Rapp, JEAN, COUNT

Rapp, JEAN, COUNT, a French general, was born at Colmar, in the French department of Haut-Rhin, 27th April 1772. He was intended for the church, but his taste for a military life led him to enrol himself (1788) in the mounted 'chasseurs' of the French army. Rapp distinguished himself by dashing gallantry in Germany and Egypt, and on the death of Desaix at Marengo he became aide-de-camp to Napoleon. His brilliant charge at Austerlitz upon the Russian Imperial Guard was rewarded with the grade of general of division (1805). For his services at Lobau he was named a Count of the Empire (1809). He opposed the Russian expedition, but accompanied the Emperor throughout the whole of it. His obstinate defence of Danzig for nearly a year against a powerful Russian army gained for him greater renown, and his chivalrous and considerate treatment of the unfortunate inhabitants during the siege was warmly appreciated by them. The Russians, contrary to the articles of capitulation, sent Rapp and his garrison prisoners to Russia, and he did not return to France till July 1814. On reaching Paris he was well received by Louis XVIII.; but in 1815 he went over to his old master, and was appointed commander-in-chief of the army of the Rhine, and peer of France. After Waterloo Rapp again submitted to Louis. Re-created a peer of France (1819), he held various offices about the court, and died at Paris, 8th November 1821. See his Memoirs (1823), and Spach's Biographies Alsaciennes (1871).