French military personnel of the Franco-Prussian War

Colonel Nicolas Lebel (18 August 1838 – 6 May 1891), after whom the French military's Lebel rifle was named.

Édouard-Henri Avril (21 May 1849 – 28 July 1928) was a French painter and commercial artist. Under the pseudonym Paul Avril, he was an illustrator of erotic literature. He collaborated with influential people like Octave Uzanne, Henry Spencer Ashbee, and Friedrich Karl Forberg.Avril was a soldier before starting his career in art; he was awarded with the Legion of Honour for his actions in the Franco-Prussian War.

Admiral Constant Louis Jean Benjamin Jaurès (3 February 1823 – 13 March 1889) was a French Navy officer and politician. Born in Albi, Tarn, he was a senator for life and active in Japan during the 1863 Shimonoseki campaign and the Boshin War. He became Minister of the Navy and Colonies on 22 February 1889, in the government of Pierre Tirard. The famous French politician, Jean Jaurès, was his nephew.

Abel-Nicolas Georges Henri Bergasse du Petit-Thouars (March 23, 1832 – March 14, 1890) was a French Navy officer who took part in the Crimean War, the Boshin War, the Franco-Prussian War and the War of the Pacific. He is considered a hero in Peru, and is known there as the Savior of Lima.

Jules Cotard (1 June 1840 – 19 August 1889) was a French physician who practiced neurology and psychiatry. He is best known for first describing the Cotard delusion, a patient's delusional belief that they are dead, do not exist or do not have bodily organs.

Erazm Józef Jerzmanowski h. Dołęga (2 June 1844 – 7 February 1909) was an industrialist, philanthropist and patron of art, soldier, who took part in the January Uprising of 1863-1865.

Charles Auguste Frossard (26 April 1807 – 25 August 1875) was a French general.
He entered the army from the École polytechnique in 1827, being posted to the engineers. He took part in the siege of Rome in 1849 and in that of Sevastopol in 1855, after which he was promoted general of brigade. Four years later as general of division, and chief of engineers in the Italian campaign, he attracted the particular notice of the emperor Napoleon III, who made him in 1867 chief of his military household and governor to the prince imperial.He was one of the superior military authorities who in this period 1866-1870 foresaw and endeavoured to prepare for the inevitable war with Germany, and at the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War he was given by Napoleon the choice between a corps command and the post of chief engineer at headquarters. He chose the command of the II corps. On 6 August 1870 he held the position of Spicheren against the Germans until the arrival of reinforcements for the latter and the non-appearance of the other French corps compelled him to retire. After this he took part in the battles around Metz, where he distinguished himself at Mars-la-Tour and Gravelotte. He then participated with his corps in the Siege of Metz and was involved in the surrender of Bazaine's army. General Frossard published in 1872 a Rapport sur les operations du 2 corps. He died at Cháteau-Villain (Haute-Marne).

Jean-Joseph Frédéric Albert Farre (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ ʒozɛf fʁedeʁik albɛʁ faʁ]; 15 May 1816, in Valence – 24 March 1887, in Paris) was a French general and statesman. He served during the Franco-Prussian War and later as the French Minister of War.

Auguste-Alexandre Ducrot (24 February 1817 – 16 August 1882) was a French general. Ducrot served in the Crimean War, Algeria, the Italian campaign of 1859, and as a division commander in the Franco-Prussian War.

At the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, Ducrot was tasked with overseeing the deployment of French forces due to his familiarity with the terrain near Wissembourg. His unsupported division was surprised and defeated by a large force of Prussians and Bavarians at the Battle of Wissembourg. At the Battle of Sedan on 1 September 1870, he succeeded to command of the French army when Marshal MacMahon was wounded early in the morning. By that time, it was obvious that a disastrous defeat was inevitable. Ducrot summed up the situation with the famous remark: « Nous sommes dans un pot de chambre, et nous y serons emmerdés. » ("We are in a chamber pot, and we're going to be shit on.")
Ducrot ordered the army to withdraw, but then General de Wimpffen presented a commission authorizing him to succeed MacMahon. Wimpffen overruled Ducrot, and ordered a counterattack that failed completely. Emperor Napoleon III, present on the battlefield, then surrendered the army to the Prussians.
With de Wimpffen having insisted on command, Ducrot refused to accept responsibility for signing the articles of surrender and was imprisoned by the Prussians. He soon escaped, and took part in the Siege of Paris. Ducrot commanded the most important French attack against the Prussian besiegers (the Battle of Villiers, 29 November–3 December 1870). After the defeat of this attack, Ducrot urged the French government to make peace. Cyclist Maarten Ducrot is his great-grandson.