
It took a long time for de Gaulle to become ‘de Gaulle’ - allthebest
https://www.spectator.co.uk/2018/06/it-took-a-long-time-for-de-gaulle-to-become-de-gaulle/
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AceJohnny2
On the international stage, de Gaulle had a strong drive to have France stand
on its own, following the humiliation of the capitulation during WW2. As a
result, he pushed for some policies whose impact we still feel today:

\- During Bretton Woods, he directed his delegates to maximize the allowance
France had to buy back gold with American dollars, and use it to its full
extent. This eventually led to Nixon abolishing the Gold Standard, turning the
dollar a fiat currency. [1] To this day, France is the 4th largest hoarder of
gold.

\- He pushed for nuclear development, founding the CEA (Nuclear Energy
Commission) in 1945, and pushing for an independent nuclear deterrent against
the USSR. Today, nuclear power provides 40% of France's electricity needs.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixon_shock](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixon_shock)

~~~
toomanybeersies
Surprisingly, France has the worlds third largest nuclear arsenal at 300
weapons.

~~~
etiennemarcel
Why is that surprising? Until the 90s France had a nuclear triad, but the land
component was dropped. We used to have more warheads, but still need quite a
few to keep global coverage through submarines and aircrafts...

~~~
toomanybeersies
It's surprising because China has a billion people and a bunch of competing
regional interests. Since WWII, the PRC has been at war or had armed conflict
with India, Vietnam, the ROC, the UN (Korean war) and the USSR. There are also
the ongoing territorial disputes in the South China Sea and continued border
unrest on the Indian border.

France doesn't have any significant regional disputes around territory and
hasn't been to war with its neighbours in about 75 years.

Yet France still has more nuclear warheads than China (officially, at least).

~~~
petraeus
China is not surrounded by rivals, its also never been conquered. The chinese
do not have the same existential fear that france does.

------
hyperrail
FYI: the book reviewed here is called _A Certain Idea of France: The Life of
Charles de Gaulle_ in the British edition [1], but simply _De Gaulle_ in the
American one.[2]

In both cases, the book is by Julian Jackson.

[1] [https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/178767/a-certain-idea-of-
fra...](https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/178767/a-certain-idea-of-france/)

[2]
[http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674987210](http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674987210)

