Gustave Léon Niox ( – ) was a French

général is the French word for general. There are two main categories of generals: the general officers (), which are the highest-ranking commanding officers in the armed forces, and the specialist officers with flag rank (), which are high-level offic ...

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Les Invalides The Hôtel des Invalides (; ), commonly called (; ), is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and an old soldi ...

, director of the

Musée de l'Armée The Musée de l'Armée (; "Army Museum") is a national military museum of France located at Les Invalides in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. It is served by Paris Métro stations Invalides (Paris Métro and RER), Invalides, Varenne (Paris Métro ...

, and a military historian.

Career

Born in 1840 to Eutrope Léon Niox and Elisabeth Caroline Desrayaud, he entered the Ecole Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr in 1856 to join the 10th Infantry Regiment, then l'École d'État-Major in 1859, training to command the 66th Regiment in January 1861. He served with the

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s of the

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and the second regiment of the

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, and was part of the French intervention in Mexico in the

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, first in the topographical service, then later in the historical services. He returned to France to serve in the

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. He served in the

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

as a member of the general staff for the 6th Army of the Rhine, and was taken prisoner during the siege of Metz. On his return in 1871 he was transferred to join the staff of l'Ecole d'État-Major, teaching

cosmography The term cosmography has two distinct meanings: traditionally it has been the protoscience of mapping the general features of the cosmos, heaven and Earth; more recently, it has been used to describe the ongoing effort to determine the large-sca ...

physical geography Physical geography (also known as physiography) is one of the three main branches of geography. Physical geography is the branch of natural science which deals with the processes and patterns in the natural environment such as the atmosphere, h ...

, and

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. He was made inspector of telegraph services in 1898.

Historian

He became professor at l'École Supérieure de Guerre in 1882. Put on

reserve Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US v ...

in 1910, he began in earnest on his history. A number of his writings were published, and had a wide influence on the public and on the military on matters of military geography. He died in Paris on .

Publications

* ''De l'emploi des chemins de fer pour les mouvements stratégiques'', Paris, Dumaine, 1873. * ''Expédition du Mexique : 1861-1867'', Librairie militaire de J. Dumaine, 1874Expédition du Mexique
/ref> * ''Notions de géologie

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: géographie militaire'', Paris, J. Dumaine, 1876. * ''L'Empire russe, Corbeil'', impr. de Crété, 1886. * ''L'Indo-Chine, Corbeil'', impr. de Crété, 1886. * ''Péninsule des Balkans'', Corbeil, impr. de Crété, 1886. * ''Sénégal et NIger'', Corbeil, impr. de Crété, 1886. * Ct Niox, Eugène Darsy, ''Atlas de géographie physique, politique et historique à l'usage des classes'', Paris, G. Delagrave. * ''La Guerre de 1870. Simple récit'', Paris, C. Delagrave, 1896. * ''La Guerre Russo-Japonaise''. Chroniques, Ch. Delgrave, 1906. * '' L'Hôtel des Invalides'', Paris, Ch. Delagrave, 1909. * ''Drapeaux et trophées, résumé de l'histoire militaire contemporaine de la France'', catalogue du Musée de l'armée, Paris, Ch. Delagrave, 1910. * ''La Grande guerre, 1914-1918, simple récit'', Paris, J. de Gigord, 1921. * Sept volumes de la ''Géographie militaire'' publiés entre 1876 et 1895.

Notes and references

http://www.ecole-superieure-de-guerre.fr/prof-niox.html

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Niox, Gustave Leon 1840 births 1921 deaths French generals French military personnel of the Franco-Prussian War French military personnel of the Second French intervention in Mexico École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr alumni Recipients of the Legion of Honour Recipients of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques People from Provins