During the First World War, a conflict not noted for its generalship, one group of individuals stands out. Five of the senior leaders of the French army in 1918 had one thing in common – they had all taught at the army’s staff college before the war. This small group of fighting professors, ably supported by senior and mid-ranking officers, many of whom had been their pupils, led the French army to victory in 1918.
At Morhange in August 1914 Ferdinand Foch, then a 62-year-old army corps commander, directed troops in battle for the first time. It was, potentially, the climax of a career in which he had studied and taught war while a lecturer in strategy and tactics at the École supérieure de guerre, France’s staff college and, subsequently,…
