Ardant Du Picq, Charles Jean Jacques: - Charles Jean Jacques Joseph Ardant du Picq was a French Army officer and military theorist who lived from October 19, 1821, to August 18, 1870. His writings had a big impact on French military theory and doctrine after they were interpreted by other theorists. Ardant du Picq was born on October 19, 1821, in Périgueux, which is in Dordogne. On October 1, 1844, he graduated from the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr and was put in charge of the 67th as a second lieutenant. In December 1854, he moved to the 9th Chasseurs, a Pied battalion. In September 1855, he was captured when the central bastion of Sevastopol was stormed. He was given his freedom in December 1855, and he went back to work. Like almost all of his peers, he spent a lot of time in Algeria between 1864 and 1866. In February 1869, he was made colonel of the 10th Line Infantry Regiment. When the war with Prussia broke out on July 15, 1870, he was in France and took charge of his regiment, the Tenth Regiment of the Line. He died at a military hospital in Metz on August 18, 1870, from wounds he got at the Battle of Mars-la-Tour.