Lieutenant-general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was normall ...

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

Jules Marie Alphonse Jacques de Dixmude (24 February 1858 – 24 November 1928), often known as General Jacques, was a Belgian military figure of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and colonial advocate.

Congo Free State

He founded

Albertville Albertville (; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Arbèrtvile'') is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region in Southeastern France. It is best k ...

(Kalemie) in the Congo in 1892. Jacques was known for contributing to the brutality of the Congo Free State rule. After hearing that native Congolese forced laborers were severing vines instead of tapping them as ordered, he wrote to one of his subordinates: "Decidedly these people of nongoare a bad lot. They have just been and cut some rubber vines...We must fight them until their absolute submission has been obtained, or their complete extermination...Inform the natives that if they cut another single vine, I will exterminate them to the last man."

Military career

Congo Arab war

From 1886–1892, the Society of Missionaries of Africa had founded

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

missions at the north and south ends of

Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika ( ; ) is an African Great Lakes, African Great Lake. It is the world's List of lakes by volume, second-largest freshwater lake by volume and the List of lakes by depth, second deepest, in both cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. ...

. Léopold Louis Joubert, a French soldier and armed auxiliary, was dispatched by Archbishop

Charles Lavigerie Charles Martial Allemand Lavigerie, M. Afr. (31 October 1825 – 26 November 1892) was a French Catholic prelate and missionary who served as Archbishop of Carthage and Primate of Africa from 1884 to 1892. He previously served as Archbishop o ...

's Society of Missionaries of Africa to protect the missionaries. The missionaries abandoned three of the new stations due to attacks by

Tippu Tip Tippu Tip, or Tippu Tib (– June 14, 1905), real name Ḥamad ibn Muḥammad ibn Jumʿah ibn Rajab ibn Muḥammad ibn Saʿīd al Murjabī (), was an Afro-Omani ivory and slave owner and trader, explorer, governor and plantation owner. He ...

and

Rumaliza Muhammad bin Khalfan bin Khamis al-Barwani () (born c. 1850, died 1919), commonly known as Rumaliza, was an Omani Swahili trader of slaves and ivory, active in Central and East Africa in the latter part of the nineteenth century. He was a member of ...

. By 1891 the

Zanzibar Zanzibar is a Tanzanian archipelago off the coast of East Africa. It is located in the Indian Ocean, and consists of many small Island, islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar) and Pemba Island. ...

i slavers had control of the entire western shore of the lake, apart from the region defended by Joubert around Mpala and St Louis de Mrumbi. The anti-slavery expedition under captain Jacques—financed by the Belgian Anti-Slavery Society—came to the relief of Joubert on 30 October 1892. When the Jacques expedition arrived Joubert's garrison was down to about two hundred men, poorly armed with "a most miscellaneous assortment of chassepots, Remingtons and muzzle-loaders, without suitable cartridges". He also had hardly any medicine left.. Captain Jacques asked Joubert to remain on the defensive while his expedition moved north. On 3 January 1892, captain Jacques' anti-slavery expedition founded the fortress of

on the shores of

, and tried to put an end to the slave trade in the region.

's troops surrounded Albertville on 5 April and besieged the outpost for 9 months. Eventually Rumaliza's forces had to retreat because of the arrival of the ''Long-Duvivier-Demol'' Anti-Slavery expedition, a relief column sent from Brussels at captain Jacques's aide. In 1894 he returns to Belgium, he serves as a colonial official in the

Congo Free State The Congo Free State, also known as the Independent State of the Congo (), was a large Sovereign state, state and absolute monarchy in Central Africa from 1885 to 1908. It was privately owned by Leopold II of Belgium, King Leopold II, the const ...

from 1895 to 1898 and finally returns to the Congo Free State in 1902 to work on the railway line that connects Bas-Congo to Katanga.

World War I

Jacques was promoted to major in the Belgian army in 1908, lieutenant colonel in 1913 and colonel in 1914 as he took command of the 12th regiment. He obtained the rank of major general in 1915 and became a three-star general in 1916, taking command of the 3rd army division. Because of his exceptional service during

, he was made Baron and received several decorations.

Title, honours and arms

Jacques was promoted to the rank of

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

in 1916 and was made a

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

in 1919 by HM King Albert I. In 1924 he was allowed to add "de Dixmude" to his last name.

Military awards and decorations

* Grand cordon of the order of Leopold with palm * Commander of the order of the African star * Commander of the order of the crown * Knight of the royal order of the lion * War cross WWI with palm * Yser medal * WWI Victory medal * WW I commemorative medal * The Arab campaign medal * Military cross, first class *

Service star A service star is a miniature bronze or silver five-pointed star in diameter that is authorized to be worn by members of the eight uniformed services of the United States on medals and ribbons to denote an additional award or service period. T ...

* Commemorative medal of the reign of King Leopold II *

Knight grand cross of the order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...

* Grand cross of the order of St Anne (Russia) * Knight grand cross of the order of the star of Karađorđe with swords (Serbia) * Grand officer of the legion of honor (France) * Commander of the order saints Maurice and Lazarus (Italy) * Silver medal for military valor (Italy) * Distinguished service medal (United States) * War cross with palm (France) * 8 front bars * 1 wound bar

Commemoration

"General Jacques" is commemorated by several streets, statues, and monuments around Belgium, including the "Boulevard Général Jacques" in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

as well as others in

Nivelles Nivelles (; ; ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant. The Nivelles municipality includes the former municipalities of Baulers, Bornival, Thines, and Monstreux. The Nivelles arrondissement ...

Chaudfontaine :''Chaudfontaine is also a brand of mineral water, owned by The Coca-Cola Company.'' Chaudfontaine (; ) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On January 1, 2006, Chaudfontaine had a total population of 21,012. ...

and

Verviers Verviers (; ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Ensival, Heusy, Lambermont, Petit-Rechain, Stembert, and Verviers. It is also the cent ...

and numerous statues. A

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

of Baron Jacques is included as part of the

Liberty Memorial The National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri was opened in 1926 as the Liberty Memorial. In 2004, it was designated by the United States Congress as the country's official war memorial and museum dedicated to World Wa ...

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

Arms

References

External links

*
Archive Jules Jacques de Dixmude
Royal Museum for Central Africa * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jacques De Dixmude, Jules Marie Alphonse 1858 births 1928 deaths People from Stavelot Belgian generals City founders 19th-century Belgian military personnel Congo Free State officials Perpetrators of atrocities in the Congo Free State Commanders of the Order of the Crown (Belgium) Recipients of the Croix de guerre (Belgium) Grand Officers of the Legion of Honour Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France) Recipients of the Silver Medal of Military Valor Walloon people Belgian barons Belgian Army generals of World War I Belgian abolitionists