Jules Brunet

Jules Brunet
Jules Brunet in Ezo, at the end of the Boshin War (1869).
Born	(1838-01-02)2 January 1838 Belfort, France
Died	12 August 1911(1911-08-12) (aged 73) Fontenay-sous-Bois, France
Allegiance	Second French Empire Republic of Ezo  French Third Republic
Service/branch	French Army
Years of service	1857–1899
Rank	Général de Division
Battles/wars	French intervention in Mexico Boshin War Franco-Prussian War Paris Commune
Awards	Knight of the Légion d'honneur Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star

Jules Brunet (2 January 1838 – 12 August 1911) was a French Army officer who played an active role in Mexico and Japan, and later became a General and Chief of Staff of the French Minister of War in 1898. He was sent to Japan with the French military mission of 1867, and after the defeat of the Shogun, had an important role in the latter part of Boshin War between the Imperial forces and the Shogun's army.

Brunet was born in Belfort, then in the Alsace region of eastern France. He graduated from the École Polytechnique in 1857, where he specialized in artillery.

Brunet participated in the French intervention in Mexico (1862–1867), and received the Légion d'honneur.

Napoleon III sent a group of military advisors to Japan to help modernize the Shogun's army. Brunet was sent as an artillery instructor. The mission arrived in early 1867, and trained the Shogun's troops for about a year.

Then in 1868, the Shogun was overthrown in the Boshin War, and Emperor Meiji was nominally restored to full power. The French military mission was then ordered to leave Japan by Imperial decree.

However, Brunet chose to remain. He 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. In a letter to Napoleon III, Brunet explained the plan of the Alliance, as well as his role in it:

"A revolution is forcing the Military Mission to return to France. Alone I stay, alone I wish to continue, under new conditions: the results obtained by the Mission, together with the Party of the North, which is the party favorable to France in Japan. Soon a reaction will take place, and the Daimyos of the North have offered me to be its soul. I have accepted, because with the help of one thousand Japanese officers and non-commissioned officers, our students, I can direct the 50,000 men of the Confederation."