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Ferdinand Foch was born on October 2, 1851, at Tarbes, Hautes-Pyrénées, France. He was the son of a civil servant. During his childhood, the story of his maternal grandfather, who was an officer of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras, greatly inspired him.
After attending school in Tarbes, Rodez, in Southern France, he took admission at the Jesuit College in St. Etienne.
He decided to pursue a military career after getting influenced by the stories of the Napoleonic Wars.
In 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War, he joined the French 4th Marine Infantry Regiment and decided to remain in the army even after the war.
In 1873, he took admission at the Ecole Polytechnique and became a Lieutenant in the 24th Artillery Regiment, despite not having completed his course due to the shortage of junior officers.
By 1894 Foch had become lieutenant colonel and professor of strategy and tactics in the École Supérieure de Guerre (War School). His lectures were published in two volumes: De la conduite de la guerre (1897; Precepts and Judgments) and Des principes de la guerre (1899; Principles of War). Foch's doctrine of massive attack attracted much attention. He stressed both philosophical and material aspects of war and emphasized the importance of morale and the will to win. In 1900 Foch was transferred to regimental command and then to staff duty with the V Corps. In 1907 Premier Georges Clemenceau appointed him general and director of the War School, where he remained for 4 years.
At the beginning of World War I, Foch was in charge of the XX Army Corps and fought in Lorraine. Next he commanded the newly formed 9th Army and helped check the Germans in the first Battle of the Marne. Gen. Joffre then entrusted him with coordinating troops and operations in the north during the "race to the sea" from the Oise River to the Flemish coast. As commander of the Group of Armies of the North for 2 years, Foch presided over the Artois offensives of 1915 and the Battle of the Somme in 1916. The disappointing results of the Somme offensive led to replacement of both Foch and Joffre. After a brief interval Foch was appointed chief of the general staff by Gen. Pétain.
In the spring of 1918, when the Allies were threatened by the German grand offensive, Foch became chief commander of all Allied armies in France. He halted the Germans and launched a counteroffensive which drove them back and ended the war. On November 11, 1918, Foch induced the German representatives to accept his armistice terms, including occupation of the left bank of the Rhine.
In 1919, he became a British Field Marshal.
Ferdinand Foch died on March 20, 1929, his body was buried next to Napoleon and other renowned French soldiers and officers in Les Invalides, France.
Ferdinand Foch was an outstandong marshal of France and commander of Allied forces during the closing months of World War I, generally considered the leader most responsible for the Allied victory. He stopped the Germans during their massive attack in 1918 and launched a counteroffensive which drove them back and ended the war.
In addition, Ferdinand Foch received many honors, including Commemorative medal of the 1870–1871 War, Military Medal (December 21, 1916), War Cross 1914–1918, Order of Merit, The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, The Distinguished Service Order (DSO), The Order of the White Eagle (April 15, 1923), The War Order of Virtuti Militari (April 15, 1923), The Order of Polonia Restituta, The Order of Leopold, The Order of Ouissam Alaouite, The Distinguished Service Medal (DSM), The Order of the Redeemer, The Order of Saint George, Knights Grand Commander (First Class) of the Order of Rama.
To honour his memory, a heavy cruiser and an aircraft carrier are named after him. Moreover, his name is associated with several streets of France. Fochville, a town situated in South Africa, is named after him.
Quotations:
"The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire."
"The power to command has never meant the power to remain mysterious."
"A battle won is a battle which we will not acknowledge to be lost."
"The will to conquer is the first condition of victory."
Acclaimed by the world after the war, Foch became a member of the French Academy and the Academy of Sciences.
An extremely short man, Ferdinand Foch was known for his physical strength and his sharp mind who always maintained a highly dignified bearing. Foch was a quiet man, known for saying little and when he did speak, it was a volley of words accompanied by much gesturing of his hands that required some knowledge of him to understand properly.
On November 5, 1883, Ferdinand Foch married Julie Anne Ursule Foch (Bienvenüe), they had four children.
Bertrand Jules Napoléon Foch was a civil servant from Comminges.
