Georges Picquart

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People Alfred Dreyfus Alphonse Bertillon Armand du Paty de Clam Auguste Mercier Émile Zola Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy Georges Picquart Georges-Gabriel de Pellieux Hubert-Joseph Henry Jean Sandherr Lucie Dreyfus Ludovic Trarieux Maximilian von Schwartzkoppen
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Marie-Georges Picquart (6 September 1854 – 19 January 1914) was a French Army officer and Minister of War. He is best known for his role in the Dreyfus affair, in which he played a key role in uncovering the real culprit.

Early career

Picquart was born in

Picquart was then appointed to the General Staff in Paris. As a staff officer he acted as reporter of the debates in the first Dreyfus court-martial for the then Minister of War, Auguste Mercier, and the Chief of the Army General Staff, Raoul Le Mouton de Boisdeffre. Picquart was subsequently promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel on 6 April 1896.

He was appointed chief of the army's intelligence section (Deuxième Bureau, service de renseignement militaire) in 1895. The following year Picquart discovered that the memorandum ("bordereau") used to convict Captain Alfred Dreyfus, had actually been the work of Major Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy. Several high-ranking generals warned Picquart to conceal his discovery, but Picquart continued his investigation. In this he was hindered and sabotaged by subordinate officers, notably Major Hubert-Joseph Henry. As a consequence, Picquart was relieved of duty with the Deuxième Bureau and sent in December 1896 to regimental duty, commanding the 4th Tunisian Tirailleurs Regiment (native infantry) based at Sousse in French Tunisia.^[2]

After the trial of

In 1906, Picquart entered Georges Clemenceau's first cabinet as Minister of War. He held that position for the entire duration of the Clemenceau Cabinet, from 25 October 1906 to 24 July 1909. Picquart then returned to military service as an Army Corps commander.^[4]

Private life

A keen amateur pianist, Picquart was a regular visitor to the Chaigneau family, whose daughters formed the Trio Chaigneau. He later helped arrange concerts for them.^{[5][page needed]}

Picquart was raised in an ardent Catholic family,^[6] but later left religion and became an agnostic.^[7]

Death

While still a serving army officer, Picquart died on 19 January 1914 in Amiens from injuries sustained in a fall from a horse while he was riding in Picardy. He was 59.^[8]

In popular culture

The 2013 novel An Officer and a Spy and the 2019 film adapted from it, tells the story of the Dreyfus affair from Picquart's perspective.

See also

• List of War Ministers of France
• Picquart's investigations of the Dreyfus Affair
• "
  Florence Earle Coates

Bibliography

• Massin, Brigitte (1999). Les Joachim – Une famille de musiciens [The Joachims – A Musical Family]. Paris: Fayard.
  OCLC 977769713
  .
• Reid, Piers Paul (2013) [1st pub:Bloomsbury (2012)]. The Dreyfus affair. London:
  OCLC 816162441
  .
• OCLC 1128997006
  .
• Oriol, Philippe (2019). Le faux ami du capitaine Dreyfus. Picquart, l'Affaire et ses mythes. Paris:
  OCLC 2246860059
  .