Charles de Gaulle

Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (French: [ʃaʁl də ɡol]; 22 November 1890 – 9 November 1970) was a French general, resistant, writer and statesman. He was the leader of Free France (1940–44) and the head of the Provisional Government of the French Republic (1944–46). In 1958, he founded the Fifth Republic and was elected as the 18th President of France, until his resignation in 1969. He was the dominant figure of France during the Cold War era and his memory continues to influence French politics.

Born in Lille, he graduated from Saint-Cyr in 1912. He was a decorated officer of the First World War, wounded several times and later taken prisoner at Verdun. He tried to escape with a fellow prisoner, but failed several times. After the war ended, he was released. During the interwar period he advocated mobile armoured divisions. At the beginning of the Second World War, he led an armoured division which counterattacked the invading German army, before being appointed to the French Government as Under-Secretary for War. Refusing to accept his government's armistice with Nazi Germany in 1940, de Gaulle exhorted the French population to resist occupation and to continue the fight against Axis powers in his Appeal of 18 June. He led a government in exile and the Free French Forces against the Axis. Despite frosty relations with Britain and especially the United States, he emerged as the undisputed leader of the French resistance. He became Head of the Provisional Government of the French Republic in June 1944, the interim government of France following its Liberation. As early as 1944, de Gaulle introduced a dirigist economic policy, which included substantial state-directed control over a capitalist economy. It contributed to thirty years of unprecedented growth.

French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle (R91)

Charles de Gaulle is the flagship of the French Navy (Marine Nationale) and the largest western European warship currently in commission. She is the tenth French aircraft carrier, the first French nuclear-powered surface vessel, and the first and so far only nuclear-powered carrier completed outside of the United States Navy. She is named after French statesman and general Charles de Gaulle.

The ship carries a complement of Dassault-Breguet Super Étendard, Dassault Rafale M and E‑2C Hawkeye aircraft, EC725 Caracal and AS532 Cougar helicopter for combat search and rescue, as well as modern electronics and Aster missiles. She is a CATOBAR-type carrier that uses two 75 m C13‑3 steam catapults of a shorter version of the catapult system installed on the U.S. Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, one catapult at the bow and one across the front of the landing area. Thanks to her characteristics, Charles de Gaulle is the only non-American carrier-vessel in the world able to operate American aircraft such as the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet or C-2 Greyhound, which operate from American carrier-vessels.

Charles de Gaulle (born 1948)

Charles de Gaulle (born 25 September 1948 in Dijon) is a French politician. He is the eldest child of Admiral Philippe de Gaulle and grandson of General Charles de Gaulle, and served as a member of the European Parliament (MEP), from 1994 to 2004 (as a member of the Movement for France).

A lawyer in Paris since 1971, Charles de Gaulle was a regional counselor of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais from 1986 to 1992, as a member of the Union for French Democracy (UDF) right-of-center party. From 1989 to 1990, he was the mayor's first assistant in Rueil-Malmaison in the Hauts-de-Seine department. He was present on Valéry Giscard d'Estaing's electoral list during the 1989 European elections, and after resignations from UDF members who preceded him, he took his seat in Strasbourg in 1993.

At the 1994 European elections, he was elected on Philippe de Villiers's Movement for France (MPF)'s electoral list. Starting in 1998, Charles de Gaulle got closer to Jean-Marie Le Pen's National Front (FN). He refused to vote the suspension of Le Pen's parliamentary immunity in Strasbourg, joined the FN in 1999, and then presented himself at the 1999 European elections and the 2001 municipal elections in Paris on National Front lists. He was not reelected to the European Parliament in 2004.

Surname

A surname or family name is a name added to a given name. In many cases, a surname is a family name and many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name". In the western hemisphere, it is commonly synonymous with last name because it is usually placed at the end of a person's given name.

In most Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking countries, two or more last names (or surnames) may be used. In China, Hungary, Japan, Korea, Madagascar, Taiwan, Vietnam, and parts of India, the family name is placed before a person's given name.

The style of having both a family name (surname) and a given name (forename) is far from universal. In many countries, it is common for ordinary people to have only one name or mononym.

The concept of a "surname" is a relatively recent historical development, evolving from a medieval naming practice called a "byname". Based on an individual's occupation or area of residence, a byname would be used in situations where more than one person had the same name.