Henri Gouraud (French Army officer) in the context of "Hubert Lyautey"

Henri Gouraud (17 November 1867 - 16 September 1946) was a French army general. He played a central role in the colonization of French Africa and the Levant. During World War I, he fought in major battles such as those of the Argonne, the Dardanelles, and Champagne. An important figure in the aftermath of the Ottoman Empire, he served as High Commissioner of the French Republic in the Levant from 1919 to 1922, during which he led military campaigns in Cilicia and Syria.

Affiliated with the colonial party, Gouraud was an active colonizer, influenced by figures such as Joseph Gallieni and Hubert Lyautey. His name remains closely associated with the conquest of Sudan, Mauritania, Chad, and Morocco, and his arrest of Samory Touré in September 1898 marked a turning point in the French colonization of West Africa. This act brought him to prominence at a time when France sought to overcome the humiliation of the Fashoda Incident.