Education
Ecole Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr.
Ecole Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr.
Ducrot served in Algeria, in the Italian campaign of 1859, and as a division commander in the Franco-Prussian War. At the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, Ducrot was tasked with overseeing the deployment of French forces due to his familiarity with the terrain near Wissembourg. Having received flawed intelligence, he told General Abel Douay, commander of the 2nd Division, on 1 August that
Ducrot ordered the army to withdraw, but then General de Wimpffen presented a commission authorizing him to succeed Mac-Mahon.
Wimpffen overruled Ducrot, and ordered a counterattack that failed completely.
Emperor Napoleon III then surrendered the army to the Prussians. Ducrot refused to sign the articles of surrender, and was imprisoned by the Prussians.
He soon escaped, and took part in the Siege of Paris. Ducrot commanded the most important French attack against the Prussian besiegers (the Battle of Villiers), 29 November–3 December 1870.
After the defeat of this attack, Ducrot urged the French government to make peace.