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92-713: In the Potsdam Agreement of 1945, the Allies of World War II had defined the Oder–Neisse line as the line of demarcation between the Soviet occupation zone in Germany and Poland, pending the final determination of Poland's western frontier in a later peace settlement. This transferred extensive regions to Poland, some of which had been under German control for centuries, reducing Germany to approximately three quarters of

184-583: A "drafting officer". He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in December 1932 and appointed Head of the Third Section (operations). His service at SGDN gave him six years' experience of the interface between army planning and government, enabling him to take on ministerial responsibilities in 1940. After studying arrangements in the US, Italy, and Belgium, de Gaulle drafted a bill for the organisation of

276-722: A Final German Peace Treaty was held. The Allies had acknowledged the legitimacy of the Polish Provisional Government of National Unity , which was about to form a Soviet satellite state . Urged by Stalin, the UK and the US gave in to put the German territories east of the Oder–Neisse line from the Baltic coast west of Świnoujście up to the Czechoslovak border "under Polish administration"; allegedly confusing

368-461: A Professional Army ). He proposed mechanization of the infantry, with stress on an élite force of 100,000 men and 3,000 tanks. The book imagined tanks driving around the country like cavalry. De Gaulle's mentor Emile Mayer was somewhat more prophetic than he was about the future importance of air power on the battlefield. Such an army would both compensate for France's population shortage, and be an efficient tool to enforce international law, particularly

460-453: A bayonet wound to the left thigh after being stunned by a shell and was captured after passing out from the effects of poison gas. He was one of the few survivors of his battalion. The circumstances of his capture would later become a subject of debate as anti-Gaullists spread rumour that he had actually surrendered, a claim de Gaulle nonchalantly dismissed. De Gaulle spent 32 months in six different prisoner camps, but he spent most time in

552-580: A border on the Lusatian Neisse. The Allied resolution on the "orderly transfer" of German population became the legitimation of the expulsion of Germans from the nebulous parts of Central Europe , if they had not already fled from the advancing Red Army. The expulsion of ethnic Germans by the Poles concerned, in addition to Germans within areas behind the 1937 Polish border in the West (such as in most of

644-668: A capitalist economy, which was followed by 30 years of unprecedented growth, known as the Trente Glorieuses . He resigned in 1946, but continued to be politically active as founder of the Rally of the French People . He retired in the early 1950s and wrote his War Memoirs , which quickly became a staple of modern French literature. When the Algerian War threatened to bring the unstable Fourth Republic to collapse,

736-548: A career as a writer and historian, partly to please his father and partly because it was one of the few unifying forces which represented the whole of French society. He later wrote that "when I entered the Army, it was one of the greatest things in the world", a claim which Lacouture points out needs to be treated with caution: the army's reputation was at a low. It was used extensively for strike-breaking and there were fewer than 700 applicants for Saint-Cyr in 1908, down from 2,000 at

828-723: A child when she heard of the French capitulation to the Germans at Sedan in 1870 , he developed a keen interest in military strategy. He was also influenced by his uncle, also named Charles de Gaulle , who was a historian and passionate Celticist who advocated the union of the Welsh, Scots, Irish, and Bretons into one people. His grandfather Julien-Philippe was also a historian, and his grandmother Joséphine-Marie wrote poems which impassioned his Christian faith. De Gaulle began writing in his early teens, especially poetry; his family paid for

920-610: A composition, a one-act verse play, to be privately published. A voracious reader, he favored philosophical tomes by such writers as Bergson , Péguy , and Barrès . In addition to the German philosophers Nietzsche , Kant , and Goethe , he read the works of the ancient Greeks (especially Plato ) and the prose of Chateaubriand . De Gaulle was educated in Paris at the Collège Stanislas and studied briefly in Belgium. At

1012-693: A dedication to Pétain (although he wrote his own rather than using the draft Pétain sent him), which was dropped from postwar editions. Until 1938 Pétain had treated de Gaulle, as Lacouture puts it, "with unbounded good will", but by October 1938 he privately thought his former protégé "an ambitious man, and very ill-bred". At the outbreak of World War II, de Gaulle was put in command of the French Fifth Army 's tanks (five scattered battalions, largely equipped with R35 light tanks ) in Alsace. On 12 September 1939 he attacked at Bitche , simultaneously with

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1104-413: A laundry basket, digging a tunnel, digging through a wall, and even posing as a nurse. In letters to his parents, he constantly spoke of his frustration that the war was continuing without him. As the war neared its end, he grew depressed that he was playing no part in the victory, but he remained in captivity until the armistice . On 1 December 1918, three weeks later, he returned to his father's house in

1196-519: A manner similar to what de Gaulle had advocated). A rare insight into de Gaulle's political views is a letter to his mother warning that war with Germany was inevitable and reassuring her that Pierre Laval 's pact with the USSR in 1935 was for the best, likening it to Francis I 's alliance with the Turks against Emperor Charles V . From April 1936, whilst still in his staff position at SGDN, de Gaulle

1288-524: A parade of 80 tanks into the Place d'Armes at Metz, in his command tank " Austerlitz ". By now de Gaulle was becoming a well-known figure, known as "Colonel Motor(s)". At the invitation of the publisher Plon , he produced another book, La France et son Armée (France and Her Army) in 1938. De Gaulle incorporated much of the text he had written for Pétain a decade earlier for the uncompleted book Le Soldat , to Pétain's displeasure. De Gaulle agreed to include

1380-458: A platoon commander, de Gaulle was involved in fierce fighting from the outset. He received his baptism of fire on 15 August and was among the first to be wounded, receiving a bullet in the knee at the Battle of Dinant . It is sometimes claimed that in hospital, he grew bitter at the tactics used, and spoke with other injured officers against the outdated methods of the French army. However, there

1472-455: A question about supplies, replying "de minimis non curat praetor " (roughly: "a leader does not concern himself with trivia") before ordering the responsible officer to answer Moyrand. He obtained respectable, but not outstanding grades on many of his assessments. Moyrand wrote in his final report that he was "an intelligent, cultured and serious-minded officer; has brilliance and talent" but criticised him for not deriving as much benefit from

1564-543: A treaty between Germany and Poland recognizing the Oder–Neisse line as the border under international law was also one of the terms of the Unification Treaty between West and East Germany that was signed and went into effect on 3 October 1990. Poland also wanted this treaty to end the ambiguity that had surrounded the border issue since 1945. Under the terms of the treaty, the contracting parties The agreement

1656-515: A two-year posting to Lebanon and Syria . In Beirut he was chief of the 3rd Bureau (military operations) of General Louis-Paul-Gaston de Bigault du Granrut, who wrote him a glowing reference recommending him for high command. In the spring of 1931, as his posting in Beirut drew to a close, de Gaulle once again asked Pétain for a posting to the École de Guerre . Pétain tried to obtain an appointment for him as Professor of History there, but once again

1748-626: Is no contemporary evidence that he understood the importance of artillery in modern warfare. Instead, in his writing at the time, he criticised the "overrapid" offensive, the inadequacy of French generals, and the "slowness of the English troops". He rejoined his regiment in October, as commander of the 7th company . Many of his former comrades were already dead. In December he became regimental adjutant . De Gaulle's unit gained recognition for repeatedly crawling out into no man's land to listen to

1840-538: Is thought to be Dutch in origin, and may have derived from van der Walle , de Walle ("from the rampart, defensive wall") or de Waal ("the wall") De Gaulle's mother, Jeanne (born Maillot), descended from a family of wealthy entrepreneurs from Lille. She had French, Irish, Scottish, and German ancestry. De Gaulle's father encouraged historical and philosophical debate between his children, and through his encouragement, de Gaulle learned French history from an early age. Struck by his mother's tales of how she cried as

1932-504: Is unlikely that he stood out among the 19 captains and 32 lieutenants under his command. De Gaulle would have been present at the 1913 Arras manoeuvres, at which Pétain criticised General Gallet  [ fr ] to his face, but there is no evidence in his notebooks that he accepted Pétain's unfashionable ideas about the importance of firepower against the dominant doctrine emphasizing " offensive spirit ". De Gaulle stressed how Maurice de Saxe had banned volley fire, how French armies of

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2024-852: The Sudetenland region where they formed a majority, from linguistic enclaves in central Bohemia and Moravia , as well as from the city of Prague . Though the Potsdam Agreement referred only to Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary , expulsions also occurred in Romania , where the Transylvanian Saxons were deported and their property seized, and in Yugoslavia . In the Soviet territories, Germans were expelled from northern East Prussia ( Oblast Kaliningrad ) but also from

2116-603: The École Normale Supérieure , and to civil servants. Pétain instead advised him to apply for a posting to the Secrétariat Général du Conseil Supérieur de la Défense Nationale (SGDN – General Secretariat of the Supreme War Council) in Paris. Pétain promised to lobby for the appointment, which he thought would be good experience for him. De Gaulle was posted to SGDN in November 1931, initially as

2208-515: The 33rd Infantry Regiment  [ fr ] of the French Army , based at Arras. This was a historic regiment with Austerlitz , Wagram , and Borodino amongst its battle honours. In April 1910 he was promoted to corporal. His company commander declined to promote him to sergeant, the usual rank for a potential officer, commenting that the young man clearly felt that nothing less than Constable of France would be good enough for him. He

2300-668: The Algerian War , he came out of retirement when appointed Prime Minister by President René Coty . He rewrote the Constitution of France and founded the Fifth Republic after approval by referendum . He was elected President of France later that year, a position he held until his resignation in 1969. Born in Lille , he was a decorated officer of the First World War , wounded several times and taken prisoner by

2392-675: The Dordogne to be reunited with his three brothers, who had all also served in the army. After the armistice, de Gaulle served with the staff of the French Military Mission to Poland as an instructor of Poland's infantry during its war with communist Russia (1919–1921). He distinguished himself in operations near the River Zbrucz , with the rank of major in the Polish army, and won Poland's highest military decoration,

2484-536: The Ingolstadt Fortress , where his treatment was satisfactory. In captivity, de Gaulle read German newspapers (he had learned German at school and spent a summer vacation in Germany) and gave talks on his view of the conflict to fellow prisoners. His patriotic fervour and confidence in victory earned him the nickname Le Connétable (" The Constable "), the title of the medieval commander-in-chief of

2576-732: The Lusatian Neisse and the Glatzer Neisse rivers. The proposal of an Oder- Bober - Queis line was rejected by the Soviet delegation. The cession included the former Free City of Danzig and the seaport of Stettin on the mouth of the Oder River ( Szczecin Lagoon ), vital for the Upper Silesian Industrial Region . Post-war, 'Germany as a whole' would consist solely of aggregate territories of

2668-659: The Moscow Declaration of October 1943 have no particular geographical localization. The Three Governments reaffirm their intention to bring these criminals to swift and sure justice. They hope that the negotiations in London will result in speedy agreement being reached for this purpose, and they regard it as a matter of great importance that the trial of these major criminals should begin at the earliest possible date. The first list of defendants will be published before 1st September. [t]he three Governments have also charged

2760-498: The Napoleonic period had relied on infantry column attack, and how French military power had declined in the nineteenth century because of – supposedly – excessive concentration on firepower rather than élan . He also appears to have accepted the then fashionable lesson drawn from the recent Russo-Japanese War , of how bayonet charges by Japanese infantry with high morale had succeeded in the face of enemy firepower. De Gaulle

2852-758: The National Assembly brought him back to power during the May 1958 crisis . He founded the Fifth Republic with a strong presidency; he was elected with 78% of the vote to continue in that role. He managed to keep France together while taking steps to end the war, much to the anger of the Pieds-Noirs ( ethnic Europeans born in Algeria ) and the armed forces. He granted independence to Algeria and acted progressively towards other French colonies. In

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2944-963: The Pacific Theatre of War , the Potsdam Conference issued the Potsdam Declaration , the Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender (26 July 1945) wherein the Western Allies (UK, US, USSR) and the Nationalist China of General Chiang Kai-shek asked Japan to surrender or be destroyed. Already during the Potsdam Conference, on 30 July 1945, the Allied Control Council was constituted in Berlin to execute

3036-650: The Protocol of the Proceedings, August 1, 1945 , signed at Cecilienhof Palace in Potsdam . The signatories were General Secretary Joseph Stalin , President Harry S. Truman , and Prime Minister Clement Attlee , who, as a result of the British general election of 1945 , had replaced Winston Churchill as the UK's representative. The three powers also agreed to invite France and China to participate as members of

3128-564: The Saar Offensive . At the start of October 1939, Reynaud asked for a staff posting under de Gaulle, but remained at his post as Minister of Finance. De Gaulle's tanks were inspected by President Lebrun , who was impressed, but regretted that it was too late to implement his ideas. He wrote a paper L'Avènement de la force mécanique (The coming of the Armoured Force) which he sent to General Georges (commander-in-chief on

3220-567: The Treaty of Moscow (1970) and the Treaty of Warsaw (1970) ). In the Potsdam Agreement (Berlin Conference) the Allies (UK, USSR, US) agreed on the following matters: The Three Governments have taken note of the discussions which have been proceeding in recent weeks in London between British, United States, Soviet and French representatives with a view to reaching agreement on the methods of trial of those major war criminals whose crimes under

3312-574: The Treaty of Versailles . He also thought it would be a precursor to a deeper national reorganisation, and wrote that "a master has to make his appearance [...] whose orders cannot be challenged – a man upheld by public opinion". Only 700 copies were sold in France; the claim that thousands of copies were sold in Germany is thought to be an exaggeration. De Gaulle used the book to widen his contacts among journalists, notably with André Pironneau, editor of L'Écho de Paris . The book attracted praise across

3404-609: The US intervention in Vietnam and the " exorbitant privilege " of the US dollar. In his later years, his support for the slogan " Vive le Québec libre " and his two vetoes of Britain's entry into the European Economic Community generated considerable controversy in both North America and Europe. Although reelected to the presidency in 1965 , he faced widespread protests by students and workers in May 68 but had

3496-484: The Virtuti Militari . De Gaulle returned to France, where he became a lecturer in military history at Saint-Cyr. He studied at the École de Guerre (staff college) from November 1922 to October 1924. Here he clashed with his instructor Colonel Moyrand by arguing for tactics based on circumstances rather than doctrine, and after an exercise in which he had played the role of commander, he refused to answer

3588-700: The " Prussian Trust " corporation, stated that the treaty was insufficient and may have to be renegotiated. Potsdam Agreement The Potsdam Agreement ( German : Potsdamer Abkommen ) was the agreement among three of the Allies of World War II : the United Kingdom , the United States , and the Soviet Union after the war ended in Europe that was signed on 1 August 1945 and it was published

3680-683: The 1921 Upper Silesia plebiscite . It further affected the German minority living within the territory of the former Second Polish Republic in Greater Poland , eastern Upper Silesia, Chełmno Land and the Polish Corridor with Danzig. The Germans in Czechoslovakia (34% of the population of the territory of what is now the Czech Republic), known as Sudeten Germans but also Carpathian Germans , were expelled from

3772-409: The Allied resolutions (the "Four Ds"): The northern half of the German province of East Prussia , occupied by the Red Army during its East Prussian Offensive followed by its evacuation in winter 1945, had already been incorporated into Soviet territory as the Kaliningrad Oblast . The Western Allies promised to support the annexation of the territory north of the Braunsberg – Goldap line when

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3864-405: The Army's support and won a snap election with an increased majority in the National Assembly. De Gaulle resigned in 1969 after losing a referendum in which he proposed more decentralisation. He died a year later at the age of 79, leaving his presidential memoirs unfinished. Many French political parties and leaders claim a Gaullist legacy; many streets and monuments in France and other parts of

3956-435: The Council of Foreign Ministers established to oversee the agreement. The Provisional Government of the French Republic accepted the invitation on August 7, with the key reservation that it would not accept a priori any commitment to the eventual reconstitution of a central government in Germany. James F. Byrnes wrote "we specifically refrained from promising to support at the German Peace Conference any particular line as

4048-402: The Council of Foreign Ministers with the task of preparing peace treaties for Bulgaria , Finland , Hungary and Romania . The conclusion of Peace Treaties with recognized democratic governments in these States will also enable the three Governments to support applications from them for membership of the United Nations. The three Governments agree to examine each separately in the near future in

4140-407: The Free French Forces and later headed the French National Liberation Committee and emerged as the undisputed leader of Free France . He became head of the Provisional Government of the French Republic in June 1944, the interim government of France following its liberation . As early as 1944, De Gaulle introduced a dirigiste economic policy, which included substantial state-directed control over

4232-413: The French army. In Ingolstadt were also journalist Remy Roure , who would eventually become a political ally of de Gaulle, and Mikhail Tukhachevsky , a future commander of the Red Army . De Gaulle became acquainted with Tukhachevsky, whose theories about a fast-moving, mechanized army closely resembled his. He also wrote his first book, Discorde chez l'ennemi (The Enemy's House Divided) , analysing

4324-461: The French refused to resettle any expelled Germans from the east. Moreover, the French did not accept any obligation to abide by the Potsdam Agreement in the proceedings of the Allied Control Council; in particular resisting all proposals to establish common policies and institutions across Germany as a whole (for example France separated Saarland from Germany to establish its protectorate on 17 December 1947), and anything that they feared might lead to

4416-400: The Germans. During the interwar period , he advocated mobile armoured divisions. During the German invasion of May 1940, he led an armoured division that counterattacked the invaders; he was then appointed Undersecretary for War. Refusing to accept his government's armistice with Germany , De Gaulle fled to England and exhorted the French to continue the fight in his Appeal of 18 June . He led

4508-451: The Oder–Neisse border in the Treaty of Warsaw (1970) , its legal caveat that only a future peace treaty would formally settle the issue remained in effect. With German reunification finally within reach in 1990, the Allies of World War II made full sovereignty for Germany conditional on the final recognition of the Oder–Neisse border, as stipulated in article 1.2 of the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany . The signing of

4600-475: The adjacent Lithuanian Klaipeda Region and other lands settled by Baltic Germans . De Gaulle Defunct Defunct Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (22 November 1890 – 9 November 1970) was a French military officer and statesman who led the Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Republic from 1944 to 1946 to restore democracy in France. In 1958, amid

4692-401: The age of fifteen he wrote an essay imagining "General de Gaulle" leading the French Army to victory over Germany in 1930; he later wrote that in his youth he had looked forward with somewhat naive anticipation to the inevitable future war with Germany to avenge the French defeat of 1870. France during de Gaulle's adolescence was a divided society, with many developments which were unwelcome to

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4784-433: The basis for his book The Edge of the Sword (1932). After spending twelve years as a captain, a normal period, de Gaulle was promoted to commandant (major) on 25 September 1927. In November 1927 he began a two-year posting as commanding officer of the 19th chasseurs à pied (a battalion of élite light infantry) with the occupation forces at Trier . De Gaulle trained his men hard (a river crossing exercise of

4876-419: The context of the Cold War , De Gaulle initiated his "politics of grandeur", asserting that France as a major power should not rely on other countries, such as the United States, for its national security and prosperity. To this end, he pursued a policy of "national independence" which led him to withdraw from NATO 's integrated military command and to launch an independent nuclear strike force that made France

4968-416: The conversations of the enemy, and the information brought back was so valuable that on 18 January 1915 he received the Croix de Guerre . On 10 February he was promoted to captain, initially on probation. On 10 March 1915, de Gaulle was shot in the left hand, a wound which initially seemed trivial but became infected. The wound incapacitated him for four months and later forced him to wear his wedding ring on

5060-460: The country in wartime. He made a presentation about his bill to the CHEM. The bill passed the Chamber of Deputies but failed in the Senate. Unlike Pétain, de Gaulle believed in the use of tanks and rapid maneuvers rather than trench warfare. De Gaulle became a disciple of Émile Mayer, a retired lieutenant-colonel (his career had been damaged by the Dreyfus Affair ) and military thinker. Mayer thought that although wars were still bound to happen, it

5152-499: The course as he should have, and for his arrogance: his "excessive self-confidence", his harsh dismissal of the views of others "and his attitude of a King in exile". Having entered 33rd out of 129, he graduated in 52nd place, with a grade of assez bien ("good enough"). He was posted to Mainz to help supervise supplies of food and equipment for the French Army of Occupation . De Gaulle's book La Discorde chez l'ennemi had appeared in March 1924. In March 1925 he published an essay on

5244-419: The de Gaulle family: the growth of socialism and syndicalism , the legal separation of Church and state in 1905 , and the reduction in the term of military service to two years. Equally unwelcome were the Entente Cordiale with Britain, the First Moroccan Crisis , and above all the Dreyfus Affair . Henri de Gaulle came to be a supporter of Dreyfus, but was less concerned with his innocence per se than with

5336-432: The disgrace which the army had brought onto itself. The period also saw a resurgence in evangelical Catholicism, the dedication of the Sacré-Cœur, Paris , and the rise of the cult of Joan of Arc . De Gaulle was not an outstanding pupil until his mid-teens, but from July 1906 he focused on winning a place at the military academy, Saint-Cyr . Lacouture suggests that de Gaulle joined the army, despite being more suited to

5428-420: The divisions within the German forces. The book was published in 1924. Originally interned at Rosenberg Fortress , he was quickly moved to progressively higher-security facilities like Ingolstadt. De Gaulle made five unsuccessful escape attempts, and was routinely punished with long periods of solitary confinement and the withdrawal of privileges such as newspapers and tobacco. He attempted escape by hiding in

5520-418: The emergence of an eventual unified German government. After the end of World War II in Europe (1939–1945), and the decisions of the earlier Tehran , Casablanca and Yalta Conferences , the Allies assumed supreme authority over Germany by the Berlin Declaration of June 5, 1945. At the Potsdam Conference the Western Allies were presented with Stalin 's fait accompli awarding Soviet-occupied Poland

5612-404: The faculty would not have him. Instead de Gaulle, drawing on plans he had drawn up in 1928 for reform of that institution, asked Pétain to create a special post for him which would enable him to lecture on "the Conduct of War" both to the École de Guerre and to the Centre des Hautes Études Militaires (CHEM – a senior staff college for generals, known as the "school for marshals"), to civilians at

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5704-503: The freezing Moselle River at night was vetoed by his commanding general). He imprisoned a soldier for appealing to his deputy for a transfer to a cushier unit, and when investigated initially tried to invoke his status as a member of the Maison Pétain , eventually appealing to Pétain to protect himself from a reprimand for interfering with the soldier's political rights. An observer wrote of de Gaulle at this time that although he encouraged young officers, "his ego...glowed from far off". In

5796-428: The ghost-writing of Le Soldat had deepened in 1928. Pétain brought in a new ghostwriter, Colonel Audet, who was unwilling to take on the job and wrote to de Gaulle in some embarrassment to take over the project. Pétain was quite friendly about the matter but did not publish the book. In 1929 Pétain did not use de Gaulle's draft text for his eulogy for the late Ferdinand Foch , whose seat at the Académie Française he

5888-583: The light of the conditions then prevailing, the establishment of diplomatic relations with Finland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary to the extent possible prior to the conclusion of peace treaties with those countries. The Three Governments, having considered the question in all its aspects, recognize that the transfer to Germany of German populations, or elements thereof, remaining in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, will have to be undertaken. They agree that any transfers that take place should be effected in an orderly and humane manner. Moreover, towards concluding

5980-462: The next 15 years. He later wrote in his memoirs: "My first colonel, Pétain, taught me the art of command". It has been claimed that in the build-up to World War I , de Gaulle agreed with Pétain about the obsolescence of cavalry and of traditional tactics, and often debated great battles and the likely outcome of any coming war with his superior. Lacouture is sceptical, pointing out that although Pétain wrote glowing appraisals of de Gaulle in 1913, it

6072-429: The next day. A product of the Potsdam Conference , it concerned the military occupation and reconstruction of Germany , its border , and the entire European Theatre of War territory. It also addressed Germany's demilitarisation , reparations , the prosecution of war criminals and the mass expulsion of ethnic Germans from various parts of Europe. France was not invited to the conference but formally remained one of

6164-401: The old Prussian province of West Prussia), the territories placed "under Polish administration" pending a Final German Peace Treaty, i.e. southern East Prussia ( Masuria ), Farther Pomerania , the New March region of the former Province of Brandenburg , the districts of the Grenzmark Posen-West Prussia , Lower Silesia and those parts of Upper Silesia that had remained with Germany after

6256-403: The political spectrum, apart from the hard left who were committed to the Republican ideal of a citizen army. De Gaulle's views attracted the attention of the maverick politician Paul Reynaud , to whom he wrote frequently, sometimes in obsequious terms. Reynaud first invited him to meet him on 5 December 1934. De Gaulle was deeply focused on his career at this time. There is no evidence that he

6348-440: The powers occupying Germany. Executed as a communiqué, the agreement was not a peace treaty according to international law , although it created accomplished facts. It was superseded by the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany signed on 12 September 1990. As De Gaulle had not been invited to the Conference, the French resisted implementing the Potsdam Agreements within their occupation zone. In particular,

6440-443: The respective zones of occupation. As all former German territories east of the Oder-Neisse line were excluded from the Soviet Occupation Zone, they were consequently excluded from 'Germany as a whole'. In the course of the proceedings, and after the German state killed around 5-6 million Polish citizens during the war, Polish communists had begun to suppress the German population west of the Bóbr river to underline their demand for

6532-411: The right hand. In August he commanded the 10th company before returning to duty as regimental adjutant. On 3 September 1915 his rank of captain became permanent. In late October, he returned to command of 10th company. As a company commander at Douaumont (during the Battle of Verdun ) on 2 March 1916, while leading a charge to try to break out of a position which had become surrounded, he received

6624-622: The river Oder as its western border, placing the entire Soviet Occupation Zone east of it (with the exception of the Kaliningrad enclave), including Pomerania , most of East Prussia , and Danzig , under Polish administration. The German population who had not fled were expelled and their properties acquisitioned by the state. President Truman and the British delegations protested at these actions. The Three Power Conference took place from 17 July to 2 August 1945, in which they adopted

6716-611: The territory as of 1937. The Treaty of Zgorzelec of 1950 between East Germany and the People's Republic of Poland confirmed this border as final. West Germany , which saw itself as the only legal successor to the German Reich and did not recognize East Germany, insisted that final settlement on the Polish–German border could only be accepted by a future reunited Germany. Although West Germany, for all practical purposes, accepted

6808-432: The turn of the century. De Gaulle won a place at Saint-Cyr in 1909. His class ranking was mediocre (119th out of 221). Under a law of 21 March 1905, aspiring army officers were required to serve a year in the ranks, including time as a private and as an NCO , before attending the academy. Accordingly, in October 1909, de Gaulle enlisted (for four years, as required, rather than the normal two-year term for conscripts ) in

6900-576: The use of tactics according to circumstances, a deliberate defiance of Moyrand. De Gaulle's career was saved by Pétain, who arranged for his staff college grade to be amended to bien ("good"—but not the "excellent" needed for a general staff posting). From 1 July 1925 he worked for Pétain (as part of the Maison Pétain ), largely as a "pen officer" ( ghostwriter ). De Gaulle disapproved of Pétain's decision to take command in Morocco in 1925 (he

6992-467: The western frontier of Poland." The Berlin Protocol declared: "The three heads of government reaffirm their opinion that the final delimitation of the western frontier of Poland should await the [final] peace settlement." Byrnes continues: "In the light of this history, it is difficult to credit with good faith any person who asserts that Poland's western boundary was fixed by the conferences, or that there

7084-560: The winter of 1928–1929, thirty soldiers ("not counting Annamese ") died from so-called "German flu", seven of them from de Gaulle's battalion. After an investigation, he was singled out for praise in the ensuing parliamentary debate as an exceptionally capable commanding officer, and mention of how he had worn a mourning band for a private soldier who was an orphan earned praise from the Prime Minister Raymond Poincaré . The breach between de Gaulle and Pétain over

7176-475: The world were dedicated to his memory after his death. Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was born on 22 November 1890 in Lille , the third of five children. He was raised in a devoutly Catholic and traditional family. His father, Henri de Gaulle , was a professor of history and literature at a Jesuit college and eventually founded his own school. Henri de Gaulle came from a long line of parliamentary gentry from Normandy and Burgundy . The name

7268-474: The world's fourth nuclear power . He restored cordial Franco-German relations with Konrad Adenauer to create a European counterweight between the Anglo-American and Soviet spheres of influence through the signing of the Élysée Treaty on 22 January 1963. De Gaulle opposed any development of a supranational Europe , favouring Europe as a continent of sovereign nations . De Gaulle openly criticised

7360-533: Was "obsolete" for civilised countries to threaten or wage war on one another. He had a low opinion of French generals, and was a critic of the Maginot Line and a proponent of mechanised warfare. Lacouture suggests that Mayer focused de Gaulle's thoughts away from his obsession with the mystique of the strong leader ( Le Fil d'Epée : 1932) and back to loyalty to Republican institutions and military reform. In 1934 de Gaulle wrote Vers l'Armée de Métier ( Towards

7452-452: Was a gifted cadet who would undoubtedly make an excellent officer. The future Marshal Alphonse Juin was first in the class, although the two do not appear to have been close at the time. Preferring to serve in France rather than the overseas colonies, in October 1912 he rejoined the 33rd Infantry Regiment as a second lieutenant . The regiment was now commanded by Colonel (and future Marshal) Philippe Pétain , whom de Gaulle would follow for

7544-411: Was a lecturer to generals at CHEM. De Gaulle's superiors disapproved of his views about tanks, and he was passed over for promotion to full colonel in 1936, supposedly because his service record was not good enough. He called on his political patron Reynaud, who showed his record to Minister of War Édouard Daladier . Daladier, who was an enthusiast for rearmament with modern weapons, ensured that his name

7636-643: Was a promise that it would be established at some particular place." Despite this, the Oder-Neisse Line was set as Poland's provisional (and therefore theoretically subject to change) western frontier in Article 8 of the Agreement but was not finalized as Poland's permanent western frontier until the 1990 German-Polish Border Treaty , having been recognized by East Germany in 1950 (in the Treaty of Zgorzelec ) and acquiesced to by West Germany in 1970 (in

7728-500: Was assuming. The Allied occupation of the Rhineland was ending, and de Gaulle's battalion was due to be disbanded, although the decision was later rescinded after he had moved to his next posting. De Gaulle wanted a teaching post at the École de Guerre in 1929. There was apparently a threat of mass resignation of the faculty were he appointed. There was talk of a posting to Corsica or North Africa, but on Pétain's advice he accepted

7820-727: Was at least one stormy meeting late in 1926 after which de Gaulle was seen to emerge, white with anger, from Pétain's office. In October 1926 he returned to his duties with the Headquarters of the Army of the Rhine. De Gaulle had sworn that he would never return to the École de Guerre except as commandant, but at Pétain's invitation, and introduced to the stage by his patron, he delivered three lectures there in April 1927: "Leadership in Wartime", "Character", and "Prestige". These later formed

7912-563: Was eventually promoted to sergeant in September 1910. De Gaulle took up his place at Saint-Cyr in October 1910. By the end of his first year he had risen to 45th place. He was nicknamed "the great asparagus" because of his height (196 cm, 6'5"), high forehead, and nose. He did well at the academy and received praise for his conduct, manners, intelligence, character, military spirit, and resistance to fatigue. In 1912, he graduated 13th in his class and his passing-out report noted that he

8004-421: Was later known to remark that "Marshal Pétain was a great man. He died in 1925, but he did not know it") and of what he saw as the lust for public adulation of Pétain and his wife. In 1925 de Gaulle began to cultivate Joseph Paul-Boncour , his first political patron . On 1 December 1925 he published an essay on the "Historical Role of French Fortresses". This was a popular topic because of the Maginot Line which

8096-562: Was on the promotion list for the following year. In 1937 General Bineau, who had taught him at Saint-Cyr, wrote on his report on his lectureship at CHEM that he was highly able and suitable for high command in the future, but that he hid his attributes under "a cold and lofty attitude". He was put in command of the 507th Tank Regiment (a battalion of medium Char D2s and a battalion of R35 light tanks ) at Metz on 13 July 1937, and his promotion to full colonel took effect on 24 December that year. De Gaulle attracted public attention by leading

8188-537: Was promoted to first lieutenant in October 1913. When war broke out in France in early August 1914, the 33rd Regiment, considered one of the best fighting units in France, was immediately thrown into checking the German advance at Dinant . However, the French Fifth Army commander, General Charles Lanrezac , remained wedded to 19th-century battle tactics, throwing his units into pointless bayonet charges against German artillery, incurring heavy losses. As

8280-604: Was supplemented by a Treaty of Good Neighbourship and Friendly Cooperation , signed between Poland and Germany on 17 June 1991. In the ratification process at the Bundestag, the treaty met with 13 dissenting votes by deputies of the CDU / CSU faction, among them Erika Steinbach and Peter Ramsauer . In 2006 the Polish Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga , responding to the compensation claims raised by

8372-497: Was tempted by fascism, and there is little evidence of his views either on domestic upheavals in 1934 and 1936 or the many foreign policy crises of the decade. He approved of the rearmament drive which the Popular Front government began in 1936, although French military doctrine remained that tanks should be used in penny packets for infantry support (ironically, in 1940 it would be German panzer units that would be used in

8464-407: Was then being planned, but he argued that the aim of fortresses should be to weaken the enemy, not to economise on defence. Friction arose between de Gaulle and Pétain over Le Soldat , a history of the French soldier which he had ghost-written and for which he wanted greater writing credit. He had written mainly historical material, but Pétain wanted to add a final chapter of his own thoughts. There

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