thinking gradually emerged, and his "courage" and "personality" impacted the old conservative ideas.
Two contradictory values have had two important impacts on de Gaulle:
On the one hand, de Gaulle did not indulge in old experience and dogma. Instead, he concentrated on studying new strategies, tactics and combat theories, emphasizing the need to reform the army, and advocated the establishment of an armored force that combined mobility capabilities and destructive firepower.
On the other hand, the subtle influence of the conservative barriers on him led him to completely transform France after returning to power in 1958.
The proposal of a new military theory was rejected by his old boss, French national hero in World War I, and French Field Marshal Pétain.
This frustrated figure who was both a French national hero and a traitor inherited the traditional conservatism of the French army. Therefore, he regarded de Gaulle's innovation and change as rashness and provocation.
However, when the German army used aircraft and armored forces to push across the "Maginot Line", the French military leaders realized the correctness and advancement of De Gaulle's theory.
The ridiculous thing is that it is already too late at this time, but the theory of our own outstanding soldiers needs to be verified by the enemy's artillery fire.
The key is that this fire still hits me.
Therefore, in terms of tactical and theoretical achievements, de Gaulle was already the last glimmer of glory for the then-down-and-out French Army.
It was this last glimmer of glory that accumulated prestige for de Gaulle and brought a group of capital that would be enough to change France in the future.
With the fierce attack of the German army, France, under the leadership of the conservative leader Pétain, chose to give up resistance and surrender to Germany.
The Third French Republic fell under the torrent of steel of the German army.
De Gaulle did not agree with the approach of the old leader Pétain. He believed that France should persist, even if it uses the last bullet and the last man dies, he must fight for national independence.
However, he became the "last man" in France.
Recover France
After being squeezed out of the German puppet government, De Gaulle ran to the United Kingdom. He formed the " Free France " in London, claiming to continue the resistance.
This act of de Gaulle accumulated his first batch of supporters.
After that, British Prime Minister Churchill announced his support for De Gaulle. The whole world only recognized De Gaulle as the only legitimate representative of France, and no one else.
But at this time, the French mainland had been controlled by the "Vichy France " supported by Germany. De Gaulle had to solve the dilemma of having no land and no soldiers.
At this time, he thought of France's vast colony in Africa - "French West Africa".
But African brothers are not related to France and are still victims of slavery and oppression by the French. Why should they help you?
In order to impress the African brothers, De Gaulle made a big move. He gave the African brothers a promise:
"As long as France is helped to restore its country, the people of French West Africa can In order to obtain the status of a French citizen."
Faced with the good news of turning bicycles into motorcycles, "French West Africa" joined "Free France", African brothers enthusiastically signed up to join the army, and the "Free French Army" rose up.
Since then, 330,000 black French West African soldiers followed de Gaulle on the battlefields of World War II and made great contributions to the recovery of France.
On August 25, 1944, de Gaulle returned to Paris and announced the liberation of France. He walked across the Champs Elysées to accept the cheers of the Paris crowd.
After the war, de Gaulle did not break his promise and fulfilled his promise to the people of French West Africa. This also paved the way for the "blackening" of France today.
was caught in the whirlpool of struggle and was forced to retire.
Since the French Revolution, the government has been constantly changing like a horse watching a lantern, which has had a profound impact on the turbulence of French politics in the future.
Although the Second Republic era was stable for a while, the Third Republic that followed brought government collapse, chaos, and internal strife to a new level.
During the French Third Republic, the shortest government lasted only 2 days, and the average cabinet lasted less than 3 months.
This kind of political chaos has seriously affected the development of France.
Therefore, after the restoration of France, de Gaulle was determined to solve the inefficiency, constraints, procrastination, chaos and other shortcomings caused by the infighting in the government in France in the past 70 years, and strive to achieve the renaissance of France.
But reality gave this French people’s beloved general a slap in the face.
In the final analysis, the French Fourth Republic established after World War II still continued the system of the Third Republic.
When de Gaulle wanted to cut off the old evils, his ideas and practices were not accommodated by the environment at the time. The newly born Fourth Republic fell into the whirlpool of political struggle from the beginning.
In particular, de Gaulle's status as the military leader caused him to be ostracized and wary of the political circles. They were worried that de Gaulle would be the next "Napoleon" and that the military would rule France.
As a result, they refused to adopt de Gaulle's ideas, banned him from speaking on radio and television, and hindered the election of de Gaulle's party in the parliament. In the end, de Gaulle's "French People's Alliance" lost its majority leadership.
Some people will say that with his huge influence in the army and the people, couldn't De Gaulle easily manipulate those political elites?
is not wrong, but he refuses.
De Gaulle said nothing. Although he was helpless, he chose to accept it.
In 1953, de Gaulle retired to his apartment in a small village in eastern France.
Comeback and Transform France
De Gaulle's retirement did not allow the Fourth Republic to escape the chaos of internal strife. It also became an opportunity for him to make a comeback.
In 1953, the first year after de Gaulle retired, France, which was fighting among itself, lost Vietnam, and then Algeria also declared independence.
The chaos at home and the loss of presence abroad have made the French government anxious and the French people have lost confidence in the government.
In this case, the man who saved France from danger and helped the building to collapse has been missed and expected by many people.
De Gaulle, who was living in seclusion in a small village, seemed to have been summoned and understood that the time had come, so he returned with the support of the military to take back everything that belonged to him.
On September 28, 1958, de Gaulle was elected president of France and established the Fifth French Republic.
After taking office, de Gaulle began his plan to transform France.
First of all, it is " centralization ". He wants to cut the knot quickly and end the uncontrolled internal fighting between political parties in France, so that France can get rid of the crisis and government paralysis caused by the civil strife.
To achieve this goal, the status and power of the president must be elevated.
The Constitution of the Fourth French Republic stipulates: "Parliament alone has the power to pass laws, and this power may not be entrusted to the president."
De Gaulle started directly from here, stipulating that the president could not only dissolve the parliament, but also submit the bill to the citizens for a vote. The president has the power to take necessary measures and issue decrees in "extraordinary times", without the consent of the parliament.
At the same time, the presidential term was changed to seven years (changed back to 5 years in 2002).
After this operation, de Gaulle greatly strengthened the power and status of the French president. It is no wonder that the opposition attacked him with the title of "Fake Napoleon".
He single-handedly changed the political ecology of France in the past century.
At this moment, de Gaulle became the final winner of the century-old struggle between the French government and the army, and relied on the support of the military to obtain the power to transform France.
After transforming the power structure, de Gaulle began to promote the dream of national unity in order to inspire the people and inspire the national spirit, even at the expense of breaking up with Britain and the United States.
In 1960, de Gaulle pushed France to withdraw from the NATO Joint Command and firmly held military power in his own hands.
At the same time, we should restore the independent production capacity of armaments, pursue high-tech development, establish a complete military industrial system, and get rid of dependence on the United States after World War II.
Soon, France developed nuclear weapons , and established the first-generation nuclear strike force in 1962, effectively safeguarding national unity and world status.
In terms of diplomatic strategy, de Gaulle proposed making France great again and establishing a European-oriented tone for Europeans. In order to strengthen cooperation with European countries,
drafted a framework to mediate and distribute the cake as the leading brother.
It is this framework that promoted the establishment of European Community , and also paved the way for the establishment of European Union in the future.
In addition to uniting European brothers, in order to reduce France's losses, De Gaulle took the initiative to evacuate most of the colonies, but continued to play tricks on the economy and resources. He wanted to make money, but not lose money. This was his "neo-colonialism" policy.
After doing this, De Gaulle set his sights on the United States again. Now that he has broken his face, he will beat up the lost dog.
Towards the end of World War II, the United States led the establishment of a US dollar-centered international monetary system , namely the Bretton Woods system .
Since then, the concept of "gold = US dollar = US dollar" has spread, and Europe has become heavily dependent on the US dollar.
html In the late 1600s, the United States was deeply involved in the Vietnam War, which led to the outbreak of the dollar crisis . European countries were worried about whether "35 US dollars could still be exchanged for 1 ounce of gold." Moreover, European countries had already survived the suffering period just after World War II and did not want to use US dollars to buy American goods.
As a result, Europe began to boycott the US dollar and issue its own currency.
De Gaulle was the first to cause trouble, exchanging 2.3 billion US dollars for 2,000 tons of gold, compressing the United States' gold reserves.
After doing this, he shouted again: "There is no gold in the US treasury. Everyone, go and exchange it!"
This voice was like thunder, shocking the whole world.
Countries shouted: "Don't want U.S. dollars, want gold!"
The United States was anxious and immediately announced: "U.S. dollars can no longer be exchanged for gold."
Since then, the Bretton Woods system collapsed.
After siding with the United States, De Gaulle led France to make good relations with the Soviet Union, freeing itself from the two poles of the United States and the Soviet Union, wooing third world countries, and becoming the third pole outside the two-pole struggle for hegemony.
De Gaulle's behavior made the United States even more angry. Therefore, in the first few years after the end of the Cold War , France once became the imaginary enemy of the United States.
Conclusion
It can be said that without de Gaulle, there would be no new France.
Without De Gaulle, France might just be a second-rate country in Europe. With De Gaulle, France has developed into a third-pole country with nuclear weapons and rapid economic development, second only to the United States and the Soviet Union.
De Gaulle's greatest contribution to France was to reshape France and put France on the right path.
He had gained supreme status among the French people and the military, and he could always sit on the throne if he wanted.
But de Gaulle did not miss power. When someone began to oppose him, he stepped down from the presidential throne without any reluctance and returned to his hometown as if he had retired for the first time.
Maybe some people want him to become "a new Napoleon", but he has no intention of being a Napoleon.
