View source for Louis Franchet d'Espèrey

{{Short description|French general during World War I}}
{{use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix = [[Marshal of France|Marshal]] [[Vojvoda (Serbia and Yugoslavia)|Vojvoda]]
| name = Louis Franchet d'Espèrey
| image = Franchet d'Esperey - photo Henri Manuel.jpg
| caption = 
| office1 = [[List of members of the Académie française#Seat 14|Seat 14]] of the [[Académie française]]
| term_start1 = 27 July 1934
| term_end1 = 8 July 1942
| predecessor1 = [[Hubert Lyautey]]
| successor1 = [[Robert d'Harcourt]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|1856|05|25|df=y}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|1942|07|08|1856|05|25|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Mostaganem]], [[French Algeria]]
| death_place = [[Saint-Amancet]], [[French State]]
| resting_place = 
| nationality = French
| spouse = 
| mother = 
| father = 
| alma_mater = [[École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr|École Spéciale Militaire]]
| signature = Signature Louis Franchet d’Espèrey.svg
| allegiance = {{flagicon|France|1794}} [[French Third Republic|Third Republic]]
| branch = [[French Army]]
* [[Infantry]]
| serviceyears = 1873 – 1925
| rank = Division general{{efn|Marshal of France is a dignity and not a rank.}}
| commands = 
* [[Fifth Army (France)|5th Army]]
* [[Allied Army of the Orient]]
| battles = 
*[[Boxer Rebellion]]
*[[World War I]]
}}
'''Louis Félix Marie François Franchet d'Espèrey'''{{efn|{{IPA|fr|lwi feliks maʁi fʁɑ̃swa fʁɑ̃ʃɛ dɛpɛʁɛ}}; {{IPA|sh|frǎnʃe deperê(ː)}}}} (25 May 1856&nbsp;– 8 July 1942) was a French general during [[World War I]]. In September 1914, as the new commander of the French [[5th Army (France)|5th Army]], he played a notable role in organising allied the allied response that led to the [[First Battle of the Marne]].<ref name="p472">{{cite book | last=Mansoor | first=Peter R. | last2=Murray | first2=Williamson | title=Grand Strategy and Military Alliances | publisher=Cambridge University Press | publication-place=Cambridge New York | date=2016-02-09 | isbn=978-1-107-13602-1 | page=113}}</ref> As commander of the large Allied army based at [[Salonika]], he conducted the successful [[Macedonian campaign]], which caused the collapse of the Southern Front and contributed to the armistice.

== Early years ==
Franchet d'Espèrey was born in [[Mostaganem]] in [[French Algeria]], the son of a cavalry officer in the ''[[Chasseurs d'Afrique]]''. He was educated at [[École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr|Saint-Cyr]] and graduated in 1876. After being assigned to a regiment of Algerian [[Tirailleurs]] (native infantry), d'Espèrey served in [[French Indochina]], in [[Qing Dynasty|China]] (in the [[Boxer Rebellion]] in 1900, during which his cousin the German plenipotentiary [[Clemens von Ketteler]] was killed); and subsequently in [[Alawi Sultanate|Morocco]]. Franchet d'Espèrey then commanded various infantry regiments in France. He received command of [[I Corps (France)|I Corps]] in 1913.

== First World War ==
=== 1914 ===
==== Corps commander ====
In 1914, Franchet d'Espèrey did well as a [[corps]] commander at the [[Battle of Charleroi]]. On 23 August, the third day of the battle, with the German Second Army pressing the French centre, Franchet d’Esperey saw an opportunity for his I Corps to counterattack from the French right. Despite repeated pleas from 10 am onward, Lanrezac refused him permission to do so.{{sfn|Terraine|1960|pp=87-88}} On 23 August [[Fifth Army (France)|Fifth Army]] was attacked again, this time also on the flanks, by [[Karl von Bülow|Bulow]]’s [[2nd Army (German Empire)|German Second Army]] to the north and [[Max von Hausen|Hausen]]’s German [[3rd Army (German Empire)|Third Army]] against Franchet to the right.{{sfn|Terraine|1960|p=97}}

At the [[Battle of St. Quentin (1914)|Battle of Guise]] on 29 August, the day was won by a successful attack by his I Corps in the north: leading his men on horseback, he is said to have called out "how do you like this advance, Mr Staff College Professor?" to Colonel [[Philippe Pétain]], who was commanding an infantry brigade.{{sfn|Terraine|1960|pp=158-160}} At that battle, he was ordered to rally III Corps on his left and X Corps on his right.<ref>Tuchman 1962, p369</ref>

==== Army commander ====
On the eve of the [[First Battle of the Marne]], Franchet d'Espèrey was given command of the [[Fifth Army (France)|Fifth Army]]. When asked by [[Joseph Joffre|Joffre]] whether he was willing to accept the command he replied equivocally "the same as another". He added that the higher a man is promoted the more staff he gets. Despite being a naturally kind man, he affected a tyrannical demeanour to galvanise his officers. [[Edward Spears]], then a lieutenant liaising between the BEF and the Fifth Army, wrote that he physically resembled a howitzer shell and of the "galvanic effect" that he had on his staff on taking command. He ordered that any man not doing his duty was to be shot, including staff officers. When General de Mas Latrie protested at an order, Franchet d'Esperey took the telephone from the staff officer [[:fr:Alexis Hély d'Oissel|Hély d'Oissel]] and told Latrie "''Marchez ou crevez.''" ("March or die.") before putting the phone down on him. He would break up roadblocks by firing his revolver out of the window of his car. [[President of France|President]] [[Raymond Poincaré]] noted that Franchet d'Esperey was "a stranger to depression".<ref>Tuchman 1962, p369, 405-6</ref>{{sfn|Terraine|1960|pp=181-3, 186-787-88}}{{sfn|Holmes|2004|p=237}}

His predecessor, [[Charles Lanrezac]], had had poor relations with the BEF commander, [[Sir John French]], so Franchet d'Espèrey immediately sent the British commander a telegram signed "Franchet d’Esperey [[Royal Victorian Order|KCVO]]" promising cooperation.{{sfn|Holmes|2004|p=237}} On 4 September Joffre asked Franchet d'Espèrey and [[Ferdinand Foch]], who was commanding the newly formed [[Ninth Army (France)|Ninth Army]], if they would be willing to give battle in a day or two. Franchet d'Espèrey met with [[Henry Hughes Wilson, 1st Baronet|Henry Hughes Wilson]] (BEF Sub Chief of Staff) and [[George Macdonogh]] (Head of BEF Intelligence) at Bray (simultaneous with [[Joseph Gallieni]] and [[Michel Maunoury]]'s meeting with the BEF Chief of Staff [[Archibald Murray]]). Franchet d'Espèrey's plan reached Joffre at 6:30 pm as he was eating his dinner with two Japanese officers.<ref>[[Japan in World War I|Japan was on the Allied side in World War One]], but it did not send troops to the Western Front.</ref> He impressed Joffre by presenting a plan for a concerted attack by the Allied armies on 6 September if Maunoury's [[Sixth Army (France)|Sixth Army]] reached a certain position on the [[Ourcq]] at a certain time ("if not the British will not march"). If not, he would retreat a little further, south of the [[Grand Morin]] with the Sixth and the BEF l, striking [[Alexander von Kluck]]'s [[1st Army (German Empire)|1st Army]] in flank. That was to become the basis for ''Instruction Générale No 6'', the Allied plan of attack at the Marne.<ref>Tuchman 1962, pp. 411, 413</ref>{{sfn|Terraine|1960|pp=186-7}}

When asked by Franchet d'Espèrey to be ready to attack on 6 September, [[:fr:Émile Hector Hache|General Hache]] of III Corps "looked as if he had been hit on the head with a club". De Mas Latrie was sacked and replaced by [[Louis de Maud'huy|Maud'huy]], from [[Noël Édouard, vicomte de Curières de Castelnau|Castelnau]]'s [[Second Army (France)|Second Army]]. Fifth Army eventually saw the replacement of three out of five corps commanders and seven out of thirteen division commanders, and a similar proportion of brigade commanders.<ref>Tuchman 1962, pp. 413-6</ref>

=== 1916–1917 ===
By March 1916, Franchet d'Espérey was in command of the [[Army Group East (France)|Eastern Army Group]] and by January 1917 the [[Army Group North (France)|Northern Army Group]]. He was badly defeated by the Germans at the [[Battle of Chemin des Dames]] in May 1918.

=== 1918 victory in Salonika ===
Removed from the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]], he was appointed commander of the [[Allied Army of the Orient]] at [[Salonika]] on the [[Macedonian front]].{{sfn|Lazarski|2008|p=119}}

Between 15 and 29 September 1918, Franchet d'Espèrey, in command of a large army of [[Greeks]] (9 divisions), [[French people|French]] (6 divisions), [[Serb]]s (6 divisions), [[British people|British]] (4 divisions) and [[Italians]] (1 division), staged a [[Vardar Offensive|successful offensive]] in [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]] that ended by taking [[Bulgaria]] out of the war.{{sfn|Sondhaus|2011|p=416}} General Franchet d'Espèrey followed up the victory by [[Liberation of Serbia, Albania and Montenegro (1918)|overrunning much of the Balkans]] and by the war's end, his troops had penetrated well into [[Hungary]]. That collapse of the Southern Front was one of several developments that effectively triggered the November 1918 Armistice.<ref>{{cite book|first=John|last=Keegan|page=442|title=The First World War|year=1998 |publisher=Hutchinson |isbn=0-09-180178-8}}</ref>

== Later life ==
Although it is often stated in history books that on 8 February 1919, Franchet d'Espèrey entered [[Constantinople]] on a white horse, emulating [[Mehmed II]]'s entrance in 1453 after the [[Fall of Constantinople]] and thus signifying that [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] sovereignty over the imperial city was over, this has recently been shown to be a myth.<ref>Edhem Eldem: [https://www.academia.edu/13541781/De_quelle_couleur_%C3%A9tait_le_cheval_blanc_de_Franchet_d_Esp%C3%A8rey_Petite_enqu%C3%AAte_sur_la_v%C3%A9rit%C3%A9_historique ′De quelle couleur était le cheval blanc de Franchet d'Espèrey? Petite enquête sur la vérité historique.′] In: Véronique Schiltz (ed.): ''De Samarcande à Istanbul: étapes orientales. Hommages à Pierre Chuvin,'' II, Paris, CNRS Éditions, 2015, 285-301 (in French).</ref><ref>Edhem Eldem: [https://www.academia.edu/15427179/Tarihte_Ger%C3%A7ek_%C3%9Czerine_K%C3%BC%C3%A7%C3%BCk_bir_Ara%C5%9Ft%C4%B1rma_%C4%B0stanbul_un_Beyaz_Atl%C4%B1_Fatihi 'Tarihte gerçek konusunda küçük bir araştırma: İstanbul'un beyaz atlı fatihi.'] In: ''Toplumsal Tarih,'' No. 261, Eylül 2015, 22-33.</ref>

After World War I ended, Franchet d'Espèrey directed operations against the [[Hungarian Soviet Republic]] in 1919.
He was made a [[marshal of France]] on 19 February 1921 and was given the honorary title of [[Vojvoda (Serbia and Yugoslavia)|Vojvoda]] (equivalent of [[Field-Marshal]]) by the Yugoslavian monarchy on 29 January 1921.

In 1924 Franchet d'Espèrey was appointed inspector-general of France's North African troops, who had made up a substantial portion of the French forces serving under him on the Macedonian Front.  He subsequently became interested in the strategic potential of the "grand axis" north–south route across the Sahara.

He joined a trans-Saharan expedition led by [[Gaston Gradis]] that left [[Colomb-Béchar]] on 15 November 1924 in three six-wheel Renaults. Other members were the journalist [[Henri de Kérillis]], commandant Ihler, the brothers [[Georges Estienne]] and René Estienne, three Renault mechanics and three legionnaires.{{sfn|Mondet|2011|p=287}}
The expedition reached [[Savé]] in [[Dahomey]] on 3 December 1924 after a journey of {{convert|3600|km}}.{{sfn|Mondet|2011|p=288}}
The expedition leaders took the train south, and reached [[Porto-Novo]] on the Atlantic on 14 December 1924.{{sfn|Bourgin|2011|p=318}}

Franchet d'Espèrey represented France at the [[coronation]] of [[Haile Selassie of Ethiopia]] in [[Addis Ababa]] on 1 November 1930. He was elected to the [[Académie française]] on 15 November 1934.

He died in [[Albi]] on 8 July 1942 and is interred at [[Les Invalides]].

== Assessment ==
He had drive and great energy and his victories against Bulgaria and the remnants of the German and Austro-Hungarian Armies were independent of the situation on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]], demonstrated by the fact that they came before the main assault on the [[Hindenburg Line]] and against a still-capable army that offered strong resistance to the British and the Greeks in the [[Battle of Doiran (1918)|Battle of Doiran]].

As a consequence of his generalship, Bulgaria signed an armistice on 29 September, thus becoming the first [[Central Power]] to do so. In terms of politics, he was a nationalist [[ultra-royalist]] whose loyalty to [[France]] outweighed his loyalty to the [[House of Bourbon|Bourbons]].

Several French cities and towns have boulevards and roads named after him such as in Dijon, Reims, Saint-Étienne, Versailles and Lorient. The Belgian city of Dinant has an Avenue Franchet d'Esperey. A boulevard in Belgrade, Serbia, is named after him. In Greece, Salonika has a street named after him.

British troops anglicised his name to "Desperate Frankie."

== Honours and decorations ==
*[[Légion d’honneur]]
**Knight (21 August 1886)
**Officer (29 December 1904)
**Commander (31 December 1912)
**Grand Officer (30 December 1914)
**Grand Cross (10 July 1917)
*[[Médaille militaire]] (1918)
*[[Croix de guerre 1914–1918 (France)|Croix de guerre 1914–1918]] with 3 palms
*[[Médaille Interalliée de la Victoire]]
*[[Médaille commémorative du Maroc (1909)|Médaille commémorative du Maroc]]
*[[Médaille commémorative de la guerre 1914–1918|Médaille Commémorative de la Grande Guerre]]
*[[Colonial Medal]] with bars "Tonkin" and "Maroc"
*[[Order of Karađorđe's Star]] with Swords<ref>{{Cite book|last=Acović|first=Dragomir|title=Slava i čast: Odlikovanja među Srbima, Srbi među odlikovanjima|year=2012|location=Belgrade|publisher=Službeni Glasnik|pages=142}}</ref>
*Grand Cross of the [[Order of Saint-Charles]] (27 February 1930)<ref name="MandP">{{cite news|url=https://journaldemonaco.gouv.mc/var/jdm/storage/original/application/a4ac5831abe3bac5eeed9a51bbc5cab4.pdf|title=Journal de Monaco
|language=fr|access-date=11 September 2023}}</ref>

== See also ==
*[[Marching Regiment of the Foreign Legion]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

=== Notes ===
{{notelist}}

=== General references ===
*{{cite book|last=Bourgin|first=Michel|title=Chroniques touarègues|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0NqkKbor-w4C&pg=PA318|access-date=2013-06-28
 |year=2011|publisher=L'Harmattan|isbn=978-2-296-56473-2|page=318}}
*{{Cite book|last=Holmes|first=Richard|title=The Little Field Marshal: A Life of Sir John French|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|year=2004|isbn=0-297-84614-0}}
*{{cite book|last=Lazarski|first=Christopher|title=The Lost Opportunity: Attempts at Unification of the Anti-Bolsheviks:1917-1919 |publisher=University Press of America| year=2008}}
*{{cite book|last=Mondet|first=Arlette Estienne|title=Le général J.B.E Estienne – père des chars: Des chenilles et des ailes
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1eHV9Kw9phEC&pg=PA287|access-date=2013-06-28
 |date=2011-01-01|publisher=Editions L'Harmattan|isbn=978-2-296-44757-8}}
*{{cite book|last=Sondhaus|first=Lawrence|title=World War One: The Global Revolution|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2011}}
*{{cite book|last=Terraine|first=John|title=Mons, The Retreat to Victory|publisher=Wordsworth Military Library, London|year=1960|isbn=1-84022-240-9|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/1916battleofsomm0000lidd}}
* {{cite book|last=Tuchman|first=Barbara|title=August 1914|publisher=Constable & Co|year=1962|isbn=978-0-333-30516-4}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Louis Franchet d'Espérey}}
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8g_bMx5_lM8 Newsreel] of unknown origin: visit of d'Espèrey to Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie (1930)
* [https://www.firstworldwar.com/bio/franchet.htm Biography] on firstworldwar.com
* {{in lang|fr}} [http://www.academie-francaise.fr/les-immortels/louis-franchet-desperey Biography] on academie-francaise.fr
* {{in lang|fr}} [https://www.cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr/fr/louis-franchet-desperey Biography] on cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr
* {{PM20|FID=pe/005439}}

{{FrenchMarshals}}
{{Académie française Seat 14}}
{{World War I}}
{{Greece during World War I}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Franchet Desperey, Louis}}
[[Category:1856 births]]
[[Category:1942 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Mostaganem]]
[[Category:Pieds-noirs]]
[[Category:French military personnel of the Boxer Rebellion]]
[[Category:French Army generals of World War I]]
[[Category:French Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:People of the Hungarian–Romanian War]]
[[Category:Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France)]]
[[Category:Members of the Académie Française]]
[[Category:Marshals of France]]
[[Category:École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr alumni]]
[[Category:Lycée Hoche alumni]]
[[Category:Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint-Charles]]
[[Category:People of the Turkish War of Independence]]