Noël Édouard, vicomte de Curières de Castelnau
Noël Édouard, vicomte de Curières de Castelnau | |
|---|---|
Édouard de Castelnau in 1915 | |
| Nickname | The Fighting Friar |
| Born | 24 December 1851 |
| Died | 19 March 1944 (aged 92) |
| Allegiance | France |
| Branch | French Army |
| Service years | 1870–1919 |
| Rank | General |
| Commands | II Army Army Group Centre Chief of the General Staff |
| Conflicts | |
| Awards | Grand-croix de la Légion d'honneur Médaille militaire Croix de guerre 1914-1918 Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order |
Noël Édouard, vicomte de Curières de Castelnau (French: [kastɛlno]; 24 December 1851 – 19 March 1944) was a French military officer and Chief of Staff of the French Armed Forces during the First World War. Elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1919 for Aveyron and president of the Army Committee in the legislature, he then took the head of a confessional political movement, the Fédération Nationale Catholique. During the Second World War, he opposed Marshal Pétain and the Vichy regime and supported the French Resistance. For a long time controversial because of a Catholicism that was considered outrageous by his opponents, historians have moderated that portrait by emphasising his great loyalty to republican institutions and disputed in particular that he could have been reactionary or anti-Semitic.