Charles de Gaulle was born in Lille, France on November 22, 1890. His full name was Charles Andre Joseph Marie De Gaulle. Charles was the third child of a morally conservative Catholic middle class family. His family was very intellectual. Charles' grandfather was a historian and his grandmother was a writer. His father was a military officer. After his father left the military he taught literature, philosophy, and math in private Catholic schools. Charles' mother came from a family with both military and literary backgrounds.

Charles chose to enter into the military and spent four years at Saint-Cyr, the French equivalent of the United States Military Academy at West Point. De Gaulle fought and was badly wounded during the Battle of Verdun during World War I. He was then taken prisoner by the Germans. When the war ended he was released and chose to remain in the military.

Charles married Yvonne Vendroux on April 7, 1921. They would go on to have three children: Philippe, born in 1921, Elisabeth, born in 1924, and Anne, born in 1928. Anne had Down syndrome and died at the age of twenty.

On June 6, 1940, de Gaulle became the undersecretary of state for national defense and war. He was put in charge of dealing with the United Kingdom. De Gaulle refused to accept a French surrender to the Germans and rebelled against the French government. At this point de Gaulle formed the Free French movement which continued to fight in the war. After the liberation of the rest of France, he served as the President of the provisional government from September 1944 until January 1946.

In November of 1958, de Gaulle was elected President by the parliament with 78% of the vote. He took office in January of 1959. As President de Gaulle oversaw economic measures such as the issuing of a new franc (French form of money at the time), and pushed for France to be independent and create its own nuclear weapons. He was also able to promote an independent foreign policy and make France a power on the international stage. Charles resigned as President of France in 1969 when his proposed changes to the constitution were defeated.

After his resignation, Charles died suddenly in 1970. While watching the evening news on television Charles had a sudden pain in his neck. Seconds later he fell unconscious. He was dead during minutes from a heart attack. His final wish was to be buried in Colombey and to not allow any presidents or ministers to attend his funeral.