François Christophe Kellermann
François Christophe Kellermann commanded at Valmy, the engagement that saved the French Republic. Born in Strasbourg in 1735 into an Alsatian family of some standing, he entered the royal army at fifteen and served through the Seven Years' War and in Poland, reaching senior rank before the Revolution. He was one of relatively few experienced royal officers who neither emigrated nor were purged, which is why he had a command in 1792 when almost nobody did. In September 1792 a Prussian and Austrian army under the Duke of Brunswick invaded, having issued a manifesto threatening Paris with destruction if the royal family were harmed. Verdun and Longwy had fallen, and the road to the capital was effectively open. Kellermann joined Dumouriez in Champagne and took position on high ground near the village of Valmy on 20 September. The action was almost entirely an artillery exchange in mud and fog, with perhaps five hundred casualties on both sides. What mattered was that the French line — a mixture of royal regulars and untrained volunteers whom the Prussians expected to break at the first pressure — did not move. Kellermann raised his hat on his sword point and the troops answered with cries for the nation. Brunswick declined to attack and withdrew within days. Goethe, who was present, is said to have told his companions that a new epoch in world history had begun. Kellermann was nonetheless imprisoned for thirteen months during the Terror. He was made a marshal in 1804 and died in 1820.
- Lived: 1735 CE – 1820 CE
- Nationality: French
- Roles: general, military_leader
