Charles De Gaulle's Failed Assassination
How did De Gaulle escape his death?
4.1 (33)
71 mins
Explore how Charles de Gaulle narrowly escaped a deadly ambush in 1962, when gunmen unleashed a barrage of bullets on his moving car. Uncover how precision driving, luck, and timing turned a near-certain assassination into a shocking survival.
Ep 1:
Dallas Echoes in the Élysée
As France mourns with America, de Gaulle privately declares Kennedy's death a coup by his own security forces—drawing on his own thirty-one brushes with assassination and the fall of France in 1940.
Ep 2:
From Exile to the Champs-Élysées
From a defiant exile in London to the liberated streets of Paris, de Gaulle transforms defeat into myth, then returns from the wilderness to seize power amid Algeria's brutal civil war.
Ep 3:
Coups, Moles, and a Fractured Alliance
Behind Cold War alliances, de Gaulle wages a covert battle with Kennedy and the CIA over nukes and NATO, surviving a 1961 generals' putsch allegedly nudged by Allen Dulles himself.
Ep 4:
Bullets, Chickens, and a Miracle Car
A rain-soaked ambush in Petit-Clamart unleashes 187 bullets at de Gaulle's motorcade—and only his revolutionary Citroën DS and its steely driver stand between him and death.
Ep 5:
The General's Theory of Everything
De Gaulle dissects Kennedy's assassination like a man reading his own history, then turns his defiance outward—quitting NATO, testing nukes, and provoking Washington at every turn.
Ep 6:
The Long Goodbye of a Giant
Aging, defiant, and out of step with a new generation, de Gaulle's final years bring resignation, quiet death, and the slow birth of a legend larger than the man.
Discussions (5)
Marc
Level 6 · 4 mo agoI think you guys are giving de Gaulle way too much credit here. He had a massive ego and probably just projected his own political drama onto JFK.
Zachariah
Level 8 · 4 mo agoFidel Castro survived way more attempts than De Gaulle.
Joyce
Level 5 · 4 mo agoDe Gaulle's take on Dallas is just arrogant projection. Just because his own security forces hated him does not mean the CIA took out Kennedy.
