Joseph-Jacques-Césaire Joffre

Joseph-Jacques-Césaire Joffre (born Jan. 12, 1852, Rivesaltes, Fr.—died Jan. 3, 1931, Paris) was the commander in chief (1914–16) of the French armies on the Western Front in World War I, who won fame as “the Victor of the Marne.”

After graduating from the École Polytechnique, he took part as a subaltern in the siege of Paris (1870–71) and later served in Indochina, West Africa, and Madagascar. Promoted to general of division in 1905, he was appointed chief of the French general staff in 1911 and thereby commander in chief in the event of war. Joffre was responsible for the French Army’s calamitous plan of campaign with which it began operations in 1914 against Germany, calling for mass attacks across the Franco-German frontier. The plan’s futility became apparent when a massive German encircling movement through Belgium caught Joffre and the rest of the French high command unawares and threatened to outflank the Allied forces and capture Paris. Once convinced of the developing German threat on the French left flank, Joffre shifted his forces and created a new French army, the 6th, under his direct authority, to counter the threat of German envelopment. In this moment of supreme trial his best qualities came to the fore; his imperturbability, force of character, and courage saved the situation. Constantly threatened by greatly superior German forces wheeling in a great northern arc on Paris, the French retreated steadily until their left flank was fighting just outside the city by September 5. Joffre then issued the order that on September 6 launched the Allied counterstroke, the first of the battles of the Marne. The encounter resulted in the partial repulse of the German advance and the ruin of German hopes for a swift victory on the Western Front.

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By the end of 1914 the Western Front had settled into the heavily entrenched lines that existed until 1918. Throughout 1915 the French armies under Joffre attempted to burst through the German positions at ruinous cost, and failed. Joffre’s prestige began to wane, and the evident lack of French preparation for the German attack on Verdun in 1916, for which he was held responsible, prepared his downfall. After being stripped of the power of direct command, Joffre resigned on Dec. 26, 1916, and the same day was created a marshal of France. His Mémoires, in two volumes, were published in 1932.