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Air Algérie

250px
IATA AH ICAO DAH Callsign AIR ALGERIE
Founded	15 March 1947
Hubs	Houari Boumediene Airport
Focus cities	Oran Es Sénia Airport
Frequent-flyer program	Air Algérie Plus
Airport lounge	Marhaba lounge
Subsidiaries	Air Algérie Cargo
Fleet size	41
Destinations	68
Company slogan	Always Caring for you
Parent company	Sonatrach
Headquarters	1, Place Maurice Audin, Algiers, Algeria
Key people	Salah Boultif (Director General and CEO)
Revenue	€997.5 million (2009)[1]
Net income	€591.2 million (2009)[1]
Website	http://www.airalgerie.dz

Air Algérie SpA (Arabic: الخطوط الجوية الجزائرية‎, transliterated:Al-Khuṭūṭ al-Jawwiyyah al-Jazā’iria;, Berber: Aeriverdan idzayriyen) is the national flag carrier airline of Algeria, with its head office in the Immeuble El-Djazair in Algiers.^[2][3] With flights operating from Houari Boumedienne Airport, Air Algérie operates scheduled international services to 39 destinations in 28 countries in Europe, North America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, as well as domestic services to 32 airports.

Air Algérie is in the process of aligning its codeshare agreements, frequent flyer programs, and airport lounge agreements with each of the SkyTeam carriers in order to meet SkyTeam's membership application requirements.^[4]

History[link]

Formation and early years[link]

Lockheed Constellation of Air Algerie at Paris Orly Airport in 1957

Sud Aviation Caravelle of Air Algérie in January 1963

Boeing 737-200 of Air Algérie at Paris Orly Airport in January 1971

Airbus A300-B4 of Air Algérie at Paris Orly Airport in March 1982

Air Algérie new livery

Air Algérie was founded in was formed on 15 March 1947 as the Société Algérienne de Construction Aéronautique (SACA)-Air Algérie. On May 23, 1953, it merged with the Compagnie Air Transport to form the Compagnie Générale de Transports Aériens (CGTA)-Air Algérie.

The airline used Douglas DC-3 aircraft on internal routes and the Douglas DC-4 on routes to France. Between 1955 and 1960, the longer routes to Paris and Geneva were operated by pressurised Lockheed Constellations. The first jet aircraft to be flown by the company were Sud Caravelle twin-jets, the first being acquired in December 1959.

Following independence from France in 1962 the company become Air Algérie (Entreprise Nationale d'exploitation des Services Aériens). In 1963 the Algerian government took possession of 51% of the company assets, increasing its stake to 83% in 1970 and to 100% and nationalisation in 1974, after acquisition of the remaining 17% stake held by Air France. It employs 9,775 staff (at March 2007).^[5] Air Algerie is a member of the Arab Air Carriers Organization. Air Algérie is a joint-stock company SPA with a capital of 43.000.000.000 DA.

Modernization of the company[link]

Airbus A330-200 at Montréal-Trudeau

The airline covers a network of 96,000 km. More than 3.000.000 passengers and nearly 20.000 tonnes of cargo are carried every year. In 2003, the number of daily flights in peak periods was 120. Air Algérie has generated almost five billion available seat-kilometres and performed 3.3 billion revenue passenger- kilometres. A few years later, Air Algeria, relieved of the management terminal, became a limited company in 1997 and 2006, its capital amounted to 57 billion dinars (about 560 million euros). With nearly 6 million passengers a year on its regular routes, Air Algérie saw sales go up year after year. Thus, an airline is doing very well. It has modernized its fleet.

The sales network comprises 150 agencies in Algeria and abroad, linked to the booking system and distributed through GDS to which Air Algérie has subscribed. Air Algérie is a Joint Stock Company (J.S.C) the registered capital of which is 43.000.000.000,00 DA. Air Algérie is a company resolutely turned towards Modernity. Air Algérie has made in 2005, a 48.7 billion DA turnover, a 5% progress compared to 2004 and a 8 billion DA net profit. The Company carries annually nearly 3 Millions passengers on its regular services.

In 2009, Air Algérie made a turnover of 58.1 billion Algerian Dinars (DA) with an increase of seven percent (7%) compared to 2008, and a four (04) billion Algerian Dinars (DA) net profit.

Air Algérie has invested 400 million Euros in November 2010 for the renovation of his fleet for 2011. This investment was modernizing the cabins and image of the aircraft. The company promises to offer a service on board with high technology of last generation in his planes.^[6]

Organization[link]

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Air Algérie headquarters in Algiers

Air Algérie is a joint stock company. The shares are totally owned by the Algerian state. Its Board of Directors is headed by Abdelwahid Bouabdallah, Chairman and Managing Director.

Recently, the Air Algérie was divided into several departments to better meet the expectations of its customers and challenges of global aviation. Now, there are poles separate maintenance, domestic routes, international routes, cargo and service tour operator. Four subsidiaries were established: Technics Air Algérie, Air Algerie Catering, Domestics and Air Algérie Cargo Air Algérie. Soon will see the launch of Air Algeria Plus is a customer loyalty with discounts on flights, car rental or hotel reservations. Company to the modern fleet, the balance sheets balanced, Air Algérie is resolutely turned towards the future.

Air Algérie performs the following activities:

• Passenger carriage
• Cargo carriage

Air Algérie services include:

• Air transport functions such as flight operations, maintenance, transport and commercial functions.
• Supporting activities such as logistics and catering, as well as the coordinating activities such as finance, personnel management, legal affairs, computers and telecommunications.
• Charter services in support of oil exploration and the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca.

Privatization[link]

Between 1947 and 1974 Air Algérie was a property of Air France. In the same year the Algerian State bought 100% of the company.

In 1990 Air Canada attempted to buy the company but did not manage to come to an agreement with the Algerian State. a businessman, Rafik Khalifa who owns Khalifa Airways expressed his interest on acquiring Air Algérie. The businessman offered a great sum of money and many times the value of Air Algérie, but a year after the negotiations the businessman was accused of money embezzlement of more than EUR 1 Billion, and forced Khalifa Airways to cease its operations.

Air Algerie has no intention on hastening the privatization of the company, but there are already three companies that want to acquire the company,which are Air France, Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines.

Nowadays this one in negotiation the sale of 25% of Air Algérie to the company Cevital and other one 25% to the businessman Djilali Mehri. Remaining 45% of Air Algérie was continuing with the Algerian State for the present time. Remaining 5% of Air Algérie belongs to the Union of employees of Air Algérie. The Algerian State already has declared oficialemente that the made one the sale of 50% of Air Algérie began a process to sell 45% that they remains. The plan of the Algerian State is to divide the sales to different owners in order that the company not this one controlled by an alone owner.

Logo[link]

Air Algerie logo was created in 1966 in Algiers and since then has never gone to change or modify. It is a historical logo that despite the years pass still gives an impression of a modern logo on home time. Never revealed what the true meaning of this logo, some say it's a plane, others say it is a bird and others say it is very similar to peace symbol. This logo is one of 10 logos of the commercial aviation in the world most original and the most historic in the world after that of Lufthansa. On June 21, 2011 the company has officially informed that the logo is a Swallow. This bird is a national Algerian symbol.

Destinations[link]

Air Algérie Airbus A330-200 take-off

Codeshare agreements[link]

Air Algerie has codeshare agreement with the following airlines:

Catering[link]

Air Algérie possesses its own catering service, where more than 2,000 employees prepare the plates of all the Air Algérie's flights that depart from Algeria to another destination. Air Algérie also works with other companies of catering for example Gate Gourmet and LSG Sky Chefs.^[7]

Fleet[link]

Passenger[link]

As of March 2012, the Air Algérie fleet consists of the following aircraft with an average age (passenger airplanes only) of 9 years:^[8]

The airline has plans to add more longhaul aircraft to its fleet and foresees reaching 50 aircraft by 2025.^[9]

Air Algérie is considering purchasing 10 Boeing 787's. If the 787's are purchased, the company plans to open new routes. In a statement released by Salah Boultif, the CEO of Air Algérie, he made ​​it clear that once the order for the 787 is completed, the aircraft could enter the fleet as early as 2016. The New York route will be opened in 2012 and will be operated by Airbus A330-200.

Fleet history[link]

Air Algérie Airbus A330-200 landing

Over the years, Air Algérie has operated the following aircraft types:

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Cabin[link]

Boeing 737-600 Landing in Paris-Orly

Air Algérie offers two types of cabins. The Airbus A330-200 is not equipped with the AVOD entertainment system, but cabin refurbishment is being considered. The Boeing 767–300 and Boeing 737–800 are equipped with audio systems.

Classe Affaires[link]

The Business Class is offered on the Airbus A330-200, Boeing 767–300, Boeing 737–800 and Boeing 737–600. In the Airbus A330-200, reclining seats up to 118°. Each seat includes a 10.4" touchscreen TV monitor with interactive gaming and AVOD. An express drink is served shortly after takeoff. In the Boeing 767–300, Boeing 737–800 and Boeing 737–600, there are reclining seats up to 118°, with an audio system.

Classe Économique[link]

The Classe Économique aircraft is at Airbus A330-200, Boeing 767–300, Boeing 737–800, Boeing 737–600 and ATR 72-500. In the Airbus A330-200, reclining Seats 118°. Each seat includes an audio system. In the Boeing 767–300, reclining Seats 118°, with an audio system. In the Boeing 737–800 and Boeing 737–600, reclining Seats 118°, with an audio system. In the ATR 72-500, reclining Seats 118°.

Incidents and accidents[link]

Fatal[link]

• On 19 May 1960 at 9:46 UTC, a mid-air collision occurred 13 miles away from Paris-Orly Airport, involving an Air Algérie Sud Aviation Caravelle (registered F-OBNI) on a scheduled passenger flight from Algiers and a small privately owned Stampe SV.4 biplane (F-BDEV). The Stampe was completely destroyed upon impact, killing the sole pilot on board. The cabin roof of the Caravelle was torn open by debris, especially caused by the propeller blades of the biplane. Its two jet engines stopped due to sucked in debris, but could be restarted almost immediately, allowing for a safe landing. There were no fatalities amongst the 32 passengers and 7 crew members of the Air Algérie flight, and the aircraft could later be repaired.^[11]
• On 11 April 1967, an Air Algérie Douglas DC-4 (registered 7T-VHU), which was on a flight from Dar El Beïda Airport in Algiers to Tamanrasset Airport, crashed into a hill in the Sahara desert near Tamanrasset during landing approach, killing all 33 passengers and 6 crew members omboard.^[12]
• On 26 July 1969 a fire broke out on board an Air Algérie Sud Aviation Caravelle (registered 7T-VAK), which likely resulted from an electric malfunction. The aircraft was on a chartered passenger flight from Marseille to Biskra, and the pilots tried for an emergency landing at Oued Irara – Krim Belkacem Airport, but the plane was quickly engulfed by flames and crashed, killing all 30 passengers and 7 crew members.^[13]
• On 24 January 1979 at around 19:40 local time, an Air Algérie Aérospatiale N 262 (registered 7T-VSU) crashed 15 kilometres short of the runway of Boudghene Ben Ali Lotfi Airport, resulting in the death of 14 out of the 20 passengers on board. The three crew members survived the accident, which was blamed to the malfunction of an altimeter (as the approach was performed too low), coinciding with pilot error and fatigue.^[14]
• On 21 December 1994, an Air Algérie Boeing 737-200 operating Cargo Flight 702P from East Midlands Airport to Coventry Airport (both in England) on behalf of Phoenix Aviation crashed 1.7 kilometres short of the runway at the destination airport, killing the five crew members on board.^[15]
• On 6 March 2003 at 15:15 local time, Air Algérie Flight 6289, a Boeing 737–200 (registered 7T-VEZ) on a domestic flight from Tamanrasset to Algiers via Ghardaïa, crashed shortly after take-off from Aguenar – Hadj Bey Akhamok Airport because of an engine failure, killing 96 passengers and all 6 crew members on board. There was only one survivor, thus making it the worst accident in the history of the airline (as well as of Algeria) to date.^[16]
• On 13 August 2006 at ca 20:15 local time, Air Algérie Cargo Flight 2208 (a Lockheed L-100 Hercules registered 7T-VHG) crashed near Piacenza in Italy, resulting in the death of the three crew members. The aircraft had been on a flight from Algiers to Frankfurt when a problem with the autopilot occurred, resulting in the pilots losing control of the plane.^[17]

Non-fatal[link]

• On 8 June 1949, the right main landing gear of an Air Algérie Douglas C-47 Skytrain (registered F-BCYO) collapsed upon landing at Lyon-Bron Airport, following a cargo flight from Algiers. During the crash landing, the aircraft was destroyed, but the three crew members survived.^[18]
• On 30 October 1951, an Air Algérie Sud-Ouest Bretagne (registered F-OAIY) caught fire and was subsequently destroyed at Paris-Orly Airport, following the sudden collapse of the right main landing gear during take-off run. All 30 passengers and 4 crew members on board could be saved.^[19]
• On 26 April 1962, following the end of the Algerian War, an Air Algérie Lockheed Constellation (registered F-BAZE) parked at Maison Blanche Airport in Algiers was blown up by OAS terrorists, a militant French far-right nationalist group strongly opposed to the independence of Algeria.^[20]
• On 23 September 1973, an Air Algérie Sud Aviation Caravelle (registered 7T-VAI) was damaged beyond repair in a landing accident at Algiers-Dar el Beida Airport.^[21]
• On 1 August 1989, an Air Algérie Lockheed L-100 Hercules cargo aircraft suffered a ground loop upon landing at Tamanrasset Airport following a flight from Algiers, resulting in the aircraft being damaged beyond repair.^[22]
• On 25 July 1991, the nosegear of an Air Algérie Fokker F27 Friendship (registered 7T-VRM) collapsed during a hard landing at In Guezzam Airport, damaging the aircraft beyond repair.^[23]
• On 2 August 1996, an Air Algérie Boeing 737-200 (registered 7T-VED) overran the runway at Tlemcen Airport in an attempt to abort the take-off for a scheduled flight to Algiers. There were no fatalities among the 100 passengers and 6 crew members onboard, even though the aircraft was substantially damaged.^[24]
• Another runway overshot involving an Air Algérie Boeing 737–200 (this time 7T-VEH) occurred on 31 January 1999. Upon landing at Constantine Airfield in unusual snowy conditions following a flight from Paris, the aircraft was severely damaged when it overshot the runway and struck a heap of snow. There were no casualties among the 92 passengers and 7 crew members.^[25]
• On 18 March 2006 at 10:30 local time, the right main landing gear of an Air Algérie Boeing 737–600 (registered 7T-VJQ) collapsed upon landing in poor weather conditions at Seville Airport following a flight from Oran. Approximately 45 out of the 101 passengers and 6 crew members on board were injured.^[26]
• On 14 March 2008, an Air Algérie Boeing 737-800 (registered 7T-VKA) that was operating Flight 1143 from Paris to Sétif with 120 people on board suffered extensive damage during a hard landing at Ain Arnat Airport.^[27]

Highjackings[link]

• On 31 August 1970, three passengers armed with pistols and molotov cocktails hijacked an Air Algérie Convair CV-640 on a scheduled domestic flight from Annaba to Algiers and demanded the pilots to head to Albania instead. During a fuel stop in Brindisi, eleven passengers were allowed to leave the aircraft. As the aircraft was denied landing permission by the Albanian authorities, it diverted to Dubrovnik in then Yugoslavia instead, where the perpetrators could be arrested.^[28]
• On 20 January 1981 the 52 United States embassy hostages departed Tehran, Iran on a chartered Air Algerie jet. The plane was not allowed to leave Tehran until President Carter, who negotiated the release through Algerian mediation, was succeeded by Ronald Reagan.
• When an Air Algérie Boeing 737-200 landed at Houari Boumedienne Airport on 31 March 1991 (during the Algerian Civil War) following a scheduled passenger flight from Béchar, a passenger threatened to detonate a hand grenade and insisted on being able to have a political statement live national television, concerning the planned national election. The demand was rejected, and the hijacker could be persuaded to give up and set free the 53 other persons on board the aircraft.^[29]
• Another hijacking occurred on 13 November 1994, when three persons onboard an Air Algérie Fokker F27 Friendship (registered 7T-VRK) on flight from Algiers to Ouargla demanded to be granted the possibility to have a political statement (that is, a live coverage). The aircraft with 39 other people diverted to Palma de Mallorca Airport, where the perpetrators surrendered.^[30]
• On 25 July 1996 at around 9:00 local time, an Air Algérie Boeing 767-300 with 232 persons on board was hijacked at Oran Es Sénia Airport by a man who demanded to be flown to the United States of America, rather than to Algiers where the aircraft had been scheduled to leave for, actually. After more than four hours of negotiation he surrendered to the local authorities.^[31]
• On 19 January 2003, Air Algérie Flight 6025 from Constantine to Algiers, was hijacked shortly after take-off by a man who demanded the pilots to fly the Boeing 737-800 to North Korea. The flight continued to Algiers, though, where the perpetrator could be restrained by police forces storming the aircraft. None of the 24 other passengers and 6 crew members were injured.^[32]
• On 19 August 2003, an Air Algérie Boeing 737-800 was hijacked by a mentally-ill passenger right after take-off from Houari Boumedienne Airport, who threatened to blow up the aircraft when the crew would not divert to Geneva (rather than to Lille as the flight was scheduled). The crew carried out an allegedly necessary fuel stop at Oran Es Sénia Airport, where the man could be arrested.^[33]

References[link]

External links[link]

	Algeria portal
	Aviation portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Air Algérie

• Official website (English) (French)

• Cezayir Hava Yolları - Turkey Official website (English) (French)

Charles de Gaulle
President of the French Republic Co-Prince of Andorra
In office 8 January 1959 – 28 April 1969
Prime Minister	Michel Debré (1959–1961) Georges Pompidou (1962–1968) Maurice Couve de Murville (1968–1969)
Preceded by	René Coty
Succeeded by	Alain Poher (interim) Georges Pompidou
Leader of the Free French Forces
In office 18 June 1940 – 3 July 1944
Preceded by	French Third Republic
Succeeded by	Provisional Government of the French Republic
President of the Provisional Government of the French Republic
In office 20 August 1944 – 20 January 1946
Preceded by	Philippe Pétain (as chief of state of Vichy France) Pierre Laval (as chief of government)
Succeeded by	Félix Gouin
Prime Minister of France
In office 1 June 1958 – 8 January 1959
President	René Coty
Preceded by	Pierre Pflimlin
Succeeded by	Michel Debré
Minister of Defence
In office 1 June 1958 – 8 January 1959
President	René Coty
Prime Minister	Charles de Gaulle
Preceded by	Pierre de Chevigné
Succeeded by	Pierre Guillaumat
Personal details
Born	Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (1890-11-22)22 November 1890 Lille, France
Died	9 November 1970(1970-11-09) (aged 79) Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, France
Political party	Rally of the French People (1947–1955) Union for the New Republic (1958–1968) Union of Democrats for the Republic (1968–1970)
Spouse(s)	Yvonne de Gaulle
Occupation	Military
Religion	Roman Catholic
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	French Armed Forces, Free French Forces
Service/branch	French Army
Years of service	1912-1944
Rank	Brigadier general
Unit	Infantry
Commands	Leader of the Free French
Battles/wars	Battle of Verdun, Battle of the Somme, Battle of France, Battle of Dakar

Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (/ˈtʃɑrlz/ or /ˈʃɑrl dəˈɡɔːl/; French: [ʃaʁl də ɡol] ( listen); 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.^[1]

A veteran of World War I, in the 1920s and 1930s de Gaulle came to the fore as a proponent of mobile armoured divisions, which he considered would become central in modern warfare. During World War II, he earned the rank of brigadier general (retained throughout his life),^[2] leading one of the few successful armoured counter-attacks during the 1940 Battle of France in May in Montcornet, and then briefly served in the French government as France was falling. De Gaulle was the most senior French military officer to reject the June 1940 armistice to Nazi Germany right from the outset.^[3]

He escaped to Britain and gave a famous radio address, broadcast by the BBC on 18 June 1940, exhorting the French people to resist Nazi Germany^[4] and organised the Free French Forces with exiled French officers in Britain.^[5] As the war progressed de Gaulle gradually gained control of all French colonies except Indochina most of which had at first been controlled by the pro-German Vichy regime. Despite earning a reputation for being a difficult man to do business with, by the time of the Allied invasion of France in 1944 he was heading what amounted to a French government in exile, but although he insisted that France be treated as a great independent power by the other Allies, the Americans in particular remained deeply suspicious of his motives. De Gaulle became prime minister in the French Provisional Government, resigning in 1946 because of political conflicts.^[6]

After the war he founded his own political party, the Rally of the French People (RPF) on 14 April 1947. Although he retired from politics in the early 1950s after the RPF's failure to win power, and was banned from the government-controlled TV and radio, he was voted back to power as prime minister by the French Assembly during the May 1958 crisis. De Gaulle led the writing of a new constitution founding the Fifth Republic,^[7] and was elected President of France, an office which now held much greater power than in the Third and Fourth Republics.^[8]

As President, Charles de Gaulle ended the political chaos that preceded his return to power. A new French currency was issued in January 1960 to control inflation and industrial growth was promoted. Although he initially supported French rule over Algeria, he controversially decided to grant independence to that country, ending an expensive and unpopular war but leaving France divided and having to face down opposition from the European settlers and French military who had originally supported his return to power.

Immensely patriotic, de Gaulle and his supporters held the view, known as Gaullism, that France should continue to see itself as a major power and should not rely on other nations - like the US - for its national security and prosperity. Often criticized for his Politics of Grandeur, de Gaulle oversaw the development of French atomic weapons and promoted a foreign policy independent of U.S. and British influence. He withdrew France from NATO military command — although remaining a member of the western alliance—and twice vetoed Britain's entry into the European Community. He travelled widely in Eastern Europe and other parts of the world and recognised Communist China. On a visit to Canada in 1967 he gave encouragement to Quebec Separatism.

During his term, de Gaulle also faced controversy and political opposition from Communists and Socialists, as well as from the far right. Despite having been re-elected as President, this time by direct popular ballot, in 1965, in May 1968 he appeared likely to lose power amidst widespread protests by students and workers, but survived the crisis with an increased majority in the Assembly. However, de Gaulle resigned in 1969 after losing a referendum in which he proposed more decentralization. He is considered by many to be the most influential leader in modern French history.

Early life[link]

De Gaulle's birth house in Lille, now a national museum.

De Gaulle was born in the industrial region of Lille in French Flanders, the third of five children^[9] of Henri de Gaulle, a professor of philosophy and literature at a Jesuit college, who eventually founded his own school.^[10] He was raised in a family of devout Roman Catholics who were nationalist and traditionalist, but also quite progressive.^[11]

De Gaulle's parents were cousins. His father, twelve years older than his wife, came from a long line of aristocrats from Normandy and Burgundy, while his mother, Jeanne Maillot, descended from a family of rich entrepreneurs from Lille.^[12][13] According to Henri, the family's true origin was never determined, but could have been Celtic. He thought that the name could be derived from the word gaule—a long pole which was used in the Middle Ages to beat fruits from the trees.^[14][15] Another source has the name deriving from Galle, meaning "oak" in the Gaulish language, and the sacred tree of the druids.^[16]

De Gaulle inherited his conservative views from his deeply religious parents. They were fervent royalists who looked back to an older, more romantic vision of France. His father, a veteran of the 1870 conflict with Germany, deeply resented the governing Third Republic; his great-great grandfather Jean-Baptiste de Gaulle served as legal councillor to the king in 1750, and was imprisoned for his loyalty by the revolutionaries, leaving him with the belief that the revolution of 1789 had been 'satanic in its essence'.

Henri encouraged historical and philosophical debate between his children at mealtimes, and through his encouragement, Charles grew familiar with French history from an early age. Struck by his mother’s tale of how she cried as a child when she heard of the French capitulation to the Germans at Sedan in 1870, he developed a keen interest in military strategy and endlessly questioned his father about the other failures of the brief war at Vionville and Mars-la-Tour, and though a naturally shy person his entire life, often organised other children to re-enact ancient French battles.

The wider de Gaulle family were also very literary and academic, and he was raised on tales of the flight of the Scottish Stuarts into France, to whom he was related on his mother's side. He was also impressed by his uncle, also called Charles de Gaulle, who was a historian and passionate Celticist who wrote books and pamphlets advocating the union of the Welsh, Scots, Irish and Bretons into one people. His grandfather Julien-Philippe was also a historian and his grandmother Josephine-Marie wrote poems which impassioned his Christian faith.^[17]

When he was eight years old, the young Charles suffered what he regarded as the most traumatic event of his childhood; the French humiliation at being forced to withdraw its expeditionary force from the upper Nile region to prevent the Fashoda Incident developing into outright war with Britain. This marked the beginning of his lifelong mistrust of Great Britain.^[18]

Always a voracious reader, he particularly loved to read his father’s books by the great German philosophers Friedrich Nietzsche, Immanuel Kant and Johann Goethe, the works of Socrates and Plato and the prose of the romanticist poet François-René de Chateaubriand. By the time he was ten, he was reading medieval history, such as the Froissart’s Chronicles of the Hundred Years War. He began his own writing in his early teens, and later his family paid for one composition, a one-act play in verse about a traveller to be privately published.

When he was 11, the family moved to Paris, where he loved to climb the tower at Notre Dame de Paris to look out over the city, and also visit the Catholic Church Saint-Sulpice^[17] with his parents to listen to the world famous organ music.

De Gaulle was educated in Paris at the College Stanislas and also briefly in Belgium where he continued to display his interest in reading and studying history,^[10] and shared the great pride many of his countrymen felt in their nation’s achievements. France made a significant contribution to European culture with its Impressionist painters, the sculpture of Rodin, writers such as Émile Zola and Marcel Proust and the music of Claude Debussy, and helped lead the way with technological advances such as with the construction of the Suez Canal and the Eiffel Tower and in recent developments in aviation, the cinema and the motor car. As he grew older, he also developed a profound belief in his destiny to achieve great things, and, eager to avenge the French defeat of 1870, decided upon a military career as being the best way to make a name for himself.^[18]

Officer cadet[link]

Before he could become an officer cadet, regulations which had recently been introduced dictated that he had to spend a year as an ordinary soldier. As an individualist, de Gaulle was a average soldier. He was promoted to corporal after six months, then to sargeant. He disliked barrack life and what he saw as pointless regulations, not because he objected to military discipline, but because he considered the procedures to be time wasting and out of date to the point of possibly damaging the military potential of the best new recruits.^[17]

Afterwards, de Gaulle spent four years studying and training at the elite military academy, Saint-Cyr. While there, and because of his height, high forehead, and nose, he acquired the nicknames of "the great asparagus"^[19][20] and "Cyrano".^[21]

He did well at the academy and received praise for his conduct, manners, intelligence, character, military spirit and resistance to fatigue. However, he often quarrelled with his company commander and other officers that there was a lack of preparation for war with Germany, and that the French training and equipment were inadequate to deal with a numerically superior adversary.^[17] Graduating in 1912 in 13th place out of 210 cadets, his passing out report noted that he was a highly gifted cadet who should go on to make an excellent officer. Preferring to serve in France rather than far away in North Africa or Indochina, he joined the 33rd infantry regiment of the French Army, based at Arras and commanded by Colonel (and future Marshal) Philippe Pétain. De Gaulle's career would follow Pétain's for the next 20 years.^[22]

First World War[link]

While at Arras in the build up to World War I, de Gaulle developed a good rapport with his commanding officer, Pétain, with whom he shared a number of ideas on French military affairs, and was often seen on exercise and in officer’s quarters with his superior debating great battles and the likely outcome of any coming war.^[17] Both men agreed that the invention of the machine gun and rapid-firing artillery rendered cavalry virtually obsolete and would require a shift to semi-static positions from which attacks would be made under the protection of a heavy barrage at the enemy.

When war finally broke out in late July 1914, the 33rd Regiment, considered one of the best fighting units in France was immediately thrown into checking the German advance at Dinant, however, the traditionally minded French Fifth Army commander, General Charles Lanrezac threw his units into pointless bayonet charges with bugles and full colours flying against the German artillery, incurring heavy losses.^[17]

Promoted to platoon commander, de Gaulle was involved in fierce fighting from the outset but was among the first to be wounded. In hospital, he grew bitter at the tactics used, and spoke with other injured officers against the outdated methods of the French army. Yet, with General Joseph Joffre's decision to stop the retreat and counter-attack, favoured by the arrival of British units and by changes in the command structure, the rapid German advance was eventually stalled by mid September at the First Battle of the Marne. Returning to find many of his former comrades dead, he was put in charge of a company. De Gaulle's unit gained recognition for repeatedly crawling out into no-mans-land to listen to the conversations of the enemy in their trenches, and the information he brought back was so valuable that in January 1915 he received a citation for his bravery. After a more serious wound which incapacitated him for four months, he was promoted to capitaine (captain) in September 1915. Taking charge of his company, he narrowly escaped death shortly afterwards when he was blown up by a mine, leaving him with a wound in his left hand which obliged him later to wear his wedding ring on his right hand.

At the Battle of Verdun in March 1916, while leading a charge to try to break out of a position which had become surrounded by the enemy, he received a bayonet wound to the leg after being stunned by a shell and, passing out from the effects of poisoned gas, was captured at Douaumont, one of the few survivors of his battalion.^[10] Initially giving him up for dead, Pétain, who was later to achieve great acclaim for his role in the battle, wrote in the regimental journal that de Gaulle had been "an outstanding officer in all respects".^[18]

In captivity de Gaulle acquired yet another nickname, Le Connétable ("The Constable"). This came about because of his reading German newspapers (he had learned German at school and spent a vacation in the Black Forest region) and giving talks on his view of the progress of the conflict to fellow prisoners. These were delivered with such patriotic ardour and confidence in victory that they called him by the title which had been given to the commander-in-chief of the French army during the monarchy.^[23]

While being held as a prisoner of war, de Gaulle wrote his first book, co-written by Matthieu Butler, L'Ennemi et le vrai ennemi ("The Enemy and the True Enemy"), analysing the issues and divisions within the German Empire and its forces; the book was published in 1924.

In all, he made five unsuccessful escape attempts,^[22] being moved to higher security accommodation and punished on his return with long periods of solitary confinement and with the withdrawal of privileges such as newspapers and tobacco. In his letters to his parents he constantly spoke of his frustration that the war was continuing without him, calling the situation "a shameful misfortune" and compared it to being cuckolded. As the war neared its end, he grew depressed that he was playing no part in the victory, but despite his efforts, he remained in captivity until the German surrender. On 1 December 1918, three weeks after the armistice, he returned to his father's house in the Dordogne to be reunited with his three brothers, who had all served in the army yet somehow survived the war.

Between the wars[link]

After the armistice, de Gaulle continued to serve in the army, and was with the staff of the French military mission to Poland as an instructor of Polish Infantry during its war with Communist Russia (1919–1921).^[10] He distinguished himself in operations near the River Zbrucz and won the highest Polish military decoration, the Virtuti Militari^[24] - although the award was granted in five classes at the time, with class I and class II reserved largely for royalty and field marshals, and de Gaulle received the class V award sans cross.^[25]

He was promoted to commandant in the Polish Army and offered a further career in Poland, but chose instead to return to France, where he taught at the École Militaire. Although he was a protégé of his old commander, Marshal Philippe Pétain,^[10] De Gaulle believed in the use of tanks and rapid manoeuvres rather than trench warfare.

De Gaulle served with the Army of Occupation in the Rhineland in the mid 1920s. As a commandant ("major") by the late 1920s, he briefly commanded a light infantry battalion at Treves (Trier) and then served a tour of duty in Syria, then a French protectorate under a mandate from the League of Nations. During the 1930s, now a lieutenant-colonel, he served as a staff officer in France. In 1934 he wrote Vers l’Armée de Métier ("Toward a Professional Army"), which advocated a professional army based on mobile armoured divisions. Such an army would both compensate for the poor French demography, and be an efficient tool to enforce international law, particularly the Treaty of Versailles which forbade Germany from rearming. The book sold only 700 copies in France, where Pétain advocated an infantry-based, defensive army, but 7,000 copies in Germany, where it was read aloud to Adolf Hitler.^[22]

Second World War[link]

The Battle of France[link]

The plaque commemorating the headquarters of General de Gaulle at 4 Carlton Gardens in London during World War II.

At the outbreak of World War II, de Gaulle was only a colonel, having antagonised the leaders of the military through the 1920s and 1930s with his bold views. Initially commanding a tank regiment in the French Fifth Army, de Gaulle implemented many of his theories and tactics for armoured warfare against an enemy whose strategies resembled his own.^[22] After the German breakthrough at Sedan on 15 May 1940 he was given command of the improvised 4e Division cuirassée.^[26]

On 17 May, de Gaulle attacked German tank forces at Montcornet with 200 tanks but no air support. Although de Gaulle's tanks forced the German infantry to retreat to Caumont the action brought only temporary relief and did little to slow the spearhead of the German advance. Nevertheless, it was one of the few successes the French enjoyed while suffering defeats elsewhere across the country. In recognition for his efforts, De Gaulle was promoted to acting brigadier general on 24 May, a rank he would hold for the rest of his life.^[2] On 28, he took part in an attempt to rescue the Allied force trapped at Dunkirk by cutting an escape route through German forces at Abbeville.

On 5 June, Prime Minister Paul Reynaud appointed him Under Secretary of State for National Defence and War and put him in charge of coordination with the United Kingdom.^[27]

As a junior member of the French government, he unsuccessfully opposed surrender, advocating instead that the government remove itself to North Africa and carry on the war as best it could from France's African colonies. While serving as a liaison with the British government, de Gaulle telephoned Paul Reynaud, the French prime minister, from London on 16 June informing him of the offer by Britain of a Declaration of Union.^[28] The declaration, inspired by Jean Monnet,^[29] would have merged France and the United Kingdom into one country, with a single government and army. The offer was a desperate, last-minute effort to strengthen the resolve of Reynaud's government; his cabinet's hostile reaction to the offer contributed to Reynaud's resignation.^[30]

In rejecting the proposal, Marshal Philippe Pétain, believing that Germany would soon defeat Britain as well and who later went on to lead the collaborationist Vichy regime, told British Prime Minister Winston Churchill that "in three weeks, England will have its neck wrung like a chicken" and that such a plan would be like "fusion with a corpse".^[31]

Returning the same day to Bordeaux, the temporary wartime capital, de Gaulle learned that Marshal Pétain had become prime minister and was planning to seek an armistice with Nazi Germany. De Gaulle and other allied officers rebelled against the new French government; on the morning of 17 June, de Gaulle and a few senior French officers flew to Britain with 100,000 gold francs in secret funds provided to him by the ex-prime minister Paul Reynaud. Narrowly escaping the Luftwaffe, he landed safely in London that afternoon.

Leader of the Free French[link]

"To all Frenchmen" : De Gaulle exhorting the French to resist to the German occupation

De Gaulle strongly denounced the French government's decision to seek armistice with the Nazis and set about building the Free French Forces from the soldiers and officers deployed outside France or who had fled France with him. On 18 June, de Gaulle delivered a famous radio address via the BBC Radio service. Although the British cabinet initially attempted to block the speech, they were overruled by Churchill.^[26]

De Gaulle's Appeal of 18 June exhorted the French people not to be demoralised and to continue to resist the occupation of France and work against the collaborationist Vichy regime, which had signed an armistice with Nazi Germany. Although the original speech could only be heard in a few parts of occupied France, de Gaulle's subsequent ones reached many parts of the territories under the Vichy regime, helping to rally the French resistance movement and earning him much popularity amongst the French people and soldiers. On 4 July 1940, a court-martial in Toulouse sentenced de Gaulle in absentia to four years in prison. At a second court-martial on 2 August 1940 de Gaulle was condemned to death for treason against the Vichy regime.^[26]

With British support, the de Gaulle family settled in Berkhamsted (36 miles northwest of London) from October 1941 to September 1942.^[32] He organised the Free French forces and gradually the Allies gave increasing support and recognition to de Gaulle's efforts. In dealings with his British allies and the United States, de Gaulle insisted at all times on retaining full freedom of action on behalf of France and he was constantly on the verge of being cut off by the Allies. Many denials of the deep and mutual antipathy between de Gaulle and political leaders of Anglo-American allies of the French are on historical record.^[33][34]

He harboured a suspicion of the British in particular, believing that they were surreptitiously seeking to steal France's colonial possessions in the Levant. A self-confessed lover of all things French, Winston Churchill was often frustrated at de Gaulle's patriotic egocentricity, but also wrote of his "immense admiration" for him during the early days of his British exile. Though their relationship later became strained, Churchill tried to explain the reasons for de Gaulle's behaviour in the second volume of his history of World War II;

"He felt it was essential to his position before the French people that he should maintain a proud and haughty demeanour towards "perfidious Albion", although in exile, dependent upon our protection and dwelling in our midst. He had to be rude to the British to prove to French eyes that he was not a British puppet. He certainly carried out this policy with perseverance".

Clementine Churchill, who admired de Gaulle, once cautioned him, "General, you must not hate your friends more than you hate your enemies." De Gaulle himself stated famously, "France has no friends, only interests."^[35] The situation was nonetheless complex, and de Gaulle's mistrust of both British and U.S. intentions with regards to France was mirrored by a mistrust of the Free French among the U.S. political leadership, who for a long time refused to recognise de Gaulle as the representative of France, preferring to deal with representatives of the Vichy government. Roosevelt in particular hoped that it would be possible to wean Pétain away from Germany.^[4]

Working with the French resistance and other supporters in France's colonial African possessions after the Anglo-U.S. invasion of North Africa in November 1942, de Gaulle moved his headquarters to Algiers in May 1943. He became first joint head (with the less resolutely independent General Henri Giraud, the candidate preferred by the U.S. who wrongly suspected de Gaulle of being a British puppet) and then – after squeezing out Giraud by force of personality – sole chairman of the French Committee of National Liberation.^[26]

Rival French leaders Henri Giraud (left) and Charles de Gaulle sit down after shaking hands in presence of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill (Casablanca Conference, 14 January 1943) – a public display of unity, but the handshake was only for show.^[36]

De Gaulle was held in high regard by Allied commander General Dwight Eisenhower.^[37] In Algiers in 1943, Eisenhower gave De Gaulle the assurance in person that a French force would liberate Paris and arranged that the army division of French General Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque would be transferred from North Africa to England to carry out that liberation.^[37] Eisenhower was impressed by the combativeness of units of the Free French Forces and "grateful for the part they had played in mopping up the remnants of German resistance"; he also detected how strongly devoted many were to de Gaulle and how ready they were to accept him as the national leader.^[37]

Preparations for D-Day[link]

As preparations for the liberation of Europe gathered pace, the Americans in particular found de Gaulle's tendency to view everything from the French perspective to be extremely tiring. Roosevelt, who refused to recognise any provisional authority in France until elections had been held, considered de Gaulle to be a potential dictator, a view backed by a number of leading Frenchmen in Washington, including Jean Monnet, who later became an instrumental figure in the setting up of the European Coal and Steel Community that led to the modern European Union. He also refused to allow Churchill to provide de Gaulle with strategic details of the imminent invasion because he did not trust him to keep the information to himself. French codes were known to be weak, but because the Free French refused to use British or American codes, this posed a major security risk.^[38]

Nevertheless, a few days before D-Day Churchill, whose relationship with the General had deteriorated since the days he first came to Britain, decided he needed to keep him more or less informed of developments, and on 2 June he sent two passenger aircraft and his representative, Duff Cooper to Algiers to bring de Gaulle back to Britain. De Gaulle refused because of Roosevelt's intention to install a provisional Allied military government in the former occupied territories pending elections, but he eventually relented and flew to Britain the next day.

Upon his arrival at RAF Northolt on 4 June 1944 he received an official welcome, and a letter reading "My dear general! welcome to these shores, very great military events are about to take place!"^[39] Later, on his personal train, Churchill informed him that he wanted him to make a radio address, but when informed that the Americans continued to refuse to recognise his legitimate right to power in France, and after Churchill suggested he request a meeting with Roosevelt to improve his relationship with the president, de Gaulle became angry, demanding to know why he should "lodge my candidacy for power in France with Roosevelt; the French government exists".^[18]

Winston Churchill and General de Gaulle at Marrakesh, January 1944

De Gaulle was concerned at a general break down of civil order and of a potential communist takeover in the vacuum which might follow a German withdrawal of France.^[40] During the general conversation which followed with those present, de Gaulle was involved in an angry exchange with the Labour minister, Ernest Bevin, and, raising his concerns about the validity of the new currency to be circulated by the Allies after the liberation, de Gaulle commented scornfully, "go and wage war with your false money". De Gaulle was much concerned that an American takeover of the French administration would just provoke a communist uprising.

Churchill then also lost his temper, saying that Britain could not act separately from America, and that under the circumstances, if they had to choose between France and the US, Britain would always choose the latter. De Gaulle replied that he realised that this would always be the case. The next day, de Gaulle refused to address the French nation because the script again made no mention of his being the legitimate interim ruler of France. It instructed the French people to obey Allied military authorities until elections could be held, and so the row continued, with de Gaulle calling Churchill a "gangster". Churchill in turn accused the general of treason in the height of battle, and demanded he be flown back to Algers "in chains if necessary".^[40]

In the years to come, the hostile dependent wartime relationship of de Gaulle and his future political peers re-enacted the historical national and colonial rivalry and lasting enmity between the French and English,^[41] and foreshadowed the deep distrust of France for post-war Anglo-American partnerships.

Return to France[link]

Perhaps inevitably, de Gaulle ignored les Anglo-Saxons, and proclaimed the authority of the Free French Forces in France the next day. Under the leadership of General de Lattre de Tassigny, France fielded an entire army – a joint force of Free French together with French colonial troops from North Africa – on the western front. Initially landing as part of Operation Dragoon, in the south of France, the French First Army helped to liberate almost one third of the country and actively rejoined the Allies in the struggle against Germany. As the invasion slowly progressed and the Germans were pushed back, de Gaulle made preparations to return to France.

On 14 June he left Britain for France for what was supposed to be a one day trip. Despite an agreement that he would bring only two staff, he was accompanied by a large entourage with extensive luggage, and although many rural Normans remained mistrustful of him, he was warmly greeted by the inhabitants of the towns he visited, such as the badly damaged Isigny. Finally he arrived at the city of Bayeux, which he now proclaimed as the capital of Free France. Appointing his Aide-de-Camp Francois Coulet as head of the civil administration, de Gaulle returned to England that same night on a French destroyer, and although the official position of the supreme military command remained unchanged, local Allied officers found it more practical to deal with the fledgling administration in Bayeux in everyday matters.^[40]

Governor-General Félix Éboué welcomes de Gaulle to Chad.

De Gaulle flew to Algiers on 16 June and then went on to Rome to meet the Pope and the new Italian Government. At the beginning of July he at last visited Roosevelt in Washington, where he received the 17 gun salute of a senior military leader rather than the 21 guns of a visiting head of state. The visit was ‘devoid of trust on both sides’ according to the French representative,^[18] however Roosevelt did make some concessions towards recognising the legitimacy of the Bayeux administration.

Meanwhile, with the Germans retreating in the face of the Allied onslaught, harried all the way by the resistance, there were widespread instances of revenge attacks on those accused of collaboration. A number of prominent officials and members of the feared Milice were murdered, often by exceptionally brutal means, provoking the Germans into appalling reprisals, such as in the destruction of the village of Oradour-sur-Glane and the killing of its 642 inhabitants.^[42] Of little strategic value, Paris was initially not high on the list of Allied objectives, but both de Gaulle and the commander of the 2nd Armoured Division, General Philippe Leclerc were concerned that a possible communist attempt to take over the capital would plunge France into civil war. De Gaulle successfully lobbied for Paris to be made a priority for liberation on humanitarian grounds and obtained from Allied Supreme Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower an agreement that French troops would be allowed to enter the capital first. A few days later, General Leclerc's French Armoured Division entered the outskirts of the city, and after six days of fighting in which the resistance played a major part, the German garrison of 5000 men surrendered on 25 August, although some sporadic outbreaks of fighting continued for several days. In surrendering, the German commander General Dietrich von Choltitz ignored his orders to raze the city to the ground.

It was fortunate for de Gaulle that the Germans had forcibly removed members of the Vichy government and taken them to Germany a few days earlier on 20 August; it allowed him to enter Paris as a liberator in the midst of the general euphoria,^[43] but there were serious concerns that communist elements of the resistance, which had done so much to clear the way for the military would try to seize the opportunity to proclaim their own 'Peoples' Government' in the capital. De Gaulle made contact with Leclerc demanded the presence of the 2nd Armoured Division to accompany him on a massed parade down the Champs Elysees, "as much for prestige as for security".^[43] This was in spite of the fact that Leclerc's unit was fighting as part of the American 1st Army and were under strict orders to continue their next objective without obeying orders from anyone else. In the event, the American General Omar Bradley decided that Leclerc's division would be indispensable for the maintenance of order and the liquidation of the last pockets of resistance in the French capital. Earlier, on 21 August, de Gaulle had appointed his military advisor General Marie Koenig as Governor of Paris.

General de Gaulle delivering a speech in liberated Cherbourg from the Hôtel de ville (town hall).

As his procession came along the Place de la Concorde on Saturday 26 August, it came under machine gun fire by Vichy militia and fifth columnists who were unable to give themselves up. Later, on entering the cathedral at Notre Dame to be received as head of the provisional government by the Committee of Liberation, loud shots broke out again, and Leclerc and Koenig tried to hustle him through the door, but De Gaulle shook off their hands and never faltered. While the battle began outside, he walked slowly down the aisle. Before he had gone far a machine pistol fired down from above, at least two more joined in, and from below the F.F.I, and police fired back. A BBC correspondent who was present reported;

"…the General is being presented to the people. He is being received…they have opened fire!… firing started all over the place... that was one of the most dramatic scenes I have ever seen.... General de Gaulle walked straight ahead into what appeared to me to be a hail of fire... but he went straight ahead without hesitation, his shoulders flung back, and walked right down the centre aisle, even while the bullets were pouring about him. It was the most extraordinary example of courage I have ever seen.. . there were bangs, flashes all about him, yet he seemed to have an absolutely charmed life."^[44]

Later, in the great hall of the Hotel de Ville, de Gaulle was greeted by a jubilant crowd and, proclaiming the continuity of the Third Republic, delivered a characteristically Franco-centric proclamation;

"Paris outraged, Paris broken, Paris martyred, but Paris liberated! By herself, liberated by her people, with the help of the whole of France! We will not rest until we march, as we must, into enemy territory as conquerors. France has a right to be in the first line among the great nations who are going to organize the peace and the life of the world. She has a right to be heard in all four corners of the world. France is a great world power. She knows it and will act so that others may know it."

That night the Germans launched a massive artillery and air bombardment on Paris by way of revenge, killing over a thousand people and wounding several thousand others.^[43] The situation in Paris remained tense, and a few days later de Gaulle, still unsure of the trend of events asked General Eisenhower to send some American troops into Paris as a show of strength. This he did 'not without some satisfaction',^[43] and so on 29 August, the US 28th Infantry Division was rerouted from its journey to the front line and paraded down the Champs Elysees.^[45]

	Speech by Charles de Gaulle. noicon Speech by Charles de Gaulle after the liberation of Paris, August 1944.
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The same day, Washington and London bowed to the inevitable and finally came to an agreement to accept the position of the Free French. The following day General Eisenhower gave his de facto blessing with a visit to the General in Paris.

Prime Minister of France 1944–1946[link]

With the pre-war parties and many of their leaders discredited, there was little opposition to de Gaulle and his associates forming an interim administration. In order not to be seen as presuming on his position in such austere times, de Gaulle did not use one of the grand official residences such as Hotel de Matignon or the Presidential palace on the Elysee, but resided briefly in his old office at the War Ministry. When he was joined by his wife and daughters a short while later, they moved into a small state owned villa on edge of Bois de Boulogne which had once been set aside for Hermann Goering.^[46]

Living conditions immediately after the liberation were even worse than under Nazi rule. A quarter of housing had been damaged or destroyed, basic public services were at a standstill, petrol and electricity was extremely scarce and, apart from the wealthy who could afford high prices, the population had to get by on very little food. Large scale public demonstrations erupted all over France protesting at the apparent lack of action at improving the supply of food, while in Normandy, bakeries were pillaged. The problem was that although wheat production was around 80% of pre war levels, transport was paralysed over virtually the whole of France. Large areas of track had been destroyed by bombing, most modern equipment, rolling stock, lorries and farm animals had been taken to Germany and all the bridges over the Seine, the Loire and the Rhone between Paris and the sea had been destroyed. The black market pushed real prices to four times the level of 1939, causing the government to print money to try to improve the money supply, which only added to inflation.^[46]

Curbing the Communist Resistance[link]

After the celebrations had died down, de Gaulle began conferring with leading Resistance figures who, with the Germans gone intended to continue as a political and military force, and asked to be given a government building to serve as their headquarters. The Resistance, in which the Communists were competing with other trends for leadership, had developed its own manifesto for social and political change known as the National Council of the Resistance (CNR) Charter, and wanted special status to enter the army under their own flags, ranks and honours. Despite their decisive support in backing him against Giraud, de Gaulle disappointed some of the resistance leaders by telling them that although their efforts and sacrifices had been recognised, they had no further role to play and that unless they joined the regular army they should lay down their arms and return to civilian life.^[46]

Believing them to be a dangerous revolutionary force, de Gaulle moved to break up the liberation committees and other militias. The political outlook of the Communists represented the complete opposite of his own views, and he was concerned at the amount of support they were receiving from the public. The potential power of the Communists also troubled the American government. As early as May 1943, the US Secretary of State Cordell Hull had written to Roosevelt urging him of need to take action to attempt to curb the rise of Communism in France.^[17]

The provisional government of the French republic[link]

On 10 September 1944, the Provisional Government of the French Republic, or Government of National Unanimity was formed. It included many of de Gaulle’s Free French associates such as Gaston Palewski, Claude Guy, Claude Mauriac and Jacques Soustelle, together with members of the main parties, which included the Socialists and a new Christian Democratic Party, the MRP under the leadership of Georges Bidault, who served as Foreign Minister. The President of the prewar Senate Jules Jeanneney was brought back as second ranking member, but because of their links with Russia, de Gaulle allowed the Communists only two minor positions in his government. Although they were now a major political force with over a million members, of the full cabinet of 22 men, only Augustin Laurent and Charles Tillon - who as head of Francs-Tireurs-Partisans had been one of the most active members of the resistance – were given ministries. However, de Gaulle did pardon the Communist’s leader Maurice Thorez, who had been sentenced to death in absentia by the French government for desertion. On his return home from Russia, Thorez delivered a speech supporting de Gaulle in which he said that for the present, the war against Germany was the only task that mattered.

There were also a number of new faces in the government, including a literary academic, Georges Pompidou, who had written to one of de Gaulle’s recruiting agents offering his services, and Jean Monnet, who in spite of his past opposition to the General now recognised the need for unity and served as Commissoner for Economic Planning. Of equal rank to Ministers and answerable only to the Prime Minister, a number of Commissioners of the Republic (Commissaires de la République) were appointed to re-establish the democratic institutions of France and to extend the legitimacy of the provisional government. A number of former Free French associates served as Commissioners, including Henri Fréville, Raymond Aubrac and Michel Debré, who was charged with reforming the Civil Service. Controversially, de Gaulle also appointed Maurice Papon as Commissioner for Aquitaine in spite of his involvement in the deportation of Jews while serving as a senior police official in the Vichy regime during the occupation. Over the years, Papon remained in high official positions but would continue to be implicated in controversial events such as the Paris Massacre of 1961,^[47] eventually being convicted of crimes against humanity in 1998.

Tour of major cities[link]

De Gaulle’s policy was to postpone elections as long as 2.6 million French were in Germany as prisoners of war and forced labourers. In mid-September he embarked upon a tour of major provincial cities to increase his public profile and to help cement his position. Although he received a largely positive reception from the crowds who came out to see him, he reflected that only a few months previously the very same people had come out to cheer Marshal Pétain when he was serving the Vichy regime. Raymond Aubrac said that the General showed himself to be ill at ease at social functions; in Marseilles and Lyon he displayed great irritation when he was forced to sit next to local Resistance leaders at the post-rally banquet and was particularly scathing at what he regarded as the vulgar displays of exuberance among young men and women during the Masquisards parades which preceded his speech.^[46] When he reached Toulouse, de Gaulle also had to confront the leaders of a group which had proclaimed themselves to be the provincial government of the city.^[18]

During the tour, de Gaulle showed his customary lack of concern for his own safety by mixing with the crowds and thus making himself an easy target for an assassin. Although he was naturally shy, the good use of amplification and patriotic music enabled him to deliver his message that though all of France was fragmented and suffering together they would rise again. During every speech he would stop half way through to invite the crowd to join him in singing La Marseillaise, before continuing and finishing by raising his hands in the air and crying Vive la France!^[46]

The legal purges (Épuration légale)[link]

As the war entered its final stages, the nation was forced to confront the reality of how many of its people had behaved under German rule. In France, collaborators were more severely punished than in most other occupied countries^[48] Immediately after the liberation, countless women accused of fraternising with the enemy were publicly shaved in the steets or daubed with feathers, although a significant number were less fortunate, being viciously killed. With so many of their former members having been hunted down and killed by the Nazis and paramilitary Milice, the Partisans had already summarily executed an estimated 4500 people,^[48] and the Communists in particular continued to press for severe action against collaborators. In Paris alone, over 150,000 people were at some time detained on suspicion of collaboration, although most were later released. Famous figures accused included the industrialist Louis Renault, the actress Arletty, who had lived openly with a German officer in the Ritz, the opera star Tino Rossi, the stage actor Sacha Guitry and Coco Chanel, who was briefly detained but fled to Switzerland.^[18]

Keenly aware of the need to seize the initiative and to get the process under firm judicial control, de Gaulle appointed Justice Minister François de Menthon to lead the Legal Purge (Épuration Légale) to punish traitors and to clear away the traces of the Vichy regime. Knowing that he would need to excuse many of the ‘economic collaborators’ – such as police and civil servants who held minor roles under Vichy in order to keep the country running as normally as possible – he assumed, as head of state the right to commute death sentences.^[18] In all, of the near 2000 people who received the death sentence from the courts, less than 800 were actually executed. De Gaulle commuted 998 of the 1554 capital sentences submitted before him, including all those involving women. Many others were given jail terms or sentenced to national humiliation (loss of civil rights). It is generally agreed that the purge was not well conducted, with often absurdly severe or overly lenient punishments being handed down.^[46] It was also notable that the less well-off people who were unable to pay for lawyers were more harshly treated. As time went by and feelings grew less intense, a number of people who had held fairly senior positions under the Vichy government – such as Maurice Papon and René Bousquet – escaped justice by claiming to have worked secretly for the resistance or to have played a double game, working for the good of France by serving the established order.^[46]

Later, there was the question of what to do with the former Vichy leaders when they were finally returned to France. Marshal Pétain and Maxime Weygand were war heroes from World War I and were now extremely old; convicted of treason, Pétain received a death sentence which his old protégé de Gaulle commuted to life imprisonment, while Weygand was eventually acquitted. In all, three Vichy leaders were executed; Joseph Darnand, who became an SS officer and led the Milice paramilitaries who hunted down members of the Resistance was executed in October 1945, while Fernand de Brinon, the third ranking Vichy official was found guilty of war crimes and executed in April 1947. The two trials of the most infamous collaborator of all, Pierre Laval, who was heavily implicated in the murder of Jews were widely criticised as being unfair for depriving him of the opportunity to properly defend himself, although Laval antagonised the court throughout with his bizarre behaviour. He was found guilty of treason in May 1945 and de Gaulle was adamant that there would be no commuting the death sentence, saying that Laval’s execution was "an indispenable symbolic gesture required for reasons of state". There was a widespread belief, particularly in the years that followed, that de Gaulle was trying to appease both the Third Republic politicians and the former Vichy leaders who had made Laval their scapegoat.^[46]

Winter of 1944[link]

The winter on 1944-45 was a miserable time. Inflation showed no sign of slowing down and the lives of ordinary people were still blighted by severe shortages. The Prime Minister and the other Gaullists were forced to try to balance the desires of ordinary people and public servants for a return to normal life with pressure from Bidault’s MRP and the Communists for the large scale nationalisation programme and other social changes that formed the main tenets of the CNR Charter. At end of 1944 the coal industry and other energy companies were nationalised, followed shortly afterwards by major banks and finance houses, the merchant navy, the main aircraft manufacturers, airlines and a number of major private enterprises such as the Renault car company at Boulogne-Billancourt, whose owner had been implicated as a collaborator and accused of having made huge profits working for the Nazis.^[18] In some cases unions, feeling that things were not progressing quickly enough took matters into their own hands, occupying premises and setting up workers committees to run the companies.^[46] Women were also allowed the vote for the first time, a new social security system was introduced to cover most medical costs, unions were expanded and price controls introduced to try to curb inflation. At de Gaulle’s request, the newspaper Le Monde was founded in December 1944 to provide France with a quality daily journal similar to those in other countries. Le Monde took over the premises and facilities of the older Le Temps, whose independence and reputation had been badly compromised during the Vichy years.^[18]

During this period there were a number of minor disagreements between the French and the other Allies. The British Ambassador to France Duff Cooper said that during this time de Gaulle seemed to seek out real or imagined insults to take offence at wherever possible.^[18] De Gaulle believed that Britain and America were intending to keep their armies in France after the war and were secretly working to take over her overseas possessions and to prevent her from regaining her political and economic strength. In late October he complained that the Allies were failing to adequately arm and equip the new French army and instructed Bidault to use the French veto at the European Council.^[18]

On Armisice day 1944 Winston Churchill made his first visit to France since the liberation and received a good reception in Paris where he laid a wreath to Clemenceau. The occasion also marked the first official appearance of de Gaulle’s wife Yvonne, but the visit was less friendly than it appeared. De Gaulle had given strict instructions that there should be no excessive displays of public affection towards Churchill and no official awards without his prior agreement. When crowds cheered Churchill during a parade down the Elysee, de Gaulle was heard to remark, "Fools and cretins! Look at the rabble cheering the old bandit".^[46]

Visit to Russia[link]

With the Russian forces making more rapid advances into German held territory than the Allies, there was a sudden public realisation that the Soviet Union was about to dominate large parts of Eastern Europe. In fact, at the Cairo and Tehran Conferences in 1943 Britain and America had already agreed to allow Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary to fall under the Russian sphere of influence after the war, with shared influence in Yugoslavia.^[49] Britain was to retain hegemony over Greece, although there had been no agreement over Poland, whose eastern territories were already in Russian hands under the Brest-Litovsk agreement with Germany, and which retained a government in exile in London.^[49] De Gaulle had not been invited to any of the ‘Big Three’ Conferences, although the decisions made by Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt in dividing up Europe were of huge importance to France.