Charles de Gaulle

Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (listen ) (November 22, 1890 – November 9, 1970), in France commonly referred to as Général de Gaulle, was a French military leader and statesman.

Prior to World War II, he was primarily known as an armoured warfare tactician and an advocate of the concentrated use of armoured and aviation forces. During World War II, he reached the rank of brigadier-general and then became the leader of the Free French government-in-exile. Between 1944 and 1946, following the liberation of France from German occupation, he was head of the French Provisional Government.

Called to form a government after the Algiers putsch of 1958, he inspired a new constitution and was the Fifth Republic's first president, serving from 1958 to 1969. His political ideology is known as Gaullism, and it has been a major influence in subsequent French politics. Gaullism, which styled itself above parties and left-right distinctions, was mainly characterised by a desire of national independence in the frame of the Cold War, economic dirigisme and voluntarism. Although various Gaullists belonged to the left-wing, it is generally considered a social conservative movement, and is the official inspiration of the later-day RPR and even today's Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), despite clear differences between these “neo-Gaullist” parties and their predecessor.