Kléber, Jean Baptiste

Kléber, Jean Baptiste (zhäN bätēst` klābĕr`), 1753–1800, French general, b. Strasbourg. A trained architect, he attended military school in Munich and served in the Austrian army from 1777 to 1783. In 1789 he entered the French National Guard. He fought with distinction in the French Revolutionary Wars and crushed the 1793 royalist uprising in the Vendée. He accompanied Napoleon Bonaparte to Egypt in 1798. Left in command when Napoleon returned (1799) to France, Kléber defeated (Mar., 1800) the Ottomans at Heliopolis, near Cairo, and recaptured Cairo. He was assassinated (June) at Cairo by an opponent of French rule.

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Kléber, Jean Baptiste 

Born Mar. 9, 1753, in Strasbourg; died June 14, 1800, in Cairo. French general. The son of a mason.

Kléber served in the Austrian Army. In 1789 he joined the French National Guard. For his distinguished services in 1793 in the defense of Mainz, he was promoted to brigadier general. In 1793 he was among those in charge of suppressing the revolt in La Vendée. During the Egyptian expedition of 1798–1801 he commanded a division; after N. Bonaparte’s departure in August 1799, he was commander of all French troops in Egypt. In March 1800, he routed the Turkish Army at Heliopolis and forced its remnants out of Egypt. He was murdered by a Turkish nationalist.