François Joseph Westermann
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François Joseph Westermann (September 5, 1751—April 5, 1794) was a French general of the Revolutionary Wars and political figure of the French Revolution.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Career
Born in Molsheim (Alsace), François Joseph Westermann entered a cavalry regiment at an early age but soon left the service and went to Paris. He was an enthusiastic supporter of the Revolution, and in 1790 became greffier of the municipality of Haguenau. After a short imprisonment on a charge of inciting riots in Haguenau, he returned to Paris, where he joined Georges Danton and played an important part in the attack on the Tuileries on August 10, 1792.
He accompanied Charles François Dumouriez on his campaigns with the Army of the North, and assisted him in his negotiations with the Habsburgs, being arrested as an accomplice after the general's defection. Denounced by Jean-Paul Marat to the National Convention, Westermann succeeded in proving his innocence, and was sent with the rank of Brigadier General to quell the Revolt in the Vendée.
[edit] Vendée and downfall
Westermann distinguished himself by his extraordinary courage, daring maneuvers, and severe treatment of the insurgents. After suffering a defeat at Châtillon, he defeated the Vendéans at Beaupréau, Laval, Granville, and Baugé, and in December 1793 annihilated their army at Le Mans and Savenay.
Westermann wrote to the Committee of Public Safety:
- "There is no more Vendée. It died with its wives and its children by our free sabres. I have just buried it in the woods and the swamps of Savenay. According to the orders that you gave me, I crushed the children under the feet of the horses, massacred the women who, at least for these, will not give birth to any more brigands. I do not have a prisoner to reproach me. I have all exterminated."
He was then summoned to Paris, where, as a friend and partisan of Georges Danton, he was proscribed with the Dantonist party and guillotined.
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. In turn, it cites as reference:
- P. Holl, Nos généraux alsaciens ... Westermann (Strasbourg, 1900).
