I have a hero, one with was rather odd for an American like me: Charles De Gaulle. A man who rescued a dying France, which was surviving only on life support and former glory, and stabilized its deteriorating situation — to leave his country somewhat strong; and though somewhat erratic and annoying, still a world player.
We Americans tend to underrate the French. We seem to treat them as comical “surrender monkeys.” However, in 1940, when the Germans crashed through Norway, Denmark, Belgium, and Western Europe, all the nations were surrender monkeys. Denmark collapsed in an hour. Belgium, which had put up a massive fight in World War I, fell in just 18 days.
We Americans see the Blitzkrieg as a black and white movie, but in 1940, it was a complete civilizational shock. The perfectly choreographed combined attack of German artillery, aircraft, and tanks, followed up by infantry, was incomprehensibly effective at that time. It paralyzed the resistance.
The previous war, World War I, had been relatively static. Now, the German Wehrmacht swallowed up whole nations for breakfast. It was the original shock and awe. And we can’t blame the French for succumbing as the rest of Europe did. Would we Americans have acted any differently?
I doubt it.
World War I had left Western Europe with quite a foul taste for war in its mouth. Millions had died in those trenches. By 1940, when the invasion in the West had begun, Europe had barely recovered. Now, suddenly when the Germans came crashing through the Ardennes, the French must have thought, “Here we go again.” Only this time the weapons were worse.
The British look at the evacuation of Dunkirk as a crowning achievement of glory, but even more British evacuations were to follow. The French saw it all as one great skedaddle leaving them to fight the Germans alone. It was easy for Britain to counsel the French to fight on, the British were protected by a thirteen-mile moat. The French weren’t.
And lest we think the British were bulldogs, by 1941, the British people came close to suing for peace. Resolve was weakening. Had Hitler not invaded Russia, the British might have quit. And lest we think Russia was invincible, the Russian Army surrendered by the millions in the opening months of Operation Barbarossa:
Contrary to the usual post-war history, many in positions of influence in Britain also favoured a negotiated settlement. All they knew and saw was the nightly devastation from an enemy far superior to themselves in terms of current offensive power. They certainly didn’t know of the potential respite from any future German invasion of Russia[.] — The History Press
Into this disaster fell De Gaulle. He had fled to Britain in 1940, and he had tried to rally a dispirited France from afar. He was arrogant, haughty, and aloof. His contributions to the war effort were minimal. Yet, he kept the spirit of France alive, if only by broadcasting pep talks to the nation.
[T]he President had reservations about the viability of the French state. He entertained the possibility of forming a new state, “Wallonia,” which would consist of the Walloon parts of northern France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Alsace-Lorraine. (See Francois Kersaudy, Churchill and de Gaulle (London, 1990). This sort of thing put Roosevelt sharply at odds with de Gaulle, who was, to put it mildly, a firm proponent of French unity. It isn’t clear if de Gaulle knew the details of what FDR was considering, but he does say: “at bottom, what the American policy makers took for granted was the effacement of France. — The Churchill Project
And now you know the reason France took a diffident anti-American foreign policy after the war. De Gaulle was bitter, and this was FDR’s fault, not De Gaulle’s. Roosevelt had wanted to kick France when it was down and out. Churchill was better, but not by much.
After the war, De Gaulle took credit for a war effort to which he had barely contributed anything material but a cheering section. Still, it was that cheering that was vital; it kept a sense of French identity alive.
De Gaulle’s true genius came during the Algerian War. France had won on the ground. De Gaulle was invited back, and everyone expected the old crusty imperialist to hold on to the empire.
He didn’t. He cut France’s losses and let Algeria go. And thank God, he did. Had France kept Algeria, France today might be half Muslim. De Gaulle saw the writing on the wall and left; and France was better for it.
It would be recommended for Trump to study De Gaulle. De Gaulle knew when to fight, and when to back off. People considered him an authoritarian – he did have monarchist sympathies — but he always respected an honest vote, and maintained the republic, even if he did give the French presidency stronger powers.
He helped keep the French spirit alive in the midst of utter defeat, almost by force of will. He could be annoying, but it was usually for a purpose: to let the British and us Americans know that the French were not going to go anywhere, and that they would not be vassals of anyone.
The genius of his actions would not become evident until much later. His retreat from Algeria — right after a victory — was probably the most farsighted thing any Western politician has done in the past half century. Do you think he would have tolerated the present Islamic intrusions into France?
De Gaulle understood that nations have to be unified in laws, language, and identity — none of this multicultural nonsense. He wanted to Make France Great Again.
France is now outperforming the UK, and has a stronger military.
Trump should study De Gaulle to see how it is done, to see how to resurrect a nation back to greatness. It takes a very strong president, but the key to De Gaulle is that, in the end, as strong as he was, he never subverted the republic.
The final poignant conclusion came when De Gaulle died. France’s President Georges Pompidou said, “General de Gaulle is dead. France is a widow.”
Mike Konrad, who still struggles with Spanish, is a frustrated web designer and is presently trying to get a humorous short story of his published: “The Pirate of Gaza.”
Image: National Archives
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