Charles François Dumouriez
Charles-François Dumouriez won the battle that secured the French Republic and then tried to march his army against it. Born at Cambrai in 1739 to a war commissary, he was commissioned young, was wounded repeatedly in the Seven Years' War, and spent years on secret missions for Louis XV in Corsica, Poland and Sweden, including a period in the Bastille after a change of ministry. He embraced the Revolution and, as foreign minister in 1792, pushed hard for war against Austria — believing it would consolidate the constitutional monarchy — against Robespierre's warnings. He took a field command and shared with Kellermann the credit for Valmy in September 1792, having chosen to hold the line in Champagne rather than fall back on Paris. He then invaded the Austrian Netherlands and won decisively at Jemappes in November 1792, one of the first victories of a revolutionary army in open battle, taking Brussels within days. He opposed the king's execution in January 1793 and the annexation of Belgium, and was beaten at Neerwinden in March. Facing recall and probable execution, he opened negotiations with the Austrians, and on 5 April 1793 attempted to turn his army on Paris to restore the constitution of 1791. The troops refused. He handed the war minister and four Convention commissioners sent to arrest him over to the enemy and defected. He spent the rest of his life in exile — Austria, Germany, Russia, and finally England, where he advised the government against Napoleon and received a pension. He died in Buckinghamshire in 1823.
- Lived: 1739 CE – 1823 CE
- Nationality: French
- Roles: general, military_leader
