De Gaulle, histoire d'un géant

General de Gaulle's resignation still makes the headlines

in newspapers around the world.

Messages of sympathy have poured in from all the major capital cities,

starting with President Nixon, who wrote to General De Gaulle,

"We, in the United States,

"will not forget what you have done for France,

"both at home and abroad."

The West German minister of foreign affairs also responded,

"General De Gaulle's defeat in the referendum

"is important, not only for French domestic policy

"but also for European policy as a whole."

Many messages arrived from Africa, too.

The Republic of Senegal's president,

Mr. Senghor, sent a telegram to General De Gaulle,

in which he expressed his and Senegal's gratitude

to the man

thanks to whom decolonization took place in a friendly, honorable way...

LA BOISSERIE APRIL 1969

Political life will take on a whole other dimension.

I believe a historic period

is coming to end,

and we are leaving behind a political era

presided over by a man

with exceptional reach,

and now, I think we will return to a more common era.

April 1969,

Colombey-les-Deux-Églises,

the final act of an exceptional life.

After his defeat in the referendum and his brutal resignation,

De Gaulle withdrew to a life of proud solitude at La Boisserie,

his family estate.

Here, he fought against time

to write his book, Memoirs of Hope,

into which he poured his final thoughts.

He spent entire days writing,

pausing only for three meditative walks,

at the same times each day, on the silent grounds.

This man in the twilight of his life became a legend

after a lifetime full of fighting and noise,

buoyed by his certainty that he had a destiny

and that he had accomplished it.

DE GAULLE - A GIANT AMONG MEN

It all began in Lille

on November 22, 1890,

because in keeping with a family tradition,

he was born in the home of his grandmother.

Charles grew up surrounded by three brothers and one sister.

For his parents, eternal France transcended the Republic.

Money meant nothing compared to intellect,

and patriotism was not open to discussion.

They read Péguy, Bergson,

Maurras,

Barrès, and others.

I knew I was destined for something.

My parents showed me the way.

My father, a very cultured man,

taught me about our tumultuous history.

For my mother, patriotism

was intransigent and just as important to her as religious piety.

She gave me her taste for risk and self-sacrifice.

Although he was not always an easy child,

the young Charles was instilled with these moral values.

He was a passionate reader,

from Adolphe Thiers to Jules Verne.

EXTRAORDINARY VOYAGES

His sister told how, when they played as children,

her brother always wanted to be the king of France.

Charles was ambitious from a young age.

At age 15, he already imagined himself one day saving France.

He wrote, "France was built with swords."

He believed he would best serve his country by joining the army.

At age 19, he was admitted to Saint-Cyr.

But he was not built for the routine of life in the barracks and fatigues.

Because of his strong personality and striking figure,

he was given the nickname of "the Constable".

His culture and ambitious plans impressed others.

In 1912, when he graduated from Saint-Cyr third in his class,

his superiors sang his praises,

"He is very capable, energetic, zealous,

"enthusiastic, decisive, and has strong leadership skills."

While he could have joined other, more prestigious units,

for some reason, he chose to join the 33rd Infantry Regiment,

based in Arras.

The colonel in charge of the regiment,

a certain Philippe Pétain, was 56 years old.

His unconventionalism and sharp manner

irritated the military hierarchy.

The two men appreciated each other and built up a certain rapport.

They even spoke of personal matters.

Later, De Gaulle confided to a reporter,

"He loved women as you love them at age 50,

"and I disdained them as you disdain them at age 20.

"So we talked about them all the time."

AUGUST 1914

At the start of World War I,

Pétin was promoted to brigadier-general, then marshal.

In November 1918,

he became a national hero for his victory at Verdun.

World War I gave Philippe Pétain

a taste of glory.

For my part, it only made me frustrated,

impatient, and angry.

I wanted to fight,

but I was nothing but a useless soldier.

It was the worst possible situation.

Indeed, from the moment the war began,

young Lieutenant De Gaulle threw himself into combat.

Three injuries couldn't keep him from returning to the front.

CERTIFICATE OF VISIT

Finally, he was taken prisoner.

He made multiple escape attempts.

He was held prisoner at Ingolstadt Fort, reserved for repeat offenders,

where he spent 32 months moping around the silent prisons.

He filled up notebooks

where he tracked the progress of the fighting from afar.

He poured out his anger against the hierarchy,

railing against the pope, who was biased toward the enemy.

He described the government as no better than a greengrocer.

In a letter to his mother,

he described his situation as prisoner

as a lamentable exile.

POLAND 1919

Liberated after the armistice,

he immediately asked to be sent out on a mission

to support the Poles, who were fighting the Soviets.

As an instructor,

Captain De Gaulle was put in charge of training officers,

then promoted to military adviser.

He no longer felt like a useless, invisible soldier.

When he returned to Paris,

the young captain became an instructor at Saint-Cyr.

Often cold, distant, and even mocking,

he fascinated his students and was the subject of many caricatures.

He joined the Army War College.

But he remained critical and fairly inflexible.

His manner annoyed people.

In addition, in his first book, The Enemy's House Divided,

he contested the High Command and the role of the military.

His book kept him from graduating with the highest honors.

The jury commented,

"Cultured, serious officer, brilliant, and gifted.

"Unfortunately, he spoils these undeniable qualities

"with his overconfidence

"and attitude of an exiled king."

"Exiled king," the idiots at the Army War College said.

With authority comes prestige,

and with prestige comes standoffishness.

I had decided never to return to that dirty place

unless I was put in charge of the school.

In 1920, past age 30,

he began to think of starting a family.

In keeping with the traditions of the time and place,

a meeting was arranged.

It was organized in secret by the Vendroux family.

Their first outing was to the Grand Palais, for the Salon d'Automne,

to see Kees Van Dongen's work,

La Femme en Bleu.

Charles was won over by Yvonne Vendroux's charm.

They liked each other.

They married on April 7, 1921.

She was 20 years old and would remain by his side for 50 years.

"For you, Yvonne, without whom none of this would have happened,"

De Gaulle wrote when he dedicated his Memoirs of Hope to her.

The discreet Yvonne. Aunt Yvonne,

as the French people called her,

lived a simple life and kept her distance.

Although she appeared in numerous photos and videos,

she never gave a single interview,

and the public never heard the sound of her voice.

Paradoxically, she was one of the first women

to play a real role in the media.

When she arrived at the Élysée Palace, she exclaimed,

"Now, we must live in a furnished house."

She didn't like the building,

and told U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower,

"Everyone is at home there, except us."

For ten years, Yvonne de Gaulle led a simple, moderate life

at the Élysée Palace.

She made it a point of honor to pay their private bills.

She embodied a sort of moral order.

when Charles de Gaulle was outraged by the idea

of reimbursing women for such a trifle,

his wife intervened,

convincing him of the importance of the Neuwirth law

authorizing the contraceptive.

To better understand Yvonne de Gaulle's personality,

it is important to remember the tragedy that struck the couple.

Anne, the youngest in the family,

had Down's syndrome.

When she was born,

Yvonne and Charles' lives were turned upside down.

They and their two other children, Philippe and Élizabeth,

loved and cared for Anne.

The family made it through the hardships of the war

all while coping with this heartbreaking responsibility.

Charles de Gaulle was extremely tender-hearted with the little girl.

To protect her from prying eyes,

in 1934, the family moved

to Colombey-les-Deux-Églises,

in a house surrounded by high walls