Foch, Ferdinand

(1851–1929) French soldier, military theorist and writer, was made Marshal of France in 1918. Shortly after the start of the Spring Offensive, Germany’s unsuccessful attempt to decide the war, Foch was chosen as supreme commander of the Allied armies, a position that he held until 11 November 1918. He accepted the German request for an armistice and advocated peace terms that would make Germany unable to pose a threat to France ever again. His words after the Treaty of Versailles, “This is not peace. It is an armistice for twenty years” would prove prophetic; World War II started twenty years later.