During the First World War, a six-foot-five French officer tried to escape a German prison camp in a laundry basket and later disguised as a nurse. That prisoner was Charles de Gaulle, and this deep dive explores how a man with no money, territory, or leverage projected unshakable authority and made the world treat him as the leader of France.

We trace de Gaulle from a childhood shaped by the shame of 1870 and his nickname the Great Asparagus, through captivity, to his ignored warnings about tank warfare before the fall of France. We examine his June 18, 1940 broadcast, his clashes with Churchill and Roosevelt, his return to power during the Algerian crisis, the Fifth Republic, the politics of grandeur, his devotion to his daughter Anne, and the upheaval of May 1968.

• Why the French high command clung to the Maginot Line despite his arguments for armored warfare
• How he weaponized prestige to force the Allies to recognize Free France
• His pivot to Algerian independence and the more than 30 assassination attempts that followed
• Leaving NATO’s integrated command, vetoing Britain’s entry to the EEC, and Vive le Quebec libre
• His resignation after the 1969 referendum and his request for a simple grave