Jean-Marie Saisset

Admiral who held the eastern forts in the siege of Paris and, as National Guard commander in March 1871, failed to mediate

Born in Paris in 1810, he entered the naval school at fifteen. He took part in the capture of Algiers in 1830 and distinguished himself in the attack on Sevastopol in the Crimean War. Governor of the French Establishments of Oceania from 1858, he commanded the "pacification" of New Caledonia in 1859. In the siege of Paris in 1870 he commanded the eastern forts and took the Avron plateau, for which he was made vice admiral. Elected deputy for the Seine in February 1871, after the rising of 18 March he was wanted by Parisians as commander of the National Guard, and Thiers formally appointed him. He sought a settlement with a proclamation promising municipal liberties and the election of National Guard officers, but when the majority of the Assembly disowned his concessions he resigned his command. He sat first with the centre left but in 1873 helped bring down Thiers.