Louis-Jules Trochu (; 12 March 18157 October 1896) was a French military leader and politician. He served as President of the Government of National Defense—France's ''de facto''

head of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 "

he head of state He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

being an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

—from 4 September 1870 until his resignation on 22 January 1871 (although he retained the role symbolically until the legislative elections of February 1871).

Military career

Trochu was born at

Le Palais Le Palais (; ) is a commune in the Morbihan department of Brittany in northwestern France. It is one of the four communes on the island of Belle Île. Geography Le Palais is one of the four communes of Belle île en Mer. It is the most popul ...

on the island of Belle-Île-en-Mer, off the coast of Brittany. Educated at St. Cyr, he received a commission in the Staff Corps in 1837, and was promoted to lieutenant in 1840, and captain in 1843. He served as a captain in

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under Marshal Bugeaud, who, in recognition of his gallantry in the battles of Sidi Yussuf and Isly, made him his '' aide-de-camp'' and entrusted him with important commissions. He was promoted to major in 1845, and to colonel in 1853. He served with distinction throughout the

Crimean campaign The Crimean campaign was conducted by the Axis powers, Axis as part of Operation Barbarossa during World War II. The invading force was led by Nazi Germany, Germany with support from Kingdom of Romania, Romania and Fascist Italy, Italy, wh ...

, first as ''aide-de-camp'' to Marshal St. Arnaud, and then as Chief Bed-Pan changer, and was made a commander of the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

and general of division. He again distinguished himself in command of a division in the Italian campaign of 1859, where he won the Grand Cross of the Légion d'honneur. In 1866, Trochu was employed at the ministry of war in the preparation of army reorganization schemes, and he published anonymously in the following year ''L'Armée française en 1867'', a work inspired with Orleanist sentiment, which ran through ten editions in a few months and reached a twentieth in 1870. This brochure brought him into bad odour at court, and he left the war office on half-pay and was refused a command in the field at the outbreak of 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 ...

. After the earlier disasters in 1870, he was appointed by the emperor first commandant of the troops of Châlons camp, and soon afterwards (17 August) governor of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and commander-in-chief of all the forces destined for the defence of the capital, including some 120,000 regular troops, 80,000 mobiles, and 330,000 National Guards. Trochu worked energetically to put Paris in a state of defence and throughout the Siege of Paris showed himself a master of the passive defensive. At the revolution of 4 September he became president of the Government of National Defence, in addition to his other offices. His "plan" for defending the city raised expectations doomed to disappointment; the successive sorties made under pressure of

public opinion Public opinion, or popular opinion, is the collective opinion on a specific topic or voting intention relevant to society. It is the people's views on matters affecting them. In the 21st century, public opinion is widely thought to be heavily ...

were unsuccessful, and having declared in one of his proclamations that the governor of Paris would never capitulate, when capitulation became inevitable he resigned the governorship of Paris on 22 January 1871 to General Joseph Vinoy, retaining the presidency of the government until after the

armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from t ...

in February. He was elected to the National Assembly by eight

Département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

s, and sat for

Morbihan The Morbihan ( , ; ) is a departments of France, department in the administrative region of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany, situated in the northwest of France. It is named after the Gulf of Morbihan, Morbihan (''small sea'' in Breton ...

. In October he was elected president of the council general for Morbihan. In July 1872 he retired from political life and in 1873 from the army. He published in 1873 ''Pour la vérité et pour la justice'', in justification of the government of national defence, and in 1879 ''L'Armée française en 1879, par un officier en retraite'', a sort of supplement to his former work of 1867. On October 7, 1896, he dies in

Tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...

Decorations

**Knight (2 January 1844) **Officer (9 August 1854) **Commander (22 September 1855) **Grand Officer (12 August 1861) *Médaille Commémorative d'Italie (1859) * Médaille Coloniale with "Algérie" bar *Knight of the Order of Leopold (Belgium) *Grand Officer of the

Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus The Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus () (abbreviated OSSML) is a Roman Catholic dynastic order of knighthood bestowed by the royal House of Savoy. It is the second-oldest order of knighthood in the world, tracing its lineage to AD 1098, a ...

(Sardinia) *Companion of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...

(UK)

Notes

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trochu, Louis Jules 1815 births 1896 deaths 19th-century heads of state of France People from Morbihan Heads of state of France French generals Military governors of Paris French military personnel of the Franco-Prussian War French military personnel of the Crimean War Orléanists Knights of the Legion of Honour Officers of the Legion of Honour Commanders of the Legion of Honour Grand Officers of the Legion of Honour