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'Pierre Louis Charles de Failly' (21 January 1810 - 1892), French general, was born at Rozoy-sur-Serre (Aisne) and entered the army from Saint-Cyr in 1828.
In 1851 he had risen to the rank of colonel, and Napoleon III, with whom he was a favorite, made him general of brigade in 1854 and general of division in 1855, after which for a time De Failly was his ''aide-de-camp''. In the Austro-Sardinian War he led the French expeditionary forces to protect the Papal States. De Failly commanded a division, and in 1867 he defeated Giuseppe Garibaldi at Mentana, this action being the first in which the chassepot rifle was used.
In 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War, De Failly commanded the V corps. His inactivity at Bitsche on 6 August while the I corps on his right and the II corps on his left were crushed at the battles of Worth and Spicheren respectively, gave rise to the greatest indignation in France. De Failly commanded the right wing of General MacMahon's army at the Battle of Sedan (1870), and the disastrous outcome of that battle is partly ascribed to Failly's tactics, though he is certainly no more to blame than the other French generals. When the V corps was routed at Beaumont on 30 August, his military career ended.
The rest of his life was spent in retirement. De Failly wrote ''Campagne de 1870. Opérations et marches du 5ème corps jusqu'au 31 août'' (Brussels, 1871).

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