Pierre de Coubertin was a French educator and historian who played a major role in the founding of the International Olympic Committee because of which he is considered the father of the modern Olympic Games. He was born into an established aristocratic family and received a privileged upbringing. Sent to a Jesuit school called Externat de la rue de Vienne, he was deeply influenced by his early education which instilled in him strong moral values. His father was an ardent patriot and Pierre too grew up to be a patriotic young man and was deeply troubled by French defeats during the Franco-Prussian War. After embarking on a career as an educator, he postulated that it was the lack of physical education and training that made the French soldiers weak and more prone to defeat at the hands of the more athletic rivals. On his travels to England he closely studied the English education system where physical education and sports were given an important place in the curriculum and was determined to adopt such strategies in the French education system as well. Eventually he worked on reviving the Olympic Games and played an instrumental role in the establishment of the first International Olympic Committee (IOC).