Adolphe Messimy

Adolphe Marie Messimy (31 January 1869 – 1 September 1935) was a French politician and general. He served as Minister of War in 1911-12 and then again for a few months during the outbreak of and first three weeks of the First World War. Having begun his career as an army officer, he returned to the Army and successfully commanded a brigade at the Battle of the Somme, and later a division. Defeated for re-election to the Chamber of Deputies in 1919, he served as an influential senator from 1923 until his death in 1935.

Born in Lyon on 31 January 1869, Adolphe Messimy was the eldest son of notary Paul Charles Léon Messimy and Laurette Marie Anne Girodon. He married Andrée, the daughter of Victor Cornil, whom he divorced in 1921. His second marriage, in 1923, was to Marie-Louise Blanc (née Viallar), a widow. He had two children from each marriage.

Tuchman described him as “an exuberant, energetic, almost violent man, with … bright peasant’s eyes behind spectacles and a loud voice”.

His hobbies were mountain-climbing and collecting weapons and furniture.

Messimy entered the military academy of Saint-Cyr at the age of eighteen and after graduation began a career as a line officer. He was promoted to captain at the age of twenty-five and at twenty-seven attained his Brevet d'état-major (qualified as a staff officer), opening up the promise of an excellent military career. In 1899 he resigned from his post as a captain of chasseurs in protest at the Army’s refusal to reopen the Dreyfus case, entering politics determined on “reconciling the army with the nation".

After leaving the Army he became a journalist, writing on military matters for a number of Paris newspapers including Le Temps, le Matin, le Rappel, le Radical and Lyon-Républicain. He also published documented studies in La Revue politique et parlementaire, La Revue des questions colonials, La Revue bleue and Revue de Paris.

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