Charles Andre Marie Joseph de Gaulle was born on November 22, 1890 in Lille, France to two Catholic parents, Henri and Jeanne de Gaulle. He cherished reading stories. Even more so, de Gaulle liked the stories that were about war heroes. He even played war with his friends. When he played war, he demanded to represent France (Early life de Gaulle). The de Gaulle family was originally formed in Northern France for five centuries back, before Charles Andre de Gaulle. Until the eighteenth century, the de Gaulle family ranked as petite noblesse depee, also known as the sword- bearing officer class. This was not one of the high-ranking family titles. It was an upper-middle-class. Charles de Gaulle was the second son of a Roman Catholic, well known, well-rounded family. The family usually produced historians and writers. Henri de Gaulle (father) taught philosophy, literature, and politics to his children and students. The de Gaulle family served the King of France as Crown lawyers for three generations, until Jean Baptiste-Philippe de Gaulle (grandfather of Charles), decided to teach and write. Jeanne Maillot-Delannoy de Gaulle was not just Charles mother but a third cousin to her son. Jeanne died in Brittany in 1940 during German occupation, soon after her sons Call to Honor to the French: following Charles flight to London. Charles de Gaulle believed that his mother gave him, her passionate, sensitive, naturist side, and her ability to mask his reserved ideas (Cook 26). Charles also believed that his father gave him his intelligence, deep and sympathetic way of thinking, and his sense of history, application, self-discipline and strength in character (Cook 35). During the eighteenth century the family was ranked as petite noblesse de robe. This was still a low ranking class in society. The petite noblesse de robe class was now going to classify the de Gaulle family as a lesser nobility without the title or land (Johnson). De ...
