Alexandre de Beauharnais (28 May 1760 – 23 July 1794) was a general of the French First Republic during the French Revolutionary Wars. He was guillotined during the Reign of Terror.
Biography[]
Alexandre de Beauharnais was born on Martinique, Kingdom of France on 28 May 1760, and he served in the French Army during the American Revolutionary War. Beauharnais was later elected to the Estates-General as a deputy from the Second Estate, serving as President of its successor, the National Assembly, from 19 June to 3 July 1791. In 1792, he became a general of the French Revolutionary Army, and he turned down the post of Minister of War in 1793 to become commander of the Army of the Rhine. He was arrested by the Committee of Public Safety after the loss of Mainz to the Holy Roman Empire, as he was suspected of purposely forfeiting the city due to his aristocratic background. On 23 July 1794, he was guillotined during the Reign of Terror, and his widow, Josephine de Beauharnais, would go on to marry Napoleon Bonaparte.