Trochu, Louis Jules

Trochu, Louis Jules (lwē zhül trôshü`), 1815–96, French general. He fought in Algeria, in the Crimean War, and in the Italian war of 1859. In L'Armée française en 1867 (1867), he criticized the French army and urged its reorganization. He was military governor of Paris when the Franco-Prussian War broke out (1870). He did not attempt to prevent the overthrow, at Paris, of the Second Empire after the French rout at Sedan (Sept., 1870), and he accepted the presidency of the government of national defense, hoping to conduct an honorable rather than a victorious defense. Trochu's inactivity in defense of Paris was severely criticized. He resigned after the capitulation of Paris in Jan., 1871. He wrote several volumes of apologia.

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Trochu, Louis Jules 

Born Mar. 12, 1815, in Le Palais; died Oct. 7,1896, in Tours. French politician and military figure.

Trochu took part in the conquest of Algiers. From 1843 to 1846 he was aide-de-camp to Marshal T. R. Bugeaud de la Piconnerie, who headed the French occupation army. He was aide-de-camp to Marshal A. L. de Saint-Arnaud during the Crimean War of 1853–56, and in 1854 he was promoted to general. In the War of Italian Liberation (1859) he commanded a division in the battles of Magenta and Solferino.

Trochu held important posts in the War Office of the Second Empire. In August 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71), he was appointed military governor of Paris. After the September Revolution of 1870 he headed the Government of National Defense, which implemented an antipopular defeatist policy. Trochu resigned on the eve of France’s surrender, in January 1871. In an attempt to deny accusations of sabotage in the defense of Paris, he published a series of articles and his memoirs.