サン・シール陸軍士官学校
Picquart was born in Strasbourg. He began his military career in 1872, graduating from the "Ecole Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr" as fifth in his year. Picquart served as an infantry officer in France before seeing service in Indochina. He subsequently studied at the General Staff Academy ("École d'État-major") where he was second in his class, after which he became a lecturer at the War Academy ("École supérieure de guerre"). One of his students at the latter institute was Alfred Dreyfus.