Charles-Arthur Gonse

Major General Charles-Arthur Gonse (19 September 1838, Paris – 18 December 1917, Cormeilles-en-Parisis) was Deputy Chief of Staff under the authority of General Raoul Le Mouton de Boisdeffre during the Dreyfus affair.

When confronted with overwhelming evidence that Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy was guilty of the espionage for Germany, for which Alfred Dreyfus had wrongfully been convicted, Gonse simply overlooked it and refused to recognize Dreyfus' innocence.

Biography Family Born in 1838, Charles-Arthur Gonse (Arthur being his given name) was the son of Jean Félix Emmanuel Gonse, of the postal administration, and Louise Stéphanie Courtin, daughter of the general manager Charles Courtin and granddaughter of the architect Étienne-Chérubin Leconte. He was the brother of the director of museums and art critic Louis Gonse.

Career in the General Staff Arthur Gonse entered Saint-Cyr in 1856. He then entered the Staff College. He was a second lieutenant on the General Staff in 1861. He left for Algeria in 1868, and was part of the staff of the Constantine division until 1870.

At the beginning of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, he served on the staff of the XIII Army Corps and participated at the end of August in the March on Mézières, then in the retreat to Paris. During the Siege of Paris, he was on the defence staff, and participated on numerous occasions in the relief operations against the Germans. which is confirmed by the latest history of the Affair, which further demonstrates the grave responsibility Gonse bore in the relentless persecution of Dreyfus and Picquart and the protection of Esterhazy.

After the affair and the recognition of Dreyfus's innocence, Gonse was gradually removed from his various positions. He was ultimately placed in the reserve section in 1903.

He died in 1917.