Query: Charles de Gaulle was a leader.

Relevant passages:
France <=SEP=> France ( -LSB- fʁɑ̃s -RSB- ) , officially the French Republic ( -LSB- ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz -RSB- ) , is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories . The European , or metropolitan , area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea , and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean . Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic , Pacific and Indian oceans . France spans 643801 km2 and had a total population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017 . It is a unitary semi-presidential republic with the capital in Paris , the country 's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre . Other major urban centres include Marseille , Lyon , Lille , Nice , Toulouse and Bordeaux .   During the Iron Age , what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls , a Celtic people . The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome , which held Gaul until 486 , when the Germanic Franks conquered the region and formed the Kingdom of France . France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages , with its victory in the Hundred Years ' War ( 1337 to 1453 ) strengthening state-building and political centralisation . During the Renaissance , French culture flourished and a global colonial empire was established , which by the 20th century would be the second largest in the world . The 16th century was dominated by religious civil wars between Catholics and Protestants ( Huguenots ) . France became Europe 's dominant cultural , political , and military power under Louis XIV . In the late 18th century , the French Revolution overthrew the absolute monarchy , established one of modern history 's earliest republics , and saw the drafting of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen , which expresses the nation 's ideals to this day .   In the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire , whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe . Following the collapse of the Empire , France endured a tumultuous succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870 . France was a major participant in the First World War , from which it emerged victorious , and was one of the Allied Powers in the Second World War , but came under occupation by the Axis Powers in 1940 . Following liberation in 1944 , a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War . The Fifth Republic , led by Charles de Gaulle , was formed in 1958 and remains to this day . Algeria and nearly all the other colonies became independent in the 1960s and typically retained close economic and military connections with France .   France has long been a global centre of art , science , and philosophy . It hosts Europe 's fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually , the most of any country in the world . France is a developed country with the world 's sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity . In terms of aggregate household wealth , it ranks fourth in the world . France performs well in international rankings of education , health care , life expectancy , and human development . France remains a great power in the world , being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state . It is a leading member state of the European Union and the Eurozone . It is also a member of the Group of 7 , North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO ) , Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ( OECD ) , the World Trade Organization ( WTO ) , and La Francophonie .

Charles de Gaulle <=SEP=> Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle ( -LSB- ʃaʁl də ɡol -RSB- ; 22 November 1890 -- 9 November 1970 ) was a French general 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 President of France , a position he held 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 . During the interwar period , he advocated mobile armoured divisions . During the German invasion of May 1940 , he led an armoured division which counterattacked the invaders ; he was then appointed Under-Secretary for War . Refusing to accept his government 's armistice with Nazi Germany , de Gaulle exhorted the French population to resist occupation and to continue the fight 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 dirigiste economic policy , which included substantial state-directed control over a capitalist economy which was followed by thirty years of unprecedented growth .   Frustrated by the return of petty partisanship in the new Fourth Republic , he resigned in early 1946 but continued to be politically active as founder of the RPF party . He retired in the early 1950s and wrote his War Memoirs , which quickly became a classic of modern French literature . When the Algerian War was ripping apart the unstable Fourth Republic , the National Assembly brought him back to power during the May 1958 crisis . De Gaulle founded the Fifth Republic with a strong presidency , and he was elected in that role . He managed to keep France together while taking steps to end the war , much to the anger of the Pieds-Noirs ( Frenchmen settled in Algeria ) and the military ; both previously had supported his return to power to maintain colonial rule . He granted independence to Algeria and progressively to other French colonies .   In the context of the Cold War , de Gaulle initiated his `` Politics of Grandeur '' , asserting that France as a major power should not rely on other countries , such as the US , for its national security and prosperity . To this end , de Gaulle pursued a policy of `` national independence '' which led him to withdraw from NATO 's military integrated command and to launch an independent nuclear development program that made France the fourth nuclear power . He restored cordial Franco-German relations to create a European counterweight between the Anglo-American and Soviet spheres of influence . However , he opposed any development of a supranational Europe , favouring a Europe of sovereign nations . De Gaulle openly criticised the US intervention in Vietnam and the `` exorbitant privilege '' of the US dollar . In his later years , his support for an independent Quebec and his two vetoes against Britain 's entry into the European Community generated considerable controversy .   Although re-elected President in 1965 , in May 1968 he appeared likely to lose power amid widespread protests by students and workers but survived the crisis with backing from the Army and won an election with an increased majority in the Assembly . De Gaulle resigned in 1969 after losing a referendum in which he proposed more decentralization . He died a year later at his residence in Colombey-les-Deux-Églises , leaving his Presidential memoirs unfinished . Many French political parties and figures claim the Gaullist legacy .   De Gaulle was ranked as `` Le Plus Grand Français de tous les temps '' ( the Greatest Frenchman of All Time ) .

France–Germany relations <=SEP=> The relations between France and Germany , since 1871 , according to Ulrich Krotz , has three grand periods : ` hereditary enmity ' ( down to 1945 ) , ` reconciliation ' ( 1945 -- 63 ) and since 1963 the ` special relationship ' embodied in a cooperation called Franco-German Friendship ( Amitié franco-allemande Deutsch-Französische Freundschaft ) .   Especially in the context of the European Union , the cooperation between the countries reaches immense coordination and collaboration . Even though France has at times been eurosceptical in outlook , especially under President Charles de Gaulle , Franco-German agreements and cooperations have always been key to furthering the ideals of European integration .   In recent times , France and Germany are among the most enthusiastic proponents of the further integration of the EU . They are sometimes described as the `` twin engine '' or `` core countries '' pushing for moves .

Appeal of 18 June <=SEP=> The Appeal of 18 June ( L'Appel du 18 juin ) was a famous speech by Charles de Gaulle , the leader of the Free French Forces , in 1940 . The appeal is often considered to be the origin of the French Resistance to the German occupation during World War II . De Gaulle spoke to the French people from London after the fall of France . He declared that the war for France was not yet over , and rallied the country in support of the Resistance . It is regarded as one of the most important speeches in French history .   In spite of its reputation as the beginning of the Resistance and Free French , historians have shown that the appeal was heard only by a minority of French people . De Gaulle 's 22 June 1940 speech on the BBC was more widely heard .

French Fourth Republic <=SEP=> The French Fourth Republic was the republican government of France between 1946 and 1958 , governed by the fourth republican constitution . It was in many ways a revival of the Third Republic , which was in place before World War II , and suffered many of the same problems . France adopted the constitution of the Fourth Republic on 13 October 1946 .   The Fourth Republic saw an era of great economic growth in France and the rebuilding of the nation 's social institutions and industry after World War II , and played an important part in the development of the process of European integration which changed the continent permanently . The greatest accomplishments of the Fourth Republic were in social reform and economic development . In 1946 , the government established a comprehensive social security system that assured unemployment insurance , disability and old-age pensions , and health care to all citizens .   Some attempts were also made to strengthen the executive branch of government to prevent the unstable situation that had existed before the war , but the instability remained and the Fourth Republic saw frequent changes in government -- there were 21 administrations in its 12-year history . Moreover , the government proved unable to make effective decisions regarding decolonization of the numerous remaining French colonies . After a series of crises , most importantly the Algerian crisis of 1958 , the Fourth Republic collapsed . Wartime leader Charles de Gaulle returned from retirement to preside over a transitional administration which was empowered to design a new French constitution . The Fourth Republic was dissolved by a public referendum on 5 October 1958 which established the modern-day Fifth Republic with a strengthened presidency .

Gaullism <=SEP=> Gaullism ( Gaullisme ) is a French political stance based on the thought and action of World War II French Resistance leader General Charles de Gaulle , who would become the founding President of the Fifth French Republic .   Serge Berstein writes that Gaullism is `` neither a doctrine nor a political ideology '' and can not be considered either left or right . Rather , `` considering its historical progression , it is a pragmatic exercise of power that is neither free from contradictions nor of concessions to momentary necessity , even if the imperious word of the general gives to the practice of Gaullism the allure of a program that seems profound and fully realized . '' Gaullism is `` a peculiarly French phenomenon , without doubt the quintessential French political phenomenon of the twentieth century . ''   Lawrence D. Kritzman writes that Gaullism may be seen as a form of French patriotism in the tradition of Jules Michelet . He writes : `` Aligned on the political spectrum with the Right , Gaullism was committed nevertheless to the republican values of the Revolution , and so distanced itself from the particularist ambitions of the traditional Right and its xenophobic causes , Gaullism saw as its mission the affirmation of national sovereignty and unity , which was diametrically opposed to the divisiveness created by the leftist commitment to class struggle . ''

Algerian War <=SEP=> The Algerian War , also known as the Algerian War of Independence or the Algerian Revolution ( الثورة الجزائرية Al-thawra Al-Jazaa ` iriyya ; , Tagrawla Tadzayrit , Guerre d'Algérie or Révolution algérienne ) was a war between France and the Algerian National Liberation Front ( Front de Libération Nationale - FLN ) from 1954 to 1962 , which led to Algeria gaining its independence from France . An important decolonization war , it was a complex conflict characterized by guerrilla warfare , -LSB- maquis ( World War II ) , maquis -RSB- fighting , and the use of torture by both sides . The conflict also became a civil war between loyalist Algerians supporting a French Algeria and their Algerian nationalist counterparts .   Effectively started by members of the National Liberation Front ( FLN ) on November 1 , 1954 , during the Toussaint Rouge ( `` Red All Saints ' Day '' ) , the conflict shook the foundations of the weak and unstable Fourth French Republic ( 1946 -- 58 ) and led to its replacement by the Fifth Republic with a strengthened Presidency and with Charles de Gaulle as President . Although the French military campaigns greatly weakened the FLN militarily , with most prominent FLN leaders killed or arrested and terror attacks effectively stopped , the brutality of the methods employed by the French forces failed to win hearts and minds in Algeria , alienated support in metropolitan France and discredited French prestige abroad .   After major demonstrations in Algiers and several major cities in favor of independence from the end of 1960 and a United Nations resolution recognizing the right to independence , De Gaulle decided to open a series of negotiations with the FLN , which concluded with the signing of the Évian Accords on March 1962 . A referendum took place on 8 April 1962 and the French electorate approved the Évian Accords . The final result was 91 % in favor of the ratification of this agreement and on 1 July , the Accords were subject to a second referendum in Algeria , where with 99.72 % voted for independence and just 0.28 % against .   The planned French withdrawal led to a state crisis , to various assassination attempts on de Gaulle , and to some attempts at military coups . Most of the former were carried out by the Organisation armée secrète ( OAS ) , an underground organization formed mainly from French military personnel supporting a French Algeria , which committed a large number of bombings and murders both in Algeria and in the homeland to stop the planned independence .   Upon independence , in 1962 , 900,000 European-Algerians ( Pieds-noirs ) fled to France , in fear of the FLN 's revenge , within a few months . The French government was totally unprepared for the vast number of refugees , which caused turmoil in France . The majority of Algerian Muslims who had worked for the French were disarmed and left behind as the treaty between French and Algerian authorities declared that no actions could be taken against them . However , the Harkis in particular , having served as auxiliaries with the French army , were regarded as traitors by the FLN and between 50,000 and 150,000 Harkis and family members were murdered by the FLN or by lynch-mobs , often after being abducted and tortured . About 91,000 managed to flee to France , some with help from their French officers acting against orders , and they and their descendants form a significant part of the Algerian-French population .

French constitutional referendum, 1969 <=SEP=> A constitutional referendum was held in France on 27 April 1969 . The reforms would have led to government decentralization and changes to the Senate . It was rejected by 52.4 % of voters , and failure of the amendments led to President Charles de Gaulle 's resignation .

Vive le Québec libre <=SEP=> Vive le Québec libre! (French: [vivᵊ ləkebɛk ˈlibʁᵊ], 'Long live free Quebec!') was a phrase in a speech delivered by President Charles de Gaulle of France on July 24, 1967, during an official visit to Canada under the pretext of attending Expo 67 in Montreal, Quebec. While giving an address to a large crowd from a balcony at Montreal City Hall, he uttered "Vive Montréal ! Vive le Québec !" ("Long live Montreal, Long live Quebec!") and then added, followed by loud applause, "Vive le Québec libre !" ("Long live free Quebec!") with particular emphasis on the word libre. The phrase, a slogan used by Quebecers who favoured Quebec sovereignty, was seen as giving his support to the movement. The speech caused a diplomatic incident with Canada's government, and was condemned by Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, saying that "Canadians do not need to be liberated". In France, though many were sympathetic to the cause of Quebec nationalism, de Gaulle's speech was criticized as a breach of protocol.