Q 01/05

In which French city was Charles de Gaulle born in 1890?

A) Paris

B) Lille

C) Lyon

D) Calais

Answer · why

B) Lille

Lille was the home of his mother's well-to-do family of manufacturers, but de Gaulle himself was brought up and educated in Paris.

Q 02/05

What did de Gaulle's father, Henri, do for a living?

A) Schoolteacher

B) Army officer

C) Textile merchant

D) Country doctor

Answer · why

A) Schoolteacher

Schoolteacher: Henri de Gaulle taught at a Jesuit school in Paris and later ran one of his own, and the French history he argued over with his childre...

Q 03/05

De Gaulle is said to have asked how anyone could govern a country with 246 varieties of what?

A) Wine

B) Cheese

C) Bread

D) Sausage

Answer · why

B) Cheese

Cheese: the quip comes from a 1962 book of his sayings, and other tellings give other numbers, yet every one of them undercounts, since France makes o...

Q 04/05

At which French military academy did de Gaulle train as an officer before the First World War?

A) École Polytechnique

B) École Navale

C) Saint-Maixent

D) Saint-Cyr

Answer · why

D) Saint-Cyr

Saint-Cyr made its cadets serve in the ranks first, so de Gaulle spent a year as an ordinary infantryman before he was allowed to take up his place at...

Q 05/05

De Gaulle was first wounded in August 1914 at Dinant, a town in which country?

A) Luxembourg

B) Switzerland

C) Belgium

D) The Netherlands

Answer · why

C) Belgium

Belgium: his regiment was rushed over the border to check the invading Germans at Dinant, and Lieutenant de Gaulle was shot in the leg in the very fir...