{{Short description|French general (1867–1946)}} {{For|his great-nephew|Henri Gouraud (computer scientist)}} {{Expand French|Henri Gouraud (général)|topic=hist|date=February 2025}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Henri Gouraud | image = Proprieted'AlbertKahn-Boulogne-FranceLeGeneralHenriGouraud A19033.jpg | image_size = | caption = [[Autochrome]] portrait by [[Auguste Léon]], 1919 | nickname = | order = [[Military governor of Paris]] | term_start = 1923 | term_end = 1937 | predecessor = [[Pierre Berdoulat]] | successor = [[Gaston Billotte]] | order1 = [[High Commissioner of the Levant]] | term_start1 = 9 October 1919 | term_end1 = 23 November 1922 | predecessor1 = ''Office established'' | successor1 = [[Robert de Caix]] (acting) | birth_name = Henri Joseph Eugène Gouraud | birth_date = {{Birth date|1867|11|17|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Paris]], [[Second French Empire]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|1946|9|16|1867|11|17|df=y}} | death_place = Paris, [[Provisional Government of the French Republic]] | placeofburial = | allegiance = {{flagcountry|French Third Republic}} | branch = [[French Army]] | service_years = 1890–1937 | rank = ''[[Army General (France)|Général d'armée]]'' | unit = | commands = 10th Infantry Division<br />[[Fourth Army (France)|Fourth Army]] | battles = [[Mandingo Wars]]<br />[[World War I]]<br />[[Franco-Turkish War]]<br />[[Franco-Syrian War]] | awards = Grand Cross of the [[Legion of Honour]] | relations = | laterwork = }} '''Henri Joseph Eugène Gouraud''' ({{IPA|fr|ɑ̃ʁi ɡuʁo}}; 17 November 1867 {{endash}} 16 September 1946) was a French army [[general]]. He played a central role in the colonization of French Africa and the Levant. During [[World War I]], he fought in major battles such as those of the [[Meuse-argonne|Argonne]], the [[Battle of Gallipoli|Dardanelles]], and [[Second Battle of Champagne|Champagne]]. An important figure in the aftermath of the [[Partition of the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Empire]], he served as [[High Commissioner of the Levant|High Commissioner of the French Republic in the Levant]] from 1919 to 1922, during which he led military campaigns in [[Franco-Turkish War|Cilicia]] and [[Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon|Syria]].
Affiliated with the [[:fr:Parti colonial|colonial party]], Gouraud was an active colonizer, influenced by figures such as [[Joseph Gallieni]] and [[Hubert Lyautey]]. His name remains closely associated with the conquest of [[French Sudan|Sudan]], [[Mauritania]], [[Chad]], and [[Morocco]], and his arrest of [[Samory Touré]] in September 1898 marked a turning point in the French colonization of West Africa. This act brought him to prominence at a time when France sought to overcome the humiliation of the [[Fashoda Incident]].
During World War I, Gouraud distinguished himself by his courage and sacrifice. Seriously wounded in the [[Battle of Gallipoli|Dardanelles]], where he lost his right arm, he became a symbol of resilience and a national hero. His victory over [[Erich Ludendorff|Ludendorff]] in the [[Battle of Argonne|Argonne]] led to the liberation of [[Strasbourg]], the [[Revanchism|reconquest of Alsace-Lorraine]], and the victory of France.
After the war, as [[High Commissioner of the Levant|High Commissioner in the Levant]], he played a key role in reorganizing the region, leading campaigns in [[Franco-Turkish War|Cilicia]] and [[Franco-Syrian War|Syria]], and redrawing the borders of the [[Middle East]]. He is particularly famous for proclaiming the creation of [[Greater Lebanon]] in 1920, marking a significant step in French colonial policy.
Back in France, Gouraud continued his military career, becoming [[Military governor of Paris|Military Governor of Paris]] from 1923 to 1937. At the end of his career, he embodied a figure of transition, having actively participated in the implementation of various colonial regimes ([[colony]], [[protectorate]], [[League of Nations Mandate|mandate]]). According to historian Julie d'Andurain, "as an actor and witness of these changes, Henri Gouraud understood that the time of colonies would be succeeded by the time of empires and [[Internationalism (politics)|international organizations]]". He thus linked with the next generation, that of men like [[Georges Catroux]] and [[:de:Jules-Antoine Bührer|Jules Bührer]].
His policy of dividing [[Syria (historical region)|Syria]] into several small states based on confessional criteria marked a significant step in French colonial policy in the [[Levant]], aiming to [[Divide and rule|divide territories to control them better]]. Set against a backdrop of [[French colonial empire|imperial rivalries]] and [[Syrian nationalism|nationalist tensions]], it is still criticized today for its consequences on the stability and unity of the [[Middle East|region]].
== Early life == Henri Gouraud was born on Rue de Grenelle in the [[7th arrondissement of Paris]] to Doctor Xavier Gouraud and Marie Portal, the first of six children. The Gouraud family originally came from [[Vendée]], but had left during the French Revolution for [[Angers]], then Paris. Gouraud was educated at home and at the [[Collège Stanislas de Paris]]. His decision for a military career was, like many Frenchmen of his generation, motivated by the French defeat in the [[Franco-Prussian War]] (1870–1871).
Gouraud entered the [[École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr|Saint Cyr Military Academy]] in 1888 as part of the "Grand Triomphe" promotion, a well-chosen name as it included sixty future generals. He graduated in 1890 and joined the [[Troupes de marine]]. He expected to be posted overseas as the Troupes de marine served in the [[French colonial empire]], but his father objected because he feared that the marines would be a bad influence on his son. Gouraud respected his father's wish and was instead posted to the 21st Foot Chasseur Regiment at [[Montbéliard]].
== Africa == Henri Gouraud was assigned in 1894 to [[French Sudan]]. He developed a reputation as an effective if lucky commander. In 1898, he was ordered to head one of a number of units fighting [[Samori]], the resistance leader who had been fighting the French for more than a decade. Driven into the highlands south of [[Niger River]] valley by a series of previous defeats, Samori's forces were defeated within the year. On 29 September 1898, Gouraud's unit stumbled upon Samori's encampment and captured him.<ref>[http://calbears.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1310/is_1984_May/ai_3247486/pg_3 M'Baye Gueye, Albert Adu Boahen. West Africa; the fight for survival – a continent resists colonization] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120709033150/http://calbears.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1310/is_1984_May/ai_3247486/pg_3 |date=9 July 2012 }}. UNESCO Courier, May 1984.</ref> More importantly, it marked the end of the last large state opposing French colonialism in the West.<ref>Martin Klein. Slavery and Colonial Rule in French West Africa. Cambridge (1998) {{ISBN|0-521-59324-7}}. pp.119–121.</ref>
The capture of Samori made Henri Gouraud a celebrated figure in France, at the same time as [[French nationalism|nationalist feeling]] in the country was heightened by the [[Fashoda Incident]]. The young captain was feted in the highest political circles of Paris, where he was introduced to powerful businessmen and politicians with interests in the colonial project. Among them were [[Auguste d'Arenberg]] and [[Eugène Étienne]], future founders of what was called the "[[parti colonial]]". Thanks to the patronage of the "parti colonial", Henri Gouraud pursued a career across French Africa for the next fifteen years, with postings in [[Niger]], Chad and [[Mauritania]]. In 1907, he was promoted to colonel and ''commissaire du Gouvernement général'' of Mauritania, where he led a campaign against Bedouin tribes who threatened transport between the colonies of [[Morocco]] and [[French West Africa]].
In 1911, after attending the ''centre des Hautes études militaires'' in France, colonel Gouraud was stationed in [[Morocco]], where he was promoted to [[général de brigade]], serving under [[Hubert Lyautey|Lyautey]]. He was placed in command of the [[Fes, Morocco|Fez]] military region, and from 1914 to 1915 in command of all French colonial troops in western Morocco.
== World War I == In mid-1915 he served as commander of the [[Corps expéditionnaire d'Orient|French Expeditionary Corps]] that was committed to the [[Gallipoli campaign|Dardanelles campaign]]. He was wounded on 30 June,<ref>{{cite book| first=Philip | last=Haythornthwaite| title=Gallipoli 1915: Frontal Assault on Turkey| publisher=Osprey |series=Campaign Series #8| orig-year=1991 |year=2004 |location=London |isbn=0-275-98288-2 |pages=15–16}}</ref> and subsequently lost his right arm.
From December 1915 to December 1916 and from June 1917 until the end of the war he commanded the [[Fourth Army (France)|Fourth Army]] on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]], where he gained distinction for his use of elastic defense during the [[Second Battle of the Marne]] in July 1918.
On 22 November 1918 he entered the city of [[Strasbourg]], overthrowing the [[November 1918 in Alsace|Soviet government]] that had been proclaimed there on 11 November 1918.<ref>[https://www.lyceefr.org/aaegd/gouraud1.htm GOURAUD 1867–1946] {{in lang|fr}}</ref><ref>[http://www.ina.fr/notice/voirTouteVideoSimilaire/idNotice/CPF86607096 ''Ballade strasbourgeoise''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120125142612/http://www.ina.fr/notice/voirTouteVideoSimilaire/idNotice/CPF86607096 |date=25 January 2012 }}, [[Institut national de l'audiovisuel|INA]].fr {{in lang|fr}}</ref>
== French Mandate of Syria and Lebanon == [[File:Proclamation of the state of Greater Lebanon.jpg|thumb|Proclamation of the state of Greater Lebanon, Gouraud with Grand Mufti of Beirut Sheikh Mustafa Naja, and on his right is the Maronite Patriarch [[Elias Peter Hoayek]].]] After the war, Gouraud served from 1919 to 1922 as representative of the French Government in the Middle East and commander of the French [[Army of the Levant]]. As commander of French forces during the [[Franco-Turkish War]], he presided over the creation of the French Mandates in Syria and Lebanon. Following the implementation of the 1916 [[Sykes-Picot Agreement]], which divided the occupied remnants of the [[Ottoman Empire]] between France and Britain, Gouraud was commander of forces sent to enforce the French division of the Levant.
Between 20 January and 10 February 1920, Gouraud's troops were moved north to support forces in the [[Franco-Turkish War]]. Gouraud directed the suppression of a rising of [[Turkish National Forces]] at the [[Battle of Marash]] which led to the withdrawal of French troops back to Syria.
[[File:General Gouraud marching in Aleppo.jpg|thumb|General Gouraud crossing through al-Khandaq street on 13 September 1920, [[Aleppo]]]] There, Gouraud's ongoing attempt to control [[Faisal I of Iraq|King Faisal]] came to a head. Gouraud led French forces which crushed [[Faisal I of Iraq|King Faisal]]'s short-lived monarchy at the [[Battle of Maysalun]] on 23 July 1920, occupied [[Damascus]], defeated the forces of the [[Great Syrian Revolt|Syrian Revolution]] and established the [[French Mandate of Syria]]. These territories were reorganised a number of times by Gouraud's decrees, the most famous being the creation of the [[Greater Lebanon|State of Greater Lebanon]] on 1 September 1920. Gouraud became the French High Commissioner in Syria and Lebanon, effective head of the colonial government there.
He is remembered in the [[Levant]] primarily for this role, and for an [[wikt:apocryphal|apocryphal]] anecdote. Following the [[Battle of Maysalun]], Gouraud allegedly went to the [[Mausoleum of Saladin|Tomb of Saladin]], kicked it, and said: “''Awake, [[Saladin]]. We have returned. My presence here consecrates the victory of the Cross over the Crescent''."<ref>{{cite book | last=Shadid | first=Anthony | author-link=Anthony Shadid | title=House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East | year=2012 | page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=bjczeMMMn1YC&pg=PT135 113] }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first1=Karl Ernest |first2 =Shareen Blair|last1= Meyer |last2= Brysac |year=2008 |title=Kingmakers: The Invention of the Modern Middle East|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=9780393061994|url=https://archive.org/details/kingmakersinvent0000meye|url-access=registration |quote=Awake, Saladin. We have returned. |page=[https://archive.org/details/kingmakersinvent0000meye/page/359 359]}}</ref> The quote is sometimes attributed to [[Mariano Goybet]] instead of Gouraud.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.damascus-foundation.org/archives/2873 |last= Barr |first= James | title=General Gouraud: "Saladin, We're Back!" Did He Really Say It? | author-link=James Barr (author) |date=2017 |website=damascus-foundation.org }}</ref> [[File:1921 Gouraud Lebanon.jpg|thumb|[[Autochrome Lumière|Autochrome]] of Gouraud in Syria by [[Frédéric Gadmer]], 1921]] Gouraud's administration in Syria borrowed much from his time as a young man working under [[Hubert Lyautey|Lyautey]] in Morocco, where colonial policy focused on control of the country through manipulation of tribes, Sufis, and the rural Berber populations.<ref>{{Cite book|title = The Arabs: A History|last = Rogan|first = Eugene|publisher = Penguin|year = 2011|pages = 220, 225}}</ref> In Syria, this took the form of separate administrations for [[Druze]] and [[Alawites|Alawite]] communities, with the aim of dividing their interests from those of urban nationalists.<ref>{{Cite book|title = The Arabs: A History|last = Rogan|first = Eugene|publisher = Penguin|year = 2011|pages = 226}}</ref>
Particularly unpopular following the French taking of Damascus, the Syrian nationalist [[Adham Khanjar]] of [[Southern Lebanon]] staged a failed attempt on Gouraud's life on 23 June 1921.
== Later years == [[File:KingParis.jpg|thumb|right|Gouraud, as Military Governor of Paris, escorting Canadian Prime Minister [[William Lyon Mackenzie King]] to the [[Tomb of the Unknown Soldier]] at the [[Arc de Triomphe]].]]
In 1923, he returned to France, where he was the Military Governor of Paris from 1923 to 1937. He also served on the Supreme Allied War Council from 1927 until his retirement in 1937. General Gouraud died in Paris in 1946.
== Decorations == *''[[Légion d'honneur]]'' **Knight (18 October 1898) **Officer (31 May 1904) **Commander (11 July 1909) **Grand Officer (10 August 1914) **Grand Cross (28 December 1918) *[[Médaille militaire]] (10 July 1915) *Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the [[Order of St Michael and St George]] (United Kingdom, 27 August 1915) *''[[Croix de guerre 1914–1918 (France)|Croix de guerre 1914–1918]]'' *[[Médaille Interalliée de la Victoire]] *[[Médaille commémorative de la guerre 1914–1918]] *[[Médaille commémorative de Syrie-Cilicie]] *[[Médaille Coloniale]] with "Sénégal et Soudan" "Maroc" "Mauritanie et Adrar" bars *Grand Cross of the [[Order of Ouissam Alaouite]] (Morocco) *Grand Cordon of the [[Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus]] (Italy) *Commander of the Nicham El-Anouar (Tunisia) *Commander of the [[Order of Glory (Tunisia)|Nichan Iftikhar]] (Tunisia) *[[Distinguished Service Medal (U.S. Army)|Distinguished Service Medal]] (USA) *[[Order of the White Lion]] (Czechoslovakia) *[[Order of Karađorđe's Star]] with swords (Serbia)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Acović|first=Dragomir|title=Slava i čast: Odlikovanja među Srbima, Srbi među odlikovanjima|year=2012|location=Belgrade|publisher=Službeni Glasnik|pages=144}}</ref>
== Published works == ''La Pacification de Mauritanie. Journal des marches et opérations de la colonne de l'Adrar'', 1910; ''Souvenirs d'un Africain, Au Soudan'', 1939; ''Zinder-Tchad. Souvenirs d'un Africain'', 1944; ''Mauritanie-Adrar'', 1945; ''Au Maroc'', 1946
== Legacy == [[File:Peugeot 146.jpg|thumb|1912 Peugeot 146, Gen. Gourard's staff car]] *Paris has a '''''Place du Général-Gouraud''''' in the 7th arrondissement. *A commemorative statue to Général Gouraud stands in a garden next to [[Les Invalides]]. *A massive [[Atlas cedar|cedar]] tree near the town of [[Ifrane]] in the [[Atlas Mountains]] of [[Morocco]] was named for the General; the ''Gouraud Cedar'' is considered to be over 800 years old, and was "discovered" by Gouraud's troops during the French campaign against anti-colonial resistance on the [[Timahdite Plateau]] in the years 1917–19.<ref>[http://www.chleuhs.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=316 chleuhs.com, Histoires : L'agonie du cèdre dit Gouraud] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708145648/http://www.chleuhs.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=316 |date=8 July 2011 }}, 3 June 2006.</ref> Moreover, the [[Cèdre Gouraud Forest]] in the [[Middle Atlas]] Mountain Range is named for Gouraud; this forest is one of the few remaining habitats of the [[endangered]] [[Barbary macaque]].<ref>C. Michael Hogan, (2008) [http://globaltwitcher.auderis.se/artspec_information.asp?thingid=31757&lang=us ''Barbary Macaque: Macaca sylvanus'', Globaltwitcher.com, ed. Nicklas Stromberg] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120419033431/http://globaltwitcher.auderis.se/artspec_information.asp?thingid=31757&lang=us |date=19 April 2012 }}</ref> *[[Rue Gouraud]] in the [[Achrafieh]] district of [[Beirut]] is named for the General.
== Notes == {{Reflist}}
== References == {{Commons category|Henri Gouraud}} * This article incorporates translations of the French language Wikipedia articles [[:fr:Henri Joseph Eugène Gouraud]] and [[:fr:Mandat français en Syrie]]. *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927234049/http://andurain.eu/ Le général Gouraud durant la Grande Guerre] *[https://www.lyceefr.org/aaegd/gouraud1.htm Biographie de Henri Joseph Eugène Gouraud]
=== On his time in the Levant === *Philippe Gouraud. Le general Henri Gouraud au Liban et en Syrie (1919–1923) (Comprendre le Moyen-Orient). L'Harmattan (1993). {{ISBN|978-2-7384-2073-2}} *Elizabeth Thompson. Colonial Citizens: Republican Rights, Paternal Privilege, and Gender in French Syria and Lebanon. Columbia University Press, (2000) {{ISBN|978-0-231-10661-0}}
== Further reading == * {{cite book |last=Chalak |first=Zouheir |author-link=Zouheir Chalak |title=Min Awraq al-Intidab: Tarikh Ma Aghfalahu al-Tarikh |trans-title=From the Papers of the Mandate: History That History Overlooked |location=Beirut |publisher=Dar al-Nafais |year=1989 |lccn=90962841}}
==External links== {{Wikisource|fr|Henri Gouraud (général)}} * {{PM20|FID=pe/006395}}
{{Military governors of Paris}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gouraud, Henri}} [[Category:1867 births]] [[Category:1946 deaths]] [[Category:Collège Stanislas de Paris alumni]] [[Category:Politicians from Paris]] [[Category:French Army generals of World War I]] [[Category:People of French West Africa]] [[Category:People of French Equatorial Africa]] [[Category:French colonial governors of Mauritania]] [[Category:Colonial governors of French Niger]] [[Category:People of the Gallipoli campaign]] [[Category:French colonial governors and administrators]] [[Category:French military personnel of the Franco-Turkish War]] [[Category:People of the Franco-Syrian War]] [[Category:High commissioners of the Levant]] [[Category:Military governors of Paris]] [[Category:Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres]] [[Category:Foreign recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (United States)]] [[Category:Recipients of the Order of the White Lion]] [[Category:French recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France)]] [[Category:Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour]] [[Category:Recipients of the Ordre du Nichan El-Anouar]] [[Category:Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George]] [[Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army)]] [[Category:Grand Cross of the Order of Ouissam Alaouite]] [[Category:French amputees]] [[Category:Military personnel from Paris]] [[Category:French politicians with disabilities]] [[Category:École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr alumni]] [[Category:French recipients of the Legion of Honour]]