Description of the attraction
The monument to Charles de Gaulle on the Champs Elysees was erected quite recently, in 2000 - to the 30th anniversary of the general's death. Oddly enough, until that day there was no monument to the founder and first president of the Fifth Republic in Paris.
For thirty years, the authorities have been convincing the relatives of the great Frenchman that the country has the right to pay tribute to the person who defended its independence and honor in World War II. Consent was obtained, and a six-meter bronze figure of de Gaulle by sculptor Jacques Cardo took a pedestal on the Champs Elysees, near the Grand Palais.
Parisians call the place between the Champs Elysees and the Pont Alexandre III "Three Walking Men": nearby there are monuments to Winston Churchill and Georges Clemenceau in approximately the same energetic poses. De Gaulle himself is captured as he receives the parade in honor of the liberation of Paris on August 24, 1944.
Since childhood, Charles de Gaulle dreamed of a feat in the name of France. During the First World War, he was captured by Germany, where he met the future Soviet Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky. During the Soviet-Polish war, they fought against each other. When France was defeated by the Wehrmacht in 1940, de Gaulle, already deputy minister of war, fought fiercely against an armistice with the Germans. Unsuccessful, he flew to London to lead the French fight against Nazism.
De Gaulle was able to achieve that, despite the opposition of the United States, the "Big Three" recognized France as an ally in the struggle against the Reich. According to the general's plan, French forces independently liberated Paris. With a huge crowd of jubilant people, de Gaulle's solemn procession took place through the historical sites of the capital. After the war, the general was prime minister, oppositionist, prime minister again and, finally, president of the Fifth Republic he founded.
In this post, de Gaulle managed to suppress a military coup, grant independence to Algeria, and strengthen the unity of Europe. The general voluntarily resigned in 1969 when it became clear that the French no longer supported his socio-economic policies. A year and a half later, he died of aortic rupture.
France honors de Gaulle as an outstanding national leader along with Napoleon.
