Carnot, Lazare Nicolas Marguerite definition of Carnot, Lazare Nicolas Marguerite in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

Carnot, Lazare Nicolas Marguerite (läzär` nēkôlä` märgərēt` kärnō`), 1753–1823, French revolutionary, known as the organizer of victory for his role in the French Revolutionary Wars French Revolutionary Wars, wars occurring in the era of the French Revolution and the beginning of the Napoleonic era, the decade of 1792–1802. The wars began as an effort to defend the Revolution and developed into wars of conquest under the empire.
..... Click the link for more information. . A military engineer by training, Carnot became the military genius of the Revolution and was chiefly responsible for the success of the French in the wars. A member of the Legislative Assembly, the Convention, and the Committee of Public Safety, he made himself almost indispensable through his military knowledge. After the fall of Maximilien Robespierre, who was primarily responsible for the Reign of Terror, Carnot managed to avoid punishment for his own part in the Terror and became a member of the Directory Directory, group of five men who held the executive power in France according to the constitution of the year III (1795) of the French Revolution . They were chosen by the new legislature, by the Council of Five Hundred and the Council of Ancients; each year one
..... Click the link for more information. . He was ousted from the Directory in the coup of 18 Fructidor (Sept., 1797) and fled abroad. He returned in 1799 and served as minister of war (1800) and in the tribunate under Napoleon Bonaparte (Napoleon I Napoleon I (nəpō`lēən, Fr. näpôlāōN`), 1769–1821, emperor of the French, b.
..... Click the link for more information. ). In the next few years he wrote several works on mathematics and military engineering; in 1810 appeared his masterpiece, De la défense des places fortes, long considered the classic work on fortification. Carnot was the best-known advocate of the principle of active defense. In 1814 he returned to active service and conducted the defense of Antwerp. In the Hundred Days he served as minister of the interior. Exiled after the restoration of the monarchy, he died in Magdeburg, Prussia.

Bibliography

See biographies by H. Dupre (1940) and M. Reinhard (2 vol., 1950–52, in French).