The future poet was born in Quimper (Finistère department) on 12 July 1876, into a Jewish family from Prussia. In 1888 the family changed its name from Alexandre to Jacob.

Being the son of a tailor, his studies at the Lycée in Quimper, his 8th place in the Concours Général in philosophy and his admission to the colonial school did not seem to predispose him to the life of an artist that he took up in 1897 when he moved to Paris. He was attracted by the spirit of the latest artistic trends, he met Picasso in 1901 and spent much time with the artists at the "Bateau-Lavoir", where he also took up residence in 1911. In 1903, he published “The Story of King Kabul the First and Gawain the Kitchen Boy”.

Many of his works were illustrated by his friends: Derain for the Brother Matorel burlesque and mystic works, Pablo Picasso for “The siege of Jerusalem”, Juan Gris for “Ne coupez pas mademoiselle,” etc.

He converted to Catholicism in 1909, and was baptised on 18 February 1915 at the Couvent de Sion in Paris. Picasso was his godfather. He was found unfit for combat and did not take part in World War I, and in 1916-1917 he adopted surrealism, writing “The Dice Box”.

Léon Gambetta was born on the 2nd April 1838 in Cahors, the adopted town of his Genoan father Joseph, and Marie Madeleine Orasie Massabie, the daughter of a pharmacist from Molières, a town in the Tarn-et-Garonne region. Whilst still very young, Léon stood out because of his intelligence and tremendous memory. He became a boarder at the lower seminary of Montfaucon before completing his schooling at Cahors grammar school. A candidate in the national education competition, he won the French dissertation prize and then obtained an Arts Baccalaureate in 1856, aged 17. To the great displeasure of his father who wanted him to take over his business, the young man, who was a talented speaker, left for Paris in January 1857 and enrolled in law school to follow a career as a lawyer. He requested and was granted French nationality on the 29th October 1859. He had his vive voce for his law degree on the 19th January the following year and took his oath on the 8th June 1861. His first defence cases set him against parliamentary opposition groups from the "left" (the Republicans). The Baudin subscription affair (1851) made him famous in 1868. This case was brought by the Imperial government against newspapers advocating a subscription with a view to building a monument in memory of this elected representative, who was killed on the 3rd December on the streets of Faubourg Saint-Antoine fighting for the people.

The young lawyer took the opportunity to make a closing speech criticising the regime of Louis Napoléon Bonaparte. In January 1870, as member of parliament for the district of Marseille, he stood against the government of Emile Ollivier whose support for Napoléon III was perceived as treachery by the Republicans. However, Gambetta called for national unity and passed a bill for military funding on the eve of war. During the night of the 3rd to the 4th September, Léon Gambetta, after having attempted in vain to appease the revolutionary situation arising from the announcement of the capitulation of Sedan, announced the fall of the Empire in the Bourbon Palace, which had been invaded by the mob. In the Town hall, he witnessed the declaration of the Government for the national defence, with which he became associated alongside Jules Simon and Ernest Picard. On his own initiative he settled in to the ministry of the interior and ordered the dismissal of the prefects of the Empire. At the same time he organised the capital's defences. On the 7th September in a besieged Paris, Léon Gambetta appeared like somebody heaven-sent. Opposite a government that was overwhelmed by the situation, he led the national defence in the provinces. Gambetta was the embodiment of resistance against the Prussian occupier. He took off in a balloon to join the Tours delegation via Montdidier, Amiens and Rouen, adding the war department to his portfolio, setting up new armies, supervising the training and provision of troops, building factories, increasing official visits, with briefings and speeches calling to "prolong the war until extermination". At the same time the capital was subject to a siege by the imperialists: the city was bombarded and the population starved. Adolphe Thiers ended up commissioning (22nd January 1871) Jules Favre, the minister for overseas affairs, to approach Bismarck in order to agree an armistice. Gambetta distanced himself from the political scene and negotiations because of a decree that he signed in Bordeaux making Empire assembly members of ineligible. He resigned on the 6th February.

Gambetta was elected on nine lists during the general elections of the 8th February 1871: in the East, Paris, Marseille and Algeria. He chose the Lower Rhine. He voted against the peace agreement and expressed his intention to recover the lost provinces. Returning from his retreat in Saint-Sébastien and having lost his seat in parliament on the 2nd July, he campaigned in the Bouches-du-Rhône and Seine regions. As MP for the Seine, Gambetta formed an extreme left parliamentary party "the Republican Union", founded a newspaper, La République française, increasing his speeches in the provinces, during which he castigated the conservative policy of the National Assembly and displayed militant anticlericalism. In the commotion of the restored republican sovereignty, he took part in the debates that gave rise to constitutional laws and contributed to the passing of the Walloon amendment on the 28th January 1875. Léon Gambetta then concentrated on promoting the new regime during the electoral ballot campaign of January and February 1876. In Bordeaux (13th February), he outlined the reforms necessary: the separation of the Church from the State, the creation of income tax, the reestablishment of the right to meetings and associations, a measure that he overturned at "opportune" moments for fear of upsetting the rural electorate, who were the demographical majority. The ballot of the 20th February sanctioned his work. Gambetta was elected in several districts and opted for Belleville. Marshal de Mac-Mahon, however, did not call him into his ministry. He preferred figures who were further "to the right". Gambetta took advantage of the crisis that arose from the constitution of the de Broglie ministry to unite the Republican vote and cause the dissolution of the Chamber - it was to be his only victory in his unsuccessful attempt to unite the parties to the left.
A tactician and orator of the highest order, Gambetta made the summer electoral campaign his own, before pronouncing in his speech in Lille (15th August) directed at the President of the Republic, the phrase "accept or resign", a remark that would earn him a conviction of three months in prison, a sentence that he would not serve. Having acceded to "republican sainthood", he preferred however to promote Jules Grévy on the 3rd September to the position of head of State and remain in the background. Political crises followed: Gambetta stood against Marshal de Mac-Mahon with vehemence. He ended up securing his resignation, the latter having refused to sign the decree to lay off ten generals of the army corps (20th January 1879). Refusing once more to head the regime, Gambetta let Jules Grévy succeed Mac-Mahon and contented himself with the presidency of the chamber (31st January 1879). From a symbolic role which he carried out elegantly, Gambetta, who in the eyes of President Grévy no longer represented a political obstacle, rose to the presidency of the council on the 10th November 1881. He thus finally believed it possible to turn France into a stable and peaceful country, reunited around the republican way of thinking. The new head of State tried to establish a large ministry, uniting all of the important figures from the "left". Jules Ferry, Léon Say, Henri Brisson and Charles de Freycinet and the heads of various movements all refused the offer. His government had barely been formed (on the 14th January 1882) when it was toppled after 74 days, following a legislative bill on the ways of appointing senators and electing representatives to the chamber. Freycinet succeeded him, surrounded by those very people who had refused to give him their support.

Léon Gambetta then withdrew from politics. He settled in the Nice area, no longer taking part in debates except for the one on the 18th July 1882 requesting that French presence be maintained in Egypt. Retired to les Jardies (Ville-d'Avray), with his companion Léonie Léon, Gambetta was the victim of a fire arm accident that confined him to bed for the whole of November. This inactivity was fatal for him. He died on the 31st December 1882 following an intestinal infection and appendicitis that was not operated upon. A republican hero, the founding "father" of the Third Republic, Léon Gambetta was an incontrovertible key figure in "helping to understand that a regime that was initially modern and popular, that of Napoléon III, could be replaced by a republic that added to these same qualities, the quality of deep liberalism" (M. Aghulon). His state funeral was held on the 6th January 1883. Monuments were erected to him throughout France: in Bordeaux (25th April 1905), Nice (25th April 1909), etc. The one erected in the Tuileries gardens would disappear under the German occupation.

Militaire et homme d'État français, Philippe Pétain est né le 24 avril 1856 à Cauchy-à-la-Tour (Pas-de-Calais), d'une famille de cultivateurs. Pensionnaire dans un collège de jésuites à Saint-Omer, il intègre ensuite l'école des Dominicains d'Arcueil. Très impressionné par les récits de son oncle qui avait servi dans la Grande Armée de Napoléon, et très marqué par la guerre de 1870, alors qu'il n'avait que 14 ans, il décide d'être soldat et entre à Saint-Cyr, en 1876. Il y est admis parmi les derniers (403e sur 412) et en sort en 1878 (Promotion De Plewna), dans un rang toujours très modeste, 229e sur 336, prélude à une carrière militaire qui s'annonce peu brillante. Il est affecté comme sous-lieutenant au 24e bataillon de chasseurs à pied (BCP) de Villefranche (Alpes-Maritimes). Lieutenant à l'ancienneté, il rejoint le 3e bataillon de chasseurs à Besançon en 1883 où il reste cinq ans, ne participant donc à aucune campagne coloniale.

Il est admis en 1888 à l'École Supérieure de Guerre dont il sort breveté d'état-major en 1890. Promu capitaine la même année, il est affecté à l'état-major du 15e corps d'armée, à Marseille avant de revenir au 29e BPC puis à l'état-major du gouverneur de Paris, aux Invalides.

En 1900, il est promu chef de bataillon et est nommé instructeur à l'École normale de tir du camp de Châlons-sur-Marne. Son enseignement et ses idées personnelles de commandement diffèrent alors de ceux de l'École, notamment sur l'intensité du tir qui doit primer, selon lui, sur la précision.

Il est muté en 1901 au 5e régiment d'infanterie (RI) à Paris où, en qualité de professeur-adjoint à l'École supérieure de guerre, il est chargé des cours de tactique appliquée à l'infanterie. Il s'y distingue par ses idées tactiques originales, rappelant l'effet meurtrier du feu et préconisant la défensive et la guerre de positions quand les théoriciens officiels prônent la guerre à outrance.

Nommé lieutenant-colonel en 1907, il est affecté à Quimper au 118e RI.

Promu colonel le 31 décembre 1910, il quitte alors l'École de guerre et prend le commandement du 33e régiment d'infanterie à Arras, où le sous-lieutenant Charles de Gaulle est affecté à sa sortie de Saint-Cyr et où se produira leur première rencontre, le 8 octobre 1912.

En juillet 1914, le colonel Philippe Pétain a 58 ans et s'apprête à prendre sa retraite. Lorsque éclate la Première Guerre mondiale, le 3 août 1914, il est à la tête de la 4e brigade d'infanterie et se distingue en Belgique, dans la province de Namur. Promu général de brigade le 27 août 1914, il reçoit le commandement de la 6e division qui atteint le canal de l'Aisne, après la victoire de la Marne. Le 14 septembre, il est général de division et le 22 octobre, il prend officiellement le commandement du 33e corps d'armée avec lequel il réalise des actions d'éclat, notamment dans les batailles de l'Artois en 1915, tout en se montrant soucieux d'épargner la vie de ses hommes.

Le 21 juin 1915, il reçoit le commandement de la IIe armée.

En février 1916, lorsque les Allemands déclenchent leur offensive sur Verdun, Pétain est désigné par Joffre pour prendre le commandement de ce front et organiser la défense aérienne et terrestre. Il parvient, en quelques jours, à stabiliser la situation et met en place une noria continue de troupes, de camions de munitions et de ravitaillement sur la petite route de Bar-le-Duc à Verdun qui va devenir la "Voie sacrée".

Unanimement reconnu comme "le vainqueur de Verdun", il ne reste pourtant qu'à peine plus de deux mois sur ce front avant de remplacer le général de Langle de Cary à la tête du Groupe d'Armées du Centre et d'être lui-même remplacé par le général Nivelle dont l'étoile de cesse de monter depuis le début de cette bataille pour aboutir à sa nomination, le 25 décembre 1916, de commandant en chef des armées à la place de Joffre. Le général Pétain est quant à lui nommé chef d'état-major général, poste spécialement crée pour lui.

Opposé aux méthodes brutales du nouveau généralissime qui envisage, dans l'Aisne, un assaut mené "jusqu'au bout de la capacité offensive" des unités, c'est-à-dire sans égard aux pertes, il ne peut s'opposer aux menaces de démission qui assurent en dernier lieu à Nivelle la confiance du gouvernement. La bataille du Chemin des Dames, déclenchée le 16 avril 1917, se solde rapidement par un échec très coûteux en vies humaines. Le mécontentement des soldats gronde et des refus collectifs d'obéissance se manifestent dans de nombreuses unités.

Nivelle est remplacé par Pétain qui est nommé, le 15 mai 1917, commandant en chef des armées françaises. Chargé de réprimer les mutineries et de ramener la confiance des troupes, il impose de dures mesures disciplinaires mais réduit au minimum les exécutions prononcées par le Conseil de guerre (49 exécutions pour 554 condamnations à mort), met fin aux offensives mal préparées et améliore les conditions de vie matérielles et morales des soldats, en attendant "les Américains et les chars".

En octobre 1917, il reprend aux Allemands, grâce à des offensives à objectifs limités et ne gaspillant pas la vie des soldats, une partie du terrain perdu du Chemin des Dames (le fort de la Malmaison).

Il développe parallèlement ses idées sur la nouvelle importance de l'aviation dans les batailles et sur son utilisation combinée avec les chars. Sa directive n° 5 du 12 juillet 1918 s'oriente ainsi nettement vers la guerre de mouvement : "la surprise tactique sera obtenue par la soudaineté de l'attaque à la faveur d'une préparation par l'artillerie et l'aviation de bombardement aussi brève et aussi violente que possible, soit sans préparation à la faveur de l'action de rupture des chars d'assaut ouvrant la voie à l'infanterie et à l'artillerie. Le rôle de l'aviation est de la plus haute importance".

Il prépare également une grande offensive en Lorraine, prévue pour le 14 novembre 1918, qui doit mener les troupes franco-américaines jusqu'en Allemagne. Mais elle est abandonnée car, contre son avis et celui du général Pershing qui souhaitaient que la signature de l'armistice n'intervienne pas avant que l'ennemi ne soit rejeté au-delà du Rhin, Foch, nouveau général en chef, et Clemenceau, président du Conseil, acceptent l'armistice demandé par les Allemands à la date du 11 novembre alors que les territoires français et belges ne sont pas encore tous libérés et que les alliés sont encore loin de la frontière allemande.

Bénéficiant d'une popularité considérable à la fin du conflit, véritable légende vivante, Pétain est élevé à la dignité de maréchal de France le 19 novembre 1918 et reçoit le 8 décembre suivant, à Metz, son bâton étoilé des mains du président Poincaré.

Reconduit dans ses fonctions de commandant des troupes françaises en juillet 1919, il est également nommé, par décret du 23 janvier 1920, vice-président du Conseil supérieur de la guerre et par décret du 18 février 1922, Inspecteur général de l'armée. Il se consacre durant toute cette période à la réorganisation de l'armée française.

En 1925, il est envoyé au Maroc pour combattre la rébellion de tribus aux ordres d'Abd-el-Krim, chef de l'éphémère République du Rif. Cette campagne s'achève en mai 1926 par la soumission d'Abd-el-Krim.

C'est la dernière campagne du maréchal Pétain et son ultime victoire.

Entré à l'Académie Française le 22 janvier 1931, il est nommé, le 9 février suivant, Inspecteur général de la défense aérienne du territoire. Son immense popularité, en particulier dans les milieux de gauche qui voient en lui le modèle du militaire républicain, lui permet d'accéder, en 1934, au poste de ministre de la guerre dans le gouvernement Doumergue, poste qu'il occupe jusqu'au renversement du cabinet, le 8 décembre 1934. Au cours de ce bref ministère, il travaille essentiellement à doter les forces françaises des moyens indispensables à la conduite d'une guerre moderne, offensive et audacieuse, grâce à l'emploi combiné de l'aviation et des chars. Mais il est confronté à des contingences politiques et financières qui ne lui laissent guère de moyens d'actions. Il préside par la suite le Conseil supérieur de la guerre où sa politique de guerre défensive s'oppose aux idées du colonel de Gaulle, partisan de la concentration de chars dans des divisions blindées.

Le 2 mars 1939, il est envoyé par Daladier comme ambassadeur de France en Espagne pour négocier la neutralité du régime de Franco en cas de guerre européenne et superviser le rapatriement à Madrid des réserves d'or de la Banque d'Espagne et des toiles du musée du Prado, mises à l'abri en France durant la guerre civile espagnole.

Le 17 mai 1940, Pétain, qui a alors 84 ans, est rappelé d'urgence en France par Paul Reynaud pour occuper le poste de vice-président du Conseil dans son gouvernement. Le général Weygand est nommé à la tête des armées en remplacement du général Gamelin mais il est déjà trop tard. Le gouvernement s'installe à Bordeaux et des centaines de milliers de Français et de Belges prennent les routes de l'exode pour fuir les troupes allemandes. Le 16 juin, Reynaud présente la démission de son gouvernement et propose de confier la Présidence du Conseil au maréchal Pétain, considéré par beaucoup comme l'homme providentiel.

Jusqu'en 1940, Pétain était avant tout et essentiellement un soldat. Après 1940, il doit gouverner au lieu de commander.

Le 17 juin, il prononce son premier message radio-diffusé et annonce aux Français son intention de demander l'armistice qui sera signé à Rethondes, le 22 juin après avoir été approuvé par le Conseil des ministres et le président de la République, Albert Lebrun. Le 29 juin, le gouvernement quitte Bordeaux et s'installe à Vichy où, le 10 juillet, une loi votée par les deux assemblées (569 voix pour, 80 voix contre et 17 abstentions) confie au Maréchal les pleins pouvoirs avec pour mission la promulgation d'une nouvelle constitution.

Mais Pétain décide de ne rien promulguer tant que la France ne sera pas libérée. Il institue donc un État provisoire, l'État français, pour le temps de l'occupation.

Dès lors commence la période la plus controversée de sa vie. Devenu chef de ce nouvel État, Pétain suspend les libertés publiques comme les partis politiques et unifie les syndicats dans une organisation corporatiste du travail. Il instaure un régime autoritaire, antiparlementaire, anticommuniste et anticapitaliste qui veut réaliser la "Révolution Nationale" avec pour devise "Travail, Famille, Patrie" et pour ambition le "relèvement de la France" qui passe d'abord par le rapatriement des réfugiés, le ravitaillement mais aussi le maintien de l'ordre et de l'unité nationale.

Il fait promulguer, anticipant les exigences allemandes, des lois d'exclusion contre les francs-maçons et les juifs qui les excluent de la plupart des activités et fonctions publiques.

Alors que le général de Gaulle, parti à Londres, appelle tous les Français à résister à l'ennemi, le maréchal Pétain s'engage officiellement dans la voie de la collaboration après son entrevue avec le chancelier Hitler dans la ville de Montoire (Loir-et-Cher), le 30 octobre 1940. Il poursuivra cette politique tout au long de la guerre dans l'espoir de faire de la France le partenaire privilégié du Reich dans une Europe durablement sous hégémonie allemande. Son choix collaborationniste exclut toute rébellion ou simple protestation contre les exactions de l'occupant et implique au contraire de dénoncer tous les actes de résistance intérieure ou extérieure et les opérations alliées contre des civils comme des "crimes terroristes". Il encourage les formations para-militaires, fer de lance de la Révolution Nationale et du régime et soutien des troupes allemandes sur le front russe.

Après le débarquement allié en Afrique du Nord le 8 novembre 1942 et les ordres que donne le Maréchal à ses généraux sur place de combattre les alliés, après la dissolution de l'armée d'armistice et le sabordage de la flotte française dans la rade de Toulon le 27 novembre 1942, après la dissidence de la plus grande partie de l'Empire et la fin de la "zone libre", le régime de Vichy ne dispose plus que d'un pouvoir illusoire face aux Allemands et le Maréchal perd, en France, une grande partie de la popularité dont il bénéficiait depuis 1940. De plus en plus affecté par son grand âge qui ne lui laisse plus, selon ses proches collaborateurs, que quelques heures de lucidité quotidiennes, il maintient néanmoins sa politique de collaboration et accepte le durcissement de la répression jusqu'en août 1944 où il est emmené contre son gré à Sigmaringen, en Allemagne, avec de nombreux dignitaires de son régime. Refusant d'y constituer un gouvernement fantoche, il traverse la Suisse et se rend aux autorités françaises le 26 avril 1945.

Traduit devant la Haute Cour de justice, son procès débute le 23 juillet 1945 et s'achève le 15 août suivant en le déclarant coupable d'intelligence avec l'ennemi et de haute trahison. Il est alors condamné à mort, à la dégradation nationale et la confiscation de tous ses biens mais la Haute Cour demande la non-exécution de la sentence, eu égard à son grand âge. Le général de Gaulle accède à cette demande, en raison peut-être également des mérites passés du Maréchal mais aussi de leurs anciens liens, et commue la sentence de mort en peine de réclusion à perpétuité.

Interné quelques mois au fort de Pourtalet, dans les Pyrénées, il est transféré au fort de la Citadelle, sur l'île d'Yeu, en novembre 1945. Il y décède le 23 juillet 1951, à l'âge de 95 ans, et est enterré au cimetière de Port-Joinville.

Son of Antoine Georges François (15 March 1769 - 19 July 1832) and of Julie Verdier de la Coste, François, Ernest Chabaud-Latour was born in Nîmes on 25 January 1804.
He graduated in seventh place from Ecole Polytechnique in 1820 and opted for Engineering. In 1829 he briefly took part, alongside the Russian army, in the siege of the fortified places of Danube, and was then called to Paris to serve in Polignac's ministry.

In 1830 he volunteered to leave for Algiers and was later decorated following the bombing of Fort de l'Empereur and the occupation of Blida.

Appointed Officer of Honour of the Duke of Orléans, a role he performed until the Prince's death in 1842, he took part in the campaign of Belgium and the taking of Antwerp. Chabaud-Latour also followed the Duke of Orléans during the Algeria campaigns (1837, 1839, 1840) and took part in events in Sig, Habra, Mascara, and then, in 1839, in the battle of Portes de Fer, which earned him the Officer's Cross of the Legion of Honour and, in 1840, in the combats of Medea, El-Affroun, Col de Mouzaïa and Bois des Oliviers.

In 1840, when the issue of fortifications for Paris was raised, he recommended, in his preliminary project, the construction of a continuous fortified wall and a ring of forts to protect the population from the rigours of a siege.

As deputy of the Gard (1837 to 1848, Guizot ministry) he was able to defend his project in front of Parliament.

As head of engineering, he personally took care of the Eastern sector of the Paris wall and supervised work until 1846.

He was promoted lieutenant-colonel in 1842 and became the aide-de-camp for the Count of Paris when the Duke of Orléans died. In 1846 he was made a Colonel and left to command the 3rd engineering regiment in Arras. In February 1848 he was still loyal to the Orléans family, to the point of offering to resign following the king's abdication. Placed on non-active status for a few weeks, he was called to the Amiens engineering department and then, following the coup d'état on 2 December 1851, he returned to his duties in Grenoble.

He was commander-in-chief of engineering in Algeria in 1852, where he remained for five years, taking part in the Babors expedition in 1853, the Beni-Iuya expedition in 1854, the Guetchoula expedition in 1855 and the Grande-Kabylie expedition in 1857. A talented planner, he built the Tizi-Ouzou to Souk-el-Arba road in 16 days and he had Fort-Napoléon built in four months, in the centre of the Béni Raten tribe. He also managed the building of dams on rivers and created several villages.

Brigadier General on 30 April 1853, Chabaud-Latour was promoted to Division General after the campaigns of 1857 and 1858, date of his return to Paris. He was called to the fortifications committee, to the general inspectorate of fortified places, engineering regiments and Ecole polytechnique, and to the advisory committee on Algerian affairs. During the war in Italy, he commanded the engineering corps posted on the Eastern frontier for observation duties. He became Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour in 1861, president of the fortifications committee in 1864, and then reserve cadre on 25 January 1869.

Called back to activity in 1870, Chabaud-Latour was put in charge of engineering of the Paris defence system and took over chairmanship of the fortifications committee. He renovated the capital's fortified camp so that it could only be bombed on its left bank from the unfinished redoubts of Châtillon and Montretout.

His son, Arthur Henri Alphonse (1839-1910), from his marriage with Hélène Mathilde Périer, a graduate of St Cyr, proved himself during battles of the Loire and received the Legion of Honour for his exemplary behaviour. Lissagaray wrote the following: "This Paris, for which Hoche, Marceau, Kleber would have been neither too young, nor too faithful, nor too pure, had for generals the residue of the Empire and Orleanism, Vinoy of December, Ducrot, Luzanne, Leflô, and a fossil like Chabaud-Latour."

The wall, commonly called the Thiers wall, measured 35 kilometres long (its line corresponds to the current ring road) and had 94 bastions, 17 doors and 8 sally-ports.  In some parts, the base was made of 40 centimetres of concrete. The exterior pavement, like the side walls, was made of millstone and a succession of rubble bonded by hydraulic mortar. Appointed Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour for this, he was kept in activity with no age limit.

He was elected deputy of the Gard in February at the National Assembly – on the centre right – and chaired the army commission in charge of writing the 1872 military law. He was also rapporteur for the draft project on new forts to be built around Paris and was Vice-President of the Assembly several times. Chabaud-Latour was a member of the defence committee and put his talent to organising the new Eastern border.

An eminent character of the State, he was appointed in 1873 to judge Marshal Bazaine, accused of contributing to the defeat of France during the war between France and Germany in 1870.

Called on 20 July 1874 by Marshal de Mac-Mahon to Home Affairs duties until 10 March 1875, he supported the Duke of Broglie, in full debate concerning the  seven-year plan. He failed in the Senate elections on 30 January 1876 but was appointed irremovable senator on 10 November in the following year.

He died in Paris on 10 June 1885 after falling down the stairs in the Compagnie des chemins de fer de l'Ouest, of which he was administrator.
 

The face of the commitment of the Catholic church in France towards the internees, Mgr Saliège was the first French prelate to protest against the deportation of Jews from the Récébédou and Noé camps. Jules Saliège, originally from the Cantal, was destined from an early age into the priesthood. He entered the small seminary in Pleaux and then enrolled at the large seminary in Issy-les-Moulineaux. He was ordained on 21 September 1895 and two years later became the Superior at Saint-Flour, after having taught philosophy and ethics there. Mobilised in 1914, during the war he was a volunteer military chaplain. He was posted to the 163rd infantry division. Demobilised in 1918, he returned to his duties at the head of the seminary before being appointed Bishop of Gap in 1925. Pious XI made him Archbishop of Toulouse and Narbonne in 1928 to succeed Mgr Germain. In 1931, he was paralysed following an attack of hemiplegia. After the Armistice of 22 June 1940, Mgr Saliège added a political hue to his pastoral activity, standing up against the racial laws of the Vichy government in March 1941.

He went into action out in the field, supporting the charities helping those detained (republicans Spaniards, Jews and the politically opposed), in the camps at Noé and Récébédou. In August 1943, he was the first French prelate to denounce the use of the French camps as an anti-chamber of Auschwitz. On 23 August 1942, he wrote in a pastoral letter: "That children, women, men, fathers, mothers should be treated as a wretched herd, that members of the same family should be separated from one another and embarked for unknown destinations, was a sad spectacle reserved for our times to see... In our diocese terrible scenes have taken place in the camps of Noé and Récébédou. These Jews are men, these Jewesses are women. All is not permissible against them... They belong to mankind. They are our brothers like so many others. No Christian can forget that." Although it was banned by prefectorial decree, this letter was still read out in most parishes and, most importantly, was taken up and transmitted by the BBC. In September 1942, the Récébédou camp was closed. At the same time, he organised the resettling of Jews in the area surrounding Toulouse. Other ecclesiastical figures followed his example, including Mgr Théas, in charge of the diocese of Montauban. On 24 March 1944, addressing French Catholic scouts leaving for Germany, he openly criticised national socialism and was almost deported, escaping from this fate because of his reputation and the state of his health. On the Liberation, General de Gaulle awarded him the medal of the Résistance and made him Companion of the Liberation (law of 7 August 1945). In October 1945, on his sacerdotal jubilee and his appointment as assistant at the pontifical throne, Mgr Saliège was cheered by the crowd for his acts of resistance. On 18 February 1946, he was made Cardinal Priest of S. Pudenziana by the Consistory.

Weakened by his hemiplegia, he was assisted by Mgr Garrone, but continued to occupy the role of chancellor of the Toulouse catholic institute and to be a member of the Roman Congregations of the Sacraments, Nuns and Ceremonials. He died on 4 November 1956 at the age of eighty-six and is buried in the Saint-Etienne cathedral in Toulouse.

His writings reflect a life of commitment: Lettre pastorale de Mgr l'Archevêque de Toulouse (pastoral letter of Mgr Archbishop of Toulouse), (1937); Notes de son Excellence Mgr Saliège (Notes of his Excellency Mgr Saliège) (1945) ; Un Evêque français sous l'Occupation (A French Bishop under the Occupation) (1945) ; Le Temps présent et l'action catholique (The Present Time and Catholic Action) (1946) ; Le Prêtre, le Temps présent et l'Action catholique (The Priest, the Present Time and Catholic Action) (1946) ; Les menus Propos du Cardinal Saliège (Cardinal Saliège's Small-talk) (1947) ; Lourdes Pax Christi (1948) ; Lettre pastorale de S.E. le Cardinal Archevêque de Toulouse au Clergé et aux fidèles de son diocèse (Pastoral letter from the S.E. Cardinal Archbishop of Toulouse to the Clergy and the faithful of his diocese)(1948) ; Son Excellence Mgr Gabriel Brunhès, Evêque de Montpellier 1932-1949 (His Excellency Mgr Gabriel Brunhès, Bishop of Montpellier 1932-1949) (1949) ; Ma vie par le Christ. Lettre du Cardinal Saliège et de Mgr Houssaron, (My life in Christ. Letter from Cardinal Saliège and from Mgr Houssaron (1952) ; Mgr Maisonobe, Evêque de Belley, 1882-1954 (Mgr Maisonobe, Bishop of Belley, 1882-1954 (1955).

Joseph Doumenc (Born Grenoble, 16 November 1880 – Died Massif du Pelvoux, 21 July 1948):

After graduating from the Polytechnique, a prestige engineering school, and then enrolling at the School of Applied Artillery in Fontainebleau, Joseph Édouard Aimé Doumenc joined the École Supérieure de Guerre, a French institution for military higher education, in 1907. A captain in the armed forces staff of the 19th Army Corps, he served at the border between Algeria and Morocco before being posted to the 60th Artillery Regiment in Troyes. During the First World War, as deputy to the director of the automobile section before being promoted to director in 1917, he earned a reputation for arranging the road transportation of supplies and relief troops during the Battle of Verdun in 1916. Furthermore, between November 1916 and March 1917, he, along with General Estienne, was a pioneer in the development of the first tanks. He was appointed commander in 1918. After serving on a military campaign in Morocco in 1925, he was made commander of the 1st Infantry Division then commander of the 1st Military Region. In 1938, he was appointed to the Conseil Supérieur de la Guerre (the Higher War Council or CSG). In 1939, after being promoted to army general, he was sent to Moscow as head of the French delegation tasked with negotiating a military agreement with the USSR, but a German-Soviet was signed and his mission was terminated. When war was declared, he was put in charge of the Anti-Air Defence for the country before holding the post of Major General in January 1940. He left the service in 1942. He died in a mountaineering accident in the Alps in 1948.

General Doumenc was made a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour. He was also awarded the Croix de Guerre 1914-1918 with nine bronze star attachments, the Croix de Guerre for overseas theatres of operations and several foreign decorations.

Publications: Commandant Doumenc Les transports automobiles sur le front français 1914-1918 (1920).

1904 Born in Neheim, Westphalia (Germany), on 21 September.

1926 Attends the conference La Paix par la Jeunesse (Peace by Youth), at Bierville (France), on the invitation of Marc Sangnier.

1928 Studies in Paris at the Institut Catholique Séminaire des Carmes.

1932 Ordained a priest in Paderborn.

1934 Rector of the German parish of Paris.

1940 German chaplain of three Paris prisons: Fresnes, La Santé and Cherche-Midi.

1944 Provides support and assistance to prisoners sentenced to death (over 1 000 at Mont Valérien) or deportation and their families.

1945 Superior of the Séminaire des Barbelés, Le Coudray (Eure et Loir).

1948 Dies in Paris on 24 February.

1963 Ratification of the Franco-German treaty of friendship and reconciliation. Stock’s body is transferred to the church of Saint Jean-Baptiste de Rechêvres (Chartres).

The séminaire des Barbelés

Few embodied the desire for Franco-German reconciliation like Franz Stock

Stock’s life was an expression of love for humanity. His moral legacy remains in the books and accounts by those who met him in the extreme circumstances of war.

The most tangible reminder of Stock in France is at Le Coudray, near Chartres

It is the building which, between 1945 and 1947, housed what became known as the Séminaire des Barbelés, or “Barbed Wire Seminary”. Under Stock’s directorship, the site received nearly 1 000 young German and Austrian POWs, priests and seminarians who would contribute to building the new Germany.

In the 1960s, organisations were set up in both France and Germany by those who wanted this exceptional individual to serve as a model on both sides of the Rhine for all those wishing to contribute to reconciliation between the two countries and to building a peaceful Europe.

The Franz Stock European Meeting Centre

Today, three organisations –

• Association Chartraine Franz Stock
• Franz Stock Komitee
• Les amis de l'abbé Stock

– have decided to set up a Franz Stock European Meeting Centre (CERFS) in the buildings of the Séminaire des Barbelés. Work got underway a few days ago, and all the French and German organisations will be contributing to the success of the project.

Source : Association Française Les Amis de l'Abbé Stock

NAPOLEON III (Paris, 20 April 1808-Chiselhurst, 9 January 1873)

Third son of Louis Bonaparte, king of Holland and Napoleon I's brother, and of Hortense de Beauharnais, the Emperor's sister-in-law. His tutor was the son of Convention member Le Bas, who instilled him with a love for the history of the French Revolution. In 1830 he left for Italy in his uncle's footsteps, joined the carbonari movement and took part in Menotti's uprising against Pope Gregory XVI in Romagna. The mantle of Bonapartist legitimacy passed to Louis Napoleon after the Duke of Reichstadt's death in 1832. With Persigny's help, on 30 October 1836 he unsuccessfully tried to rouse an uprising of the Strasbourg garrison. Louis-Philippe exiled him to Brazil. From there he went to the United States, moving in 1837 to England, where he defended his idea of "democratic Caesarism" in his book Les Idées napoléoniennes (1839) and took advantage of the Bonapartist fervour sweeping France after word spread that Napoleon's ashes would be brought to Paris. After another unsuccessful attempt to lead an uprising, this time in Boulogne on 6 August 1840, he was arrested, tried before the Court of Peers, sentenced to life in prison and locked up in Fort Ham (Somme). In May 1846 he escaped and fled to England. Although judged undesirable on French soil, in June 1848 Louis Napoleon was elected to the assembly in five departments, taking his seat three months later.

The ambitious deputy was a dreadful public speaker but worked hard to win the conservatives' backing. He harangued crowds and grew closer to the army, which was feeling nostalgic for the Empire. In December 1848 he was elected president with a five-million vote lead over his rivals. On 2 December 1851 Louis Napoleon staged a coup d'Etat, approved by plebiscite on the 20th and 21st. Having amended the constitution beforehand, he became president for 10 years and concentrated all power in his hands. He began a series of forays into the French provinces in order to prepare public opinion for the plebiscite on 21 and 22 November 1852, which proclaimed him emperor. He became Napoleon III on 2 December 1852. Like Napoleon I, he wanted to join the small circle of European dynasties, marrying a Spanish aristocrat, Eugénie Marie de Montijo, on 30 January 1853. From 1852 to 1860, Napoleon III held absolute power on the basis of universal suffrage, which always gave him overwhelming majorities but whose orientation was guided by the mechanism of the "official candidacy". The regime's pillars of support were the old Orleanist bourgeoisie, Catholics and business circles. Political life stagnated and a sense of oppression came over the whole country: the legitimist opposition remained silent, observing the Count of Chambord's instructions to abstain; the republican opposition was decapitated; civil servants were forced to swear a loyalty oath to the emperor; the prefects had nearly unlimited power; the press was gagged by censorship, the high price of stamps and the system of "warnings"; and literature met with a similar fate. But it was also a gilded age of pomp and lavish splendour. Offenbach was the toast of Paris and seaside resorts became fashionable. Haussmann, the prefect of Paris from 1853 to 1869, reshaped the city's face: the result remains the symbol of the economic upsurge during this period. France entered the industrial age: big banks sprang up (Crédit foncier and the Pereire brothers' Crédit mobilier in 1852, Crédit industriel et commercial in 1859, etc.); transport developed (3,100km of railroad tracks in 1851, 17,000 by the end of the Empire); and department stores opened (Le Bon Marché, Le Louvre, Le Printemps, La Samaritaine). Napoleon III's bargaining skills at the Congress of Paris put an end to the Crimean War (1854-1856), boosting his international prestige. He intervened in the creation of the kingdom of Romania and took an active part in Italy's unification, in exchange for which France annexed Nice and Savoy. His Italian policy cost him support among Catholics, who defended the pope's temporal power. Orsini's assassination attempt (14 January 1858) did not damage the Empire but symbolised the conservatives' discontent and enabled the emperor to tighten his grip on power: the general security act of 19 February 1858 allowed him to intern or deport political prisoners without trial.

With conservative support waning, from 1860 to 1870 Napoleon III turned to the liberals. The decree of 24 November 1860 gave the legislature more independence and power of initiative and heralded the return to public life of the republicans, who demanded the repeal of the general security act, restoration of freedom of the press and assembly, and won 32 seats in the 1863 elections. The government bowed: the anticlerical professor Victor Duruy was named education minister (1863-1869), the right to strike and assemble was granted in April 1864, the independence of the press was restored in May 1868, etc. But Napoleon III kept exclusive control of foreign policy and started building an empire, which eventually alarmed the other powers. During the Mexico expedition (1861-1867) he tried to create a great Latin, Catholic empire in Central America in order to curry favour with the Vatican. It came to a tragic end with the execution of the emperor of Mexico, Maximilian von Habsburg. During the Battle of Camerone on 30 April 1863, the three officers and 62 foreign legionnaires of Captain Danjou's company held off 2,000 Mexicans for a whole day; the date has become the Foreign Legion's anniversary. Napoleon III also completed the conquest of Algeria, tightened France's colonial grip on New Caledonia and Senegal, annexed Obock (Red Sea), posed as the defender of Syria's Christians, encouraged the building of the Suez Canal (1859-1869), intervened in China alongside England (1860) and took possession of Cochinchina (1863). In Europe, the Emperor of the French chose a more ambiguous policy, pursuing his goal of weakening Austria. He contributed to the formation of Italy and in October 1865 backed Prussian chancellor Bismarck's push to create a German State during their meeting in Biarritz, trying to negotiate the annexation of land on the other side of the Rhine.

It was not until Prussia's stunning defeat of Austria at Sadowa (3 July 1866) that Napoleon III became aware of the threat from that country and gave his foreign policy a new thrust. He began reorganising the army with the 1867-1868 Niel reform and helped Pius IX in Rome in order to win the backing of French Catholics and Orleanists. In the 1869 elections the republicans increased their ranks in the Assembly: Emile Ollivier joined the government in January 1870. The Empire became parliamentary. Abroad, French policy annoyed Italy and Prussia, which became closer as Bismarck discredited France and Europe. A Hohenzollern filled the vacant Spanish throne, threatening France with encirclement. Bismarck used the hostility caused by France's demands to complete Germany's unification. In the "Ems dispatch" the Iron Chancellor changed the report on the meeting between Benedetti and the Hohenzollerns in such as way as to leave Napoleon III with no other choice but to declare war, which he did on 19 July 1870. Prussian troops dealt the Empire a death blow, capturing Froeschwiller, Forbach and Rezonville-Gravelotte in the first half of August and surrounding Bazaine in Metz. Napoleon III surrendered in Sedan on 2 September, narrowly escaping the firing squad. Gambetta announced the fall of the empire at the Bourbon Palace. On 4 September the Republic was proclaimed at the Paris city hall. Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte was brought to Wilhelmshöhe, Hesse in captivity. Released shortly thereafter, he joined Eugénie de Montijo at Camden Place in Chislehurst, Kent. Like his uncle, he died of disease in exile (of progressive fiber dysplasia).

Sylvain Eugène Raynal was born on the 3rd March 1867 into a protestant family of artisans from Bordeaux, from whom he inherited his work ethic and deep patriotism. He enrolled at the school of Saint-Maixent, after an education at the high school in Angoulême, which he left with the same (thirteenth) grade as when he arrived. He then went on to serve in a garrison. Posted to headquarters in Paris, he served under Guillaumat and was then posted to Algeria with the 7th regiment of tirailleurs in Constantine, where he learned that France had entered into the war in the summer of 1914. He was wounded in the shoulder by a machine gun bullet in September 1914 and following the bombardment of his command post in the December he spent ten months in hospital before returning to action on the 1st October 1915. At the end of 1915, the German offensive focussed on the Verdun sector under the command of the Kronprinz, the oldest son of the Kaiser. A 300 day long stand-off followed, which would give birth to a contemporary military movement: Bois des Caures, Froideterre, Mort-Homme, Douaumont, Fleury, etc. and Vaux. On the 4th March 1916, German High Command gave the order to scale down the deadlock at Verdun and push on to Paris.

An advanced outpost, the Fort de Vaux was defended by the 300 remaining men of the 142nd infantry regiment commanded by Raynal of the 96th R.I. He had volunteered to serve at Verdun, despite just finishing his convalescence after sustaining shrapnel wounds, which earned him a promotion to Officer of the Légion d'honneur. Between the 2nd and 7th June 1916 Commander Sylvain Eugène Raynal held out with his men against the German attacks of the 39th infantry regiment. "Heroism is sometimes born from the most humble background" (Fleuriot de Langle, in Le Ruban Rouge (The Red Ribbon))... Completely cut off, on the 4th June he sent his last carrier pigeon, "Vaillant" (registration number 787-15) carrying the following message: "We are still holding out, but are subject to attacks of gas and highly dangerous fumes; it is urgent that we get out of here. Please send us a visual signal via Souville, as they are not responding to our calls. This is my last pigeon. Raynal." Having received no reply, with no drinking water remaining and unable to see how their position could be relieved by reinforcements, the commander and his men finally surrendered. Brought before the Kronprinz, he held out a bayonet belonging to an ordinary soldier to the crown prince, as his sword could not be found in the ruins of the fort, saying to him: "Prince, this weapon is worth an officer's sword". The Prince would inform him, following the interception of a message from the French High Command, that he had been awarded the red cravat of the Légion d'Honneur., Having accomplished its mission, his messenger was to receive the award of the ring of honour - the Post Office Museum in Paris still has its body to this day. As a prisoner Raynal was detained in Mayence from the 11th June 1916 until November 1917 and then for 3 months in Stressburg on the Polish border in Eastern Prussia and finally in Interlaken in Switzerland from the 30th March 1918 until his release on the 4th November. After the war Sylvain Eugène Raynal retired to 36 rue Denfert-Rochereau in Boulogne-Billancourt (Hauts-de-Seine département) where he would live until his death on the 13th January 1939. A plaque was mounted there in 1966 on the fiftieth anniversary of the Battle of Verdun.

Marshal of France (Versailles, 13th February 1811 - Madrid, 23rd September 1888)

François Achille Bazaine was the son of Pierre Dominique and Marie Madeleine Josèphe, known as Mélanie Vasseur. He enlisted in the army in 1831, following his failure in the competition for entry to the Ecole Polytechnique. He served in the Foreign legion in Algeria and then, from 1835 to 1838, fought in Spain against the Carlists, before returning to Algeria where he was in charge of the district of Tlemcen. He became Colonel of the Legion in 1850. Bazaine distinguished himself during the Crimean War. His bravery earned him promotion to the rank of Division General. He commanded French troops during the Kinburln expedition in 1859, was wounded at Melgrano, and had a sizeable role in the Battle of Solferino, for which he would be promoted to the dignity of the Grand Cross of the Légion d'Honneur. A member of the contingent of legionnaires in Mexico from 1862 to 1867, he seized Puebla in 1863 and ended up replacing General Foyer at the head of the expeditionary corps. He forced the Mexican President, Benito Juárez, into exile. In recognition for his skills as commander, he rose to Marshal in 1864.

Widowed by the suicide of his wife, in 1865 he remarried a Mexican lady from a rich family close to the deposed president, who encouraged him to plot against Emperor Maximilian of Habsburg. Faced with American intervention, the French expeditionary corps was forced to withdraw; Bazaine would remain with his men until the evacuation to Vera Cruz was complete in 1867. Although on his return to France he was out of favour with Napoleon III, in 1869 his great popularity secured him the command of the Imperial Guard and in 1870 that of the third Army of the Rhine. The superiority in numbers of the German army, which was better equipped and trained, quickly overcame the Imperial Army. Following the defeat at Spicheren, Bazaine decided to maintain a strategic position. His colonial experience was, however, ineffectual. Indecisive and anxious, the Marshal let himself become surrounded in Metz (18th August) by Constantin von Alvensleben, who launched two corps of troops in an attack on the area, lasting two days. The requested reinforcements were slow to arrive. Torn between his duty to obey his hierarchy and constantly at variance with decisions linked to a power in which he no longer believed, and going along with the force that had come to "liberate France from herself", Bazaine decided to wait for Marshal Mac-Mahon's army from Châlons. Learning of the surrender of Napoleon III at Sedan (2nd September), he tried to act as mediator for France, wasting time in pursuit of this goal negotiating with Empress Eugénie, before finally being forced into an unconditional surrender on the 27th October 1870. The Germans took some 140,000 men prisoner from the Army of the Rhine.

In 1873, following the investigation of his case by Séré de Rivière, he was tried by a war council presided over by the Duke of Aumale, given a dishonourable discharge and sentenced to death. Pardoned by Mac-Mahon, who was then President of the Republic, he was sent to prison for twenty years on the island of Sainte-Marguerite, from where he escaped on the night of the 9th to 10th August 1874. He then went to Spain and settled in Madrid where he earned the respect of the government of Allfonse XII. He made the most of the last years of his life writing Épisodes de la guerre de 1870 et blocus de Metz (Events from the war of 1870 and the siege of Metz) (1883), a work justifying his standpoint.