Editing Maxime Weygand (section)

==== Levant and ''CHEM'' directorship ====
[[File:French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon map en.svg|thumb|right|The French mandate in Syria was reorganised into two major divisions centred on [[Damascus]] and [[Aleppo]], with a special district reserved for [[Alawites]], during Weygand's tenure.{{sfn|Clayton|2015|p=53}} ]]

Weygand returned from Poland to his duties with the interallied council overseeing the implementation of the Versailles treaty and the [[Treaty of Lausanne|renegotiation of peace]] with [[Turkey]] after they rejected the [[Treaty of Sèvres]]. Weygand declined to serve on a proposed French occupation force to occupy the Ruhr valley after Germany refused to meet reparation payments; he similarly refused appointment to Poland.{{sfn|Clayton|2015|p=51}}

In 1922, the Poincaré ministry appointed Weygand [[High Commissioner of the Levant]] to govern the [[Mandate for Syria and Lebanon|French mandate in Lebanon and Syria]], replacing [[Henri Gouraud]]. Putting an end of Gouraud's coercive pacification campaigns, Weygand was largely conciliatory and devolved most policing responsibilities to local gendarmes. He also supervised infrastructure projects to support export of cotton and silk, reformed the school system, and established [[Damascus University]] in June 1923.{{sfn|Clayton|2015|p=53}}<ref>Arguing that a university had existed in Damascus since 1919, but that Weygand joined three separate departments into what was then called the Syrian University: {{cite journal |last=Mubayed |first=Sami |title=The founding of Damascus University 1903–1936: an essay in praise of the pioneers |journal=Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies |volume=18 |year=2018 |pages=179–200 |doi=10.5617/jais.6715 |url=https://journals.uio.no/JAIS/article/download/6715/5759/20565 }}</ref> Administration in the mandate was also reformed and the basis for the modern borders of Syria and Lebanon established. Weygand's wife Renée joined him there and they enjoyed their time in Beirut. However, with the left-wing victory in the May 1924 elections, Weygand was recalled in place of [[Maurice Sarrail]] that December.{{sfn|Clayton|2015|pp=53–54, noting Sarrail was promptly removed after he shelled Damascus during the [[Great Syrian Revolt]]}}

[[File:Turenne-Weygand-a-01.jpg|thumb|right|A cover of Weygand's biography of [[Turenne]], pictured above. The book was first published in 1929.<!-- Weygand was elevated to the Academie in 1931; this cover, given the sub nomine, must postdate that -->]]

Weygand returned to France in 1925 embittered, seeing his recall as the product of political machinations and intra-army rivalries. Regardless, he was awarded the [[Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor]].{{sfn|Clayton|2015|p=54}} Denied command in Morocco against the [[Rif War]] out of fear for his success, command in Syria since it would embarrass the government, and command in Germany due to his closeness with Foch, he was made director of the ''Centre de Hautes Etudes Militaries'' (Center for Higher Military Studies) from 1925 to 1930.{{sfn|Clayton|2015|p=55, 56–57}} While Weygand supported development of a doctrine of rapid armoured assault with close air support, the government's view – which feared professionalisation of the army as a threat to regime stability and saw investment in tanks as financially ruinous – prevailed.{{sfn|Clayton|2015|pp=55–56 (noting the left-wing government's fear of a professional military and opposition to French military adventurism), 57–58 (noting Weygand's article in 1921 "in which he foresaw armoured divisions composed of fast tanks and self-propelled artillery... supported by aircraft strikes" as well as Weygand's doubts over tank speed and reliability in 1926)}}<ref>{{cite journal |last=Weygand |first=Maxime |title=La Cavalerie de la " Revue de Cavalerie " |year=1921 |volume=31 |issue=1 |journal=Revue de Cavalerie |pages=2–9 |quote=La guerre de demain sera plus encore que celle d'hier une guerre de machinisme... Que la cavalerie aille donc vers la machine, convaincue, par ailleurs, que celle-ci n'est pas pour la faire disparaître, mais pour lui donner un supplément de force |trans-quote=The war of tomorrow will be even more than that of yesterday a war of machinery... Let the cavalry therefore go towards the machine, convinced that this is not to end it, but to strengthen it }}</ref> The further programme to shorten conscripts' service was voted through in the late 1920s to Weygand's disapproval: he feared that the left was intending to replace the professional army with a purely defensive national guard while drowning units in basic training, making it impossible to train for large unit operations.{{sfn|Clayton|2015|p=58}} Settling at [[Morlaix]] in [[Brittany]] near Foch, the five years at the ''Centre'' also gave him time to write two books, biographies of French marshals Foch and [[Turenne]].{{sfn|Clayton|2015|pp=58–59}}