Joseph Simon Gallieni (24 April 1849 – 27 May 1916) was a French military officer, active for most of his career as a military commander and administrator in the French colonies where he wrote several books on colonial affairs.
He was recalled from retirement at the beginning of the First World War. As Military Governor of Paris he played an important role in the First Battle of the Marne, when Maunoury's Sixth Army, which was under his command, attacked the German west flank. A small portion of its strength was rushed to the front in commandeered Paris taxicabs.
From October 1915 he served as Minister of War, resigning from that post in March 1916 after criticizing the performance of the French Commander-in-Chief, Joseph Joffre (formerly his subordinate, earlier in their careers), during the German attack on Verdun. He died later that year and was made Marshal of France posthumously in 1921.
In 1896 he was promoted to General and made Governor of Madagascar, then a new French possession. He stayed in Madagascar with one brief interruption until 1905; his future commander Joseph Joffre served under him there. In August 1896 Gallieni reorganised French forces, captured and executed several rebel leaders. Early in 1897 he abolished the Malagasy monarchy and exiled Queen Ranavalona III to Reunion. Gallieni practised the tache d’huile (the "oil spot" method, which continues to influence counterinsurgency theory to this day) and politique des races (literally, racial policy; i.e., eliminating the racial hierarchy that had prevailed and suppressing tribes that resisted French rule). Initially military, his role became more administrative, building roads, a railway, markets, medical services and schools.
In 1905 Gallieni defended the code de l’indigenat (the right of French officials to mete out summary punishment, including corporal punishment and confiscation of property, to individuals and to entire villages), as it administered punishment more arbitrarily and swiftly than would be possible under due legal process.
