Robert Nivelle (15 October 1856-22 March 1924) was a French Army general during the Boxer Rebellion and World War I. From December 1916 to May 1917, he served as commander-in-chief of the French forces on the Western Front, succeeding Philippe Petain and preceding Philippe Petain.
Biography[]
Robert Nivelle was born in Tulle, France in 1856 to a French father and an English Protestant mother, and he was raised a Protestant. He began his French Army service in 1878 after graduating from the Ecole polytechnique, and he served in Algeria, Tunisia, and China (during the Boxer Rebellion). In 1914, at the start of World War I, Nivelle organized intense artillery fire against German attacks in Alsace, at the First Battle of the Marne, and at the First Battle of the Aisne, defeating the Germans each time and being promoted to the rank of General. On 1 May 1916, he took command of the Second Army from Philippe Petain during the Battle of Verdun, and he squandered the lives of his soldiers in wasteful counter-attacks against the Germans. However, his successful counter-strokes led to his appointment as commander-in-chief in December 1916, and he led counter-attacks which rolled back the German advances. However, the Nivelle Offensive at the Chemin des Dames was costly and failed to break the stalemate, and a major mutiny among half of the French Army led to Nivelle not conducting another offensive for several months. In May 1917, Petain replaced Nivelle as commander-in-chief, and he died in Paris in 1924.