Raoul François Charles Le Mouton de Boisdeffre, or more commonly Raoul de Boisdeffre (6 February 1839, Alençon – 24 August 1919,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

) was a

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed Force ...

general.

Biography

He studied at the College of Saint Cyr and at the Staff-College. During the Franco-Prussian War he was a major of cavalry and aide-de-camp of General Antoine Chanzy, and in 1882 was promoted to colonel. In 1890 he became assistant chief-of-staff, and in 1893 he was named Chief of Staff of the French Army. He was consulted on the 1894 French Military Treaty with Russia and had met both Tsars Alexander III and Nicholas II. Boisdeffre is possibly most known for his comment to Tsar Alexander "Mobilisation IS war!" to which the Tsar replied "That is as I understand it."Owen, Robert L., Senator (USA), ''The Russian Imperial Conspiracy 1892-1914'', New York, 1927, p.13. Nicholas received Boisdeffre twice when he visited France. At the trial of

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, also , ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of ...

(1898), during the

Dreyfus affair The Dreyfus affair (french: affaire Dreyfus, ) was a political scandal that divided the French Third Republic from 1894 until its resolution in 1906. "L'Affaire", as it is known in French, has come to symbolise modern injustice in the Francop ...

, he appeared full-uniformed in court, and in a much-applauded address to the jury, affirmed the existence of a third secret document incriminating the accused officer. When subsequently it transpired, through the confession of Lieutenant Colonel

Hubert-Joseph Henry Hubert-Joseph Henry (2 June 1846 – 31 August 1898) was a French Lieutenant-Colonel in 1897 involved in the Dreyfus affair. Arrested for having forged evidence against Alfred Dreyfus, he was found dead in his prison cell. He was considered a h ...

, that the document to which he had referred in good faith was a forgery, he tendered his resignation and retired from public life.

Notable people

* Stanislas du Lac (1835–1909) French Jesuit, educationist social worker, enigmatic figure in the background to the Dreyfus Affair

References

1839 births 1919 deaths Military personnel from Alençon French generals Grand Officiers of the Légion d'honneur French Army officers People associated with the Dreyfus affair French military personnel of the Franco-Prussian War {{France-mil-bio-stub