Emile Henry Muselier was born in Marseille on the 17th April 1882 and died in Toulon on the 2nd September 1965. He was a student at the Naval College from 1899 to 1901. From then until 1939 he had a brilliant career, during which he alternated between positions on active duty (in the Far East from 1902 until 1905, Yser in 1915 etc.) and in high public office (a member of the cabinets of Painlevé, Jeanneney and Clemenceau). He was ranked Ship of the Line Ensign first class in 1902 and promoted to Ship-of-the-Line Lieutenant in 1912, Ship-of-the-Line Captain in 1926, Rear Admiral in 1933 and Vice Admiral in 1939. Just after his last promotion he retired, but joined General de Gaulle in London on the 30th June 1940. The latter gave him the task of creating the Free French Naval Forces (les Forces navales françaises libres, or FNFL) and the Free French Air Forces (les Forces aériennes françaises libres or FAFL). He carried out the role of Chief of the FNFL until the 30th April 1942. Appointed Commissioner to the Navy on the National Committee, in December 1941 he directed the expedition that resulted in the liberation of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon. He resigned from the National Committee on the 3rd March 1942. He teamed up with General Giraud in Algiers in May 1943 and in June he was appointed Deputy Commander in Chief of the North African Maritime Forces. In August 1943, following the merging of the FNFL with the North African Maritime Forces, he was relieved of his duties.

In September 1944 he was appointed Head of the Naval Delegation to the Military Mission for National Defence, in charge of German Affairs. He retired from active service in June 1946. Up until 1960, he worked as an engineering advisor for the company Laignel. He was also involved with organisations for ex-servicemen and First World War ex-marine fusiliers and was appointed Honorary president of the Franco-Belgian Union of Servicemen of the Yser and Flanders and President of the National Help the Aged Association. Vice Admiral Muselier was a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour, a Friend of the Liberation and a Friend of the Order of the Bath. He was also a holder of the War Cross for the 1914-1918 war and the War Cross for overseas operations. Amongst his published works, Marine et Résistance(The Navy and Resistance) (1945) and De Gaulle contre de Gaulle (De Gaulle against Gaullism) (1946) are of note.

Edith Cavell was born in 1865 in England. She was the daughter of an Anglican pastor. She studied first in Brussels then in Switzerland, and finally in Dresdes and Aix-la-Chapelle where she learnt German techniques in medicine and hygiene. Returning to England in 1895, she worked first as a governess, before obtaining her nursing qualification at the 'London Hospital' before returning in 1906 to work at the Institute of Surgery and directing the Berkendael medical institute in Brussels. In 1914, the Red Cross built a hospital in her establishment, which rapidly became a refuge for French, Belgian and English soldiers wishing to rejoin the front by passing through the Netherlands. Miss Cavell thus became an important link in this ?escape network? from the north of France to Holland via Belgium.

Her group's activity intensified with the retreat towards the Marne of the French and English forces. Wounded soldiers remained stranded in the field hospitals of Northern France and the Ardennes, whilst others lost contact with their units. The soldiers who managed to avoid attracting the attention of the German forces were taken care of by princess Marie de Croÿ at the château de Bellignies, before being taken to Edith Cavell from whom they received clothing and forged documents before rejoining their armies. This continued from November 1914 to July 1915, enabling two hundred people to escape the German occupied zone.

Eventually the ring was denounced and the sixty-six members of the underground network were arrested during the summer of 1915. The French spy Gaston Quien was accused of denouncing the network, but he was acquitted due to lack of evidence. Edith Cavell was arrested on the 15th of July, attempting to smuggle allied prisoners over the Dutch border, and she was incarcerated in Saint-Gilles prison. During her interrogation, she did not deny the facts: "I considered it my duty to do this for my country", she said; an attitude which would lead to her being accused of being a traitor and held responsible for the collapse of the Belgian intelligence service. Edith Cavell was imprisoned in solitary confinement. The German authorities pretended to yield to diplomatic pressure and allowed the lawyer Sadie Kirsten to defend her, however they did not allow him to speak to her or consult her case notes. The court hearing for the spying ring took place on the 7th September to the 8th October 1915, under the authority of general Ströbel. The case was highly publicised and was designed to serve as an example. The death penalty for conspiring with the enemy was therefore called for. On the 11th October 1915, Edith Cavell, the countess Jeanne de Belleville and Louise Thuliez, a schoolteacher, were condemned to death. The American legation secretary attempted to obtain a pardon for Edith Cavell, but his efforts were in vain. The sentence was carried out on the 12th October 1915, at seven O'clock in the morning.

Her co-conspirators were sentenced to forced labour for life. This execution provoked a storm of protest in England and the United States, just after the Lusitania had been torpedoed. Anti-German propaganda begun to circulate and volunteers started to sign up. After the war, on the 7th May 1919, the remains of Edith Cavell were repatriated to England. A ceremony was held in Westminster abbey. A column was erected in Trafalgar Square (London), near to the National Gallery in memory of this trans-national heroine. A bas-relief, destroyed in 1940, was also dedicated to her in the Museum of Jeu de Paume (Paris).

Wilhelm Keitel joins the army in 1901 and holds several posts during the First World War, serving primarily as an officer in the General Staff. After Germany falls in 1918, he pursues his military career at the heart of the new German army, the Reichswehr, as it was authorized by the Treaty of Versailles.

When Adolf Hitler came into power in 1933 and started rebuilding the armed forces, Wilhelm Keitel's career began to rapidly progress. He was named a brigadier in 1934 and the following year became chief of the War Cabinet and the director of the Wehrmachtsamt, in charge of the coordination of the armed forces. In 1938, Wilhelm Keitel became chief of the newly-created Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW - Armed Forces High Command). On 22 June 1940, he signed the Franco-German armistice at Rethondes. This zealous executor of Adolf Hitler's orders was named chief of the OKW -- the Armed Forces High Command -- in 1938, and during the war authorized all Hitler's military decisions as well as the terror tactics he employed in countries taken by the Germans, most notably the execution of hostages and NN (Night and Fog) prisoners. He was promoted to Marshal in July 1940. Despite several attempts on the part of the leading circles of the army and the General Staff to shake up the top of the military hierarchy, he kept his positions until the end of the Second World War. On 9 May 1945, he signed the unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht on the orders of Grand Admiral Doentiz. In 1946, the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg condemned him to death for Crimes against Peace, War Crimes, and Crimes against Humanity.

A French general and politician (1890-1970), Charles de Gaulle was the first person to advocate the need for France to have armoured military vehicles. A leader of the French resistance during World War II, he was the founding father of the Fifth Republic, which was particularly noteworthy due to the election of the president under universal suffrage.

Charles de Gaulle was born in Lille on 22 November 1890 to a patriotic Catholic family. He spent his childhood in Paris, studying with the Jesuits and very early opted for a career in the forces. In 1908 he entered the special Military Academy at Saint-Cyr. After four years of study, he was transferred to Arras in 1912 as a sub-lieutenant.

During the First World War he was wounded in combat three times and left for dead in the Battle of Douaumont (1916). Taken prisoner by the Germans, he attempted to escape on five occasions, but was recaptured each time. He was not freed until the Armistice, on 11th November 1918. Pursuing his military career, Captain De Gaulle saw active service in several countries (including Poland and The Lebanon). Between the wars he wrote several works in which he was critical of French defence policy: in particular he believed that the army must be subject to the decisions of politicians and that it was essential for the defence of France, to raise a corps of armoured vehicles in order to face the threat of German mechanised power. At the same time he began his involvement with politics: in 1931 he was seconded to the General Secretariat for National Defence in Paris. Promoted to Colonel in 1937, de Gaulle was given the command of the 507th tank regiment in Metz. When France and Britain declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939, he was given temporary command of the tanks of the 5th army. At the time of the German invasion, de Gaulle distinguished himself several times at the head of his unit, in particular halting the Germans at Abbeville (27-30 May 1940). Appointed General on 1 June 1940, de Gaulle became Under Secretary of State for War and National Defence a few days later, in the Government of Paul Reynaud.

On 17 June, de Gaulle left to continue fighting the war from London; he launched an appeal for resistance over the BBC, on 18 June. As a rebel General, he was sentenced to death in absentia. Recognised by Churchill as the "leader of the Free French", de Gaulle organised armed forces that became the Free French Forces. Meanwhile, he provided Free France with a kind of Government in exile, the French National Committee, which became the French Committee for National Liberation (CFLN) on 3 June 1943, following its arrival in Algiers. From 1942 onwards, De Gaulle gave Jean Moulin the task of organising the National Committee for Resistance (CNR) in France within which political parties of all persuasions, trades unions and resistance movements had to be represented, in order to co-ordinate the struggle. After the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, de Gaulle insisted with General Eisenhower, supreme commander of allied armies, that Paris should be quickly liberated, although the strategy was to head directly eastwards, bypassing the Capital. Eventually, the 2nd Armoured Division of General Leclerc liberated Paris on 25 August.

Once the fighting was over, de Gaulle began to rebuild the country at the head of the interim government. He introduced several major measures (including the founding of the Social Security system). But, on 20 January 1946, he left power due to a disagreement of the role played by political parties. The Constitution of the 4th Republic, adopted shortly afterwards, greatly displeased him. He criticised it several times (such as in his speech in Bayeux, in June 1946), reproaching it for the weakness of its executive power. De Gaulle then entered the opposition. In 1947, he launched the Rassemblement du peuple français (RPF or Alliance of the French People), a movement that performed badly in elections, despite attracting many members. This was the beginning of the "wilderness years" : de Gaulle withdrew to Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, wrote his memoirs and travelled.

From 1954, France was involved in a war of decolonisation in Algeria. On 13 May 1958, the French Algerians launched an insurrection in Algiers to consolidate their position. They called for de Gaulle to take power. The President of the French Republic, René Coty, fearing that this crisis might descend into civil war, offered de Gaulle the position of Leader of the Cabinet. De Gaulle refused to return to power unless he could change government institutions. During the summer of 1958, he inspired the writing of a new Constitution: this was approved in a referendum on 28 September 1958 by almost 80% of French people. The 5th Republic was born. On 21 December 1958, Charles de Gaulle was elected President of the Republic by indirect universal suffrage.

The most urgent task to be faced was Algeria. De Gaulle offered the Algerians self-government in 1959 and organised a referendum on the subject in 1961: 75% of French people said "yes" to Algerian self-government. In April 1961, disaffected partisans of French Algeria staged an attempted coup that failed. Negotiations between the French and Algerians ended with the Evian agreements, signed on 22 March 1962 and accepted by referendum in both France and Algeria. 1962 was a real turning point, firstly on an institutional level: the General proposed electing the Head of State through universal suffrage. This reform aroused strong opposition, but the referendum on constitutional reform was successful, with a "yes" vote of 62.2%. In 1965, the presidential election was conducted by direct universal suffrage for the first time. Through to the second round (with 43.7% of the vote), de Gaulle was finally elected, beating Mitterrand, with 54.8%. In terms of foreign affairs, de Gaulle pursued a policy of national independence, providing France with its own means of defence: the first French atomic bomb was detonated at Reggane in the Sahara in February 1960. De Gaulle refused the protection of the United States and in 1966 withdrew France from the integrated NATO system - but France remained a member of the Atlantic alliance. At the same time, France entered the European Economic Community (EEC) on 1 January 1959. The country faced a major crisis in May 1968. Students organised huge demonstrations, and were joined by workers, triggering a general strike. De Gaulle succeeded in calming the situation by granting certain benefits to workers. On 27 April 1969, he put a plan for regionalisation and reform of the senate before the French people. His proposal was rejected in a referendum by 52.4% of the vote. Failing to gain the approval of the French people, he felt he lo longer had their trust and preferred to resign. Charles de Gaulle retired to Colombey-les-Deux-Églises and continued to write his memoirs; he died on 9 November 1970. In accordance with his will, de Gaulle was not given a state funeral. He was buried next to his daughter Anne, with a simple inscription on his grave, "Charles de Gaulle 1890-1970".