French military mission to Japan (1867–1868)

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The French military mission before its departure to Japan, in 1867. Charles Chanoine is standing in the center, Jules Brunet is second from right in the front row.
French officers drilling Shōgun troops in Osaka in 1867.
Training of Japanese Bakufu troops by the French Military Mission to Japan. 1867 photograph.
The Shogunate's French-style cavalry.
Training of Japanese troops by the French.

The French military mission of 1867 to 1868 was one of the first foreign military training missions to

Napoléon III following a request from the Tokugawa shogunate through its emissary to Europe, Shibata Takenaka, with the goal of modernizing the Japanese military
.

Shibata was already negotiating the final details of the French support for the construction of the

Drouyn de Lhuys
transmitted the agreement of the French government to provide training to the Shōgun's land based armed forces.

History

The mission left

Marseille on November 19, 1866, and arrived in Yokohama on January 14, 1867. They were welcomed on their arrival by Léon Roches and the commander of the French Far East Squadron Admiral Pierre-Gustave Roze
.

The military mission was able to train an elite corps of

Meiji Emperor
in October 1868.

shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu
in French military uniform, c. 1867

In contravention of the agreement for all foreign powers to remain neutral in the conflict, Jules Brunet and four of his non-commissioned officers (Fortant, Marlin, Cazeneuve, Bouffier), chose to remain in Japan and continue supporting the

Bakufu
side. They resigned from the French army, and left for the north of Japan with the remains of the Shogunate's armies in the hope of staging a counter-attack.

The conflict continued until the rebels' defeat at the Battle of Hakodate in May 1869.

Members

Hosoya YasutaroCaptain Jules BrunetCommander in chief Matsudaira TaroTajima KintaroCaptain André CazeneuveSargeant Jean MarlinFukushima TokinosukeSergeant Arthur FortantUse button to enlarge or cursor to investigate
The French military advisers and their Japanese allies in Hokkaido - use a cursor to investigate

The mission consisted of 17 members, under the authority of the Minister of War General

Charles Sulpice Jules Chanoine, at that time an attaché to the military staff of Paris. The members were:[1][2]

Commander

  • Charles Chanoine, captain of the
    general staff

Instructors

Infantry

Artillery

Cavalry

Non-Commissioned Officers

  • Louis Guttig, corporal.
  • Charles Bonnet, chief armorer second class.
  • Barthélémy Izard, maréchal des logis, chief artificier of the Horse Artillery Regiment of the Imperial Guard.
  • Frédéric Valette, maréchal des logis, wood specialist.
  • Jean-Félix Mermet, brigadier, steel specialist.
  • André Cazeneuve, brigadier of the Haras impériaux, arrived in May 1867 bringing Napoleon III's gift of 26 arabian horses to shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu. Officially joined the mission in February 1868.
  • Claude Jourdan, captain of the engineers.
  • Charles Michel, sergeant-major of the engineers.

See also

  • Second
    French military mission to Japan (1872–80)
  • Third
    French military mission to Japan (1884–89)
  • Fourth
    French military mission to Japan (1918–19)
  • Bizen and Sakai, incidents involving Frenchmen in Japan
  • Léonce Verny

References

  1. ^ Masaya Nakatsu (2018). Les missions militaires françaises au Japon entre 1867 et 1889 (Thesis) (in French). Université Sorbonne Paris Cité. p. 454.
  2. ^ François-Xavier Héon (2010). "Le véritable dernier Samouraï : l'épopée japonaise du capitaine Brunet". Stratégique (in French).

External links
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