Appeal of 18 June

The Appeal of 18 June was the first speech made by Charles de Gaulle after his arrival in London in 1940 following the Battle of France. Broadcast to France by the radio services of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), it is often considered to have marked the beginning of the French Resistance in World War II. It is regarded as one of the most important speeches in French history. In spite of its significance in French collective memory, historians have shown that the appeal was heard only by a minority of French people. De Gaulle's 22 June 1940 speech was more widely heard. The historic importance of these radio broadcasts and de Gaulle's future status as the emblem of the French resistance gave de Gaulle the nickname (The Man of 18 June). Context De Gaulle had recently been promoted to the rank of brigadier general and named as under-secretary of state for national defence and war by Prime Minister Paul Reynaud during the German invasion of France. Reynaud resigned after his proposal for a Franco-British Union was rejected by his cabinet and Marshal Philippe Pétain, a hero of World War I, became the new prime minister, pledging to sign an armistice with Nazi Germany. De Gaulle opposed any such action and, facing imminent arrest, fled France on 17 June. Other leading politicians, including Georges Mandel, Léon Blum, Pierre Mendès France, Jean Zay and Édouard Daladier (and separately Reynaud), were arrested while travelling to continue the war from North Africa. De Gaulle arrived in London on the afternoon of 17 June and met with Winston Churchill. The British prime minister had a good opinion of de Gaulle from their three previous meetings, and gave permission to make a speech to France. De Gaulle finished his speech on the morning of 18 June, but did not know that the British government almost revoked permission. London hoped to persuade the Pétain government in Bordeaux to send the French Navy away from German use, and individual French politicians to leave France, so worried about a speech criticizing the French government. Having sent three separate simultaneous delegations to Bordeaux, it decided that the speech would not confuse things further. Ignorant of the British debate over his speech, de Gaulle arrived at the BBC at 6 pm BST to record the four-minute speech. After final permission arrived at 8 pm, the speech was broadcast at 10 pm BST (8 pm in Paris) on BBC Radio from Broadcasting House over France.