About this ebook
From the beginning of de Gaulle’s military career in 1909 to an analysis of legacies and myths after his death in 1970, this study examines the path by which the French came to honour him as the greatest Frenchman of all time, and as the twentieth century’s pre-eminent world statesman. In each chapter, Knapp analyses de Gaulle’s participation in key events such as the development of France’s resistance against Nazi Germany, the decolonisation of Algeria, the birth of the French Fifth Republic, and the gigantic upheaval of May 1968. Simultaneously, this study questions de Gaulle’s actions and motives throughout his life. By exploring the justification of the contemporary ‘de Gaulle myth’, Knapp concludes by shedding new light on the influence of de Gaulle in the political culture of twenty-first-century France.
Through careful analysis of primary sources as well as recent scholarship, this biography is an invaluable source for scholars and students of modern history, the history of France, political institutions, and international relations.
About the author
Andrew Knapp is Emeritus Professor of French Politics and Contemporary History at the University of Reading. He is author of Gaullism since de Gaulle (1994) and Parties and the Party System in France (2004), joint author of The Government and Politics of France (2006) and Forgotten Blitzes: France and Italy under Allied Air Attack (2012), and editor of The Uncertain Foundation: France at the Liberation, 1944–47 (2007).
