Louis-Jules Trochu (; 12 March 18157 October 1896) was a French military leader and politician. He served as President of the

Government of National Defense The Government of National Defense (french: Gouvernement de la Défense nationale) was the first government of the Third Republic of France from 4 September 1870 to 13 February 1871 during the Franco-Prussian War. It was formed after the proclam ...

—France's ''de facto''

head of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...

—from 4 September 1870 until his resignation on 22 January 1871 (although he retained the role symbolically until the legislative elections of February 1871).

Military career

Trochu was born at

Le Palais Le Palais (; br, Porzh-Lae) is a Communes of France, commune in the Morbihan Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in northwestern France. It is one of the four communes on the island of Belle Île. Inha ...

on the island of Belle-Île-en-Mer, off the coast of Brittany. Educated at St. 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 in

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

under Marshal Bugeaud, who, in recognition of his gallantry in the battles of Sidi Yussuf and Isly, made him his '' aide-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 the

Crimean campaign The Crimea campaign was an eight-month-long campaign by Axis forces to conquer the Crimea Peninsula, and was the scene of some of the bloodiest battles on the Eastern Front during World War II. The German, Romanian, and defending Soviet t ...

, first as ''aide-de-camp'' to Marshal St. Arnaud, and then as Chief Bed-Pan changer, and was made a commander of the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

and general of division. He again distinguished himself in command of a division in the Italian campaign of 1859, where he won the Grand Cross of the Légion d'honneur. Maître et Valet par Faustin 1871

In 1866 Trochu was employed at the ministry of war in the preparation of army reorganization schemes, and he published anonymously in the following year ''L'Armée française en 1867'', a work inspired with Orleanist 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 the Franco-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 of

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 ...

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. Trochu worked energetically to put Paris in a state of defence and throughout the Siege of Paris showed himself a master of the passive defensive. At the revolution of 4 September he became president of the Government 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 of

public opinion Public opinion is the collective opinion on a specific topic or voting intention relevant to a society. It is the people's views on matters affecting them. Etymology The term "public opinion" was derived from the French ', which was first use ...

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 General Joseph Vinoy, retaining the presidency of the government until after the

armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the ...

in February. He was elected to the National Assembly by eight

Département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety ...

s, and sat for Morbihan. 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 1873 ''Pour la vérité et pour la justice'', in justification of the government of national defence, and in 1879 ''L'Armée française en 1879, par un officier en retraite'', a sort of supplement to his former work of 1867. He died at

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...

Decorations

**Knight (2 January 1844) **Officer (9 August 1854) **Commander (22 September 1855) **Grand Officer (12 August 1861) *Médaille Commémorative d'Italie (1859) * Médaille Coloniale with "Algérie" bar *Knight of the Order of Leopold (Belgium) *Grand Officer of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus (Sardinia) *Companion of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

(UK)

Notes

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trochu, Louis Jules 1815 births 1896 deaths 19th-century heads of state of France People from Morbihan Heads of state of France French generals Military governors of Paris French military personnel of the Franco-Prussian War French military personnel of the Crimean War Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur Grand Officiers of the Légion d'honneur