Charles de Gaulle

Two portraits of Charles de Gaulle from different moments in his life. An abstracted portrait of the general in the background (as commander-in-chief at the time of the Appeal of 18 June and the Liberation of Paris) and a relief portrait of the older de Gaulle in the middle ground (during his second, seven-year term as President). In the foreground on the left, the Cross of Lorraine — symbol of Free France, chosen by General de Gaulle in 1940. The monogram "RF", the birth and death years "1890" and "1970", and the year of issue "2020" are integrated into the composition. Along the lower edge, from left to right: the rectangle of artist Joaquin Jimenez, the mint mark of the Pessac Mint, and the mintmaster's mark of Yves Sampo.

Charles de Gaulle is one of the most formative figures in 20th-century French history - soldier, statesman and founder of the Fifth Republic all in one. As a brigadier general, he refused to accept capitulation to Nazi Germany in June 1940 and, from exile in London, called for resistance. His appeal of 18 June 1940, broadcast by the BBC, is regarded as the founding moment of the Résistance and made him the symbolic figure of the Free French. After the liberation of Paris in 1944, he led the Forces françaises libres back into the capital, thereby lending legitimacy to France's claim to a place among the victorious powers of the Second World War.

After a period of political withdrawal, de Gaulle returned to power in 1958 amid the constitutional crisis of the Fourth Republic and profoundly reshaped France. As the first president of the newly founded Fifth Republic, he pursued an independent foreign policy, advanced reconciliation with Germany - the 1963 Élysée Treaty with Konrad Adenauer stands as a prime example - and gave France a strong head of state as a counterweight to parliamentary instability. He died in 1970 in Colombey-les-Deux-Églises. France honoured him in 2020, the year of the 80th anniversary of the 18 June appeal, with a 2-euro commemorative coin.