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CAVAIGNAC, LOUIS EUGENE (1802–1857)

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 561 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CAVAIGNAC, See also:LOUIS See also:EUGENE (1802–1857) , See also:French See also:general, son of J. B. Cavaignac, was See also:born at See also:Paris on the 15th of See also:October 1802. After going through the usual course of study for the military profession, he entered the See also:army as an engineer officer in 1824, and served in the Morea in 1828, becoming See also:captain in the following See also:year. When the revolution of 1830 See also:broke out he was stationed at See also:Arras, and was the first officer of his See also:regiment to declare for the new See also:order of things. In 1831 he was removed from active See also:duty in consequence of his declared republicanism, but in 1832 he was recalled to the service and sent to See also:Algeria. This continued to be the See also:main See also:sphere of his activity for sixteen years, and he won especial distinction in his fifteen months' command of the exposed See also:garrison of See also:Tlemcen, a command for which he was selected by See also:Marshal See also:Clausel (1836-1837), and in the See also:defence of See also:Cherchel (1840). Almost every step of his See also:pro-See also:motion was gained on the See also:field of See also:battle, and in 1844 the duc d'See also:Aumale himself asked for Cavaignac's promotion to the See also:rank of marechal de See also:camp. This was made in the same year, and he held various See also:district commands in Algeria up to 1848, when the provisional See also:government appointed him See also:governor-general of the See also:province with the rank of general of See also:division. The See also:post of See also:minister of See also:war was also offered to Cavaignac, but he refused it owing to the unwillingness of the government to See also:quarter troops in Paris, a measure which the general held to be necessary for the stability of the new regime. On his See also:election to the See also:National See also:Assembly, however, Cavaignac returned to Paris. When he arrived on the 17th of May he found the See also:capital in an extremely See also:critical See also:state.

Several emeutes had already taken See also:

place, and by the 22nd of See also:June 1848 a formidable insurrection had been organized. The only course now open to the National Assembly was to assert its authority by force. Cavaignac, first as minister of war and then as See also:dictator, was called to the task of suppressing the revolt. It was no See also:light task, as the national guard was untrustworthy, See also:regular troops were not at See also:hand in sufficient See also:numbers, and the insurgents had abundant See also:time to prepare themselves. Variously estimated at from 30,000 to 6o,000 men, well armed and organized, they had entrenched themselves at every step behind formidable barricades, and were ready. to avail themselves of every See also:advantage that ferocity and despair could suggest to them. Cavaignac failed perhaps to appreciate the See also:political exigencies of the moment; as a soldier he would not strike his See also:blow until his plans were matured and his forces sufficiently prepared. When the troops at last advanced in three strong columns, every See also:inch of ground was disputed, and the government troops were frequently repulsed, till, fresh regiments arriving, he forced his way to the Place de la See also:Bastille and crushed the insurrection in its headquarters. The contest, which raged from the 23rd to the See also:morning of the 26th of June, was without doubt the bloodiest and most resolute the streets of Paris have ever seen, and the general did not hesitate to inflict the severest See also:punishment on the rebels. Cavaignac was censured by some for having, by his delay, allowed the insurrection to gather See also:head; but in the chamber he was declared by a unanimous See also:vote to have deserved well of his See also:country. After laying down his dictatorial See also:powers, he continued to preside over the Executive See also:Committee till the election of a regular See also:president of the See also:republic. It was expected that the suffrages of See also:France would raise Cavaignac to that position. But the See also:mass of the See also:people, and especially the rural See also:population, sick of revolution, and weary even of the moderate republicanism of Cavaignac, were anxious for a See also:stable government.

Against the five and a See also:

half million votes recorded for Louis See also:Napoleon, Cavaignac received only a million and a half. Not without chagrin at his defeat, he withdrew into the ranks of the opposition. He continued to serve as a representative during the See also:short See also:remainder of the republic. At the coup d'etat of the 2nd See also:December 1851 he was arrested along with the other members of the opposition; but after a short imprisonment at See also:Ham he was released, and, with his newly-married wife, lived in retirement till his See also:death, which took place at Ourne (See also:Sarthe) on the 28th of October 1857. His son, JACQUES See also:MARIE EUGkNE GODEFROI CAVAIGNAC (1853-1905), French politician, was born in Paris on the 21st of May 1853. He made public profession of his republican principles as a schoolboy at the Lycee See also:Charlemagne by refusing in 1867 to receive a See also:prize at the See also:Sorbonne from the hand of the See also:prince imperial. He received the military See also:medal for service in the Franco-Prussian War, and in 1872 entered the Ecole Polytechnique. He served as a See also:civil engineer in Angouleeme until 1881, when he became See also:master of See also:requests in the See also:council of state. In the next year he was elected See also:deputy for the See also:arrondissement of See also:Saint-See also:Calais (Sarthe) in the republican See also:interest. In 1885-1886 he was under-secretary for war in .the See also:Henri See also:Brisson See also:ministry, and he served in the See also:cabinet of Emile See also:Loubet (1892) as minister of marine and of the colonies. He had exchanged his moderate republicanism for See also:radical views before he became war minister in the cabinet of See also:Leon See also:Bourgeois (1895-1896). He was again minister of war in the Brisson cabinet in See also:July 1898, when he read in the chamber a document which definitely incriminated Captain See also:Alfred See also:Dreyfus.

On the 3oth of See also:

August, however, he stated that this had been discovered to be a See also:forgery by See also:Colonel See also:Henry, but he refused to concur with his colleagues in a revision of the Dreyfus See also:prosecution, which was the logical outcome of his own exposure of the forgery. Resigning his See also:port-See also:folio, he continued to declare his conviction of Dreyfus's See also:guilt, and joined the Nationalist See also:group in the chamber, of which he became one of the leaders. He also was an energetic supporter of the Ligue de la Patrie Francaise. In 1899 Cavaignac was an unsuccessful See also:candidate for the See also:presidency of the republic. He had announced his intention of retiring from political See also:life when he died at his country-seat near Flee (Sarthe) on the 25th of See also:September 1905. He wrote an important See also:book on the Formation de la Prusse contemporaine ( 2 vols., 1891-1898), dealing with the events of 1806-1813.

End of Article: CAVAIGNAC, LOUIS EUGENE (1802–1857)

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