Raoul Castex


Raoul Victor Patrice Castex was a French Navy admiral and a military theorist.

Naval career

Castex joined the Navy in 1896, becoming the best student of his promotion at the École Navale. He became professor at the École de Guerre Navale. In 1919, he was tasked with reorganising the historical services of the French Navy, and in 1928, he was promoted to contre-amiral.
On 2 July 1936, he was made a grand officer of the Legion of Honour. The same year, he founded the Institut des hautes études de la défense nationale, which he headed until 1939. He rose to vice-amiral in 1937 and finished his career heading the naval forces of the Northern fleet.

Institut des Hautes Études de la Défense Nationale

One of his main achievements was the creation of the Institut des Hautes Études de la Défense Nationale, which aimed to reduce the intellectual gap between civilian and military officials.

Theories

Between 1929 and 1939, Castex wrote Théories stratégiques, which analysed the link between land and naval warfare and argued for a national "gravity centre", which, in the case of France, would be situated outside Europe. He argued that the "gravity centre" should have been displaced to Northern Africa before 1939, with installation of main armament factories and government centres.
In 1939, Castex suggested granting independence to French Indochina, which he deemed indefensible against the Japanese Empire, and to Syria and Lebanon, which were then under French mandate, to make allies out of them.
In 1955, Castex published an article in the Revue de la défense nationale, La Russie, rempart de l'Occident. There, he seemed to predict the rise of China and its upcoming rivalry with the West, including Russia.

Works

Strategic Theories, Eugenia Kiesling translates and summarizes Castex's original five volume study, Théories stratégiques Le Grand État-major naval, question militaire d'actualité Les Idées militaires de la marine du XVIIIe. De Ruyter à Suffren L'Envers de la guerre de course. La vérité sur l'enlèvement du convoi de St-Eustache par Lamotte-Picquet Synthèse de la guerre sous-marine. De Pontchartrain à Tirpitz Questions d'état-major. Principes. Organisation. Fonctionnement Théories stratégiques. Reedited in 1995 by Economica.
  • ''De Gengis-Khan à Staline ou les Vicissitudes d'une manœuvre stratégique, 1205-1935''