So little has Foch been known to the French public that it has been stated time and again that he is an Alsatian.  He is not, but comes of a Basque family which has lived for many generations in the territory which is now the Department of the Hautes-Pyrenees, directly on the border of Spain.  Foch was born in the town of Tarbes in that department.  Joffre was born in the Department Pyrenees-Orientales, on the Spanish border to the east.  Foch’s father, Napoleon Foch, was a Bonapartist and Secretary of the Prefecture at Tarbes under Napoleon III.  One of his two brothers, a lawyer, is also called Napoleon.  The other is a Jesuit priest.  Foch and these brothers attended the local college, and then turned to their professions.

In 1870 Foch served as a subaltern against the Germans, as did Joffre.  After the war Foch began to win recognition as a man of brains, and at 26 he was given a commission as artillery Captain.  Later he became Professor of Tactics in the Ecole de Guerre, with the title of Commandant, where he remained for five years, and then returned to regimental work.  It was when Foch reached the grade of Brigadier General that he went back to the War College, this time as Director, one of the most confidential positions in the War Department.  From this post he went to the command of the Thirteenth Division, thence to the command of the Eighth Corps at Bourges, and thence to the command of the Twentieth Corps at Nancy.

At the time that Foch was appointed Director of the Ecole de Guerre, Clemenceau was Premier, and upon the latter fell the task of choosing an officer for the important Directorship.  There was keen competition for the position, many influential Generals desiring the appointment, and in consequence much wire-pulling went on.  The story goes that Clemenceau, a man of action, became impatient of the intrigues for the post, and determined to make his own choice unhampered.

According to the story, Clemenceau, after a conference one day upon routine business with Foch, asked the latter to dine.  The Ecole de Guerre was not mentioned during the meal, the men chatting upon general topics.  But as the coffee was being brought on, the Premier turned suddenly to the General and said, brusquely: 

“By the way, I’ve a good bit of news for you.  You’re nominated Director of the Ecole de Guerre.”

“Director of the Ecole de Guerre!  But I’m not a candidate for the post.”

“That is possible.  But you’re appointed all the same, and I know you will do excellent work in the position.”

Foch thanked the Premier, but he still had some doubts, and added: 

“I fear you don’t know all my family connections.  I have a brother who is a Jesuit.”