{"id":547,"date":"2023-02-27T19:05:48","date_gmt":"2023-02-27T19:05:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/texacowiki\/?page_id=547"},"modified":"2024-10-09T17:04:24","modified_gmt":"2024-10-09T17:04:24","slug":"charles-de-gaulle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iris.siue.edu\/texacowiki\/charles-de-gaulle\/","title":{"rendered":"Charles de Gaulle"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charles de Gaulle, born on November 22, 1890, in Lille, France, played a major role in French war efforts during World War II, French politics, and the creation of a better government system in France. During his presidency, de Gaulle did many major things, but one of the minor things he did was travel to the island of Martinique<\/a>. This event can be seen in the book Texaco, <\/em>by Patrick Chamoiseau<\/a> as it did in real life. Throughout the novel, de Gaulle is depicted as a larger-than-life figure who will fix all of Texaco\u2019s problems and set them free from the torment of the local b\u00e9k\u00e9s and their issues revolving around City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Background<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From a young age, Charles de Gaulle was fascinated by war and became a part of the French military. When he was old enough, he attended Saint-Cyr military academy and joined the French army after graduating. He battled in World War I where he was wounded and taken as a prisoner of war for three years (Anderson).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In between World War I and World War II, de Gaulle quickly rose through the ranks, and by the time World War II began, he had been promoted to the role of brigadier general. In 1940, the Head of State in France, Philippe Petain, signed an armistice with Nazi Germany and created a new government in France. De Gaulle, who was a strong nationalist, was opposed to working with Germany and left for England to continue his opposition against Germany (Anderson).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his time in England, de Gaulle started the Free French resistance which was created to oppose the partnership with Germany. Despite these heroic efforts, de Gaulle only received support from Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. De Gaulle continued these efforts until 1944 when the Allied Powers freed France from their German suppressors. Soon after D-Day de Gaulle and the rest of the French resistance entered Paris to begin restructuring the French government, after he helped restructure the government he retired from politics (Anderson).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His retirement didn\u2019t last long as he was soon brought back into the political stage where he was elected as the president of France. Throughout his first term, de Gaulle began to create a more independent version of France which helped lead to economic growth. However, those who were in the working class didn\u2019t experience the same benefits due to the rising rates of inflation. Additionally, de Gaulle began to withdraw France from their territories in other parts of the world to allow them their own freedom (Anderson).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

De Gaulle was elected for a second term in 1965 following his first and continued his nationalistic quest to improve France. One early course of action he took was to remove France from NATO in 1966. However, his second term, like the first, was plagued with many issues. The biggest was the continued unrest due to the state of France\u2019s economy. Those in the working class went on strike due to the issues surrounding the French economy. De Gaulle soon promised change for an improved economic system which was one of the last major things he did as President of France. Following his second term de Gaulle retired from politics and went back to his home where he died at the age of 79 (Anderson).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Trip to Martinique<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During de Gaulle\u2019s presidency, he made a visit to Martinique in March of 1964. The purpose of his visit was to further solidify Martinique as a department of France (“De Gaulle \u00e0 La Martinique”). While he was there de Gaulle visited the city and its surrounding areas. In addition to this de Gaulle gave a speech to show his gratitude to Martinique and to confirm Martinique\u2019s status (“De Gaulle\u2019s Triumphal Tour”).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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