When you walk to or from the Eiffel Tower by going through a park, you'll see a rather massive complex at the far end. That is the École Militaire, and it has an impressive history.
The War of Austrian Succession has just ended in the middle of the 1700s when a military leader told King Louis XV that a military academy would be a really good idea. The king agreed, and the facility was built. Napoleon was one of the students in 1784.
However, the facility was open for only seven years the first time around (1780 to 1787) before it closed. It got overrun a couple of years later during the French Revolution.
However, the place went back into the military training business in 1878, and it still fits that description today. The guy in front on the horse is Joseph Joffre, one of the French military leaders in World War I. He is in Place Joseph Joffre. Since he led the French to victory over the Germans in the First Battle of the Marne, the population must have been rather grateful.
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