The Churchill Series – Jan. 26, 2007

(One of a series of weekday posts on the life of Winston S. Churchill.)

The General Charles De Gaulle Foundation is a non-political, tax exempt organization dedicated to preserving General de Gaulle’s memory. The foundation’s site contains an essay on the complex and often tempestuous relationship between de Gaulle and Churchill.

Here’s a portion of that essay. The portion begins with a mention of their first meeting on June 9, 1940. Churchill had been PM for just a month. He had gone to France to coordinate military strategy and encourage the French government to remain in the war as a fighting ally. But defeatism among most French leaders was much stronger than Churchill had suspected. Just days after his visit the French declared Paris an open city and began armistice talks with the Germans:

From their very first meeting on 9 June 1940, a spark was struck between the two men. Churchill saw immediately that General de Gaulle refused all thought of ceasing the fight: he believed in "l'idée De Gaulle" (the De Gaulle idea), saw in him "l'homme du destin" (the man of destiny), for he felt that the patriotism of this man was of the same stuff as his own.

Hence his courageous decision, against the advice of his own government, to support the leader of the Free French by allowing him access to the BBC and recognizing him as his partner in the struggle to defeat Germany and Nazism (28/06/1940).

The mutual esteem between the two men was nonetheless founded on a different perception of the other, arising from their culture and their respective situations. Churchill was very familiar with the history of France and had great admiration for it ; he was an undoubted Francophile, although he occasionally showed a certain condescension which never failed to irritate his ally.

The education the General had received, fed through both family tradition and his schooling on images of Joan of Arc and Napoleon or memories of Fashoda, did not incline him towards friendship for "Albion" and the Anglo-Saxons.

He nonetheless recognized the British virtues of courage, discipline and fair play, and acknowledged the great political and diplomatic experience of Churchill, his senior. He showed on numerous occasions his gratitude to the King and to the people of Britain for the warm welcome they extended to himself and to the free French.

You can read the entire essay here. Also, I think you’ll enjoy looking around the site.

Have a nice weekend. I hope to see you next week.