He was a major by this time; and after a few years of lecturing, he was
made full professor, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. The work in
his classes was highly important. This being a post-graduate school,
the men to whom he lectured were not cadets but trained soldiers, many
of them seasoned veterans. They would have instantly detected any flaw
in his teaching. The impress which this college professor then made
upon the future heads of the French army was destined to have a
profound and far-reaching effect. In the years to come, when France
and the civilized world was in search of a leader big enough to measure
up to the crisis--they turned to this quiet college professor!
Foch won his position as "the most gifted and original of the
professors in the Ecole de Guerre" by no trick or sensational methods.
He spoke in an even, almost monotonous voice, using few gestures. But
his speech was clear-cut and precise. He reminded his hearers of a
scientist dissecting a foreign body, as he expounded the clash of
armies or the turning points of battle. He had, in fact, precise
knowledge of an event in which he had never actually participated. He
had analyzed war and resolved it into its component parts, as though it
were heated in a test-tube. And how exact were his theories, later
events were to show.
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