Fosh Ferdinand: biography of the great commander

Fosh Ferdinand is one of the most famous French generals. He took part in two wars. Around Ferdinand, empires collapsed, revolutions took place, millions died. In addition to success on the battlefield, the Marshal made a serious contribution to the development of military affairs. His works are still being studied in the world.

Fosh Ferdinand: brief biography

Ferdinand was born on October 2, 1851 in Tarbes. His parents were very prosperous officials and played an important role in the life of the city. Therefore, Foch received a good education, by the standards of that time. He studied at school, and after graduating he entered the Jesuit college in Saint-Etienne.

In 1869, the army reform began in the country. The government and the emperor understand the danger looming over France over Prussia and are trying to quickly prepare for a possible war. Foch Ferdinand is being drafted into the infantry regiment, which he serves since 1870.

The Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871)

Prussia prepared for war in advance and thought through every step. The French emperor was unable to adequately assess the situation and himself fell into the trap set by Bismarck. The German army began the offensive in July. The troops of Prussia and its allied German states were well prepared and equipped with the newest types of weapons, while the French army did not have time to properly prepare and, in fact, was caught unawares.

By the autumn the German troops besieged Paris. Foch Ferdinand fought on the front line. The balance of forces was approximately the same, but the French army consisted mainly of fighters of reserve units and a hastily recruited militia. Therefore, the superiority of the regular German army was obvious. And in 1871 Napoleon the Third signed a shameful capitulation, according to which France pledged to pay Prussia huge indemnities.

Scientific activity

After the war, Fosh Ferdinand decides not to follow in the footsteps of his father, but to continue his military career. At the age of twenty he enters the Higher Polytechnic School. However, to finish it Ferdinand failed. In 1873, the army of the French Republic is experiencing an acute shortage of personnel. Therefore, even without completing the Higher Polytechnic School, Foch receives the rank of lieutenant of artillery. Serves in the 24th Artillery Regiment.

Four years later he graduated from the Academy under the General Staff. Begins scientific activity. He studies strategy and tactics of combat operations. In 1895, he became a professor and began teaching at the academy, which he himself had graduated not so long ago. Of particular interest to Ferdinand is the study of the strategy of Napoleon Bonaparte.

The tactics of conducting combat operations are improved with the consideration of modern methods of warfare. Continues to disassemble in detail the decisive battles of the Franco-Prussian War, in which he himself took part. In 1908 he became the head of the Academy under the General Staff.

Fosh is engaged in research work in the field of military history and tactics. Two years after receiving a high post, he was sent to the Russian Empire to take part in maneuvers.

In 1912, Fosh Ferdinand became commander of the eighth army corps. Memories of the marshal of his associates contain information that he was very nervous, entering a new position. But a year later he was entrusted with a more combat-ready unit - the twentieth army corps.

The beginning of the First World

The great war Ferdinand Foch met in Nancy. From the very beginning, his men took part in hostilities. The first blow of the German Empire fell on the territory of Belgium. Initially, the country declared its neutrality, but the French assumed that it was through Belgium that the invasion would begin. Ferdinand Foch repeatedly pointed to the weakness of the Franco-Belgian border.

And it was there that the German army struck . The one and a half millionth group in a few days captured Belgium and advanced to the French border. If it were not for the heroic defense of Liège, the Allied armies would simply not have been able to relocate from the eastern border. Ferdinand Foch commanded the twentieth army corps. Immediately after the outbreak of the war, his men invaded the territory of Lorraine. This area was taken from France as a result of the Franco-Prussian War. And at least its partial capture, according to the plan of the General Staff, was to increase the morale of the soldiers. And at first everything turned out quite favorably. However, in the middle of September, the Germans counterattacked and threw the French back to the border.

State of the Army

Already on the eve of the war, more and more supporters of the radical reform of the army appeared in France, among them Fosh Ferdinand. Quotations of the professor were published on the front pages of newspapers. But the conservatives did not want to change traditions. The German army was completely rearmed and strategic decisions were made, starting from the possibilities of new weapons.

France still underestimated the power of artillery. The forts were obsolete, and the generals did not want to change the usual way in their units. The most revealing moment is the use of the old form. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary went over to an inconspicuous gray or brown uniform, while the form of the French army included red pants and blue uniforms. In the first days of the fighting, the officers went into battle, wearing white gloves and uniform, becoming light targets in their bright outfits. Therefore, the general engaged in urgent reform of the army.

Army reforms

In all parts of the steel hastily "dress up" soldiers, French engineers desperately tried to increase the number of modern weapons. Already in early September, began one of the most large-scale battles of the first year of the war - the battle on the Marne.

The shock grouping of the French commanded Fosh Ferdinand. The Marshal's recollection of those events is overwhelmed by the atmosphere of disorder and turmoil in which soldiers were. Due to lack of means of transportation, many soldiers were brought to the battlefield by a taxi. But this battle allowed to stop the advance of the Germans and begin an exhausting positional war, which will end only four years later.

The End of the War

By the spring of 1918, Marshal Ferdinand Foch was the head of the French Armed Forces. It was he who signed the Compiegne Armistice, which ended the First World War. It happened on the eleventh of November in the train of a private train.

After the war he was engaged in improving military tactics and strategy. He prepared an intervention in the territory of Soviet Russia.

March 20, 1929 in Paris, died Fosh Ferdinand. Monument to the commander is installed in the Parisian House of Disabled.