Georges Picquart

Background

Picquart was born in Strasbourg. He began his military career in 1872, graduating from the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr as fifth in his year. He served as an infantry officer in France, undertook staff duties in Indochina, and served with the 4th Zouaves in Algeria and with several regiments of line infantry and chasseurs à pied in Metropolitan France.

He studied at the General Staff Academy, where he was second in his class, then became a lecturer at the War Academy. One of his students was Alfred Dreyfus. Picquart was appointed to the General Staff in Paris and acted as reporter of the debates in the first Dreyfus court-martial. He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel on 6 April 1896.

He became chief of the army's intelligence section in 1895. In 1896 he discovered that the memorandum used to convict Dreyfus was the work of Major Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy. Despite warnings from high-ranking generals, Picquart continued his investigation but was hindered by subordinates, notably Major Hubert-Joseph Henry.

He was relieved of his appointment and returned in December 1896 to regimental duty in Africa, commanding the 4th Tunisian Tirailleurs Regiment based at Sousse in French Tunisia. After the trial of Émile Zola, Picquart was accused of forgery and arrested, awaiting court-martial. After the second court-martial, he resigned from the army. The exoneration of Dreyfus in 1906 also absolved Picquart, who was promoted to brigadier general.

In 1906, he entered Georges Clemenceau's first cabinet as Minister of War, holding that position from 25 October 1906 to 24 July 1909. He then returned to military service as an Army Corps commander. Picquart died on 19 January 1914 in Amiens from injuries sustained in a fall from a horse while riding in Picardy.

Did You Know?

• Picquart was a keen amateur pianist and regular visitor to the Chaigneau family, helping arrange concerts for the Trio Chaigneau.
• He was raised Catholic but later became agnostic.
• Richard Dreyfuss portrayed Picquart in the 1991 film Prisoner of Honor.
• The 2013 novel An Officer and a Spy and its 2019 film adaptation tell the Dreyfus affair from Picquart's perspective, with Jean Dujardin portraying him.