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.
Activities and affiliations
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French First Republic state institutionsCommander of the Army of the Rhine and the Army of the NorthMain
Military command -
Military command
Career Timeline
- 1783Entered the 1st artillery regiment; briefly served in the American Revolutionary War
- 1793Promoted brigade general, then divisional general and given command of the Army of the Rhine
- 1794Took command of the Army of the North; led the Flanders and Netherlands campaign
- 1795Crushed the 12 Germinal insurrection and was titled 'Saviour of the Fatherland'
- 1797Became a member of the Council of Five Hundred; arrested at 18 Fructidor and deported to Cayenne
- 1799Served on Korsakov's staff
- 1804Arrested in the royalist conspiracy and found dead in prison
Related historical events
- 1789–1799French RevolutionCommander who suppressed the insurrectionOn 1 April 1795, he suppressed the insurrection against the National Convention.
- 1792–1802French Revolutionary Warsgeneral who reversed the northern frontHe led the 1794-1795 advance into the north and the Netherlands, then joined a counter-revolutionary plot.
Thermidor and the 1795 betrayal
For Pichegru, 1795 marked the turn from revolutionary general to counter-revolutionary conspirator. A former associate of Saint-Just, he chose to offer his services to the Thermidorian Reaction. When the Paris sans-culottes rose against the National Convention on 12 Germinal (1 April 1795), he subdued the insurrection, and the Convention honoured him with the title Sauveur de la Patrie, "Saviour of the Fatherland". He then resumed command of the armies of the North, Sambre-and-Meuse and the Rhine, crossed the Rhine in force and took Mannheim in May 1795.
His course by then pointed not to the revolutionary government but to the Royalists. Within the same year he let his colleague Jourdan be defeated, handed all of Jourdan's plans to the enemy, and joined a conspiracy to restore and crown Louis XVIII. The Russian-language biography records that he entered into secret relations with the prince de Condé, commander of the French émigré corps; those counter-revolutionary designs came to nothing because of the prince's indecision and the self-interested aims of Britain and Austria, which wanted the war to continue in order to enlarge their own possessions at France's expense.
In October 1795 he petitioned the Directory for retirement, which, to his surprise, was immediately granted. He retired in disgrace and declined an offer to serve as envoy to Sweden, but in May 1797 he was elected to the Council of Five Hundred as a leader of the Royalists and later became its president.