De Gaulle (Civ4)/Civilopedia

Charles de Gaulle was President of the French Fifth Republic, Prime Minister of France and leader of the French resistance during World War II. Born in Lille, France, de Gaulle would fight in both World Wars and guide his country through reconstruction before his death in 1970.
As a young man, Charles de Gaulle was drawn to the life of a soldier. In 1912, de Gaulle graduated from Saint-Cyr, the premier military academy in France. Two years later the precocious, young soldier found himself in the midst of the carnage of World War I. Captured by the Germans after the Battle of Verdun in 1916, de Gaulle was held for nearly two years before being released when the War to End All Wars finally came to a close.
After a brief stint fighting with the Polish during the Polish-Soviet War, de Gaulle returned to France and began publishing numerous papers on the state of modern warfare. His most prophetic, "The Army of the Future," published in 1934, argued that the static defenses of the Maginot Line, France's key protection against another German invasion, would not last in the face of a modern mobile assault.
His words would go unheeded.
With the German invasion of France and the capitulation of French leadership, de Gaulle escaped to Great Britain, firm in his belief that while the government had folded, France was not defeated. From England, de Gaulle broadcast a message of resistance back to his homeland, stating "France has lost a battle, but France has not lost the war." Leaving Great Britain, de Gaulle traveled towards the French colonies in Africa, now under the control of the Nazi-sympathizing Vichy government. Creating the new base for his "Free French" movement in the Congo, de Gaulle won a series of key victories against the Vichy and German forces, steadily increasing his strength and renown.
When France was finally liberated by the Allies, the Free French forces were there to take control of the country. De Gaulle became the interim Prime Minister as the Fourth Republic was created, but disagreements with the nascent government ended in de Gaulle's resignation.
In 1958, economic struggles and political infighting in the Fourth Republic drew de Gaulle back into power and would mark the beginning of the French Fifth Republic. With a strong hand, de Gaulle began a period of driven, some would say bullheaded, modernization and redirection of the French state. Ushering in France's nuclear age and breaking ties with the problematic French colony of Algeria, de Gaulle ensured that France would remain among the premier nations of the world.