The 22 governments that changed from the 4th Republic in 1946 until his return in 1958 to politics, which he abandoned in 1953 after the defeat of his party in the elections, reinforced in the legislator de Gaulle his dislike of parties, “by this factions that will tear each other apart and prevent the state from having a unified leadership, the nation from a leader, and France from maintaining its position and confirm the need for a democratic monarchy, a supreme ruler not by divine, but by popular law,” as Michel Winnock writes.

“I considered it necessary,” writes de Gaulle, “that the government should come not from parliament, that is, from the parties, but above all from the leader, who would receive direct instructions from the whole nation.”

During his tenure, de Gaulle indulges in trips to cities and regions, meeting with the masses and making the best use of the new medium that allows him to directly address the world: television, with receivers for which he will supply French households. in the 60s: “I believe that people listen to me. On the right day, I will ask him if he approves of me or not. Then for me his voice will be the voice of God,” he said. As it turned out, these were not empty words. When, after losing a referendum in 1969, he saw that the special bond he had with people vital to the exercise of power was severed, he resigned.

But then, in 1958, as the first president of the 5th French Republic, he would rebuild France for the second time. The first was in 1940 with the famous June 18 bell.

On June 1, 1940, he was promoted to the rank of general, and five days later he was appointed Deputy Minister of Defense and Defense in the government of Prime Minister Paul Reynaud. But June was disastrous for the French troops: land after land was crumbling, and the Germans were advancing from the north and east at great speed, confirming de Gaulle’s words, challenging the official doctrine of the Military School, and suggesting a profound renewal of strategy and warfare. politics, he repeatedly formulated in his books: “Discord in the bosom of the enemy”, “Edge of the sword”, “Towards a professional army” and “France and her army”. He realized in time the degree of France’s weakness: “The military organization is too much on the defensive, weak in maneuvers, with little ability for offensive operations without long delays in preparation and conduct, that is, without the constant support of heavy artillery.”

He saved the honor of his country in World War II.

The military annihilation of the French culminates on June 14, when the Nazi army enters Paris. On the eve of the government took refuge in Bordeaux. Early on the morning of June 16, General de Gaulle flew to London to meet with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. He asks for air and sea reinforcements, and Churchill approves the Franco-British alliance agreement. Late. Paul Reynaud resigned and was replaced by Marshal Pétain. The popular winner of the Battle of Verdun in the previous war had to negotiate an armistice with Germany and work with Hitler. De Gaulle is not going to lay down his arms. With the support of Churchill, he calls on the French on the BBC to resist, ending with the words: “I, General de Gaulle, who is in London today, call on French officers and soldiers who are on British soil or arriving with or without weapons, I I invite engineers and specialists from the military industry who are on British soil or who have come to talk with me. Whatever happens, the flame of French resistance must not and will not be extinguished!”

From London, de Gaulle creates the Free French Forces, where thousands of volunteers gather and leads them. In France, he was sentenced in absentia, first to ten years’ imprisonment and then, by Pétain himself, to death in July 1940 for high treason.

De Gaulle manages to unite the divided country and provide it with a place among the winners at the end of the war, which resulted in the occupation zone of Germany and one of the five permanent seats on the UN Security Council. He demanded a lot and won on behalf of France from allies and internal rivals, while he had the right only to “something”. During the war years, a strained, but always confidential and secret relationship of mutual admiration and hatred with Roosevelt developed between the general and Churchill. The reasons are detailed by Michel Winnock, who chose to address in his book these two moments when France was called upon to reinvent itself.

“Man is no more, but what remains and will complicate the life of mediocrity, liars, scammers, tyrants and cynics is a precedent. […] written by author Romain Harry. Or, as André Malraux put it: “Everyone has been, is or will be a scorer.”