Louis Jules Trochu
Louis Jules Trochu ( born May 12, 1815 in Le Palais on Belle -Île, † October 7, 1896 in Tours ) was a French general and during the first weeks of the siege of Paris ( 1870-1871 ) President of ( Gouvernement de la Défense national) national Defense Council.
Trochu visited since 1835, the special military school in Paris, entered the army in 1837 and went in 1840 as a lieutenant at the General Staff School. Its first use was in 1841 in Algeria as adjutant of Lamoricière, where he repeatedly distinguished himself in the battles against Abd el-Kader and against the Kabyles.
In 1846 he was because of his brave behavior adjutant of Marshal Bugeaud and came in 1851 as a lieutenant colonel in the War Department. In 1854 he became adjutant of Marshal Saint- Arnaud and afterwards of General Canrobert in the Crimea. On November 24, he was promoted to brigadier general, was awarded in 1855 the 1st Brigade of the 1st Corps and distinguished himself at the storming of Fort Malakoff from. As a general of division he did in 1859 produced at the Battle of Solferino.
After the peace he re-entered the War Department and was chosen by Niel as his successor. But his essay " L' armée française en 1867 " (par. 1867, 20th edition, 1870), which revealed all frankness with unheard-of damage to the French army and saw the only cure in the adoption of the Prussian military system, deprived him of the favor of the court and made him impossible as Minister of the Empire. At the beginning of the war in 1870 he was given command of the 12th Territorial Division to Toulouse and then became commander of the army landing on the German coast chosen. Since this landing was omitted, the emperor appointed him in the camp of Chalons- sur -Marne on August 17, Governor of Paris. However, its popularity took advantage of the declining Empire nothing more, and as on September 4, the same collapsed, Trochu himself at the head of the movement and was appointed as President of the Government of National Defence, but remained Governor-General of Paris and commander in chief of all armed forces in the capital. During the siege he displayed a great and successful work in the organization of the Defence Forces; also was his plan, to the northwest, to Rouen, to break through, not foolish. However, the same was not carried out because Trochu could not communicate with the government in Tours and even hesitated, for he had no confidence in the success and ever held the defense of Paris for a "noble folly ". He took a defensive tactics in the siege and therefore resisted after the defeat at the Battle of Sceaux also the first failures such as at Le Bourget where he died on October 28, 1870 even refuses to reinforce the garrison of the fort after this first successes were achieved. Only later he assisted in the Villiers attempt to break the siege. In this failure, the association was planned with the advancing direction of Orléans Loire army, but could not be reached. After the defeat at the Battle of Buzenval on January 19, 1871, he had to relinquish the command of Paris to Joseph Vinoy.
When the surrender, he conspired with high-sounding phrases, was inevitable, he resigned his office as Governor on January 22, 1871; President of the Government, he remained until the convening of the National Assembly. As a member of the National Assembly, he took several times the word in his defense; he in the army reform question was, however, opponents of Thiers, he received no command and retired in 1872 in the private life.
Louis Jules Trochu died on October 7, 1896 in Tours.
His brother in law (husband 's sister ) was the German -born General Maximilian Joseph Georg Neumayer ( 1789-1866 ).
Publications
- L'Empire et la défense de Paris devant le jury de la Seine ( 1872)
- Pour la vérité et pour la justice (1873 )
- La politique et le Siege de Paris ( 1874)
- L' armée française en 1879 par un officier de retraite (anonymous, 1879).