Chronology

1890	November 22 — Charles de Gaulle is born in Lille, France, son of schoolmaster Henri de Gaulle and Jeanne Maillot-Delannoy, daughter of a well-to-do factory owner.
1895	January 5 — French officer Alfred Dreyfus convicted of treason, triggering worldwide charges of anti-Semitism. De Gaulle’s father is sympathetic to Dreyfus.
1909	October 10 — Charles de Gaulle enlists for one year’s service as a private soldier in the 33rd Infantry Regiment.
1912	October 1 — De Gaulle graduates from Saint-Cyr, 13th out of 211. Accepts commission to 33rd Infantry Regiment where the commandant is Colonel Philippe Pétain.
1914	August 3 — Germany declares war on France as First World War envelops Europe.
1916	March 2 — Serving under Pétain, de Gaulle is seriously wounded at Douaument; he is assumed killed. Taken prisoner of war, he spends the rest of the war in Germany and attempts five times to escape. He is later awarded the Légion d’Honneur.
1921	April 6 — Wedding at Calais of Charles de Gaulle and Yvonne Vendroux.
1924	March — De Gaulle publishes first book, La Discorde chez l’Ennemi, arguing for civilian control of the military. Book sells fewer than a thousand copies.
1933	January 30 — Adolf Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany.
1934	May — De Gaulle publishes Vers l’Armé de Métier, urging the modernization of the French army with tanks and a mobile striking force. Begins close relationship with future premier Paul Reynaud, who promotes his ideas.
1939	September 3 — United Kingdom and France declare war on Germany.
1940	May 10 — Following eight months of la drôle de guerre (phony war), German blitzkrieg conquers the Low Countries and France. The only successful French counterattack is that of de Gaulle at Montcarnot and Abbeville.
	June 10 — After being named to the Cabinet, de Gaulle abandons Paris with Premier Reynaud as government moves to Bordeaux.
	June 18 — De Gaulle issues famous “Appeal,” urging French to join him in London to carry on the fight against Nazi Germany.
	July 4 — Military tribunal in Vichy France sentences de Gaulle to death.
1942	November 8 — An Anglo-American army invades North Africa. German and Italian troops occupy balance of France; the United States accepts Admiral Darlan as head of French administration in North Africa.
	December — Resistance movement in France declares support for General de Gaulle.
	December 24 — Admiral Darlan assassinated; replaced by General Giraud.
1943	October 2 — French Committee of National Liberation appoints General de Gaulle as its head, with General Giraud named Inspector of the Armed Forces. Giraud later resigns.
1944	June 6 — D-Day: American, British, and Canadian forces invade France; Fighting French elements take part.
	June 13 — Charles de Gaulle returns to France, making first speech at Bayeux.
	August 1 — French 2nd Armoured Division arrives in France, joins Allied attack.
	August 15 — French 1st Army and U.S. 6th Corps invade southern France.
	August 25 — Liberation of Paris. General de Gaulle returns to the War Ministry and gives a dramatic speech at l’Hôtel de Ville.
	November 13 — De Gaulle is chosen as head of the government and forms a tripartite administration with representation from the Communist, Socialist, and Popular Republican parties.
1945	May 8 — Unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany.
	August 14 — Surrender of Empire of Japan following the dropping of two atomic bombs, August 5 and 6.
1946	January 20 — Frustrated by political machinations, de Gaulle resigns as the head of the government; begins long “political exile” at Colombey-les-Deux-Églises.
1947	April 7 — De Gaulle announces the formation of new party, Rassemblement du peuple français (RPF), in a speech in Strasbourg.
1948	February 6 — Death of Anne, daughter of Charles and Yvonne de Gaulle.
1951	June 17 — Despite solid municipal successes, RPF wins only 121 seats in National Assembly due to the system of apportioning seats. De Gaulle later announces the termination of RPF.
1954	May 7 — The French defeat at Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam leads to Geneva Accords and French withdrawal from Indochina, with Vietnam divided at the 17th parallel.
1958	May 15 — As France is gripped by crisis following the army’s formation of a Committee of Public Safety in Algeria, de Gaulle announces he is prepared to “assume the powers of the Republic.”
	May 29 — President Coty asks de Gaulle to become premier, with powers to rule by decree and to oversee writing of a new constitution. National Assembly accepts appointment on June 1 by a vote of 329 to 224, with thirty-two abstentions.
	September 28 — In a referendum, French voters give 80 percent approval of a new constitution and the creation of the Fifth Republic. The president is to be elected for seven years by an electoral college; the National Assembly, by popular vote for five-year terms.
	December 21 — Electoral College chooses de Gaulle to be president; he is inaugurated on January 8, 1959.
1959	March 15 — France withdraws military forces from NATO command.
	August 22 — De Gaulle narrowly escapes death in an assassination attempt engineered by the OAS (Organisation de l’armée secrète) at Le Petit-Clamart. It is the eighteenth attempt to kill him.
	September 16 — Referendum gives approval to Algerian self-determination.
1960	February 13 — France tests its first atomic bomb, exploding it in the Algerian desert.
	May 16 — The Big Four Summit meeting in Paris terminated after United States refuses to apologize to Soviet Union for May 1 spy-plane flight by U2 pilot Francis Gary Powers.
1961	June 1 — De Gaulle warns President John F. Kennedy that armed intervention in Vietnam will cause the United States to “sink step by step into a bottomless military and political quagmire.”
1962	April 8 — Algerians vote 90 percent in favour of independence; Algeria becomes independent on July 3 and more than one million European-born Algerians commence departure.
	October 16–28 — Cuban missile crisis; Nikita Khrushchev agrees to withdraw missiles from Cuba in return for American withdrawal from Turkey.
	October 18 — Election of president by universal suffrage is approved with 66.25 percent support in a referendum.
1963	January 14 — President de Gaulle rejects British application to join European Economic Community.
	November 22 — Assassination of President Kennedy in Dallas, Texas.
1965	December 19 — De Gaulle wins presidential election run-off vote, defeating François Mitterrand by 54.6 percent to 45.4 percent.
1967	October 27 — For the second time, de Gaulle rejects British entry to European Common Market.
1968	May — Student demonstrations and general strike cause chaos in France; situation calmed only after public appeal from de Gaulle.
1969	April 27 — De Gaulle–backed referendum on reform of the Senate, regionalization, and worker participation in management is rejected by 53 percent of voters. De Gaulle resigns.
	June 15 — Georges Pompidou, prime minister under de Gaulle, is elected president.
1970	October 23 — Publication of last of de Gaulle’s memoirs, Mémoires d’Espoir.
	November 9 — Charles de Gaulle dies at Colombey-les-Deux-Églises and is buried in local churchyard next to daughter Anne.