Jean-Baptiste Charras

Republican officer, under-secretary for war in 1848, who in exile attacked the Napoleon cult in his history of the 1815 campaign

Born at Phalsbourg in 1810, the son of a Napoleonic general, he took part in the July Revolution of 1830 as a student of the École Polytechnique, became an artillery officer and wrote on military questions for Le National. Sent to Algeria for his republican views, he fought Abd el-Kader's forces under Lamoricière. After the revolution of 1848 he was secretary of the defence council, under-secretary of state for war and briefly acting war minister, and sat for the Puy-de-Dôme among the moderate republicans. He helped Cavaignac crush the June rising and resigned when Louis Napoleon became president. In November 1851 he backed the quaestors' proposal; on 2 December he was among the first arrested and was expelled. In exile he wrote his history of the 1815 campaign against the Napoleon cult, refused the amnesty of 1859, and died in Basel in 1865.

Also known as: Jean-Baptiste Adolphe Charras · Colonel Charras