Charles Rigault de Genouilly (12 April 1807-4 May 1873) was a French Navy admiral who fought in the Crimean War, the Second Opium War, and the Cochinchina Campaign.
Biography[]
Charles Rigault de Genouilly was born in Rochefort, France in 1807, and he entered the French Navy as midshipman in 1827 and fought in the Greek War of Independence. In 1830, he took part in the French conquest of Algeria, followed by involvement in the Belgian Revolution in 1832, in the 1847 bombardment of Da Nang in Vietnam, and in the Crimean War during the 1850s, finally reaching the rank of Rear Admiral in 1854 and distinguishing himself at the Siege of Sevastopol. In 1857, he commanded a joint French-British naval expedition sent to China during the Second Opium War, blockading Macau and capturing Canton. In 1858, he commanded a punitive expedition to Dai Nam, starting with the Siege of Tourane. On 8 March 1859, he blew up the Citadel of Saigon, but he was recalled in October 1859 for his failure to break the Vietnamese siege of Tourane. From 1867 to 1870, he served as Navy Minister, and he resigned after the fall of the Second French Empire. He died in Barcelona, Spain in 1873.