Julian Jackson. De Gaulle

Working from recently opened archives and an astonishing array of published and unpublished sources, Julian Jackson presents a life of Charles de Gaulle that offers no startling revelations but gives a largely familiar story an unmatched sense of richness, intimacy, and complexity. De Gaulle was born into a nationalistic Catholic family from the north. He was heavily influenced by Charles Péguy and Maurice Barrès, and his deeply nineteenth-century upbringing made his success in the twentieth century all the more impressive. De Gaulle found his career in the military, and in 1914 he discovered his indifference to physical danger. He was captured at Verdun and suffered thereafter from the frustration of having spent most of the war in a POW camp, where he read voraciously and taught history to the other prisoners. De Gaulle also made several escape attempts, failing each time. Following the war, he rebooted his military career in Poland and at the École de Guerre, where one of his teachers noted “his harshness toward other people’s opinions and his attitude of a king in exile” (56). He became the difficult protégé of Maréchal Pétain, who helped smooth the way for this imperious young officer with ideas that did not always please his superiors, while de Gaulle led an impeccable personal life with his wife, Yvonne, a devout daughter of the Calais bourgeoisie

Bourgeoisie · Officer · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · Wife · French Historical and Cultural Studies · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Law · Political and Social Issues