Édouard-Jean Réquin (13 July 1879, in

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...

– 1953) was a French military officer. Through 1900 to 1911 he was part of an expedition to North Africa. Then in 1916-1918 a member of the General Staff of Marshals

Joseph Joffre Joseph Jacques Césaire Joffre , (; 12 January 1852 – 3 January 1931) was a French general who served as Commander-in-Chief of French forces on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front from the start of World War I until the end of 19 ...

and

Ferdinand Foch Ferdinand Foch ( , ; 2 October 1851 – 20 March 1929) was a French general, Marshal of France and a member of the Académie Française and French Academy of Sciences, Académie des Sciences. He distinguished himself as Supreme Allied Commander ...

. It is at this time that a portrait of Réquin in military uniform was made by

Kees van Dongen Cornelis Theodorus Maria "Kees" van Dongen (26 January 1877 – 28 May 1968) was a Dutch-French painter who was one of the leading Fauves. Van Dongen's early work was influenced by the Hague School and symbolism and it evolved gradually into a ...

in 1916. From 1917-1918, as a Lieutenant Colonel, he was part of the French military delegation to

Washington, D. C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

In the summer of 1918 he promoted the French Army's policy of racial integration. American military officials were impressed by Réquin's depiction of the situation in the French Army where whites and blacks served side by side and were cared for in the same hospitals and by the same personnel; they had his report ''La Course de l'Amérique à la Victoire'' published in English as ''America's race to victory'' (1919).America's race to victory 1919 - Page "Édouard Jean Réquin. INTRODUCTION In "America's Race to Victory " Lieutenant Colonel Requin has presented a vivid and stimulating picture of the problem which our country faced in April, 1917, the faulty organization with which we at first … In 1919 he was a technical counsellor at

Versailles Peace Conference The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines Department of Île-de-France region in France. The palace is owned by the government of F ...

, and later author of ''Projet de Traité d'Assistance Mutuelle'' (1924). From 1930 he was French Military Representative at the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

, and 1930-1932 Chief of Cabinet of Ministry of War. In 1938 he became a member of France's Supreme War Council, then In World War II he was a general, from 2 September 1939 to 6 July 1940 he commanded the 4th French Army against the German invasion of France. In 1941 he retired, and in 1945 became President of the Société de la Légion d'Honneur. He published three further works: ''Combats pour l'Honneur'', a study on General

Louis Archinard Louis Archinard (11 February 1850 – 8 May 1932) was a French Army general at the time of the Third Republic, who contributed to the colonial conquest of French West Africa. He was traditionally presented in French histories as the conqueror an ...

in the

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

, ''Archinard et le Soudan'' (both 1946) and his memoirs ''D'une guerre à l'autre 1919-1939'' (1949).

References

External links

Generals website Édouard-Jean Réquin photo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Requin, Edouard 1879 births 1953 deaths French military personnel of World War I French Army generals of World War II French generals 19th-century French military personnel