Moreau, JEAN VICTOR

Moreau, JEAN VICTOR, the greatest general of the French Republic, except Bonaparte, was born, 11th August 1761, at Morlaix, in Brittany, the son of an advocate, and was sent to study law at Rennes. On the outbreak of the Revolution he was chosen to command the volunteers from Rennes, served under Dumouriez in 1793, and displayed such military talent that in 1794 he was made a general of division; he took an active part in reducing Belgium and Holland under Pichegru in that and the following year. When Pichegru fell under suspicion, the Directory appointed Moreau, in the spring of 1796, to the chief command on the Rhine and Moselle. He crossed the Rhine at Kehl, defeated Latour at Rastatt and the Archduke Charles at Ettlingen, and drove the Austrians back to the Danube. But, owing to the defeat and retreat of Jourdan, he was obliged to make a desperate effort to regain the Rhine, which he accomplished, notwithstanding great difficulties, in a retreat that established his reputation for generalship more than all his previous victories. A suspicion of participation in the plots of Pichegru led to his being deprived of his command after the coup d'état of 18th Fructidor. In the following year (1798) he succeeded Schérer in the command of the army in Italy, which was hard pressed by the Russians and Austrians. By a retreat conducted with consummate skill, he saved the French army from destruction. The Directory, nevertheless, deprived him of the chief command, and gave it to Joubert. But Moreau remained with the army at Joubert's request to be present at the battle of Novi. Early in the engagement Joubert was killed and Moreau again assumed the command, and conducted the defeated troops to France. The noble disinterestedness of Moreau's character, his military talent, and his political moderation induced the party of Sieyès, which overthrew the Directory, to offer him the dictatorship of France; he declined it, but lent his assistance to Bonaparte on 18th Brumaire. Receiving the command of the army of the Rhine, Moreau gained victory after victory over the Austrians in the campaign of 1800, drove them back behind the Inn, and at last won the great and decisive battle of Hohenlinden (q.v.). A strong feeling of jealousy against Moreau now took firm root in Napoleon's mind. He accused his rival of participation in the plot of Cadodal (q.v.) and Pichegru against his life, had him arrested, brought to trial, and found guilty on insufficient evidence, 9th June 1804. A sentence of two years' imprisonment was pronounced; Napoleon commuted it into banishment, and Moreau went to America, and settled in New Jersey. There he remained until 1813, when he accompanied the emperor of Russia and the king of Prussia in the march against Dresden. Fortunately for his fame he did not live to invade his country, for here, as he stood talking to the Emperor Alexander on 27th August, a French cannon-ball broke both his legs. Amputation was performed, but he died at Laun in Bohemia, 2d September 1813. He was buried in St Petersburg. See the studies by C. Joachim (Berl. 1814) and A. de Beauchamp (trans. Lond. 1814).