WHO'S WHO (WWI) (Part VI)Online version Who were the main military leaders, political leaders, monarchs and pacifists during the WWI? by Javier Ramón Núñez 1 One of France’s most important military commanders of World War I. Pistas 1 By the outbreak of war in 1914, he was already nearing his 60s and was considering retirement, however he was made a general and given important command positions on the Western Front. 2 He did not believe that heavy artillery and machine-guns could be overcome by massed infantry charges. 3 In 1916 he was given command of French forces at Verdun; for a year his men held off the German offensive, though both sides suffered enormous casualties. 4 He was later discredited by his four-year presidency of the Nazi-aligned Vichy French republic, for which he spent the last years of his life in prison.