Background
Henri Gouraud was born on November 17, 1867 in Paris, France to Dr. Xavier Gouraud and Mary Portal.
Henri Gouraud was born on November 17, 1867 in Paris, France to Dr. Xavier Gouraud and Mary Portal.
Gouraud studied at home and then at the Collège Stanislas de Paris.
Gouraud distinguished himself as a junior officer in Senegal in 1891 and served in the Sudan, 1894-1899, and in Mauritania, 1900-1910.
He was second in command of the Moroccan campaign of 1911-1912. During World War I he commanded a division in the Argonne in 1914 and the French expeditionary force at Gallipoli in 1915. He returned to duty after losing his right arm in combat.
Thereafter, except for six months in 1916-1917 as resident general of Morocco, he commanded the Fourth Army in Champagne, where he distinguished himself in defensive action in July 1918 and the subsequent offensive.
From 1919 to 1923 he was French high commissioner in Syria. He returned to France as a member of the Superior Council of War in 1923 and served as military governor of Paris until 1937.
