A graduate of the Saint-Cyr military academy, Paul Azan served in the 2nd régiment de zouaves in colonial Algeria along the Moroccan border, prior to its conquest by France.

Later receiving a doctorate in literature, his thesis and first book Hannibal dans les Alpes brought him attention as a military historian and writer on colonial North Africa.

There he authored a number of works on the "Algeria Question", how France might best assimilate and pacify the colonized population of North Africa.

There he wrote his history of Lyautey's earlier expedition and a biography of Algerian resistance leader, Abd el-Kader.

Two months prior to the German occupation in the Second World War, the retired Azan was briefly named Général de corps d'armée, and in 1944 was honored by the Académie Française.