Charles De Gaulle was one of the best and most influential political and military figures of World War II. During the war, Charles De Gaulle bravely led the French against the Nazis and strategized to defeat them. After France fell to the Nazis, he was responsible for leading the Free French, the population of France who continued to fight the occupying Germans. On June 18, 1940, after France had fallen, Degaulle went on BBC radio and “insisted that France had only lost a battle, not the war" (Gale Database). This quote shows his determinedness to continue to fight the Germans after his homeland had been lost. Many believe that De Gaulle was also the soul saviour of France during and that even though they had lost their land, he was the reason they continued to fight. “De Gaulle kept France alive through his merits”-President Richard Nixon (Mayavel pg.10). He was one of the most brilliant Generals in France who challenged the French Government’s ways and practices. People saw him as a revolutionary because of his unconventional ideas and willingness to speak his mind about problems that no one else dared to address. Without the influence of De Gaulle, warfare during and post-World War II would have been drastically different. …show more content…
As a highly decorated soldier, he earned several awards for his participation and courage during the war. After he was badly wounded in the infamous ‘Battle of Verdun’, De Gaulle was taken prisoner by German forces and placed in a prison camp. On several different occasions, he escaped from the prison but was quickly recaptured. After his last failed attempt, he was assigned to a German maximum-security Prisoner of War camp, which proved much harder to escape. De Gaulle would remain a German Prisoner of War until the end of the World War