Charles de Gaulle

The Man Who Refused to Fall

By: Julien Peltier

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

A soldier. A statesman. A nation’s last hope.

In the summer of 1940, France lay broken under the heel of Nazi Germany. Its leaders prepared to surrender. One man — an obscure brigadier general named Charles de Gaulle — refused. Escaping to London, he took to the airwaves and lit a flame that would never be extinguished.

But Charles de Gaulle: The Man Who Refused to Fall goes far beyond the wartime legend. In this gripping, cinematic biography, bestselling-series author Julien Peltier reveals the full arc of the man who created France’s Fifth Republic — and cast a shadow over every president who came after.

Through vivid, non-linear storytelling, you’ll walk with de Gaulle through sniper fire in liberated Paris, sit with him in the silence of political exile, and hear the stubborn heartbeat that drove him from a Lille childhood steeped in patriotism to the heights of power — and back into solitude.

From the mud and captivity of World War I to the street barricades of May 1968, from the lonely exile of wartime London to the Élysée Palace itself, this is not just history — it’s the portrait of a man who made himself inseparable from his country’s destiny.

Perfect for readers of Erik Larson, Antony Beevor, and Robert Harris, this book delivers:

• A fast-paced, novel-like narrative grounded in meticulous research

• Unforgettable scenes from de Gaulle’s life, told with cinematic detail

• Insights into the birth of the Fifth Republic and its lasting political legacy

• A human portrait of one of the 20th century’s most complex leaders

Read it as a standalone masterpiece, or as the opening volume in the acclaimed Presidents of the Fifth Republic series — the untold, unvarnished lives of the men who have shaped modern France.

France has known many leaders. Only one was called Le Général.