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.
Career Timeline
- 1791Elected lieutenant-colonel of the Ille-et-Vilaine volunteers.
- 1793Promoted to général de brigade; served under Dumouriez.
- 1794Made général de division by Carnot; served under Pichegru in Flanders and won at Tourcoing.
- 1795–1796Took command of the Army of the Rhine and Moselle; won renown in 1796 for a celebrated 40-day retreat through the Black Forest.
- 1799Recalled to Italy against Suvorov; defeated at the Adda and Novi, where Joubert fell, and retreated to Genoa. He then assisted Bonaparte in the Brumaire coup.
- 1800Commanding the Army of the Rhine again, he won at Hohenlinden on 3 December.
- 1804Implicated in the Pichegru–Cadoudal conspiracy; sentenced to imprisonment, commuted by Napoleon to banishment. He left via Spain for America and settled near Philadelphia.
- 1813Returned to Europe as an adviser to the allied monarchs; mortally wounded at Dresden on 27 August and died on 2 September.