Charles de Gaulle

Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle 22 November 1890 9 November 1970 was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Republic from 1944 to 1946 in order to restore democracy in France In 1958 he came out of retirement when appointed President of the Council of Ministers 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 to which he was reelected in 1965 and held until his resignation in 1969