Hippolyte Langlois (3 August 1839 – 12 February 1912) was a French

general A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". O ...

noted for his writings on military science.

Biography

He was born at

Besançon Besançon (, , , ; archaic german: Bisanz; la, Vesontio) is the prefecture of the department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzerla ...

Doubs Doubs (, ; ; frp, Dubs) is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Eastern France. Named after the river Doubs, it had a population of 543,974 in 2019.École polytechnique École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern Franc ...

, was appointed to the artillery as sub-lieutenant in 1858, attaining the rank of captain in 1866. He served in the army of

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand Est ...

in the Franco-Prussian War. Eight years later he became major, in 1887 lieutenant-colonel and in 1888 colonel. At this time he was appointed professor of artillery at the

École de Guerre École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Sa ...

, and in this post he devoted himself to working out the tactical principles of the employment of

field artillery Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, short range, long range, and extremely long range target engagement. Until the early 20 ...

under the new conditions of armament of which he foresaw the advent. Examples included the then developing quick-firing artillery for which he recommended tactics such as the rafaleGaberiel Rouquered (tr. P. de B. Radcliffe) The Tactical Employment of Quick-firing Field Artillery pub: Hugh Rees London 190

/ref> The public result of his work was the great treatise ''L’Artillerie de campagne'' (1891–1902), which may still he regarded as the classic of the arm. In 1894 he became

general of brigade 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 appointed t ...

, and in 1898

general of division Divisional general is a general officer rank who commands an army division. The rank originates from the French (Revolutionary) System, and is used by a number of countries. The rank is above a brigade general, and normally below an army corp ...

. For two years after this he was the commandant of the École de guerre at the time that the modern French strategic and tactical doctrine was being developed and taught. He was, however, regarded as a leader as well as a theorist, and in 1901 he was selected to command the XX Corps on the German frontier, popularly called the

Iron Corps Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in front ...

. In 1902 he became a member of the Conseil supérieur de la Guerre, consisting of senior generals marked out for the higher commands in war. He retired from the active list in 1904 on reaching the age limit, and devoted himself with the greatest energy to critical military literature. In 1907 he began the publication of a monthly journal of military art and history, the ''

Revue militaire generale A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own du ...

''. In 1911 he was elected to seat 32 in the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

. The most important of his other works are ''Enseignements de deux guerres récentes'' and ''Conséquences tactiques du progrès de l’armement''.

Notes

References

External links

Académie page for Langlois
* French Wikipedia entry for Hippolyte Langlois * http://www.ecole-superieure-de-guerre.fr/langlois.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Langlois, Hippolyte 1839 births 1912 deaths Military personnel from Besançon French generals French military personnel of the Franco-Prussian War French military writers École Polytechnique alumni Members of the Académie Française Grand Officiers of the Légion d'honneur French male non-fiction writers Senators of Meurthe-et-Moselle