De Gaulle's foreign policy was perhaps one of his most controversial legacies. He returned to power in 1958 with the determination to elevate France to a leading role internationally. De Gaulle's ultimate goal was to re-establish France's position as a first-rate power that, in the words of one historian, exemplified "independence and greatness." In his war memoirs, de Gaulle presented "une certain idée de la France", according to which he believed France had a great destiny to fulfill: "All my life I have thought of France in a certain way... France does not it is truly itself" if not on the front line... Only large companies are able to counterbalance the ferments of dispersion that are inherent to its people... In short, in my opinion, France cannot be France without greatness ». This vision was the foundation of his foreign and defense policy. His concept of “European Europe” was linked to the notion of Europe “from the Atlantic to the Urals”. The basic idea was that the two hegemonic powers, America and the USSR, would gradually loosen their grip on their respective spheres of influence in Europe; and Europe would gain independence. The Cold War initiated this vision and consequently created enemies in Washington. Collapse of the colonial empire/force de frappe/multi-polarIn relation to de Gaulle's desire to elevate France to the status of a great nation, he believed that France should possess its own nuclear weapon, the “force de frappe”. De Gaulle favored a shift towards a multipolar world of nation states in which medium-sized powers would play a greater role. In terms of policies and objectives, De Gaulle did not develop convincing arguments. He did not articulate detailed plans for what international stability would look like… a world order in which France would act as a great power. European states did not share his optimistic view of Soviet intentions. They believed that a strong alliance with the United States was necessary to deter Soviet political ambitions and military capabilities. This view was reinforced in 1968 with the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. Economic France lacked the economic and financial basis to compete with the United States and the Soviet Union as the leader of a bloc of nations. Third World countries looked primarily to the two superpowers for economic and development assistance, and tied their political allegiance to the receipt of such aid. France, as a middle-class power with an average amount of resources, simply did not possess the necessary means to fulfill this role. This can be seen as an obstacle to the success of de Gaulle's foreign policy.