France
Philippe Pétain
1856–1951 Commander at Verdun, February–May 1916
A colonel close to retirement in 1914, Pétain rose to army command by 1915 on a reputation for skill, caution and respect for his men's lives. Put in charge at Verdun on 25 February 1916, he organized the Sacred Way, concentrated the artillery and introduced the rotation of divisions that spared the army from collapse. He was an intensely pessimistic man who believed that firepower, not élan, decided battles, a view that made him unpopular with the offensive school. After Verdun he was promoted to command an army group and, in 1917, to commander-in-chief. He is remembered as the savior of Verdun and, a quarter of a century later, as head of the Vichy regime. That second chapter has overshadowed the first.