La France Libre and the Legacy of de Gaulle
Max Beloff reviews a fresh account of de Gaulle and the Free French movement.
It is a commonplace of the study of French history that what took place in France from 1789 to 1815 set the pattern for all that followed, at least until 1939. To understand the dilemmas of France today, the years between 1940 and 1945 are no less relevant. A work which both tells the absorbing story of the establishment of the Free French endeavour and its many vicissitudes, doing full justice to the drama itself and the personalities involved, while pointing to the wider implications of the saga, makes a massive contribution to our political understanding.