Marshal captured at Sedan who led the Versailles army against the Paris Commune and became the president of “Moral Order”
As commander of the Versailles army, he led the suppression of the Paris Commune in May 1871. Elected president in 1873, he headed a “Moral Order” government; after Republicans won a parliamentary majority in 1877, he resigned in 1879.
A soldier from a family of Irish descent, he won his marshal’s baton and dukedom in the conquest of Algeria, the storming of the Malakoff in the Crimea and at Magenta in 1859. In 1870 he led the Army of Châlons to relieve Metz and was wounded and captured with the emperor at Sedan. Released by Germany, he commanded Thiers’s Versailles army, entered Paris in May 1871 and directed the repression and mass executions of Bloody Week. Succeeding Thiers as president in 1873, he led a “Moral Order” government awaiting a restoration, lost the 1877 confrontation with parliament and resigned in 1879.
Career timeline
- 1827Entered the French Army.
- 1855Won the Battle of Malakoff during the Siege of Sevastopol in the Crimean War.
- 1859Contributed to the French victory at Magenta and was made Marshal of France and Duke of Magenta.
- 1864Was appointed Governor General of Algeria.
- 1870Commanded French forces in the Franco-Prussian War and was wounded and captured with Napoleon III at Sedan.
- 1871Became commander of the Versailles army under President Thiers and led the suppression of the Paris Commune in May.
- 1873Was elected president of the French Third Republic and pursued “Moral Order” policies.
- 1877–1879After conflict with parliament and a Republican victory in the 1877 election, resigned as president in 1879.
French soldier who served as the Paris Commune’s Delegate for War
As the Commune’s Delegate for War, he sought to reorganize the National Guard but was arrested amid conflicts with its leaders.
Cluseret served in the French army, Garibaldi’s volunteers and the Union Army during the American Civil War. As Delegate for War of the Paris Commune in 1871, he sought to reorganize the National Guard but clashed with Commune leaders and was arrested on a charge of betrayal; an ad hoc court acquitted him. He escaped France after the Commune’s defeat, returned under the 1880 amnesty, and was elected a socialist deputy for Toulon in 1888, 1889, 1893 and 1898. He later moved away from socialism and joined the anti-Dreyfus camp.
Career timeline
- 1823Born in Suresnes, France.
- 1848As a French army officer, took part in suppressing the June Days uprising.
- 1860Joined Garibaldi’s volunteers and took part in the Italian unification campaign.
- 1861–1863Served in the Union Army during the American Civil War and reached brigadier general.
- 1871As the Paris Commune’s Delegate for War, sought to reorganize the National Guard. Arrested on May 1 amid conflict with its leaders, he was acquitted by an ad hoc court on May 21.
- 1880Returned to France under the amnesty for Communards.
- 1888–1898Elected four times as a socialist deputy for Toulon.
- 1900Died.
French army officer who served as the Paris Commune’s war delegate
He sought to reorganize the Commune’s defenses, but National Guard units largely refused to serve outside their own districts.
Louis-Nathaniel Rossel was a French army officer and the only senior French officer to join the Paris Commune in 1871. As its war delegate, he sought to reorganize the defenses and artillery, but National Guard distrust of centralized command hindered his plans.
Career timeline
- 1864–1871Served in the French Army.
- 1871Joined the Paris Commune as war delegate and resigned after nine days.
- 1871Captured after the Commune’s defeat and executed by firing squad at Versailles on 28 November.
Veteran founder of French Marxist socialism who entered the Union sacrée government in 1914
After war began in 1914, Guesde left the socialist antiwar camp and entered the French government as minister without portfolio. At Stuttgart in 1907 he had rejected special antiwar measures apart from the socialist struggle; wartime office brought that position into government practice.
A journalist exiled for supporting the Paris Commune, he drafted the programme of the French Workers’ Party with Marx in 1880 and became the standard-bearer of French Marxism. He long opposed the reformist Jaurès and took part in founding the unified Socialist Party (SFIO) in 1905. At Stuttgart in 1907 he argued that class struggle would abolish war and that no special anti-war action was needed. In August 1914, seeing France itself in danger, he joined the Union sacrée government as a minister without portfolio and stayed until 1916.
Career timeline
- 1880Drafted the French Workers’ Party programme with Karl Marx; the party adopted it at its founding congress in November.
- 1907At the Second International’s Stuttgart Congress, presented the French minority’s resolution rejecting special antiwar measures apart from the general socialist struggle.
- 1914–1916Entered the French government as minister without portfolio after war broke out and served until 1916.
Blanquist revolutionary and head of the Paris Commune police
“Long live the Commune! Down with the assassins!”
A Blanquist under the Second Empire, Rigault wrote for republican and atheist newspapers and was repeatedly imprisoned for political activity. After the Republic was proclaimed in September 1870, he worked in the political section of the Paris police; following the Commune's uprising, he became head of the police prefecture in March 1871. He served as a Commune councillor and on its General Security Commission, then became its prosecutor in late April, participating in hostage policy and arrests of opponents. During Bloody Week he had the imprisoned lawyer Gustave Chaudey shot; on 24 May 1871, Versailles government troops captured and shot Rigault without trial.
Career timeline
- 1860sJoined Blanquist and republican circles and contributed to newspapers; repeatedly imprisoned for political activity.
- 1870Worked as an official in the political section of the Paris police after the Republic was proclaimed in September.
- 1871Appointed head of the Paris police on 20 March and elected to the Commune on 26 March; served on the General Security Commission and became the Commune's prosecutor in late April.
- 1871Ordered the execution of Gustave Chaudey during Bloody Week. Captured by Versailles troops on 24 May and shot without trial.
French commander-in-chief whose failed offensive of 1917 brought on the army mutinies and his dismissal
Born in Tulle, Corrèze, to a French father and an English Protestant mother, he became an artillery officer and served in the Boxer Rebellion. In May 1916 he succeeded Pétain in command of the Second Army at Verdun and led the counter-offensives, but was accused of wasting French lives. Made commander-in-chief on the Western Front in December 1916, he opened the Nivelle Offensive at the Chemin des Dames on 16 April 1917, promising a decisive breakthrough. Casualties reached 134,000 in ten days against the 10,000 he had predicted, yet he pressed on without breaking through. A mutiny spread through roughly half the French Army, and on 15 May he was replaced by Pétain. He was sent off to command in North Africa and died in 1924.
Career timeline
- 1916.05Commander of the Second Army at Verdun
- 1916.12Commander-in-chief of the French armies on the Western Front
- 1917.04Nivelle Offensive
- 1917.12Commander-in-chief of the French Army in North Africa
French Socialist deputy who joined the Union sacrée government as Minister of Public Works in 1914
Born in Bonnières-sur-Seine in Seine-et-Oise, he took a doctorate in law and practised as a lawyer, and as a journalist edited La Petite République. He joined the Blanquist-leaning Central Revolutionary Committee and followed its successor parties into the SFIO in 1905. From 1893 until his death he was re-elected as a Socialist deputy for a working-class district in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. Author of the 1911 pacifist pamphlet Faites un roi, sinon faites la paix, he nevertheless entered Viviani’s Union sacrée government in August 1914 as Minister of Public Works, and kept the post under Briand until December 1916. At the Congress of Tours in 1920 he voted against joining the Third International. He died of a cerebral haemorrhage in Chamonix in 1922.
Career timeline
- 1890–1897Editor of La Petite République
- 1893Elected deputy for the Seine
- 1905Joined the SFIO
- 1914–1916Minister of Public Works (Union sacrée government)
- 1920Voted against joining the Third International at Tours
