Louis Hubert Lyautey
Louis Hubert Gonzalve Lyautey (17 November 1854, Nancy - 27 July 1934, Thorey) was a French military officer during the colonial wars, and during the French colonization of Africa. Lyautey was famous for his role in the Moroccan Protectorate, of which he was the first Resident General in 1912. In 1917, during World War I, he served as Minister of War, holding from 1921 to the rank of Marshal of France.
Biography
Hubert Lyautey was born on November 17, 1854 at 10 rue Girardet, Nancy. His father Just Lyautey, a bridge and road engineer, belongs to a bourgeois family of Franco-Comtese origin from the commune of Vellefaux. His mother, Laurence de Grimoult de Villemotte, descends from a Norman noble family that took root in Meurthe-et-Moselle, in Crévic. From this part of the family, Lyautey inherited the Château de Crévic, a mansion where he kept his collections, but which was destroyed by the Germans as revenge during the war. In May 1856, at the age of eighteen months, Lyautey fell from the balcony of the first floor of the Hotel de la Reine de Nancy, where a christening was taking place. In this fall he hurts his head and injures his spine, causing attention problems. For two years he will take absolute rest, he will undergo surgery on numerous occasions, and will have to wear crutches and iron corsets for ten years.This accident forces him to stay in bed for long periods of time; a time that he dedicates to reading history books, but that also slows him down at the level of studies.
Education
In 1868, when his father Just Lyautey was transferred to Dijon, Lyautey entered the Dijon high school, where he completed his baccalaureate in 1872. After another transfer that same year, his father enrolled him at the Sainte Geneviève high school in Paris, run by Jesuits, with the intention of preparing for an entrance exam to the polytechnic school where he would train as an engineer. However, influenced by the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, Lyautey decided to enter the Special Military School of Saint-Cyr, where he was accepted in 1873, belonging to the class of Archduke Albert (1873-1875). In 1875 he graduated 29th out of 281 from the Saint-Cyr Special Military School. In January 1876 he is admitted to the School of the General Staff in Paris.
Professional journey
Two years after being admitted to the General Staff College, in 1878, Lyautey became a lieutenant and traveled to Algeria, where he served for two years as a cavalry officer alongside his classmates Prosper Keller and Louis Silhol. This first discovery of Algeria fascinates him. When he returns to France in 1880, he is assigned to the 2nd Hussar Regiment and is transferred back to Algeria at the end of the year. He will spend two years in the country, first in Orléansville (now Chlef), and then in Algiers.
In 1882 he was promoted to captain, and transferred to the 4th Cavalry Regiment at Bruyères, Vosges. In 1883 he is sent to Rome to write a report on the Italian cavalry. On this trip he passes through Göritz, where he visits the Count of Chambord. Once in Italy, Lyautey is received by Pope Leo XIII at the Vatican.
In 1887 he was transferred to Saint-Germain-en-Laye, as commander of the first squadron. There his innovative ideas about the function of the army will begin to manifest and, in agreement with his commander in chief Colonel Donop, he decides to advance a reform of the military structure at the lowest level, building and planning a refectory or dining room for his soldiers; a residence with a library, billiards and games; classes for the illiterate, and an advisory commission. With this new system, Lyautey accesses the intellectual classes of Paris. He meets important diplomatic actors, such as the writer Eugène-Melchior de Vogüé, or the Catholic socialist partisan Albert de Mun.
The Colonial Wars
Resident General of Morocco (1912-1916)
Under the title of officer, Lyautey was posted to French Indochina between 1894 and 1897, a time highlighted by his work in Tonkin and his relationship with the colonel and administrator Gallieni, who had a major impact on the ideology Lyautey's peacemaker. Between 1897 and 1902, he was assigned to Madagascar, and in 1907, as a major general in Oran, he was ordered to occupy the Moroccan city of Oujda to suppress a revolt by the Beni Snassen in order to pacify the border. Lyautey is appointed high commissioner of the occupied region, and at the beginning of 1908, the tribes of this region rise up incited by the Muley Hafid. Lyautey is called back to France at the end of 1910 to rise to the command of the army corps in Rennes, where he spends two years. In November 1911, after the Agadir crisis, the politicians Joseph Caillaux and Jules Cambon negotiated an agreement with Germany to have freedom of decision in Morocco. This agreement is ratified in January 1912, and the mobilization to establish a protectorate is rapid, since the local tribes began to revolt after the decision of Muley Hafid to promote Glaoui to the position of grand vizier. In March 1912, the French minister in Tangier, Eugène Regnault, made the sultan Muley Hafid sign a protectorate treaty, the Treaty of Fez, which implicitly recognized the sultan's sovereignty without having the latter legislative power. Thus, the French Protectorate was established in Morocco, and Lyautey became the highest French authority in the country as the first general resident on April 28, 1912. From then on, Lyautey became the architect of the country's pacification, ensuring the obedience of its inhabitants to the central power, represented by the sultan but controlled by the French. He was generally considered a competent administrator, and went so far as to invite the well-known architect Henri Prost, among others, to design new urban development plans for major Moroccan cities.
On May 13, 1912, Lyautey arrived in Casablanca accompanied by Henry de Castries, and was welcomed by Colonel Gouraud. He heads to Fez, where he will appear before the sultan. Along the way he meets the architect Maurice Tranchant de Lunel, who will become Morocco's director of Antiquities, Fine Arts and Historical Monuments in order to safeguard the country's Roman and Islamic monuments; art objects and buildings; and carry out archaeological expeditions. To this end, in 1915 museums such as the Oudayas Museum in Rabat or the Batha Museum in Fez began to be inaugurated. Arriving in Fez, Lyautey realizes the political tension that embraces the country when the Sultan admits that he wants to move to Rabat, which will become the new capital of Morocco. That year, in 1912, Muley Hafid abdicates, making way for his brother Muley Yúsuf, whose administration is led by the Grand Vizier El Mokri until 1955.
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The first problems Lyautey faces as a general resident are territorial. Three areas escape his control and threaten the stability of the country: to the east, Taza blocks access to Algeria; in the center, the Zayan tribe reveal themselves around Kenitra; and to the south, Al Hiba enters Marrakech and holds French hostages.The urgency to intervene in the face of Al Hiba's threat intensifies, as the latter challenges the legitimacy of the Sultan, as well as the pillars of his policy. Lyautey tries, therefore, to recover the dignity and legitimacy of Sultan Muley Yúsuf through the pacifying doctrine to which he is faithful. To do this, it maintains the traditional order of the majzen and collaborates with local autonomous tribes and religious brotherhoods such as the goumiers, groups of soldiers created in 1908 and recruited by these Moroccan tribes. In this way, it connects the French regime to the indigenous population, facilitating the administration of the tribes and the country. In 1913, he will extend his pacification project by presenting plans for the construction of railways, ports and cities in collaboration with the local populations.
In 1914, World War I was declared and France entered it. As a colony, Morocco will be involved and will send troops and ammunition to the battle zones. Lyautey sends twenty battalions and six Moroccan batteries to the front.In turn, the administration of the metropolis, immersed in the war, will relax its control in the colonies, allowing Lyautey to develop its architectural and urban planning projects. The general creates a team under the direction of Henri Prost, an urban architect who will be in charge of drawing up the plans for the Villes Nouvelles, which will first appear in Rabat (1914) and Casablanca (1917). What Lyautey proposes is to respect the old cities and highlight the historical monuments, such as the Hassan Tower in Rabat. Among the architects who contributed to these works are: Tranchant de Lunel, Jean-Claude Forestier (architect and landscape designer in charge of creating gardens), Albert Laprade (builder of the railway station, the cathedral of Saint Peter in Rabat, the palace of justice and other buildings), Antoine Marchiso (constructor of the Hotel de la Mamounia in Marrakech) or Joseph Marrast (designer of the Palace of Justice in Casablanca).
From then on, Lyautey will begin to draw up numerous architectural projects with the support of traditional Moroccan institutions, counting, among others, on the administration of the Sultan (majzen), and the tribes. However, for the purpose of these urban developments, metropolitan settlers are attracted to the country and migrate to Morocco during the war. This poses a problem for Lyautey and his pacification philosophy, with which he tries not to monopolize indigenous lands. On July 1, 1914, he issued a dahir (a royal decree) on the public domain, and on July 7 another in which he regularized indigenous justice and prevented the alienation of collective lands.
Minister of War
On December 11, 1916, during the First World War, the president of the Council Artistide Briand proposed Lyautey for the post of minister of war. Lyautey accepts and leaves Morocco on December 18 to travel to France, being temporarily replaced by Gouraud. In charge of this position, he will carry out numerous inspections of the front in January and February 1917. His tenure in this position will be brief. For three months, Lyautey would face the mutinies of soldiers that besieged the French Army and the failure of the Nivelle offensive, events that left him "hypnotized" and "crippled" According to his ordering officer Wladimir d'Ormesson, for this reason, he requested that Generals Nivelle and Sarrail remain under his command.
However, since his arrival in Paris as war minister, Lyautey has found himself at the center of an insidious campaign led by left-wing parliamentarians who chafe at his military policies and strategies. On March 15, 1917, he will resign as minister after being harshly booed in the French Chamber of Deputies, a fact that four days later would cause the fall of the government led by Aristide Briand.
Return to Morocco (1917-1925)
After his time in the government during the war, Lyautey returned to Morocco in May 1917 with a new team that included soldiers, officers, commanders, and other important figures in France. In these years, he fostered the administration with Moroccan personnel and promoted higher education. With these concessions, he tried to create a more favorable environment for France in a future that he foresaw not too distant. During the course of World War I, Lyautey had insisted on continuing the occupation of all of Morocco, without taking into account the fact that France needed most of its resources in the fight against the Central Powers. His work led to the creation of the Moroccan Institute for Advanced Studies and the Sherifian Scientific Institute, which would be created in the early 1920s, as well as founding Muslim colleges in the cities of Fez (Moulay Idriss College), Rabat (Moulay Idriss College Yúsuf) and Meknes (Dar el Beida Military College).
At the end of the war in 1917, the Moroccan economy was stimulated by the discovery of phosphates in Juribga, 100 kilometers from Casablanca. In response, Lyautey decided to relegate the exploitation of these resources to the Sherifian Phosphate Office when it was created in 1920. In turn, the Casablanca port works were modified to build a phosphate dock with large storage spaces. Operation began in 1921, and the Bank of Paris and the Netherlands (PARIBAS) obtained a concession for railway transport in Morocco, creating the Moroccan Railway Company (CFM; Compagnie des chemins de fer du Maroc) in December. This company will be recognized for the construction of a luxury hotel in Marrakech in 1923: the Mamounia, followed by other hotels linked to the Compañía General Transatlántica (CGT). In 1924, the Moroccan Electric Power Society (EEM) was created.
Another point of development that keeps Lyautey busy in recent years is aviation, since there are still no air connections in the country. In 1918, the businessman Pierre-Georges Latécoère developed these connections between Morocco, West Africa and South America, also creating the CEMA (Spain-Morocco-Algeria Company), with which an intergovernmental contract was signed for the transport of mail with a annual subsidy from Lyautey. However, flights between 1919 and 1921 suffered numerous fatal accidents, and in 1922 Latécoère went to Lyautey to define the stops on the lines to Dakar. Lyautey entrusted this task to Captain Joseph Roig, Latécoère's stopover chief in Morocco who will be in charge of finding an air route to Buenos Aires, and to an officer from the goumiers who will act as interpreter. In May 1923 the first flight to Dakar was made and in 1924, Latécoère will transport 2,000 passengers and millions of letters with the Moroccan airline.
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During this time, Lyautey also continues with its cultural mission, calling on numerous specialists from the sector to carry out various reforms. The Lorraine Jacques Majorelle, for example, would end up designing the Majorelle Garden in Marrakech in 1924. On the other hand, Henry de Castries will continue his historical work, creating the Historical Institute of Morocco. In 1917, the Saadian tombs are discovered in Marrakech, leading to the creation of an Office of Indigenous Arts in 1918. In 1920, the Fine Arts services were organized into three sections specialized in: historical monuments, palaces and residences, coordinated by Edmond Pauty; indigenous arts, by Prosper Ricard and Joseph de La Nézière; and antiquities, under Louis Chatelain. In 1922, the Association of Moroccan Painters and Sculptors was created under the tutelage of the senior civil servant Georges Hardy. His favorite subjects will be the medinas, fantasy and the casbahs of the Atlas. In 1923, the Museum of Modern Art in Rabat was inaugurated, where the works of this Association were installed. In addition, Lyautey will invite numerous writers these years, and many literary works will see the light. Among them we can highlight: In Morocco, published in 1919 by Edith Wharton, or Les Hommes Nouveaux, Lyautey L'Africain of 1922 by Claude Farrère.
Challenges
In 1921, under the presidency of Alexandre Millerand, he was appointed Marshal of France, marking the peak of his military career. He continued to lead the French forces deployed in Morocco during the so-called & # 34; Zayana War & # 34; (1914-1921). At the same time, despite the numerous pacification and development projects being carried out, several rebellions continue to occur in the Rif region. In 1920, an operation takes place in Uezan, where a sanctuary has been made inaccessible to the majzen due to a blockade by the ruling tribe. Lyautey will enter the area in October accompanied by the sultan, who is received with jubilation.
However, from 1923 Lyautey was involved in large waves of opposition from the metropolis, as well as serious health problems. He will come to be hospitalized and operated on numerous occasions, times in which he is involved in the unconditional support of Moroccan ulema and imams. The reasons why his political strategy is not well received, and is therefore rejected by France in the years 20, there are several. Among them are the rights and opportunities granted to the local population, which marginalizes settlers in Morocco. Another point of rejection is the Islamic policies that the marshal adopts. When the Rif War intensified in 1921 with the Battle of Annual, led by Abd el-Krim, Lyautey's opponents turned this event into a power struggle between settlers and indigenous people.
In 1925, a left-wing coalition government led by Paul Painlevé was formed in France, and this forced Lyautey to resemble Morocco to the metropolis. This would manifest itself in a clear contradiction between the position of the marshal, and the considerations of the French government. Although Lyautey considers resigning in the face of this imposition, he is ordered to remain in Morocco to face the rebellion of Abd el-Krim, which becomes against France due to Mulay Yusuf's refusal to join forces with him. He resigned his post in 1925, snubbed, after the Paris government had put Marshal Philippe Pétain in command of a force of 100,000 men to put down Abd el-Krim's rebellion in the Rif Mountains. Abd el-Krim had defeated French forces at the Battle of Ouarga, driving the Rifians deep into French Morocco. Opposition groups in Paris ensured that he received no official recognition for his resignation; the only escort for him were two Royal Navy destroyers in the Strait of Gibraltar.
The Marshal was not popular in Paris, because many bankers, societies and settlers who wanted to exploit Morocco had been denied permission by Lyautey. It was also unpopular among the leftist elements, who wanted to populate Morocco with a large number of World War I veterans, where they would be helped by public assistance. Lyautey was trapped between two fires; he was an aristocrat, but he did not want the Moroccans to be exploited.
Last days and death
On July 27, 1934, Lyautey passed away in Thorey, where he spent the last days of his life engaging in cultural and propaganda activities. By decree, national funerals in honor of the marshal were announced on July 28. His funeral in Thorey was attended by important figures, including major Moroccan chiefs, including El Mokri and El Glaoui, who were part of the funeral procession. Sultan Sidi Mohamed came to the marshal's deathbed in Thorey to bow to him symbolically, indicating the intimate relationship between the two men. All of them were present at the national funerals that were later held in Nancy.
Having previously expressed his desire to be buried in Morocco, his remains were entombed in a mausoleum in Rabat. His mortal remains will be transferred to Les Invalides, in the city of Paris, some 30 years after his death, in the process of decolonization.
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