Cavaignac, Louis Eugène definition of Cavaignac, Louis Eugène in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

Cavaignac, Louis Eugène (lwē özhĕn` kävānyäk`), 1802–57, French general. He participated in the French conquest of Algeria and was promoted to general in 1844. After the outbreak of the February Revolution in 1848, he became governor-general of Algeria. Elected to the national assembly, he returned to Paris and was appointed minister of war. He used his dictatorial powers to quell the threatened uprising of the working classes in the June Days June Days, in French history, name usually given to the insurrection of workers in June, 1848. The working classes had played an important role in the February Revolution of 1848, but their hopes for economic and social reform were disappointed.
..... Click the link for more information. of 1848. In the presidential election he was badly defeated by Louis Napoleon (later Napoleon III Napoleon III (Louis Napoleon Bonaparte), 1808–73, emperor of the French (1852–70), son of Louis Bonaparte (see under Bonaparte , family), king of Holland.
..... Click the link for more information. ). Arrested after Louis Napoleon's coup of 1851, he was soon released and elected to the national assembly, but he refused to swear allegiance to Napoleon III and could not serve.