Louis Franchet d'Esperey

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Louis Félix Marie François Franchet d'Esperey (25 May, 1856 – 3 July, 1942) was a French general during the First World War.

He was born in Mostaganem in what is today Algeria, the son of an officer of cavalry in the Chasseurs d'Afrique. He was educated at Saint-Cyr and graduated in 1876. He served in French Indochina, China (against the Boxer Rebellion in 1900 during which is cousin the German plenipotentiary Klemens von Ketteler was killed) and Morocco before 1914.

In 1914, Franchet d'Esperey did well as an corps commander at the Battle of Charleroi, and as result he rose rapidly through the ranks during the war. By March 1916, Franchet d'Esperey was in command of the Eastern Army Group and by January 1917 the Northern Army Group. He was badly defeated by the Germans at the Battle of Chemin des Dames in May 1918. He was removed from the Western Front and appointed commander of the Allied armies at Salonika.

Main article: Serbian Campaign (World War I)#1918

Between September 15-29, 1918 General Franchet d'Esperey, in command of a large army of Greeks (9 divisions), French (6 divisions), Serbians (6 divisions), British (4 divisions) and Italians (1 division) - staged a successful offensive in Macedonia that knocked Bulgaria out of the war. General Franchet d'Esperey followed up this victory by overrunning much of the Balkans and by the war's end, his troops had penetrated well into Hungary.

During this final campaign, he was given the nickname "Desperate Frankie" by the British officers.

After World War I ended, General Franchet d'Esperey directed operations against the Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919.

He was made a marshal of France on February 19, 1921, and was given a honorary title of Vojvoda (equalent of Field-Marshal) from the Serbs. He represented France at the coronation of Haile Selassie of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa on November 1 1930. He was elected to the French Academy on November 15, 1934.

Franchet d'Esperey was an able, but not outstanding general. He had drive and great energy but his victories against Bulgaria and the remnants of the German army came late and against a war-weary foe, though it should be noted that Bulgaria was the first Central Power to ask for armistice.^{[citation needed]} In terms of personality, he was vain and pompous, if able. In terms of politics, Franchet d'Esperey was a nationalist Royalist whose loyalty to France outweighed his loyalty to the Bourbons. He died in Albi, France.