The Last Great Frenchman: A Life of General De Gaulle

THE LAST GREAT FRENCHMAN

"I am France," General Charles de Gaulle announced when he formed the Free French in 1941. It was no idle boast. Following France's rapid capitulation to Nazi forces, de Gaulle alone stood for a France undefeated and still fighting. Through sheer force of will, he made himself heard, rescuing French dignity and insuring that at the end of World War II France would be among the victorious armies, her status as a world power recognized.

It was an immense achievement, one that only a man of de Gaulle's raw nerve, stubbornness, arrogance, and messianic conviction could have accomplished. Though he had virtually no resources and commanded only a few thousand men, he insisted that Britain and America treat France as an equal. His relationship with Churchill was stormy in the extreme but based on a strong mutual admiration; with Roosevelt his relationship was icy. Nonetheless he achieved his goal: France took her place among the Big Five nations in the postwar world. The man who had been sentenced to death as a traitor by the Vichy government returned to France in 1944 a hero and a legend, soon to be elected president.

In 1946 de Gaulle shocked the world by resigning. When he stepped back into the political arena twelve years later, it was to once again save a France in crisis. With the adroit maneuvering of a political mastermind he extricated France from Algeria and pulled the country back from the brink of civil war. He barely escaped with his life, surviving numerous assassination attempts by French-Algerians angered by his apparent betrayal. De Gaulle's second presidency lasted ten years until 1968, when student-led revolts toppled his government, but his extraordinary legacy endured in France's most effective constitution since the Revolution, and in international prestige that would have been unthinkable in the previous decade.

Charles de Gaulle died in November 1970, a few days before his eightieth birthday. He was a product of northern French provincial society of the nineteenth century— austere, Catholic, and nationalist—truly the "last great Frenchman." In this fully rounded portrait of one of the twentieth century's most outstanding statesmen, Charles Williams interprets the facts and the motives of his subject with the insights of the distinguished politician he is himself.

Charles Williams's deft analysis opens a window on the enigma at the core of de Gaulle's character—a private man who was affectionate and emotional, a public man who was cold, ruthless, proud, yet undeniably great. The result is a masterful chronicle that takes a fast-paced and defining look at the life and times of one of the twentieth century's most important figures.

Praise for Charles Williams's

The Last Great Frenchman

"An excellent new biography . . . . Charles Williams has matched a great subject with something near to a great book . . . . A fine portrait of a formidable subject." - Daily Telegraph (London)

"Very well told indeed . . . . Marvelous vignettes . . . . Williams tells his story with pace and skill."- Martin Gilbert in The Guardian (London)

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Critical acclaim for The Last Great Frenchman

"This is a splendid popular biography . . . recounted with verve and anecdotal warmth, along with fresh appraisals of de Gaulle's career as soldier, politician, and head of state." --Publishers Weekly.

"Highly readable. . . . It is to Williams' credit that he is able to get so close to such a prickly personality." --San Francisco Chronicle

"Charles Williams has matched a great subject by something near to a great book." --Daily Telegraph (London)

"Marvelous vignettes. . . . Williams tells his story with pace and skill." --Martin Gilbert

CHARLES WILLIAMS (Lord Williams of Elvel) is Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the British House of Lords. Before embarking on his political career he spent four years in Paris from 1966 to 1970, the last period of de Gaulle's government.

Williams, deputy leader of the opposition in the British House of Lords, tells the story in English of an emphatically French life, and he fully engages the reader. "Ramrod" and "Wormwood" were code names the British "maliciously but accurately" applied to the leader of the Free French; and their wartime ally, American President FDR, detested De Gaulle. This biography explains well French foreign policy toward the "Anglo-Saxons" during the French Fifth Republic. Although admiring De Gaulle's tenacity and strength, the author does not hide what he considers the unattractive side of the general's aloof grandeur and verbal combativeness, and he terms the way De Gaulle came to power in 1958 nearly Napoleonic. De Gaulle in private was more appealing, according to Williams; he is said to have been extraordinarily fond of his retarded daughter. The only thing lacking here is an explanation of the Vichy regime; however, names are helpfully annotated. Recommended for all libraries.?R. James Tobin, Univ. of Wisconsin Lib., Milwaukee Copyright 1995 Cahners Business Information.

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This is a splendid popular biography of French leader Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970), who saved France's honor through his leadership of the Free French during WWII and saved France itself from civil war in 1958. All this is familiar territory but is recounted here with verve and anecdotal warmth, along with fresh appraisals of de Gaulle's career as soldier, politician and head of state. Williams contrasts the infuriatingly obstinate public figure with the private man, emotional and affectionate in the bosom of his family. Especially interesting is the account of de Gaulle's tender relationship with his retarded daughter, ``about whom he cared perhaps more than any [other] human being.'' The author also sheds light on de Gaulle's determined anti-Americanism during his final years. This is an admiring examination of a man whose single-minded patriotism made him the living symbol of France for three decades. The author (Lord Williams of Elvel) is deputy leader of the opposition in the British House of Lords. Photos. (Apr.) Copyright 1995 Cahners Business Information.