Char 2C
The char 2C, also known as the FCM 2C, was a French post WWI heavy tank landship, later considered a super-heavy tank. It was developed during World War I but not deployed until after the war. It was, in total volume or physical dimensions, the largest operational tank ever made. Ten tanks were built in 1921. Although remaining operational, their value at the start of World War II was largely propagandistic. After Germany broke through French defences in June 1940, they were sent away from the front to preserve them. They were unable to reach safety and deliberately destroyed to prevent capture. Development The ''char d'assaut de grand modèle'' The origins of the Char 2C have always been shrouded in a certain mystery. In the summer of 1916, likely in July,François, 2011, pp 42-51 General Léon Augustin Jean Marie Mourret, the Subsecretary of Artillery, verbally granted Société Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée, ''Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerran ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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French Third Republic
The French Third Republic (, sometimes written as ) was the system of government adopted in France from 4 September 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War, until 10 July 1940, after the Fall of France during World War II led to the formation of the Vichy France, Vichy government. The French Third Republic was a parliamentary republic. The early days of the French Third Republic were dominated by political disruption caused by the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, which the French Third Republic continued to wage after the fall of Emperor Napoleon III in 1870. Social upheaval and the Paris Commune preceded the final defeat. The German Empire, proclaimed by the invaders in Palace of Versailles, annexed the French regions of Alsace (keeping the ) and Lorraine (the northeastern part, i.e. present-day Moselle (department), department of Moselle). The early governments of the French Third Republic considered French Third Restoration, re-establi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Saint-Chamond (tank)
The Saint-Chamond () was the second French tank to enter service during the First World War, with 400 manufactured from April 1917 to July 1918. Although not a tank by a strict definition of a heavily armoured turreted vehicle, it is generally accepted and described as such in accounts of early tank development. It takes its name from the commune of Saint-Chamond where its manufacturers Compagnie des forges et aciéries de la marine et d'Homécourt (FAMH) were based. Born of the commercial rivalry existing with the makers of the Schneider CA1 tank, the Saint-Chamond was an underpowered and fundamentally inadequate design. Its principal weakness was its Holt caterpillar tracks. They were much too short in relation to the vehicle's length and weight (23 tons). Later models attempted to rectify some of the tank's original flaws by installing wider and stronger track shoes, thicker frontal armour and the more effective 75mm Mle 1897 field gun. Altogether 400 Saint-Chamond tanks ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pierre Renaudel
Pierre Renaudel (19 December 1871 – 1 April 1935) was a French socialist politician and journalist. Biography He served as central committee member of the League of Human Rights (''Ligue des droits de l'homme'', LDH), was a founder and ''majoritaire'' of the Socialist Party of France (PSdF). He urged the party to work with the Radicals and wanted the party to build coalition cabinets as he felt the alternative, would be instability and reaction. Renaudel was a member of the Chamber of Deputies, and a national leader of the French Section of the Workers' International (''Section Française de l'Internationale Ouvrière'', SFIO). He was editor of the daily newspaper ''L'Humanité''; and was the founder and political editor of the socialist weekly publication, ''La Vie Socialiste''. He was characterized as a right-wing parliamentary leader of the Socialists in the Var. Renaudel was an editor of ''L'Humanité'' from 1914 through the end of World War I. It was said that, "his ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Robert Nivelle
Robert Georges Nivelle (15 October 1856 – 22 March 1924) was a French artillery general officer who served in the Boxer Rebellion and the First World War. In May 1916, he succeeded Philippe Pétain as commander of the French Second Army in the Battle of Verdun, leading counter-offensives that rolled back the German forces in late 1916. During these actions he and General Charles Mangin were accused of wasting French lives. He gives his name to the Nivelle Offensive. Following the successes at Verdun, Nivelle was promoted to commander-in-chief of the French armies on the Western Front in December 1916, largely because of his persuasiveness with French and British political leaders, aided by his fluency in English. He was responsible for the Nivelle Offensive at the Chemin des Dames, which had aroused skepticism already in its planning stages. When the costly offensive failed to achieve a breakthrough on the Western Front, a major mutiny occurred, affecting roughly half the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Joseph Joffre
Joseph Jacques Césaire Joffre , (; 12 January 1852 – 3 January 1931) was a French general who served as Commander-in-Chief of French forces on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front from the start of World War I until the end of 1916. He is best known for regrouping the retreating allied armies to defeat the Germans at the strategically decisive First Battle of the Marne in September 1914. His political position waned after unsuccessful offensives in 1915, the Battle of Verdun, German attack on Verdun in 1916, and the disappointing results of the Battle of the Somme, Anglo-French offensive on the Somme in 1916. At the end of 1916 he was promoted to Marshal of France, the first such elevation under the Third Republic of France, Third Republic, and moved to an advisory role, from which he quickly resigned. Later in the war he led an important mission to the United States. Early career Joffre was born in Rivesaltes, Pyrénées-Orientales, into a family of vineyard o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jean Baptiste Eugène Estienne
Jean Baptiste Eugène EstienneEstienne's forenames are frequently incorrectly given as Jean-Baptiste Eugène. He was christened with the three names Jean, Baptiste, and Eugène, but disliked the name Baptiste, and preferred to be addressed as Eugène. He usually signed himself J.E. Estienne. See Mondet, Arlette Estienne: ''Le général J.B.E. Estienne, père des chars.'' L'Harmattan, 2010 (7 November 1860 in Condé-en-Barrois, Meuse – 2 April 1936 in Paris) was a general of artillery and a specialist in military engineering, one of the founders of modern French artillery and French military aviation, and the creator of the French tank arm. He is considered by many in France to be the ''Père des Chars'' (Father of the Tank). Early life Estienne was born at Condé-en-Barrois (now Les Hauts-de-Chée) in the Meuse valley. He was admitted to the ''École Polytechnique'' (the French Military Academy) at the age of nineteen. He graduated 131st of his year in 1882, the same year he w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jules-Louis Breton
Jules-Louis Breton (1 April 1872 – 2 August 1940) was an inventor and a French politician. He was a representative of the French Assembly, and the proponent of the Breton-Prétot machine, a device developed in France from November 1914, intended to cut a way through barbed wire on the battlefield. It was developed with an engineer named Prétot, but did not progress beyond the experimental stage. Biography Breton was born on 1 April 1872 in Courrières, Pas-de-Calais. He was a Socialist with Anarchist tendencies, and as a Natalist, endeavoured to giving more freedom to women. During World War I he was France's Minister of Armaments (France), Undersecretary of State for Inventions for National Defense. and later founded and directed the National Research and Invention Ministry.''Irresistible empire'' by Victoria De Grazia p.426 He was also Minister of Hygiene under President Alexandre Millerand, Millerand in 1920. Breton was the founder and first director of the National Board ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Renault FT
The Renault FT (frequently referred to in post-World War I literature as the FT-17, FT17, or similar) is a French light tank that was among the most revolutionary and influential tank designs in history. The FT was the first production tank to have its armament within a fully rotating turret.Although a rotating turret had been a feature of some earlier tank designs or prototypes, and had been incorporated in Armored car (military), armoured cars for several years, no tank with a turret had entered service. The Renault FT's configuration (crew compartment at the front, engine compartment at the back, and main armament in a revolving turret) became and remains the standard tank layout. Consequently, some armoured warfare historians have called the Renault FT the world's first modern tank. Over 3,000 Renault FT tanks were manufactured by France, most of them in 1918. After World War I, FT tanks were exported in large numbers. Copies and derivative designs were manufactured in the Un ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. A Liberal Party (United Kingdom), Liberal Party politician from Wales, he was known for leading the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom during the First World War, for social-reform policies, for his role in the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace Conference, and for negotiating the establishment of the Irish Free State. Born in Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester, and raised in Llanystumdwy, Lloyd George gained a reputation as an orator and proponent of a Welsh blend of radical Liberal ideas that included support for Welsh devolution, the Disestablishment of the Church in Wales, disestablishment of the Church of England in Wales, equality for labourers and tenant farmers, and reform of land ownership. He won 1890 Caernarvon Boroughs by-election, an 1890 by-election to become the Member of Parliam ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Albert Thomas (minister)
Albert Thomas (16 June 1878 – 7 May 1932) was a prominent French socialist and the first Minister of Armament for the French Third Republic during World War I. Following the Treaty of Versailles, he was nominated as the first Director General of the International Labour Office, a position he held until his death in 1932. As Director-General, he was succeeded by Harold Butler. Early years He was born at Champigny-sur-Marne on 16 June 1878. In 1898, he entered the École Normale Supérieure, where he studied history and won a travelling scholarship which enabled him to visit Russia. Other educational distinctions followed, including degrees in literature and history at the University of Paris. In 1904, Thomas was both appointed to the editorial staff of ''L'humanité'' and elected a municipal councillor for Champigny, where, eight years later he was elected mayor. As a journalist, Thomas wrote for ''L'information'' and the ''Revue socialiste'' founded the ''Revue syndicaliste ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Minister Of Armaments (France)
The Minister of Armaments and War Production () was a position in the France cabinet during World War I (1914–18), and the Minister of Armaments (} was a cabinet post during and after World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ... (1939–45). Ministers Sub-Secretaries of State References Sources * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Armaments, Minister of Government ministries of France 1916 establishments in France ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |