Jean Nicolas Houchard

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Jean Nicolas Houchard (January 24, 1739 - November 17, 1793) was a French General of the French Revolution and the French Revolutionary Wars.

[edit] Biography

Born at Forbach in Lorraine, he began the military career at 16 the Royal German Regiment. He became captain fighting against the rioters led by Pascal Paoli in a dragoon regiment in Corse, receiving also a deep wound at a cheek.

On April 11, 1793 he was appointed as commander of the Army of the Moselle and, in the following August, of the Army of the North. He was a protagonist of the French victory at the Battle of Hondschoote against the Hanoverian army.

Despite the French victory, Houchard was accused to have not profited of it, and was arrested at Lille on September 24, 1793. The Revolutionary Tribunal found him guilt and Houchard was guillotined in Paris on November 26, 1793 (26 Brumaire, Year II).