The story of France’s reaching nuclear weapons and leaving NATO; De Gaulle.

French president Charles de Gaulle (centre) in Brazzaville, French Equatorial Africa (modern-day Republic of the Congo) in 1958.

The “Cuban Missile Crisis” between the USA and the Soviet Union in 1962 aroused fear in Europe as well as in the whole world. European states reacted against the NATO ally, the United States, taking care of itself and acting independently in the near-nuclear war event. NATO member countries just watched what happened. That’s when De Gaulle made his decision. France should have followed a balanced policy between these two countries. De Gaulle France, which made its first nuclear test in 1960 in the colonial Algerian territories, launched its first satellite into orbit in 1965, becoming the third country after the USA and the Soviets.
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You know, France turned into a ‘colander’ during the Second World War. It came to life again with the support of the USA, but after the war, nearly 50 thousand American soldiers settled in France and American warplanes started to use the airbases in the country as their own base. NATO’s headquarters, along with NATO’s most important bases, was in France. De Gaulle insisted on the balance policy; A year after reaching nuclear weapons, he left NATO’s military wing, citing “our sovereignty issue” to get out of the ‘US yoke’. NATO headquarters has since moved to Belgium and is still there. 43 years later, the date is April 4, 2009. France was sent back to the alliance under the leadership of Sarkozy. In addition, the name of France’s only aircraft carrier is “Charles de Gaulle”.
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Although he thought that the suppression of the events in his colonial Algeria should be resolved militarily, it was De Gaulle who started negotiations with the Algerian National Liberation Front. Because of these meetings, a coup attempt took place against him, but he did not give up. Algeria gained its independence in 1962 during the Gaulle period. Details such as the effort he made for his country during the Second World War, the presidency and his death while opening the playing horoscope are available in the link in the bio, you can read.