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Louis-Jules Trochu | |
|---|---|
 Louis-Jules Trochu | |
| InterimFrench Head of State Prime Minister of France | |
| In office 4 September 1870 – 13 February 1871 | |
| Preceded by | EmperorNapoleon III (Head of State) Charles Cousin-Montauban (Prime Minister) |
| Succeeded by | Adolphe Thiers (President of France) Jules Dufaure (Chief of Government) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1815-03-12)12 March 1815 |
| Died | 7 October 1896(1896-10-07) (aged 81) |
| Signature | .png) |
Louis-Jules Trochu (French:[lwiʒyltʁɔʃy]; 12 March 1815 – 7 October 1896) was a French military leader and politician. He served as President of theGovernment of National Defense—France'sde factohead of state—from 4 September 1870 until his resignation on 22 January 1871 (although he retained the role symbolically until the legislative elections of February 1871).
Trochu was born atLe Palais on the island ofBelle-Île-en-Mer, off the coast of Brittany.[1] Educated atSt. Cyr, he received a commission in the Staff Corps in 1837, and was promoted to lieutenant in 1840, and captain in 1843. He served as a captain inAlgeria underMarshal Bugeaud, who, in recognition of his gallantry in the battles ofSidi Yussuf andIsly, made him hisaide-de-camp and entrusted him with important commissions. He was promoted to major in 1845, and to colonel in 1853. He served with distinction throughout theCrimean campaign, first asaide-de-camp toMarshal St. Arnaud, and then as general of brigade, and was made a commander of theLégion d'honneur and general of division. He again distinguished himself in command of a division in the Italian campaign of 1859, where he won theGrand Cross of the Légion d'honneur.[2]
In 1866, Trochu was employed at the ministry of war in the preparation of army reorganization schemes, and he published anonymously in the following yearL'Armée française en 1867, a work inspired withOrleanist sentiment, which ran through ten editions in a few months and reached a twentieth in 1870. This brochure brought him into bad odour at court, and he left the war office on half-pay and was refused a command in the field at the outbreak of theFranco-Prussian War. After the earlier disasters in 1870, he was appointed by the emperor first commandant of the troops of Châlons camp, and soon afterwards (17 August) governor ofParis and commander-in-chief of all the forces destined for the defence of the capital, including some 120,000 regular troops, 80,000 mobiles, and 330,000 National Guards.[2]
Trochu worked energetically to put Paris in a state of defence and throughout theSiege of Paris showed himself a master of the passive defensive. At the revolution of 4 September he became president of theGovernment of National Defence, in addition to his other offices. His "plan" for defending the city raised expectations doomed to disappointment; the successive sorties made under pressure ofpublic opinion were unsuccessful, and having declared in one of his proclamations that the governor of Paris would never capitulate, when capitulation became inevitable he resigned the governorship of Paris on 22 January 1871 to GeneralJoseph Vinoy, retaining the presidency of the government until after thearmistice in February.[2]
He was elected to the National Assembly by eightDépartements, and sat forMorbihan. In October he was elected president of the council general for Morbihan. In July 1872 he retired from political life and in 1873 from the army. He published in 1873Pour la vérité et pour la justice, in justification of the government of national defence, and in 1879L'Armée française en 1879, par un officier en retraite, a sort of supplement to his former work of 1867.[2]
On October 7, 1896, he died inTours.[1]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Trochu, Louis Jules".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 298.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Napoléon III (Emperor of the French) | De Facto Head of State of France (chairman of theGovernment of National Defense) 4 September 1870 – 13 February 1871 | Succeeded by Adolphe Thiers (Chief Executive of the French Republic) |
