WAlphonse Amadou Alley was a Beninese army officer and political figure. He was most active when his country was known as Dahomey. He was born in Bassila, central Dahomey, and enrolled in schools in Togo, Cote d'Ivoire, and Senegal before enlisting in the French army in 1950. He saw combat in Indochina from 1950 to 1953, in Morocco from 1955 to 1956, and in Algeria from 1959 to 1961. After the coup in 1965, President Christophe Soglo promoted Alley Chief of Staff of the Army. Young army officer Maurice Kouandété was appointed Alley's chef de cabinet in 1967.
WMarc Alyn, is a French poet.
WAntoine Argoud was a French Army officer specializing in counter-insurgency during the Algerian War of Independence. Argoud's opposition to Algerian independence from France resulted in his joining of the Organisation armée secrète (OAS) and support for its use of violence in opposition to this policy.
WPaul Marie Félix Jacques René Arnaud de Foïard was a général of the French Army who served primarily in the French Foreign Legion taking part in World War II and the conflicts of Indochina and Algeria.
WPaul Aussaresses was a French Army general, who fought during World War II, the First Indochina War and Algerian War. His actions during the Algerian War—and later defense of those actions—caused considerable controversy.
WClaude Henri Maurice Barrès was a French Army officer that in World War II, First Indochina War, Korean War and Algerian War. He was the grandson of author Maurice Barrès and son of journalist Philippe Barrès.
WAndré Beaufre was a French Army officer and military strategist who attained the rank of Général d'Armée before his retirement in 1961.
WMarcel "Bruno" Bigeard was a French military officer who fought in World War II, Indochina and Algeria. He was one of the commanders in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu and is thought by many to have been a dominating influence on French 'unconventional' warfare thinking from that time onwards. He was one of the most decorated soldiers in France, and is particularly noteworthy because of his rise from being a regular soldier in 1936 to ultimately finishing his career in 1976 as a Lieutenant General. A former member of the French Resistance, he is associated mainly with the wars in Indochina and Algeria.
WAlain de Boissieu Déan de Luigné was a French general who served in the Free French Forces during World War II, later becoming Army chief of staff (1971–1975). He was the son-in-law of General Charles de Gaulle, leader of the Free French and postwar President of France.
WJacques Pâris de Bollardière was a French Army general, famous for his non-violent positions during the 1960s.
WÉlisabeth Thérèse Marie Juliette Boselli, was a French military and civilian pilot. She was the first female fighter pilot to serve in the French Air Force, and held eight world records for distance, altitude and speed.
WPierre Bourdieu was a French sociologist, anthropologist, philosopher, and public intellectual. Bourdieu's contributions to the sociology of education, the theory of sociology, and sociology of aesthetics have achieved wide influence in several related academic fields. During his academic career he was primarily associated with the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris and the Collège de France.
WPierre-Louis Le Bris, known as Pierre Brice, was a French actor, best known as portraying fictional Apache-chief Winnetou in German films based on Karl May novels.
WJean Maurice Jules Cabut, known by the pen-name Cabu, was a French comic strip artist and caricaturist. He was murdered in the January 2015 shooting attack on the Charlie Hebdo newspaper offices. Cabu was a staff cartoonist and shareholder at Charlie Hebdo.
WMaurice Challe was a French general during the Algerian War, one of four generals who took part in the Algiers putsch.
WJacques René Chirac was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. Chirac was previously the Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988, as well as the Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.
WJean Cruguet is a retired French-American thoroughbred horse racing jockey who won the United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing.
WPierre Georges Fernand Darmuzai was a French Général who served an entire career in the formation of the Parachute Battalions and Regiments BEPs and REPs of the French Foreign Legion.
WRobert Denard was a French soldier of fortune and mercenary. Sometimes known under the aliases Gilbert Bourgeaud and Saïd Mustapha Mhadjou, he was known for having performed various jobs in support of Françafrique—France's sphere of influence in its former colonies in Africa—for Jacques Foccart, co-ordinator of President Charles de Gaulle's African policy.
WBruno Durieux is a French politician.
WColonel Marcel Edme was a French military officer, paratrooper, and Legion of Honour recipient who served as France's most senior military adviser to the Togolese Armed Forces until his death in a helicopter crash in 1979. Born in Madagascar in 1924, Edme served in World War II as a member of the 2nd Parachute Chasseur Regiment, parachuting into occupied France twice, and later took part in the fighting in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954 with the 1st Colonial Parachute Battalion where he was taken prisoner. He went on to fight in Algeria.
WPhilippe Louis Edmé Marie François Erulin was a senior officer in the French Army. He came from a family of renowned officers and military traditions.
WGnassingbé Eyadéma was the president of Togo from 1967 until his death in 2005, after which he was immediately succeeded by his son, Faure Gnassingbé.
WDavid Galula was a French military officer and scholar who was influential in developing the theory and practice of counterinsurgency warfare.
WFernand Gambiez was a French Army general and military historian who fought in World War II, the First Indochina War and the Algerian War. During the Algerian War, Gambiez was commander-in-chief of the French Army in Algeria.
WDanyel Gérard is a French pop singer and composer.
WJean Henri Gaston Giraud was a French artist, cartoonist, and writer who worked in the Franco-Belgian bandes dessinées (BD) tradition. Giraud garnered worldwide acclaim under the pseudonym Moebius, as well as Gir outside the English-speaking world, used for the Blueberry series—his most successful creation in the non-English speaking parts of the world—and his Western-themed paintings. Esteemed by Federico Fellini, Stan Lee, and Hayao Miyazaki, among others, he has been described as the most influential bande dessinée artist after Hergé.
WAimé Halbeher was a French political activist and syndicalist. He served as Deputy Secretary General of the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) to Renault factories in Boulogne-Billancourt. He was one of the main players of the Metalworkers' Federation factory occupation during May 68. From 1976 to 1987, he was on the Central Committee of the French Communist Party (PCF) and served as Editor-in-Chief of the PCF newsletter Économie & Politique from 1985 to 1989.
WHenri, Count of Paris, Duke of France, was the Orléanist pretender to the defunct French throne as Henry VII.
WPrince Henrik of Denmark was the husband of Margrethe II of Denmark. He served as her royal consort from Margrethe's accession on 14 January 1972 until his death.
WRoger Holeindre was a French Army veteran, politician and author. He served in the First Indochina War and the Algerian War, was a member of the National Assembly from 1986 to 1988. Holeindre also served as the vice-president of the National Front (FN) where he represented the "national-conservative" tendency, opposed to "nationalist revolutionaries" and Third Position ideologies. Holeindre was the president of the Cercle national des combattants and the honorary president of the Party of France.
WGérard Jouannest was a French pianist and composer.
WEdmond Jouhaud was one of four French generals who briefly staged a putsch in Algeria in April 1961.
WJean-Marie Le Pen is a French politician who served as President of the National Front from 1972 to 2011. He also served as Honorary President of the National Front from 2011 to 2015.
WPhilippe Leroy-Beaulieu is a French actor. He has appeared in over 150 films since 1960, and has worked extensively in Italian cinema, as well as in his native country. He was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor for his debut performance in Jacques Becker’s The Hole (1960), and for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for playing the titular role in the Italian miniseries The Life of Leonardo da Vinci (1971). He was previously a decorated paratrooper in the French Foreign Legion, where he served in the First Indochina War and the Algerian War.
WMarcel Letestu was a Général de brigade of the French Army and Commandant of the French Foreign Legion.
WJean-Baptiste Libouban was a French syndicalist. He was a member of the Community of the Ark, of which he was the highest-ranking member from 1990 to 2005 and started the movement for activism against genetic engineering.
WJacques Émile Massu was a French general who fought in World War II, the First Indochina War, the Algerian War and the Suez crisis. He led French troops in the Battle of Algiers, first supporting and later denouncing their use of torture.
WJacques Mesrine was a French criminal responsible for numerous murders, bank robberies, burglaries, and kidnappings in France, the US, and Canada. Mesrine repeatedly escaped from prison and made international headlines during a final period as a fugitive when his exploits included trying to kidnap the judge who had previously sentenced him. An aptitude for disguise earned him the moniker "The Man of a Thousand Faces" and enabled him to remain at large while receiving massive publicity as a wanted man. Mesrine was widely seen as an anti-establishment 'Robin Hood' figure. In keeping with his charismatic image, he was rarely without a glamorous female companion. A two-part film which came out in 2008 was based on Mesrine's life.
WJean-Claude Mézières is a French comic strip artist and illustrator. Born and raised in Paris, he was introduced to drawing by his older brother and influenced by comics artists such as Hergé, Andre Franquin and Morris and later by Jijé and Jack Davis. Educated at the Institut des Arts Appliqués, upon graduation he worked as an illustrator for books and magazines as well as in advertising. A lifelong interest in the Wild West led him to travel to the United States in 1965 in search of adventure as a cowboy, an experience that would prove influential on his later work.
WMarc Monchal was a French Army General. In addition to his status as an Army General, he served as Chief of Staff of the French Army from 17 April 1991 to 27 August 1996 after having been Head of the Minister of Defence's military cabinet from 17 April 1989 to 17 May 1991.
WFred Moore was a French soldier, politician, and optician.
WFrançois Pinault is a French billionaire businessman, founder of the luxury group Kering and the investment company Artémis.
WJean Pradel was a French jurist, magistrate, and professor. He specialized in criminal law.
WPaul Rivière was a French Resistance fighter and politician. He joined the Resistance from 1941, took part in the Indochina and Algeria Wars.
WMichel Roquejeoffre is a retired French Army General, who commanded Operation Daguet. French forces, a part of the coalition forces, counted 18,000 soldiers and took a direct involvement in the battles with Iraqi forces, both on Kuwait and Iraqi territories.
WRaoul Albin Louis Salan was a French Army general. He served as the fourth French commanding general during the First Indochina War. He was one of four retired generals who organized the 1961 Algiers Putsch operation. He was the founder of the Organisation armée secrète and the most decorated soldier in the French Army at the end of his military career.
WAndré Salvat was a colonel in the French Army. He was a veteran of World War II, the First Indochina War and the Algerian War. He was made a Companion of the Liberation for his World War II service.
WJean Sassi was a French Army colonel and intelligence service officer, former "Jedburgh" (BCRA) of France and Far East. Commando chief of the SDECE's 11th Shock Parachutist Regiment. Maquis chief in French Indochina through the GCMA (1953–1955).
WJean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, often referred to as JJSS, was a French journalist and politician. He co-founded L'Express in 1953 with Françoise Giroud, and then went on to become president of the Radical Party in 1971. He oversaw its transition to the center-right, the party being thereafter known as Parti radical valoisien. He tried to found in 1972 the Reforming Movement with Christian Democrat Jean Lecanuet, with whom he supported Valéry Giscard d'Estaing's conservative candidature to the 1974 presidential election.
WRoger Trinquier was a French Army officer during World War II, the First Indochina War and the Algerian War, serving mainly in airborne and special forces units. He was also a counter-insurgency theorist, mainly with his book Modern Warfare.
WJean-Louis Xavier Trintignant is a French actor. He won the Best Actor Award at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival, as well as the Best Actor Award at the César Awards 2013. He has starred in classic films such as Z, A Man and a Woman, The Great Silence, The Conformist, Three Colours: Red, and Amour.
WFranck Venaille was a French poet and writer. His poetry is characterized by its expressive power, seeking to bring out the animal side of man, his impulses and anxieties.
WDominique Venner was a French historian, journalist and essayist. Venner was a member of the Organisation armée secrète and later became a European nationalist, founding Europe-Action, before withdrawing from politics to focus on a career as a historian. He specialized in military and political history. At the time of his death, he was the editor of the La Nouvelle Revue d'Histoire, a bimonthly history magazine. On 21 May 2013, Venner committed suicide inside the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris.
WVladimir Volkoff, was a French writer of Russian extraction. He produced both literary works for adults and spy novels for young readers under the pseudonym Lieutenant X. His works are characterised by themes of the Cold War, intelligence and manipulation, but also by metaphysical and spiritual elements.
WAndré Zeller was a French Army general. He was one of the four generals who organized the Algiers putsch of 1961.
WBernard Ziegler was a French pilot and engineer, who served in Airbus as senior vice president for engineering, well known for his evangelical zeal for the application of the fly-by-wire system in the Airbuses. He was the son of Airbus founder Henri Ziegler.