Moreau, Jean-Victor

(1763-1813)

   general

   Born in Morlaix, Jean-Victor Moreau joined the army during the revolution of 1789 as a volunteer (1791), became a general in 1793, and, under the command of General charles pichegru, took part in the conquest of Holland (1794-95). Commander of the Army of the Rhine and Moselle (1796), he invaded Bavaria, but the defeat of Jean Baptiste at Jourdan, Belgium, forced him to retreat to alsace. in 1797, he retook control of the Rhine but soon after was relieved of his command by the directory government. In 1799, however, he again took up a command in the Army in Italy but was defeated by the Russian general Alexander Suvorov at Cassano (April 1799). Having supported Napoléon Bonaparte in the coup d'état of 18 Brumaire (November 9, 1799), General Moreau was named commander in chief of the Army of the Rhine (1800) and won the Battle of Hohenlinden (December 1800). Believing himself to be insufficiently recognized and paid for his services, however, he more openly opposed Bonaparte and allied himself with the royalists georges cadoudal and Pichegru. Arrested in 1804, he was allowed to go into exile in the United States. Recalled to Europe as a military adviser to Czar Alexander I of Russia (1813), he was mortally wounded shortly after at Dresden.

   See also napoléon i.