Activities and affiliations

Military command French First Republic state institutions 1735–1820 ○ Died at Paris in

General who commanded the French at Valmy, Marshal of the Empire

At Valmy on 20 September 1792 Kellermann joined Dumouriez with the Army of the Centre at Dumouriez's request and placed his artillery on the western slopes. He steadied infantry shaken by an exploding ammunition cart and rallied them with the cry 'Vive la Nation'; the Prussians withdrew.

French soldier born in Strasbourg on 28 May 1735. His family, of Saxon origin, had settled in Strasbourg and was ennobled in his grandfather's generation. He entered the royal army in 1750 (or 1752), fought in the Seven Years' War, and became a brigadier in 1788, making him the only Marshal of the Empire to reach general rank under the old regime. Favourable to the Revolution of 1789, he commanded the Army of the Centre at Valmy on 20 September 1792 and drove back the Prussians, earning the name 'the victor of Valmy'. Arrested in November 1793 on suspicion of disloyalty, he spent 13 months in prison during the Terror and was released and reinstated after Robespierre's fall. Marshal in 1804 and Duke of Valmy in 1808, he voted in the Senate for Napoleon's abdication in 1814 and became a peer under Louis XVIII. He died in Paris in 1820.

Military command French First Republic state institutions 1739–1823 ○ Died in Britain in exile

French Revolutionary general and statesman who defected to Austria in 1793

He saved the Revolution at Valmy and Jemappes in 1792, but after defeat at Neerwinden on 18 March 1793 he tried to march on Paris and handed the Convention's envoys over to Austria before crossing to the Austrian side. That defection buried the Girondins.

A general and politician of the French Revolutionary Wars. An officer of the royal army in the Seven Years' War, he later commanded the port of Cherbourg. After the Revolution he joined the Jacobin Club, and with Girondin backing he became foreign minister in March 1792, pushed for the declaration of war on Austria and briefly served as war minister. After a conflict with Louis XVI he resigned, then took command of the Army of the North and, with Kellermann, defeated the Prussians at Valmy (20 September 1792) and won at Jemappes (6 November 1792). Beaten at Neerwinden on 18 March 1793, he attempted to march on Paris, dissolve the Convention and restore the 1791 constitution and constitutional monarchy; lacking the army's support he went over to the Austrian side. He died in Britain after years of exile, and his name is inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

Literature and arts French First Republic state institutions 1748–1825 ○ Died in Brussels

Neoclassical painter of the French Revolution

His Death of Marat, depicting his friend Jean-Paul Marat after Charlotte Corday assassinated him on 13 July 1793, became a leading image of the Revolution. After Napoleon's fall the painting long disappeared from public view before its rediscovery.

French painter born in Paris in 1748 and died in Brussels in 1825. He was the preeminent Neoclassical painter of his era, winning fame in the 1780s with The Oath of the Horatii, and an active supporter of the French Revolution and friend of Robespierre as a member of the Jacobin Club. As a deputy to the National Convention he voted for the execution of Louis XVI, and as a member of the Committee of General Security he took part in the Reign of Terror. After Robespierre's fall he was imprisoned twice in 1794 and 1795, then released. After the Empire was proclaimed in 1804 he became Napoleon's court painter and painted The Coronation of Napoleon. After Napoleon's fall in 1815 he lived in exile in Brussels, where he died. His pupils included Girodet, Gérard, Gros and Ingres.

Political and party leadership French revolutionary movement 1748–1836

Clergyman and political theorist of Third Estate sovereignty

Amid the 1788–1789 Estates-General crisis he identified the Third Estate with the whole nation, and later ended the Directory through the coup of 18 Brumaire.

A clergyman and political theorist, Sieyès linked the Third Estate to the nation in his 1789 pamphlet What Is the Third Estate? He helped bring the National Assembly into being and later sat with the Plain in the National Convention. Near the end of the Directory he participated in the coup of Brumaire and helped establish the Consulate.

Military command French First Republic state institutions 1753–1823 → Exiled after the Restoration

The mathematician who organized the army of the Revolution

As the Committee of Public Safety member in charge of personnel and troop movements from 1793, he created fourteen armies and contributed to Jourdan's victory at Wattignies in autumn 1793. Mass conscription raised the army from roughly 645,000 in mid-1793 to about 1.5 million by September 1794.

French mathematician, military officer and politician, born at Nolay in Burgundy in 1753 and dead at Magdeburg in 1823. Elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1791 and to the National Convention in September 1792, from 1793 he handled personnel and troop movements on the Committee of Public Safety, directing conscription and organization and steering France's military successes of 1793–94, for which he was called the 'Organizer of Victory'. Known as an honest administrator and a convinced republican, he broke with Robespierre and helped bring about his overthrow on 9 Thermidor in 1794, and was one of the five initial directors of the Directory. Ousted in the Coup of 18 Fructidor in 1797, he went into exile; Napoleon made him Minister of War in 1800, but he opposed the imperial coronation and withdrew from public life. Exiled by the Second Bourbon Restoration, he died in exile.

Government and administration French First Republic state institutions 1755–1794 ✕ Executed

Committee of Public Safety member allied with Robespierre

A lawyer elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1791 and the National Convention in 1792, he joined the Committee of Public Safety in 1793. Working with Robespierre and Saint-Just, he drafted the Law of 22 Prairial, which stripped defendants of counsel and sharply increased executions.

A lawyer and deputy in the Legislative Assembly and National Convention, Couthon joined the Mountain. On the Committee of Public Safety he worked closely with Robespierre and Saint-Just and played a central role in the Law of 22 Prairial, which sharply restricted defendants’ rights. Arrested on 9 Thermidor, he was executed with Robespierre.

Government and administration French First Republic state institutions 1755–1841

Convention deputy who bridged the Plain and Committee of Public Safety

As the Committee of Public Safety's voice, he presented its reports on war, mass mobilization and revolutionary government to the Convention. Nicknamed 'the Anacreon of the Guillotine', he joined Robespierre's fall in 1794, then was impeached for the Terror.

A deputy to the Estates-General and National Convention, Barère sat with the Plain in 1792. From 1793 he served on the Committee of Public Safety and acted as a principal spokesman, presenting reports on war, mass mobilization, and revolutionary government. He joined the move against Robespierre in 1794 but was later impeached for his role in the Terror.

Political and party leadership Jacobin Club 1758–1794

Jacobin politician who argued for subsistence rights and revolutionary government

On 9 Thermidor, 27 July 1794, Convention deputies arrested him with about 90 others; he was executed without trial.

A lawyer and National Convention deputy during the French Revolution, Robespierre served on the Committee of Public Safety. His 1792 speech on subsistence placed access to necessities first while recognizing legitimate property and trade. His February 1794 report defended virtue and terror as principles of revolutionary government. This was a participant’s justification of repression; decisions made by the Convention and its committees cannot all be treated as his personal orders. He was executed after his defeat at Thermidor.

Military command Consulate and First Empire state institutions 1758–1817 ○ Died of tuberculosis in Paris

French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars commander, Marshal of the Empire

At the Second Battle of Zurich in 1799 he led the Army of Helvetia to defeat Korsakov's Austro-Russian force, and in 1800 he held Genoa for about sixty days, tying down Austrian troops so Bonaparte could win at Marengo.

Commander of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He was born Andrea Massena on 6 May 1758 in Nice, then the County of Nice in the Kingdom of Sardinia. He began as an enlisted soldier in the royal Italian regiment, reached the highest rank open to a commoner in 1784, and became a brigade general in August 1793 and a general of division on 20 December 1793. On 19 May 1804 he became one of the first eighteen Marshals of the Empire created by Napoleon, and he was made Duke of Rivoli in 1808 and Prince of Essling in 1809, though some sources record January 1810. He died of tuberculosis in Paris on 4 April 1817, aged 58.

Military command French First Republic state institutions 1761–1804 Found dead in prison; suicide or murder disputed

French Revolutionary Wars general, royalist conspirator

In February 1794 he took command of the Army of the North and fought at Fleurus; crossing the frozen rivers in the winter of December 1794–January 1795, he entered Utrecht and Amsterdam, while French hussars captured the Dutch fleet over the ice.

French general of the Revolutionary Wars. In the Flanders campaign he overran the Austrian Netherlands and the Dutch Republic, then fought on the Rhine front; he later adopted Royalist positions, was deported to Cayenne after the Coup of 18 Fructidor (1797), escaped to exile in London and served on Korsakov's staff in 1799. He returned to France, was arrested in the royalist conspiracy against Napoleon, and was found dead in prison in April 1804.

Military command French First Republic state institutions 1762–1833

General of the Revolutionary Wars, victor of Fleurus and framer of the 1798 conscription law

His defining revolutionary moment was the decisive victory over the First Coalition at Fleurus in 1794. In 1798, in the Council of Five Hundred, he proposed with fellow deputy Pierre Delbrel the Jourdan Law, conscripting single and childless men aged 20 to 25.

A French soldier who served in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars and became a Marshal of the Empire in 1804. Born at Limoges in 1762, son of the surgeon Roch Jourdan, he fought in the American War of Independence, then in the revolutionary wars led the Army of the North to victory at Wattignies in October 1793 and broke the siege of Maubeuge. He went on to command the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse and won a decisive victory over the First Coalition at Fleurus in 1794. A Jacobin politician under the Directory, he sat in the Council of Five Hundred (1797–1799) and framed the conscription law of 1798, the Jourdan Law. Defeated at Vitoria in 1813, he supported the July Revolution of 1830 and served as governor of the Hôtel des Invalides until his death.

Military command French First Republic state institutions 1763–1813 ✕ Mortally wounded at Dresden

French Revolutionary general, victor of Hohenlinden

On 3 December 1800 he led the Army of the Rhine to a decisive victory over an Austrian-Bavarian force at Hohenlinden. The allies' disastrous retreat forced an armistice and led to the Treaty of Lunéville, effectively ending the War of the Second Coalition.

A general produced by the French Revolution, he campaigned on the Rhine and in Italy and won a decisive victory at Hohenlinden in 1800, breaking the Second Coalition. He later became Napoleon's leading rival and was banished; returning to Europe in 1813 as an adviser to the coalition, he was mortally wounded at Dresden.

Military command French First Republic state institutions 1767–1823 ○ Died in New Orleans in

French revolutionary general, commander of the 1798 Irish expedition

On 22 August 1798 he landed at Killala and on 27 August defeated British forces under Lord Lake at Castlebar. The Connacht republic was proclaimed on 31 August, and on 8 September he was defeated and taken prisoner at Ballinamuck.

Born in 1767 at Saint-Nabord in the Vosges, he volunteered in 1792, rose quickly, and became a général de brigade in 1794. In 1798 he commanded the expedition to Ireland, landing at Killala on 22 August and defeating British forces at Castlebar on 27 August; he took part in the proclamation of the Connacht republic on 31 August, but surrendered at Ballinamuck on 8 September and returned home in a prisoner exchange. He later served in the Saint-Domingue expedition, moved to the United States in 1813, aided US forces at New Orleans in 1815, and taught French in his last years; he died at New Orleans in 1823.

Military command French First Republic state institutions 1768–1800 ✕ Killed at Marengo

French Revolutionary Wars general killed at Marengo

Returning to Europe in March 1800, he arrived at Marengo on 14 June as the Austrians were victorious along the line and led his three regiments against the enemy centre, yet was killed by a musket ball at the moment of victory.

A general of the French Revolutionary Wars. Born in 1768 at Ayat-sur-Sioule in Auvergne, he was educated at the Effiat military school and served in the royal army. In 1792, when most of his family emigrated, he refused and joined the Army of the Rhine, becoming provisional brigadier general on the merits of the combat at Lauterbourg. He served with the Army of the Rhine and in the 1795–1796 campaigns, covering Moreau's retreat, and was provisional commander-in-chief of the Army of England. In Egypt his division bore the Mamluk attack at the Battle of the Pyramids, and his Upper Egypt campaign won him the name 'Just Sultan' among the local population. Returning to Italy in 1800, he led the counterattack at Marengo with Boudet's division and was killed at the moment of victory. He is counted among the greatest generals of the Revolutionary Wars.

Government and administration Consulate and First Empire state institutions 1770–1802 ○ Died of yellow fever

French Revolutionary Wars general and commander of the Guadeloupe expedition

Commander of the Guadeloupe expedition Napoleon sent in 1801–1802; he suppressed Delgrès's resistance but died of yellow fever at Basse-Terre on 3 September 1802, and the insurgency continued until 1804.

Born in Metz in 1770, he joined his father's Conti Dragoon Regiment as a cadet at five. A supporter of the Revolution, he rose from second lieutenant in 1791 to captain in 1793 and chef d'escadron in 1794, and Kléber made him a brigade general in 1796. He served under Hoche in the Army of Sambre and Meuse and distinguished himself at Neuwied. In 1800 he commanded a division in Moreau's Army of the Rhine, leading the flank envelopment at Hohenlinden on 3 December that decided the victory. After the army was dissolved in 1801 he became inspector-general of cavalry of the Batavian Republic. In 1801–1802 Napoleon named him commander of the Guadeloupe expedition; he suppressed Delgrès's resistance and enforced the forcible reinstatement of slavery. He died of yellow fever at Basse-Terre on 3 September 1802.