Career
He was a liberal nobleman and supported the reforms of the National Constituent Assembly, of which he was elected secretary in December and president for a standard two weeks term (27 March - 12 April 1790). With the closing of the National Assembly in September 1791, he was employed as Maréchal de camp in Paris, and then to the Armée de l"Ouest. He fought in the Vendée through 1793.
Commander of one of the sections of Paris on 1 Prairial III (20 May 1795), he forced the rebellious Faubourg Saint-Antoine to capitulate.
General in chief of the Armée de l"Interieur, he was denounced as a traitor, put on trial and acquitted in 1795. In 1798, Menou commanded one of the five divisions of the Armée d"Orient in Napoleon"s campaign of Egypt.
General of division in the army of Egypt. After the assassination of Jean-Baptiste Kléber (14 June 1800), Menou succeeded him at the head of Egypt as general in chief
He was not as popular as Kléber, and lacked support from the other officers.
On 21 March 1801, Menou commanded the French expeditionary force sent to repel British forces landing at Louisiana Muiron. The French were defeated and Menou withdrew to Alexandria, where he surrendered following the Siege of Alexandria on 30 August 1801. Menou was permitted to evacuate the remaining French forces, but was forced to surrender to the British the Rosetta Stone, the discovery of which had been reported to him by Captain Pierre-François Bouchard.
lieutenant was a vital key to understanding the lost language of hieroglyphics.
Shortly afterwards he became Administrator of the 27th Military Division (Piedmont). He was created comte de l"Empire in 1808.
Menou"s principal contributions to the French Empire came in Italy. He was named Knight of the Order of the Iron Crown 23 December 1807, shortly after his appointment as Governor of Venice.
While still holding this appointment, he died on 13 August 1810, at the Villa Corniani near Mestre.
The name of General Menou is inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe, on the south side.
