Marie-Georges Picquart (6 September 1854 – 19 January 1914) was a French Army officer and Minister of War. He is best known for his role in 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 ...

, in which he played a key role in uncovering the real culprit.

Early career

Picquart was born in

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label= Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label= Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the ...

. He began his military career in 1872, graduating from the '' Ecole Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr'' as fifth in his year. Picquart served as an infantry officer in France before seeing service in

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...

. He subsequently studied at the General Staff Academy (''École d'État-major'') where he was second in his class, after which he became a lecturer at the War Academy ('' École supérieure de guerre''). One of his students at the latter institute was

Alfred Dreyfus Alfred Dreyfus ( , also , ; 9 October 1859 – 12 July 1935) was a French artillery officer of Jewish ancestry whose trial and conviction in 1894 on charges of treason became one of the most polarizing political dramas in modern French history. ...

Picquart and the Dreyfus Affair

Picquart was then appointed to the General Staff in Paris. As a staff officer he acted as reporter of the debates in the first Dreyfus

court-martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...

for the then Minister of War, Auguste Mercier, and the Chief of the Army General Staff,

Raoul Le Mouton de Boisdeffre Raoul François Charles Le Mouton de Boisdeffre, or more commonly Raoul de Boisdeffre (6 February 1839, Alençon – 24 August 1919, Paris) was a French Army general. Biography He studied at the College of Saint Cyr and at the Staff-College. Du ...

. Picquart was subsequently promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel on 6 April 1896. He was appointed chief of the army's intelligence section ('' Deuxième Bureau, service de renseignement militaire'') in 1895. The following year Picquart discovered that the memorandum ("''bordereau''") used to convict Captain Alfred Dreyfus, had actually been the work of Major

Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy Charles Marie Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy (16 December 1847 – 21 May 1923) was an officer in the French Army from 1870 to 1898. He gained notoriety as a spy for the German Empire and the actual perpetrator of the act of treason of which C ...

. Several high-ranking generals warned Picquart to conceal his discovery, but Picquart continued his investigation. In this he was hindered and sabotaged by subordinate officers, notably Major Hubert-Joseph Henry. As a consequence, Picquart was relieved of duty with the ''Deuxième Bureau'' and sent in December 1896 to regimental duty, commanding the 4th Tunisian Tirailleurs Regiment (native infantry) based at

Sousse Sousse or Soussa ( ar, سوسة, ; Berber:''Susa'') is a city in Tunisia, capital of the Sousse Governorate. Located south of the capital Tunis, the city has 271,428 inhabitants (2014). Sousse is in the central-east of the country, on the Gulf ...

in French Tunisia. Picquart 2

After 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 ...

for publishing his 1898 open letter '' J'Accuse…!'', Picquart was himself accused of forging the note that had convinced him of Esterhazy's guilt. He was then arrested for forgery and was waiting for a court-martial, while the French

Court of Cassation A court of cassation is a high-instance court that exists in some judicial systems. Courts of cassation do not re-examine the facts of a case, they only interpret the relevant law. In this they are appellate courts of the highest instance. In th ...

was reviewing the Dreyfus case. After the second court-martial, held as a consequence of the conclusions of the court, Picquart resigned from the army. However, the exoneration of Dreyfus in 1906 also absolved Picquart, who was, by an act of the

French Chamber of Deputies Chamber of Deputies (french: Chambre des députés) was a parliamentary body in France in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: * 1814–1848 during the Bourbon Restoration and the July Monarchy, the Chamber of Deputies was the lower house o ...

, promoted to

brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointe ...

. That was the rank that an officer of his seniority and experience could normally have expected to reach, if his career had not been interrupted by his involvement in the Dreyfus affair.

Subsequent career

In 1906, Picquart entered

Georges Clemenceau Georges Benjamin Clemenceau (, also , ; 28 September 1841 – 24 November 1929) was a French statesman who served as Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909 and again from 1917 until 1920. A key figure of the Independent Radicals, he was a ...

's first cabinet as Minister of War. He held that position for the entire duration of the Clemenceau Cabinet, from 25 October 1906 to 24 July 1909. Picquart then returned to military service as an Army Corps commander.

Private life

A keen amateur pianist, Picquart was a regular visitor to the Chaigneau family, whose daughters formed the Trio Chaigneau. He later helped arrange concerts for them.

Death

While still a serving army officer, Picquart died on 19 January 1914 in

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...

from injuries sustained in a fall from a horse. He was 59.

In popular culture

The 2013 novel ''

An Officer and a Spy ''An Officer and a Spy'' is a 2013 historical fiction thriller by the English writer and journalist Robert Harris. It tells the true story of the French officer Georges Picquart from 1896 to 1906, as he struggles to expose the truth about the ...

'' and the 2019 film adapted from it, tells the story of the Dreyfus affair from Picquart's perspective.

References

; Works cited * * * ; Notes

External links

Dreyfus Rehabilitated

Official Website of Geudertheim
with page about Général Picquart (in French).
1968 portrait of Picquart by Ben Shahn
{{DEFAULTSORT:Picquart, Georges 1854 births 1914 deaths Military personnel from Strasbourg French Ministers of War French generals People associated with the Dreyfus affair Deaths by horse-riding accident in France Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr alumni Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur