General Jean-Baptiste Kléber

General Jean-Baptiste Kléber was one of the most successful French generals of the Revolutionary Wars, but was also known for resenting his superiors and being reluctant to command. Nevertheless, Napoleon once said there was no sight so splendid as watching Kléber go into battle, and likened him to the god of war, Mars.

Long before the Revolution, Kléber embarked on his first career as an architect. After studying in Paris, he moved to Besançon before moving to Strasbourg in 1775. Soon after he began his first stint in a military career, attending the military school in Munich and becoming a cadet in the service of Austria. In 1779 he became a sous-lieutenant, but then six years later in 1785 he resigned his commission and returned to France.

Back in France, Kléber moved to Béfort where he took up a position as inspector of public buildings. In his time there, he built the Chateau of Grandvillars, the hospital of Thann, and the house of the cannonnesses of Massevaux.

With the dawn of the Revolution, Kléber didn’t hesitate to join the National Guard as a grenadier in July of 1789. Three years later in January of 1792 he joined the 4th Battalion of Volunteers of Haut-Rhin, and before long became a lieutenant-colonel of his battalion. Serving in Custine’s army, Kléber spent the next winter surveying the left bank of the Rhine at Mainz. Promoted to chef de brigade in April of 1793, Kléber took charge of the defense of the fort of Sainte-Elisabeth defending Mainz which was under siege. Leading numerous sorties against the enemy, he successfully delayed the surrender of the fort, but the siege was never broken and the city was finally surrendered on July 23rd.

Having surrendered, he was called to stand before the Convention and arrested at Nancy. After being escorted to Paris, the garrison of Mainz was declared to be of good merit, and within two weeks Kléber received a promotion to general de brigade and a new assignment to the Army of the Coasts of La Rochelle. Due to the terms of surrendering Mainz, the French troops had to agree to not fight the First Coalition troops for one year, and so many including Kléber were instead directed to western France to fight against the rebels of the Vendée. In September Kléber was placed at the head of the advance guard, seizing Montaigu and occupying Clisson, but was then ordered to retreat. Going into battle at Torfou, he was badly wounded by a ball to the shoulder but managed to extricate his column. Next he repulsed the rebels at Pallet, and then defeated them at Saint-Symphorien.

Starting in October, Kléber joined the Army of the West, still fighting against the rebels. His men contributed to the recovery of Montaigu, and then he was named commander in chief of the Army of the Coasts of Brest. This army was short-lived, instead being rolled into the Army of the West, and so he returned to the Army of the West. Continuing to fight in October, his men seized Tiffauges and battled at la Tremblaie before winning at Cholet. Due to his contributions to that victory, he was promoted to general de division on the field by the Representatives of the People.

When General Leschelle was removed from command as commander-in-chief of the Army of the West, Kléber was selected to be the new commander but he refused, and instead General Chalbos became the new commander. Kléber then took command of the 1st Division, and fought at Antrain in November and then Mans in December.

In April of 1794 Kléber was sent to the Army of the Ardennes, and then in May to the Army of the North where he took part in the fighting at Merbes-le-Château. In June he was first given command of a division, but before long he took command of the left wing of the Army of Moselle under Jourdan. He commanded at the victories of Charleroi and Chapelle d’Herlaymont, and then at the Battle of Fleurus he commanded the left wing and successfully repulsed the Austrians.

With the reorganization of the armies into the Army of the Sambre and Meuse, Kléber took command of the 1st Division. Throughout the summer he took Mons, Enghien, Ath, Montagne de Fer, Louvain, and Tirlemont. In September he invested Maestricht but then rejoined Jourdan’s army in time to command the left wing at the Battle of the Roer. He troops next bombarded Dusseldorf and then in October he took command of the army around Maestricht, receiving the city’s surrender in early November.

Kléber’s next assignment was to the Army of the Rhine, where he was to command the divisions besieging Mainz. From December through February, Kléber took part in the siege before obtaining a leave to get some much needed rest. In March he was appointed interim commander of the Army of the Sambre and Meuse, but he refused the command. Instead, in April after General Michaud was wounded he became commander of the Army of the Rhine, commanding it for two weeks until he had reunited with the Army of the Moselle and could turn over his command to General Pichegru.

Next Kléber returned to the Army of the Sambre and Meuse, initially taking command of the center. In June he took command of the left wing of the army, and then crossed the Rhine in September and marched to Mainz to invest the right bank of the river. For a brief period of time he commanded the siege, but was then forced to break the siege and retreat across the Rhine.

In November of 1795 Kléber was appointed provisional commander in chief of the Army of the Rhine and Moselle but he refused the command, instead becoming commander at Strasbourg a month later. From late January through February 1796, he became interim commander in chief of the Army of the Sambre and Meuse during Jourdan’s absence.

With campaigns underway that spring, in May Kléber took command of the right wing of the Army of the Sambre and Meuse. That June, he battled the Austrians at Uckerath and Alternkirchen, and next pursued the defeated Austrians by the Lahn River before being ordered to fall back. On the way back, he was attacked at Uckerath by General Kray, and continued to fall back to Dusseldorf. At the end of June, the army retook the offensive and in July Kléber’s men were victorious at Runkel, Obermele, and Friedberg before taking Frankfurt.

General Jourdan fell ill at the end of July, and Kléber continued the offensive as interim commander in chief, seizing Bamberg and collapsing the Austrian forces at Forchheim. With Jourdan’s return, he retook command of the right wing for the next three weeks before resigning on September 1st due to dissatisfaction with Jourdan’s decisions. When Jourdan was replaced as commander by Beurnonville later that month, Kléber returned to his position commanding the right wing. The next month he was offered the position of commander in chief, but he refused the command. In the meantime he repulsed the Austrians who attempted to cross the Rhine.

That November Kléber offered his resignation, citing health reasons. Nonetheless, that December he was made interim commander in chief of the Army of the Sambre and Meuse. He reiterated his resignation to the Minister of War, and his resignation was finally accepted, though he didn’t leave his post until the beginning of February of 1797.

1797 was a quiet year for General Kléber. After staying in Strasbourg for a short period of time, he returned to Paris where he stayed in small house at Chaillot. The next year, intrigued by the expedition to Egypt, he rejoined the army as a general de division and was given command of a division of the Army of the Orient.

Setting sail in May, they arrived in Egypt in early July, and Kléber took part in the assault of Alexandria where he was wounded by a ball to the face. Given command of the province of Alexandria, in September he turned over his command to General Manscourt and demanded to return to France, citing ill health. Despite such requests, he rejoined the headquarters in Cairo in October, and then in January retook command of his division, leading it on the expedition to Syria.

February of 1799 saw Kléber leading his troops into action at the fort of El-Arisch, and battling the enemy at Gaza. After marching to Jaffa and taking part in the siege, he then marched to Acre and took part in that siege before being sidetracked elsewhere. In March his troops occupied Caiffa at the foot of Mont Carmel, and then in April battled the Army of the Pasha of Damascus before rejoining Junot’s troops at Nazareth and winning at Chagarah. On April 15th, his troops were victorious at the Battle of Mount Tabor, finally routing the Pasha of Damascus’ troops.

Returning to the siege of Acre, when the siege was abandoned Kléber’s division took up the rear guard during the retreat. In June Kléber was named governor of the provinces of Damiette and Mansourah. That August he brought his troops to assist in the Battle of Abukir, but they arrived too late to take part in the fighting.

When General Bonaparte took a select few and returned to France, he left Kléber in charge of the army. Kléber, who had been unaware of Napoleon’s intentions, cursed Napoleon and would sometimes draw cartoons mocking his former commander, but nonetheless set about strengthening the French presence in Egypt. Desiring to evacuate Egypt, he negotiated an armistice with British Admiral Sidney Smith allowing the French to receive safe passage back to France. Unfortunately for all involved, the British government refused to ratify the treaty, infuriating the French.

Kléber immediately set out to push the matter, in March marching with an army against the Turks invading Egypt and destroying them at Heliopolis. He continued to defeat the Turks, over the next days retaking Belbeis, winning at Korain, and seizing the camp of Salahieh. In the meantime Cairo had risen in revolt, and Kléber’s men besieged it while he also worked the diplomatic channels, allying with former enemy Murad Bey.

After retaking Cairo, Kléber began to devote his energy to reorganizing the administration of Egypt. On June 14th he and his chief of staff General Damas were in Cairo for lunch. As they walked through a garden, a fanatic young Muslim student named Soleyman-el-Halepi surprised them and stabbed Kléber six times with a dagger. Kléber died a short time later, within an hour of Desaix’s death on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea at Marengo. His assassin was quickly captured and publicly executed.

Kléber’s successor in Egypt, General Menou, was not as capable of a commander and he was unable to lead or successfully negotiate the French out of defeat at the hands of the British the next year. After the French surrender of Cairo in 1801, General Belliard escorted Kléber’s remains back to France.