On Britain's second application in 1967, he insisted that the community would be dissolved if the other members accepted, on the grounds that Britain was generally hostile to the European project, and that the British economy was incompatible with membership of the Common Market. Indeed, in a move which underlined France's new-found confidence in its place in the world, as well as a rejection of Anglo-American influence in Europe, de Gaulle vetoed British membership of the EEC in 1963. His antipathy to Britain, the United States and NATO was by this time well known. Subsequent to his reelection on 21 December 1965, de Gaulle continued his plans for a French superpower and his preference for intergovernmental solutions led to the "empty chair" crisis of 1965. De Gaulle's main interest in the European Economic Community was to further the interests of France, particularly in agriculture, with the Common Agricultural Policy introduced in 1963. In spite of fierce opposition, his negotiations led to Algerian independence in 1962. Following a successful referendum on reform of the constitution, de Gaulle was elected President of the Republic on 21 December 1958. In May 1958, the threat of civil war and the Algerian crisis provided the perfect opportunity for de Gaulle to return to public life. However, de Gaulle became disillusioned with the RPF and left in 1955 to work solely on his memoirs. De Gaulle campaigned against the 1946 constitution of the 4th Republic, and in 1947 resigned his post to found the Rassemblement du Peuple Français, which won 120 seats in the 1951 elections. Famous for his spirited defence of French interests, de Gaulle became president of the French Committee of National Liberation in 1943, returning to government in Paris on 9 September 1944. When Reynaud was replaced by Pétain, de Gaulle left for London, from where, on 18 June 1940, he broadcast the first appeal to create the resistance movement, which later became the Free French Forces. De Gaulle was a Brigadier-General when Germany invaded France in June 1940, and was appointed Undersecretary of State for War in the Reynaud government. From 1925 he served under Pétain on the staff of the Supreme War Council, gaining valuable insight into Franco-German relations. Charles de Gaulle (French born in Lille, 22 November 1890 died in Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises, 9 November 1970) was wounded at Verdun during World War I and spent over two years as a prisoner of war.
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