Louis Jules Trochu

Trochu, Louis Jules (lwē zhül trôshü'), 1815-96, French general. He fought in Algeria, in the Crimean War, and in the Italian war of 1859. In L'Armée française en 1867 (1867), he criticized the French army and urged its reorganization. He was military governor of Paris when the Franco-Prussian War broke out (1870). He did not attempt to prevent the overthrow, at Paris, of the Second Empire after the French rout at Sedan (Sept., 1870), and he accepted the presidency of the government of national defense, hoping to conduct an honorable rather than a victorious defense. Trochu's inactivity in defense of Paris was severely criticized. He resigned after the capitulation of Paris in Jan., 1871. He wrote several volumes of apologia.