Joseph Joffre

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Joseph Joffre

Joseph Jacques Césaire Joffre (January 12, 1852 - January 3, 1931) was a Catalan French general who became prominent in the battles of World War I. His popularity at the outbreak of that war led to his nickname Papa Joffre.

Joffre was born in Rivesaltes, Roussillon. He joined the École polytechnique in 1870 and became a career officer. He first saw active service during the siege of Paris in the Franco-Prussian War, but spent much of his career in the colonies as a military engineer. He returned to France and was made commander-in-chief of the French Army (1911), after Joseph Gallieni declined the post. With the revival of the army and a purge of "defensive-minded" officers he adopted the strategy devised by Ferdinand Foch, the offensive known as Plan XVII. Joffre was selected to command despite never having commanded an Army, even on paper; being slow-witted; and "having no knowledge whatever of General Staff work".^[1]

At the outbreak of war, the French plan clashed with the German Schlieffen Plan, much to the detriment of the French. Joffre helped to retrieve the situation through retreat and counterattack at the First Battle of the Marne. He combined the French 9th and 10th armies into the French 6th army in under two weeks before turning it over to Joseph Gallieni in the First Battle of the Marne. Following the enormous losses at Verdun and the Anglo-French offensive at the Somme he was replaced by General Robert Nivelle on December 13, 1916.

Still popular, Joffre was made a Marshal of France, the first man to receive that rank under the Third Republic, but his role was little more than ceremonial. He was head of the French military mission to the USA in 1917 and leader of the Supreme War Council in 1918. In 1918, Mount Joffre in Western Canada was named after him. He retired in 1919 and was made a member of the French Academy.

In 1920 Joffre presided over the Jocs Florals in Barcelona, a Catalan literary certamen.