Jean-Baptiste Kléber

Jean-Baptiste Kléber
Jean-Baptiste Kléber
	Portrait by Jean-Urbain Guérin, 1798 (Nationalmuseum, Stockholm)
Born	9 March 1753; Strasbourg, France
Died	14 June 1800 (aged 47); Cairo, Ottoman Egypt
Buried	Place Kléber, Strasbourg
Allegiance	Kingdom of France ; Holy Roman Empire ; Kingdom of France ; French First Republic
Service/branch	French Royal Army ; Imperial Army ; French Revolutionary Army
Years of service	1769–1770 (France) ; 1777–1783 (HRE) ; 1792–1800 (France)
Rank	General of division
Commands held	4th Haute-Rhin Battalion; Army of Sambre and Meuse; Army of the Orient
Battles/wars	See list: War of the Bavarian Succession; French Revolutionary Wars War in the Vendée Battle of Tiffauges; Battle of Montaigu; Battle of La Tremblaye; Second Battle of Cholet; Battle of Dol; Battle of Le Mans; Battle of Savenay; ; War of the First Coalition Siege of Mainz; Flanders Campaign Battle of Gosselies; Battle of Fleurus; Battle of the Roer; Battle of Mainz; ; Rhine Campaign of 1796 Battle of Altenkirchen; Battle of Friedberg; ; French campaign in Egypt and Syria Siege of El Arish; Siege of Jaffa; Siege of Acre; Battle of Mount Tabor; Battle of Heliopolis; ; ; ; ;
Awards	Inscription on the Arc de Triomphe ; (Southern Pillar, Column 23)
Signature

Jean-Baptiste Kléber (IPA: [ʒɑ̃ batist klebɛʁ]) (9 March 1753 – 14 June 1800) was a French military leader of the French Revolutionary Wars. After serving for one year in the French Royal Army, he entered Habsburg service seven years later. However, his humble birth hindered his opportunities. Eventually, he volunteered for the French Revolutionary Army in 1792 and quickly rose through the ranks.

Kléber served in the Rhineland during the War of the First Coalition, and also suppressed the Vendée Revolt. He retired to private life in the peaceful interim after the Treaty of Campo Formio, but returned to military service to accompany Napoleon Bonaparte in the campaign in Egypt and Syria in 1798. As the Egyptian campaign was deteriorating, Napoleon returned to Paris in 1799 and appointed Kléber as commander of all French forces in Egypt. He was assassinated by a student in Cairo in 1800.

A trained architect, Kléber, in times of peace, designed a number of buildings.

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