MacMahon, Patrice Edmé Maurice

(1808–1893)

   A marshal of France and president of the French Republic (1873–1879), Patrice MacMahon descended from an Irish soldier who had settled in France in the seventeenth century. MacMahon entered the army during the reign of Charles X and first distinguished himself during the conquest of Algeria. During the Crimean War, he led the French assault on Malakoff in September 1855. During the Austro-Piedmontese War, MacMahon’s actions at in the Battle of Magenta were in large part responsible for a Franco-Piedmontese victory and earned him the rank of Marshal along with the title of Duke of Magenta.

   As governor of Algeria between 1864 and 1870, he fought in a number of colonial campaigns before returning to France to command the First Corps during the Franco-Prussian War. He was defeated as Weissenburg and Fröschwiller and then finally captured at Sedan. After repatriation, MacMahon commanded the troops that suppressed the Commune of Paris with the loss of some 800 troops against an estimated 20,000 Communards. He was elected the second president of the Third Republic in May 1873, thereby disappointing the royalists, who hoped he would restore the monarchy.

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   FURTHER READING:

    Brogan, Denis. The Development of Modern France, 1870–1939. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1940.

   CARL CAVANAGH HODGE