Background
Louis-Eugène Cavaignac was born on October 15, 1802 in Paris, France. He was the son of J. B. Cavaignac.
Louis-Eugène Cavaignac was born on October 15, 1802 in Paris, France. He was the son of J. B. Cavaignac.
After going through the usual course of study for the military profession, Louis-Eugène Cavaignac entered the army as an engineer officer in 1824, and served in the Morea in 1828, becoming captain in the following year.
When the revolution of 1830 broke outhe was stationed at Arras, and was the first officer of his regiment to declare for the new order of things. In 1831 Louis-Eugène Cavaignac was removed from active duty in consequence of his declared republicanism, but in 1832 he was recalled to the service and sent to Algeria.
This continued to be the main sphere of his activity for sixteen years, and he won especial distinction in his fifteen months' command of the exposed garrison of Tlemgen, a command for which he was selected by Marshal Clausel (1836 - 1837), and in the defence of Cherchel (1840).
Almost every step of his promotion was gained on the field of battle, and in 1844 the due d'Aumale himself asked for Cavaignac's promotion to the rank of marechal de camp.
On his election to the National Assembly, however, Cavaignac returned to Paris.
Several Smeutes had already taken place, and by the 22nd of June 1848 a formidable insurrection had been organized.
Variously estimated at from 30, 000 to 60, 000 men, well armed and organized, they had entrenched themselves at every step behind formidable barricades, and were ready, to avail themselves of every advantage that ferocity and despair could suggest to them.
When the troops at last advanced in three strong columns, every inch of ground was disputed, and the government troops were frequently repulsed, till, fresh regiments arriving, he forced his way to the Place de la Bastille and crushed the insurrection in its headquarters.
It was expected that the suffrages of France would raise Cavaignac to that position.
But the mass of the people, and especially the rural population, sick of revolution, and weary eyen of the moderate republicanism of Cavaignac, were anxious for a stable government.
Against the five and a half million votes recorded for Louis Napoleon, Cavaignac received only a million and a half.
Not without chagrin at his defeat, he withdrew into the ranks of the opposition.
He received the military medal for service in the Franco-Prussian War, and in 1872 entered the EcolePolytechnique.
In 1885- 1886 he was under-secretary for war in -the Henri Brisson ministry, and he served in the cabinet of Emile Loubet (1892) as minister of marine and of the colonies.
He had exchanged his moderate republicanism for radical views before he became war minister in the cabinet of Leon Bourgeois (1895 - 1896).
He was again minister of war in the Brisson eabinet in July 1898, when he read in the chamber a document which definitely incriminated Captain Alfred Dreyfus.
On the 30th of August, however, he stated that this had been discovered to be a forgery by Colonel Henry, but he refused to concur with his colleagues in a revision of the Dreyfus prosecution, which was the logical outcome of his own exposure of the forgery.
He wrote an important book on the Formation de la Prusse contemporaine ( 2 vols. , 1891 - 1898), dealing with the events of 1806-1813.